First-timers this year . . .

[TJuice]

I was just wondering how many are there of us . . .

I am due end of June and love my antenatal thread as there is so much good advice there but thought it may be nice to share a little with others who are new to this whole thing too.

Anyone interested?

cococat - hair is dead and cannot absorb anything. Only total scalp coverage by dye might even have a small chance of being absorbed so you'll be fine. I had mine done at about 9 weeks with no worries whatsoever.

Same going for nail varnish - nails are dead protein so can't absorb and most manufacturers are just too scared to take responsibility for anything - same as with medications - probably loads are fine but no-ones going to do drug trials on pregnant women are they?! Annoying really. while I'm on a roll I'm sure it's the same for jacuzzis etc as your body core temperature doesn't rise - just your skin....

(slinks back into quiet corner after rant looking for chocolate...)

cococat- have been going to have my highlights done regularly whilst pregnant. Told the salon and they took the necessary precautions...equally have been regularly having my nails done, especially since I lost the ability to bend/see my feet. I did the research and spoke to the salon peeps just to be sure, but with 2 weeks to go and knowing how many photographs I'll be in I'll be buggered if I'm going to look any worse than I have to .

Thanks for the (reassuring) replies everyone! Its so nice to have somewhere like this to ask silly questions as I can't ask friends or family yet as haven't told people etc etc. Its all so new!

Baby saurus is okay! All bits present and correct and it is SO cute! It was wiggling to get out of the way when the sonographer poked it with the ultrasound, bless it. We don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet and I don't mind either way but it's there and it's got fingers and toes and everything - woo!

Plus, it's not twins!

Great news saurus!!

Ask away Coco...'swat we're here for...

cococat I had my hair re died at about 23 weeks I spoke to one of the tutors in Jan thinking they would know the most up to date info an was told very limited problems she had never heard of any in all the years she had been cutting. I waited until after 12 weeks just to be safe but was reasured there was no real reason to. There is a slight possibility that the colour may not take as it normally does but the tutor (had mine done at college) said she had never seen that. Had mine died more to my natural colour (I go red normally plain brown) so when I am really big and fat or have just delivered it does not look too crap, and hopefully will hardly show.

It is so wonderful to see little one again isn't it and to know everything is there

Anyone else have really hungry days?

Today I just cannot satisfy my hunger

4am breakfast bar
7am Breakfast
10am fruit and almonds
12pm cup a soup breakfast bar
1pm Lunch (sausages roast veg and potato)
3pm finished off sausages in sarnie and tomato
6pm Broccoli in cheese sauce plus potato
8pm breakfast plus bar
10pm fruit and almonds

Now I am flippin starving again

Kaz - yup! I feel like such a pig sometimes and on other days I don't feel like I've eaten much more than normal! They're all fairly sensible things though. It's not like you're stuffing your face with cream cakes and haribo, is it? Baby wants more food. Not your fault, but there it is...

Think we might have finally made a decision on a pram, but we're going to mothercare to see some prams in situ before we make our final decision today. This was more difficult than choosing our house - there seems to be so many things to think about... I'm so pleased we're nearly there, I was beginning to think we'd never make a decision.

So, does anyone else still get the occasional wave of OMG WTF I REALLY AM ACTUALLY PROPERLY PREGNANT!!!!? 24 weeks in and I'm still in a happy smily daze about it Can't believe I'm growing a person!

Yep cyteen get quite a bit of the oh my god I am pregnant feelings, still half think I am dreaming then look at my tummy which is not only soooo big but every so often it moves visibly.

I have under 11 weeks until me due date so I will be meeting this little person I am incubating in my tummy so should be something between 6 and 12 weeks until I finally meet the person who keeps tap dancing on my bladder

I henna my hair and haven't done it since I got pregnant. I'm not massively looking forward to it as it makes my hair smell horrible for days and involves bending over a saucepan of green gunk for about half an hour while DH helps apply the bits I can't see properly - truly, married life chez saurus is just as romantic as ever.

On the other hand, I do feel the need for less stripy looking hair so I think tomorrow night might be the night. I need to do it this week as we have a mate moving into our attic for a bit while he looks for work and I don't want anyone else apart from me, DH and the occasional nosy neighbour to see my scary hennaing outfit.

Btw, did anyone else just totally give up on non-maternity clothes at 13 weeks? I have just discovered trousers with integral stretchy bits and may never go back to normal ones. Mmmm, comfy.

ruth- was into maternity trews by about 10 weeks- they are so comfy and very useful when you go through the insaney hungry phase. Now at the end and the only things that I want to wear are yoga pants....it's all downhill once you get used to the stretchy!

I?m a first timer!!!! approx 6 weeks. took dig test yesterday. Soooo excited so is DH. Due in January. Going to doctor tomorrow for absolute confirmation? but I?m pretty sure. Insatiable craving for ginger beer and metal taste in my mouth.

Welcome on board, chefswife - if the test says yes, then I bet you are. Congratulations!

