Due May '09, a Spangle-tastic start, who will be next....anyone, anyone........?

[Grumpyoldcaaaaaaaa]

Starting new thread ladies, in honour of Spangle.

chocbuns

The t-shirt sleeves definitely, you gorgeous piece of pregnant womanhood. The dress is beautiful and you look lovely in it.

If you feel slightly uncomfortable in it, it's just an underwear issue at a guess, so invest in some goooooooooood underwear.

But listen to Madi - she's a girl who knows style when she sees it, obviously!

Off to the park with DD2 now, DD1 is in and out with her friend, eating endlessly and moaning non-stop. I made the fatal mistake of going into her room earlier. My God, the mess! The smell! The dirty clothes strewn everywhere! I wanted to cry.

Just had a quick look at the photos, and chocbunnies I think the dress looks good! I like the little sleeves look too, have you got a great necklace to wear as well? Agree with the other about the underwear, I'm sure a wonderbra (or similar) for a day would be fine and with the right (or no!) knickers it'll be beautiful. You could also try wearing a slip/petticoat underneath - that might help the fabric 'skim' a bit more, iyswim.

Question about birth pools for you home birthers - anyone bought or hired one before? Any recommmendations? Have sen BPIAB and La Bassine, but they are quite pricey so was wondering about hire.

The other day I asked about TENS machines. Well, I phoned BabyCareTens, and it was them I'd got it from last time - and because I'd hired one from them before they gave me £20 discount off buying one. Only a couple of pounds more than hiring another one, and you get a brand new machine!

That's me just back from the midwife - she is worried about pre-eclampsia but has sent a urine specimen away to get tested. My bp was 140/95 (usually around 110/70) and my urine was ++ for protein, plus I'm so swollen I couldn't get my rings and shoes on. She wanted me to go to daycare there and then but I said no because I'm tired and want to sleep so she said I can stay at home if I agree to let a midwife come and visit me on Wednesday. Health visitor coming tomorrow is going to check my BP and see how I'm doing.

Soooo tired though.

chocbunnies I think you look gorgeous! Take your dress with you and have a looksee in M&S - try the dress on with a slip and see if that helps with the underwear issue. Have a look for seamless undies too.

blotted, being stressed prob doesn't help but I'm glad you're home to have a sleep - please make sure you do sleep and relax. Hope you're feeling better soon and glad they're checking on you.

blotted

This has not been the best few days for you, has it? I hope everything is ok......

I too think the dress looks lovely.

Hope your ok Blotted

DD is also adament that this baby is a girl, and that she doesn't like boys lol I'm seriously hoping this will change when she comes to visit her baby brother in hospital, as she doesn't know it's a boy...I can just imagine her having a temper tantrum and demanding I return the baby for a girl...

It's honestly been one of the worst weeks of my life! I tried to explain to the mw that it had been horribly stressful but she was being really nice and I kept getting teary. DD is asleep just now though so I'm going to get a cuppa and a bit of toast while I have a chance.

Choc - I think the dress looks amazing!! Agree with the others in that I think a good bra and a lovely sparkly necklace would do the trick! Honestly, I'd say if I thought different. I traipsed around loads of wedding dress shops with my cow of an ex-best friend, and I was brutally honest with her. (Probably why she sacked me as bridesmaid!)

Ok, TMI alert: is anyone else having really runny and tons of (ugh - I hate this word - its nearly as bad as 'gusset') discharge? I usually get a big squelch when I sit down, stand up, walking down the corridor, or any time really. Also getting up first thing in the morning I have to get to the loo straight away otherwise its like a little flood! (and its definitely disharge, not waters, this has been happening for weeks and weeks and weeks! Mw knows about it, says its normal (and also hence why I've got a trace of protein in my wee) but STILL. How ugh and embarrassing. Sorry ladies, but I just want to know if 'normal' really IS 'normal'!

