Ringing in the New Year & 2nd trimester - July 2019!

[wombatron]

New home and new thread to start 2019.

@AIDE2424 @cravingmilkshake @HchyScott @ReginaPhalange89 - will tag more when I go back to remember.

Bring on the fake Prosecco and bed by 10pm tonight!

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y-XaVbeNQM-bCGlrUxXxcBBNGUfIVQY4htZRUpbbw

AIDE and Trying2bemum so glad your scans went well! ❤️

Jxtina86 and Kentishgal the London commute gives me cold feet too, especially in June/July. My job isn't really worth doing if I can't be there at least a couple of times a week so I thought I'd just give myself the space to look forward to the baby instead. All this mat leave talk today has prompted me to get our HR involved this afternoon as my LM is pretty hopeless, despite being very nice.

On PGP, I think I have this, waiting for GP to refer me to a specialist. It feels like I've been riding a horse or a bike - pain in inner and outer thigh, also tailbone and sometimes pelvis. It's pretty evenly balanced though. I do also get achy shoulders more easily these days though. Been wondering if reaxin has been making all my weak spots a bit more vulnerable maybe.

I'm having a total overreaction to something that happened at work today. It's completely irrational, objectively speaking it was completely fine, just a quation, but I'm all teary and miserable like some sort of teenager. Come on heart, we have another 5 months to go at least, woman up! 🙄

@MakeAWhish eek. My pain gets worse if I stay still for too long so mornings are horrendous until I get going. But then I spend all day sitting at a desk so the trek home is awful too! I phoned GP earlier but can't get an appt until next week after my midwife one so will speak to her first and go from there if I need to go to GP for any referral. I think this is karma for getting off lightly with nausea in the 1st trimester!

@Jxtina86 don't your GP surgery offer emergency appointments? I called mine on Monday morning as getting out of bed made me cry, and got an appointment for that morning. Doctor very sympathetic and said when it flares up the only thing that will help is rest. Don't suffer on, ring in the morning and get an appointment. Midwife won't be able to give you a sick note, which is what you need really. She can refer you to physio tho, so do ask her to do that xx

Hi All, lovely to see all the chit chat and all of us getting excited :)

I had specialist appointment today for APS clotting condition. I fall in the low risk category of high risk which is great. I can stop the heparin injections in 2 weeks, and just stay on aspirin till the end. I'll see him again at 24wks but otherwise happy for me to be midwife led and plan a normal birth. So relieved!.

The only thing he said, is because I'll be 40 at the time of birth, they would prefer to induce on my due date if no appearance is made before then. Apparently that's due to higher risk of still birth in over 40s and is standard procedure. Not heard good things about being induced but I'll read up on that another time.

So in theory I should have a normal pregnancy from here on in. Yippee! Mothercare here I come!!

oh and I got a 2 grand tax rebate, talk about timing!! Spend spend spend!!

Re physio - I have piriformis syndrome which is when a muscle swells in the top of my bum cheek (currently due to the uterous growing and pushing on it) and leans on the sciatic nerve - but there was a self referral form in my Mat Notes pack and she said that would be quicker than going to GP - perhaps check your packs if you have been for booking appointment already?

xx

I can't wait to tell work (on monday) as they keep making big plans and I just want them to factor in a July handover! I think I'll work up to 39 weeks this time, I did 38 weeks last time and it was fine. My work is a little odd because I get 52 weeks fully paid mat leave (I know, don't hate me!) So I can only take a pro rata'd number of days up until mat leave (e.g. 7/12 of my allowance), then my holiday allowance for 52 weeks leave is added as an additional 5 weeks unpaid mat leave at the end. Then pro rata'd holiday again in 2020. So I can take 13 months mat leave, 12 months of which are paid!

Hi all,

So sorry I have been absent a while. I have lots of catching up to do. Hello to the newbies since I last posted and congratulations on all the scans 😃

I had mine last Friday, baby was in an awkward position, I thought the scan would never end and I had the worst pain in my kidney area (I think my bladder was too full). Eventually got the NT measurement. I am 14+3 today so put me 2 days back but I expected that. Saw the consultant after as I am high risk and received all my scans through the post today. I have them every 2 weeks from 27+4. I’ve got a scan booked in on the 29th of this month to hopefully find out the sex...I have 4 boys and 1 girl already so will be interesting to see what this one is. I’m going for boy. Is anyone else planning to find out?

My youngest daughter will turn 3, 2 days before this one’s due; this is my biggest gap between them I will have. My smallest gap is 15 months and my biggest gap (currently) is 2yrs 4 months.

I’ve still not told work I am expecting, it’s very difficult as I haven’t yet told my mother who also happens to be my manager. So yeah that should be fun. I’m hoping to at least get quite far at work this time though. Had to take my mat leave from 30 weeks in my last pregnancy as I went into labour

Hope everyone is doing ok

@Yukka didn't get any forms apart from those for bloods at my booking in! Will ask midwife though on Tuesday.

@MakeAWhish they do but it's a nightmare trying to get through and get one. The lines are jammed from 8am, it's ridiculous. Will keep trying but at this rate the midwife appt will be here anyway!

@beckanne90 how have you managed to hide it from your Mum at work and home for so long?

