July 2018 babies - part 2 :)

[Skyechasemarshalontheway]

Made a new group

That’s totally understandable @instructionsrequired, I’ve only bought a few bits as trying to be sensible but it’s hard because I can’t feel anything or see anything in my body. My friend is amazing (she’s managed to get a Doppler off her boss as she’s a community nurse) so anytime I get depressed or down she can send me a heartbeat of my boy so I have a bit more reassurance but it must be really hard for you, sending 💕

Great to hear about everyone’s scans.
@karategirl
It’s reassuring to hear I’m not the only one. I feel a tiny bit bigger but like you do after eating too much pizza, that’s about it.
I am 19+2 today and am suddenly really panicking that the baby isn’t growing. I haven’t felt any flutters either.

People I’ve had to tell at work all look very surprised and say ‘are you sure etc?!’

I hope you have a great scan tomorrow!
Please will you update us and let us know how it went?

Goodluck and I hope the little one is in the right position to give you a good view!

Anomaly scan was today. All looking good, and baby measuring well, which I'm pleased about @Windowgazer123 - I'd been worried it wasn't growing too, but they managed to get good views for all the measurements and even said its tummy is slightly bigger than average (even if mine isn't!!) Still not felt any movement, and still no proper bump - I'm like you, it's like I've had a night binging on pizza and chocolate.

I have a low lying placenta so having to have another scan at 35 weeks to check it's not covering the cervix. I really hope it shifts up - I don't want to have to have a section! Not anything I can do about it though, so no point stressing on the point.

We didn't want to find out the sex, and baby was quite obliging by covering up anyway, so all still a mystery

I threw up spectacularly again this morning. Have had another month of cyclizine prescribed over the phone. I think I'm planning to take them for a couple of weeks, see if I can manage without for a day or two, and then pick them back up again if I need to. @Heregoeseverything that's rubbish! Are you feeling OK today?

@Lifechanges hope your abx have started to kick in - are you feeling any better today?

@karategirl Nooo, you are having a nightmare! Straight back on those meds with you! I'm fine, it was a bit of a random vom, felt fine before and afterwards!

@karategirl glad the scan went well and hope your placenta gets a move on. They like to protect their parts these babies don't they but that's good in your case!

Not really feeling much better - I'm typing this from my sick bed as I'm sat in the pitch black; wondering if I could just sleep right through until morning ha. The coughing seems to have subsided but my head is just completely blocked up.

Anyone been thinking about when they want to start maternity leave yet?

I'm due 18th July and thinking of starting it on the 9th but having a couple of weeks annual leave before that so I don't have to deal with the commute and walking between various offices etc.

Just not sure if I'll go stir crazy with being off 4-6 weeks before!

@karategirl.
Glad to hear your scan went well! Great news. I just hope you feel better soon.

For maternity leave... I’ll have no annual leave left! So I really don’t want to leave too early and ‘waste’ time. My plan is to ask to
work from home for 2-3 weeks and then take 2 weeks off pre due date.
But I have no idea if that is sensible.

I’m just hoping there isn’t a crazy heatwave in July..I’m not sure how I’d cope with working/moving around in the final month of pregnancy if it’s 30degrees..

I'll have my full entitlement to take (providing I don't take any April-Finishing) but thinking I'll save a couple of weeks to tag onto the end of leave too - not that I want to ever think about that.

Baby is due 3 days after my 30th birthday so I am attuned to July weather - it's usually raining but it will be warm, which at this moment in time I'm excited for but like you say, there's not going to be much worse than commutes and sat in hot offices.

I'm planning to start my maternity leave as late as possible, probably the week the baby is due, but will take a couple of weeks before that as holiday, so probably finishing at the end of June. I went 12 days past my due date with DD so don't want to start too early! I'm hoping I can make it that far, as I have a long commute, but am hoping to get work to agree to one day a week working from home. Someone will also be covering my maternity leave so am hoping that will take some pressure off in the last few weeks.

I do have 2 modules of my open university degree that finish in July so I probably will need the time to dedicate to those in the final few weeks, so I can have baby without the additional stress of looming deadlines too.

Definitely don't want to start it too early so hopefully the AL will come in handy.

I'm lucky - I already work 2 days a week from home!

It’s difficult to know how we’re going to be feeling approaching our due dates so I’m struggling with when to start maternity and need to give the form in to HR in a couple of weeks. Won’t have any AL to use so thinking of starting mat leave the week before due date as it looks like it will be easier to start earlier if needed than the other way round.

If anyone else with an anterior placenta wondering when they’ll start to feel movements, I was the same up until very recently as hadn’t felt any movements at all and in the last few days (22+2 now) I’ve really started to notice a regular pattern of movements and can definitely feel when the little lady is awake. All starting to feel very real and very pregnant!

