First time mums expecting Spring babies

[FlirtyThirty]

Hello!

I'm expecting my first baby on 24 April. I'm currently only 4+4 but have NO symptoms at all! Have just retested as I'm convinced I've imagined it!

Went to Dr yesterday to share the news and have to wait for hospital 'choose & book' paperwork so that I can arrange first scan for around 10 October.

There seems to be so many decisions to make all of a sudden...

Anyway...just wondered how you other first timers were finding things...or your other halves for that matter. Mine is still in total shock in spite of this being a planned baby!

Flirty x

hi guys!
just catching up on 4 busy days on the pringtime mum's thread! I'm loving it - god, there is such strength in numbers, and in reading about others experiencing exactly what you are too!

So here goes...

pinkadink your comments about work are soooo not daft! as brightside said, i could have written that! i do spend long minutes at work watching my belly - its become an important part of my day. i feel guilty if i haven't given bub any attention but after dinner rubs and bedtime stories make up for it a bit. but as for actually doing any work...purleeeese....i have never cared so little! its a healthy thing I think - we're alowly making the transition out of the work place and into the home for a while. i think its quite beautiful!

so i'm 30 weeks now and want to say to all of you approaching the 3rd trimester - its a bit of a daunting change at 1st, physically adjusting, but now I feel great again as I'm used to my slowness, and general bigness and so i don't feel so overwhelmed.

i'm getting that "strech" feeling that elpis talks about every few weeks now, and then it goes away for a bit. it must be the growth spurts taking place.

i'm doing a pain coping workshop this saturday with DH, its just 3 hours but i hope to learn some things to put in my "birthing toolbox"!!

welcome bellybaba!! daisyj - missed you last night - did you give me your seat as you were leaving per chance? was looking forward to meeting you!

rosa x

Ooh, rosa - do share tips after your pain-coping class. What a great idea. How funny you only worked out it was me afterwards. I should have said when we met .

We had our recognising-the-stages-of-labour antenatal class last night. The midwife who does the classes is fantastic, and I'm feeling a lot more confident about the whole thing already. Which is good, as I was starting to veer towards quivering wreck if I though too much about certain things. Still can't handle the idea of perineal massage, though... Ugh... But thanks for the image of getting your head around it brightside

And with that thought...

Hello,
brightside I want to find out the sex of baby but hubby doesn't. Will see what our 2nd scan shows. Hopefully baby will be in full view haha. But really we don't mind what we have as long as baby is healthy. As for prams, am looking at the maxi cosi travel system thingie but am intending on wearing baby as much as I can so will be investing in a hub a bub wrap. But I've still got a while to go to get to your stages ladies. Am looking forward to having an actual bump that nobody will mistake as just flab haha.
As for the Kingston meet up I am all for that.

Is anyone doing yoga? I can only find the shiva rooms but not sure if anywhere else does it around Kingston?

Morning all! Just got back from my MW appointment (I'm 28+3 now). She told me that there aren't any antenatal classes in English available, but that she would make me an appointment with an American midwife to chat about things in a few weeks instead.

Today she was explaining the system here for childbirth - apparently nobody does homebirths here since it isn't covered by medical insurance. I wasn't planning on having it at home anyway, but it was interesting to hear it. Also, here they have some options to help with the pain that I hadn't heard of before e.g. an injection of sterile water in your back under the skin, which is supposed to offer some pain relief. Has anyone heard of that before?

They also have acupuncture and massage available on the labour ward for anyone who wants it, along with birthing pools and heat packs etc. Sounds fab!

For those who were wondering about gestational diabetes I had the glucose tolerance test 3 days ago (everyone gets it here as a routine test). I had to drink a bottle of glucose stuff that tasted a bit like coke then wait an hour, have blood taken, wait another hour and have more blood taken. Also, I couldn't eat anything after 8pm the previous evening. It was actually ok and wasn't too bad - I took some jam sandwiches with me to eat straight afterwards!! Nothing to worry about at all.

Oops - bit of an epic post!

Hope you're all feeling good and that the babies are all thriving!

