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?

Congratulations Kaz- hope everything improves and that you are home soon with you little baby!!!!

Yay Kaz! Welcome to the world, Keziah! Hope you're both okay and enjoying getting to know each other, and that you get to go home soon (and well done both of you).

Excitable - I know what you mean... Sunday was one of those days when I wanted someone to piss me off so I could have a good argument with them! Then this morning I woke up at 5:45 worrying about, well, everything, really. Dh reassured me I'm much less of a freak than I think I am, which was mostly reassuring and very nice of him considering how early it was. Also he reminded me that work on new bathroom starts this Monday coming and then I can HAVE A BATH!!! Mmm, wallowy...

Waynetta's solution to the idea of traipsing up and down stairs to check on the infant would surely be to stick the moses basket on the coffee table, handily next to the pizza boxes. I think I prefer the buns of steel option.

Mum flab amplifies, really? Gosh. So when dh is talking to the baby he must sound like a giant! Plus, he keeps trying to influence it (e.g. "the musical episode of Buffy is a big pile of poo", "no-one eats sprouts, really", "your mum doesn't know what she's on about", "good baby - fetch beer" in the hope that one of them will stick. I think I ought to nip this in the bud as I was under the impression that he would sound like he was talking from under a duvet and it would just learn to recognise his voice. Now I'm not so sure.

hi all, just to let you know Charlotte Helen arrived on Sunday weighing 8lb - had a good experience at the hospital despite eventually needing a ventouse - after 10 days over her due date Lottie needed to be forcibly evicted! She's just perfect and everything is going well so far!

Yippee for LauraT and welcome to the world Lottie.

Congratulations LauraT - I hope Lottie is being a little angel for you

Z.x

Congratulation LauraT.....Aaaaaaah i'm so excited to meet ours, all be it AGES away!! xx

Oh, and someone on my due date post brought something to my attention- The baby show! I had never even heard of it.

At Earls Court 17-19 Oct, and manchester sometime in Nov i think!

x

Awww - feeling a bit emotional reading about all these new additions to the world. Well done all you new mums - you've done a fantastic thing.

I have one more week left at work and I feel like getting my self signed off sick. What a bunch of fascists I work for. I'm already worried that I won't be able to finish my workload - and they're STILL trying to give me extra work to do! Grrr!!

I FINALLY have my Scan date- Wed 23rd July.

I'll be 14+2 by then, although better late than never! ha!

Hope everyone is well xx

Hello everyone just a few mins to myself and Put a few pics of Kezzy on profile

did anyone else have a funny reaction when their dad first saw them with a bump? my dad looked at me like i was an idiot or something - or that i was some sort of harlot. i don't think he's massively into the whole thing in a physical sense - although i know he's really looking forward to being a grandad. and i'm an only child and my mum died 6 years ago, so there's no one else to soften the blow and tell him he's got to get over it.

just wondered...

Aw, Kaz - how cute is she? Bless!

Congrats, Laura T - gosh, what a lot of babies are suddenly appearing! I want one...

Rrayray, honestly, you'll be at the 20 week scan before you know it, mate. I've just realised I'll be 23 weeks on Wed and THEN I realised that that means I've only got 17 weeks to go. On with the DIY, then...

Waitinggirl, I haven't seen my dad since March (we're not very close)when I'd just found out I was pg but he was quite happy and is a bit gooey about babies so we'll see. Mind you, I wasn't showing then. I sent him a copy of my 12 week scan photo and then called him a few weeks later as no response - he had got it, but just forgot to mention it . It's only his first grandchild, bless him. He's not a bad bloke but he does relate better to kids when they're tinies, and kind of went off me and my sister a bit when we got older and less adorable. Mind you, we were pretty revolting teens, so I can see his point.

I'll let you know how he reacts to Actuallly Visibly Pregnant Daughter - I bet he's a bit weird, too, although the daughter of his Mrs (not my mum as she also died, or my stepmum as they split up, he doesn't have much luck with women and it's well complicated) had her baby in March, so you never know, he might be a bit more normal than usual. Also, Mrs Dad is a very sensible woman and very nice, and keeps his weirder asocial tendencies in check (like asking people when they'll be leaving as they arrive, that sort of thing...).

I reckon the dads should, as you say, get over it. Daughters turn into women - I wonder if it's the ick factor of that that's making your dad go a bit green in the gills? Proves you're not his little girl any more, sort of thing.

I bet you're missing your mum at this time - big hug. My stepmum's ace in every way but it would have been great to have my mum around . Lots of questions I would have loved to ask her about her pgs.

Excuse massive post!

My Dad said "Hello Fatty" several times. Bloody comedian - thinks he's funny...

