Due Jan 2010 - watching our beans grow into bumps :-)

[sazlocks]

As we all talk so fast the last thread is nearly full so thought I would start us off on a new one

Flightoffancy nothing wrong with leaving it until later - I already had most stuff from ds but have already bought everything else anyway . The only thing I can think of is that it can be horrendous doing shopping later on in pregnancy - but you may be fine. Also good idea about Jan sales but for me would be out of the question so heavily pregnant - but yet again you may be feeling great.
What about just organising the bed for the baby and a few clothes and maybe a car seat so if for any reason the baby turns up early you can get home and settled.

well the leave is diff a hot topic! i guess if you can cope at work then cool, if not then its hard depends on the work sit. i tell people i will be at work for another month and a half they look at me and say why you leaving so early ermmmmmmm its because im tired, stressed have 4 other children at home, suffering from SPD and it aint gonna get better and i think i deserve it after over 9 years full time work! excuse me!!!!!!
also i have leave owed to me which i would rather use just in case i decide not to return to work after my year off!
seems we all know r bodies and we should not push ourselves!
CTOFN- i feel for you, that can not be nice at all and you dont know when this will happen your fainting should be a concern so keep on at your GP,or your goin to have someone with you from now on!
Bethoo - yeh we r soooo happy with our boy and this is my last lap so im glad! you should tell your DP not to put to much effort into it next time-
Im sorry that you are losing your job and i hope that everything will work out for you with the housing sit. its hard we have to move but its so not the right time so im just trying to figure out if we can live without a front room and transform into a bedroom for my oldest girl who 15 and in her last year of school before college! oh well not to worry it all sort itslf out im sure!
postive thinking, makes postive actions!

FlightofFancy, I worked up to 2 weeks before my due date first time round(though there were quite a few bank holidays and I took days off here and there so I only did a 4 day week in the last month or two and I did appreciate that as even though I was office based I was dreamy and definitely had less energy). Then I used holiday and actually planned my maternity leave to start 3 days after dd was due (that was when your leave had to start on a Monday) and she was born 2 days after that so worked out just fine. But, I was lucky, and had no pregnancy 'problems'.

Planning something similar this time, though I will be finishing on 22 December and not due until 24 Jan, because of Christmas... was going to be off from 22 Dec to first week of Jan anyway, and then would want to take 2 weeks before due date, and it just doesn't seem worth going in for 1 week after Christmas - can't imagine I'd have any motivation left at all anyway, and imagine I will be more tired this time round, as you just don't get time off in the same way once you've got a little one already (that's not meant in a 'you just wait' way to first timers, by the way, and I'm not jealous, I adore my dd and she's worth it).

If the baby arrives earlier than you planned your leave to start it will just kick in automatically on the day of the birth and you can reallocate your holiday - as long as you make sure you have an agreement that you can carry anything you are owed over into another holiday year, if your leave is going to span 2 holiday years.

Re buying stuff, I also bought almost nothing until the last minute - living in a city it is entirely possible to simply walk in a buy what you need (you just may not get the best deal as you might find in the internet). I walked into M&P the day after dd was due and walked out with a pram - needed the imminency to help my indecisiveness, and goodness, I got great customer service! (It was half an hour before closing time on a Saturday, and they said 'when are you due?' and all scrambled round me when I said 'yesterday'!).

I had bought the car seat a couple of weeks before, along with the crib, so that, as someone else said, if she were a little early we'd be ok. I had a chest of drawers delivered a week before she was due and had great fun doing flat pack assembly with a huge bump (managed it though!). I bought exactly no clothes, as my mum had already bought a pack of vests and a pack of babygros and I didn't see any point buying anything else beforehand.

TBH, if you live somewhere close to a decent dized mothercare, or M&P, or John Lewis then you'd have no problem sending your DH to the shops after you gave birth to get you a car seat and I'm sure he'd be back before they'd be ready to discharge you, even if you went for the minimum 6 hours in hospital..

So, if you don't fancy baby shopping yet, don't feel you have to do it.

Thanks guys - really helpful. I'm sure I'll get to a point when I get in the mood, but just not there yet! Still a the 'but why do you need an xyz', and 'it's all so expensive' and wondering why everything is bloody pink or blue rather than nice bright colours!

