10/10-sunny days and sleepless nights; third trimester here we come

[nymphadora]

And off we go again

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Dearie me....the thought of that nice young GP making a tracing of my fanjo... The mole is pretty visible, it's on the er...front as it were. And yes I was thinking, good job I'm not a 'glamour model' or that could be bad. It only gets out in the sun when we're in Spain in private!

I was wondering that about newborn stuff Elsa I think that problem is exactly why you see loads of unworn newborn stuff 'secondhand'.

Now, talking of shopping that wedding I'm going to at 32 weeks pg is proving a problem - there's a day bit (v. smart) followed by a black tie do as I think I said and none of my clothes look right ... I don't know whether to dive into the sales for floaty print maxi dresses before they go and just hope they will still fit in 4 weeks time or what. I would love to buy posh maternity frocks but just can't justify the cost!

I just had my MW appt too dilly! nd my bump is average and it looks huge so not sure how it works?! where did you get the black babygrow from abfab? that sounds cool. Not sure elsa? try the website??

elsa I was wondering that too and have decided to buy things in the average newborn size (rather than tiny) and if the clothes are too big, we'll just have to manage rolling up sleeves and so on.

Roo good to hear of another successful mw appt. Did you get to hear the heartbeat?

abfab I also like the idea of the black babygro. My sil got her baby a black megadeath (is that how you spell it?) babygro (it has a huge target over the bottom area!) Dh thought it was fab. A plain black one sounds pretty cool though.

Thanks for the shopping tips! elsaPlanning to buy mainly 0-3 m as newborn only go to approx 9lb and I'm expecting baby at 8ish

Dilly v common for moles to change in pg I had one removed last time and they said it's hormonal. I was under specialist for 5 years but didn't need any other treatment once they chopped it off.

shieldbug the bag was from the mother & baby club @ boots loads of vouchers too.

Baby seems to be trying to expand me today. Have pushing at my hips & ribs as if it's stretching full length( or trying to )

3 full days 1 half day left at work. We planned my lunch out today too!

Elsa, you are so impatient!

Roo, well done on the good m/w appt.

@ Dilly and her naked sunbathing!

I've bought everything normal newborn - if it's preemie, I think the hospital has a small emergency stash, and you just stock up quickly - or make do with swaddling and/or a naked baby!

My understanding is that we should ideally wash everything before we put our baby in it - therefore, if you have washed your babygros already, the shops won't take it back. Not sure if you want to just wash the bare minimum so you may be able to return what isn't washed. I'd probably just keep anything new I haven't washed that doesn't get used and either keep it for the next baby, or pass on as presents!

We got the black babygro at a Baby Show - there was a plain black one there, but the one we got has computer-game graphics on it - PacMan, I think! DH is a gamer! DH is also a heavy/death metal (sounds the same to me!) music fan (as well as a whole heap of other stuff!), so we'll probably get some AC/DC-type babygros, except they say AB/CD! Or Guns'n'Roses Sweet Child Of Mine. You can get them on Amazon - not cheap though, but we're aiming to go to the Baby Show in October here in London, and hopefully can get some more bargains!

Black babygros/tees:

www.amazon.co.uk/Spoilt-Rotten-Babygrows-Bodysuit-Alternative/dp/B002BFIMN4/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&c oliid=I15QTVVD5VSIXX&colid=1P8923KDE7HVD

www.amazon.co.uk/Dirty-Fingers-Lullaby-Toddler-T-shirt/dp/B001S2FMB6/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I 2O47RAIJ2ICKL&colid=1P8923KDE7HVD

www.amazon.co.uk/Guns-Roses-Sweet-Child-Months/dp/B003H0CK1M/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3L9D9PEA 0VIZ5&colid=1P8923KDE7HVD

www.amazon.co.uk/BA-Babygrow-Nippaz-ACDC-homage/dp/B001W0WGYU/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1WKVOSQ PK9GHV&colid=1P8923KDE7HVD

www.amazon.co.uk/Thats-Roll-Black-Silver-Months/dp/B002LJLU8Y/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1IY9CQJ EUGDQW&colid=1P8923KDE7HVD

ooh yeah, I'm a naked girl, me ;0)

Roo I meant to say I've got a long body (and short legs - humph) so my bump appears smaller I think, it's also low down. How tall are you?

Baby really going for it today just had hugebulge trying to come out of the top. Aching all over. Been at it for 2 hours now. Dh said no more smarties

Well, the baby show will defintely be the place to go when you're due! I've got Asda cheapo stuff, vests and sleepsuits which I will wash prior to use, but as those will be the basics, I think we'll hold back on other stuff until the baby arrives. I was 5.5lbs at birth, my DH was about 7.2Lbs and my sister was 6lbs something and her 2 children were 6.12lbs and 7.2lbs, so I'm thinking that ours will be around the same mark (unless this is nothing to go on). I also found out yesterday that all my aunts and my sister had their babies on, or very close to their due dates.

Tyson I hope you're feeling better with more movements today?

Hello everyone

I have a nice dilemma. I have found out I have an extra week's leave to take. I'm now debating whether I should start leave a week earlier than I was planning, or tack it on to the end of annual leave and push back the start of mat leave from 11th Oct to 18th. Given the baby is due 29th Oct, I'd be very close to term date, which at the moment would be a dream come true. The main reason for doing the latter would be to have the extra week's mat leave the other end of course - BUT, is it being a bit silly given how early DS came (31+4)? What do you think? It's just if the baby does end up being term or even overdue then will I think I wasted the leave starting so early? It's only one more week at the end of the day though.

