We may have been Bitter, but we’re no longer Barren! Get your *PESH* in here! All ready for the BESH clusterdiff of 2015 year of the *CuntCushion* (with added tea tree for those sore fanjo moments)!

[MissHobart]

BESH Graduates having a moan about the lack of Gin whilst actually being over the fucking moon to finally have a reason to not be able to drink it! Anything goes, especially asking the wiser CRESH for their sage advice on the horrors and amazement to come when we get the the biggest WIN in history! Bring your baybees here!

Ps. How could I forget. We have teething. ALREADY!! Anticipating sore nipples :(

Fablet sounds ace! Happy little fella.

Minifizz is doing a bit better, as am I. I know what you mean about overtiredness - it took me a while to twig what her tired signals are. The other night she was really howling and I tried every trick I could think of -humming, rocking, white noise etc etc until GFBW suggested just putting her in her basket. She practically did a sigh of relief that I had got out of her face! Also, why does no one tell you about the 4.5 week development leap? I thought I was losing the plot completely. It was only when someone suggested the wonder weeks app that it fell into place. Looking forward to the next one...

bad how are you getting on?

Really hope some of the BESH get their wins soon. I'm still shaking pom-poms and hoping the PESH fills up again!

Helloooo! How is everybody? Just checking in to say I am still alive. Badblet doing well, 11 weeks now! I'm still feeding her myself, and it's still not plain sailing, but we are taking it one day at a time. I'm pretty sure the stress of it has contributed to my mild PND, but I think I'm coming out the other side now, slowly. I'm finding motherhood very hard; so much harder than I could have imagined. It's a very steep learning curve.

Hope you are all hanging in there, hags.

Hello bad! Glad you are still in the land of the living. Awesome news on the feeding front - so impressed. Well done hag for persevering with something that has meant so much to you.

Minifizz and I are doing ok - some days delightful, some terrible. Thursday just gone I was thinking seriously about going back to work and handing shared parental leave onto GFBW. But yesterday she was sunny and smiley and my confidence in myself was restored for now. I'm finding it physically much harder than I anticipated, and that's without breastfeeding. All the lifting and jiggling! And not enough sleep to repair my exhausted muscles! Am seriously considering protein shakes to build myself up again

There are a couple of bfps from the BESH and I am hoping desperately they join the PESH deli very soon.

Yea am keeping my fingers tightly crossed for the newly PESHed BESH!

Good to hear you are both hanging in there. I am pleased to announce that at 5 months we have finally got some decent sleep routines going! Months 3.5-4.5 was fairly hellish in that Fablet was waking every 1-2 hours at night which was pretty killing. He is now sleeping from 7ish - 11:30ish then 12:30-4:30ish. In my books this is awesome.

And he is at such a delightful stage which really makes up for the bad nights - he's so happy during the day, gurgling, giggling and generally gorgeous! Teething is a bastard though and I think there will be some cutting through imminently. Poor little munchkin suffers with them terribly. Can't believe we'll be weaning in a few weeks and celebrating his half year already. Crazy times.

Ok I'm gonna post here even though it makes me convinced I will jinx it all.

However the Doppler thing interested me Fab, would you recommend it if all goes well for me or would it drive me crazy? I've wondered about it on and off.

Ps. Hey CRESH - I stalked you all along

Lol, welcome stalker!

I wouldn't recommend you getting a Doppler yourself as it can be very easy to pick up your own heartbeat and think everything is ok when it's not. Once you can feel the baby moving (this won't be for aaaages I'm afraid - think the average is between 18-22 weeks) you will then start to monitor how much the baby is moving. I'll be really honest here - it genuinely feels like a backdraft fart - you know when you hold a fart in and it does a kind of ripple back up your intestines?? - it's the best way I have of describing it! Anyway once you can feel that happening regularly you will start monitoring it. Sometimes it feels like they have stopped kicking and some people find having a Doppler useful to check for the baby's heartbeat but all the research I've read says that if you feel reduced movement you should go to the hospital straight away and not rely on anything else. I had all of mine done at my GP surgery. It was due to a risk of the baby having a heart problem (he's completely fine).

Shit that was a bit of a stream of consciousness post there - hope it made sense!