He spent two weeks at my house decorating for us (because he is a decorator and we're really shit at DIY) and it was a bit of a nightmare. He didn't want to fuss me, but was clearly quite upset about the reality of living with pregnancy. I think I'm a bit more honest about it than my Mum was. I'm certainly quite a bit less delighted about the whole business. I'm a bit rubbish at being pregnant, to be honest - I'm looking forward to the end result and I'm quite pleased at the idea of being a mummy, but it doesn't make me excited about the fat ankles or the backache or the inability to fit into any of my clothes, or shoes, or the need to go to bed so much. In fact, I'm looking forward to not being pregnant almost as much as I'm looking forward to being a mummy.

For me, this pregnancy has gone both quickly AND slowly. I'm 34 weeks now and I have taken to announcing that I have been pregnant FOREVER AND EVER. It's getting hard to imagine a time when I wasn't pregnant, and yet it doesn't feel very long ago since my first scan or since we were trying to conceive. Something weird has happened to time.

Hang on in there! Nice of your Dad to decorate, bless him, but if he thinks you're going to pretend not to be pregnant while he's there he can think on. Tell him to imagine you're not really pregnant, it's just a LOT of cake...

God, I'm only 23 weeks and I feel like I've been pregnant all year. Wish people would stop saying "not long now" - it's still 4 bloody months away. It's a relief to hear someone say they're pissed off with the whole business as non-pregnant people look shocked if I'm not 100% delighted and glowing the whole time.

Am just trying to work out, semi-seriously, if me and bump can get by financially without DH after big row this morning . Not bump's fault, but wonder what I'm doing bringing a child into the middle of this crap. Need a hug.

Plus, am going away with a mate this weekend (oh, woe is me - my life is, like, so harsh) and can't get hold of her to sort out how and when.

Sob.

hugs

Hope you can get hold of the friend, sounds like a weekend away is exactly what you need.

Feeling your pregnant forever thing, and i'm onyl 14 weeks, i think its largley because i'm waiting for my scan next week before telling the world. So sitting on a secret makes everything go So Slowly!

((((Saurus))))

I've been ready to kill several people only to wake up the next day and discover that the hormones have been playing with my brain again. Hope it's something that you can sort with Mr. Saurus. I agree it sounds like a good time for a weekend away.

rrrayray that's a long time to wait for your first scan, you must have chewed your knuckles off by now. Well done you for keeping the secret for so long, I think I broke the record at work for telling everyone soonest at about 6 weeks! I just found I couldn't wait. Have you found it difficult to hide pregnancy symptoms at work?

Is it just us three on here now? I wonder where everyone else is?

Thanks so much for hugs! The day is turning out a bit better now:

Have now received text apology from Mr Saurus (who is very sorry for getting in pissed last night and being an arse and is feeling much better although a bit guilty for being a bear with a self-inflicted sore head this morning). I have told him I'm going to swap him for a rocking chair on Freecycle next time... Baby Saurus has been playing up all day as well, perhaps as a reaction to moody hormones. Bless it, poor little mite.

I've managed to get hold of my mate, who is sat at home being sick (she's 20 weeks and still has morning sickness daily) but is still very keen to get away as her hubby has the man-flu and is expecting to be waited on hand and foot.

Why we're both still heterosexual/married, I'm not sure.

Rrayray, I know exactly what you mean about the secret thing - that was (so far) definitely the slowest bit of being pregnant. I though I'd given the game away loads of times, but most people were a bit surprised (apart from one girl who guessed the DAY after the test came up + and has now been burned as a witch). Although a couple of people did think I was going to the loo a lot. I love that bit in the Rough Guide to Pregnancy and Birth where a couple of people think the author has a coke habit or bulimia because she can't get through dinner without three trips to the loo...

Lol - maybe you could bang Mr Saurus and Mr Mate's heads together - do you think that would work?

It's not surprising we're all falling out really, I suppose - pregnancy is a massive lifestyle change that I wasn't really prepared for, so I don't know why I expect Mr Excitable to be prepared. Getting pissed and being an arse is going a bit far, though. At least he is sorry.

I have the rough guide as well - isn't it brilliant? It's so nice that it's not clinical or patronising. I find it quite hard to avoid both.

I havent got the rough guide- V. funny about the coke habit/bulimia thing!!

Well, its a long story- But the systems havent really been hard to hide from work- simply because i'm the luckiest woman ever that i'm not working! I Graduated univeristy in may, and must have been pregnant doing my final exams, its just perfect timing, we're over the moon. Mr Ray has been dying for children for YEARS, but it made sense for the future for me to get my degree under my belt. Anyway, i had planned to work (i'm now qualified as a surveyor) through the pregnancy, but almost as soon as i graduated i was hit by the worse morning sickness, and it wasnt until a day or two ago that i was able to even venture a metre or two from the toilet. Had a lovely few sicky free days, had a bit of a relapse today, but still starting to get SLightly better!

Yes, its a LONG time to wait for my Scan.... But its partly our fault. We moved house only about a month ago, so it seemed to take them a while to get me into the system.