The other thing is I was thinking about going away for a few days over the bank holiday weekend, with the following week being my last one. Now I could be having that week as holiday and could go for longer if I wanted (although that's when DS was born so I'd be running the risk of having the baby somewhere else, but I wouldn't be going too far).

Yes I heard the heatbeat, MW was guessing it was a boy as it was slow and aparantly boys are slower than girls! Like the idea of musical babygrows, got the feeling we will end up with a Sunderland FC one as well! I'm 5 8" Dilly aw not good nymph sending some imaginary smarties your way!

Hmmm ...Roobear you're taller than me then... I went on for years thinking I was 5'8'' only to find out quite recently I'm only 5'6''!

Floozie I don't know if this will help - I had loads of leave to take but could only carry 5 days on past 1st Sept so I'm taking the odd week here and there and then a week in late Sept rather than starting mat leave early. You and I are due to start on the same day - Oct 11th though my EDD is 21st Oct (but I'm telling you this baby is coming on the 14th, unless he does 38 weeks like my bro and I did in which case it's...umm...before I start mat leave!)

Elsa that's probably a fairly good yardstick to go by wrt baby weight, unless you go massively overdue.

I think a few things of newborn and then go for the bigger stuff is probably wise - you can always buy more newborn stuff if necessary, and don't forget you will get given lots of stuff too. As AbFab said, if you did happen to have a prem and need a neonatal stay, hospitals generally clothe the babies in their own gear and you're not allowed to bring clothes in from outside until they leave because of the cross-infection risk. Then you've got time to buy the appropriate size stuff for leaving anyway.

My best mate in work just told me in top secret news today that she is pregnant too! That's THREE of us in one not very big office. She's having her scan tomorrow and then telling everyone else, assuming all is well. Across my wider workplace, there is an unbelieveable baby boom going on. Her baby is due start of Feb so we'll be on mat leave together for quite a while.

Thanks for that Dilly. I've actually already got five weeks annual leave before mat leave, should have said that, so I'm starting at the moment on 6th Sept (last day in work actually 1st Sept because my week finishes on a Wed). So the extra sixth week could go from the previous week or at the end of the five week block.

ooh you lucky thing to go off so early - I've tacked all my accrued leave on to the end so I can go back pt next summer and fulltime in Sept. It all comes out in the wash...

I finish so early due to having so much leave to use up. I was planning on a year anyway & with so much illness I knew I wouldnt last that long. May regret that a bit if I have to go back earlier but at the moment I have at least until April so its not early

Does your leave year start at Sept? Mine starts in April and we can only carry a week over to the next year so I'm better using it all now, plus I want the time off because of previous history. If I go back next Oct I could add a few weeks of that year's leave on to extend mat leave if I wanted as I'd only have to get through to the end of March 2012 before the following year's leave began! Are you still with me??

That should have been addressed to Dilly.

Im the same Floozie. I can only carry over 3 days and my original plan of returning in Sept meant I had to use some up before I returned really too.

Abfab That babygro sounds fab!

Nymph How far are you off finishing?

Dilly Can just imagine the artist at work with his tracing paper and very bestest pencil. I got a random mole on my breast, I had it checked out by the Doc and she said that it was down to an increase in melonin during pregnancy.

Went back to work today and ended up coming home at lunch time. I felt so so tired, I walked up the stairs to go to the drinks machine and had to sit down for a few minutes due to being so tired. I thought you weren't supposed to get all tired and huffy until near the end? I'm 28 weeks (third trimester woooooo!!!) and quite frankly this is only going to get worse not better. Oh dear!

Also to all the second/third timers out there, do I actually need a baby bath? I keep looking at them and wondering if there is actually any point to them. Would I be a horrible Mum if I just bought a new washing up bowl, I could always get a funky one. I can get one for a couple of quid and baby baths are so expensive.

hermyaThree full days & one half day finish 2 weeks today.

Saw boss for first time in ages today (has been off sick/on phased return/doesn't work on my site) I was struggling from the stairs and she has offered to get me somewhere on the ground floor. It would make it difficult to work with my colleagues and there is only a couple of desks down there so I have said no. She said if desperate she can set something up to work from home but it takes that long thats not worth it. At least she tried! If I had longer I would have worked from home but for 3 days I thionk I'll cope.

Hermya re baths , its usually a waste of money BUT this time I will as we have a v deep bath so can't lean over and sink has taps that stick out over it quite far. We have a huge shower so my plan is I can kneel by the shower with the bath in it. This way there is no lifting of bath/water and Im at a good height for baby. I did used to do dds in the sink or share a bath (but watch out for poo!!!)

Hello everyone, ive been down the hospital today to the maternity triage unit to get monitored as movements were still slow. Everything is fine with Sophie, her heartbeat is brill and she hasnt stopped kicking all evening.
Apparently she is measuring small as did my ds who was 6lb 6oz. She is also breech.
I can get a good night sleep now i know she is well though.

Elsa it sounds as though we could both be having 6 lb'ers

Baby has just set off again. Head (I think ) has gone after my ribs again!

Tyson When you say your movements were slow, were they just less vigourous? My LO seems to have become less punchy of late, but he is moving around a lot.