Due September 2005 - Thread 6

[PiccadillyCircus]

Here is another new thread .

its my hospital antenatal classes........my midwife just asked at my booking appt if i wanted to attend and i said yes, then last week i got a letter inviting me to the class on monday night.

to be honest the midwifery service is heavily understaffed here and i think they have no actual schedule for dealing with any of us. my nearest maternity unit is 22 miles away which isn't far but it covers a very large area.(i have no choice where i deliver, it is this hospital or i'm on my own) my antenatal classes are in the medical rehab dept of our local cottage hospital. from what i've gleaned so far there are three midwives covering at least 6 doctor surgeries and the on call facility at my local hospital as well as the daily scan/consultant appts at the cottage hosp. its no wonder the care is so erratic!!!

Hi All - crikey Moschops, that's early to be doing Ante Natal classes - has made me think I'd better get on to the MW clinic and see what I need to do about booking in!

Has anyone bought any maternity clothes from Topshop? Would you recommend them? Just jumped onto their website and had a look and was wondering if it was worth a mercy dash to Oxford St at lunch time (ho hum, another busy day at the office) - starting to get a bit desperate for clothes that fit!!

i've just realised.........i wonder if i've been sent the ante-natal letter off my original due date? because the doctor was a month out.......my first date was 30th july then moved to sept 4th at my 12 week scan.

but i don't suppose it would hurt to start them early anyway.

dp made me cry this morning, he sent me a text asking if i was really ok because i have all the symptoms of depression and he didn't want to be ignorant and assume they were just pregnancy symptoms (loss of appetite, not sleeping properly, tearful etc). bless him what a sweetheart, but then it made me realise just how lonely i am i'm stuck at home on my own all day and i would usually socialise at weekends but everyone changed (well i suppose i did too) when i fell pregnant. i realised that not including customers, for three weeks i've only spoken to dp, mil and fil (we run the business with them)and my mum and dad because they came over on sunday to drop some nighties off.

god i feel like all i do is come on here to moan i think i need to talk to my midwife about this, i hadn't realised just how down i am feeling.

Oh moschops I do sympathise. Do you want to carry on seeing your pre-pg friends? If so you might find them more amenable to socialising with you than you imagine, even if you want to do different stuff now. If not, are there other mums-to-be you can hook up with locally? This is a good reason to do the antenatal class that's right for your due date rather than starting early - it makes a big difference when all your antenatal pals end up popping at pretty much the same time as you, and you all go through the same stuff simultaneously after the birth. (Even if the women at your class aren't people you'd necessarily choose as bosom buddies under other circumstances, the mutual support that you can gain/offer afterwards is invaluable - I'd have gone crazy without it.)

I've been really up and down lately so I do know how you're feeling. And with a burgeoning bump it can all seem like far too much effort to do anything about it sometimes.

Hugs

i think the big problem is my pre pg friends are a small group, and in the early stages of pg i just wasn't up to going out (why are you always tired?)and my closest female friend (in this group) has moved on and made friends with another girl in our group (neither of them socialise well with other women)i have tried so hard on the last few occasions we have been out to join in but i very quickly learnt how tedious drunk people are when you are sober. (this just accentuates all the other things that have changed)

i know when the baby arrives they will all come running to coo over the new arrival then fade into the background again (i have seen it happen so many times).

i guess i'm just coming to terms with the fact that i am disappointed with the way some people have reacted to our change in circumstances, i almost feel bereaved. dp is being a tower of strength but sometimes a woman just needs the female shoulder to cry on when she is down.

i can't even phone my best friend (since were both 4yrs old) because i know i'll just cry uncontrollably when i hear her voice

sorry i really am being a moaning minnie today aren't i?

Scan went well yesterday - baby has all the bits and pieces it should have .

We decided to ask whether it was a girl or boy baby, but baby decided to do acrobatics involving having its legs over its head, so we shall have a surprise in September. I'm glad we asked, but also glad it will be a surprise.

I too have thrush . Is there anyone here who doesn't?

glad the scan went well Piccadilly

i'm currently having respite from our friend thrush......one of the fortunate things about being at home alot is i can wander around all day with no knickers on which i found helped me loads.

i'm so happy i didn't give in to curiosity and ask the sex of our little one........i keep saying i like tormenting all around us with the mystery. everyone wants to know what we're having and i've even had a few sulks because we said we wanted it to be a surprise!

Just catching up before DS wakes up. Sorry to hear about your scare andif. Glad everything is ok now. My scan isn't until June as it's a 23 week scan in Bromley and we're away in Scotland that week so I'll be 24+1. I didn't see a midwife til I was 17 weeks (and they told me to come back at 16 weeks for my blood test result..tricky) Still just about managing without maternity clothes but it won't be long. By the end of the day it's all a bit of a squeeze.

Still getting very tired (where's my second trimester bloom?) and nauseous at times but haven't thrown up since Saturday and am nearly up to my pre-pregnacy weight.

went to a christening on Sunday - it was really weird looking at a proper baby again. Can't believe DS was ever that small. Doean't seem any less daunting this time. Spent the evening feeling guilty for eating parma ham!!

