Due Sept '08: We're halfway there part 2....

[LittleConnie]

Come on over!

Adding myself on to the "guess the gender" list. I am jealous of lots of you as I have 13 days to wait until my scan. I am assuming a boy as everyone in my husband's family has boys. I would like a girl so we have one of each.

Crabby - boy??
Kiskidee - GIRL
WombFor1More- boy? BOY
Debithescot- boy ??
lollyheart- boy? BOY
Starlight- girl?
Barnpot- boy?
jearund- boy?
Potxola- boy- GIRL
Sassafrass- girl- GIRL
biglips- girl?
becaroo- boy??
Talia1- boy - GIRL
izzybiz- Girl??
slinkiemalinki- boy? - BOY
Carrieon- girl?
MelT76- Girl?
LittleConnie- boy?
Micromum- Girl??
mustsleep- Girl?? - confirmed as a BOY!!!
Lollipopmother- Boy? - Confirmed as a girl
kel78- Boy??
expatmom2be- boy? - GIRL(?)
charitygirl- boy ?
ellideb- girl?- BOY
feelingpositive- girl? - Confirmed as GIRL!!
Gracie14 - boy? BOY
Bogie - girl?
eandz - boy - definitely a boy!
Worthog - boy?
Luboo - boy?
KashaSarrasin - boy??
LouiseAnn - boy?

Hi everyone, good to see the list being updated. I don't get to see my baby for another week. i'll be sad until then....the good thing is, I FINISHED all my EXAMS today!!! I'm DONE and now I can just focus on being a mommy!

Izzybiz I am so glad someone is feeling the same as me! I already have a daughter and for some reason really want another girl (can't explain it, maybe to do with feeling comfortable with what you've already got, also would like for her to have a sister). Anyway, I have been thinking the same thing about all the chances for a girl disappearing as more and more come back from scans saying they've got a girl!! Ridiculous I know and I think I have just about convinced myself it's a boy!

sunshinemummy where did you hear that fact about your odds of having the same/different sex second time round? I can't see how that can be true. Surely the odds are always 50/50 (although there are slightly more boys born in the world than girls).

I can see the point about having ds and dh with the same initial. That could be annoying. Also I guess if you had 2 sons or 2 daughters with same initial you could have the same problem with not knowing who letters are addressed to. A ds and a dd with same initials shouldn't be so much of a problem though.

I'm doing a cover lesson at the moment, its a year 7 art lesson and they are working in silence, it's lovely!

and well done eandz for getting to the end of your exams, must be a huge weight off your mind. How long do you have to wait for results?

DH felt the baby kick last night!!! For the first time!!! I've had his hand on my belly for the past week saying 'did you feel that?' 'no' 'did you feel THAT?' 'NO!' 'what about that?' 'no, I can't feel a bloody thing'
Then last night in bed he went, 'woah, I felt that!' as baby kicked right in the middle of my belly and into his palm. It was so exciting!

At last! Although, saying that, it'll probably be another week before he feels the next one.

imoscar and sunshine I will probably be going back to work after 6 months, have only saved up enough for that. hopefully will be able to do a few days a week from home...but we shall see. are you both taking the full year off?

my professors should be individually emailing them to me since they know i dont want to walk across the park if i don't have to. ( i am soo lazy now)

...although now i'm wondering how long i should wait till i start my masters? any suggestions?

Thank you Sunshinemummy, your words helped.

And I'm taking just less than 7.5 months off Digitalgirl. I'd love to take a whole year off but my company pays: full pay for 12 weeks, 75% pay for 4 weeks, 50% pay for 4 weeks and the rest as SMP. As the SMP will be almost swallowed by my company car cost, we couldn't afford for me to take any more time off that I am doing (26 weeks plus hols at start and end of mat leave). I finish work on 22 August and go back on 1 April.
I'm having to save a few thousand to cover my salary for the SMP weeks as it is - like to keep my details a bit private but I'm happy to share that I'm a 40% taxpayer, so you can imagine how much I'm losing.....

Only downside of Sept baby is I won't get lots of lovely summer weather to take him/her to park before I go back.

I have thought of taking a day's holiday each week for the first few weeks though, to ease myself back in to full time work.

Wow. I work for a small company - I get 90% for 6 weeks and then I'm pretty much on my own after that! Have been saving furiously for months because I really want to take as much time as possible. I'm also 40% tax. Really gonna feel it when my salary stops.....

Plus DH is only really just getting his own company sorted out, so I wouldn't say we have a regular income there. Hope I'm not being naive in thinking that we will manage! gulp.

I've been with the company for years though and they haven't reviewed their Mat leave policy since I've been here, so I'm hoping to negotiate something, even if its just a few more weeks at 90%, anything will help. Fingers crossed...

digital love your description of DH feeling the kicks! I have had the same very recently and its an absolute joy being able to share it with him. I've wanted him to feel the baby move ever since I could feel little scratches and movements inside. Last weekend was the first time we both felt it from the outside, and ever since it's been going crazy! somersaults and backflips all over the place. I can see it move across my tummy. Don't think I will ever get tired of that.

