It's the Posifrickingtivity/Laura Ashley Skirt Graduate Thread!

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new Thread!

hey everyone, I cant believe the weekend is almost gone!

aoife good luck with the scan and excellent news about starting to enjoy it a bit :) and you diy I swing between hope and despair about every 10 minutes, so exhausting. But.... I think I may actually be feeling some movements!! Like little tiny pops and flutters. I'm convinced whilst its happening then later I just think i imagined it. It is just like with DD though - just a fair bit earlier (14 weeks yesterday).

and my DH could also burn water, I just asked for scrambled eggs - you'd think I'd asked for lobster risotto! He was lovely after I had DD though, he walked a mile to sainsbury's in 10 inches of snow to buy me lots of lovely food and made me amazing salads (in December!).

hi ibip sorry you're having such a hard time, have you doppled (?) again?

ibip I'm still bleeding more or less every day, brown too, but I know how hard it is. This is revolting and probably tmi but I've resorted to exclusively wearing black knickers - if I can't see the blood it freaks me out less.

And guess what? I'm not cramping, and haven't for the last two weeks, so this clearly means something is wrong!!!

Hang in there Pentagon pinging some positivity your way. Remember the mantra unless we have good reason to think other wise (e.g. giving birth), we are still pregnant. I am being really conscious about acknowledging all the stuff that makes me think I am still pregnant as much if not more so than the stuff that is freaking me out and it seems to be helping my levels of anxiety. Thursday/friday got freaked out cos I felt a bit ropey, and didn't have to get up to pee in the night. Sat/Sun there is definitely something in my gut that wasn't there before, and today I noticed my areolas are getting darker. So, what is making you feel pregnant this evening? Bloated? constipated? Weird tight feeling in your gut? Can't jump up and down cos your tits are too sore. Farting like a trooper? Can't fit into your favourite jeans? Already asleep?

As an aside ladies, what do you think about the 'compulsory' smoking test? I wasn't asked to do it at my booking in - anyone else. If asked in the future i shall be telling them where to stick it.

I have no idea what the compulsory smoking test is aoife but it sounds fairly big brotheresque! I think i was asked in a very loaded question like 'so you don't smoke do you?' i don't btw so it didn't matter.

Bump - no I havent doppled. I am a bit sore anyway, and I know with all this going on I will worry if I can't find it. I also don't want to poke around too much.

Diet- sorry you are having a rough time too. Good tip about the underwear. At the moment I am closely monitoring so wanting to see everything if that makes sense!
I am trying to reassure myself that cramping means growing, which is good, but it's just so hard when you get to hospital and the first thing they ask is does it hurt!!

Ooh and bump - wriggles? Really? Exciting! I have been trying so so hard to feel something! I would feel better if I could feel baby! A couple of times I have felt something that could be it, but as it is my first I have no idea really!

IBIP - I've been setting myself little goals and ticked each day off one by one. I had a bleed earlier on and had blood cells in my urine sample and I think it's really unsettling especially after what we have all previously been through. Hopefully this last brown bit will be the last you see of the bleeding until after the birth.

What is a smoking test?

IBIP and Dietcoke posted that before I saw your entries, I hope my Pollyannaness didn't seem crass given your circumstances. Sounds like you are having a dreadful time. My mini-freakouts exhausted me, I can't imagine living everyday with the degree of anxiety you have been experiencing, it must be really disabling. As I mentioned before I have a friend who had bleeding and went on to have two healthy children. If you want to know more PM me - I was really reassured by her story.

Ou yes bump, how very exciting feeling flutters :)
I just feel sick! Panicked Thursday because I didn't and then the next day came back to bite me on the bottom! I have a DVD of my scan yesterday, sad to admit I have watched it several times. Magical!

Oh this is a genius idea. NICE have decided that it would be a good idea to insist on carbon monoxide testing for expectant mothers, to check if they are smoking and refer to cessation services if they are. It has been on the news today. I can imagine this as a great way to start your relationship with your midwife.

Aoife - don't be silly. That's what I love about this thread. We can all have the worst dramas in the world going on and yet normal discussion carries on around it. Helps keep me sane :) x

There is a thread on the Co2 test and many of us think the same. Silly idea and a shameful waste of money and rescources that could be better spent on something else imo.

Yep aoife what ibip said! Don't be daft. I'm told my bleeding is 'normal' and down to my cervical ectropion. It's just hard to cope with after so many months of knicker checking. The lack of cramps worrying me makes me smile wryly given the amount of anxiety they've caused me!