Morning all...

bellybaba I have heard of pregnancy yoga classes in Kew and Richmond but am not sure if that is any use to you? I can find out the details if you like? Good luck at the scan...we decided not to find out and to be honest, for a few days after the scan I regretted not finding out. Now I am back to being thrilled about the baby - regardless of the sex

kingston girls sorry - I can't do that weekend in February...we have a friends birthday lunch on the Saturday and want to go to the baby show on the Sunday. Is anyone free the weekend before? 21 / 22 February?

kalikaroo your hospital sounds rather good - a step up on some of the NHS ones!! We also get the Glucose tests as routine here (At 28 weeks I think). I am scheduled for mine in 3 weeks. I had better look up the restrictions on eating & drinking beforehand! (Have any other Kingston Ladies had theirs yet? Any tips?)

Did anyone else get rib pain when they were around 25 weeks? It is like a stitch in my side - mostly my right side but also occassionally my left side. I don't think it is the baby kicking yet - I am not sure that it is kicking so high yet? And the baby is being rather quiet this week - I miss its kicks!! Am very tempted to give it a few good pokes to try and get a response...

brightside - two things almost guaranteed to make Bo move are a cold sweet drink and doing pelvic floor exercises (weirdly - not sure why!). Have you tried either of those things? (Poking works too, sometimes, but I try to restrain myself ). Also, what you feel in your ribs depends very much on positioning of baby, I think. Around 25 weeks I started to feel tickling under my ribs on the right hand side, and had a couple of stitches too, which I hadn't had since very early on.

Hi All

I've taken a day off work today due to a sore upper back around my shoulders and a headache which came on yesterday. I hardly got any sleep last night as could not get comfortable at all, so was shattered this morning although headache wasn't as bad. Took it as a holiday rather than sick leave and I know I probably shouldn't have as I've been in bed most of today but feel like I've taken alot of time off sick this year (at the beginning with morning sickness and before Christmas with that awful cold) which is not like me. Anyway I was looking up upper back and shoulder pain in pregnancy on google later on today and came across some sites that say it can be a symptom of pre-eclampsia! I've also been feeling really breathless and tired recently, I've put on weight quite rapidly over the last few weeks and my rings have suddenly been feeling pretty tight. Anyway I know these are probably all just perfectly normal pregnancy symptoms and my back and shoulders are sore because I've lifted something the wrong way or haven't been sitting properly at work, but phoned my midwife to discuss and she said she'd like me to go tomorrow just so she can check my urine and blood pressure are okay. I'm probably being totally paranoid and should just stay away from search engines but am glad me and baby are getting checked over so I can put my mind at rest.

Brightside was reading your post and while looking up my symptoms and came accross this as a possible indicator of pre-eclampsia on the preeclampsia.org website 'This type of stomach pain, called epigastric pain by the medical profession, is usually under the right-side ribs. It can be confused with heartburn, gallbladder problems, flu, indigestion or pain from the baby kicking'. Now I really don't want to panic you and it's almost certainly just everything stretching in there (when I was 25 weeks I did have some kicks surprisingly high up so could easily be that too) but if it keeps bothering you or gets worse it may be a good idea just to check with your midwife to ensure everything's fine. Really sorry to pass on my hormonally induced pregnancy paranoia as I'm sure every normal healthy pregnancy symptom could also be a sign of something more serious but I just thought I'd let you know what I came across.

Hey brightside and daisyj - I have lots of tickling under my ribs on the right hand side (and sometimes the left hand side) as well as massive kicks above my bellybutton - the baby is moving around a lot at the moment and its very distracting watching my belly morphing into weirdy shapes during meetings!

pinkadink - sorry to hear you're feeling under the weather, fingers crossed midwife will tell you all is well tomorrow... i think it's very sensible to get everything checked out (brightside, are you going to give your midwife a call if your pains carry on?) - we're allowed to be paranoid as first-timers.

kingston girls - i can't make weekend of 21/22 feb, how about 14/15 march as brightside can't make 28 feb? we'll all be the size of small whales by then!

i am SOOOOOOOOO tired at the moment and so demotivated at work... got a list as long as my arm of things that need to be done before the baby arrives and can't imagine when i'm going to have the energy to do them. maybe i'll spring into nesting mode once maternity leave starts...

anyway - happy thursday (nearly friday - woop woop!) spring mums x x

Time for a new stats post, methinks. I'm losing track! Please add any new baby flavours!

