***Lion Cub Mommies-Back In Action!***

[cleckner04]

Yeah I got pregnant really quickly with Emma and the first pregnancy and I always propped a pillow under my butt. This time I haven't so far but I used the diva cup and laid there for a while so same concept really.

Nothing from me except I have 3 giant pimples that showed up overnight on my chin. But I think that is more related to the stress of packing to fly home and cleaning. I scrubbed my entire downstairs yesterday. Today I have to finish the upstairs and we are gonna rent a rug doctor in a bit to do the floors. I'm excited. LOL! I love coming back to a really clean house after being gone for a while.


Edit to add: I lost 1 lb this week too!! Which is pretty amazing considering I've had a bowl of ice cream twice this week. And I haven't been following myfitnesspal. But I'm not gonna complain. I'm down to 187.4 now. This last 10 lbs has been going SO slow. I'm going to be really good when we go back home so hopefully I'll come back at least weighing the same but hopefully with a loss.

 

[Shiv]

Welldone with the weightloss Cleck, fingers crossed for maintaining at least while you are back home. When do you leave and how long are you away for?

 

[cleckner04]

I leave tomorrow morning super early and return on the 31st around 6 pm. So we'll be home 2 entire weeks!! I finally lined up someone to keep an eye on our dogs so that is the main thing I worry about because they'll be by themselves in the backyard the entire time. DH covered our patio so they have tons of shade and we have a hard plastic baby pool that we will fill with water for them to drink and if they need to cool off. The neighbor across the street said she would feed and water them every day. But DH has a friend that I want to go check in the middle of the week to make sure the neighbor is doing the job. I just worry so much about them. I'm sure they will be super angry with us when we return. I didn't want to put them in a kennel to board them or anything while we were gone though. They aren't used to confined spaces like that.

 

[Pippin]

Popping in to say and good luck to you all trying, haven't been in here for ages seems like time has flown. Sam for being in the tww! Big fingers crossed for you. Spidey hope it is implantation hun xxx

 

[cleckner04]

Sitting in the airport right now!! Corey just took off with Emma to fill up a water bottle since we couldn't take water through security. It all has went so smoothly so far except Emma cried when they took our checked luggage and it went down the belt and disappeared. She was SO upset. I promised her that we will see it again later today.

 

[Shiv]

Glad to hear it is going well Cleck, fingers crossed the rest of the journey goes as well and most important of all that your luggage gets there too!

 

[Shiv]

Think you might be home by now Cleck - exciting, I hope Emma enjoyed her first plane ride!

So Spidey and Cleck - how is your 2ww going? Any more spotting Spidey?

Jean - I hope you are having an amazing time at the wedding and that there were no "booby" incidents with Natasha!

MJ - you've been quiet? Hope you're ok.

Well I officially got massive this week. i have new stretchmarks boo hoo! I only got a few on my hips last time and this time they are above and below my belley button, which surey goes to show that I am carrying differently this time?

I was at my parents for a few nights this week, which was a bit of a disaster sleep wise. I had to share a room with Sophia, she was good in that she stayed inher single bed, but she would wake in the night and realise i was next to her and start singing to me, which was cute for the first rendition of wheels on teh bus, but after 3 hours I was begging for some more sleep! So I feel very sleep deprived, which puts me off going to my parents house really (although we wouldn't usually share a room, (they had guests)). I appreciate the help I get whilst I am there with Sophia, but I think I value her having a good sleep more. She is being SO whiny! I am putting it down to being tired and top canines coming in. But seriously all she says is nooo-oooooooo to everything. It is trying my patience especially as i am tired, we are not a happy hosuehold!

David came home for the weekend, but had been told he may be away for the next 3 weeks. They barely got any work done this week as the weather was too windy to do what they needed, so they sat in a barn doing nothing!

If you can't alreday tell haha I am feeling a bit down. I need to get on and book this weekend in a hotel so that i have something to look forward to. At the moment it just seems like weeks and weeks of David being away with a whingy baby and a mahoosive belly. again boo hoo me. Don't humour girls, tell me to stop being such a grump, be thankful for what i have and snap out of it!

Have done a bit of thinking about home birth, I am still kinda up for it and David is even coming round to the idea. But I have come across a problem. They will only let me have a home birth from 37 weeks. Which leaves a week when David is away where i would have to go to hospital, which kind of negates the whole "have a plan - won't panic" plan! on the plus side, I asked my best friend if she would be available to come down and babysit me for a few days while David is away and she said she would come down (she live a long way away) when she could around work. She only works Tuesday and Thursday so she could come down for long weekends.

