BFP after IVF - the journey continues (part 2)

[HopefulllHolly]

SENSITIVE CONTENT

Continuation of previous thread for anyone with a BFP following IVF to support with anxieties and other worries that come along with pregnancy after infertility.

@AnnieStar12
@DippyDuck19
@DogMummy87
@Edf
@Fluffyted
@Leaf86
@LouP87
@Natty2
@SETTC87
@ThePeachGoose
@jas1996
@lemonyfox
@oliviagrace2307
@summerchild92

Please tag anyone else I’ve missed accidentally!

I should really spell check before I press post!! 🤦🏻‍♀️ lol I'm soo tired today!

@DippyDuck19 Ah bless you! I haven’t had any braxton hicks yet and feel good actually aside from running out of steam quickly. My other half was out all day yesterday and I’m desperate to get back in our room as the house is just a total mess so I wanted to crack on. Otherwise if I felt like you I absolutely wouldn’t be!!
Oh gosh I hadn’t thought at all on hospital bag packing any time soon! I was planning on doing it at 35 weeks to be honest! Surely now is far too soon?! If I packed now I’d honestly unpack it a million times anyway 😅 I guess there’s no right or wrong though!

Hello ladies.
Great to see everyone’s updates.

We've just finished having the baby room
painted. I had got a load of testers for pinks and greens, but when it came to it we ended up with an off-white, haha! I’m happy with how it looks tho.

Now just got to wait for the painter to finish off a few other jobs around the house and then I can start putting baby’s things in the room which I’m looking forward to!

On hospital bags - that’s impressive early planning! I don’t think I’ll do that until around 36 weeks or so. Last time I took a large suitcase! And I guess knowing I’m having a C-section this time and will be staying in a night or two i’ll probs take the same large case.

I’ve been feeling a bit more movement the past week, but it’s always in exactly the same place on my right side. Almost imagining that the baby has got its feet around the placenta on that side and everywhere else is cushioned. When I had that private scan about 10 days ago the baby was fully breach so head was up above by my belly button.

Another question - has anyone been looking at disposable wipes? I’ve been thinking of trying cheeky wipes but not sure if they look a bit of a faff. I’ve always just used normal baby wipes before.

I have another obstetrician appointment this week but it’s just a phone call so not really sure what it’ll cover. I’ll just think up some questions to have ready! My next NHS scan isn’t until 14th Nov now. And I also managed to get referred for pregnancy physio which is today.

Hope everyone is doing well. When do people start maternity leave? I’m finishing work at Xmas and I can not wait. I wish I could go on leave now and just spend the next 3.5 months nesting and looking after myself.

@AnnieStar12 glad you are starting to feel more movement. That must be reassuring for you.

I looked at cheeky wipes, not sure I want the increased laundry!!! I may consider when baby is a little older though and needing less nappy changes. A free antenatal class I attended suggested cotton wool pads and water wipes for when out and about (I like the pampers ones), so that's what I'll start off using.

I start mat leave officially on the 2nd Jan but have 5 weeks of annual leave to take beforehand. So my last day at work is the 29th November. Not long now and I can't wait!!!

@HopefulllHolly I keep telling myself how soon is too soon lol and I'll just probably keep repacking it in case I've forgotten something! My mum went into labour at 34 weeks with all of us so I feel like I want to be prepared just in case baby comes early too. I wouldn't trust my DP to pack what I needed if we did leave it later and i ended up going into labour.

@DippyDuck19 yeah the extra laundry and more 'things' in the house isn't that appealing tbh. Will have a think some more about it.
Oh yea, good point about not wanting DP to pack my bag, dread to think what he would pack for me, lol! How lovely you have so much leave to look forward to! Lucky you, hopefully lots of nesting and resting time.

Hi Ladies ☺️
Hows everyone doing?

@AnnieStar12 Amazing you’ve had the nursery done and started feeling more movement! Feels like it’s getting real now! How was the physio and obs appointment?
On wipes - I’m planning on using cotton pads and water and then water wipes when out I think. I’ve already stockpiled some 😅
I go on annual leave on 20th December until 13th January and then start Mat leave on 13th January onwards when I’m almost 39 weeks. Taking the full year off. Can’t wait!

