Due April 2009 - Farewell nausea and all things ghastly, our boobs and bumps are growing vastly.

[PuzzleRocks]

Ah Lulu that is really nice!!! i just spent a few minutes creating my own little display!

As for maternity leave - I am working up until the day before my due date - we only get statutory and want to spend as much time with the baby as possible so don't want to be sat around - sure I will find it hell but am going to negotiate working from home a lot in the last few months as part of my risk assessment.

hmmmm

Hi Pinkadink

I have to decide when I go on maternity leave by the 17th I'm going to wait til 20 week scan and appointment with consultant and then try and judge how long I can cope with the tube journey. For my previous two I worked up til about 10 days before and they were both 9 days late! I was fine but all those working around me started to get very nervous everytime I twitched!

Am wearing the same boots today my 4 year old now checks me before leaving the house!

MMMMMMMMM Burgers a quarterpounder from McD's has onions.

I have my sparklers ready for bonfire night!!!

Hi chickenbalti - you said your previous two weren't in London. For me it wasn't the work so much as the tube journey that persuaded me to stop work early. I remember being the size of a house 3 weeks before due date and doing a 25 minute journey on a packed Northern Line with no-one helping to make any space for me let alone offering me a seat.

Lulubai - thats what I'm worried about along with the low blood pressure - the thought of fainting and everyone just stepping over me (or climbing over as I will probably be huge) fills me with horror!

Ah Chickenbalti if you faint in my tube I will help - although to be fair I tend to take the bus more now as I hate the tube more than anything!!!

pinkadink

With DC1 I had 4 weeks off before my EDD. I was lucky as most of the first 2 weeks fell over Christmas/ New Year.

I was definitely glad not to be on the train and tube once I was into my last 2 weeks! I balooned! Got massive and my walking speed slowed tremendously.

I was lucky as DS was only 2 days late. He was due on the 21st of Jan and was born at 4.45am on the 24th Jan.

This time round I am planning to take at least 3 weeks off before my EDD based on last time.

Commuting adds a whole new world of things to consider I know....you will be heavy by week 38 and for me I just wanted to enjoy getting everything ready and having long baths/time to myself before the little one arrived - as you get no time for yourself once baby is here!!!!

Hi all, not good day today. 17.5 weeks and i had a bleed at lunch time. Totally unexpected, no pain not even a twinge. I weent into complete panic phoning the mw in tears. She came out within the hour and imediately checked babies heart beat which she found straight away, so that was a huge relief. The blood was brownish plus a small clot. She said that as long as there was no pain or bright red blood then i would probably be ok. My bp was ok.

Apparently the mw said that around 1 in 10 women have some sort of bleed and continue with healthy pregnancys which surprised me. So I called and reasurred dh who was an hour away at work and put my feet up. Although the there is no more blood and i'm not in so much of a panic I feel completly emotionally drained.

I never experienced this with ds has anyone else had a bleed then had normal pregnancy?

Hope I haven't worried or depressed anyone.

MrsFossil, I had a big bleed about a month ago. Went straight in for a scan and all was absolutley fine. Apparently it is VERY common. My sister had it too.
I had my anomoly scan today. Am only 17 weeks, but my OBGYN likes to do them early. Anyway, all totally fine and def a boy!!
This one is much bigger then his older brother was at the same stage, so am wondering whether I won't have the same nice neat little bump as last time?

MrsFossil - what a horrid day but the good thing is the heartbeat is nice and strong and your midwife seems happy that all is normal - so having no experience in this area whatsoever, I would sit back, relax and pamper yourself for as long as possible!

Hope you are feeling ok x

Bubbaluv - sure that will be a equally lovely bump!

BB

Thanks bubbaluv i feel a bit better now. Hopefully i won't turn into onsessive knicker checker

Hi Mrs Fossil - I'm sure it is very stressful but try not to worry too much. I think it is quite common. I bled quite heavily at 35 weeks with DD (bright red etc) but even after keeping me in hospital they could find no cause for it. Knicker checking is normal - I'm sure we all do it.

