PMA Grads Thread :-)

[Dollydaydream2829]

Hey ladies,
We've finally made it to the other side and are journeying through the unknown territory of pregnancy! Here to share our stories, our worries and keep that all important PMA!
This is a thread for our PMA TTC Grads and for any women expecting their babies and feel like injecting a bit of positivity into their pregnancy journeys and the gang!
Feel free to join and introduce yourselves below :-)

Hi all, went a bit AWOL as I've been incredibly tired and find it hard to keep up! Had my 16 week appointment and it was lovely to hear the heartbeat.

Baby did not want to behave at the 20 week scan (or at 12 weeks for that matter, hopefully not a sign of things to come) and although everything looked fine o have to go back at 23 weeks so theyvcam check the heart in more detail. I think think would normally have got me to go for a walk but I was the last appointment of the day.

And here's a photo.

Aww @Sophsta how cute!!! I'm the same every scan Iv had it's been acting up 🙈 hopefully my 20 week scan goes better ha ha!!!

I had a dream the other night I got scanned and it was a girl and then the last night had one it was a wee boy 🙈 lol!!!

Take it u didn't find out @Sophsta

@anna2006 yes i still think ffjord, although fox tale is the other one that caught my eye, theres a new one with houses on similar to fox tale just coming out but not sure they're doing it in the wow. We went yesterday to have a fiddle with it at mothercare and pushed it up to the car to try it in the boot. Still open to other ones though just want something practical thats not too expensive so i'm mostly going on online reviews

No we're having a surprise! Decided we wanted to make the phone call to people and tell them after the birth.

I've just bought the Silver Cross Wayfarer as it was on offer. We only went to look, oops! Booking on to NCT this week as I'm 21 weeks and hear they can get booked up.

Glad to hear all is well Sophsta and lovely scan pic :)

Probs TMI, but almost had explosive diarrhoea in Aldi this morning. Had upset tum first thing - not that unusual for me and thought after a good clear out I'd be fine to go out, as we really did need food shop. Like so many places they've closed the public toilets in our nearest town, but thankfully there's some council offices that the public can access with questions nearby, so was able to dash in there after I'd hurriedly paid and packed. Had diarrhoea most of the 3rd trimester last time round, so hoping this isn't a sign of what's I've got in store over the next 12 weeks!

morning all

@Sophsta love your scan pic. how amazing life is at times. i'm guessing girl for you xx

@bakingmad83 oh no, glad you got to a place of "safety". would aldi not have let you use their facilities given the circumstances? hope your tummy settles down xx

iv woken up with sausage like fingers and granny like ankles - excellent when i'm heading out tonight NOT! all i need is to look in the mirror and see more bloody spots! i am soooooo attractive right now SMOKING HOT..... #not

Hopefully you're able to rest up during the day to help ease your swelling Bella. Enjoy your night out :)

That's a good point Bella, I should have just asked one of the store assistants whether I could use their staff toilet! So far so good today. Had DS to the park and beach this morning, so just catching up on a bit of online stuff while he has a nap.

Hi all just checking in and catching up from sunny Malaga! ☀😀 Our last city break as a twosome before baby arrives! We walked 11 miles yesterday 😮 it definitely didn't feel like that much although that did include a walking tour but we are taking it much easier today anyway!

@Amanda and @Anna can't wait to see your 20 week scans 😍 and enjoy the wedding Anna!

@Soph hey there! Great pic 😍 Baby has acted up at every scan I've had too - it's as if they know we can see them lol! Hope your tiredness clears soon!

@Baking glad you had a nice break but sorry to hear about your toilet situation - hopefully it was just a one off! Enjoy yiur family day on Sunday :)

@Bella fab you've got a wee bump :) and great your mat leave is signed off too eek!! I REALLY need to get mine sorted when I get back to work after hols! Enjoy the hen party!!

@Rose Sorry to hear you are still feeling ugh. Might be worth asking for a blood test now rather than suffering through to 30 weeks?

@Dolly when's your 30 week appointment? Must be soon? Mine is on Wednesday eek!!

I was on my last work trip to England on Monday/ Tuesday and the only help I was offered was a lady working in security insisted on lifting my case onto the belt. I was so grateful I got teary Lol! I had to ask a man on the plane to lift it into the overhead locker - fine on the way there but on the way back I heard the lady say to the man I asked "shouldn't bring a case if you can't lift it in" I was so hurt how rude!! I'm so surprised people aren't more keen to held a pregnant lady?! Although it often crosses my mind that maybe they are scared incase I'm not pregnant and they offend me!

We ordered everything last Sunday, literally 99% ticked off the list (i think!) and it's all started to arrive at my parents house since we've been away. Very exciting!! Mum sent me a pic of the travel system boxes - think they'll be glad to get their house back when I bring it all to our house! I only got it delivered to theirs as we were going to be away but my mum's a bit funny about me having stuff in the house before baby arrives so it worked out well! The only thing friends have mentioned is that they didn't have the pram in their own house before baby arrived so I'm thinking I'll get it built up and just leave it at my parents and they can bring it up after baby arrives. What is everyone else thinking about having stuff in the house??