March
2 March - Lolianja - Essex (but probably giving birth in Lancs)
23 March - Rosa7 - SURPRISE - Kings College London
24 March - BinkyB - TWINS - Chelsea & Westminster
28 March - ChocolateEclair - SURPRISE - North Yorkshire
28 March - DaisyJ ? SURPRISE ? Lewisham (home preferably)

April
3 April - skiingone - GIRL - Portland Hospital
3 April - Kalikaroo - SURPRISE - Scandinavia
4 April - Peaches174 - SURPRISE - Kings College London
8 April - Evs34 - GIRL - North Yorkshire.
9 April - BarbarellaNz - TRIPLETS - Chelsea and Westminster
11 April - SpringySunshine - Jessops Sheffield
12 April - Brettgirl2 - GIRL - Warwickshire
14 April - Girlylala0807 - Edinburgh
16 April - Pinkadink - SURPRISE - Edinburgh
18 April - Salbysea - Dorset
19 April - Kittycat8 - GIRL - Epsom Hospital
20 April - FlossieF - BOY - Birmingham
21 April - Beth29
23 April - Elpis - GIRL - Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, London
24 April - FlirtyThirty - SURPRISE - Kingston Hospital
27 April - Bicnod - Kingston Hospital
27 April - Littleduck - Kingston Hospital

May
1 May - BrightSideOfLife - SURPRISE - Kingston Hospital
1 May - Due1stMay09
2 May - Heverhoney - GIRL -QE Woolwich
15 May - Saz007 - SURPRISE - Durham

pinkadink - poor you . Definitely worth a trip to the midwife for reassurance and monitoring, I think. Hope you feel better after a rest today. You shouldn't feel guilty - imagine how much worse you'd feel if you didn't allow yourself and bump to rest when you needed to. Much better not to over stress your systmen. And step away from Google .

Bicnod - Work is so full on if I don't keep going I'll end up a complete mess, but some days ALL I want to do is think about Bo and play with baby stuff. I had to call my mum and a friend on Wednesday afternoon just to get it out of my system , which did help a bit. And as you can see, I'm MNing now when I should be working - but then it is Friday, and the afternoons are always really hectic, so it's the calm before the storm.

I've finally got around to getting DH to reduce the size of one of our wedding pics, so I could post it - keep meaning to update my profile, but too lazy - will do it now!

Have a great weekend everyone.

xx

Oh, and please add yourself to the list bellybaba and anyone else who hasn't.

x

Hi All

Been to midwife and everything fine as I was sure it would be . Good to have my mind put at rest though. Back and shoulders feeling much better today and managed to sleep alot better last night so think I must have just pulled something. Daisy I'm taking your advice and keeping away from Google in future .

Brightside, Bicnod and Rosa soooo glad I'm not the only one feeling demotivated at work. It's very nice to know others feel the same way. I think Rosa's comment about us slowly making the transition out of the workplace is spot on .

Other news here is we have decided to book a 4D scan for next Saturday. It's a bit of an indulgence but I can't wait to get a proper look at baby as I just got a brief look at NHS scans. Also think it will be really nice for baby to look at the DVD when they are older.

Forgot to mention in my last post but welcome bellybaba .

Hope everyone else and their bumps are doing well and looking forward to the weekend.

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last two days - I have been busy in meetings at work and hating every minute of it. Although slouching around trying to look interested has woken the baby up so I have been getting lots of prods & kicks all day

Thanks for all the answers on the rib pain. I must confess that I had started to get very worried that this new pain was coinciding with a lack of kicks. Today for the first time, I got a few hard kicks quite high above my belly button, so maybe it was the baby pushing upwards. But pinkadink I am being monitored for high blood pressure (Back to see the cardiologist next week actually) so that pre-eclampsia information was very interesting and bicnod if the pain comes back, I will definitely give the midwife a call!

pinkadink I am very glad that everything was OK and great news about the 4d scan!

