40+ mums to be

[littleredmonkey]

Hi
I am 43 and expecting my first and these next several months are going to be a challenge so hoping to meet others in the same situation.
I can believe I have a baby growing in my dusty cobweb ridden womb. It has taken me 3 weeks to get my head around the whole thing and it is still worried about the future and being able to cope. My partner is fab and great helping me with the ups and downs of baby hormones. Nothing beats hot sweats, night panics and freeze in the middle of tescos wondering our we doing the right thing. I feel better this week and got my head around things .
Any ladies who also need support or just to have a good moan every now and again. xx
Ps thinking about having a toilet built next to my bed to save time going to the loo quite a bit in the evenings!!

Just to update on my scan today, it went well (thank god, have been an emotional wreck the last few days)

I said I didn't want to look at the screen until the heartbeat was found- and there it was!! Dated as 8+5, giving a due date of 22nd Dec. I know I'm not out the woods yet m/c-wise, but was told the chances of it happening were very small now.

Massively relieved, DP & I can enjoy our weekend in London now

HPbp - how did yours go? I think there may be others due scans around now?

Hoping all well with everyone.

lotsofcheese, glad your scan went well, I think we're due around the same time, although I haven't had a scan yet. Have a lovely weekend in London.

littlepinkfizz Congratulations! Wow no.5! Your house must be lots of fun. I come from a family with 5 kids and its brill. Get togethers at my mums are v noisy with all the partners and grandchildren now

Gothinrecovery I've had no midwife appointment yet (17 weeks) though I've had my first scan and have my second booked. I'm sure everyone on this thread is fed of me moaning about rubbish lack of midwife appointments.

Bytheseaside Dungarees would be fab to wear. If only they were acceptable and fashionable!

lotsofcheese yay! have great weekend in London. What are your plans for the trip?

I've had such a busy day today - lots of boring errands to run and I'm knackered. I'm going out for a meal with a friend. Don't know how I'm going to stay up. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Welcome Littlepinkfizz ! Hat off, number 5 ! I am impressed. How old are the 4 others ?
Lotsofcheese, happy that your scan went well, this is going to be a lovely present for Christmas. In the meantime, enjoy the birthday party in London.
Knottyhair and Gothin, for my first pg, i could not get any appointment until i was 12 weeks, that was with the MW, then of course i missed the NT scan, but at 16 weeks i had the quadruple blood test to measure DS risk and from that point everything came back on track, so just keep on harassing the MW or hospital but don't worry too much
Bytheseaside, take it easy too, what made me calm down was the idea that if i am relaxed then baby will be relaxed too, one day at a time, everything will be fine. I know, easier said than done but see the bright side, there is nothing wrong so enjoy.

My scan went well, thank you for asking. I am exactly 30 weeks today ! Already ! Only 10 weeks to go. Baby is fine, her growth is consistent, still on the 3rd centile, but as Midget said, there is nothing wrong with small baby. Hopefully the drs are right and i will not tear. She is already not behaving, kept moving during the scan, so it took a bit of time but i enjoyed seeing her. Have braxton hicks contractions also but the cervix is still long and closed, so far so good.

Enjoy the week end everyone.

Exexe, just saw your post. Jumpsuits can do the trick as well, and a bit more fashionnable. I have a black one and it looks fab, with flip flop for the beach, leather belt and long necklace and a bit of heels for a night out (not that I party a lot though), with a jacket for work. It is worth the price

Er thanks Hpbp I'm 5ft 2" and a couple of stone overweight. Would not be a good look for me Wish it was.....

Oups Exexe I did not mean to hurt your feelings :) I am about the same height and my weight today taken by the hospital staff was a bit of a shock, 13.5 kg more than my pre pregnancy weight...

