The Aussie Preg, Birth & Mummy Thread

[Kimmy1]

Hi Everyone,

As promised a thread devoted to us IF girls who have had a recent BFP, birth or already are mummies.
Hopefully as time goes by, this thread will get bigger as those ttc get their BFPs. Until then lets : the arrival of Alyssa and Jamie and the recent BFPs for Belinda and Sharron


Kim

[Belinda72]

Thaks for setting this up Kim! It still feels weird that I could be posting here, but ... here I am

I look forward to hearing all about your babies and pregs.

As for me, in the 11th week now and time is draaaaaaaagging until I have my NT scan on Tues 20th. Not sure if I told u the dramas about that or not, but basicaly I will be 11 wks 4 dys on that day & the U/S place just about had a cow that I would not be exactly 12 wks. I am prety sure my date is fairly spot-onm my Dr and the OB office didn't seem to think it would be a drama at all & besides, I'll be in QLD as of the 21st and it will practicaly be Xmas Eve on my 12 wks! So to them! LOL! It's the best I could do and if I go for the u/s and they show it to be too early, then we either decide to forego worrying abou the NT aspect of the u/s , or we then might choose to put back our drive to QLD til the 24th. We'd hate to be arriving tired on Xmas Eve but if need be we would. But by going with the 20th, at least if the dates do match like we think, then at least we did not have to scew up our plans for nothing.

Please guys think of me on the 20th : I am so nervous after all this time that something is going to be wrong. I hope it's just me being overly paranoid for no reason.

1 more week and 2 days of the school yr left here in NSW (well, 1 week 3 days, but i have the 20th off for the medical stuff). I cannot wait for it to be over so I can sit back and just enjoy what's going on in my life

Hugs to all
Belinda

[BC-Kim in Oz]

Hi all, just thought I'd pop in to say that there are Aussie boards for Pregnancy and Parenting. They're under the Pregnancy and Parenting headings (surprise), than under "Country Specific". I don't think the Pregnancy one has been used in quite a while. The Parenting one is used sporadically.

Belinda - congratulations and good luck for the 20th!

[Margot]

Hi there

Belinda - I will definitely be thinking of you on the 20th! I know what you mean about the paranoia. I used to wonder why I was so paranoid. Then a friend of mine who also had fertility issues and had got pregnant pointed out that it might be because we literally just couldn't believe our luck. We'd suffered so much angst over getting pregnant, and got so used to negative results, that we just couldn't believe in our heart of hearts that the universe wasn't going to kick us in the guts again. I think she was right, in my case at least. Sad, but true.

But I must say, once I got over the angst-ridden decision on whether to have the NT scan or not, and the worry about what it might show, I truly enjoyed my scan. My boy was such a beautiful little creature, they are really recognisably babies even at 12 weeks, and watching him wriggle in such a lively way was just a joy and such a relief. You are going to love it!

And to all - As for my news, now that I am getting over the hard birth and the breastfeeding disaster and am getting used to the sheer hard work of it all - oh, my god, you just wouldn't believe the endless mounds of laundry! - I am really enjoying myself, especially now that Jamie is more interactive. Initially, we would wait anxiously on him all day, and he would receive our services with the lofty indifference of a little god. We wouldn’t even know if we were doing anything right, except for the occasional burst of wrath when we clearly didn’t. Then, slowly, we could see that he focused more and more on our faces. Then came the smiling in response to our smiles, and finally the sheer delight of the day that I took him from Lachlan while he was still sleeping, and he opened his eyes and gave me a huge, melt-your-heart gummy smile, obviously recognising me and so pleased to see me.