bicnod I know what you mean about the long list. I keep having random thoughts about jobs I mustn't forget to do before the baby arrives, or things I mustn't forget to pack in to hospital bags. I have started making lists and leaving them around the house, might be worth having a list of the lists that I have created

daisy I love the wedding pic - you both look so happy! I hav been drinking tonnes of iced water for the last 2 days - so maybe that has woken the baby up. I have not been so diligent about the pelvic floor exercises...although a friend who has just had a baby said that she wishes she had done hers more and made me PROMISE to do mine. Better get started

kingston girls I am free on that weekend in March and would love a get together! We will all have huge bumps to compare

Hello, just to add myself to the list. Not going to have a spring chicken though so apologises,

March
2 March - Lolianja - Essex (but probably giving birth in Lancs)
23 March - Rosa7 - SURPRISE - Kings College London
24 March - BinkyB - TWINS - Chelsea & Westminster
28 March - ChocolateEclair - SURPRISE - North Yorkshire
28 March - DaisyJ ? SURPRISE ? Lewisham (home preferably)

April
3 April - skiingone - GIRL - Portland Hospital
3 April - Kalikaroo - SURPRISE - Scandinavia
4 April - Peaches174 - SURPRISE - Kings College London
8 April - Evs34 - GIRL - North Yorkshire.
9 April - BarbarellaNz - TRIPLETS - Chelsea and Westminster
11 April - SpringySunshine - Jessops Sheffield
12 April - Brettgirl2 - GIRL - Warwickshire
14 April - Girlylala0807 - Edinburgh
16 April - Pinkadink - SURPRISE - Edinburgh
18 April - Salbysea - Dorset
19 April - Kittycat8 - GIRL - Epsom Hospital
20 April - FlossieF - BOY - Birmingham
21 April - Beth29
23 April - Elpis - GIRL - Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, London
24 April - FlirtyThirty - SURPRISE - Kingston Hospital
27 April - Bicnod - Kingston Hospital
27 April - Littleduck - Kingston Hospital

May
1 May - BrightSideOfLife - SURPRISE - Kingston Hospital
1 May - Due1stMay09
2 May - Heverhoney - GIRL -QE Woolwich
15 May - Saz007 - SURPRISE - Durham

9 July-bellybaba Homebirthing

I'm still up for the Kingston meet up Feb or March should be cool with me as long as we know when. March would also give me a chance to catch up with all your lushious bumps lol.

Adding myself to the list:
March
2 March - Lolianja - Essex (but probably giving birth in Lancs)
23 March - Rosa7 - SURPRISE - Kings College London
24 March - BinkyB - TWINS - Chelsea & Westminster
28 March - ChocolateEclair - SURPRISE - North Yorkshire
28 March - DaisyJ ? SURPRISE ? Lewisham (home preferably)

April
3 April - skiingone - GIRL - Portland Hospital
3 April - Kalikaroo - SURPRISE - Scandinavia
4 April - Peaches174 - SURPRISE - Kings College London
4 April - Bleuravin - SURPRISE- Cardiff
8 April - Evs34 - GIRL - North Yorkshire.
9 April - BarbarellaNz - TRIPLETS - Chelsea and Westminster
11 April - SpringySunshine - Jessops Sheffield
12 April - Brettgirl2 - GIRL - Warwickshire
14 April - Girlylala0807 - Edinburgh
16 April - Pinkadink - SURPRISE - Edinburgh
18 April - Salbysea - Dorset
19 April - Kittycat8 - GIRL - Epsom Hospital
20 April - FlossieF - BOY - Birmingham
21 April - Beth29
23 April - Elpis - GIRL - Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, London
24 April - FlirtyThirty - SURPRISE - Kingston Hospital
27 April - Bicnod - Kingston Hospital
27 April - Littleduck - Kingston Hospital

May
1 May - BrightSideOfLife - SURPRISE - Kingston Hospital
1 May - Due1stMay09
2 May - Heverhoney - GIRL -QE Woolwich
15 May - Saz007 - SURPRISE - Durham

9 July-bellybaba Homebirthing

HI all!