Hobo - other children are 14,12,10 and 15 mths! Lovely to hear everyone's news and lots of baby luck to us all x:)

Ooops! Predictive text sorry Hpbp

Finally time to post properly (and snigger quietly across the room at DP who is getting really broody watching baby vids on YouTube, then pretending he's not at all ). Hi to all the new peeps!

lotsofcheese - congrats on the scan - I do hope you enjoy your trip! :)

Valium - have you started back at work? If so how is it? How are you feeling these days? So glad you mentioned about babygrows. I wanted to keep mine in them most of the time as they're so cute and practical and then I thought - well what else to small babies wear? (unless they're girls! ). bytheseaside - totally agree about babygrows and little cardis! :). My step MIL is knitting a little set like that that I chose. Guess I'm a little 'classic' and old-fashioned in my baby clothes taste!

exexe - I hear you on the big bump! At 20wks this weekend, mine is as big as most small womens' get at full term and is already entering rooms before me - even before my (now) J-cup boobs . Still - for it's size it's neat, firm and bump like and at least I don't just look fat. When people express surprise at my size I tell them there's 2 fibroids in there as well - not far off the size of my uterus each.

Hpbp - Your list sounds very sensible. I also want a baby bjorn carrier so it's good to hear you liked it enough to re-use. However, not sure how much I'll use it personally, as if baby is big, not sure my previous 4 neck injuries will cope with the weight. However DP is determined to carry and I like the idea of carrying round the house if he/she is hard to settle. Hope your scan went well today :).

LRM - scan buddies! Hoorah! We'll have to compare notes on Tuesday evening! Sorry to hear about your tooth - what a nightmare! I hope you've managed to get it fixed!

Talking of mat trousers falling down, I bought some maternity tights from H&M - had high hopes for them. I was the national day here yesterday so I needed to wear a dress. Well, whilst accompanying DSD2 downtown to watch one of the parades, I realised...these things don't stay up over the bump! And they don't just 'not stay up' if I hadn't found a way to hold them up through my dress at half-thigh level they would have been at my ankles at the top of the steps to the car park . So far my experience of dedicated mat clothes has me firmly in the same camp as Hpbp - elasticated waists, ruched tops and also dresses (and I've been advised that tights are a nightmare so mat. leggings are the way to go) but expensive mat-cut clothes with 'bump accommodation' - not working for me so far...

Fjord, I can easily picture you in the car park trying to get these tights back on.... Same issue here. I find that after a little bit they tend to not stay on the bump and go down. Same for leggings. Maybe we should try suspenders....
Off to the natural history museum to show dinosaurs to DS1

Thanks for the comments about the MW appointments - seems as though I am not the only one and 10 weeks is actually not bad going.

Lotsofcheese - great news re the scan.

As for the clothes I have these joys to come My normal clothes are already tight - wore my fave jeans to go out with a friend last night and by the time I got home I was thrilled to get out of them. Even less thrilled when looking at the menu in the restaurant menu that there was 1 starter and 2 main courses I could actually eat as everything else seemed to have either alcohol, blue cheese or goats cheese in it!

Hello everyone glad you are all well.

Pixie I am very sorry fingers crossed for you.

Im still too scared of everyones reaction to tell family, specially older dc and mum.

My boobs are balls of pain but other than that no symptoms.

I need to get to docs - but for complicated reasons I don't want this on my medical records yet - anyone know if there is a way around this?

Hi :)

gothinrecovery - Re MW appts, I was mid moving abroad when I found out I was pregnant (planned, but not expected at this particular juncture) so only saw a midwife properly for the 1st time here in Norway, last week, at 19 weeks. Despite me being 41 and with complications, I seemed to be the only person particularly concerned about this and, other than getting to hear the heartbeat (which usually can't be detected much before 10-12 weeks I think anyway), it mostly just involved a lot of advice etc that is mostly available on the net/in books anyway. She was lovely though & it's nice to have support but here in Norway, midwife care was a 'option', 'if I liked' rather than seen as a necessity.

All I'm really trying to say is, while it's nice to feel 'looked after' because you have appointments, there's no real reason to see a MW at any particular juncture early on other than for comfort. Later on if you're going to deliever under midwife care the relationship becomes more important.

10 weeks seems reasonable and nice and early! (unless you're lucky enough to be attached to a super-efficient unit) :) Unless you have any known medical conditions that could be seriously exacerbated in early pregnancy there's not much to be seen about before then. As long as you get booked in and have a 12 week scan with nuchal booked - that's the main thing. I had that in UK before I came here despite not being booked in anywhere and not having been allocated a MW (you can always chase these things up through your GP or local EPU). I think nuchal testing can't be done much later than 13 weeks so that's the only thing to be really concerned about. It does feel weird in the early days when it's your first though...I remember feeling like I should be seen (!) but actually I found you're rather 'left to it' until 12 weeks+ which is really annoying as it's all so new and you have so many anxieties and questions. Consequently I found these Mumsnet boards invaluable - especially in the first trimester, one with women all due the same time as me as you're all going through the same thing. Hth.

whatnamethistime - um, you could try ringing your surgery anonymously and ask if everything in an appt has to be documented in your medical records, or perhaps you could go see a doc at a walk-in centre? No appts I've ever had in those for various reasons seem to end up documented in my notes at my GP.