And it is a remarkable thing to watch a human being develop from scratch. He started off pretty much like those definitions of “life” you hear in high school biology, just eating, breathing and excreting. He is already developing from those rudimentary beginnings into a little personality with his own characteristic expressions and ways of doing things. He loves to be talked to, and "talks" back with gurgles, coos, and breathy little sounds. He has the most beautiful, delighted little laugh and is gradually changing from quite a solemn little boy into a laughing little boy who plays a lot. His only problem lately is that he is now having trouble getting to sleep, because he wants to spend 24 hours a day looking around and taking everything in. Plus, he is constantly learning new skills. In the last week, for instance, he has started rocking from side to side (a precursor to rolling), grasping purposefully at his toys, and only needing us to hold his hands, rather than his whole body, in order for him to stand on our laps. And he is so **** cute. You look at his funny big head and amusingly short arms and his cheeky little smiles, and you have to admire the cunning of evolution, even while you are being sucked in by it.

Another big thing I should mention is seeing a whole new, nurturing side to my DH. During the pregnancy, I was quietly worried about how it would go, having a baby with an older, not very well, used to own ways, man. I never doubted that he would do his share; I just wasn't sure whether he would enjoy it. But he just loves him - looks after him, doing all the baby care tasks without needing to be told what to do, and playing with him for hours. And he smiles endlessly nowadays, with those unconscious smiles of a happy and contented man. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that he would take to being a father the way he has.

You really have so much to look forward to, and I am going to love hearing your news.

Margot xox

[Kimmy1]

Thanks for the heads up Kim, but the reason I set the thread up here is that there is a bunch of girls coming here for over a year and I just thought it would be too complicated for everyone at their different stages, ttc, preg, new mummy etc to check in the other directory (it is hardly used as you said). I hope thats ok?
Dearest Belinda,
You will love this - I was exactly 11.4 weeks when I went for the nuchal, with absolutely no problem at all. I hadnt actually found out that I was pregnant until the day before as I had been told that I probably couldnt conceive naturally after a lap 3 months before and so when I had what must of been implantation bleeding, I just assumed that it was a light period! I must warn you though, I found the nuchal a bit scary (probably because I was in shock and unprepared),but when they measure the fold they do it so many times and your mind is just racing (well mine was, I think anyone with IF problems can be highly anxious at this point). THEN, they gave me quite a high chance of downs etc, something like 1:120, without explaining that the results can only be complete when combined with your blood result which they hadnt received yet. Once the bloods came in they rang me and said "Oh by the way, your odds of problems are much lower now, 1:1500 so we dont recommended CVS. You are a young chikki babe, so you will have no problems anyway darling But I wish that I had know that about the results as many of my friends have been freaked unecessarily! Make sure to ask them to record it for you (another thing no one told me!).Margot is right though, once the initial scan is done, it is a great experience, you watch you little bean bob or zoom about and it finally hits you that in about 6 months you will be meeting them as your baby.
Dear, sweet Margot - Reading your post gave me shivers and a lump of joy in my throat, You so articulartly explained the complex discoveries of motherhood - IF problems or not. Of course we feel blessed to have our bundles, but it does come with alot of hard work and the realisation of the resposibilites that we face up to beyond, changing nappies and feeding. Someone gave me the best advice when Ben started to engage in the world aroud him (and believe you me it wont be long til Jamie will be exploring boundaries) and that was to imagine what you want for your little one when they are grown (not what or whom they should be) but what values etc that you would like to impart and that that will help guide you when you start having to make decisions around how you bring them up. It truly helps you when the little strong willed things start to make their way in the world and engaging alot more with other littlies and you have set boundaries etc. Before I heard this I was totally confused by little things such as playground etiquette etc (should I let him do this or that), but I quickly realised if I let myself be guided by my mental picture of him as a warm hearted, tolerant older kid, it just came naturally and I didnt feel constantly insecure about my parenting skills. I dont know why I brought this up now, but I guess its never too early to start thinking that way and that visualisation really helped me and continues to help me wade through the waves of development.
It truly is an amazing time when they have all their firsts...I will NEVER forget the first time Ben laughed heartily. I had come into the nursery in the morning wearing these hideous, huge candy striped flanellette pjs that my mum had given me the night before (ugly, but supremely comfy) and he gave me a startled blink and then just started to giggle and giggle and giggle. I then of course started pretending to slip over and basically be a clown and he laughed and laughed and didnt stop for ages. He was so tired after all the hilarity that he snuggled into me and fell back asleep. These are the moments you want to cherish and will never forget dont you think?
Even at 2.9 years he still surprises me, he will learn a new sound that amuses him and will cheekily whisper it in my ear, he will learn a number or a colour and proudly lead me up to it and point and say "thebben" (for 7), then tonight he pointed to a meatball and said "poo-poo" with a daring look that told me that he knew I wouldnt encourage it but I would admire his creativity
I am so glad to hear about your DH taking so well to fatherhood, even in this SNAG-gy age I am amazed at how many times I hear guys say "honey, his nappies wet" and makes no attempt to remedy the situation. My DH had a little trouble with confidence at the beginning, because he was working so hard when Ben was a newborn that he was a little frightened of him (despite being besotted by him) and always demurred to my directions shakily. Then I read that the best way to help babies and daddies bond if they dont have much quality time is to get the father to get in the bath and bathe them, every single bath (where possible of course). It was amazing how quickley DH got his confidence and how Ben decided he was a daddys boy and beautiful to watch.
Dear Sharron - I know how nervous you must be coming up to your scan, but remember this little warrior of yours is a strong one and will be sticking in there like glue. Get DH to hold your hand and soon you will be seeing your future baby bouncing around, blissfully unaware that mummy is already worrying about him/her.
Hey, you mummies to be have you decided whether you are going to find out the sex a little later on? OMG- All these exciting things to follow through your journey
Dear Bloss - Why dont you join us with some chat about DD? I could do with some advice about cheeky poo-poos and the like
Nikki - How is your gorgeous one doing and just as importantly is her gorgeous mother getting some sleep/help with the reflux? to you both