Good news Piccadilly!
I had my scan today too and all is well. Didn't see any boy bits so looks like it's probably a girl.

Had a brief moment of worry when they asked to do part of the scan again to re-measure the baby's head. They said it looked really oblong.

I have some cousins - all of who have been born with a strange shaped head - it's known all over the county they live in as the "Jones Head" (names changed to protect the innocent) My first thought was "Oh NO!!!! Not the Jones Head!" But they remeasured and all is normal.

Oh...and no thrush here either. Knock on wood.

Glad the scan went well PC .
You're doing well to still be avoiding maternity clothes Rhumba - I have well and truly succumbed! feel so much more comfortable (and huge!).
And I don't like to jinx myself but haven't ever had thrush. Now just wait till I post next week ....

Katts - was writing as you posted! Glad that you had a good scan as well

Thanks Zubb!

Please tell me there's someone else on here who's already grown out of one set of maternity clothese?
Please?

Ok, in my defence, it's just one pair of jeans and I probably bought them too small in the first place. Yeah...that's my story and i'm sticking to it.

moschops - be a moaning minnie, with no apologies! I know I have been! Does your best friend live a long way away? Is there any way you can get together and have a good cry on her shoulder? Since having DD 15m ago I've found I'm still working on the balance between pre- and post-pg friends - none of my old friends have kids (most are single!) but I've found out who the really good friends are and I still treasure my time with them - with and without DD - a time to revisit the old me My relationship with them has changed, but not in a negative way. Obviously I'm not yet all that close to the new friends I made through pg yoga, antenatal classes, activities with DD and MN meet-ups, but they're pretty much a lifeline for me too, in a different way.

You'll know from my earlier posts that, in spite of all this, I do sometimes succumb to loneliness and feeling horribly low - especially with the old pg hormones to battle with. Not sure if sharing any of this helps you at all moschops, but all I can say is that the only answer for me is getting out and seeing people - old friends or new. Can you organise a MN meet-up in your area maybe? I really recommend establishing some kind of support network now, because you'll need it all the more when your little bundle arrives.

What a chatty day!
Kiwifruit, would recommend Topshop clothes. Did have a moan that combat trousers kept falling down, but when hanging on washing line at weekend noticed button elastic which I hadn't seen before!!!!(Dippy cow! [embarassed]) Non-pregnant friends keep commenting on how nice they are. Also got a couple of nice tops. Reluctant to spend much on maternity clothes as will (probably) be last one!!
Moschops, even the 3rd time round with lots of friends with kids, I find my social life depressing! Esp being SAHM find that on a grey day (like yesterday) doing boring jobs around the house with a bad back really gets me down. Don't feel like going out as still knackered in evening and only sober one isn't much fun! We've been invited to friends for the weekend and I'm desperately thinking of reasons not to go - it's normally v alcoholic and wine tastes like vinegar to me at the mo!
Despite all this, a few people have said I look blooming! My skin is better than it's been for years which is quite weird, as all I feel is blooming awful
Good friend had a baby girl yesterday which got me really excited - can't wait to go and visit and get excited about mine! Hope we can find out sex on Mon - all the posts about uncooperative babes have me worried as I've pinned my hopes on finding out now!
Realised Sallie hasn't posted since her scan - hope all is ok.

Moschops, moan away - was going to suggest that you see if you can get to London for the catch up next weekend, but checked the stats thread and saw that you're in Boston - might be a bit of a stretch from there . Can you organise some weekend activities with some girlfriends that don't involve alcohol (maybe a spa day or something)? And you should definitely have a cry on your best friend's shoulder - that's what best friends are for!!

Scanning down the stats thread, there's a lot of people who haven't posted for a while - hope all is OK with them. Think Sallie was finishing work sometime around her last scan, so maybe she doesn't have access to a PC at home?

Just called UCH to see if my transfer from St Marys had been accepted, and they haven't got the letter from my GP yet. GRRRRRR. Why is everything so difficult?? Will have to wait until tomorrow and call GP again - have a sneaking suspiscion that he hasn't done it, as he didn't sound very keen when I rang and spoke to him about it

OK, that's my moan over. Looking forward to my scan next week - and to my pedicure .

Thanks for the info re TopShop, shall stop in tonight on the way home.

andif - aha! I have combats from Topshop and mine are always falling down! Thanks to you I just noticed the button elastic as well hehe. You've saved the world from looking at the bottom of my back / top of my arse (however you want to look at it! )

As for the thrush, I don't have it yet touch wood.

Maternity clothes - some of the t-shirts I bought in the beginning are a bit clingy now (on the arms as well), so might have to get some new ones quite soon. Think I'll pop to the shops on Sat morning, as new (ie bigger!) bras are definitely in order!

Woo hoo! After this week (which, let's face it, is almost over!) I only have THREE more weeks left at work! yay! and it can't come soon enough!!!