In which case, will wait and see what I can beg/borrow from friends and what condition it's actually in before I hit retail 'therapy'...

Hi all - thanks for lovely comments. I'm not actually too bothered about the fainting because I had it with 2 previous pgs and I guess its just the way that I'm made. It is highly impractical and I have an "off day" when it happens but there we go - just another pg symptom! Public transport indeed it was this morning. Luckily a couple of mums at the school saw that I was white as a sheet and made me promise to call them in future to take kids to school - aaah.

As for buying things, the only thing I would add for FlightofFancy is that if you want something in particular, its worth checking that it is in stock because it's quite common (apparently) for things to need to be ordered which can take 6-8 weeks. Have to say, I've not experienced that, but other mothers i know have.

I hate xmas shopping and Jan sales shopping anyway, trying t do it when I'm 3 times the size I am normallY...er...no, I think not. That's basically why I'm bargain shopping and getting shit together now. I fuly expect to go into hibernation as much as humanly pos from dec-feb. get the fire going, feet up and eat lots of mince mies.

somewhathorrified I love shopping but hate it when pregnant - which is also why I have almost everything already - I love the sound of your hibernation plan - well except the mince pies - maybe I can eat something else instead .

Thank God for internet shopping which i notice offer the real good deals - if unsure find the buggy in store take note of details and then shop online! Im only getting things for my baby bag ain't going anywhere after the baby is born and have a DH who i can sent and fetch! ( let him do something i have been a baby oven for 9 mnths)
not stressing at all i have aDD 15 year old more then capable to do things also! my last DD is going to be 9 so aint got nothing from the last children and def no boy stuff! i have a desk job, but still find it uncomfortable due to baby dancing on bladder and poking me, plus my keyboard and my chair aint so close with my baby bump blocking the way!
using some leave and spreading it first to see how i feel with SPD aint fun but oh well joys of pregnancy! bring on Jan 2010

The shopping bit is fun !!! An i think its great i'm goin to be fit to pop at christmas!! Wont have to cook christmas dinner, just put my feet up! There is so many lovely things to buy for baby and mum out there online! I love the 'yummy mummy' bags, defiantly want to get one. I really need to organise a hospital bag, worse thing ever going in to labour an having to wear one of those horrible hospital gowns want to be prepared! I'm so looking forward to january, getting bigger every day! Even though some people say 'you don't even look pregnant' i certaintly feeeeeel it !!!! . Is it me, or am i the only one that can't get up as quick as I used to?! Feel like an old woman sometimes !!!

Blossomx - I am truly waddling, struggling to get up from a seated or lying position, everything is groaning, creaking and even though I was huge very early, I'm really not THAT big at all at the moment. I've seen plenty who are far bigger than I {cackles evilly up sleeve} but know that there are still many more weeks ahead - and those are the big weight gain times.

Back to my v large bar of Dairy Milk that DS 10 bought me with his pocket money because I fainted this morning! Ah - my little man - love him soooo much, can't believe 11 years ago I was about to give birth to him and now he'll be off to secondary school soon and won't be my beautiful little boy anymore (boo hoo).

aww! your waddling! must say, i'm starting to do that to with out thinking about it!! bit like a penguin that is over weight ! i know, were just gna get bigger and bigger, sometimes its annoyin that i feel so fat, but then i feel guilty for feeling annoyed... o goodness you fainted?! hope ur okay? yummy yummy, i love dairy milk ! what a lovely son!! lol !

Oh that's so lovely of your son, CTOAFN.

I have to admit I'm finding it hard to think about hospital bags and baby things at the moment, as we don't have a kitchen, so thoughts are focused on what needs to be done to get the extension finished and the new kitchen in... Fortunately DP is a plumber, so moved the sink and cooker into the dining room so it's not as dramatic as it sounds , but it's amazing the knock on effect on the rest of the house, and things like only having the washing machine plumbed in at the weekend, and not enough space to do a proper shop - feels like every space is upside down and we're camping in our own house. Still, I am aware I'm very lucky to bve getting a new kitchen and to have a partner who is a plumber who can keep re-plumbing the washing machine for me, etc.!