Lovely to hear you're enjoying your break in the sun Moo :)

I think people would be more than happy to help if you asked, but some pregnant ladies might get offended if someone did something for them just because they were assumed to be pregnant even if they were. Tbh at the mo I'd feel a bit that way, as still able to do everything I'm usually able to, but haven't really been in situations for lifting heavy things other than shopping, but I've been careful to bag it up so none are too heavy. Know in London they have those "baby on board" badges for on transport, but not everyone uses them and not sure how much attention other people pay.

That's exciting you nearly have all that you need now :) Re things in the house, we had ours arrive about a week before due date, as although my husband is far from superstitious he didn't want to tempt fate to have it here months in advance. It wasn't practical to have it delivered anywhere else, as at the time we had no family living close by and didn't know anyone well enough in our village who might have the pram for us. Just pressing on with sorting and washing all DS's old clothes and blankets. We were given so many of the latter and hardly used, as he was such a warm baby and would have been cooking if we'd done the whole "extra layer than yourself" rule. Not actually giving much of his old stuff away, as a lot is potentially unisex and even the more boyish items can be teamed with something else.

That's an interesting rule @Baking "one more layer than yourself" I haven't heard that one! Any more pearls of wisdom to share!?

Great you are getting sorted - my cousin had a ds and then a dd and reused lots of his stuff esoecially sleep suits, vests etc as noone sees them and even jeans as they don't look boyish when you team them with a flowery / pink top!

Talking of public transport I had a nightmare a few weeks ago and had to stand for 40 mins from Belfast to dublin (journey takes 2 hours). Another woman was so annoyed at no one giving up their seat that she went and spoke to the train manager - he was just about to bring me to 1st class when the train stopped and someon3 beside where i was standing got off so I just jumped into their seat! I was very annoyed though - not at the company but at people!!

I just read that several times last pregnancy re number of layers to dress baby in, but I quickly found out it depends on the baby :) Think with a lot of advice it ends up not being applicable to your little one, so you just make things up as you go along! Mind you, one piece of advice I wish I'd heard before a few months ago was that the envelope neck on vests/bodysuits is so that you can take them off over their legs rather than necks when you've got an explosive nappy to deal with!

Sorry to hear about your recent train journey Moo. I guess people can be very selfish when it comes to giving up seats unfortunately.

My cousin told me that about the necks! I always wondered why they were shaped like that! I think I'll Google "things I wish I had known when I had a baby" and see what people have said!

I've seen a few posts on here on that topic too and always take a look :)

So so sorry @MissMagpie ❤

29 weeks tomorrow. The stabby fanny has started... don't remember if being this early with DS!

on the rush today as off swimming now but had to share this (which i was told about at the hen party last night - 3 girls all sisters used it, 1 having a 10lb baby with no tear or cuts)

www.boots.com/natural-birthing-company-down-below-perineal-massage-oil-10197630

will catch up once i'm home later 😘

Hope you enjoyed your swim Bella.

I did perineal massage last time, just used olive oil I think from memory. However, as I needed forceps delivery and they nearly always give you episiotomy with that to reduce the risk of a bad tear, I still ended up with stitches. Hopefully will have natural delivery this time round, as assisted delivery less common with subsequent births, so planning to try perineal massage again.

I got fanny daggers early on this time Ohb0llocks, but not had any for a while. Remember getting them in last trimester last time, but can't really remember when I got them. Hopefully you won't have to put up with them for 11 weeks.

Hey girls hope u all had a good weekend.

19+2 for me today. Feeling wee tiny movements now but not a lot.

So so tired today I keep going ok I'll
Do something and then I think nah. I feel guilty though feel like I should be more active but I just can't be bothered 🙈 please tell me I'm not the only one!!!

Oh @BellaMoon my midwife recommended that too!!! Xx

Oh Amanda I am exactly the same. So tired! Not sure how I'm going to cope back at school next week without my nap!

I've been feeling proper movements for the past couple of weeks and last week my DH felt the baby for the first time which actually made me really emotional!

