Late October Thread - 4

[DressingGown87]

Thread 4 ladies!

Girls: @DressingGown87 @Jaffas22 @DogCatDex @EmmaA96 (twins) @Parks11 @LadyB90 @Strawberries4days @LST87

Boys: @sunbreak @FirstSurprise001 @WaveStreet @roarfeckingroar
@Mc3209 @KitKatKit @1990shopefulftm @Lolllyf @HelenMarie1001 @Freddie1987 @BS9790

Suprise / Waiting: @60sPony @Monkeyseesmonkeydoesnt @UpsyDaisy1234 (twins) @Glooorb @AdventureAhead @Elizag20 @justtb @Clalou83 @Sls668 @SJR86 @Flora20 @SamK93

If I have missed you! Sorry!

@Flora20 aww hope your ok and feeling better soon, hope the bath and lots of rest is working.

@Glooorb I have days like that. Some days I just get the odd few kicks, sometimes just flutters / bubbles, and sometimes swooshing movements. Some are so strong they freak me out when they catch me off guard, make me jump.

It says on the handout stapled in my notes. From 16-24 weeks you should feel the baby move. Between 24-28 weeks the baby will have developed a pattern, but will move more and more up until 32 weeks then stay roughly the same until you give birth. If you think your baby's movement have slowed down or stopped called the maternity unit.

@SamK93 I'm with you. My local Chinese opened tonight, I couldn't decide between my two favourite dishes so I had one, and the baby had the other (well thats my justification)!! Love how you still crave s&v crisps! An apple a day will keep the doctor away, atleast.

@SamK93 I am ravenous too, I feel like I am slowly turning into a hobbit with my eating patterns.. 2 breakfasts, elevenses, the whole lot.

@SamK93 Another one craving all the salty stuff! I never used to be a big crisps eater and suddenly I can't get enough!

@Glooorb Yes feeling lots of kicks first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Its definitely increased from week 22 onwards which was a relief for me as wasnt really feeling much movement. I might have shed a few happy tears the first time i felt him properly kick me 😁

☺️ so nice to hear all the little ones wriggling around - it is rather reassuring I think!

I’ve been using this “time for baby” app to log the kicks over the last week or so? Just trying to establish a pattern otherwise I forget when was the last time the little baby was kicking... it does look like he kicks more in the evening, but it may also be during the day I’m at work and I am less aware of the movements. Sometimes I do forget to log the kicks as well during a work meeting too.

Also I got a little badge in my NCT welcome pack yesterday! I am not commuting into work at the moment so I don’t have one of those iconic “baby on board” Transport for London badges... but this makes me feel that little bit official as a mum-to-be haha 😅

Have a lovely day ladies!

@Flora20 oh gosh you poor thing!! Any better today?

@SamK93 an apple will definitely make it all fine. Fibre, if nothing else!

Thanks for the replies ladies I'm so glad i am not on my own! @DressingGown87 omg I love the one for me and one for baby and will definitely be using that to justify any further actions 😂

@Glooorb love the badge!

Anyone suffering with headaches?
24 hours now with this one and I can't shift it 😣

Feeling much better today thanks ladies, bit achey but relieved I've not damaged anything too badly - I've shocked myself into taking a bit more care though!

@SamK93 An apple absolutely balances out everything else, obviously... And @DressingGown87 I love that one for me, one for baby... And I really want a Chinese now!

@Glooorb I adore your yaks... That colour is one of my favourites!

@BS9790 yes I have headaches too... I find when I'm tired after a long day of work meetings I am particularly susceptible. I don't take anything for it though (I know paracetamol is safe but I guess if I can deal with it myself, I will). I try to go to bed early, or just relax in bed.

Hope you feel better soon!!

@Flora20 thanks!! I love these yaks too. So comfy. Getting slightly more tight now but my bump isn't super big anyway

@Glooorb I downloaded the one NHS recommends but it wasn't very good, it only count number of kicks per day not when or how long they were. Went to download the one you mentioned and now I have 3 different to test

@SamK93
I love those! They are so more-ish it's so easy to devour a whole bag. Luckily I haven't been able to get any for a while haha!

For those with the salty cravings I'm so jealous! I'm usually a very savory/salty person with no sweet tooth whatsoever, but now I can't stop eating chocolate! My crisp intake has gone down massively and been replaced with big bars of chocolate. Doesn't feel very healthy!

I've been quite lucky with kicks by the sounds of things, DP has felt them and I even got a recording of some on my phone. I started tracking them using an app called baby kicks but then saw something that said tracking can be bad for anxiety so trying not to focus on it too much now.

For those looking into maternity pay and struggling to work out what you're looking at I've found a really good website and worked out what I'm expected each month - maternity.money/calculator/results
How long are people thinking of taking off? Obviously I would like to be able to do the year but I don't think its going to be possible!

@GhostWorld I m planning on taking the year. The amount SMP is much more than we d be left with me working full time and them in nursery. we spent months clearing credit cards and other things before that so we re used to living almost within DHs income.

@GhostWorld Thank you for the website recommendation, I've done the maths on paper a while ago but didn't feel completely confident I d done it right with my baby brain, can't believe someone's done it for free :)

@GhostWorld thank you for the link, this is really helpful! I haven't had a proper chance to calculate everything yet so this is a good prompt to do that now

@GhostWorld that's such a helpful tool thank you for sharing, much clearer than the one HR at my work have tried to develop.

I'm with you on the sweet cravings, it was salty things a few weeks ago, now it's mostly chocolate, but anything sweet really!

@GhostWorld That link is so helpful - thank you! Still undecided, but I'm thinking of taking somewhere between 7 and 9 months and then DH will take the remaining time as Shared Parental Leave. Only have to give 8 weeks' notice before switching to SPL so can see how we go.

No worries everyone for that link, I can't believe my HR dept hadn't come up with something similar!!

@Deut28 you know I hadn't even thought about SPL and I'm not sure why, may be a stupid question but will you do the first 7-9 months and then your DH does the rest in that order? Or can you 'mix and match'? Also does your DH get 2 weeks p leave at the beginning still?

Oh my gosh guys one of my boobs has started leaking 😳😳😳😳😳

@roarfeckingroar Uh oh, it's begun! Bless you, our bodies are getting themselves nicely warmed up aren't they

@GhostWorld that link is amazing, thank you! Re: mat leave, I'll be taking the full year. Feeling very fortunate that I'm able to do that and hope that's still the case next October! You never know with the way the world is turning these days...

@roarfeckingroar the joys of pregnancy.. do you have any breast pads on hand?

It's crazy isn't it!! Yeah I do have breast pads, but not really at that stage yet. 100 days until my due date now!!

Hey all!
Is anyone else finding sleeping impossible atm? Just can't seem to find a comfortable position to sleep in. Have tried a big pillow and several small ones in various different ways. I thought second trimester was meant to be the easiest sleep wise haha!

Can't believe how quickly this time is going by. So excited for us all to have our little bundles soon ❤️

I’ve developed that awful metallic taste in my mouth again - I could have sworn they said that was a first trimester symptom! 🙈

@roarfeckingroar that’s crazy! I’m not far off you weeks wise and haven’t bought any breast pads so thinking it might be a good idea now!

Does anyone know if the link @GhostWorld very helpfully added is 100% accurate? I’m sure my boss said SMP is only about £400 a month but that link is bringing it to £800 a month? Confused.com

Keep seeing babies on the street and thinking it’s only a few more months until our little ones are here! I’m so excited!!! ❤️