@DippyDuck19 Yeah it feels like it’s creeping up now. Weeks are passing very quickly and I feel like soon I’ll be 30 weeks which feels like very close to due date!! 🤣🤣

Just had my 25 week appointment with the midwife, back every 2 weeks now. Blood pressure and urine still fine so no sign of preeclampsia despite my horrific migraines, which is great news. Had a right moody midwife not my usual lovely one. But was fine. Didn’t measure my bump (apparently that’s from the next appointment) - NHS guidance has changed. So just had a chat about how I was feeling and babies movements. Speaking of which she woke me up at 4am having a proper party in there! Really strong kicks for over an hour. Midwife said that now she has a pattern I just need to keep an eye on that and go to the MAU if I have any days that she’s not sticking to that. So we’ll see how I get on I guess!

@RunningOnHope good news on the scan last week and hopefully the kidney situation will resolve itself. Everyone is very pro-active here on the nurseries! I should start looking into that as well, as we’d love to use those free hours if we have them. Where do you even start with that? Do you just go to the nurseries around you and ask if they have spaces for this type of funding? When you visit, what sort of things do you even look for? Same questions for @Edf as you’re both so ahead of the curve here!

@HopefulllHolly ah I do remember now that you mentioned Pigeon so many times but for some reason my brain thought it was a pink / cream colour and I didn’t look it up. Pigeon is lovely too! Very calming for the little one hopefully. I should look into the hospital’s antenatal classes too, but the midwife said that if we’re already doing NCT, not to bother with the hospital ones as they don’t cover as much. Can’t hurt though, right? How are you finding yours? Thanks for asking, I’m in a sweet spot within the second trimester where I’m getting bigger but I’m feeling great and able to continue with my regular work and projects. But when everyone asks me to make plans for 2 months away from now or do a staycation in London a month before my due date, I’m slightly more nervous that I won’t be feeling as great then as I’m feeling now lol OMG on the abdominal doming / coning! I’ve only read about it. Are you more likely to get that from not getting up via rolling on your side? So pleased to hear your midwife appointment went well and all tests came out fine. Fingers crossed it continues that way! Crazy that the baby kicks woke you up! I've already had kicks that distracted me from going to sleep, so I'm worried for what's to come lol

@Leaf86 I agree, and I think that by that point it will be a case of “you’ll just know” when it’s time to go in. We’ll see how it all goes after 24, or even 26 weeks when a pattern gets established

@DippyDuck19 ouch can’t believe you’re getting braxton hicks contractions this early! The nursery looks absolutely gorgeous! I’m pleased you mentioned the hospital bag, as I’ve now set up a reminder for week 30 to start thinking about that. Don’t want to forget in the craziness of travel and Christmas. Though now that I’m past 20 weeks and I’m going to start buying stuff, maybe I’ll also read ahead in my pregnancy books to see what sort of stuff I need to start thinking about. Having you all further along is very helpful too 😀

@AnnieStar12 you’re a productivity queen for finishing your nursery this early! well done! we’ve just taken our guest bed apart this weekend and now I need to arrange collection to get rid of it, making way for all our Black Friday purchases. I think that we’re leaving ours in the current colour as it's quite neutral, warm and pleasing (F&B New White), but we'll decorate with cute illustrations. It’s funny you’re asking about baby wipes this early, as I randomly got myself into reading about breast pumps and how to approach feeding in that first week if milk doesn’t come in early enough or we're having latching issues. So many things to think about! I feel I've been coasting so far and I've not let myself think too far in advance, but now that we're past the 20 week scan, I need to start reading ahead in my pregnancy books and about those first few days too, to be prepared. Well done on the pregnancy physio! Did the midwife or the GP refer you for that? I’m planning to start my maternity leave a few weeks before my due date (so Feb 2025), but I am able to reduce my workload and WFH until then, so hopefully I won’t regret it later.

I’ve had my 20 week scan yesterday and everything looked good, such a relief. Now we'll start making purchases and setting up our nursery! Luckily she was awake but quite calm, and we were able to get all measurements in one go. I think I was a bit surprised to realise she’s bigger than I thought, in that she goes past my belly button now. And it was nice to understand what was happening in there when I had discomfort. She was head down and really close to my bladder, which makes sense why I keep going to the loo so frequently for such small amounts. I think I’m getting most of the discomfort from where her hands were, no clue what she’s doing in there. And the feet are mostly around the belly button area at the moment, where I feel the kicks, but I'm sure she's moving around loads and sometimes I think her head is in the belly button area instead, so I don't feel kicks as much on those days. Thankfully the placenta moved all the way at the top of the uterus now, so don’t need to worry about it being low. It’s also been clear for a while that it’s no longer anterior as I’ve been feeling kicks early.