I know what you mean, makecakes. I was a big enough slob before but I bet you anything I'll be living in sweatpants after this.

Ruth I only have 3 items of maternity clothing 2 bras and one pair of trousers. Most of the clothes I am wearing are ordinary stuff but a size bigger. Best buy was 2 pairs of stretchy trousers from Peacocks £4 each and just soooooo comfy But then I was not small to start with and in a 24, strange thing is these trousers are only a 22-24 too I certainly have a very big lump though.

chefswife congratulations. Not sure doctors do much in the way of confirming these days all my GP did was refer me to the midwife. Tests these days are so accurate the you only get false negatives no false positives.

The thing with pre-pregnant clothing is that I had NO boobs before and suddenly hey! there they are, failing to fit into bras, tops etc. Oh well, at least they're the same size as each other this week. All my lovely bras dig in like hell now, and my jeans hurt me so much I thought there was a problem with the baby - cue histrionics . However, the new comfy bras won't go with even quite a modest scoop necked t-shirt, so more shopping ensued...

Plus, there is much nicer stuff around than even when my mate was pregnant 2 years ago. H&M was ace for tops and trousers last week, New Look was okay but Next sucked - I can't wear pyjamas, frayed cut-offs or vests for work. By the way, Mamas and Papas has a clothing sale online. I wouldn't normally even look there because of the £££ but some trousers are 1/4 normal price.

A friend with a much posher job than mine is looking for a maternity suit, not just trousers, top and cardi - anyone got any ideas?

Excitable - ain't pram shopping great? It's almost as confusing as car shopping - in fact, I'm sure I've test driven more prams now, than I ever did cars. What are you getting?

Not that it's all about the shopping or anything...

Congratulations chefswife! Great news, hope you're feeling good so far

ruthosaurus - I'm still in my old clothes apart from one pair of stretch-panelled maternity jeans. However, I can ascribe this to two main factors: I am cheap very skint, and most of my clothes didn't fit properly beforehand anyway

cyteen - I think all the shopping is merely displacement activity. I think that both DH and I have not really realised yet that there will be an ACTUAL BABY in a few short months, as opposed to some weird thing that lives in my stomach and makes me feel tired. Therefore we continue blithely as normal with nary a thought for the future, la la la

Deep down, I probably just think I'm getting a bit fat and will be rather shocked when it starts kicking! Meanwhile, saurus jr is biding its time and quietly getting on with the business of growing some proper eyes and ears...

Also, I spend far too much time on the net looking at lovely maternity clothing that is way outside my price range and going "Ooh, I never knew I needed one of them", and getting sucked in by the evil power of adverts and internet shopping.

you get sick of the maternity stuff after a while though. i am now 33 weeks and refuse to buy any more although its getting harder and harder to find stuff to wear to work right now (and I work in advertising so its "creative"). bottoms are particularly hard i think - so i am stuffing myself into various stretchy dresses.

i have reverted back to my bad old shopping ways - ebaying vintage dresses and buying pointless shoes . . . . i think i'm in denial . . . .

Agree with T- maternity gear gets boring after a while, but I am still buying with a week to go...kee growing out of things and am living in yoga pants and cropped yoga pants. Grateful for the weather because at least I can live in birkenstocks and not have DH put my shoes on.

Hope everyone is well, blooming and has not suffered too much with the heat. Hated it it was so muggy all I waned yesterday was rain how on earth am I going to cope in July when I am so much bigger I have lost my ankles too my feet are swollen most of the time, The Lump is behaving though which makes a change and getting those tummy wobbling kicks which is so funny. LO's fav time for exercising appears to be during my college exams (had 2 this week got another one next week). I have finished the presentation though for Tuesday and the essay and other work for the following Tuesday so feeling just a little smug Think I have no more than 2 more pieces of work to do now a presentation for Psychology we find out about properly on Monday (when I am at my consultant appointment but one of the girls is collecting info for me), a maths project which looks (although I could be wrong) easy and finishing off this independent study

Did some shopping on Wed for hospital bag me PJ's for hossy and some gert big maternity pads for padding an comfort, and baby itsy bitsy hat, tiny socks and a little cardi all cream with teddy bears on. Mum is coming up in a just over a week with the stuff she has just in case little one decided to come early

Just cancelled my GTT again the midwife never got back to me about what to get other than lucusade (local chemists being useless) I forgot I was not supposed to be eating and had the usual snack at 4am. I had a chat with the nurse (and a nurse friend couple of weeks ago) and have made up my mind just because it is part of the protocol for us women who have a raised BMI is not a good enough reason to be put through feeling crap all day (because I will if I don't eat 2-4 hourly). Got a consultant appointment on Monday an going to make a real pain of myself they want me to have it they are going to have to do some proper convincing and give me the bloody research which proves it is needed.

makecakes! it going sooooo quickly - and you're dragging me with you too!

Tell me about it T- have you heard about neenz...she's had her twins!!!!

Spoke too soon about the trews too...now shoes that I bought last week don't fit this week. The joys of water retention- I look like a Hobbit!!!!