We’re finding out the sex. Got an early gender scan booked for Valentine’s Day ❤️ I’ll be just over 16wks x

I had my nipt test today - fingers crossed. I ticked to find out sex from the blood test so should hopefully hear by the end of next week. My daughter is convinced it's a girl (on the basis that she's a girl and mummy is a girl!) - but I feel it is a boy.

@annabegins a bloody year paid?! That’s amazing!! I get 14 weeks paid. Planning to take a year though. Can not wait!

Has anyone looked into or heard of cord blood storage? If so, what are your thoughts?

cravingmilkshake I literally just wrote that down to ask the midwife about next week. Only I'd want to donate mine, if possible, as I've not been able to give blood for 18+ months while TTC/recovering from losses/pregnant. I'll let you know what I find out. I'm particularly interested in whether it might harm the baby to collect it for storage/donation vs to dispose of it the usual way. I'm a complete novice with this though, so could be a completely stupid question.

Congratulations to everyone

@Beckanne90 the age gap between mine will be 5 nearly 6 years so quite big! We already have a little girl and are planning to find out. We haven’t told dd yet but she’s always asked for a brother, I’m sure she won’t mind either way.

I hid my last pregnancy until 20 weeks, there’s no chance this time I’m showing already at 11+5! I haven’t told work or my mum either yet, I’m gearing myself up for it.

I haven’t heard of cord blood storage. I had a retained placenta last time and everything after was a bit of a blur.

cravingmilkshake this is what I mean, I think. If they can't do cord clamping and collect the cord blood (perhaps because the amount would be too small), I'd rather they did the cord clamping so the baby gets maximum benefit. If they can do both, I'd be delighted to do it.

www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/labour-birth/delayed-cord-clamping-dcc

I’ve been off work for over a week now because of how bad my sickness was but I’m going back tomorrow and the closer it gets, the more I’m dreading it! I’ll be fine once I’m there but the thought of being up on my feet and rushing around all day makes me want to cry!!

Chinks here's more about cord blood. Essentially it's very special and can save someone's life. You can either have it frozen in case you/family need it another time or donate to the NHS or Anthony Nolan Trust for someone else to use. There are only about 8 hospitals in UK that'll accept a donation - you'll need to look on both the link below and on the Anthony Nolan website for which ones as they are a bit different.

www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/cord-blood-bank/

Wow I never knew that @StargazyDrifter Thankyou! I’ll ask my midwife about it, it’s funny they don’t really tell you about it, or they don’t in my area.

@StargazyDrifter thanks for the Tommy's link it's very helpful. My husband is happy to pay. I would much rather donate it and worth hw hope that it will help someone (whether we use it or not) rather than us pay £100 a year to store it! And not to mention the cost of paying for it.

I really don't know.

I did seriously think about cord blood banking with my first - for selfish personal use (I thought the stem cells might be useful for my mum if they found a treatment for her condition in future - but her specialist didn't think it was worth it for that) and as it happened I couldn't have done it anyhow. But I think it's a great idea for a public bank, I'm not sure I remember there being public banks before.

One thing I am thinking about though is getting my husband to donate blood in case I need it (we're compatible groups) - someone told me this was possible but my research so far suggests it's not - will ask my midwife next time I go.

My hospital is one of the ones that the Anthony Nolan charity work in. I registered to do it with ds but when I had him all the staff were on their Christmas do so there was no one to do it I was really disappointed so hopefully I can do it this time

My understanding is that, if you wanted to keep it for your own future use, you'd need to go through a private company and pay. So the midwife probably can't help.

If you wanted to donate, you need to be in one of the following, other hospitals don't offer it, and it's worth picking up with the midwife:

(For donating via Anthony Nolan)

• Saint Mary's, Manchester
• King’s College Hospital in London
• Leicester Royal Infirmary
• Leicester General Hospital

(For donating via NHS)

• Royal Free London
• Luton and Dunstable
• St George's London
• UCLH London
• West Hertfordshire

Like I said before though, I don't know a huge amount besides this.

Squ1ggle that's really annoying! What a missed opportunity. And for a Christmas do, too!

Kentishgal I've heard of that happening in private operations/births about the blood, but not on NHS. This the latter would just use the blood bank for efficiency. Though appreciate you'd prefer your DH's!

cravingmilkshake I guess that, altruism aside, the idea of the public cord blood bank is that it's on a need basis. So, you donate this year and, if sadly you needed it a few years later, the people who'd kept it topped up that year would help you. The London one is one of the largest ones in the world so, in theory, should work UK-wide if everyone that's able to gives where they can.

There are some criteria like not having had brain surgery or transplants etc that mean you can't donate, they're on the Nolan website under FAQs.

Thanks Stargazydrifter that's what I wondered - I was just chatting with someone who used to work for transfusion people and she said it was possible but I can't see that it is (and if it was then it isn't now). It's just that last time I had two transfusions and I was really ill after them and got an infection, I'm not relishing that again. I'm maybe a bit ocd but would rather have my husband's in future!! And actually just checked and that rules me out of cord blood banking anyhow!

Kentishgal Cripes, TWO?! You might have had mine if A+ 😊. Definitely see how you'd want to be prepared this time! Though if DH is still technically a stranger (in that it's not family blood), might still make you feel poorly and a bit out of sorts. But I would still find the arrangement confronting even if a placebo.