Aha - so - pain coping. well, it was a 3 hour session and DH and I had to squeeze a lot of big ice cubes in our hands over 60 second intervals to simulate a contraction. then we did various exercises focussing on the out breath, visualisations (crashing waves were really good for me) and then something called "non-focused awareness" where you concentrate on different senses - what you see, hear, touch and the breath...
It was based on the "birthing from within" method or philosophy. I really enjoyed creating my own "laborinth" and will definitely use it during labor.
www.birthingfromwithin.com/laborinth

brightside your rib pain is super common and one of those fun things some of us are living with - but mine has not been a constant companion and I find things that are good and bad for it - pilates = good, car travel = bad, using computers without breaks = bad. There is a really good MN thread on the subject which you can take comfort in if its really annoying you:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy/44515-pain-under-right-side-of-rib-cage
of course you should get it checked out if its worrying you.

pinkadink i went for the "luxury" 34 week scan option too! although not 4D - thats sounds AMAZING!! i have to wait a few more weeks yet but just can't wait to see bub again, although by that time the screen will probably only fit a nose, or a hand on it at any one time!

big hello to everyone else!!

rosa xx

Hi all!

rosa thanks fo rthat link on rib pain - very reassuring. The pain has gone completely now, so it was probably the baby stretching...

That pain coping sounds interesting - am off to check up that website now

Your scan sounds lovely - can't wait to hear all about it!

pinkadink is your scan this Saturday coming? Good luck!

Hi All

Very glad it's Friday . Just 7 more weeks to go at work! Starting to get very tired towards the end of the week now.

Brightside very glad the rib pain has gone. I'm also thinking about starting to make a list of my lists as I seem to have random bits of paper everywhere with things written down as and when they pop into my head . Yes our scan is tomorrow! Can't wait to see the baby again. We get a DVD as part of the package too, so will be able to look back at it over the coming weeks before we get to meet our little one for real.

Daisy Just had a look at your wedding pic and it's lovely. Your bump pic is beautiful too . I've been taking pics of my bump progress as and when I remember but still have to download them onto the computer and label them with the number of weeks.

Rosa the pain coping class sounds interesting. Think I really need to start thinking about the birth process a bit more. On the one hand it still seems a long way off but in reality it isn't and I want to feel as prepared for it as I can be so will check out the link you posted.

Hi to everyone else. Wishing you all lovely weekends.

Hi Springmums

Hope everyone's well - yet again playing catch-up as January is the busiest time of the year at my office and been working flat out till 9.30 or so each night for the last little while.

Microduck seems to be fine, has been kicking me in the middle of the night the past couple of days so I'm feeling a bit more tired than usual. Starting to get a few baby bits together, have found great baby shop to get pram/cot etc from. Am thinking I should start looking at nurseries to get a place for Nov when I will need to get back to work.

Am currently living at DP's flat whilst he basically rebuilds the back end of my flat to make a bigger bathroom, install new bathroom suite and fit new kitchen, rewires the dodgy 1980's electrics and re-does the frankly bewildering 1980's plumbing. Apparently Micro could have made a better job of it all than the last lot of builders did. Our neighbours (there are 3 flats in a Victorian conversion, we're on the ground floor) agreed to all our work in advance.

We've had a bit of a nightmare with it all over the last few days. Top floor is also having her bathroom totally re-done at the moment which generated a huge amount of dust last week. The dust got into the middle flat, plus top floor builders didn't clean up after themselves after they took all the rubble out via the communal areas which were left dirty.

Middle flat owners basically decided it was all DP's fault (even though he had finished all our dusty work the week before) so not only did we get emails complaining but DP had a visit from mother of middle flat owner plus phone call from said flat owner. They didn't even bother to check with top floor about what their builder had been doing - he'd been knocking down walls with the floorboards up for God's sake, no wonder the middle flat got dusty! Middle flat is now also alleging (based on mother's visit) that we are doing work which wasn't agreed to etc etc which just isn't true.

I am so upset and furious at their attitude - DP tried to explain but they just don't want to listen, even now that top flat has basically said the problems were down to her work. I totally understand their frustration at the mess but they had no right to go making DP a scapegoat without establishing the facts first. And even now they are still attributing blame/responsibility to DP for things that aren't in his control like damage created by top floor builders, disposal of top floor rubble etc. We've bent over backwards to make middle flat comfortable with what we are doing and this is what we get.

