Pregnant runners' club

I know my pace has slowed right down. But I did not run when having my daughter and am pleased just to be out there.

I would say just do what you feel. I tried to find balance. I hauled myself out for runs and then had a lovely afternoon naps at weekend :-)

Luckily my husband has been great and always makes time for my naps and runs by looking after Sadie or picking up chores. He also knows I am a bear with a sore head if I do not run.

I just need to deciede now if I will keep going after the weekend.

Clare - Why not do some power-walking instead? I was considered at risk for miscarriage due to my family history (my mum miscarried 5 times) and my high blood pressure. Although I had no bleeding, I did suffer a lot with cramps in the early stages and had a few panic visits to the GP.
I was actually told not to run because of my blood pressure, but I was told to keep exercising gently so I did a lot of walking (and some pregnancy yoga & swimming) which certainly didn't give me the same buzz as running but did give me a chance to get out in the fresh air and have my "thinking time" that I so enjoy when I run.
I guess you need to see how you go, and by the way two of my friends suffered bleeding and went on to have completely normal pregnancies and babies, but go with what you feel is right for you.....
Good luck anyway, it must have been absolutely terrifying - I remember how paranoid I was.

Luck to you all, Ladies!
Hegs x

(((clare))) that sounds awful. but, like hegs, i also had a friend who had lots of bleeding during both pregnancies and was absolutely fine with both. look after yourself and let your body tell you when and how much to exercise. try doing some cross training or swimming if you are worried about the running for the time being.

(((mrs o))) - hope you feel less tired soon. i was very lucky in 1st trimester and didn't have any tiredness. i feel weary occasionally these days, but nothing too bad.

well, guys, anomaly scan went well, and ... it's slugs and snails and puppy dog's tails for mr caramel and me! :-)

yes, there was a little winkle, which we saw from two different directions, so pretty sure that it's a boy!

everything else was fine. the little tyke was upside down and making it a bit tricky for the sonographer, but she was very good and managed to check everything, and there were no problems. PHEW!

he's also measuring 20wks and 1 day, whereas by the dating scan I'm 19 wks and 3 days (and by LMP 19wks), so he's a good size. yikes!

i have also agreed to go back on 1st april for some extra scans because the hospital are running a training day for junior doctors and they want some volunteers. they pay you travel and stuff, but the main reason for going is just to have a sneaky look at the little chap and hopefully get some more pictures - although they will probably not be very good as they usually aren't later on.

so, it's a good day in caramel macc land today!

hope everyone else is having nice valentine's days!

Caramel, that's lovely news, a little boy !!!! I have a 3 year old nephew and little boys are so much fun and so comical !!! Can't remember from your previous posts, but is this your first baby ? Sounds like he's growing well as well, i'm a bit worried about how big my baby could be, my sister has 3 kids and they were all big babies, 9 lb 10oz, 9lb 1oz and 8lb 13oz, ouch !!!

thanks mrs o.

yes, it's our first.

i'm chuffed it's a boy (but would have been as chuffed with a girl!), as little boys always seem so cute and take longer to reach that naughty and rebellious stage than little girls (although i'm sure they are more trouble in the long run). would have been ecstatic either way as long as everything's ok, because little fairy dresses and pretty things are lovely too.

hubby is chuffed too. he said 'ah well, at least i've got an heir now'. ;-)

he would really have liked a little girl i think. you know what they say - mummy's boy and daddy's girl. but he is dead happy anyway. i don't think you can fail to be happy as long as everything's ok.

and i'm also worried about how big he might end up being. i was tiny when i was born (but i was 4 wks early), but i'm 5'9 and my husband's 6 foot and both of us are fairly large builds, so my growth chart does predict a 9.5lb baby if it goes overdue by 2 weeks. yikes!!!

one reason to keep running/exercising is that babies born to mothers who exercise tend to be leaner, although their heads are no smaller, so i'm not sure that that actually helps much!

i've got a bid to review by close of play today and i'm making NO progress. hubby has day off and wants me to go out for lunch with him, so am going to have a very late close of play today, i think!!

Caramel - Congratulations!!
As you know by now, I have a little boy and I absolutely adore him (of course I would have adored a girl too). All of my friends have girls and I have noticed that they need a lot more softly softly handling than boys it seems. I am quite noisy and fidgety/ bouncy by nature and my son loves playing "rough" (if you know what I mean - obviously I don't bounce him off the walls!) and he giggles all the time (he's terribly ticklish).

Whenever I hold my friends girl babies they generally cry! I think I am much better suited to boys but I do still yearn after the pink and frilly stuff (I sooo wanted to put my baby in a tutu - they look so cute). Instead I am resigned to cars, trains and lots of muddy clothes... Unless of course I go on to have a girl at some point :o)

Anyway, big congrats again and great news that the scan went so well - I know it's a huge relief to get the 20 week scan out the way.

