*~*~* The Decemberists! *~*~*

[Pusscat]

Happy new year ladies! An exciting year ahead Sounds like you have a good plan of action gaia

I just went to see the midwife as I've been having lower back pain and she says I have a uti, which I totally wasn't expecting as I've had no stinging or other symptoms. Got to send urine off to get tested before its confirmed. Will drink plenty of fluids in the mean time.

 

[smawfl]

Happy new year ladies! Hope 2015 brings every thing you wish for!

Pusscat sorry about the uti! Glad it's been picked up,didn't realise sore back was a symptom. Hope it clears up soon! Need a new bump pic!

I had my midwife appointment the other day,all good and baby is head down. Please stay that way! I'm measuring ok however jumped from 50th to 90th centile since last appointment. Midwife isn't concerned and I think the same happened with dd too.

Can't believe I will have my baby NEXT MONTH!

Although I think I
Will be a few days over so probably a March baby

 

[Pusscat]

Glad baby is in a good position! I really can't believe how close you are to the end now! Do you feel like your bump has suddenly grown? I bought a couple of baggy non maternity tops the other day that I'm hoping will be stretchy enough to last the whole pregnancy but I think I forget how big the bump can get. Loving my maternity coat though. It's been great in this cold weather. It's got quite a high wool percentage so it's lovely and cosy.

Lots of movement from baby boy recently and dh managed to feel him move the other night DH has been being really lovely to the bump, think he's very happy it's a boy!

 

[smawfl]

I can't believe it either,32 weeks today!

Yes the last week or so I've felt heavier. And bump has definitely changed, when I'm sitting down my belly button is in a different place now so I've grown lol

Yep I have to agree,maternity coat is definitely a good purchase!

Just dug out my moses basket and need to get dh to get the car seat so can wash the covers. Just a few more bits left to buy now and have most things ready for hospital bag once they are washed.

You look fab! How's the back?

So lovely when they can feel the movements too isn't it

 

[Pusscat]

We need a bump pick from you now smawfl! That's funny about your belly button being in a different place! Disconcerting any time other than pregnancy! But in pregnancy a good indicator of bump progress!

You are doing well if you have most things sorted! Well done! We borrowed our Moses basket last time so going to have to look into borrowing again or buying! There is so much to do to get the rooms sorted. Got to start by getting rid of our double bed from our spare room. Then got a mountain of sorting to get things moved around to different rooms. I'm itching to get on with it but at the same time scared by the size of the task!

 

[smawfl]

Ooops I honestly thought I'd posted a pic recently but baby brain strikes again! Will post one in a bit..

We still have my in laws in the spare room so not sure we'll be able to sort it and get dd in before baby arrives but I'm not stressing too much about it. Baby will be in with us for 6 months at least so hopefully we'll be ok.

Popped out this afternoon and got a moses basket mattress on sale in mothercare. I bought a new basket last time so can't really justify buying something else but would probably go for a crib if I had to,dd was only in the moses basket about three months!

Also bought a couple of pink and a couple of blue outfits which are very cute! Bored of looking at neutral things and only bought a couple of new neutral things.

Will you get a toddler bed for your dd? What is she sleeping in at the moment?

 

[smawfl]

This was 31 weeks,haven't taken 32 weeks yet!

 

[Pusscat]

Bump is looking great smawfl! That's true, we'll have baby in with us for 6 months too so there is no rush, but I think we want rooms pretty much ready for when baby comes. Not sure what the advice is about moving toddler to their new room. I was thinking you do it before the baby arrives so they don't feel too pushed out. Not sure though and sure it will be nerve wracking whenever we choose to do it! She's in a cot bed at the moment and she's fine it it and doesn't try to climb out (we still have the sides up.) I want to leave the cot bed in the nursery though as it goes with the other furniture. So a toddler bed will be the next step for her although I really don't want her having the option of being able to get out of bed!! I quite like these beds that have a similar edge to a cot so we could still put her bumper up -https://m.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/spr/39887442/

 

[smawfl]

In an ideal world I would have moved dd into her new bedroom before baby arrival and give her two months or so to get used to it but won't work out that way.

