IVF Graduates due Late 2021/Early 2022

[BambiOnIce80]

Hi ladies 👋 I'm tentatively setting up a thread for those of us who have made the scary leap from infertility to a BFP and still need a hand hold from others who get it 🤝

I'm only 4+4 and already worrying that the BFP is too good to be true (I've had a previous MMC at 10+5, so that bitter experience doesn't help). Would love the company of other warrior ladies to go through the ups and downs of this emotional roller coaster for as long as it lasts 🎢

@Bella1984 and @PT8998, tagging you ladies on the hope that you'll join me 💗

Thanks @OM82 I had a lovely birthday and was thoroughly spoilt. Last one without a wee one to look after! Lusty beg island was divine, such a peaceful wee place.

Swims in the Loch sound great. We went in the Loch at the island and there was a big pool too, lush. Flip I look pregnant in everything now. Not sure how you've not told work @BambiOnIce80! I had to do a risk assessment as I'm patient facing. The temperature has been an issue too so I am allowed a fan between patients when I'm by myself, which isn't often. It finally rained today and I'm hoping it will be cooler tomorrow. It's my 11 hour shift, brutal! We've been told we have to to back to visors too FFS, raging they are the worst. Hard to take when people are just going about their normal lives outside the hospital for the most part now. . . Ah well.

I am 19 weeks tomorrow and have my scan Friday morning. The next big hurdle- a bit like ivf really get over one and there is another just around the corner! Hopefully it will go well for us all 🙏 my friend said you can even see the chambers of the heart, blows my mind.

We got some blinds fitted in the conservatory and the nursery 'to be' today. We haven't done much, it needs painted anyway since we moved in we have been doing one room at a time, it was always to be last. So will just do wee bits as we go. My dad has kindly offered to decorate for us, he is very handy which is good! I normally do it all but I decided to say yes to some help for once.

Anyways, hope you're all keeping OK and enjoying the cooler weather, I know I am. Take care. A xx

Happy Birthday @Bella1984 . Glad you had a fantastic day. Must be nice to get the chance to decorate the nursery. I confess I never did much for my first. I was simply too lazy to do much more than put up wall decals 🤣. I'm hoping the builder will finish our house so I can decorate the children's bedrooms before I give birth.

@BambiOnIce80 I'm struggling with breathlessness . I feel like I'm being kicked in the lungs. I'm officially a mouth breather 🤣

Hope you're feeling okay x

Thanks @lboogy 😊

It was so nice to get away we needed the change of scenery. My dog loved it too ha! Our fur baby.

We bought our house nearly 2 years ago and have been doing a lot of work as it's 1950s. It's gorgeous but was in need of some tlc. We were leaving the last spare room to the end as the hopefully nursery to be 🙏 I was just looking at rocking chairs there is a divine vekvet pink blush one which may be my nod to us having a wee girl, I'm not a pink person at all & the nursery was always going to be pale pastel colours in blues greys & greens, regardless of gender. Can't wait to have it done now but just doing wee bits when we get the time/ my dad to help.

I've been feeling very breathless at work in PPE it's horrible. We are back in surgical masks and visors now for every patient, nightmare. Counting down to 28 weeks when can work from home, 9 to go!

I actually got my first Pfizer vaccine on Friday- there are a lot of pregnant women in intensive care here at the minute who are not vaccinated. Scary please all be extra careful. I only have to wait 6 weeks for my 2nd one which is great. I've been wiped since, so so tired. Going to attempt a beach walk today & batch cook some lunches for work, rock & roll! 🤟

Our 19 wk scan went very well on Friday everything was perfect thank goodness. huge relief. Amazing what they check- heart & brain chambers, whether there is a cleft palette, all the main bones, heart rate & strength & so much more. Was amazing, it really blows my mind!

Hope you're all keeping OK? Would anyone be interested in a group zoom video call at some point? I think it would be so lovely to put faces to you all & have a proper chat now we are halfway or so 🥰 Just an idea 💡

Amy xx

Hi everyone, hope you're all doing okay.

Great news about your scan @Bella1984. I had mine this afternoon and it was all fine as well, which was a massive relief. I didn't see any movement at the last scan so I'd been worrying about that, but the baby moved a bit in this one but had it's legs and arms wrapped around the head which made things tricky for the midwife. She said I've got an anterior placenta which can reduce you feeling movement so not to worry if I don't feel it for a while.