Lastly, I feel comfortable posting here that one of my dearest girlfriends gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Saturday night after several miscarriages and plenty of fears and nervousness during her pregnancy. She is only 32 but was told at her nuchal that certain proteins were high in her blood and that there was a chance of all sorts of problems (very serious chromosomal etc) and after all these nail biting months she has arrived beautiful and perfect with a perfect score APGAR. Phew!!!! We are going to Sydney for Christmas and will the first of our friends to meet Annika. I am thrilled! : Plus it just goes to show, nuchals are only indicators, not the gospel
Better head off to bed, thanks again for sharing your journeys, I just love hearing every detail, no matter how small, so bring them on! Plus, if I say so myself I have a doctorate in fearful pregnancies with a major in neurotic baby parenting, so I can probably help with most questions and if not, can find out from my sis who sort of works in the field (pathology but with new borns)!!!!
Hugs and kisses to you all, fairy dust to Alyssa, Bob-the Builder dust to Jamie (see gender stereotyping already and lots of growing dust to our little beans!

Kim

[Podi]

Dear Margot, I am so glad Kim set this thread up because finally you have been able to share that wonderful story about your new family.

It gave me such hope to read it and I had tears of joy instead of sadness for a change.

Thanks so much for sharing,

Jodi

[Nickii15]

Hi girls

I hear you margot on the amazing smiles your baby does. Alyssa so reconizes me all the time now and as soon as she wakes up i go to her cot and she does this amazingly huge smile and puts her hands together and gazes at me and then kicks her legs like she is excited. She is the most amazing baby and now her reflux has settled she is such a happy content baby and sleeps right thru the night from 7pm till 7am most days, she then goes back down in the morning for another 3 hours, she is totally amazing. Her medication is kicking in well and truly now which is great. People in the shops always remark on what a happy smily baby she is. She also is talking so much now which is so cute, she gazes into my eyes when im cuddling her and babbles away, i get so teary just watching her still amazed she is truly there and ours we have waited so long for her. I wouldnt change anything i went thru to get here because it makes her all the more special than anything in the world to me and Geoff.

Im still amazed some days that im a mother and Alyssa is mine she is just so so beautiful and got some exciting news!! She rolled right over yesterday!!!!! It was so great seeing it for the first time, she was so excited too. She is grabbing everything now so i have to watch out, she grabbed the coffee table cover yesterday and it nearly came down on us, she is getting too smart. LOL She is 4 mths old on Sunday and tomorrow we have her second lot of injections
Not looking forward to that. Have our mothers group xmas party too which should be fun.