I would say that we found taking the side off to be a challenge but we had to do it as she was climbing out of the cot. Took about a month for her to get used to it and that was with is being quite strict in teaching her to stay in bed. I would have much rather she stayed with the side on however but she's really good with it now.

That bed is lovely,I was looking at an ikea one too,think it expands somehow. Not sure how it works for the mattress though!

 

[Pusscat]

Well I've made a start with the room changing. First job is to try and see how much junk we can get rid of. Got two bags to take to charity shop tomorrow and it feels pretty good! We're going to get a furniture charity to come and take the bed that's in the spare room at the moment as we're just going to keep a futon for guests.

I saw the extending ikea bed, looks like a good idea.

How many days left at work for you now? Only 24 for me

 

[smawfl]

Good work on starting the room change! I totally need to clear out stuff too!! I have kept all of DD old clothes, but I really need to sort through it properly and charity bag any that I wouldn't use again that are still in good condition and chuck other stuff.

My mum's taken all my baby clothes and bedding to wash so that's in progress, and yesterday I washed the carseat, bouncer and carry cot covers so they're drying as we speak. I had to find a youtube video to work out how to remove my carseat cover!! I never really had to take it off for DD as she' was never majorly sick in it, but it was such a purlarva! Hoping I'll be able to get it back on ok!!

Back to work today.. for 5.5 days!! Woohoo!!

Can't believe you've not got that long to go either!!!

 

[Pusscat]

Hope going back to work wasn't too painful today. I'm not looking forward to my 6:30 alarm tomorrow morning. Dd and I have been sleeping in until 9 recently. Going back to nursery will be good for dd though. Feel like she's got a bit too big for her boots being at home with me for the past few weeks! She's gone a bit wild. But maybe it's just a 2 year old phase!! Really hope we can afford to keep sending her to nursery at least one morning a week when I'm on mat leave.

What's your thinking on returning to work? I don't want to go back but dh is saying he doesn't know how we'll be able to reduce spending enough to be able to get by. But people I speak to about it say you will adapt and it's worth it. I do want to work again but don't want to get straight back into it after my mat leave. But then I don't know how easy it is to get back into teaching after a few years out. I still feel it would be worth it though, to be a full time mummy for those first few years.

 

[smawfl]

Work was OK yesterday, although they made an announcement there would be redundancies which isn't great. Luckily my department isn't affected but still not great. And DH is being made redundant come June so will be lots of change this year.

Wow how have you managed 9am lie ins?!?! Think the most DD slept over the Christmas break was until about 8!

I'm definitely planning to take the same amount of time off, so 12-15 months. DH isn't too fussed as to whether I go back or not, I'm going to play it by ear as I haven't minded too much doing my 3 days... However who knows if the company will be here once I return so we'll see!

When is your next midwife appointment?

 

[Pusscat]

Oh no, does dh have another job lined up? At least it's not a sudden thing so you've got plenty of time to make plans!

We were treated to another 9 am lie in today! Think it's because of the dark mornings and the fact she doesn't have day time naps any more!

Next midwife appointment is at 28 weeks which is ages away. I'm not too fussed though! Are you seeing your midwife regularly now?

We just went to John lewis and DD tried out a lovely little bed that I think we're going to get for her new room. She's very excited about getting a new bed which is good. We'd better get on with decorating now! It's this bed -https://m.johnlewis.com/mt/www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-boris-toddler-bedstead-antique-darkwood/p231331003?un_jtt_v_pdp=yes&un_jtt_v_from_product=un_product_2#page_loaded
couldn't believe it was only £69! Seems very strudy

 

[smawfl]

No job lined up yet, redundancy wont kick in until June time so has a while and he's already started applying. He's not too worried, hopefully he'll find something closer to home as he has a 45-60 min commute there and back at the moment so will be nice if he gets something nearer.