The only annoying part was that I went to the walk-in vaccination clinic in the maternity as they told me, and they didn’t have the whooping cough one. So I have to call in the mornings to see if they have any, and we’ll also do the Mat b1 form then. I need to stay on their case as I need to get the form processed soon.

Because I don’t seem to have any complications, they told me that in a normal pregnancy I wouldn’t have been offered any more scans from here, which I don’t think I would have coped well with lol Luckily because I’ve come through the IVF route I have another one booked for 36 weeks, and I’m seeing an obstetrician in November which I think will be a scan too, it’s unclear. But it’s definitely where we’ll be discussing our birth options according to the midwife.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

@ThePeachGoose Ahhh congrats on your perfect 20 week scan!! I don’t know what it is about that point but it feels like it gets very real and time passes very quickly after that! It’s cool you know what position she’s in - I don’t have a clue on mine. I feel like there’s hands or feet low down but I also feel kicks by my belly button at times too. Last nights dance party she was having was mid stomach and very strong! Was quite nice - I had a little giggle to myself in the night and got to thinking about how it’ll just be us two in the middle of the night together doing night feeds. There’s something nice about being awake when the rest of the world is asleep (which I will 💯 take back when I’m sleep deprived!). I saw a little scan thing on Instagram of a baby pulling on the umbilical cord and sometimes some of the feelings feel like that when they are low down 🤣 I wonder if that is what yours doing?!

I start my antenatal course on 28th October (and the second lot on 7th November) so I’ll have 2 a week. I’m most interested in the breast feeding stuff and baby first aid as I’ve done a few hypnobirthing classes now and feel like I have the gist of it. Breastfeeding feels overwhelming - I’ve read you shouldn’t pump at all even if you aren’t getting much milk as it can affect supply and you just have to keep trying with baby. But god knows!!

Sounds like you’re making good progress with the nursery! Sure it will come together quickly. ☺️ Ours is at a standstill now until the end of the month as we’re busy and the guys doing the coving have to come back Friday and then we have to leave it 5 days to paint it after that. Which is fine - means we’ll be sorting it at the start of November and then buy everything Black Friday so November will be all about the nursery. December hopefully all about getting myself mentally ready and deep cleaning, hospital bag and Christmas time off. Then January resting and nesting! I got a little countdown app on my phone that counts down days at work and another for due date 🤣 100 days to go until my due date!!

@ThePeachGoose Oh and yeah I think it was from that. I noticed it in Pilates class (or the teacher did) when we were doing some exercises half raised and doing leg lifts. But since then I’ve noticed it happens if I don’t roll on to my side when getting up. I do try to but sometimes I forget 🙃 I just feel like a giant whale at the moment! I am fine doing exercise and all the DIY I’m doing so it’s frustrating things like not being able to get out of bed normally 🤣🤣

@ThePeachGoose congrats on your scan!!

ref nurseries- we just went for where we already go with Dd but when o was looking for her yeah I checked they did the funded hours, also get the tax free childcare (20%back from gov) and then just visited 4/5 nurseries to see which ones I liked the vibe of, cleanliness, safety etc. I didn’t look this early with the first but since this extra funding our nursery said they were already booking up fast for next year so just bit the bullet (she will need to go 1 day from sept next year as I’m going back part time earlier than the year this time)

@HopefulllHolly ah they move all the time, that was just the position she was in yesterday, but it was very interesting to connect where I've been feeling kicks or discomfort during the scan with the body parts that the sonographer was focusing on, so I could understand what feels like what. How sweet to think about you two as the only two people in the world at that time of night and it feels so special, but you are 1,000% allowed to take it back later! Oh wow you're all over these antenatal classes. And well done for focusing on the part that comes after the baby is here as well, as I swear, I've heard from two friends that they've spent all pregnancy focusing on the birth that they forgot to look into what to do when the baby is here, so they felt very overwhelmed. Let us know how the courses go when you get there. I love your plan and your countdown - my husband has one on his phone as a widget as well, very sweet. And lol on the coning, so that's another thing for me to look forward to! I'm sure you don't look like a whale, but I can resonate with feeling like a whale 😅

@Edf thanks! and thank you for giving more info on the nurseries, I'll start looking into it

@HopefulllHolly glad you're 25 week appointment went well. It's funny how different areas do different things. You'd think there would be one set of guidelines maternity services have to follow but doesn't appear that way. My bump wasn't measured and won't be til 28 weeks. I get reviewed every 3 weeks too rather than 2 weeks.