Hopefully this passes but I heard the 2nd trimester is supposed to be the one who the energy. This doesn't bode well...

hi ladies

ended up out most of the day yesterday after our swim as we headed to family and stayed for dinner. food is wayyyy better when someone else cooks it! lol

the perineal massage is something iv never really heard people talk about very much so i had to look into it. it makes so much sense when you think about it. i am 200% doing it. anything to try to avoid tears or cuts is on my life. my flower actually tingles (in a bad way, not a fizzy way) when i think about a tear/cut. definitely 1 of my worst fears!

aw @AmandaP86x so cute that you're feeling movements now. i questioned the early movements as wind or my imagination but they soon turn into proper kicks. and no, you're not alone on the exhausted/lethargic front. that's been me this entire pregnancy. i threw a bitch fit this morning cos i had to dry my hair. that was just too much effort for me! haha

hi @Ohb0llocks sorry to hear about the fanny daggers. i actually thought they were a first trimester issue. thanks for warning me they might come back! hope they ease off soon!

thanks for the tips @bakingmad83 about the layers. i knew about the baby grows going down over the shoulders rather than up over the head as i saw a meme about it on instagram. i did do a "oh of course" moment when i saw it cos why else would they be shaped that way haha but never thought to question it.

oh @Moo31 that public transport journey sounds horrendous! i drive everywhere due to my annoyance with the general public for these exact issues. i understand some people may be scared to offer a seat by way of offending a pregnant lady but how about just offering a lady a seat never mind if she's pregnant or not. anyway, hope there's no repeat of that for you! and lovely that you had some time away before 2 becomes 3!

what are all your thoughts/advice on baby monitors? iv had my eye on the angel care video and movement system. i have a fear that bella will climb into the crib when i'm sleeping (she doesn't make a sound) so i won't know if she's beside the baby or not. so i thought if i bought the movement pad then i would get an alert for the movement of the cat in the crib. but i'm now hearing that the movement pad only goes off when no movement is detected so bella climbing in would do the opposite. i will be vigilant with bella during the night but i don't always like my bedroom door closed anyway. HELP please xx

Probs the same thing on fb that I saw Bella! Had a good friend who used the angel care one with her first, but found it quite unreliable, seemed to go off a lot for no reason. We had a 2nd hand motorola video monitor with DS, which I liked, as could see if he was restless, but still asleep. It packed in after a couple of years, but we've got a similar one for use with DD. Not much help for what you're after, but just in case anyone else is interested in what we found useful. Agree a tear/cut isn't a pleasant thought, but thankfully I healed well (albeit after a few uncomfortable months) and you now wouldn't know I'd had an episiotomy, so not been a long-term prob for me.

Sorry to hear you're feeling so tired Sophsta and Amanda. I tend to feel most tired first thing, but I'm putting that down to DS waking so early and back to being up again in the night. I was wondering if I was getting gestational diabetes, but at least the absence of glucose in my urine last week put my mind at rest. I've been making myself keep as active as possible, but think it's easier when you're not going out to work to fit exercise in and in fairness it's just walking, so you can do it any time/anywhere. Lovely to hear you're both feeling movements though :)

Just thinking about more things that I wish I'd known before. Sorry, if these are actually well-known/obvious!

I'd not realised newborns can be pretty nocturnal beings, so barely got any sleep in the first month. I'd appreciated that you'd get very broken sleep, but hadn't banked on virtually no sleep. I'll be pleasantly surprised if this time round we get more than an hour or two of sleep at a time before DD is a couple of months old.

Breastfed babies feed far more than every 2-3 hrs that you often see quoted (vs the 3-4hrs suggested if using formula). You can feed for 40 mins and literally 10 mins later they want to feed again. Admittedly, this does lessen with time, but felt that all I did for the first 3 months was feed, feed, feed DS day and night.

Maybe obvious this one, but you can't just put a baby down and expect them to sleep. At 32 months DS still can't completely fall asleep by himself - in day still needs motion of pram/car and at night now he has weaned needs songs and backrub to sleep. In fairness, didn't help that our nephew and niece apparently just self settled from early on, so wondered what was going on with DS!

Ano now I'm thinking it might be wind haha it pretty high up though so maybe not 😂

Thanks girls glad I'm not the only one struggling! DP has a stinking hangover and I feel like it I have one too!!!! Lol sympathy hangover.

@BellaMoon Iv heard about the angel care one and was considering it myself. I was wanting to use the sleepyhead thing has anyone used it before? Apprenetly it's a god send. I'm totally clueless about everything!!!!!! 20 week scan next week so hopefully I can be reassured everything's ok & get organised asap.

I'm hoping there's maybe one of those mother care things on which will maybe help me in the right direction lol!

i'm sure it is baby moving @AmandaP86x as those early wee flutters do start around 19-20 weeks. aw i'm excited for you for your scan! my friend warned me off of the sleepyhead deluxe as she said her little 1 then wouldn't nap in her pram or anywhere else without it and because it's quite big, it wasn't practice to have with you all the time. i opted for the baby moove halo thingy (its about £25) and it can fit in anything so crib pram cot whatever or wherever. it's just a small do-but like thing that assists with flat head. i'm like yourself, feel like i'm venturing into the unknown completely clueless. i ask so many questions on a daily basis and at least freak out about twice a day. yesterday's freak out was "what if i go for a shower and the baby is sick" so iv decided i just won't wash haha xx

*do-nut shaped xx