I've got my second covid jag at the weekend so I'll be happy about that, especially as my husband is a teacher. I had to delay my whooping cough vaccine though as they don't recommend getting them so close.

I'm glad you didn't do too much to the nursery @lboogy. We've been wondering if we can get away without redecorating our spare room since it's just plain white. Although I have a feeling I never painted the skirting boards behind where the (double) bed is :-) Our house is an old Victorian one which had been empty for years before we moved in, and didn't have any central heating or anything so it was quite a renovation project - and I absolutely hate painting skirting boards!

How's your throat @BambiOnIce80 and the house hunt @Em916.

Anyway, I'm now off to search if maternity hiking trousers exist as my work trousers need a double hairtie to hold them up now and I have to undo it when I'm driving!

Hi everyone! How you all doing?

So happy to hear your scans both went well @Bella1984 and @OM82!!!! You must be delighted 😀😀😀

And happy belated birthday @Bella1984 🥳

Did you decide on whether to get the covid jab @lboogy? I found the stats on how covid effects pregnant women pretty scary so I decided to get it as so far no evidence to say vaccine is harmful.

Not too much to report here. I found the 7.5 hour drive to clear out our house super exhausting! Took about 2 days to get over it each way. I felt super lame.

I was feeling worried as don't have much of a bump and no other symptoms apart from tiredness. Last weekend I got a stomach bug (fun fact, more common during pregnancy ☹️). It was awful! Feeling better now though and counting down to my scan on Friday...

When's yours @BambiOnIce80? How you feeling about it? Did you get your whooping cough vaccine in the end?

Other than that been busy house hunting! Already put one offer in and lost out by loads. Housing market is crazy here!!! V jealous of the Victorian house @OM82. The house we are selling was a complete Victorian refurb and loved it (although painting skirting boards not so much too!).
All the houses we seem to be looking at here are bungalows though. We just put another offer in on a 1920s bungalow so at least it has some nice old features. Probably don't have a hope of getting it 🤦🏻‍♀️

@lboogy you're making me feel a lot better about the nursery! 😄 I've got all these grand ideas in my head but I doubt we'll be able to afford to execute them, so I think a quick lick of paint and some furniture should be fine, right?! 😬 Sorry to hear you're struggling with your breathing 💐 I'm not doing too bad on that front but hills are definitely not my friend at the moment 😏 A couple of 70 year olds over took me the other day whilst I was gasping for breath! 😩

I'm ridiculously excited that you're having a girl @Bella1984!! 😍💗😍💗 Has that helped focus your minds on the girls names list? How's it looking now? I'd be up for a video call after all the 20 week scans are out of the way, but completely understand if people want to stay anonymous too. I'm easy-ozee ☺️

My throat is a lot better after my week of the God-awful, super-sugary, banana flavoured medicine, thanks @OM82! Sooooo pleased that your scan showed that everything is A-OK in there 👌🏻 Good luck with finding the maternity hiking trousers 👖 🍀 Would maternity running leggings do or would they not be robust enough?

Lovely to hear from you @Em916! 😀 You sound like you've been crazy busy! My scan is on Monday (20+3), so not too far behind you 🔮 🍀 The housing market here has gone absolutely mental! 🤯 Is everything going for way above the home report price? Wishing you tremendous luck for your 1920's bungalow 🍀🤞🏻🍀🤞🏻

I was very brave (or very stupid, considering we've not gotten safely past the 20week scan yet 🙄) and went to John Lewis' to look at prams yesterday... I think my brain's ready to explode now! 🤯 Sooooo many different options!! 😰 Luckily, DP was completely in his element and was skipping around scanning the barcode of the possible options into his 'baby stuff' wish list in the John Lewis' app so that he can devise a spreadsheet to compare the specs, price, pros and cons of each! 😮 I'm delighted that he's stepping up to do the heavy lifting with this but, yeah, maybe hold off until the scan is out of the way! 🔮

Hi @em916 just thought I'd say I hope you're not too nervous for tomorrow, I'm sure it will all go well. I thought I'd be really anxious but I was busy at work so lost track of time, which was a good thing as my husband took the dog out and had to do a long detour so ended up having to sprint 3km home, arrived in a total sweaty mess and had to spend most of the drive to the hospital topless with the air con blasting at him 😂

I don't envy you trying to buy a house just now, sounds like the market is crazy in Edinburgh. It's mad around here too with everyone trying to move to rural areas.