Can't wait for hopefully a lovely happy scan on wednesday and finally Spill the Beans!! The parents & in-laws and my BEST friend know, but nobody else! Luckily my sickness means i dont have any bump yet, but i am only 13+4 at the moment.

As first timers, when did you both show? As my Due in Jan feb seems to be full of second + timers who are all hosting little bumps already!

Oh yes, and True, it seems VERY quiet on this thread, maybe everyone has had their babies?

Systems should read Symptoms, Doh!

I had a little bump at about six weeks and was out of normal clothes and in maternity clothes by 10 weeks!! You know that graph on your maternity records that shows how big your bump is supposed to be? Well, I've never made it into that graph - I've always been hovering somewhere above the line. Scans consistently show a normal size baby in a big bump, but the last one was 16 weeks ago, so I am a bit nervous that I've got a bruiser in there.

What perfect timing that was, rrrayray, I am very jealous as work nearly killed me and I had to take lots of time off sick. Problem is that while I feel like shit, I'm blooming and look really, really well, so it just looks like I'm swinging the lead...

Anyway, I've done my last day at work for a year now, so I'm a happy woman!

I'll be thinking of you on Wednesday...

i have no maternity records or Anything yet!!!!!! My first scan is this week like i said and i'll be 14 +2 weeks, its because we moved house about a month ago, so we've had to get into the system here in Essex. Thursday is my first midwife appointment. Exciting week for me this week!!!

i know, i've been VERY lucky in my situation. But that said, my doctor made it clear to me when i went to see him with Chronic Sickness at 6 weeks that i would have been signed off for sure. i couldnt even move more than a few metres from a toilet. Miserable times.

Although things seem to be getting slowly better.

Excitable, So how far along are you? Alot further than me if you've gone onto maternity leave!!

One of my best friends is being induced today, shes 10 days over due, and while i'm sooooo excited for her and to meet her baby... i want to meet mine! Loooooooong time before that though!

I have the thrilling task of filling out the OH's Tax returns today, and then seeing our accountant later. I think the figures are going to blurr into eachother in my current baby brain state!

Sorry for the waffle! xx

Hi all (or rather, both - indeed, where is everyone?),

Blee - morning sickness was grim. I got fairly lucky and just went off a lot of different foods (so I ahve a cupboard full or raisins I was craving but now don't want) but I've known others who haven't been feeling so great either. My mate who went on the spa weekend with me - it was ace, by the way! - is about half the size of me all over as she had rotten morning sickness for a while whereas I eat like a horse with a tapeworm and have just gone up a pants size. Bit comfier than wearing tight ones, though...

Bump wise, hmm. I had to get maternity trousers at 8 weeks becuase the waistband of my normal trousers digging in was SO painful it made me cry, but I guess I've been really showing to outside observers for about 8 weeks. It does depend on what I'm wearing as well, and I had a bit of a tummy to start with, so it wasn't like being really thin and then going "ooh - a bump".

Mind you, the other week one of the men at work asked me how far gone I was and when I said "5 months" he giggled and said "holy crap" or something similar... At least he didn't ask if it's twins.

Excitable, I am also convinced that I am gestating a megababy that we will be forced to name Goliath. I don't want to get into the papers (New Mum In Shock After 20lb Baby Takes Week To Arrive).

Good luck Wednesday, Rrayray - just think, this means that your 20 week scan really will be in only 6 weeks or so. Hope all is well and you get a good piccy.

4 days left until I go on 4 weeks' leave, can't wait.

OW! Got to go, bumposaurus is kicking the heck out of me and I need to go for a walk round the block to calm it down.

PS Mr Saurus now not being a dickhead due to extreme guilt. Poor thing is now Mr Contritosaurus and no task is too menial or whim too small to indulge . Totally worth it.

I am sort of around just not got a lot of time as kez wants to feed, be held all the time, or sleep only with me in bed with her and I am too much of a softy to say no Today we can't risk her crying anyway as Aunty Sue, who we are staying with worked last night and is working tonight so we are trying to keep the noise down have resorted to carrying Kez in a sling today.

Hi, I've not had chance to log on for a while, but I'm still here and with a bump that is growing too quickly (although week I feel just fat, after feeling nicely pregnant shaped for a few weeks)

Rrayray - good luck with the scan this week. I've got my 20 week scan next week (at 19 weeks) and can't wait to see my little'un again, but also I don't want it to happen cause that means I won't see him/her after that til their born!

Take care all

Z.x

Mr Saurus reckons I should have a window, like a Teletubby, so we can see what Baby Saurus is up to. I can see a couple of disadvantages to that ("Liar, you did eat the last flapjack - I can see it right there!") but on the whole it sounds like a design classic.

Other ways in which I resemble a Teletubby - I am quite round, have no short-term memory so keep repeating things and am overly attached to my handbag...