Made complete sense, thanks Fab - very wise as always

No problem, how are you doing? Have you felt ready to look into the next steps, see your GP etc? I had scans at 7,10,11, and 12 weeks which reassured the hell out of me! 7 was the IVF confirmation scan, 10 and 12 I had as part of the Harmony test (which some Trusts are now doing on the NHS but we had to pay for it - totally worth it in our eyes), and 11 was reassurance as I had a bleed.

Oh I'm completely crazy fab. We have told our parents now and I'm struggling with their excitement as I'm just not convinced it's actually going to happen.

Had the 7 week scan, am very probably going to do the harmony at 10 weeks (which means although I want a 9 week scan it would really just be silly plus I'm moving house next week!) have booked my appointment with NHS midwife which is in 2 weeks.

How are you? How's fablet?

Hello, CRESH formerly known as Winks here to say STAY AWAY FROM THE DOPPLER. MiniWinks was such an acrobat in utero that even the midwife then the sceptical obstetrician struggled to get a heartbeat (me to obstetrician: it's hard to find her heartbeat, she's very active. Him: no problem for me I'm brilliant. 5 minutes later, him: oh.) If you have a similar wriggly one it will put you round the twist. Congrats on the bfps new PESH :)

Ah thanks Winks. I trust you CRESH, no Doppler for me

Hey Winks, why the name change? Have you been naughty?

Fablet is amazing and I am totally in love with his gorgeous little chops he was 6 months old yesterday would you believe? He is just the most happy lovely little fella and after a bastard start in the sleep department seems to have settled down into a reasonable sleep routine so I'm feeling like me again.

I love how much you love him

I've been very lucky as I haven't had post natal depression, have an excellent husband and a very supportive family. The early days are hard and sleep deprivation is an evil bitch but it's amazing how your body just carries on even when you think it's impossible. We are so lucky he has a lovely temperament - I doubt it's anything to do with our parenting skills!!

I'm just so glad you got your win Fab

Blue I can't remember if you've seen your GP yet but one of the first things they do is book you in for the 12 nuchal scan. It pretty much does what the Harmony scan does but not as accurately. If done in conjunction with the Harmony though it can provide very helpful results. As I said on the other thread I did them together as part of a package from the clinic that first started the harmony test - the Fetal Medicine Centre in London. It is important that you get booked in around the 12 week mark as that's the best time to measure the nuchal fold. If you leave it to much after then, the results aren't as clear.

Good luck!

Problem is Fab, I'll be abroad from 12-14 weeks on pre booked holiday. Harmony stats say the blood test detects things accurately enough - fingers crossed it'll do

Ah ok - typical timing eh! I'd make an appointment to meet your midwife and get in the system then and she can advise you further what is best. Word of warning though - I had to make a decision which hospital I was going to be under there and then in my appointment as we sit under two trusts with a hospital in each being in the catchment area. Gah!

I booked an appointment with the midwife a while ago but first available is next week. I also move house today and out of my previous GP range (and the centre of excellence maternity unit!) she did ask me to look at hospitals local to me though so I could choose.

The two nearest ones are awful (oddly we are moving to a more 'well to do' area!) but are 30 mins away and if all goes well I'm due Dec in the possibly snowy countryside. There is a third place that my new GP covers but that's an hour away. I want that one - would that be stupid??

Hey blue luffly to see you on the PESH Fred! Here is a cunt cushion for you to sit on.

Tricky one re hospitals. I think an hour away would be fine if the other two are awful. Personally I'd go for a better hospital over a nearer one. The main inconvenience will probably be antenatal appointments and maybe any ferrying backwards and forwards for Mr Blue after the birth.

Great that you have the harmony test booked. It is much better than the NHS one, and 10 weeks is the best time, as fab says.

Am I permitted a small squeeeeeeee? So excited for you

Thanks Fizz although I'm not really here, I'm still lurking!, I need the cushion - I have a very stabby Fanjo (panic googled it - apparently it's normal and mumsnet call it "knitting needles up the Fanjo" - who knew that was a thing?!)

Thanks for the advice re:hospitals, I'm just so naive to it all - I've never looked at anything relating to anything passed the POAS stage! and still too anxious to do it!

Hope all is good with you and minifizz?