Puking our way through the first trimester: It's the November 2015 ladies here! Hand out plenty of ginger tea, cold drinks and some lovely scan pics soon!

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If you're due in November 2015, well here's your ante natal club! Come and talk about vomit inducing man-scents, cheese roasties you simply cannot do without/or stand, the picked ice cream you must have right now, and the bubbling desire to tell the world but checking dates to restrain yourself!

Oh i know exactly where your coming from on the hormonal front. I deleted my Slimming World Support group on FB the other day as they were all annoying the life out of me.

Maybe you could ask the midwife for some help for the PTSD if she doesn't know hopefully she can refer you to someone who does. Being pregnant again will be bringing all sorts of emotions for you Hopefully this pregnancy will be completely different than your last. I know its easier said than done but you can only deal with what you know. At this moment in time you are pregnant and for all you know the placenta might just be sat at the top of your womb this time. If its not then we will get through it as a group.

Thank you for the welcomes!

Just got back from my booking appointment - I am either 10+2 or 5+2 so referred me off for an early dating scan, not moaning about that because if I am only 5 at least it breaks up the first 12 weeks which are always the longest!

Someone gave me some advice with DD not to listen to any "negative" birth stories. With my first I used to cut people off midway as soon as I know they weren't going to end well and I think it really helped me with my first labour. There's no need to be scared it's amazing what our bodies can do and dwelling on the negative almost makes you expect it!

Anna I had post natal depression too, although I wasn't actually depressed I did experience horrendous anxiety after about 6 months of giving birth and apparently it is classed as PND. Here to support you and totally with you on being emotional at the moment, I've cried all day over my daughter pooing EVERYWHERE to having no soup for lunch! Crazy hormones!

Ann don't leave, you will be supported here. I also had a very traumatic birth with my DS and it was a long time ago but I am still very anxious and remember the fear so clearly. I am hoping to get an elective cs if they will let me.

That's if everything works out ok for me of course, hoping so. Spotting is minimal today :)

Place marking... 7 + 5 today, no booking in appointment or scan date for me yet. I just want to eat everything (cold dominos for yesterday). On the plus side dp informs me my boobs are getting bigger.

Hi ladies! Found the new thread and caught up on the other I think. Sad for Ashboo :( and good luck to the lady having a scan tomorrow.

I'm 6 + 2 , 3rd pregnancy and I am just panicked so much today. Don't feel sick and don't really feel pregnant. Had streaks of blood in discharge a few times now and again today. Trying not to worry and from what I've read I'm think straining for the loo may be causing it. Also I had this with last pregnancy and everything was fine.

If I think about it, my boobs definitely feel bigger and I'm constipated which I never am normally, and no period of course. Bloated stomach too. Just feel anxious and its ridiculous. This was a happy surprise pregnancy and I've known for 9 days and I'm already terrified of losing it. I have 2 healthy children. Wish I didn't feel like this

mamama it's sounding good for you - sending positive vibes! Will be thinking of you for your scan tomorrow xxx

ann sorry you had such a traumatic experience and hope you get the support you need in RL. Stay on the thread, it's been so helpful for me.

I'm just lurking to see how mamama gets on and to cheer you all on! X

Ann - I too had a horrific birth experience with my first who is now 9. Feel free to talk to me about it. Emergency section with the second was a walk in the park compared to the first. I won't discuss details on here but I know how u feel. It's a stressful time for everyone, first timers, 2nd timers, 3rd timers! God I'm in a state today with worry. Good that we can all talk to each other x

Hi all I am in week 8. I have had a nightmare booking with the doctor and I am worried about getting on the books for midwives and 12 week scan. Its my first pregnancy and so have booked a private 10 week scan. Is there anyway of booking with midwife separately I have looked online but only found private midwives.

Ann I completely understand you. I had a traumatic birth and ended up with terrible anxiety about it. I needed counselling and medication to pull me out of it and it's one of the reasons for our bigger age gap.

I completely agree that I needed to talk about it as part of my own healing. I would never mean to scare other women but our experiences are valid and deserve to be heard. I still find it very painful when people talk about their natural childbirth being euphoric or a right of passage. Only yesterday a friend said her easy labour made her feel like superwoman whereas mine made me feel like a failure. Of course I'm eternally grateful that I have my healthy DS out of it.

It takes time to get past the pain. We're all here to talk if you need it.

Missmrs thank you for your support, you are truly a lovely lady x

ThreeBeanRap - no, it's a GP appointment and he will then refer me for scan/booking in. It was the earliest appointment I could get, very busy surgery!