Evening Ladies,

Mrs Fossil, I had three episodes of bleeding with DD in varying shades of brown and red. Eventually I was told that it must be coming from my cervix as no other source of bleeding could be found. This is very common in pregnancy and is not an indicator that things will go wrong. It did freak me out every time it happened though.

I'm happy today because I've had a letter through to say that my anomaly scan and consultant appointment on 8th dec. It seems ages away but at least I know when I'm aiming for now. I don't think that we'll be finding out the sex of the baby but the old wives tales say that it will be another girl

As for maternity leave, I'm especially torn on what to do after having DD so early. I went on mat leave at 29 weeks with DD because I'd hurt my back at work and I was so big that I couldn't reach to get a blood pressure cuff around my patient's arm among other things This time I don't know what to do because I'm on my feet all day at work and need to be able to reach things without contaminating a sterile field in theatre but I don't want to spend all of my mat leave waiting for LO to turn up or having to take loads of unpaid leave at the end of mat leave. I was thinking about going on mat leave at 32 weeks but I may still be owed a week of leave so officially that would make it 33 weeks. If I give birth at the same stage as last time that would give me almost 3 weeks rest before LO appears. I'm going to decide for definite at 24 weeks.

Mrs Fossil that must have been a real shock for you but I'm glad you're feeling a bit better now. I have heard of this happening to alot of people and everything has been fine. It happened to my sister and and her DS is now a very active two year old. Try not to worry and take things easy.

Thanks for all the maternity leave advice. Think I will aim to stop work around four weeks before due date. Strange but great to think that after Christmas I will have less than three months of work before starting maternity leave.

Morning all

MrsFossil how are you feeling today?

WhatFreshHell I meant to ask at your scan last week did you find out what you were having? (You don't have to say) just wondered if you were finding out?

I think it's a good idea to take a couple of weeks off before hand - I would love to - but with our rubbish maternity pay and the wedding still to pay for, not sure how long I can afford to be off for and want to spend as much time as possible with the baby when they come!

Seven weeks today until Christmas! (and after that the countdown starts for the births!) that is so scary!!!!

I mean it comes, not they - almost scared myself even more!!!

pinkadink - i finished up last time at about 38 weeks and that was fine for me as was feeling fine towards the end. Was ready to go at 38 weeks though. Think it really depends how tired you get. I also thought I might get bored with all that time on my hands but I think if you plan lots to do (even if thats time on the sofa with a good film) its fine. Unless you have lots to do to keep you busy, you can end up just getting frustrated at being 38, then 39 then 40 weeks, then overdue so the time seems to pass so much slower at that point ime.

I might have to start mat leave a bit earlier this time as firm are having problems with the downturn in the housing market so might be looking for voluntary redundancies, then forced ones, so I'd rather go early on mat leave, and have a job to come back to I think.

dungungirl's lead up to the birth sounded nice. long baths - mmmm. cinema trips are another good one as you wont get much chance for a while after lo arrives.

lol at your daughter checking your feet chickenbalti.

Mrs fossil - sorry to hear about the blood - great that everything is ok though - i would be panicking too but i have heard lots of people on mn say its sometimes just one of these things and doesnt always have an explanation (as I've now just read on this thread too - sorry trying to write as I read but doesnt always work). take it easy though.

swaliswan - sorry if i missed this before but what do you do for a job? I think I stayed longer at work cause i am at a desk all day - I think if I was on my feet, I'd definitely have left earlier. Do you know that this lo will come early, or does it not necessarily always happen again the second time?

babybolat - 7 weeks??????????? ahhhhh. thought we had ages to go. i love this time of year for being pg - the time goes so much faster, and we will have lovely sized bumps for christmas.

right really should do some work now. work does get in the way of my mn time at the moment

sorry for another mammoth post - i just dont seem able to cut things down very well.

Good morning ladies and April babies.

