IVF pregnancies - Spring 2024 (thread 2)

[thislittlebird]

New thread! Do tag everyone I've missed, I'm off out to see the new Hunger Games so can add more later but need to dash! @CazzyM1983 @KG1244 @countrypunk @Misty84 @ASGIRC @TheBirdintheCave @Summerishere83

@KG1244 yeah, I’m similar. I come from a family of all women (until my sister’s started having kids) and I’m biased in the same way but I also think about myself as a teen and think I’d rather have a little version of my husband than me lmao. So I’m open to either now! And we only have one boy name really, and a lot of girl names. We don’t seem to be talking about names much lately.

@KG1244 Congratulations! :D

We shared the baby news with Facebook tonight so the whole world knows now :)

@TheBirdintheCave How exciting!

I let a lot of new people know recently. It’s nice to enjoy it!

Still have “morning sickness” and the baby didn’t like gravy or roast pork or any dessert 😒 I can have left over chicken without gravy and salad. Lol

@TheBirdintheCave how exciting!!! I loved sharing the news on FB!

@KG1244 yay baby boy!!

My bump has well and truly popped now! I mean, its still fairly small, but no longer "pizza". However, most of it is up high, and is not the baby, but my internal organs being all bunched up, since my uterus seems to not be growing outwards.
But if I wear tight clothes, like a bodycon knitted dress, it is definitely a small pregnant belly, and not just a few extra pounds from Christmas dinner!

Hope youve all had lovely christmases! Mine was great! Got loads of presents for the baby (and some for me!!!) !

@Summerishere83 good luck for your 20 week scan tomorrow 🙂

@CollsR aw sorry you're still getting morning sickness, that must be tough. I just have heartburn now but got that during Christmas dinner 🙃

Has anyone started looking at childcare day nurseries yet? I hadn't planned to but apparently loads in my area are already getting booked up for 2025 so I may need to reserve a spot in the next month to make sure my baby has somewhere to go when I return to work in over a years time 🙈

hope everyone had a good Xmas. I’m throughly annoyed I’ve had a never ending cold and now need antibiotics but the ones you can have in pregnancy I can’t have because I’m allergic. Just my luck!

@Doughnut89 already booked my nursery! I was shocked when she said she was already nearly booked up! And there I was apologising for being over keen and panicking. My anxiety making me plan ahead actually worked to my advantage for once lol

I had a weird Christmas stuck in a holiday home with in-laws. I was fed up and upset most days, didn't want to go in the first place! Very few presents to save money, which is fine, I think we'll book a hotel/spa day in the new year instead.

I've been congested for three weeks or more, must be a pregnancy thing, it's getting boring but the humidifier seems to help.

Glad the 20 week scan was good @TheBirdintheCave!

@KG1244 I forgot to ask, what was your boy's embryo grade?

@Doughnut89 so they actually send you the baby's blood type? I got a vague letter inviting me for the anti-D injection.

@ASGIRC @Doughnut89 glad you've got family birth partners sorted. My mum hasn't been too bad and was quite emotional when I told her, which was a surprise because I expected her to be more non-plussed (she has 12 grandkids already). We don't have a great relationship, she didn't bring me up after age 3, but she's been quite good so far, and much less intrusive than my in-laws.

Bloody hell, I can't believe I have to think about nurseries already. What a joke. Did you guys just have to find the nearest one to you that would take them? @CazzyM1983 @Doughnut89

I've started feeling the baby fizzing in there the last two weeks, which is a bit weird, can't imagine it will get less weird as time goes on. Also bought my first baby item yesterday from John Lewis in the sale. Bought a Bugaboo Stardust travel cot, I think it doubles up as a bassinet and playpen/baby jail, so good value. I'd seen it in John Lewis one day and it was a nice size, we don't have a ton of room in our house and this one should fit well.

@thislittlebird Ive also been congested first thing in the morning. Gotta love all those pregnancy symptoms! I’m starting to get twinges which I’m pretty sure is baby boy. Looking forward to some stronger movements. He was a 4BC. I feel so bad now to think that I completely discounted him based on his grade. Never thought it would take.

@thislittlebird i knew which nursery I wanted because I’d been stressing about it. I was going to apply to all the ones near me but then I realised I actually couldn’t bring myself to leave baby in one of those big ones cos it would just stress me out. I picked the one nearest me that’s small and my nephew went there and my friends kids went there and the lady that runs it used to work with my mum. It’s close by to family for anyone to help with pick ups if I run late with work.
trying to keep the trauma of leaving baby there to a minimum was the aim of the game! Glad I touched lucky and got a space! It’s traumatising me just thinking about it.

@KG1244 you’re looking forward to it and I’m just weirded out by the whole thing 🙃

Oh wow, that 4BC came along nicely!

@CazzyM1983 I haven’t even thought about it. I went to the nearest nursery but not in the actual nursery, it’s a children’s centre I can go to during mat leave with a nursery attached. I don’t know anyone here with kids in nursery, I don’t know anything about any of them. I do like that this one is very close to my house which would save a lot of faff driving around.

Hi Everyone, just caught up and glad everyone is doing well. I had my 20wk scan yesterday, all good. Baby was very wriggly but would not get in the right position for some of the measurements so I had to jiggle about a bit, which was fun! I’m still feeling sick, but not as bad as I was initially.
Anyone else feeling really annoyed at little things? I don’t know if it’s xmas making me grumpy, the hormones or what, but every little thing is making me really annoyed. I feel like I don’t want to see or speak to anyone at the moment, I just want everyone to leave me alone. I don’t want to answer text messages either, like I just can’t be bothered.
I’m usually quite anti social but this is a whole new level!