I'm impressed at your pram.shopping @bambionice80. I had a brief look and got totally overwhelmed by it so gave up very quickly! We need quite a rugged one as there's no pavements here so I'll be walking on forest tracks mostly but maybe that actually makes the choice simpler.

I finally found a brand that makes maternity hiking trousers so have ordered a pair. But I was out on site earlier this week and had to climb over a deer fence which was quite tricky (and my colleague was more worried than me!) so I think I need to start being more office based and cut back on the field work...

The house hunting sounds tough @Em916, prices are crazy in Ed, I have a few friends there. And cousins, one who sold their 2 bed flat & were literally able to buy a mansion in the country! Lovely place to live though, good luck.

Yes very excited to be having a little girl @BambiOnIce80 would have been equally excited for a boy, just nice to know for me. We love Gracie with Sofia as a middle name 💕

I managed to get a lovely changing table on gumtree it's a wooden mothercare one and pristine condition, picking up next week. About 1/4 of the price 👌 I'm doing most of the nursery myself with some help from my dad so won't cost us too much. I have a vision of what I want it to look like!

Had to go home from work today with a stomach bug 🤢 reminded me of morning sickness! Hoping just a 24/48 hour thing.

Hills are not my friend either 😤 Need to get back to swimming was too tired after the vaccine and just so busy at work. No excuse though!

Good luck with everyone who is still waiting on their 19/20 week scan 🙏 I am 20 weeks today , more than half way 🥳

Hope you're all OK xx

Thanks everyone for the good luck messages! ☺️ our scan today went great, all good (amazing the detail you can see). We are having a boy! 😀 Got a really cute scan photo of his wee feet!

We also had the offer accepted on the house and our Bristol house sold so it's been the best week! Sellers want to move fast as it's a probate so aiming for sept 10th to move so gives us time to get the place ready (or as ready as we can, it's not been decorated in 50 years!).

@BambiOnIce80 ha ha that's funny about the 70 year olds. I'm super slow on the hills, was easier when DP was limping with his toe surgery as went at a similar pace! Your DP sounds adorable!!! Hopefully he can get shopping on Monday. Good luck for the scan!!!

@OM82 glad you got those hiking trousers so you don't need to double hair tie your other ones. Is there other type of work you can do desk based? I also have an anterior placenta too!

@Bella1984 wow you getting so organised with the nursery. Changing table sounds like a bargain. Sorry you also had a stomach bug, you feeling better? I've not had many as an adult and mine was really bad but luckily a 12 hour thing. Oh and count me in for zoom call too!

I bought my first outfit today straight after the scan. A wee sleepsuit with little dinosaur feet. So cute!

Hope everyone has a fab weekend! We are going up north on Saturday to see friends and family (6 hour round trip in 1 day is a bit crazy but going to appreciate Sunday you relax). Hopefully I can get some sleep as slept rubbish all week.

@Em916 a boy!! 🤩😍 🥳 🤩😍 🥳 And you got your house!! 🤩 🏡 🤩🏠 What an amazing day you had yesterday!! 💖 I hear you on the rubbish sleep 🥱 On Monday night I'd only been asleep an hour before I woke up with horrible lower back pain 😞 It freaked me out (my back doesn't normally give me any trouble), so cue frantic googling! Turns out that you shouldn't sleep on your back from the second trimester onwards (and I sleep on my back for about 50-75% of the night 😬) because the increasing weight in our uterus' compresses the vena cava and causes pain 😟 You're apparently supposed to sleep on your side with a couple of cushions jammed under your bump and between your legs/knees, so there I was at midnight hunting for more pillows 😩 It has helped a lot though, even though it's taking some getting used to. I think I'll invest in that pregnancy pillow if Monday goes OK 🔮 Good luck with your epic round trip today and have a lovely time with your family 👪