Also interesting you were told to monitor your movements as there's a pattern. When I went to MAU the midwife said baby won't have a pattern until 28-32 weeks and even then it might change 🤷🏻‍♀️ whereas my own midwife said he does have a pattern which should increase up until 28 weeks and then stay the same. So any changes from normal go to the MAU (like I did).

@ThePeachGoose I've been buying bits for my hospital bag during our weekly food shop since my 20 week scan. That way I'm not buying everything in one go. I do the same with formula, nappies, wipes and cotton wool.

Glad your 20 week scan went well and everything is looking as it should. Also good news that your placenta has moved up too!

Yesterday evening I asked DP if we could put the curtains up in the nursery. He was reluctant but eventually agreed (he was tired but he knows not to argue with a pregnant woman! 😂). Good thing we went into the nursery last night as there was this brown water running down the wall (around the window). Soo noticeable because of the cream paint. Tried to work out where it's coming from but I think where we had soo much rain yesterday it's coming in from under the soffits. Luckily it hadn't dried and stained the walls so could easily be wiped off (and luckily we had bought the tough and durable range of paint) otherwise I think DP would have had a meltdown! He was like thank god you asked me to put the curtains up lol.

@ThePeachGoose congrats getting past the 20 weeks scan, such a great milestone! As for the physio, it was the midwife that did the referral but i also did a self referral so had two appointments!! I went to both and actually found the maternity physio less helpful as it was all basic generic advice whereas the general physio gave me personalised exercises.

@HopefulllHolly glad you’re appointment went okay even if midwife was grumpy. Like @DippyDuck19 says I can’t believe how different it is in every area. I have no midwife appointments at all between 16 and 28 weeks which seems crazy to leave a 3 month gap. And then after my 28 week appointment it’s only every 4 weeks that I get a midwife appointment. Also, the hospital called me today to cancel my obstetrician appointment for this week so I have to wait a month before next being seen. I know they did it as I’ve had an extra few appointments put it as the consultant who looked after me in my last pregnancy has agreed to keep an eye on me this time (long story but the hospital made a massive mistake in my last pregnancy so their top doc took on my care personally). But if it wasn’t for that extra care then I’d be feeling quite abandoned! At least they have me down for extra scans too.

@HopefulllHolly great you’re going to all the classes. Oooh, I’m not sure about that breastfeeding advice!! I feel there’s a lot of strong opinions out there that can be really harmful for women. I’ve breastfed three babies now and I tell you my third one was soooo hard - I didn’t produce any milk at all for about 10 days and my nipples cracked and it was so painful. All the advice from the breastfeeding ppl was just to keep going. I know the end I did everything they said not to - I used formula for top ups, tried pumping everyday to get milk going and used nipple shields. I got there in the end and breast fed her until she was nearly 2. I had a much easier time with the first two, so you just never know what you’ll get!
But I do find the pro-breastfeeding lobby to be soo militant and it can be so stressful if your body just isn’t doing what you want. So go easy on yourself, i wish I’d been kinder to myself when I just couldn’t breast feed at the start.

I’ve also downloaded a countdown app!! 115 days till due date and I’ll hopefully I can cut 7 days off that if I have my c section at 39 weeks.

@AnnieStar12 thank you! it’s getting real now and it’s time to start buying some baby stuff! :D thanks for sharing the stuff on the physio, that’s good to know, also that it sounds like you got speedy service via the self referral, which is reassuring. On breastfeeding, man that sounds so hard! I’ve read 2 similar stories on reddit when I looked into personal breastfeeding experiences, and I also have a friend who has tried so hard with her newborn but ultimately had to take her baby to hospital as he was so malnourished from what I remember. The pressure is insane and a lot of people along the way are judgy and unhelpful from what I understand! I’ve kinda made a mental note as well that formula is okay until I work out breastfeeding if it takes a while (my mum’s milk took a few days to come in too). Or pumping and bottle is okay until we figure out the latching. I just want to make sure she gets some breast milk in her diet eventually for all the benefits. But I definitely need to look more into all of this.