There is absolutley nothing on tv tonight (there never is anymore!) so David has gone to get a film, and hopefully a small pot of icecream for me!

Anyway I hope everyone is having better weekend than me (boo hoo me ) x

 

[Mary Jo]

oooh, fingers crossed Spidey and Cleck! wouldn't it be great if you both got pregnant at the same time?!

re hips in the air - I might have done this with Adam (memory is hazy!), definitely didn't with this one, but I do remember falling asleep without going to the loo after (which I usually do, at least 10-15 mins later). and about feeling hormonal and pregnant vs non-pregnant - I never did and was always gobsmacked to find out I was actually up the duff. though I did have some nipple tingles in the 2ww this time, and I noted it, but didn't presume anything. I was such a negative nelly that I didn't symptom spot, and it was only a spur of the moment decision to poas at all (when my temp was still up, but AF wasn't due for another couple of days so really I don't know what made me!)

hope you've had a fab time away at the wedding, Jean! looking forward to pics. hope Natasha didn't see any boobies in church.

Shiv, are you making plans for a homebirth now? I think it might be a great solution for you, if you need it. Who'd look after Sophia (if the action didn't happen while she was asleep in bed?!)

I had a lovely day out with my friend on Mon, v tired by the end of the day as I was out from 9.45am till nearly 7pm. didn't get my McDonald's though, was running a little late to sneak a visit in before meeting her, so we had crepes at the restaurant at John Lewis instead. nice and civilised. we had a good look at the Phil & Teds tandem pushchairs and am pretty much set on getting the Explorer. I wasn't that impressed by the Baby Jogger City Select, seemed massive, and way too expensive for me.

some progress this week on the flat selling/house buying - beginning of the week was bad because we were waiting on some information from my freeholder (he of the "c" word) and he was impossible to get hode of. I resorted to a voicemail where I cried and said I was 26 weeks pregnant and desperate that our sale not fall through again... also left other tearful messages with other people who would try to get hold of him and bingo it worked. then we had to wait on our buyer to decide whether she still wanted to go ahead with the purchase given our freeholder declared some major works to be done to the building in the next 2 years. problem was, there was no quote for the work, so we have had to make an offer of a price reduction, and it might be accurate in the end or it might not. we offered £2k off to start, thinking that was very very low but a starting point (I had been told approx £10k overall, of which my share would have been 25%, but that wouldn't have included VAT at 20%. but my neighbour was told it was going to be £10k-£15k). so we offered up to £4k off and thankfully she accepted that. so a few documents have to be amended but fingers crossed it's all ok now and we hope to exchange next week, hopefully Tue or Wed. and complete (and move!) a week later. by the end of July anyway. so we're excited but still nervous in case it falls through at the last minute.

it's a really pain in the ass that this major works notice came up but nothing we could do about it. I wish we'd known it was definitely on the way when we set the asking price and we'd have given ourselves more room to cut the price at the point. as it is the woman is getting the bargain of the year. oh well. we'll just have to buy our new furniture from Gumtree rather than Ikea!

how's the weight and eating going, Shiv? I have been eating badly. but I remember to weigh myself today and I was 11st 3lb, which is I think up 2lb on 2 weeks ago, so not too awful. and today I haven't eaten terribly as I managed to lose my purse (wallet) on the way to work today so have had no money and no means of getting any, however I did have about £3 on my work pass (which we use to pay for stuff from the canteen and vending machines) so have been eating frugally (but still pretty well, I should really try to not spend so much when it isn't necessary - my £3 has got me: a jacket potato and baked beans, a bag of Walker's crisps, a Yorkie, some soup and a slice of home-made bread and a can of diet coke. Chris is having to collect me from work as my Oyster card and travel card were in the purse. (I think I dropped it on the bus, I've submitted a lost property form online at the London Transport website, hope someone handed it in, maybe the driver of the bus, as I got off at the second to last stop on the route. I definitely had it when I got on the bus and it was gone 5 mins later when I tried to buy something in Waitrose. no way it could have been pickpocketed as I was carrying my stuff in a deep shopping bag. I think I must have missed when I thought I put it in the bag after getting on the bus. maybe it ended up on the floor.)

been thinking about birth centres. not sure whether to request to go to one this time. I would love not to have an epidural again (even though I didn't have a bad experience with Adam) but I think Chris will be not supportive of that. he appreciated that I wasn't a screamer last time. whether or not we move, the hospital I'll be at has a birthing centre next to the delivery ward, and I was an uncomplicated problem free pregnancy, labour and delivery last time, so I hope I'd be acccepted.