Re: size - my little chap was small all the way through which was worrying (but a result of my high BP) - having said that he arrived at 36 weeks weighing 5lbs 12oz, so not a bad weight considering...

Hegs x

just been to the local pub for a meal with hubby. yum! a celebratory fish, chips and mushy peas. very unhealthy, but i reckon baby deserves a bit of stodge today!

i have to admit that i tend to find little boys much cuter than little girls, but i'm not sure why. all my friends have had a girl first, then a boy, and i think as a result the boys have seemed much more laid back probably because the mums haven't fussed around them as much as they did the first babies. the girls have all be EXTREMELY energetic and demanding, but that may just be coincidence. i'm sure there are plenty of girls who are also sweet and demure!

spent the whole meal talking about names. my husband winds me up all the time with daft names, and i can't tell sometimes whether he's being serious or not. he's just spent 10 mins telling me that he thinks noah is a great name. and yes, it is a great name, but really, i don't think it would go down too well in a rough s. east wales playground in 8 years time!!

hope everyone else is ok. apologies today for being rather bouncy! i had been DREADING this scan, and it was all over in 25 mins and was a complete breeze.

What a lot to reply to, really must keep up with the threads, because so much is going on! Clare, you are due on my birthday!! So glad all the scans are ok and babies are growing all over the place. About boobs: Mine never grew at all (or I had been in denial for years, as during my pregnancy my boobs did fill my bra much better...)am wearing M/L Noppies feeding bras now, wireless, sports-bra-type things, so no idea what I really measures, only know I'm huuuuuge first thing in the morning!!!

About mums and m-i-l's; my mum and I have always had a problematic relationship, but since Liesje was born we get on so much better; she even came to the UK to visit me after not having visited for seven years (I see her regularly when I go over to Holland but she wouldn't come here). My M-i-l called Liesje 'it' for the first weeks, wouldn't hold her when she first met her but has knitted me a huge multi-coloured woollen blanket that does mean to me that she really cares; she just can't show it very well...I do find it hard that she can be so awful, but I'm sure she loves her little granddaughter (god knows what she would have been like if we'd had a boy, as she made it quite clear that she didn't want us to have a boy, as if we had a choice!!)

About having a girl; we didn't know what we were expecting, I was a bit worried about having a girl because of relationship with my mum, but it has all been lovely. Liesje is sooooo cute, I'm managing to avoid most of the dreadful baby-pink and dress her in bright coloured dutch clothes...she was the only girl amongst 10 boys today in baby-massage, her eyes were sooooo big, she makes my heart melt.

Oh, and I was told that runners have bigger babies! My bump was tiny, but Liesje was 8lb4, and born 6 days early, so be prepared girls!!

Anyway, you're probably all having dinner with your Valentines....must pay mine some attention as he has cooked me a lovely meal tonight! Look after yourselves and your bumps (sorry about long email..)

marijke

i think it's quite common for girls to have problematic relationships with their mums, and i think this is what was worrying me partly about having a girl.

it sounds like you don't have that situation with liesje though, which is great. as long as you can both communicate (once she's big enough to do the verbal bit), i'm sure you'll be absolutely fine. that was my main problem with my mum and me - neither of us could really talk to the other.

i can't get over your mum calling her 'it' though, unless the dutch word for baby/child is neuter (is it?? it is in german. do you even have neuter in dutch, i can't remember! it's a long time ago since i did a term of it at uni!), and she was just being generic?

i don't understand why we have only pink and blue clothes in the UK. it's very strange. i like the sound of brightly coloured dutch clothes much better. i think bright reds and greens would look fantastic on little 'uns but you just don't see them (unless you count those father christmas outfits you can get!)

on another topic: has anyone tried washable nappies? i'm kinda-vaguely-sorta thinking about them for while i'm on maternity leave (for the baby, not me!). when i go back to work, i'm sure i won't be fagged with them, but the idea of not stuffing my dustbin full with cr4ppy nappies is quite appealling for the first few months at least.

any advice? i had a look on some websites last night and was bewildered by the choice and also by the sheer amount of bits that you appear to need - liners, boosters, wraps etc. help!!

I went with disposables - my husband and I are generally very environmentally-aware but to be honest the benefits to the environment are negligible. Yes, disposables do pong quite a lot (we now put ours straight out into the outside dustbin shed-thing) but the thought of having poo-ey washables in buckets really did my head in ;o) But I guess it is whatever suits you in the end! Plus, as my mum pointed out (and she used washables for me and my sister), because my little boy was so tiny the washables would have gone round him about 3 times - at least I could buy early baby disposables that fitted properly.

