Easter is approaching, and the PESH are laying all over the place!

[maamalady]

Antenatal fred fun for BESH graduates

CRESH

Faith - pinky faithlet arrived 14th April 2013
Pinkr - suitably pinky one arrived 25th August 2013
Jethro - blue one arrived 23rd September 2013
Noks - pink one arrived 12th January 2014

PESH

Frankel - EDD 4th March ANY TIME NOW
Sinky - EDD 18th March
Merks - EDD 21st March
Driz - EDD 7th June
Draf - EDD 19th June
Kat - EDD 20th June
Winks - EDD 26th June
Dor - EDD 18th August
Ginger - 20th August
Euro - 28th August

PESH-in-hiding
Bugs - EDD approx 21st October

I may try that, euro. Currently have my feet/calves on the pouffe and a million cushions propping my back up, so hopefully it will be bearable for long enough to make a difference to my feet.

I had the dreaded puffy feet. Definitely elevations and exercises - sit on the floor and point and flex your feet several times. Also, sitting on the floor, put your hands on your feet (bend legs obvs unless your super flexible!) and draw your hands up from feet to thigh in long sweeping motions, fairly firmly. Do this 5 or 6 times then bend your leg right up and place your hand in your, for want of a better word, groin and feel the big ligament on your inner thigh. Rotate this in small circles with your fingers for 20 seconds or so. Then repeat on the other leg.
Basically you are massaging the fluid up from your feet and then helping to disperse it into your bloodstream. You may pee more as a result! Try to do both exercises once a day.

bugs by your point I had put on 10lbs (and my weight at BFP was close to my fattest ever). You are doing really well. I remember wailing at KFZK "she's got a waist and I haven't". Repeatedly. I'm sure I wasn't annoying at all... It gets easier once there is a bump there.

I've been googling what my scan report said about blood flow to my placenta. Apparently my results give me a 70% chance of pre-eclampsia and a significant risk of IUGR. Surely I deserve a fricking break given my route to this point?

I still don't feel/see movements on the outside. Mainly because I am fat and have an anterior placenta.

Oh, and this week I put on 4lbs. What a joke.

Thank you, Frank, I'll be sitting on the floor with your instructions tomorrow! How's your nipple doing today? Have the drugs kicked in?

On the bright side, euro, it's a 30% chance of everything being fine? That's the chance we had for our IVF working, so I'm all for 30% chances these days :) I don't know what IUGR is, but all is not lost just yet, a hippy birth could still be yours

Im on clexane and aspirin to prevent iugr, perhaps you can go on medication? Last time I was offered induction on due date. I accepted it cos I was sick of being differ so obviously no woo birth, but you don't have to be induced especially if scans show baby growing fine.

I've been on aspirin since egg collection, kat. The sonographer said that is what they usually recommend for this and I was doing it anyway. I'm seeing the mw in a couple of days, so will see what she says. (IUGR=growth restriction, btw, draf)

No probs Draf, if you also want to you can help reduce potential swelling in your hands at the same time when pointing/flexing your feet:

As you breath out imagine you are blowing your toes away and pointing them
At the same time raise your hands above your head
As you breathe in point your toes to the ceiling and bring your hands down to your thighs
Repeat

If you try to breathe in for 4 and out for 8 it'll make it nice and relaxing - it's the breath (and exercises) we were taught to use for very mild contractions and general relaxation at my Lazy Daisy class.

Ah, the joys of a bank holiday :) HOTB was confused this morning while watching some dreadful Disney film: "why isn't Saturday Kitchen on?", until he realised it was, in fact, Friday.

We have been into town and got a couple of baby blankets for baybee and a couple of thick pillows to prop me up on the sofa. Hurrah for pillows! Tomorrow is an early start to watch qualifying, then antenatal all day. Does anyone else have plans for the weekend?

Wow bugs that's a bargain for that lot! Nice work.

I had a bit of a sleepless night thinking about the scan news and the reading up on it I did yesterday and it has jolted me out of not wanting to buy anything until the last minute as there is now a known risk that they will want to get centime out early, so we will need to be prepared. We haven't bought a single thing yet, but I have said we should start in May, when I am back from my work trip to the US. I'll be 23 weeks then.

draf I hope you are deflating. The swelling can't be fun.

X-posts Draf. We don't have much in the way of plans. I've been at the hairdresser's today, getting it chopped and coloured (for the first time since pre-diffage - my greys were looking awful). Tomorrow my parents are coming up to help us with a few bits of DIY. Not sure what we will do on Sunday. On Monday I am seeing the mw (was supposed to be a couple of days ago but one of her ladies went into labour so we are doing it Monday to squeeze it in before I fly off).

Sounds like a nice relaxed approach, euro :)

I deflated a bit yesterday, but have reinflated today, grr. I am now wearing some very fetching flight compression socks, which were a right bastard something of a challenge to put on. They are really squeezy over the ankles so hopefully will help. I've got my feet up on the pouffe too and my back propped up by one of my shiny new mega pillows so am a good deal more comfortable than yesterday.

Definitely a good haul, bugs! How many muslins are you getting? We have seven at the minute, which I'm certain is not enough. HOTB thinks we may get given some as gifts, but I suspect clothes and toys are more likely than covering the more practical aspects of caring for a newborn.

Oh, and we nipped in to mothercare earlier, and I was horrified to see in amongst the usual twee maternity slogan t-shirts ("mummy to be" etc), one that said "life is better with a bump". I instantly hit a rage level I've not been at for quite some time. Anyone who makes or wears that has surely got to be spectacularly obtuse and/or uncaring. Imagine if you saw someone wearing that while you were still a BESH or miscarrying? It doesn't bear thinking about

He is right. You need the right pram for you. If your friends one suits you then all well and good, but don't feel obliged especially if you can afford to buy new.

I wish I had bought a brand new pram first time round. I had a second hand one and it fell apart.

What do you need in a pram and what are your desirable features? How big is your car boot? Do you ever use buses? Do you need big wheels for off road? Would you like your baby in a carrycot at first? Would you want them to be able to parent face in the seat? Do you want a pram where you can attach car seat? Do you walk much? In town or in countryside?

Having a buggy/pram is bloody useful when you have a screaming baby and you need to get out and walk until they go to sleep!

Agree with dor. I know the carrycot doesn't get used for long, but ours has been a godsend for settling R. Even without walking, he'll settle there but not his moses!

And get lots of muslins. Lots. I have 25+ and used ?6 today with a more pukey than normal R. I also yes them to line his changing mat, wrap round the bednest/moses/pram mattress to catch vomit and reduce my sheet washing.

We're in a similar situation, bugs - live in the sticks with lots of off-road walking nearby, but will want to use the buggy for that and urban stuff too. Our car is a small one, though, so we needed one that folded down quite small too. We have gone for a BabyJogger City Versa GT - it has good suspension and you can fix the wheels into forward-facing only for off-road stuff, so we're hopeful it will do the job.

Thanks for the idea of how many muslins we may need, sinks! They are at least easy to come by so hopefully we will vastly increase the collection in due course :) How's R doing? Are you feeling a bit more settled?

Well, feeding is much better. Latch generally sorted and pain free, unless R is acting the goat.

Sleep... Not so much. Had one beautiful stretch 2 nights ago from 9pm till 2am when I woke him, but every other night has had no longer than 90min at a time. And he's not a baby for daytime sleeping, so "sleep when the baby sleeps" is sadly irrelevant in my life.

But we're managing.