Oh thanks for that @InstructionsRequired I have an anterior placenta and I'm driving myself insane with trying to feel movement - I'm 20+4 now so fingers crossed not much longer to wait.

Bet it's so lovely to feel her and like there really is life inside you now. How exciting.

I found it so frustrating at the scan watching her move so much and I couldn't feel a single thing of it.

I felt exactly the same at the scan @lifechanges Hope you start to feel movements very soon.

Hi everyone! Had my 20 week scan yesterday at 19+4. Baby is measuring at exactly 20 weeks in most areas apart from femur length, which is slightly smaller (no surprise, I barely scrape 5'4!). Luckily all looked normal. I am really anxious in this pregnancy, as we lost our last baby to MMC, and the due date is approaching on Wednesday.
Here is our little girl doing some womb gymnastics!

As for maternity leave, I have only just started thinking about that! I'm a full time primary teacher with a lovely class of 31 kids. I'm thinking of putting my last day as July 6th (baby is due on the 23rd).

Awwww that’s great @flatwhite32! So pleased all is well!

@FlatWhite32 Lovely scan photo, glad all went well :)

@InstructionsRequired Thank you for letting us know you're getting movement - I'm still wondering when I'm ever going to feel anything! 20 weeks today, hopefully in the next couple of weeks it'll start to gear up.

@Heregoeseverything and @Windowgazer123 I'm not feeling too bad now I'm back on the cyclizine again. Still have nausea, but at least I'm not throwing up. The most frustrating thing was that the Dr suggested to me over the phone wearing travel sickness bands (which I have been constantly for weeks now!) and eating ginger biscuits (as if I wouldn't have tried that by now!) I do keep reminding myself that, although it feels a bit rubbish, I'm not dehydrated or anything, so it certainly could be much worse.

As for maternity leave, I'm currently thinking of starting on 9 July, which will align with when my husband's holiday starts (he works in a residential college) and I'll be 37 weeks then. I've already spoken to HR and my boss about increasing home working before then though - it's an hour and a half door to door, and I really don't think I'll be up for 3 hours' travel every day by the time I'm that far along, especially in the summer!

Great scan pic @flatwhite32 Looks like you may have a little yoga instructor in the making!!

Mat leave wise I guess I’m starting mine in 3 weeks. I’m on a supply teaching contract so it was either stop at the end of this half term at 24 weeks or keep going until the end of May at 30. I wish I could have suggested may but I’m struggling with child care for my little boy. So 3 weeks it is! I don’t qualify for mat leave money just maternity allowance I think so really there isn’t a massive point in working until I’m exhausted for no reason my wage would go on childcare for my toddler so I’d be gaining nothing honestly . In a way I’m looking forward to it but it will feel like forever until baby arrives! Less of a mat leave and more of a... stop work?

Wow KTD sounds like a lovely time to stop work and spend some time with your little one before baby arrives. I have agreed to stop work on the last day of June which gives me 3 weeks before due date, I am lucky to have a short commute though.

Congratulations to all for getting through the anomaly scan phase and starting to feel movement, I get some flutters but certainly not any kind of a pattern - also have an anterior placenta. I feel this section of the pregnancy is going to be scarily long without the reassurance of movement!

@DirtyThirties
I’m 20w 4 days and I still haven’t felt anything either. My hospital do their 20week scans at 22 weeks and it feels like a long wait.

I had a small bleed last week - came as a total shock as have had none since date of last of period. I was sent to the labour ward and they did some basic checks and all was looking fine. Can’t quite figure out what the bleed was, but it was ‘old’ blood so there wasn’t too much concern.

For all those waiting for movement, good luck. I imagine we will all look back at this and wonder why we were so keen for it to come!

Re movement, I have an anterior placenta (high). I started getting some movement around 19/20 weeks, it's several times daily now at 22+6. It's so reassuring and wonderful but I'm afraid the worry continues as she can be quiet for a few hours and then it is more worrying than it was when I could feel nothing at all! Argh! I would add that it was only when I started getting more regular movement that I realised that I had been feeling some movement earlier - I wasn't sure whether it was wind/food going down previously!

I'm due July 14th and a constant worry head, I find myself crying a lot recently but I almost feel guilty to cry? I'm not sure why I just feel stressed and as if the pregnancy is going slow which makes me feel unsafe I just want to get over that 7 month mark anyone else literally feel like anxiety is taking away the happiness of our little loves😪

@waterfountain97 I was quite anxious between scans but am feeling a bit better since I started feeling kicks and bump became prominent, are you feeling movements? I wouldn't have said I've been terribly hormonal/emotional but when Ed Sheeran's "Small Bump" came on this morning I was in floods of tears within seconds!!