I've got 2 days left hurrah hurrah

andif and LL i did the same with the topshop combats - found the elastic bit a couple of weeks ago lol and felt like a right "blonde" - at least they fit better now.

congrats on all that have had there scan, i have 7 days exactly till mine and i am sooooo excited, this will be my second antenatal appointment ever. so i agree about antenatal care being a bit rubbish, i thought it was every 4 or 6 weeks people are seen but in my case its 9 weeks since my booking and only appointment- is it because i have had 2 kids already i wonder still im much older and acher now.

i have some great maternity jeans from dorothy perkins they are long legged and are not like next and other places when dp say long they mean 33-34 inch not 31 inch like next or 32 inch topshop, topshop are cool though as they do do 36 inch but im afraid thats just too long for me.

I've got another 16 weeks to go at work - so envious of all of you finishing soon. It's not work that bothers me so much as getting here and getting home. Some woman on the tube this morning actually elbowed me out of the way to get to an empty seat...then sat down and started reading the bible. So much for christian charity.

Piccalilli, that's horrible ! I've been really lucky so far on the tube, as have been offered a seat several times, and because of where our stop is, I pretty much always get a seat in the mornings. Have observed since I've been here that a lot of Londoners would take a seat themselves and leave their pregnant wife/partner, grandparent, disabled friend/sibling to stand, if their behaviour towards strangers is anything to go by. Am constantly gobsmacked by the way people treat each other in this city. Certainly gives visitors who don't go outside London a bad impression, as I haven't noticed the same behaviour in other UK cities. Was pleasantly surprised in Paris at New Year - Parisian men were constantly standing up on the Metro to offer their seats to women - pregnant or not, young or old.
Climbs down off soap box.

I've gotabout 16 weeks left too - it can't go fast enough!!! Went to an early pregnancy course last week, and the woman running it made a very good point - she said that those of us having our first babies should really make the most of the time we have off before the baby arrives, because it's the last time that it will ever be just you (even when they leave home, which is a scary thought!!)and it makes her sad when people only stop work 2 weeks before, then the baby comes early, so they don't get that time to themselves. Obviously a lot of people can't finish more than 2 weeks before for whatever reason though - I'm saving up 2 weeks of leave so that I can stop at the start of September, which will hopefully at least give me a week, even if baby is 2 weeks early (highly unlikely if it's anything like it's mother - I'm never early for anything ).

I've got some amount of weeks left - I'm stopping on 22nd July when I'll be 32 weeks. And I'm 21 weeks today so that must be 11 weeks .

I am hoping that my decision to transfer to my firm's London office for a while isn't going to be a mistake in terms of having a seat on trains. I won't have too much tubing to do and on the trains into London will be forceful. It's annoying that on my trains (WAGN) you can be upgraded to first class if you're pregnant and have a season ticket of at least a month, as I won't need a season ticket.

Thrush seems a little better today. And I am also going for the commando look (inside the house, although did drive DH to the station with no pants on this morning). Must remember to put some on before meeting mums and babies this afternoon...

The Tube has been driving me mad aswell, its not that i mind standing as i dont have long to go anyway but i hate the pushing and shoving and getting off my train is a nightmare, why do people try and get on when you are trying to get off. i feel like i need bump protection at paddington sometimes.

i bet you all are happy to be leaving work soon, i will be leaving uni in 5 weeks and i can't wait till i can have some time to do fun things. at the mo i have 4 assignments and an exam looming all withing the next 5 weeks and then moving house so im pretty stressed! hope stress doesnt reach to baby.

After a night of what felt like constant itching, have given in to Canestan!! Pharm said Ok now past 12 wks. Once gone I will investigate acidopholus tabs to stop recurrence. My parents back from hols and when I spoke to (retired GP) father, he was concerned that they don't seem to be acting on my bleeding on Sat - he thinks it warrants further investigation, so I'm worried all over again now! Off to osteo soon, so at least should be able to walk this weekend (away for MIL bday surprise). Feeling sorry for myself......must go and pack now for whole family and dog....domestic bliss!!!
Definitely agree that all you new Mums to be should make the most of a bit of maternity leave before baby. I had 10 wks with ds1 which was fantastic - got loads of decorating done and was so relaxing having house to self. Until ds2 went to school in Sept, I had had nearly 8 yrs of being at home with kids - being in house on own was unheard of!!!

I should have about 5 weeks before the baby arrives if he/she is on time - 3 weeks holiday and 2 weeks mat leave. I haven't told work for definite yet though and if it's a hot summer I may give up earlier. My tube journey is quite long and it's the Northern Line - I could get the train but the thought of all those people at Victoria in the mornings is putting me off - I'm with you on the bump protection VF!

Whew we have been chatty, i have just been catching up.

The subject of boobs is a sore one Mine have gone from an E to a G and these are getting tight dread to think what sort of size they will be or the price i am going to have to pay for new bras.

We decided not to ask about the sex of bump and are getting lots of sulks from friends who want to know. They all think that i am out on them which makes me grin which in turn makes me look like i am fibbing and some of them get even sulkier with me!!!!!!!! Never mind we will all get over it in September when babe is born.

Got to go into work for a couple of hours this afternoon whilst DD is at Nursery as i am training to be a checkout operator. It's safer than working on the petrol station in a small box on my own with the dizzy spells and falls i have had over the last month or so.