My next midwife is on Wed when I'll be 34+5. Where is the time going?!?! Baby has been doing some mega movements in the evening at the moment! I swear the other night s/he jumped out about 2 inches!!

Last week at work!!

Love that bed!!!!

DD had her 2 yr check yesterday, all ok thankfully!

 

[Pusscat]

Glad all went well with dd's check up.

How are you feeling starting your first week of maternity leave? Did you get a send off at work?

 

[smawfl]

I'm enjoying being a lady of leisure again! Lol well as much as you can with a toddler!

Yeah went for a lovely leaving meal at work and got a bouquet of flowers and some gift vouchers for baby. Definitely starting to feel a bit more real now!

How are you feeling?

 

[minimoocow]

Hello ladies

I can't believe how far along you are - has it gone quicker this time? It seems to to me although maybe that's because I'm not obsessing and on B&B every day!

I did start a thread to diary my progress at the clinic but decided it was a bad idea as its a really small practice and it would be very easy for the staff to identify me (if they were looking of course which they probably aren't but still!). So if its ok I'll update here hopefully its not against the forum rules. It seems to be the LTTTC ladies that get upset about pregnancy posts and not the other way around so hoping its all ok but tell me if you think its not appropriate!

So we went back to the clinic at the start of Jan having had lots of blood tests.

The decision is that there is something sub-optimal in the second part of my chart as my progesterone readings were very low. It could simply be that I don't produce enough progesterone to sustain a pregnancy or it could be that I'm not producing good enough eggs which in turn would help produce progesterone but the dr says that since the problem is post peak we well try to deal with that first and if that doesn't work we'll look more closely at the eggs themselves.

So, I have been prescribed 3 HCG shots post ovulation each month to try to get the progesterone to a healthy level plus progesterone suppositories to take straight away if I do conceive.

I know it probably sounds stupid but I wasn't really expecting having to inject at all and I feel a bit crappy about it. It went from a nice chat about here's a possible problem to being taken into the next room and talked through how to mix phials of HCG, use needles and syringes etc and inject myself, keeping it refrigerated etc. ARGH - that's all bit serious! I was imagining some pills to take. And then if it works vaginal suppositories - what fun!!!

Its also a little limiting. We were looking to see if we could book a city break at half term but then realised I might have to take needles etc away with me. I'm sure its possible but its a lot of hassle especially when you are supposed to keep the stuff at a constant fridge temperature - no idea how to do that. I looked into diabetic stuff but that's different as once in use it can be kept at a higher temp so those solutions wouldn't work. I decided to give up and we are going to try and book a UK spa break instead which is probably less hassle all round!

I've got a GP appointment tomorrow to see if they will let my have monthly blood tests on the NHS to see if the HCG is having the desired effect. Its really weird in the UK as whilst I completely love the NHS its a got a complete monopoly. I wouldn't mind paying for the tests but if you don't get them through your GP where do you go? There is a private clinic that will analyse the blood for you but you still have to see someone medical to get it drawn in the first place! So fingers crossed my GP says ok tomorrow. Doing a maximum of 12 blood tests would cost a lot less than IVF so I'm hoping she will be ok with it but I know I don't have a right to have it done so I might have to be persuasive. That said last time they were quite happy so hopefully they are pragmatists.

Mini
x

 

[smawfl]

Hey Mini,

Thanks for the update, totally don't mind you posting here and glad you feel like you want to.

Glad they are starting to pinpoint the area of your cycle that is potentially an issue. Sorry you're not keen on the injecting. DH has to inject fortnightly for a health issue and it was tricky travelling but try not to let it limit you. Can it be stored in a cool bag somehow for travelling?

Hope the GP appointment goes well tomorrow!


AFM, Had my midwife appointment today. All good. Baby is currently lying head down but slightly oblique! So not engaged yet and free. How do I shift baby to central position?!

 

[smawfl]

Here's my very pointy 35 week bump today!