That's exactly it @OM82 - completely overwhelming 😰 Like you say though, you needing an 'off-road' type pram will help narrow the pool down considerably 👍 The John Lewis guy pointed those types out but didn't go into detail because we'll mostly be doing city walking 🏙️🚶🏻‍♀️ I did have a lol at your sweaty, top less DH speeding to the appointment! 😂 Ours is 8.30am on Monday, so will be good to get it out the way first thing 🕣 🔮 I hope your maternity hiking trousers solve that gap in your wardrobe 🤞👖

Beautiful name choices @Bella1984! 😍 DP really likes Sofia too, but I think we'll go with a family name which would rule Sofia out 😏 DP thinks his mum would want us to call a girl Giuseppa (her mums name), but I'm not up for that and we're certainly not going for a name we don't like just to please his mum! 🙄 He then mentioned in passing that in their region they shorten (well, not exactly shorten, but you get what I mean!) Giuseppa to Pippina or Pippinella, which I would definitely consider (quite like the sound of both of them) but then he said we can't do that because it's considered chavvy in Italy! 😕 We don't live in bloody Italy! 😕😕 Basically, we're not getting anywhere fast 🙄

Even though I'm clearly getting ahead of myself with looking into prams and thrashing out potential names, I'm getting massive fear that I'll be letting the side down on Monday and not have a good scan 😔 At least it's not long to wait and I have plenty to keep me busy this weekend, so hopefully we'll be out the other side of it before we know it 🤞 Have a lovely weekend ladies and I'll catch you on the other side.x

Congrats on your scans @Em916 and @OM82 fab news. And double congrats for the house @em916, especially in Edinburgh that's amazing news. And a boy, lovely!

Sorry you have to wait @BambiOnIce80 but nearly there now and good it's first thing like you say. You will not be letting anyone down so don't think like that, what will be will be and I am confident all will be well, this is your time 🥰

Haven't even thought about prams or car seats yet, makes it so real haha I don't know why. My friend did tell me about a car seat that rotates 360 deg and said its a game changer if you've back pain like me so going to check that out and actually going to.order a wee book on being a first time mum I think too. Eeeek!

I don't know how you've made it this far without a pregnancy pillow @BambiOnIce80! Mine is glued to me from the evening, sofa and bed! Yeah I think back sleeping isn't good for bambino from 2nd trimester either so best to avoid. I am usually a tummy sleeper so have found that tough and my sleep has really been rubbish the whole way through. Good preparation sure 😉

Sending all the positive vibes your way @BambiOnIce80

And happy weekend everyone 😊 weather here is awful we are going to do a wee cinema trip!

Chat soon xx

Great news on your house @em916. It must be a massive relief to know its sorted and you can stop looking! We only viewed one house and there was no rush to our ad it had been on the market for years so I definitely got an easy house buying experience. (The first few months in it less so!). And lovely that the scan went well.

Has everyone found out the gender then, apart from me? They don't tell you at my hospital (Larbert). The photos are rubbish too, a friend had her 12 week scan the same day as my 20 week one and her pictures was loads clearer. I wonder if it's the machine they use or something....

I'm sure tomorrow will go well @bambionice80. Hopefully you can relax and enjoy it. I always sleep on my side anyway due to scoliosis so luckily that's one less thing for me to worry about.... Let us know how it goes. I did Google pregnancy pillows but they seem massive!

My sister's friend has a pram etc available from November (for free) so that's solved that shopping issue! What seat have you been recommended @bella1984, that sounds like it could be a useful buy. We got a new (to us) car recently and got a small suv thing specifically so I wouldn't have to bend down too much but it did seem a bit pre-emptive.

We've decided we need to sort out our storage a bit so visited IKEA yesterday to look at a new wardrobe and whilst we were there I bought a wee cute night light, which is the first baby item I've bought. It feels very strange!

Hope everyone has had a nice weekend. I'm currently sitting in the post jag waiting but having had my second covid vaccination. It did mean I had to delay my whopping cough one but I have to go for growth scans from 28 weeks so can get it then.

Ps. Also up for a zoom chat at some point.

Morning @OM82 great you got you 2nd jab, hope you feel OK. Mine is next month can't wait to have both now. That's a bit rubbish about your scan pics. Ours were great. We did get a wellbeing /gender scan privately at 16.5 weeks as we could take my mum which was so lovely for her. I couldn't recommend it enough, was £59 which I thought was decent and worth every penny. You get a code with all the photos which you can view for a month. There were loads of every part of the bambino which was very cool to see. So we found out early RE gender which they confirmed at our 19 week one as we wanted them to.

