The Berry-Copter!!!

[Bunnygirlie]

The Berry thread - berries (over 30s) pregnant with first baby after trying 12+ months.

Support, advice and hand holding from the grads.

Don't forget to CLENCH!

Marking place as I lost you. Will come back when less tired and more coherent

lady yep enjoyed NCT. Wasn't sure before we started, a lot of people say how they met friends for life but I was all 'I have enough friends' but it is ace to meet people going through the same things at the same time! We had a lovely group and a great teacher, feel a bit more confident now

RP sounds like the first few movements to me! I bet in next few weeks you'll know it's def movement

Yep getting to 37w is weird. Very tough now physically, started noticing it around 34w I think, tiredness set in and walking up town knackering with achey hips and sometimes achey bump!

chloe not had many people say that yet but I'm sure it's coming, if I'm late I'm not looking forward to all the "have you had it yet" questions!

quiet in here! Hope all's well. Have nothing to say especially as I'm so nervy about the scan tomorrow that I've been rendered silent. It's at midday so will check in afterwards to let you all know how it goes.

Ooh feather, good luck tomorrow!! I hope you manage to sleep okay tonight. I'll check in tomorrow.

Good luck tomorrow Feather!

I remember the scan dread, Good luck feather

Thanks to bunny for the new list (OMG I'm on the copter list, Squeal!) and also to lady for the link, will go and check it out now.

Good luck for your scan tomorrow feather!

Sounds like you're not having much luck rp nearly being chased yet again! Hope your presentation went well, don't be too hard on yourself, I'm sure you were great!

Feather good luck!!

Yeah presentation fine in the end, but left house at 7.30 and got home at nearly 10.30! Knackered. I nearly cried when someone suggested going to the pub afterwards.....

Well it's been a mental week or two! Another couple of job interviews, muchas sickness, another festival, and then another bit of bleeding this morning. Spoke to the midwife, and ended up having another scan today. All looked perfect :) little squiggle was wriggling and waving, good size, strong heartbeat. Yay!
Need to have a proper catch up with you all, I wrote a post the other day detailing loads of you, then my phone wouldn't post it which is typical haha!!
bunny I'm also going to be mid April, so I'll sneak in on the next list if poss

Puppy - hope you're ok? PM me if you get a chance as I would live you to join the gang on Facebook as we would all love to know how you're getting on

Copter I have started reading back but haven't caught up at all yet. However just wanted to join in on the bit about labour... ALL my life I have been scared of giving birth, I saw a video of childbirth when I was 12 and I was petrified since then. I was very 'give me all the drugs' until I got pregnant. I read a lot about it and decided I wanted to give it a go naturally, for many reasons. I was still petrified, I remember getting to 37 weeks and having nights where I couldn't sleep from the fear. As it happened it was a lot easier than I ever could have expected, and not painful. Very uncomfortable, very undignified (puking, farting and crying through contractions while clinging onto DH) but it was ok. Mine was v quick (7 hours from first contraction) with paracetamol, tens and the pool. Got to say the tens was amazing and I didn't want to take it off, and then the pool was even better. Probably had 5 painful contractions in total. The best bit for me (as I hate hospitals) was being able to go home to my own bed the same day as i had had no drugs. Anyway, just wanted to say that i think its a really personal experience but I had convinced myself it was going to be really painful and it wasn't in the end. If you want to ask a real person any questions feel free to PM me

Thinking of you feather! Xx

Just sticking my head in to see if there's any news from feather.

All good guys!! There was a delay as the baby wouldn't move and I hadn't drunk enough water, so had to go away for 40mins and come back. All is fine! I can't believe it. So relieved. Thanks for all the support. You're up next rp!

Brilliant news feather!

Yay!!!! Brilliant news! How're you feeling??

Thanks! Feel like I can now begin to relax a bit win! I'm sure the anxiety levels will go up as time passes, but for now, basking in the glow of everything is ok. Confirmed it's a girl, too.

Off on hols on Saturday for two weeks so looking forward to having a swim or ten in the sea.

How's everyone else?

Feather congrats :) Well done you! That is super news. Yes, for goodness' sake, just relax and enjoy it - you deserve it after all the stress. When people told us 'our time would come' this is what they meant!

Still quite nervous for Friday, but fingers crossed!

Oh and congrats kitten - what week are you now?

You'll be fine rp! Understand the nerves but you're a few days away from seeing dino. Are you going to find out the gender or leave it as a surprise?

Yay feather

Just popping in following merk's nudge. Also happy to talk labour experience - will pop back with proper message later. Glad to see the chopper is still flying!

rp to echo feather, are you going winkie hunting or having a gender surprise? Either way I bet it will be so amazing :D
I'm 9+3 btw :)

Winkie hunting!

But mostly just hope all is well.

9w already, nearly in the teens!

Hello all,
Though I would pop in and add my 2 pennies on a few random things:

• breathlessness - it's not just the lung-squishing (which comes later) it's the big increase in blood volume and need to oxygenate more blood. I was very breathless in first and second trimester.
• tiredness - so much worse in first trimester! Bested only by last few days of pregnancy. Even tiredness from sleep deprivation is better - hang in there!
• mat clothes - I'd second Asos, but also love Sweaty Betty Mantra yoga vests. Not strictly mat wear, but long enough to go over bump all the way to the end, and stretchy enough that you can pull down the top to breast feed too!
• NCT - I know different berries have had different experiences. I found ours pretty useful in prompting questions for me & DH to discuss, and it was fairly balanced.
• birth plans/labour - I did have a plan, but kept it fairly flexible. In the end, what I had (epidural, episiotomy, Ventouse) was not in the plan, but I was happy with every decision as it happened. Best advice is to get informed about all the possibilities and stay fairly flexible if you can, as you never know what will happen. If you're into research (and I didn't get into any of this until well past 30 weeks) the Cochrane reviews look at evidence for all sorts of interventions and practices, and have good plain English summaries:

www.thecochranelibrary.com/view/0/index.html (Go to 'Pregnancy and Childbirth' in the right-hand menu)

Thanks for the list bunny!

Merk and poppy, thanks for your wisdom! Poppy, I love a bit of research so thanks for the link, I'll take a look. I'm also planning on checking out asos tonight.

I think I'm feeling movement.. Seems to be more definite nudges rather than wind/ indigestion, unless pregnancy has really ruined my digestive system!!

Ooooh win how exciting!

merk and poppy - very interesting! Thank you both. Will have a proper research when I'm back from hols.

kitten nearly there! Hope you're feeling ok.

lady how are you doing?!

rp thinking of you for tomorrow! Go baby DINO! What time is your scan?

chloe hoorah! And how are you feeling?

All good at this end. Mat jeans getting tighter round the belly and have felt a few 'popcorn pops' in my lower belly recently. Could be movement or wind. Who knows!

Off on hols early on Saturday morning. Internet access will be sketchy but will check in to see how you all are when possible. Will of course be sniffing around tomorrow for rp's news.