Summer holidays are over, the PESH are bringing their bumps and baybees back to school

[TheOriginalWinkly]

Pack your giant pants in your satchel and maternity pads in your pencil case, it's the antenatal thread 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
Frankel - large pink one arrived 10th March 2014
Merks - pink one landed safe and sound 21st March 2014
Sinky - Stubborn blue one arrived 26th March 2014
Driz - blue one arrived 12th June 2014
Kat - pink one arrived 21st June 2014
draf - pink calf on 1st July 2014
winks - a pink one dragged out kicking and screaming on 4th July 2014
euro - a pink one in a hurry to see the world, born on 17th July 2014
dor - a pink one born at speed on 28th July 2014
ginge - completing the ESH Summer of Pink on 23rd August 2014

PESH
Buggerlugs - Buglet due 20th October
Fankle - ESHlet expected 4th January
Cunty - Minichops expected 7th February

Sinks it sounds like you are making some progress. It must be so hard for both of you.

frank not long to go now. Lovely photo of you all on t'other place.

bugs I had bullet points prepared for each scenario (spontaneous labour, induction, CS) when I wasn't sure what was happening. No one apart from me and KFZK ever saw them, but they were useful to talk and think through our preferences (even if some of them didn't happen in the end).

Howdy. Better day, both physically and mentally. R was slightly rat like, but my parents dealt with the worst of it.

Managed a short walk, lost some of the lines, and chatting about when he might get home. I feel a lot better - it's like he's returned a bit after being absent for days iyswim.

It's always good to lose lines, I remember when CGH was in HDU he said each line out was like a mini victory.

bugs I don't have any prawns to lob over you but I understand. Even now sometimes I get utterly paralysed by the fear that something might happen to MiniWink, and I genuinely don't know how people carry on after stillbirth or loss of a child BUT the odds of anything happening to MiniWink or Buglet are vanishingly small and we'll drive ourselves mad thinking about it. Best to try to enjoy the moment.

Bugs, the worry is normal. We have all been through so much to get where we are that it is understandable to be worried about things not working out. But they do, for all but a very, very small number. Even with all of the problems I had and the stillbirth risks associated with them, C still got here safely.

Have a bucket of mixed seafood anyway.

Sinks, how are you both doing today?

I was very paranoid about still birth because sadly my friend lost her baby at 38 weeks. The key thing bugs is to know and monitor buglet's movements. If anything seems different, tell your midwife and get checked. I was worried about 38 weeks and it was so reassuring to get checked over. My BP went up due to stress and my MW offered to see me twice a week til I gave birth to reassure me. The clinic also said I could go up every day if that's what I needed! They key is, if at all unsure, seek help!

Thinking of you sinks.

I was also paranoid due to a family member's experience, but I echo what everyone else has said, don't hesitate to contact the midwives if you notice any change in buglet's movements.

Hope you're doing ok today sinks

Hello hags!

What an appropriately titled thread - I started back at school last Monday and have barely stopped working since then. Today has just been one long pregnancy brain-fart in which I have consistently failed at basic arse-elbow differentiation. I don't know how I'll manage for another 4 months - I'm utterly shattered and still have a massive to-do list of lessons to prepare and meetings...

Sinks - I hope things are looking up today. Thinking of you

Bugs - shall we pelt each other with prawns? Totally with you on the menkulling but trying to reassure myself, as others have said, that in the vast majority of cases everything is fine.

Hope you're feeling a bit better today Bugs, the fear/paranoia is understandable when you've been through such a fight to get here in the first place. I think someone said on a previous thread, it's an added extra to the curse of sub-fertility. Something instadiffers never have to deal with.

Sinks I'm thinking of you and hope you get some answers soon.

I've started BLW with E, so far she's had cucumber, butternut squash, carrot and raspberries. It's messy, but fun

That sounds like a recipe for disastrous nappies lovely, frank. :)

I have to say, in my August group, even among the instadiffers, there was a lot of fear and worry and many, many people went in to have reduced movements checked out. Pregnancy is a worrying time for most people, I think.

sinks how are you both doing? I'm thinking of you.

chops it's good to see you over here.

I'm getting a bit more confident about getting out on my own with C. I've started going for brisk walks with the pram and have managed the first al fresco feed and nappy change. I just wish that London transport was more accessible. The lack of a lift at my local station is really not helpful.

I'm starting to feel a bit more like my old self too. I'm starting to look at work emails (not doing any work but just keeping up with what is going on so I don't have 6 months' catching up to do when I go back) and plan to start some exercise soon as the brisk walking is not causing me any problems.

I didn't mean to suggest we have dibs on the worry/crappy feelings, just that I think we're more prone to it having already been dealt a shit hand we kind of expect bad news IYSWIM.

Glad you're feeling better though Bugs. I get moments where thoughts of something horrible happening to E hit me out of nowhere, but I figure every parent has those.

Glad you're getting out and about Euro, but don't overdo it

Oh, E is 6 months old tomorrow Where the hell did that time go????!

I spend less than that, to be honest. I've also found aldi nappies the best and they're £1.50 for 24. And while you're in there you may as well do a decent amount of shopping for cheap

Oh I am definitely not the best person to ask about food - it costs us a fortune over here!

I recommend buying nappies from Amazon though. They are cheaper, especially if you use Subscribe and Save.

Highly recommend the Aldi nappies too. I also buy Pampers Ultra Dry for the nights and Asda usually have the bumper packs on offer.

Food-wise I can't comment on the difference when breast-feeding, plus I'm only feeding me, but if you go down that road Formula is about £10 a tub and we're getting through one every 5/6 days at the moment.

Frank you could switch to follow on milk now which is often on offer and gets you supermarket points. 6 months? Whoosh! Flown by!

I rate most supermarket nappies, Lidl especially. Asda ones are my favourites although if we're at home we use washables mostly.

I really don't rate asda nappies! We've tried aldi, pampers and asda and asda were by far the worst for absorbency and containment.

I could switch Faith but part of me is against it in principle as it's just a marketing ploy. We'll see whether my principals hold out in the face of reduced price