Question: is anyone deliberately not finding out the sex of the baby?

Our next scan is May 12th and I'm still in two minds. But my curiosity will probably get the better of me. I think it's a boy but that's based on absolutely nothing but instinct.

you know... i can't believe that some people actually want it to be a surprise! (but I do respect it very much)... it's soo disciplined and sweet.

i had to know as soon as possible.

Debi it's something to do with genetics but I can't remember where I heard it. It's been borne out in real-life as well. Most people I know have two of the same and there has been a glut of second babies at nursery recently - all apart from one the same sex and their brother or sister.

DG and IOM I'll be taking 6-7 months off, which is the same as I did with DS.

eandz ha ha I'm sure I'll cave in and HAVE to find out!! Just too curious, especially now its kicking and I feel like I'm getting to know it better.

I'm hoping to take 9 months to a year, depending on how I feel and how the finances go. Might not be able to manage it with the hefty new mortgage, but the NHS is very good for maternity entitlements. I get 8 weeks full pay, then 18 weeks half pay, then 13 weeks SMP. I'm hoping to go back 3 days a week after that but we'll see how we go.

surely I'm not finding out the sex... want to find out the old-fashioned way

Littlecon I think i know what employer you have, as I have the same maternity package . I too am finding out the good ol fashioned way. We have it written down in a sealed envelope though as FIL is terminally ill and we want him to know if needed.
You must be so pleased your exams are over eandz, have you any plans for the next few months?
Dobbins My bump dosent move much either compared to last time.
Imo my morning sickness has almost gone completely. I can certainly cope now. I am very easily thrown off balance though. Dont worry about work, you will soon find a routine that works well for you.
lollyheart congrats on the Boy news
sunshine congrats on the Girl news.
Wow we certainly move fast. I am going to a wedding in the lakes for the long weekend (child free as family having ds) . I am so glad I am going to be well enough to enjoy it. I will have alot to catch up on come tues. Take cae guys. Have a lovely long bank holiday weekend. xx

surely My company only changed its maternity pay policy last year, so I'm damn lucky I know. Until last yr it was same as yours is.

Dunno bout you but I felt torn between saving lots of money just to cover bills etc whilst I'm on mat leave and going back to work earlier and spending the money on baby stuff - in the end I reckoned the time was more important than 'things', so we're stretching our savings to the limit just so I can take 7.5 months off. It's our mortgage that's the killer - just over £200k (and I live in the North West, so no London weighting for me!). Perhaps I share too much with you all.... that's me.

The thing that I keep focusing on is that nothing is ever as bad as you think and you will cope with bills and find £££ somehow surely

One big relief is that DP's daughter turns 18 this month, so the maintenance payments can finally stop!!!!!

Carrion - I also have awful indigestion, constantly burping and unfortunately I've also got bad reflux so more often than not the burps don't end well . I have been getting heartburn too but thankfully I've not had it badly for well over a week.

How is everyone else coping with eating? I'm 22+1 and for the last couple of weeks I've been incapable of eating anything near what I used to, I never get more than 1/2 way through my meal, and I'm regularly sick after my meal as well, just because I feel so ruddy uncomfortable rather than feeling sick/ill.

I was going to start working straight away since I had a job waiting till I finished this degree...but now that I'm pregnant a year before I expected to be, I think maybe I should take this year off? I'm not really sure if it's a good idea...

surelyyoucantbeserious we didn't find out what it is. Partly because we couldn't decide anyway if we wanted to know, partly because a friend at work recently didn't get what they were told they were getting and partly to wind up my best friend who like eandz can't understand why I wouldn't want to know!

Oh God, last night I woke up with awful cramp in my calf, took three goes to wake up my partner to help (finally screamed the place down whilst smacking him on the shoulder ) because I couldn't get rid of it on my own. I'm walking with a limp today, the last time I got cramp it took a week for my calf to stop hurting! Has anyone else had cramp like this (I know people get it but really, should it be this bad?!?!?)

lollipop I haven't had bad cramp yet this time but did last time and it takes me a few days for my calf to feel normal again too. I do remember the last time waking up screaming it was so sore. I nearly got it the other night when I woke up during the night and went to roll over, I felt it coming and stretched it out just in time.

but what about cramp in those hard to stretch places like my toes?

Ow that sounds painful! Hope it gets better soon. Sorry Littlecon* of course its the NHS, just read your post again. Doh.

This is our first baby and we're not going to find out the sex. I'm sure I'll be curious on the day, but we'd really like it to be a surprise. I too have had calf cramp but not as bad as that lollipop, you poor thing!