Biccy - you are sooooo lucky. As I posted before, we were planning to do a whole bunch of structural work and new kitchen - but climate being what it is, we actually don't seem to be able to get a remortgage!!! Have a perfectly good one but because we want to borrow a little bit more money to get the work done, people (or rather computers) are saying "no". Anyway - so we've wasted a few thousand pounds on plans, permissions etc not to mention time on all of this. Ahem - excuse my rant.

Another thing DS came out with a couple of days ago which made me chuckle up my sleeve was when he asked me "So mum, are you definitely having an operation to get the baby out now?" I replied that I won't know for sure until 10 November and that the consultant thinks it might be ok to have normally. He said, with hands on hips (he's 10) "Think? Think? Well I'm not very happy about that! You tell them that you'll have the operation and they need to do as they're told. I'm not having anything happen to you because they "think" and they got it wrong". Ha ha - kids can be so funny - and SOOOO grown up.

As background to the above, one of my main arteries neck/head dissected (split) last year - all v rare but extremely dangerous and the neurologists have decided that its probably ok to push after initial worries and talk of c/s. Needless to say, we're now geared up for c/s but cannot get confirmed til next appt in mid Nov!!

Oh, sorry, didn't mean to rub your nose in it.... if it's any consolation the plan was to do the kitchen when we first bought the house 6 years ago... then DP spent the money rebuilding his garage, and I have lived with the old one (which we have now been able to date to at least 1967 from a recipe we found down the back of the old units), along with tiles falling off, holes where old gas pipes have come out, doors literally hanging off the cupboards by one hinge etc etc since then...and don't you have 5 years from getting planning to start? So as long as you start digging a hole before the 5 years is up, you can carry one, so it's not necessarily money wasted?

Have you started buying maternity clothes? H an M have a lovely range! Trying to find some linen trousers, linen trousers are so comfy, sick of wearing jeans, an the material at the top (on maternity jeans) seems to be too tight !!!

thanks anniemac

anniemac I bet my bump is bigger I swear I look about due am almost 7 months now and the weight is really going on now despite a vague attempt to not eat much junk. Nothing but maternity clothes for me I am afraid.

Biccy our unrenovated kitchen is from the 1950's aa funny shade of cream and green with chrome bits - it's lovely .

Well 23 weeks today!!!!!!
I will spend the morning at the dentist - yehhhhhh! NOT!
and then with a numb mouth go to my GP to have a check!
so fun,fun,fun all the way today! wish me luck!

Have a good day Mama2b5 all the excitment here is making cauliflower soup.

Hi all

Good luck with appts today mama YUCK!! i hate the dentist, only take the children because i have to??

i know the exhausted feeling with having 4 more to look after and working full time etc. my oldest 16 is a boy so i might not get much help from him (moody teenager) but my girls are 11,7 & 6 and the two little ones seem really keen to help. my 6 yr old has sorted all the new clothes into vests, babygros and everytime we go shopping she says "need some more babygros we only have 4" very cute aww

i'm with everyone on the waddling front, but i seemed to have had a big bump from about 8 weeks and it seems to have stayed like that and baby is growing to fit it. don't hate but i haven't actually put on any weight as of yet (i am bigger than iv'e ever been at 11st though), but at scan baby was measuring a little larger than average. i'm convinced i'm going to get middle pregnancy spread very soon and then be bed bound.

i had spd with last dd 6 years ago but (touching lots of wood) not in this pg yet. just before getting pg i did have loads of kidney problems though which seem to have gone since being pregnant, but they did say could cause problems with growth of baby towards the end, we'll see!!

hope you all have a good day, now back to work

I got a pair of mat jeans from new look. They've been great, but are getting a little uncomfy when I sit down for long periods now. Not sure if I just need to get the next size up or whether the underbump cut is too high....either way I'm into Joggers at the mo along with size 18 stretchy tops. I'm jealous of these women who manage to look great while preggy with these small football bumps.

Is anyone else aquiring a tyre like roll of fat around the back of their hips? Is this balast to counter act the bump at the front...or am I just getting really fat?

mama good luck today, Dr's and dentist in the same day...are you a sadist?

somewhathorrified would you consider the very glamarous over bump ones . I have some from Next and they are very comfy.
I def do not have a neat football like bump.