March 2016 Babies! Here's thread #5!!

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New one!!

pug Mine is 2 weeks tomorrow and so far not felt a thing.

bloody worry will never leave us will it!

Ooooo our first 20 week scan, how exciting.

good luck jules with scan today, how exciting!

I've given up on wearing maternity jeans - they just don't fit me. Size 10 are too small on my bump, size 12 are too large on my legs and are so baggy it's really unflattering. I'm living in maternity dresses and tights and size 10 maternity leggings with maternity tops. there's no way I can hide my bump now, as it's massive. I mean really huge. At some point I will try to take a picture and show you guys! seriously I'm so big! still slim everywhere else so feeling a bit more chilled about it. just have to accept I will be big this time round. I'm also feeling better after having 3+ weeks of managing to exercise twice a week (on top of walking ~ 2.5 miles a day to and from work). and I'm doing squats and pelvic floor exercises every night before bed! really want an easier labour this time and last time I was a bit lax with pelvic floor exercises etc. Saw DP's new niece over skype last night - was so cute! I just want my baby now! DP's SIL had a very straightforward (first labour) - contractions started at 4pm, baby was born at 11.25pm! and she didn't even bother with gas and air as by the time she got to the hospital was so far along it didn't help! I was pretty impressed (and a little if I'm honest!). So I've started trying to prep myself a bit for birth. expect I will last a week or two than slide back into laziness haha.

work has been horrible today - DD was up in the night again. what's that about?! [frustratedface] at 23 months it's been a long time since we've had night wakings and I really struggled to get back to sleep last night so woke up feeling exhausted. also just had a meeting with a colleague which involved them telling me lots of things I needed to get done this week... on top of my always expanding to do list. blargh blargh blargh. DP is playing football tonight so its another 'dinner bath and bed' by myself, ugh. and I meant to put some food in the rice cooker to come home to and forgot, so now need to actually cook! fail.

2 weeks to my 20 week scan! I can't wait. Really looking forward to finding out the sex so can start thinking about names again. Me and DP are quite keen on Eleanor for a girl - it was a potential name DP's DB was going to use for their baby but they went with another name in the end so we might end up stealing it haha.

Q At least we're all in it together!

marmite Eleanor is a lovely name . We have no boys names we like and the further along I get the less confident I am in my, somewhat poncey, girls name front runner. Have been putting off thinking about it too much until after the scan, though.

On the pelvic floor exercises front, are you meant to squeeze and hold for 10 seconds? I'm finding it quite difficult to hold it that long! And what are the squats for?

Marmite honestly don't be jealous - I had to give birth without gas and air last time as the midwives didn't arrive in time and it bloody hurt! Also I want to see your bump please! That's an order :) everyone keeps saying I'm tiny still - well I don't feel tiny!

ThePug what's the poncey name? That's probably quite a good way to describe ours actually. Oh well! I like it.

All Christmas presents and DD2's 3rd birthday presents (November 29th) ordered! I bloody love Christmas.

For those of you buying a brand new pram, when are you getting it? I'm desperate, but there's no point having it sat in the utility for months on end, with the other kids probably playing with it!

I did win a Next 2 Me crib on eBay though :) that's arriving any day now, yay!

Beautiful I'm buying the Cosatto giggle 2 love the patterns! I feel huge too, big bump but don't feel big anywhere else is that normal? like I don't even think i'm putting any weight on :(

Beautiful Persephone. Middle name likely to be Anne after my mum and we have a single syllable surname so it flows nicely.

I'm trying to resist buying any of the big stuff until December/January when hopefully there will be some good sales on. DH won't even agree to go and test drive any prams yet because I think he thinks we'll end up coming home with one

And I agree, we need some bump shots!