 

[Mary Jo]

shiv, you were posting as I was!

sorry Sophia has been noisy but oh so sweet to sing to you! ack. I know how it feels to be sleep deprived, sadly! Adam has napped better in general this week but yesterday he napped far too long and consquently would NOT go to sleep last night. we were all up till well after 1am.

no new stretchmarks here but I think it's a matter of time as I haven't been using the Bio-Oil... I measured my fundal height this morning and it was 29cm. eeek. I've had a few people this week think I am further along than 6 months. one was a lady on the curry counter in Sainsbury's who was trying to sell us the chicken jalfrezei. Chris refused in case it make me pop, but the woman said 'but that wouldn't be a bad thing!' I was like NO, I'm only 26 weeks!!!

 

[spidey]

Cleckner, I'm glad the flight went well If you can maintain your weight while Corey is here that'll be a huge accomplishment, and its wonderful you're still losing I hope you packed some pregnancy tests with you

Shiv- that is SOOO cute that Sophia sang to you during the night! I wouldn't worry about popping before 37 weeks, but you could have a doula lined up as your back up plan just incase and she could be with you at the hospital or at home if DH isn't home. Most likely you won't have the baby until 39 or 40 weeks and maybe you should start talking to your bump and tell him/her to stay put. I might be totally psycho, but I spent tons of time envisioning my birth and most of what really happened is what I envisioned. Have some chocolate and ask David for a back and foot massage and you'll feel tons better. Plus if you get a good sleep tonight you'll have more positive thoughts in the morning

MJ- Yipeeee on the possibility of you finally moving Fingers crossed it actually goes through this time. It sucks you had to lose even more money on the deal but atleast you'll be out of that situation and away from those difficult people. Thats funny your crying pregnant lady plea worked. You might have to use that more often If you want to have the baby at a birthing center then Chris will have to deal with any screaming More than likely you won't be screaming and it'll be just fine.

Hi Pippin :wave:

No more spotting since Friday. My right nip was bitten by accident during the night so it's very sore so I can't make predictions off them right now. I'm still having some clear mucous when I wipe. I also had a dizzy spell on Friday. When should I take my first pregnancy test in I ovulated Monday?

 

[Pippin]

Wednesday Spidey exciting. xxx

 

[Shiv]

MJ - glad the house moveis progressing well, fingers crossed in a few days time you will have exchanged and can relax a bit and thinkabout your new home! 2lbs in 2 weeks is ideal weight gain, I think I put on 3lbs last week

Spidey - i personally would wait until Friday to test fingers crossed though, you are definitely having symptoms that you don't normally have! Hope your nip stops hurting soon, that must be a shock waking up to your nipple being bitten - ouch!

Pippin - eek not long to go for you now

As for me, well Sophia slept in today and I had a good night as well. Imust have been tired as I didn't even wake up for a wee! I woke up at 7am needing one, but didn't dare get up in case I woke Sophia! I manged to go back to sleep and Sophia slept until 9am As always a good nights sleep makes you feel much better!

 

[Shiv]

Oh and MJ - have you found a boys name that you and C can both agree on? Are you still considering Elliot?

I am waivering on our Girls name - but have been through all the name websites and can;t find one I like better so I guess we will stick with it. I think it is hard with your second, as with Sophia we LOVED the name instantly and knew we would use it (if it was a girl) and with the second if you have the smae sex Iguess you ar eunlikely to feel like that, otherwise you would have wanted it first time round!

Sophia is much happier today and we've not had any whining yet so that is much better already!