Back to normality (ahem) - whoever it was that said Rufus? I LOVE Rufus, and that was on our shortlist if Pip was a boy. Had a great uncle Rufus, and he was lovely. Am also teetering now between Harriet Rose (Rose as a middle name) or Martha Rose.... any opinions?

Blotted - ooh, rest up love! Can you put your feet up and have a lovely snooze?

Hey Gals!
Back properly online finally and feeling v proud of myself for setting up home internet connection all by myself [smug pregnant lady emoticon] means I can do all the internet shopping I have been wanting to do now!!

Choc that dress looks fab, t-shirt sleeves def the best and more flattering and would look lovely with a nice necklace, something with a pendant maybe? You will look stunning. Agree about the underwear, have ago in M&S for a slip, I had the same prob with my wedding dress showing my v expensive wedding knickers through it. I got one of their microfibre type slips, it was actually really nice because the material keeps you a bit cool - you could position it just over your bump and it should give you a nice cling-free sillouette. Mine is probably waaaaay to big for you (16), but if you think it will fit you I am happy to see if I can find it and post it to you if you like?
Re bra - it sound v wierd but a friend of mine wore a tie-up bikini top under her wedding dress which was a halter neck as she couldn't find a bra anywear. Would something like that work? Not sure about what the back of yours looks like?

Blotted hope you are ok and take it easy.

Belgian just seen the news about your job. Well done you! brillian news.

I am also not sleeping brilliantly - have resorted to my long pillow down the middle of the bed so def no sex either . Am also fed up of my mat clothes prob because everything is a bit wintery and I have been boiling. I did by a few bits including a couple of nice nursing tshirts from H&M which should last me for a few months afterwards too. Got a fab tankini in Dotty P's which hopefully will make me feel a teeny bit less like a hippo when I go to center parcs in a fortnight. Thought I could wear the top in the birth pool as well if I'm feeling self-concious.

Sorry if I've missed any other important news. Am away to buy nappy bits and bobs and catch up on facebook.

running xx

brilliant not brillian, setting up internet was obviously more taxing than I thought

Sorry i've not been on for a few days we have been re-organising the furniture in the flat in advance of getting the store room done. This had involved emptying all 4 wardrobes in our place and DH taking them apart to move into other rooms as they are too wide to manoeuvre out of our doorways into the hall etc... I'm also part way through a major clear out of things that were going when we were going to move anyway. Quite a few late nights and now totally shattered with our flat now looking like a bomb has gone off in every room. I think we're now at the stage when everything looks at it's worst before it gets better?!

have just skimmed over last few days and aiming to catch up this evening properly...

Blotted was to read your news.. glad you didn't have to rush off into hospital and if it is a uti i'm sure the anti-biotics will help. Fingers (and legs) crossed you've still weeks to go before your waters go.

chocolatebunnies I'm a seamstress and i'm sure the cleavage area could be tweaked. My brain has also been affected recently by bump and (like it was with ds) so i'm not doing any work at the moment as it takes me 4 times as long to figure things out. If you do get really stuck and can get your dh to drive you to me in N-Somerset I'd have a go at fixing it. I looked at the photos of you in the dress and i think it is LOVELY but I can see you might feel a little exposed boob wise. There are 2 other options to consider... and i'm always faced with this problem as i can not ever get away without wearing a bra in public due to my enormous sized norks. You can add a wrap/shrug to your outfit covering this area a bit....
marisota
laredoute
ebay
or buy a bra you intend to show off... You can always hand sew some sparkly crystals or pearls/sequins onto the area of the cups that would show and make it look like a design feature.
carriwell
anita
bravissimo i know we're not supposed to wear under-wired bras but if you get it properly fitted it shouldn't affect your boobs in the short time you'd be wearing it. Or you could remove the under-wires altogether...

will be back on later as still tons to do and DH will be back from work in an hour...