Birth is such a personal thing and everyone is going to feel so different about it - and that is okay, this is a place for everyone to have a view and diversity is the spice of life!

I was induced on the Wednesday and didn't give birth until the Sunday morning via emergency CS. It was rubbish but I 'forgot' about it pretty quickly and don't feel worried this time. My DD then spent a week in NICU and weirdly I think that helped me psychologically move on quite quickly from the traumatic birth as I was more worried about her.

Ann have you had a hospital debrief from your first delivery? I never got around to having one until I was pg with my second dc and terrified. I also found a hypnobirthing tutor in a panic three weeks before delivery no2 who is also midwifery sister at a local hospital. It was expensive but worth it for the reassurance (fwiw hypnobirthing doesn't work for me, but the support of having a professional through the last few weeks of my pg helped enormously). Would a private midwife be an option to handhold you a bit through the pregnancy? I found it invaluable to have someone knowledgeable emotionally support me and answer my questions and fears with genuine knowledge, inc about ways I could try to improve things or how to handle it if things went wrong.

I also have a friend who received life-changing counselling for birth-related PTSD from a charity. I can ask her for the details if you'd like?

Yes of course it's important to be supportive, but we should also keep in mind not everyone can be supportive for all situations. For example, I really would like my best friend to be speaking to me about the pregnancy. But she is battling debilitating childlessness and she has said congratulations and moved off. Of course I miss that support, but I also know that at this particular moment, for this particular circumstance, this particular individual is simply not the person to offer support.

Similarly, I've had severe tokophobia in the past. Like my friend above, I have no intention of shutting down/deliberately hurting someone who needs to talk about a horrific birth. But - like my friend - I would try to look after myself and my tokophobia/vulnerability by protecting myself and picking and choosing what I read/hear. So, in this particular situation (a tokophobic woman like me being pregnant), this particular individual (me) might not be the person to be able to listen to difficult bird stories without breaking down into a mess a bit.

It's justbnobody's fault. Is just the way things are. I will have to find someone else to share my pregnancy with while giving my best friend the room she needs and deserves. Similarly, someone else who deserves to speak of her difficult birth experience will possibly need to give me the space I would need at a moment when every passing oregnant day makes me feel a little bit more scared of birth. My best friend isn't shutting my down. And I hope I am not shutting anyone down. It's just how things are right now.

But this is wonderful forum is for all of us to share and care. We can all choose which posts to skip through, where we can meaningfully contribute, and how we can all be supported by someone or the other in this big, wonderful group of ladies. I sincerely hope we can all find the support we need here, if not from everyone all the time, at least from some people some of the time.

ann, please don't feel you have to censor anything on this thread. We're all here for each other, good or bad, and I'd be happy to listen to both good and bad birth stories. I think being armed with information on all eventualities will make us all better prepared for labour. Sorry you had a crap time with your first and hope you have a better experience this time round. Xx

I have a theory (forgive me if anyone finds this upsetting - it is only my theory) that one of the reasons that birth can be so emotionally traumatic and ultimately lead to PTSD/pnd is that women these days are not emotionally prepared for the unpredictability of it.

Writing a birth plan, for example, is great, but among my friends we have often said (after the event) that it lead us to think birth was something we could plan for, and in some ways it's just not.

I think as well as educating yourself and thinking empowering thoughts, and yes, reminding yourself that lots and lots of women have straight forward, complication free deliveries and there's no reason why you shouldn't be one of them. It might also be good to mentally prepare yourself for the fact that in some instances, birth can be more unpredictable, uncontrollable and frankly, brutal, than anything you likely have ever experienced before or will again.

We are extremely fortunate that we live in a country (countries) that have excellent medical care and there are teams of highly skilled, experience and qualified people on standby to help you if you birth doesn't go according to your plan. But being, in the back of your mind, prepared for the fact that you may need to call on them, could help some people I think.

Sorry - rereading it sounds like I'm saying that you can avoid PTSD by thinking about he unpredictability of birth - which of course is not the case. I don't mean to over simplify or sound dismissive.

I stumbled upon this fab Buzzfeed (I heart Buzzfeed, I think it might be one of my pregnancy cravings ).

29 Unexpectedly Awesome Things About Pregnancy.

Thanks for the birthday wishes
have been spoilt by my hubby, lunch was great but didn't eat a lot of it and bought lots of new clothes :-)
Also bought some wall stickers for the 'nursery' well they were only cheap....
first birthday that I haven't drank alcohol since I was about 13!

Happy birthday mrscat!

I trust you have made up for the lack of with ?