I saw the midwife yesterday and heard the heartbeat! It was great, dead clear at first and then cutting out as nanodude squirmed away, the mw trying to follow him / her around with the microphone as if he was an angry guest on Kilroy Silk. Nice to hear nanodude having fun swimming around.

I don't have a shred of baby stuff, I really must think about all this now musn't I.

Can anyone advise a first time mother on a good pram / pushchair thing for one LO, fits in a medium sized car boot, not too vast in a little London hallway, light to get up and down tube station steps, easy to push and steer, not too wide on narrow / crowded pavements? Am I asking the impossible?

thanks everyone

gingersarah - I think you may be - that is also my criteria and have been looking for quite a while and have seen nothing - am not actually going to buy anything until next year but wanted to decided everything before Xmas and then can look in the sales!

Is anyone else thinking of investing in a doppler - I really want one but may spend my entire life with it on my tummy and never leave the house....

in my limited experience, you dont get that lightweight/narrow etc buggy for a new born. maclarens are great from about 6 months as they are very light to get up and down stairs etc but not suitable from birth.

we had a bebe confort loola which folded down to a reasonable size for the boot, and could be carried (with a little bit of effort) onto a bus etc. suitable from birth - although not as warm and snuggly as some i suppose - we added our own extra padding when he was tiny. folds away nicely to be stored in our house though.

we were very keen on our didymos sling for when we had to go into town/somewhere that might be tight for space.

babybolat - considered a doppler but i think i would get obsessed. Also, once the kicks come thick and fast, think that is probably as reassuring as hearing the heart beat.

Hi everyone The clothes issue is something I identify with, actually I posted a thread about it in Style. The last time I was pregnant was 2003 and maternity clothes at that time, only seemed to fit from 36 weeks onwards. I really need to get a new coat because my XS one from Gap is not going to do up much longer (I'm 16 weeks). Does anyone have anything from Isabella Oliver? Can you wear it before you really show? Any other recommendations?

Everything seems to be okish, except that I have low blood pressure (which I always have) and therefore feel faint if I stand up for long. Yesterday I could feel the baby having a good poke around.

gingersarah, the one thing I would advise WRT prams, etc is make sure you have tried it out before you buy it! I once bought an expensive, pretty looking thing which was absolutely useless - it had a mind of its own which resulted in running over some poor man's bad foot with it at the doctors

Take care everyone

I don't really want a pram at all but know that grandma will want to push the baby around and I know when I have millions of bits wont want to carry them all!

Am taking grandma shopping at the weekend so am going to have a good look round baby things!!!

Gingersarah, Those were my exact criteria. Having worked in retail in London and having seen women struggling or totally unable to get into shops because of the width of their pram I was determined to find something as London-friendly as poss.
I went around John Lewis with a tape measure! Got some very strange looks.
Anyway, I ended up with the Maclaren travel system. It's about 15cm narrower than a bugaboo. You can have your baby facing you in the car seat if you're not going too far and it's a nice subtle beige colour. Folds really easily too.

Also, I found that ALL foldong mechanisms I tried seemed ridiculously complex at first, but after a week you can do it in your sleep.

Hi Everyone,

How are you all feeling today? I had a scary morning waiting to see a doctor at my local medical centre as I thought something had 'gone wrong' with my babies.

When my IVF was successfull, my fertility clinic advised me to continue using Cyclogest (progesterone) pessaries until at least week 12. The specialist at the hospital then told me to continue them until week 16. On Friday at my scan the doctor told me to halve the dosage. Since then my boobs have 'deflated' a bit, the veins on my tummy look less prominent and I became convinced that something had happened. So, there I was this morning, blubbing to the doctor that something was wrong and begging her to use the Doppler so that I would at least know if they were alive or not. She was very kind and calming and found all three heartbeats easily - all sounded strong, thank God!!

My question to you is: am I completely mental? Do others get paranoid about pregnancy symptoms/changes in symptoms etc?
I feel hesitantly positive most of the time and then something like this turns me into a blubbering, shaky wreck.

Please tell me it's the hormones.... I'm usually a very sensible person.... I think

Love, Barbarella XX