oh and forgot to say... re knickers/VPL buy some really nice maternity tights in nude colour with a breathable gusset... and wear them instead of pants. I did this with my wedding dress as I had a similar problem and no one could tell at all! I like the dress with the t-shirt style sleeves too

blotted just got to this page and seen your PE possibility. Try to take it easy as i'm sure the stress wouldn't have helped your BP and protein in your wee can indicate a UTI too. When I suddenly got PE I had +++ and BP majorly different from my normal so it can vary hugely. If it is PE you'll just get to meet your LO a bit earlier than you planned. My neighbour's PE arrived at 32wks last time and her little boy is fit, healthy and drives her just as crazy as all toddlers

Blotted Do have a rest. Stress will make your bp go up. A UTI will also give you protein in your urine and together with your backache, that's still possibility. So I think it's wise to have your bp checked a few times. If it doesn't settle then PE will be very likely. I don't think your mw would have let you go home, no matter how tired you were if she thought you had PE. If you start feeling more unwell, though, phone your hospital and get yourself checked over.

I just realised that its the 6th today. Exactly 6 month away from my due date .

Flippineck I've seen birthing pools on eBay, both Birth pool in a box and the other one (name escapes me), generally of people who bought one and then didn't get to use it due to a variety of reasons. I've had a look at the hire prices and TBH birthing pool in a box or something is cheaper. Don't get it from Mothercare though, it's cheaper from The Good Birth Company. The Birth Pool in a Box is what a friend of mine used and what I was going to get, especially as they do 2 sizes too, which is nice when you're tall like me.

I've just been to the health shop for my Raspberry leaf tablets too. I'll do anything to get it over with more quickly!

Ha ha sausage

yes, I too have been suffering from an excess of moist discharge on my gusset.

There, horror triplefold - moist, discharge and gusset in one sentence.

It's been the past couple of weeks, like we don't have enough to contend with at the moment.

And blotted have some of my Nigella chocolate orange cake (I know you're a fan too) that I made yesterday and had only 1 very restrained sliver of. I will have a larger piece tonight with custard. Healthy!!!! It will be after a baked potato with cottage cheese, no butter, and salad though.

Oh and chocbunnies Just want to say that I agree with the others regarding the underwear. I'm sure there must be a bra out there that will go under your dress. And then there's the offer of lovely fi to do some alterations for you. I think you'll find that most of us had our wedding dress altered before the big day. I think it's the only way to go for it to be perfect really.

As we're talking about discharge I keep suffering from thrush. As soon as one bout is cleared another comes. I had that with the other 2 as well. No more baths for me (find that makes it worse) and I've just bought some 'lactacid femina' because that usually helps me control it.

I just noticed that I said today was exactly 6 months away from my due date. I really need to invest in a new brain. I meant 1 month of course!!!

And I didn't have a problem with my wedding dress, as it was a £60 pastel polka-dotted prom dress from Debenhams . I think there are a couple of pictures of me in it on my Facebook page.

We were proper skinflints - Rob wore his 'wedding/funeral/barmitzvah' suit, I wore the aforementioned dress and made most of the buffet myself. It did mean that we could honeymoon in NYC though. It would have been worth it if we hadn't both had tonsilitis on honeymoon and been very ill. Hey-ho!

Belgian I did wonder for a moment there about your due date

OMG i'm in a flap.. my mum has just been on the phone as my dad (who has MS) has fallen in the house.. she wanted me to go and help get him up. mum also has MS (different type in remission) and can't lift him. i can't lift him even when not pregnant as he's too heavy and he has no strength to help you IKWYM? i said i wouldn't be able to help and ds would only get in the way... and suggested she phone an ambulance. arrrgh not long till dh comes home. just feel bad i can't help.

Fi

I hope your dad's ok, how awful. I hope the ambulance comes soon, please don't feel bad that you can't lift him. xx

Oh fi Hope your dad is OK. Can your dh help? Or a neighbour?

Fi phone for an ambulance - my dad and brother have done that when they can't get my grandma up. DO NOT DO ANY LIFTING yourself!!