This is the car seat I was recommended (pic attached) I think it's pricey I'm hoping to find it in a sale! My friend said it is literally worth every penny and she suffers from.disc issues in her lower back too, she says it's a game changer so I may have to indulge. . . Good news on the pram! I am getting zero hand me downs seeing as this is the first grandchild and having lived in England for ten years all my close friends with kids are over there unfortunately 🙈 that's why have been browsing gumtree!

Getting some paint testers for the nursery today, thinking like a pale purple maybe would be nice. Will see!

Thinking of you for tomorrow @BambiOnIce80 xx

I also had my first pregnancy massage last week and it was amazing. Look at the very clever contraption for you bump and boobs! It's was fab, really relaxing and I had a rare good sleep that night, about the only one I've had xx

Thank you all for thinking of me ladies 🥰 I'm happy to report that I haven't let the side down and the scan didn't find any anomalies - all is well at the moment 😊 The bambino is on the bigger side of normal though (with long legs like me! 😁) so I'll apparently have to have extra scans at 30 & 36 weeks to keep an eye on how the growth is going. I'm not too worried about that (yet!) - I think I'd rather be on the bigger side than the smaller side 🤔

OMG @Bella1984 that massage table looks amazing!! 💆 Who knew they did tables with bump holes?! 😄 And thank you for the car seat recommendation. I think we saw that one on our John Lewis rampage visit.

Excellent news on the free pram @OM82 👍 That's that problem solved 💪 You're not alone on not finding out the gender - we're waiting until delivery too 🙂 The sonographer asked if we wanted to know this morning but we said no (well, I said no... DP was in happy tears again and had lost the power of speach! 😜). I kind of want that 'reward' at the end of the pain of labour, if you see what I mean? DP's agreed that he's happy with that too (we did discuss it before we went in) 😊 On the scan pic front, our 20 week one this morning was fuzzy compared to the 12 week ones too even though it's been the same sonographer and equipment. The 12 week ones were super clear. That said, the one from this morning is clear enough to see that the poor little bugger has definitely got my over-bite! 😂 🤣

Oh, and I'm in the anterior placenta club too. I'd been worried because I haven't felt any convincing movements yet (maybe a bit of pressure here and there, but that's all) but the anterior placenta apparently does make it more difficult to feel the bambino. She said I should be feeling something by about 24 weeks though, so I guess we'll see 🔮 Bambino was waving their arms around, crossing and uncrossing their legs and yawning during the scan (wasn't just me that had a 💩 night's sleep then! 😂), so merrily moving about but I couldn't feel a thing 🤷🏻‍♀️

That's great news @BambiOnIce80, you must be so relieved. Hopefully you can relax now, I found that it was the first time it felt real (and am still feeling a bit freaked out by that realisation!) We didn't get the choice to find the gender but I'm not really a pink/blue sort of person really so we decided to just wait and see. I can't believe you could tell an overbite - the only bit of the scan where I could also see what the sonographer was seeing was the spine and the heart, the rest of it was just smudges to me. I was always impressed at the ivf clinic how they could count and measure the follicles.

Thanks for the seat recommendation @Bella1984. It seems to have good reviews, I figure if you're using it for 4 years the extra £100 or so is worthwhile. I've been googling pregnancy massages now, I've never had a normal one but I'm feeling so sore just now I'm quite tempted to treat myself.

My sister in law warned me recently about nursery places booking up early (although she's in Glasgow) so I had a look today - I am feeling rough after my vaccination, only just got up and had a shower so had the day off work sick - and discovered the nursery in the closest town to us only takes babies from 2 years. So I looked at Dunblane where my husband works as it's not too far (although still just over 30 minutes each way) and found a nice looking forest school kindergarten which sounds great as I'm very keen on outdoor learning. I emailed them and they said they are already taking bookings for 2023 and would check on availability Just thought I'd let you guys know in case you were also as oblivious...

I was also looking at reusable nappy sites (you can hire newborn sets as they only fit for a few weeks) and they all seem to be booked out already! Who knew you had to be so organised...