@PollywithaP Pleased to hear your 20 week scan went well ❤️I’ve not been particularly annoyed but my brain is definitely not working properly. Keep finding I go to say something and then completely different words come out of my mouth! I think pregnancy hormones just completely mess up our emotions and clearly my brain as well! Have you started shopping at all yet for baby? I think I might buy an outfit in the next couple of weeks to get started and then maybe a month or so to start looking at bigger items like a pram etc.

@PollywithaP gkad it went well! I’m a grumpy bitch anyway, but I’ve felt more easily aggravated the last week. Could be the in laws (who got snapped at multiple times) or could be stress of the unknown to come for me, or baby hormones.

I made a list of all the stuff we need to do in 4 months and got overwhelmed. List includes new bathroom, decorating bedrooms, new carpet on stairs and the rest cleaned, new shed, putting stuff into storage, getting the roof fixed, new blinds… doesn’t seem very long left 🫠

Ok I did some nursery research. Nice nursery up the road from us (so walkable) is £969 per months for 3 days per week . On the plus side, baby should be not far off from getting the extension of the 15 hours free for under 2s so maybe more like £600 ish……fingers crossed!

@thislittlebird You should be entitled to the government tax free childcare too. https://www.gov.uk/childcare-calculator

Thanks @PollywithaP! I’m actually baffled by it all right now. I know you have to set up some sort of account but not sure beyond that. Also not sure what benefits we’d get as working parents, it’s all a bit of a minefield to the uninitiated.

Happy new year all!!!

I know this is a mega first world problem but here we go… I’m looking for travel advice when pregnant. I’ve booked to go to Tenerife towards the end of this month for a week. I’ll be 24 weeks pregnant. Is this a bad idea? I suddenly started panicking in the middle of the night in case there is a problem with me or the baby on the flight or whilst I’m abroad. There are hospitals near the hotel. Have any of you been abroad whilst pregnant? How did you find it?

@KG1244 I have no words of wisdom, I’m just jealous 😩. Tenerife probably isn’t too bad, checking where the nearest hospitals are is all you can do really.

I wanted to book something but wussed out. Was worried the canaries would be too cold, and anywhere else sunny that didn’t have zika was long haul, remote, needed immunisations (which I don’t think they recommend for the pregnant) and expensive.

Not that I’d look very nice in a swimsuit right now, I look mostly like a barrel.

@KG1244 they say that the second trimester is the best time to go on holiday when pregnant. and Tenerife is so touristy, everyone speaks English so I think you should be absolutely fine. I went to Tenerife last year and really enjoyed it, I’d happily go back and was considering booking to go there again at the start of this year but I want to save my holiday days for mat leave.
I went to Italy when I was nine weeks pregnant, I’d booked it earlier in the year after a few failed rounds of treatment and thought it wasn’t going to work for me so needed something to look forward to. I was struggling with morning sickness which was a bit rubbish but I still had an absolutely amazing time and I’m glad I went.

On the childcare costs, if the government stick to their word (or the new government doesn’t change it pending an election) we should all be entitled to the 15 hours free childcare a week as it’s supposed to be starting from 9 months old September this year and our babies will turn 9 months after that 😊

@thislittlebird i know how you feel about the endless jobs around the house. Funnily enough I’m getting new carpet fitted on my stairs this Friday

@Doughnut89 yeah, I saw they’re extending it. Is there any eligibility criteria or is it for everyone? I find all this official baby admin very opaque.

We need to get the carpet but are going to wait until after the bathroom is done so it doesn’t get immediately dirty. My first baby purchases came today, the travel cot/play pen thing, as well as a fitted sheet and some muslins. All very weird having baby stuff here. The travel cot box is big and it’s one of the smaller ones on the market so hopefully a good choice!

Thanks both @thislittlebird @Doughnut89

Hope everyone is doing well! I’m starting to get properly excited now about baby boy and believing that this is it. I’m planning to start buying a couple of bits of clothes whilst the sales are on. Do most babies fit into newborn clothes or should I get 0-3 months as well for when they are born? I’ve wanted to buy baby clothes for so so long ❤️

@KG1244 It really depends on the size of the baby, I'd get a little bit of both. Most newborn sizes go up to 8.5/9lbs, then after that they're 0-3. I was a 6lb something baby and my husband 7lb something so i'm hoping we get a baby that fits newborn, but I'm not planning on buying much of that size just in case they arrive bigger. Can always get a few bits after they're here. Also planning to buy more expensive newborn items like the Love to Dream sleeping bags/swaddles second hand on vinted etc. Don't want to spend £30 per item on something they never fit.

@thislittlebird Thanks, that’s really helpful. Have you come across any lists of stuff to buy for baby? It feels a bit overwhelming and difficult to know what I actually need

@KG1244 There's loads on pinterest, but some of them seemed very long and ott. The M&S one and John Lewis one have been handy, and the nhs one, I started compiling a wish list at JL and Amazon using these.

https://www.marksandspencer.com/c/kids/baby-checklist?extid=ps_ggl_UK_Gen_DSA_Kidswear&gclsrc=aw.ds&ds_rl=1296067&gad_source=1&ds_rl=1296067&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlaT5yvzBgwMVP5dQBh32IghvEAAYASAAEgKgGfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/pregnancy/preparing-for-labour-and-birth/what-to-buy-for-your-newborn-baby/

https://www.johnlewis.com/content/baby-children/baby-checklist

If you go in store to John Lewis and use their baby service they put together a list for you and you get 10% off those items. They've got some stuff on sale too, I got some muslins at the same time as I ordered the Bugaboo travel cot.

I'm planning to buy only essential clothes for coming home, knowing people will likely buy clothes from 0-6 months for us. A woman at work also said she'd donate some stuff to me so will see what's in there!

@KG1244 I have also found Youtube videos of what people regretted buying quite interesting. All these fancy self-swinging cribs and stuff like that seem to come up a lot.