I'm so sorry to rant, especially having been away for so long, but I am so bloody upset and angry. I'd go and speak to them but they only hear what they want to hear and it would be pure waste of time. Aaaargh.

Changing the subject, would love to see fellow Kingston Mums in Feb/March, can't do 28th Feb as Ma is visiting at that weekend.

Keep well everyone and sorry again for rant

Hoping to be around lots more now Jan is nearly over

Best to everyone

Litteduck

Ooh, littleduck - that sounds awful - as if the stress of having the work done isn't bad enough. I really feel for you - I would cope very badly in that sort of situation. Would it make you feel at all better to write them a note explaining, and say that you are really sorry for the inconvenience they've suffered, and that you're disappointed that things have turned out this way, and hope that they will be able to resolve any further problems with the upstairs neighbours...? It's always hard to know what's going to smooth over the situation and what might exacerbate it, but sometimes people can't hear what you're saying but they can take it in if it's written down...

Anyway, soon you'll be so busy looking after the lo that you'll have forgotten all about disputatious neighbours, I'm sure

rosa - that sounds really interesting. Will check out the link when I have a mo. In the yoga class I do we sit back on heels, toes curled under to simulate contractions - it's very painful, and you're very aware that you have to sit it out (and breathe to get through it! Definitely a good way to extend your pain threshold, I'd say.

xx

Happy Monday Everyone...

Hope everyone has been well. I had a long week - I spent the end of last week feeling rather sorry for myself as I had this winter stomach bug that is going around. It was like revisiting my first trimester - with all that sickness I am back to normal now and the baby seems completely unaffected by its' mothers illness last week In fact - it seems more active than ever.

Does anyone else have...er...um..leaking issues ? It has taken me a while to work out what was going on but my nipples are definitely leaking a clear white liquid. I was expecting it to happen later on - not right now! (I am 27 weeks this week)

littleduck I really hope you are having a better week and your neighbours settle down - it is so difficult when emotions run high on these types of issues - especially as it sounds like you tried very hard to be accomodating & considerate! I thought daisy's advise about a note was excellent.

daisy - that yoga exercise sounds interesting - I am not sure if I have enough nerve to try it I would probably terrify myself by not being able to handle the pain!

pinkadink how was your scan?

brightside - I'm not leaking yet, but someone on another thread was saying they are (at 31 weeks) and then loads of other people chipped in to say they were too, so you're obviously not alone!

hi guys,
HELP!
Just had a really unexpected and negative chat with my MD as an email was sent round re-scheduling an important meeting to 3 weeks after I'll have left on mat leave.

I went to discuss with him the ways we would organise around this and he just assumed I would come in for the day to attend this meeting - 2 weeks before i'm due (not what I was imagining he would expect - at all...). I said I would not like to do that, but that I'd prepare the meeting as best I could in advance.

He said I had made it clear that I don't care about my job, and that this action "said it all". I left his office as ntohing more to say. After 7 good years in this company and I have to go off on mat leave with such a feeling in the air??

uggghhhhhh...advice please?

rosa, that's horrendous . Too shocked to imagine what you could say right now, but you will certainly need to respond. It's completely unacceptable for him to say these things to you. Will you be at the Railway on Thursday? I'd really like to talk to you about it then. In the meantime, is he your direct line manager? Is there someone 'safe' you can talk to about this at work. I think it's just awful - being pregnant and giving your full attention to work is hard enough without feeling unsupported and undermined too.

Thanks SO MUCH daisy!!

Yes I'll be at the railway - really looking forward to seeing you all!

I'm still upset about this incident but I just went for lunch with a pregnanct colleague who had some little stories of her own about him - proving that he basically doesn't care and is not a gentleman.

I feel a lot better after a big penne carbonara too! Mmmmm carbs....

Some things in life are just more important than male chauvinist pigs!

Hi Rosa , that is a shocking conversation to have had with your MD It is completely unacceptable and inappropriate of him. You might get some good advice on the 'Employment Issues' board as well?

daisy thanks for that re-assurance re the leaking...was feeling rather about it!!