Kim - Ben sounds lovely i really hope we all get to meet someday and meet each others babys would be so nice. Have a nice trip to Sydney for christmas hun

Margot - You sound like you are so enjoying motherhood like me its so great isnt it? Alyssa does something every day to amaze me I bet Jamie does the same to you. You summed it up so well.

Belinda - Again hun congrats to you. Good luck for the 20th everything will be fine hun. I think Margot is right we infertiles are more paranoid about everything but my friend actually got a 1 in 50 chance of downs for her bub and didnt have the amnio and Jack is a fine healthy boy so there u go, im sure it will all be great news for you

Jodi - I hope we can all be an inspiration to you hun you are going to be posting here with your good news one day I just know it.

Better go food shopping to do and housework to do while Alyssa is sleeping

new pic of Alyssa to show you trying to crawl

[Belinda72]

Thanks gang for al the nice encouraging words.

keep them coming please! As my nt gets closer, i get more nervous.

I have had a bit of spotting the last 24hrs. It has not been accompanied by any cramps or pain, and somtimes it's barely a tinge on the toilet paper. It's just when I wipe and no actual flow and sometimes when I wipe there is nothing, and sometimes just a teeny tinge of brown in my CM. I had a bit of spotting around 8 weeks but that was after we had sex. we havent' done the deed again lately just b/c I didnt want to spot anymore as a result and have that on my mind to worry about.

FRom al the stuff I've read over the yrs, spotting old (brown) blood is really normal and nothing ot worry about, only to worry about bright blood and/or red flow with pain/cramping.

I'm 11 weeks in a day's time so please please tel me this will be ok.

I know I souldnt worry b/vc I know the facts on occasinal brown spotting during the first tri....but I am really nervous .

I shall check in tomorrow arvo after work to see if any of u had spotting /have had any words of advice.

thanks!
Belinda

[Kimmy1]

Belinda,

Of course its ok to worry about spotting but I have to assure you that I know soooo many people that spot during the first trimester (myself included) some people spot throughout their entire pregnancies. Often it can be that the cervix is a little inflamed with all thats being going on (are you on prog suppositries? cause that is quite common?) It sounds like old blood which is a really good sign and could still be implantaion bleed coming through. I would suggest that you keep on your own sides of the bed up until scan, possibly the cervix got a bit touchy from that?!!!
I just remembered that I had the exact thing happen almost the day before Ben was born, so possibly its also to do with the expansion of the uterus? Who knows? But what I do know that everything will be fine, just hang in there until your scan, you poor darling...
I know that you know all the facts about spotting, but what I reall think that you need is a big and reassurance that all will bejust fine...
Take care of you and your little one, not too long tp amd you will be introduced to your little bean for the first time and the sheer awe of that will help to allay those fears.
:
Kim
PS: I hate to say this in case it increases your anxiety, but if the bleeding gets heavier go in and insist on an early scan. They wont want you to, but your the customer so just insist like a momma lion x

[Belinda72]

Hi Everyone

Unfortunately I have some sad news to share.

I was in the city on an excursion today and I had some red spotting. So I left work, got a referral to the ultrasound place, talked my way into an u/s and then took the results to my Dr right after.

It appeared that my uterus was at 10weeks but the baby was 7-8 and they couldn't be sure they saw a heartbeat.

So it doesn't look good and I figured that was going to be the case. I have 3 options: to let things happen naturally, to have a D&C, or to go to the OB appt we had scheduled for Tuesday to compare size. But knowing the h/b situation, it's probably not worth the time or the effort. We figure that things will prob take care of themselves before then anyway (I've had a bit of cramping since getting home).

We are very upset given the amt of time this took to occur, but we have a positive outlook in trying again later and knowing that it's what we want.



I shall be in touch when I feel up to it. We are probably going to go to QLD a bit earlier than planned as I will not be returning to work for the remainder of the year.

Thanks
Belinda