@DippyDuck19 thank you! And my gosh, what an annoyance with the roof leak! Sometimes you can go for years with no leaks, and then it rains one day with the wind pushing the water into this one particular angle, and voila leak in your room! The same happened to our dormer last year. Hopefully it’s a one off and good thing you found it early!

Actually, I realise I didn’t give any more updates on our bathroom leak. I’ve mentioned a few weeks ago that I’ve had a water leak in our living room and had to have the water off for a few days, but our plumber eventually came, cut a hole in the ceiling, found it, sorted it. Well, after another week, there was more water coming down the wall! So we had to get the plumber back, expand the hole in the ceiling and find the other leak. It’s thankfully sorted now, I think, but we’re monitoring and waiting for the walls to dry to be able to put the plaster back and re-paint the walls. Definitely an annoyance I didn’t need, but something I can deal with at the end of the day.

Completely unrelated, I wanted to share something that’s been bothering me about a friend, and need to vent about her for a bit. I think that I’ve generally done a good job this pregnancy in terms of staying calm and collected, especially in the second trimester after my stressful first trimester. I have a whole entourage of people helping me through it, from my personal trainer to my acupuncturist, I’m walking a lot, I’m staying active, doing fun things, doing meditation, journalling, so I’ve been putting in the work and it’s been working well for me.

But now, I have a friend that’s going through divorce, one of my best friends actually, and she’s absolutely draining me of every ounce of positive energy and actually raising my anxiety and anger and frustration by quite a bit. This week I was even contemplating restarting my therapy for anxiety as I was struggling, and then my next thought was “no, fuck that, she needs to go to therapy, not me!” While divorce is by no means an easy event to go through and I really feel for her, I’m just so irritated with her and how she’s refusing to get any sort of help or get her shit together, and is completely relying on me and other friends to get through it. I don’t think it’s fair on anyone in her circle as everyone has their own life and dramas to worry about. I just wanted to enjoy my pregnancy and all the good news along the way, since it took us so long and so much hard work to get here, and I’m putting in the work to be in a good place, whereas I’m annoyed with her that she is not. She is constantly complaining about everything, saying how hard it is, how her situation is so unique and no one can help her, and taking no responsibility. It’s tiring and infuriating. She was like this before the divorce too, constantly finding excuses in the past few years when it came to going to the doctor to sort out her health issues or going to therapy to sort out her mental health issues, and now she has even more things that she won’t do. It’s been a month and a half and outside of finding a solicitor, she has not engaged with the divorce process at all, even missed a deadline, and ignored a task that ultimately is there to help her as it was about agreeing an interim budget while going through divorce. I’ve promised her that I’ll help her through it and probably why I tried so hard with her, but seeing she’s putting no effort in any area, I think that I’ll need to step back and engage with her and her messages less, for my own sanity. But mainly, I’m just so annoyed with her that she’s even putting all her shit on me at a time when all of us here are trying so hard to keep our anxiety at a minimum. Gah. RANT OVER

@ThePeachGoose Oh bless you that’s rubbish about your friend. I will admit I have very little patience for people when they don’t help themselves and just complain instead - I know that sounds harsh but it’s just so tiring and draining and even helping and offering advice it falls on deaf ears. If they won’t help themselves then no one can help them really. I’d probably be more in the camp of protecting your bubble and happiness and taking a small step back - if you can do that without her obviously noticing or tell her kindly that you have lots going on and you’re trying to focus on maintaining your wellbeing and happiness atm? I don’t know. I guess there’s a chance she’d be very upset with you and you’d lose a friend but hopefully she’d understand where you were coming from, and it might help her
to do some inward reflecting?

Protect your peace though - if it’s making you stressed and annoyed then you need to do what’s best for you and baby. ☺️

I’m having a panic - I’ve not felt baby at all today. I have been really busy with work and in between meetings and every spare second I was putting our bedroom back together again and moving stuff around. I think she might just be tucked away again as I’ve had a weird number of bubbles and a feeling she’s moving without feeling her (if that makes sense - kind of like it’s a very distant feeling inside and not obvious). But I’m worrying I should have gone to the MAU. Going to eat my dinner and relax now and see if she does anything but if not I’ll be going tonight or in the morning - I really don’t know what to do! I think I felt her last about 6am but I was half asleep and even then I think the feelings were much less obvious than they have been? I’m scared 😩🥺 and I don’t know if I’m overreacting.