Hpbp - said car park incident would have been a hilarious thing to behold. Lucky it was raining and the few people that passed nearby were mostly staring at the ground under their umbrellas. I thought of suspenders; or hold-ups? Or perhaps even leggings with braces?? Let me know if you come up with a solution! My bump is big enough - I thought it would hold everything up! :)

Re clothes - I found non maternity leggings in a size up stayed up better than maternity ones last pregnancy.

Not having a good day, have been having some minor spotting, probably tmi but some watery brown discharge when I wipe. Have read this is probably nothing to worry about but can't help it. No stomach pain or anything.

Have drs appointment Tuesday for blood pressure, may try and accelerate to monday, not sure there is much else I can do except rest and try not to panic? :(

Still no nausea which doesn't help and boobs dont seem sore today although other half thinks they are marginally bigger.

goth sorry you are feeling :(, I bled all the way through my other pregnancies, nothing this time so far, so Im worried about that!!!

Is anyone else not bothering with nuchal scan/screening? This would be my only baby at 42, and we are not scared of Downs as we volunteer with a lot of Downs folk. So we don't see the point in worrying ourselves with tests?

I didnt have any tests with my others, because I was having them no matter what, but now things are different with 2 small children already.

That makes sense. This one is my no matter what. :-)

Morning all, just a quickie from Spanish Spain.

Can't name check as silly app doesn't scroll and sun in my eyes.

Re spotting - if brown and no pain probably nothing but always worth mentioning it. Although there isn't much they will do. I had it with DD and also with this pregnancy at about 5, 8 and 14 weeks (only just stopped now at 16 weeks). It's a worry but often not anything serious.

Re NT : I was also not worried about downs but still did the test as I would rather know and I am worried about more serious and life limiting conditions so had the scan to look for those. Will also have 20 weeks for same reason. You can always have scan for dating but ask them not to measure the nuchal fold. We nearly did that but then decided knowledge is power. Even if you choose to do nothing with that knowledge if you see what I mean.

Spain is good for me. Bump the size of a watermelon. Spotting has stopped. Baby was going crazy watching the match last night (maybe because I forgot to breathe a few times). It is obviously a true blue. Feeling relaxed and sun kissed. This may be the last break before bambino so need to make the most of it. Best go. Data roaming charges are a bitch. Will catch up with your news soon.

Well I have been symptomless, but morning sickness is here with a vengance this morning!

Loving all the discussion about leggings, it's a bloody minefield!
Gotinrecovery, hope things are better today, and that some of the comments on here have given you some reassurance. I'd say try to get your doctors appt moved if you can and you feel you want to, even if it just puts your mind at rest a bit.
I think we will be having the nuchal tests and taking it from there - DP says he can't cope with the thought of something being wrong, but I'm hoping he may change his mind when it comes to it, but same as Midgetm, I think I'd want to know either way. Spain sounds wonderful by the way!
Whatname, I feel your pain. I can't wait for this nausea to subside, I was trying to hang on until 12 weeks hoping it might go by then, but I just checked the journal I wrote during my pregnancy with DS and it didn't go away until about 16 weeks. Never mind!

Thanks for the comments, that has given me some reassurance, I will certainly mention it to the doc though. Have felt nauseous today though not actually been sick (gagged when cleaning teeth and have been a bit queasy on and off ever since) which has actually made me feel a bit better if anything!

Inca, Midget, I agree with you re DS or other potential abnormalities. It is better to know in order to be prepared, that is the best thing we can do for this bambino. Information has always been power at all times.
I did not do much today. Little girl pressing on some organs, with her head down and back on my left, I feel like throwing up. I feel your pain too Whatname !
Gothin, hope you will be able to bring forward you appointment to Monday, it is always a concern when we don't know. But as for me, the 2 MC I had were announced with red fresh blood and period like pain.

Surfing to find nice birth announcement cards....