 

[Mary Jo]

hooray for a good night's sleep let's hope it continues haha: - we all know what toddlers are like so don't count on it)

I know what you mean about the name thing. REALLY wishing we hadn't used both our top boy names last time. but oh well we did. mind, finding a girl name wouldn't have been easy either as we never agreed on one. in fact we didn't seriously discuss it, waited till we knew. I had names I liked but wasn't set on.

so yes, we do have a boy name and I guess that's the one. I don't love it like I love Adam Elliott, but I am holding on to the idea that I will love it once it belongs to a baby I love. so unless some chavvy reality tv star comes along in the next few months with the same name and puts me right off, he will be Joel David. we are keeping it (almost) completely quiet though. my parents know this is probably the one but we're not telling C's family or any of the rest of mine. and not posting it anywhere else online. I don't love David, but it's my dad's name (so I feel I *should* ); it's Chris who is insisting on it.

I just couldn't call him Elliott. it felt wrong. kind of wish I didn't feel like that but I do so that's that.

 

[Shiv]

I REALLY like the name joel. One of my new mummy friends has a 2 year old called Joel (he is just the cutest little boy) and when i heard his name I though "ooooh I like that". But we didn't want a JJ (Joel James) so was out of the question, i like it a lot though and you are right you will loveit once it is attached to your little boy!

Other than you girls we haevn't and won't tell anyone our names as a) I don't want their opinions (your opinions are fine but just not close family) and b) it will be a suprise for then (nice or not )

 

[Mary Jo]

that's exactly the reasons we're not sharing the name other than here. I had my fingers burnt last time. mind, we hadn't decided Adam or Elliott. but I wish we'd made our own minds up. no idea how they'll like it. the reason I told my mum is because I knew she doesn't like "Joseph", and I was concerned it meant she didn't like any "Jo" type name. but it seems it is just Joseph and Joel is fine. or else she put on a very convincing show of seeming to like it.

the good thing about Joel is that I don't know anyone called it. whereas with Adam I did (some long-dead family members, but also one of my oldest friend's brothers is an Adam). and same with Jamie, we *did* really like it but too many people too close in the family called it. and Luke just was a no-go for Chris. I still don't really understand why but I've let it go.

 

[spidey]

Shiv, are you going to share your choice in boys and girls names with us? MJ- I really like the name Joel It's not a common name here, although my BIL is named Joel. The funny thing is my brother is Adam Both are great names I'm glad I have more time to think of baby names because right now there are no names that I'm in love with. We were so certain Kira would be a boy that we didn't pick a girls name until the very end, and to be honest I wasn't in love with the name. DH loved it and once she was born the name Kira was perfect. A boy would have been Dexter (after the tv serial killer ) and I wasn't in love with that name either. I do like the nickname "Dex" but Dexter has some nerdy undertones to it. If I had a baby right this moment I would probably name it Dexter Raymond or Zanna Ray (because I like the letter Z ) The middle name is after my Dad. Any boy I have needs a masculine name since DH's last name is feminine. For whatever reason people always think my DH is a woman based off his last name

Pip says Wednesday and Shiv says Friday, so maybe I will test on Thursday

 

[Shiv]

I thought I had already shared my names

Henry and Cora

So it would be Henry James or Cora James (my surname is James)

What do you think?

What is your gut telling you regarding being pregnant Spidey?

Oh and MJ I forgot to say i gave birth to Sophia in a birth centre and it was brilliant. I had a midwife with me pretty much all the time, the birth pool was brilliant (i had only intended to labour in it for pain relief, but in the end I only had time to get in it to push!). Everything was very relaxed and not rushed after the birth. We got our own private room that was like a hotel room, with a tv and everything. There was a kitchen there so we could make our own food, and we could even have takeaway deliverec there. Can't recommend it enough. If you are worried about pain relief then I woudl say go to the birth centre, try the pool, (I could barely feel my contractions enough to push when I was in the water) and if worse comes to the worse and you feel you need more than pethidine and gas and air then get transferred over to the main hospital. Although I would say that with the extra attention you'd get from midwives and teh fact that thsi birth is liekly to be quicker and you are likely to be calmer second around, you might suprise yourself and not need an epi after all.

 

[Mary Jo]

I love both your names, Shiv, Henry James is such a classic; Cora is more unusual but very pretty. I like "C" names, I had Cara, Carey and Carrie on my girl list.

Zanna is very unusual, Spidey, I never thought but I guess it could be short for Suzanna? I also like Dex, though I am old enough that I think of Dex Dexter from Dynasty rather than the other Dexter on tv. (Dex Dexter was Alexis's 4th husband, IIRC.)