@HopefulllHolly Oh no, I worry about this stuff too and how to judge the right time to go in. I’m sure that any MAU would say that you are never over-reacting with this stuff. If you’re really concerned and something doesn’t feel right, just head to the MAU. That’s why they’re there.

If you aren’t panicking just yet, definitely have dinner, lie down, relax, massage your belly and hopefully you’ll feel a little kick or two. What else do they do during scans? They always tell me to lie on my back, lift my hips and shake them, when the baby is not in the right position. I’ve heard others drink something sugary. Maybe also clap really close to the belly, that’s how they wake up babies closer to term to make sure all is okay 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

@ThePeachGoose ah, sorry about your friend. Sounds like you need a little break / breather from her. Maybe take a step back for a while? You’ll probably be able to support her better after having a break. I also have a very close relative going through a big break up and am providing huge amounts of support so do appreciate its a lot when you’re pregnant too.

@HopefulllHolly you could try an ice cold sugary drink then lie down to see if that gets baby moving. I’m sure it’s all fine, but also, go get checked if you’re not happy - the hospitals have 24 hour assessments for pregnancy. I have quite a low bar for getting things checked over as you’ve probably gathered from all my extra scans!! That’s exactly what the pregnancy assessment units exist for.

@HopefulllHolly don’t panic, it sounds like she is tucked in a different position as you can still sense her / sense movement. Try lying on one side and then after ten minutes (if nothing), try lying on the other side. Cold drink or sugary food may get her going as others have said, but if you’re not happy in an hour or so - just pop in. Not worth the worry!

Morning ladies - thank you for the kind words! I didn’t go to the hospital and left it until today to see if she’d move. Even the sweet drinks and sugar didn’t move her! But I woke up at 1am and she was having her usual disco at night. She’s definitely in an odd position as I can only feel movement very very low down and they feel much fainter than they have been. Possibly hands down there? I’d love to be able to see what she’s doing and where she is in there so I can get my head around my blank spots for movement. Guessing my placenta is blocking her or she’s facing inwards or both. She’s moving again now too.
I’ll still keep an eye today as her pattern is definitely not the same and make a decision - but hopefully I feel her all day and she’s ok.

thank you again!

Can I ask a question of you ladies who are further ahead? When did you stop your ivf meds, particularly if you had a medicated FET? My ivf clinic said the obstetrics team would handle that, and I have my booking in appt with them next week at 9wks.

I’d assumed the ivf clinic would be the ones to make that decision though!

@Sierra26 Hey - I was fresh so it’s different but it was 8/9 weeks and I think the girls who had fets stopped at 12 weeks. (Assuming you mean progesterone!)

Morning all catching up

Firstly @HopefulllHolly relieved to hear you're feeling movement now! Hopefully you feel more of the regular movements for the rest of today, keep us posted 🤞

@RunningOnHope pleased to hear your scan went well last week! We've viewed 2 nurseries this week and got a couple more in the next few weeks. Crazy to be thinking about this already!

@DippyDuck19 nursery is looking lovely! 😍 where did you buy the giraffe? My DH is obsessed so I'm thinking of buying one as part of his bday present!

@AnnieStar12 great to hear you've been getting more movement. How did you get on with your physio referral?

@ThePeachGoose so pleased your scan went well! I feel like I'm more happier to start planning the nursery and buying stuff after last weeks scan too!
I'm sorry about your friend. This is the time to put your peace first so taking a step back for now is the right thing 💛

Thanks for everyone's messages after last weeks scan. Can't believe I'm already 22 weeks today! Managed to get bonus scan yesterday to let 2 students practice and it was nice to get to see baby again! As I was doing them a favour I managed to get them to take a short video of the scan which is so nice to have 🥰
Aside from this I've asked for a referral to physio as I'm concerned I'm already getting pelvic pain and worried it's the start of PGP 😫
DH and I have come away to Devon for a week which is our first break since summer last year! Will make the most of our undivided attention to have one day of just deciding what we'll want to buy for baby etc as when we get back he'll be straight back to finishing renovation work in every spare hour!