November 2017 #4: Bump botherers, nesting and maternity leave!

[GingerHanna]

In which we swat away unwanted hands, perform military operations every night to roll over in our sleep, clean the kitchen cupboards for the eleventy billionth time and count down the days to our maternity leave!

Previous thread here.

Click here for The List.

I think my baby gets the Monday blues! Woke up this morning with my first nasty cramp when the alarm went off. The cramp went away as soon as I stood up.

Only 3 days at work then a short break to Somerset :) I can't wait!

How is everyone else's Monday?

Oh @theotherendofthesockportal ouchy that does sound bad.

Monday is going ok for me but the 3 pm slump has happened early today at 1pm. Just want to curl up and sleep.

Not a great Monday for me. Had to be up really early to go into the office, and when I was there I was made to feel really guilty about going off on mat leave in the near future. I need my boss to step up and she just isn't.

And then I got home to a phone call to say I've got gestational diabetes :( feeling pretty shit about it at the moment. The midwife was very patient and kind while I sobbed down the phone to her.

@butterybollocks I am sorry to hear that Monday has been pants. Are you in a union at work? You shouldn't be made to feel guilty for doing something that is the most natural thing in the world. I'm outraged in your behalf! At least with Gestational Diabetes the midwife and hospital will offer you lots of support. I hope tomorrow will be better day for you 💐

I am sorry your day was not great butterybollocks. Tomorrow is a new day and you will be one day closer meeting your baby!

@butterybollocks so sorry to hear that. Was it found via bloods? You'll be ok- we're here whenever you need a vent or winge x

Ah @buttery that is rubbish about GD and your work :( your work should not be making you feel like that!! I have a similar situation in that our team are really short staffed and work is so busy at the moment, the difference is I hate my job/manager and couldn't give two shits about going off haha. I feel sorry for my friends in the office but they are being really supportive because they are more friends that colleagues. Can't believe they are making you feel bad about having a bloody baby! Have you got an HR dept you could have a word with? Xx

buttery I cried - a LOT - when I got my GD diagnosis at 24 weeks. It still sucks but the hospital really reassured me that all of the extra risks are mainly about uncontrolled diabetes, and I'll be monitored well so they don't turn into problems. I'm still gutted I'll probably be induced early, and injecting myself with insulin isn't fun (my problem is fasting numbers and I just wasn't able to control them with diet), but I'm off for the first of 3 extra scans this week so at least there are more opportunities to see the baby.

Has anyone been put on iron tablets? The dosage I've been put on seems really high, 200mg of iron twice a day! Does that sound too much? I'm worried they've made a mistake with my prescription and if I take them it will be harmful! X

I've got a prescription for liquid iron supplements waiting for when I get round to collecting it. No idea what the dosage will be though so I'm no help! If you're worried I'm sure your midwife won't mind a 2 minute chat to reassure you.

I freaked out again about us not agreeing on a name & made a database of all the possibilities with separate columns for us to tick or cross there were only 3 that neither of us vetoed & one of them was only a "don't totally hate it" for both of us. DH announced that one of my favourites is growing on him so we're trying it out for a while. Last night I woke up & couldn't settle because DD was never going to have a name & now I'm too excited to sleep because she might have a name!

@Hazandduck I've been put on iron tables his week and have the same strength as you. I checked and can continue to take pregnacare along side these.

Thank you all for your support. I've had a crap night's sleep and woken up feeling headachey and teary. Accrual I'm sorry you're dealing with this too, it does make me feel better that I'm not the only one to cry about this.

Back into the office today. I don't think they mean to make me feel guilty but they just keep saying things like "we don't know how we're going to cope" when I need them to just deal with it and say everything is OK. We've been really short staffed and I'm doing two jobs plus training new staff and really needed my boss to step in and take some pressure off me. I have two days at a conference tomorrow and Thursday with some lovely colleagues so hoping that will make me feel a bit better.

Thanks @Agnu and @Izzi, I have taken them last night and today and surprisingly my tummy feels ok at the moment! Hopefully it doesn't bring back the dreaded constipation! Saying that, I have come home from work and for the first time in about 12-14 weeks, I've laid down in bed as soon as I got in! Feels like first trimester tiredness, hopefully the iron kicks in soon zzzzz.

@Buttery Ah I see what you mean. Sounds like you have some nice colleagues, hope you get a bit of respite at the conference (and lots of free tea and biscuits?!) xx

I got my results back from my gtt today, glucose was fine but very low iron so got to collect a prescription for iron tablets tomorrow. I'll be upping my fruit & water intake to help fend off the dreaded constipation!

Hope you've had a better day today @butterybollocks. I've had similar comments at work, my boss keeps joking I can have 6 weeks off & then the baby can come in & sit in the drawer like on Brittas E

Sorry, DS pressed post for me!