Shiv, I am really inspired by what I've heard about labouring in water, from you and others, and really really want to try it, that's part of my reason for wanting to go to a birth centre. The one I'd be at is this one, it's a part of the main labour ward. I don't know whether that would be a good or bad thing, on the one hand good because it's near the docs in case of emergency, but bad in that it would make it too easy to request to transfer because I'd know it wouldn't take long. I'd prefer to go to my old hospital's new birthing centre - this one, as it is in the same building as the labour ward but a couple of floors below, so a quick but not instant transfer. also I feel a bit sad that I can't go there (not that there's any guarantees, so many things could make me ineligible) because the head midwife at the birth centre was one of the midwives I saw a few times when I was pregnant and she was the loveliest one of all. but should this move go ahead, there is no way I'd want to travel back to Lewisham to have the baby, or all the appointments before. it's too far.

last time I only had a very vague birth plan because I was scared to think about things more firmly in case it all went a different way to how I'd hoped. I was very very very anxious about it, not the birth itself, but the fear that something would go wrong. so when they said to come to hospital when my waters were leaking, of course I went, and I didn't argue when they said to stay in, and I didn't resist when they suggested speeding things up with the pessary. if that all happened again, I'd not go to hospital unless the waters indicated that meconium had been passed, and if I did, and they said it was all going slowly I'd press to be allowed home to do the first bits in my own relaxed environment with my stuff around, my bed, my tv, etc etc etc. I couldn't relax in the antenatal ward, it was awful. I was alone and uncomfortable. so I would refuse even a very gentle induction unless it really was necessary. but last time - gah, I was so fed up with it all, and the SPD pain, that I just wanted it to be over. I guess I'd have to be patient if it was similar and accept that he'll arrive in his own time. even if I am having contractions and they say it's likely to be at least another 48 hours (which is what I was told with Adam) I'll have to deal with it.

so I don't want to be in any sort of hospital to stay till I am in established labour. NEVER want to be on another antenatal ward with midwives who pop in once an hour and are pretty dismissive. once I *was* in established labour with Adam I had already decided I was sick of it all and give me the hard-core anaesthesia, because nobody was saying, no, don't do it, try to carry on, try this, blah blah. I was all alone and hating it. of course once I had the epidural I was rarely alone at all, but the midwife's job was to monitor the machines and stuff, she had no role in getting me through. of course she had a big role at the pushing bit, but I just wished I'd had the support earlier.

however - the one thing that makes me question whether I could mentally cope with not having an epidural is that during the whole process I was on a fetal heart monitor and I *knew* Adam was ok. I only had to look at the monitor next to me and see that. it helped my anxiety that he wouldn't survive hugely. this time around, I haven't been so anxious. I've used my doppler once in the last month or more, I don't need reassurance that this one is alive because he is really active. I hope this carries on and maybe I will be more relaxed about no machines.

I don't know. thinking about not even discussing this with Chris. when we move I'll discuss it with a midwife and see if she thinks I'd be a candidate. if all goes as well as last time I don't see why I wouldn't be. (I have a mw appt this Wed, might ask her even though I won't be having baby at that hospital.) if I am then I might just wait and see, and then hopefully present it to C as a fait accompli.

 

[spidey]

Honestly I don't think I'm pregnant and I don't feel like I am, but of course the chance is still there so I can't help but be hopeful!

I guess Zanna must be short for Suzanna, but I actually like the name Anna. Over the past 5 years I've made 2 close friends named Anna and now it would be weird to name my daughter Anna. I saw the name Zanna somewhere recently and it seem like a nice Anna alternative. I haven't mentioned it to DH though- it would only add to his disappointment that I'm not pregnant yet.

Shiv, those are both great names! I don't think you've told us before but I might have forgotten.

MJ, that birth center is super nice looking! It's so modern and the birthing tubs are great This is the one that I went to: https://www.specialbeginnings.com/ It's sort of grandma-ish compared to yours I spent half my labor at the birth center and half at the hospital after being deemed high risk. Going into the birth knowing that I would HAVE to do it naturally is what really helped me. I studied a hynobirthing program religiously too. Next time I hope to have a water birth Being in labor at the birth center was nice. It was so laid back compared to my experience at the hospital and my birth center is very pro-breast feeding, delayed clamping, etc. MJ- with this one you should definitely stay home longer. My water broke first and my MW would give me up to 24 hours at home before I needed to come in.

<- Kira's contribution. She always laughs at the smilies so I let her pick out her favorites.