I know I shouldn't be envious Beautiful - is just me being mental! I had such a difficult birth with DD that I feel like a massive failure all of a sudden . A bit like my body was just a bit crap and couldn't cope with labour. I'm just being silly, I know (and probably pregnancy hormones playing a role here as up till now I've not given a crap about my difficult labour with DD). I'm always a bit jealous of women who have these labours that sound a bit like 'whoops I sneezed and my baby came out' type thing. Even though the reality for them was a heck of a lot more painful than that!

thepug there are two types of pelvic floor you can do - squeeze and hold, and little 'pulses'. For the squeeze and hold, the book I've got (new active birth) recommends holding on an inhale, exhale, and inhale again, and then releasing slowly on an exhale. Also, the more you do it, the better you are at it/longer you can do it as you build muscle tone. I do it whilst squatting down (but holding onto the bed so I don't knacker my legs) as easier to feel what you are doing. For the little pulses, it's 10 quick squeeze and release.

squats are good for actual labour I think? apparently they help your core strength and also help with muscles or something? [mumble mumble I know what I'm chatting about honestly]. apparently they are really good anyway! and bloody hard! oh just found a link (HERE) on exercises in pregnancy and blurb on squatting is near the bottom.

Lol at you all trying to hide your bumps! I've been doing the sane whilst interviewing for new team members (don't wanna put them off) although it'll be trickier for the Nov interviews!

indom I've been having some braxton hicks. Seems stupidly early, but apparently you get them from 7 weeks but can't feel them! Mine seem to kick off if my bowel is being weird. I'm sure they were much later last time, but guess I may not have realised what they were.

pug I LOVE Persephone. V pretty name. I'm trying not to think too much about names until we know what we're having, mostly as I'm totally stuck for boys names...

beaut no buggy yet, but we did get the bedside cot at the weekend! It's sitting in its box in our spare room and I'm desperate to put it up!

beautiful we are getting new on travel system, intend to wait until at least January as hoping sales might have at least a little knocked off

crispy, I'm also not thinking about names until we know, we really don't agree on boy names! For girls I like Cecilia and Sylvie, he likes Margot and Cadence. I think we will be able to agree on one. Annoyingly we had a boy name we actually agreed on, then dh's stupid friend used it, and it's uncommon enough that it would be weird for us to use it.

I've been terrible with my pelvic floors, I think I'm just not very good at them. Definitely agree with whoever said core strength is important for labour, I did yoga and dancing last time and really need to get back into it again as I'm really feeling the difference already. I also had a gym ball last time that I used to roll around on, that was pretty good.

Rosie my scan isn't until 4.45 next Friday so all day to wait!

marmite that's so strange as DH and I just talked about Eleanor last night! He really likes it, I have another name I prefer but I do really like it too and would quite happily use it (don't think he will agree to my other name!)

Having said that I've been having very boy feelings the last few weeks. No scientific reasons, just a gut feeling!

My bump isn't very big yet. I just look chubby. I want it to get more round! I haven't put on much weight yet either, 1kg since booking in. That's good though, it all piles on after 20 weeks so the less you can put on before then the better!

Oh crikey marmite - I just tried holding pelvic floor whilst breathing out and I couldn't do it! The short pulse ones are fine so maybe the more of those I do the better I'll get at the others too.

Me - I've put on about 1kg since booking in too. In some clothes I have no bump, in some I look chubby and in some I look very pregnant (to me, anyway). I'm sure in the next few weeks we're all going to pop out massively!

Crispy thanks for the name love. My IL's have already had apparently a discussion about how we will probably pick an unusual name for the baby due to what we called our dog (don't want to out myself by think Caesar's first name). Persephone would play right into their expectations

Me mine is at 3:40 so we're in a very similar position, just gotta wait all day at work which will be painful!

To top things up I haven't been sick in weeks which has been great and now just having my dinner and just been sick, seriously? How is that possible? Haven't been sick since week 14 :(

Thanks for all the good luck messages! Scan went well but have to go back tomorrow morning as baby wasn't playing ball at all. The sonographer made me roll around, jump up and down, go for a wee, go and eat some chocolate, do some hip thrusts etc etc but no luck! All was good but she wanted to double check the nasal bone and couldn't see properly.