I had the carbon monoxide test - thought it was just about checking I didn't have a leaky boiler or something. Mine wasn't negative - could have been from car exhaust or pollution or something apparently.

CO2 test is a ridiculous idea, there is no way to make a test compulsory! (is your midwife going to pin you to the floor holding your nose!) and if you didn't want to do it you just wouldn't. Surely someone who wanted to stop would seek the advice and someone who doesn't want to/can't won't.

ibip yes, I wasn't thinking you should dopple just wondering if you had. I've said it before and I know loads of us have but I bled with DD and she is perfect (in a very tantrumy 2 year old way!).

Re movements, I think I was over 20 weeks before I could feel her moving, as she was my first (and i was freaked out about not feeling anything). I have friend who is 27 weeks and she said she first felt the movements watching the 20 week scan as then she could see that what she had thought might be wriggles and movements really were.

jmf glad the party went well, bet she had a fab time

DH cooks well, but in reality only does one specific meal a week (chorizo pasta yum) and I do the rest, just how we divide the labour I guess

pentagon Sorry you're feeling down...we go on a cycle of huge posifrickintivity after a scan/MW appt, which starts to dip into despair as we approach the next scan/MW appt...unfortunately it seems like the natural order of things and it totally sucks...but it does mean that for you the next upsurge is imminent

blackholes oink oink here too...had a craving for those new walkers smoky bacon tiger nuts (how can you crave something you've never eaten before ) so am eating the whole packet now, while necking a becks blue

pink so sorry you are struggling, sounds so tough...do you have to go to work tomorrow? Kinda agree abt not doppling, you sound so fragile at the moment x And anda didn't realise you still had the bleeding big hugs for both of you xxx

bump I felt DS at 15+6 so been hoping to feel this one soon (am 13+5) keep thinking I do but it seems too high? Where you feeling it?

Great way to be thinking aoife we should all try and think like that

Re the smoking test, my first PG I was asked to do this (was under a different PCT) but haven't since....I'm in two minds, agree with the big brother feelings but I also think the MW isn't just my MW they are my babies so they have a duty to look out for the babies well being as well as mine iyswim....I'm on the fence a bit I guess!

Hi to everyone else

Your cervical what IBIP? I hope this raises a smile, but it sounds like you have something from Star Trek down there. 'Captain - Cervical Ectropion on the starboard side - set phasers to stun'
Seriously, I think mumsnet needs to sit down and change the language around pregnancy and miscarriage. Blighted ovum? Incompetent cervix? I have no doubt that men came up with these delighful terms.

Bump - thank you. Im sure you have said that but I had forgotten. In a horrible way it helps to hear about other poor people who have been through it and got a happy ending. Is all I am holding on to right now.

Shell - yea work is unfortunately unavoidable. It will help take my mind off things, and if I don't go in it will only pile up and stress me more. They not the most understanding at my work either unfortunately!

Can you work from bed home? I had PGP with DS and work were brill like that

Haha! No. I can just imagine suggesting that to work. It wouldn't go down well!

aoife it's great isn't it? Cervical ectropions (aka cervical erosions) are when the cervix cells are essentially on the outside when they're normally on the inside and hence get irritated more and bleed. It's like a graze on the cervix and I've been told that it's normal, it's not related to any complications, it's more common in multiples and it will probably get worse as the pregnancy progresses. Despite knowing all of this I still can't get used to seeing brown blood when I wipe.

Fair enough! I think mine just thought better that than I get signed off!

anda the words totally normal mean nothing to our brains anymore

Cervical erosion?!? Sounds very unpleasant however - my fanny is not part of the Norfolk coastline nor I trust is yours.

How about we think up the worst possible medical terms for pregnancy? How about corrupted vagina? or lazy uterus? or deceitful cervix?

Heehee shell I think it's because, like pentagon I've started my next appt countdown of doom. It's a week on Tuesday so about the right time for the anxiety to start.

Shell - I wish they were as understanding :) its a good idea that would work in most places :)
And yes- that's exactly what the lovely doctor said to me. 'i know this is going to be very hard for you to believe but this is very common, and you need to try not to worry'. Oh bless. Like I have a hope in hell of that!!

Aoife - my friend has been diagnosed with an 'irritable uterus'. I would like to know how one assesses what the mood of ones uterus is?!