Fantastic news @BambiOnIce80 🥳 read your message on my very brief lunch break and made me happy 😊 a wee bit bigger is def better than small, we are measuring one day ahead just. I always wanted longer legs 😉
Our 19 week pics were so clear, must just depend on the scanner etc. Sure main thing is all healthy. And lots of movement is good. I don't have an anterior placenta I don't think, have felt a few wee twinges which I'm pretty sure are kicks but they do say is later with your first baby for everyone so still early enough days. I will be 21 wks this Thursday.

I had 12 patients back to back today in PPE and a student to supervise oh my days I'm done in 🥴 its my long day tomorrow too 8am to 7pm, boke. Thank goodness for wednesdays off. Counting down to 28th Sept! How's all of your jobs going? Hoe many weeks are people planning to work up to? My planned c section will be 38-39 weeks I think so aiming for 37 weeks in work. Maybe optimistic I don't know?!

The massage table made me laugh, especially the boob holes 🤣

That car seat has a lot of money off on online 4baby for us NHS folk - make sure to use your blue light app. Still expensive but maybe worth it, I'm weighing it up. The lovely changing table I had agreed to they sold, the cheek 😤

I'm sure you will sleep better tonight. Mine has been rubbish altogether. I need to pee so much during the night and my sides hurt from sleeping on my side even with my magic pregnancy pillow. Looking into a mattress topper, the things no one tells you eh! I am also permanently exhausted these days. Anyone else?

But as my mum reminded me the other day we are growing a tiny human, which made me smile. Pretty awesome when you think about it. Especially the journey we all took to get to this point, go us! 💪

Happy Monday ladies xx

Hey @OM82

Goodness, that's absolutely mad about nursery places, oblivious here too 🤣

Can't believe you would have to start thinking about that before you even give birth, bonkers.
So much to think about.

Yeah I think a decent car seat is important and my friend swears by it, especially for us folk eith back issues already. Ooh treat yourself to a massage for sure! I don't get them very often but have been really ache too and it felt divine, and was so relaxed after. Just get someone who is trained in pregnancy massage/ see a physio I would say. I have a pelvic health physio app next week to do with my back. Getting first class treatment through my work, have to be some perks 😉

Our scan was so detailed, they could even see the wee bladder. And checked for cleft palette and showed us each little finger and toe, the chambers of the heart and symmetry of the brain and lots more. Was incredible. Weird how it differs from place to place, probs depends a lot which sonographer you get on the day. A bit like ivf consultants, some of whom were much better than others in my experience!

The sun is actually shining here after weeks of rain. Going to have a wee read on my lounge before dinner 😎

Thanks for the nursery heads up! Another thing on the to do list 🙈 xx

Amazing news @BambiOnIce80!!! 🥳 it's such a relief isn't it and exciting to start really making plans. My wee guy was yawning too!

How you feeling about extra scans? I know before you wanted as little as possible? Did they also offer for you consultant time as ivf? I was told they'd be in touch after week 20 scan.

Great news on the free pram @OM82! My wee sis has been saving her pram and cot for me and I think it will be nice to be same stuff my wee nephew slept in (even if cot comes with his gnaw marks ha ha!). Also, got a bassinet from my bestie up north (which another friend also used which I find really nice!) and a bag of clothes too.

Very strange seeing the bassinet each day now!! Def makes it seem more real. I've always wanted a big miffy light so might splash out on one of those.

@Bella1984 amazing that they think of pregnant women for massages. And it gave you a good nights sleep. I slept well on fri and sat so thinking maybe scan anxiety but then back to rubbish last night ☹️

@Bella1984 I'm talking with my boss this week but I was thinking week 36 or 37. I'm totally desk based. Work is busy as started a new job when I moved to Edinburgh but starting to calm down. I'm finance based and financial year jan to dec so works out well with due date I'll miss a whole financial year as things change year to year. Silver lining of a Christmas baby ha ha!

@OM82 that is crazy about nursery places. Thanks for heads up!!! There is a forest school about 30 min walk/10 min cycle from my new house so I'm thinking about one of those too. A friend is also obsessed with the Montessori nurseries so I was going to read up on those as well.

I didn't think my scan was super clear but my DP's dad could see teeth! (He is a dentist).