I think it should've been about 30mins but took an hour and 15. She was thorough though, checked kidneys, ventricles in the heart, lips, number of bones in arms and legs etc etc so all was good! Didn't find it as clear as the 12 week scan though I think because there wasn't as much room for the baby to move around. It's still exciting though!! Can't wait to find out how all yours go

Also - ages ago someone recommended a home birth book.. Any ideas what it was called? I've forgotten!

Lovely news jules and the upside is you get to see baby again tomorrow Are you keeping the sex a surprise or just not telling us ?

Oh god me I'm already very round and bumpy at 17+5 so dread to think the sizes ill get to by the end.
Took this before going out on Saturday evening, bear in mind there was once a flat stomach and everyone was all 'oh wow you're showing so much' given up on trousers now and living in dresses as everyone knows.

It's protruding out further than the 34g boobs so I'd say this is going to be a large beach ball bump!

Cute bump! This was me at 15 weeks, will take another one on Thursday which will be 18 weeks, but not sure I've grown much, maybe just swapped some bloat for proper bump. I bought this dress to make me look as bumpy as possible before my 9 hour flight in the hope of preferential treatment - it did not work!

Ooh, exciting scan news Jules!

Thanks Crispy! I wasn't sure if I was imagining it. It was definitely that feeling though. None tonight. Last time I had BHs every 5 minutes from midday to 8pm, every day. (Well, that's what I remember! Possibly not as dramatic as that!). They only got painful after about 36 weeks. (DS came at 40+3, for reference).

Trinpy - going back to the placenta question. I checked my scan print out and there's no mention of it. It must not have been an issue at all.

I've been an emotional nightmare today. I got into that thing of mentally listing all the things I didn't have time to do and all the things I was pissed off with DH about. Had a proper bawl cry at work this morning. People were great though ("is there anything I can do? Or is it the, you know, the little parasite making you feel like this?" - were scientists, the parasite comment isn't being mean!)

DH has managed to redeem himself (he's used both the dishwasher and washing machine himself this evening!) and I've gone back to happily ignoring all the work stuff I can't fit in.

I MUST go to bed now or I'll keep going downhill. Night all.

Wow, everyone has such nice bumps! Mine looks nice occasionally, then I catch it at a different angle and it looks like I'm just fat!

Finally made it to my dance class after three weeks, I'm determined to claw back some strength and fitness for when I get bigger and for labour, so I forced myself! My muscles are already screaming and it was only an hour, normally I do two and don't feel it at all, it's quite a gentle class!

Jules, glad to hear all went well today and that you get the boneyard of seeing baby again tomorrow. That book is called Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin. Not actually a home birth guide but pretty much advocates why it's a great idea! Encouraged me to try first time round anyhow!

I'd love to hear others' name ideas so far, liking the suggestions made already - my sister is called Eleanor nn ellie, and love Persephone! I agree with everyone, boys names are a nightmare!

That's 'bonus' not 'boneyard', lol!

Lovely bump pics Q and ThePug

I didn't find out the sex ThePug - fancy a surprise since it's our first! She told us to look away when she was checking the legs and then after my boyfriend said he couldn't see a willy at any point but then I was talking about eating lots of chocolate when I went to buy some and she said 'sugar cravings for a girl, Savoury cravings for a boy!' and for some reason that made me think she was bluffing! Who knows eh!

Missikat - thanks for that! I've just ordered it along with a couple of others doubt I'll be able to get through it without some kind of pain relief but think I'll be better off having some idea what's going on so trying to be informed. Also LOL at boneyard hahaha!

Night all

Nice bump pics Q and Pug! If I really stick mine out I can make it look a bit like a bump but it's still mostly just chub

Great news on your scan jules and hope you get what's needed today.

I was shattered last night for some reason, falling asleep on the sofa at 8. Gave in and went to bed at 9, poor DH spent the evening by himself!