That was supposed to say Brittas Empire. It was funny to start with but now getting annoying & not helping with me feeling like I'm leaving them in the lurch. It doesn't help that they didn't have a single applicant for my mat leave cover! We're trying to approach suitable people but my job is quite specialised within our company & that's putting people off. At the moment I don't have anyone to hand anything over to & my accounts are very high focus at the moment so the timing couldn't be worse. I know it's not my problem & it's lovely that everyone says they'll be lost without me & I'm such a valued member of the team but it's just adding extra pressure that I don't need right now. It was a disaster when I went on mat leave last time as we'd just been through redundancy & they weren't allowed to recruit my mat leave cover during that even though I wasn't at risk so again no one to hand anything over to. I'm a bit worried this time that if they manage to cope without anyone to cover my role they'll decide there isn't a role for me to come back to. Still a few weeks to sort it out so fingers crossed.

Hope everyone else is having a better time at work.

@butterybollocks @Topsyloulou

That sounds awful. Your managers defo need to start taking the pressure off. It might help to ask to work from home a day a week. That way you don't have to get sent to meetings and won't get interrupted with people piling on more stuff as you happen to be there.

I'm starting to plan and handover bits of my job role to the rest of my team now. It's a bit different as they aren't recruiting a direct mat cover post, just a fixed term post for part of my role. They have said they might start them in early October but I've not heard anything about interviews happening so that's a little worrying. In my head October will be wind down time, but unfortunately I know it's Xmas kick off so it will be a little busier, I'm just not going out of my way now as I've always been a yes person (happy to help even when piled high with work) but I'm not gonna let me continue to do that towards what should be the wind down.

Izzibee funnily enough I do work from home! I have had to brave the office two days in a row this week and it was STRESSFUL.

So...hands up who cried in itsu in the middle of The City today because there was nothing they could eat? Ah yes - that was me!

Topsy it sounds very similar in that it's nice to be told that work will miss you but there comes a point where they just need to be practical about it and sort out cover etc.

I don't think I'll go into the office again before I finish!

@butterybollocks what I'd give to work from home all day! Avoid the office if it's stressing you out.

I'm seeing my doc tomorrow as have horrendous pain in my left hip from from round to the back. It subsides over night but comes back by 11am and that's been the same routine for the last 4 days. Anyone else got similar pains at 29 weeks?

Hate to say this but am begging for the end of this pregnancy now as I've heard the aches can just go after.

@izzibee29 I have horrible pain in my right hip, and my legs feel stiff. I mentioned it to my midwife and she said it was just one of the joys of being pregnant - really not what I wanted to hear.

I am also wishing for the end of pregnancy, I haven't slept properly since 14 weeks. I just want to feel normal again!

I've had similar comments in the office, one manager joked that they would set me up a birthing pool in the corner 🙄 But I'm the same, no one wants to be my mat cover! They have been going easy on me though telling me I should use the lift (I have a fear of lifts and we are three storeys up) and not being annoyed when I puff in late lol. I think it is probably because I look so massive 😣 So many people keep commenting that baby will never stay inside for ten more weeks, it's bloody annoying!

Oh iron tablets haven't made me feel any less exhausted yet...but I have got the joyous black poop! Greeaaatt.

I'm starting to ache a lot. Especially my lower back. However, the dreaded PGP has not re-appeared (yet!) so counting my lucky stars

I know I'm being over-sensitive but please don't wish away the last trimester! Having had a preemie, I really hope that I get to 37 weeks and further. I'm only 4 weeks off when DD arrived and getting more anxious about going full term as the days pass.

Ah sorry @Zampa I'm not really moaning, I've loved being pregnant and every symptom. A close friend of mine is pregnant with twins she is only 28 weeks and two days ago was confirmed to be in early labour :( So I shouldn't make light of it. I definitely want my baby to stay inside until they are fully formed! I also think I will miss having Bubba to myself once they've come in to the world. X

Sorry to hear about those in pain, I also have bad hip / back pain and it does get to you. Going to bed seems the only relief.

I also can't wind down as it is taken my work until now to find my replacement so I will be commuting to London every day for 2.5 wks to hand over to her - not happy as had wanted a few weeks chill out. I'm so miserable at work too there are some nasty women who barely speak to me (genuinely no idea why) and I can't wait to finish. I'd probably cry over food in Itsu too @butterybollocks, I get told off by these women for eating too much during the day! Even on holiday I can't relax and lose sleep over it :(

I know mat leave won't be easier than work but surely it will be different stresses and for a better purpose?! I'm not wishing the last trimester away, I just want a safe arrival of bubba and to be sat at home in comfort during that waiting period!

@Zampa I'm sorry- It's just the constant niggles that won't stop which are making me feel that way.

Hopefully I'll find a solution in the next week or will get better at just dealing with it.

I'm not wishing for baby to come soon, just for it to be the end of October now. :) x

@Zampa same here for the tablets- black 💩

I am sorry @Zampa I didn't mean to be insensitive. I'm hoping that my baby cooks fully, I just kinda wish it could happen without the pregnancy symptoms!