I was going to ask how your vaccine went! Hope you feel better soon. I have my second next Monday.

I was thinking of reusable nappies as my sis raved about how easy they were. She used non-reusable for first few weeks though as she said it was good to not think about it right at the start and then switched over.

I had to fill in maternity form last week and I put down for week 39 but to take a week's AL straight before. I've got 4 week's AL left to use up, so I'll either use to go part time a bit before or just finish up early, my manager is being very nice and totally flexible about it. I told the rest of my team last week and they were all gratifyingly worrying about what they are going to do without me keeping them organised (all older men who struggle with technology and hark back to the days you just drove around a forest and cut down whatever trees you liked, rather than having to get permissions and stuff!) It's good to tell them though so I'm not having to make excuses to be more office based, my role is quite flexible so I can easily change my focus - I just am not used to sitting at a desk all day.

I hope you second jag doesn't make you feel as bad as me @Em916. We had a paracetamol crisis at 7 this morning (I was awake all night so took some about 1am) so definitely make sure you have some in stock just in case! Good idea to use non-reusable to start off with, I'm worried how little I know about babies as it is...

I hope you enjoyed your sunshine @Bella1984, we've got thunder here just now. The sonographer said she could see loads on the scan (though said they don't count fingers and toes) so I will just have to trust her expertise

I was also told I'd have to be consultant led because of ivf and that they would sort it out closer to the time, but then I need extra scans because of low papp-a so the midwife who spoke to me about it when we got the NIPT tests back booked the first scan and appointment at that point, maybe just to reassure me they were doing something about it!

Checkout the top lip and little chin on my poor bambino @OM82! 🙈 That is truly terrifying about the nursery place situation too! 😨 I had no idea it was that bad! 😰 How on earth are first timers like us supposed to know this stuff?! I think I'm going to stick my head in the sand for a bit longer 🙉 I'm sorry your second jab has left you feeling crap 💐 I hope you start feeling better ASAP.x

I was pretty happy with the idea of the extra scans to start with @Em916, but now it's sinking in a bit I'm already thinking "does that mean they think things are going to go wrong and they need to keep a close eye on me?! 🤔😨" 🤦🏻‍♀️ And yes, I've got an appointment with the consultant in October. Not because of the IVF though - just because 41 is apparently old! 🙄 I think the big bambino means I'd be heading that way regardless... there goes my hopes for a waterbirth 😏 Excellent news on your haul of free stuff! 😃 We sadly have no such luck 😏 I've had the same with the hit and miss sleep too - not bad for 2 nights on the trot and then only managed 3 hours last night 😩 On the bright side, I've used my NHS discount to finally order that pregnancy pillow I've been eying up - I'll let you know if it makes a difference or not 😴

@Bella1984 urgh to the 11 hour shift tomorrow! 😰 Thank goodness you have Wednesday off! I'd sleep all day (well, maybe once I get my pillow I would! 😂). On the when to go off work front, I think my 'week of confinement' (what a phrase! 🙄) should be the 20th of December (with EDD being the 24th). If I'm right then I should have enough leave to go on annual leave from either the last or second to last week of November and still have about 4 days to play with (aside from what I've already got booked off)... not that I've thought about it much! 😬 My energy levels are going up and down, but I'm certainly not fancying my commute until the bitter end when I'm already getting out of breath on even small!🤦🏻‍♀️ hills 🥴

I'm sure it's not that bad @BambiOnIce80! Might just be the angle . I'll try and work out how to upload the photos I've got and you can see how bad they can be... My sister is convinced I'm lying that I don't know the sex but there's no way you can figure it out.

Have you got any more midwife appointments? I had one yesterday and was surprised when she said since I'm having 4 weekly scans from 28 weeks there's no point in having any more midwife appointments until 37 weeks to do my birth plan! She also said that they're not running any antenatel classes due to covid, there may be an online one but she thought the timing won't work out. I got in a panic about that as I have no idea what to do with a baby so booked myself onto a NCT class in Stirling which will hopefully be useful.

Anyway, I hope you're all doing okay and keeping well. I go out for a coffee occasionally with a couple of neighbours at the weekend and on Sunday my 80+ year old one whispered to me on Sunday "I don't really think you can keep it a secret any more, you are looking quite big" so I think the village gossip mill is about to kick into action...