Would be interested to know what you go for in the end though - I have often wondered how much of a hassle they really are.

Hegs x
PS. I think Noah is a cool name - I may have to bear that in mind if I have another boy (although I can't see Mr Hegs going for it - he's v traditional!)

Should i run today or not ?

Been having a bit of a crummy day, feeling really tired past couple of days and today(even going up a flight of stairs leaves me breathless for a few seconds), stomach feeling a wee bit off, bit of a headache, nasty dry feeling in my mouth (helped by chewing gum!!) and think i should go for a run but not sure if i have the energy, what do you think ?

Will it make me feel better or am i likely just to end up feeling even tireder and crummy than i already am ??

mrs o - it's totally up to you. if you feel THAT rank, you may just feel worse afterwards.

but i often find that i feel better afterwards. why not try going out, even if you just walk to start off with? if you feel pants, you can always just turn around. and you never know, it might make you feel better. i usually find i have an energy burst after a run.

sorry you are feeling so poo.

i shan't be running today as i have a really sore throat and feel like a cold is about to start. i know that's not an excuse not to run, but being pregnant AND having the beginnings of a cold IS an excuse (in my books!).

i will probably try and get some air at lunchtime, though, because it does usually help.

hegs - there is much debate on the environmental bit of disposable vs. washable nappies. we are on a septic tank here anyway, so most of the water from washing etc gets filtered through our soakaways, so it's then pretty pure by the time it enters the water table. there is obviously the added amount of water that we will use for the washing which needs to be factored in, and the energy used by the washing machine and tumble dryer...

BUT, i read on the nappy lady website last night that it's actually illegal to put human waste into domestic dustbins as the bacteria can get into the ground water at tips/landfill sites. if that's the case, just about every family in the UK must have broken the law at some point. but it *does* raise lots of interesting questions. and i know that disposables take many many years to decompose.

anyway, it's all nicely theoretic for me at the mo because i'm not faced with the prospect of having to deal with any of it.

and the idea of holding the washable nappy in the toilet and flushing the worst of the poo off it really does sound gross to me. i can see the appeal of just folding the whole lot in on itself and putting it in the bin! i'm sure you become totally desensitised to poo once you have kids, but ... YUCK!

Baby poo is my biggest nightmare - it doesn't get any better, and I certainly have not become desensitised yet :o( Roll on potty training....

Having lived in central London until my baby was 6 months old meant that I would have been totally reliant on washing machine & tumble dryer for washables - nowhere to dry outside. We do dispose of our disposables appropriately however - not in regular dustbin collection although most of my friends just chuck 'em out with everything else - eurgh!

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/yourenv/857406/1072214/

This is the report that we looked at - seemed to be the most objective.... Or maybe I just think that to assuage my guilt over using disposables ;o)

hegs

i'm being dim - but how do you dispose of your disposables then if not in the regular dustbin collection?

that article made interesting reading and contradicted much of what i read last night.

we have a washing line so in theory could dry outside but i am big lazy cow when it comes to washing, and sticking the lot in our humoungous tumble dryer and blitzing it for 90 mins on max setting (irrespective of how long it actually needs, and given that most of it is usually dry-fit training kit, that's clearly over the top) is just soooo much easier. oh dear, aren't i bad?

ooo the dilemma.

(becoming a mother appears to be full of dilemmas - cot or crib; pushchair or travel system; disposables or washables... and so on and so on!!)

Sorry - didn't explain properly - our council collects them with the regular collection but they have to be in clinical waste-type sealed sacks....

I think you have to try to take into account the bias of the different articles (which is why we went with what the Environment Agency said - most objective viewpoint).

Re: the other dilemmas - with hindsight I would say: cot (crib lasted less than 10 weeks and I had a tiddly baby!), Bugaboo with a Maxi-Cosi carseat (pricey, but sooo worthwhile!) and, well, as you know I went for disposables....

crib - less than 10 weeks? crikey! i thought they generally lasted longer than that. that was why i was thinking crib rather than moses basket.

if junior is going to be a biffer, perhaps we'd best skip straight to the cot then.

hmmm....

i think we've decided on the pushchair thing now. looks like it'll be a chicco trio thing which has carrycot, as well as car seat etc. we have had a nightmare looking at carseats because most don't fit husband's/my cars because our rear seatbelts are both 'funny'. we've both got different types of cars but had the same problem with most carseats (the bit you clip the seat belt into jams up against the side of the carseat which can be dangerous in a crash apparently as it can snap).

anyway, bla bla bla.

found a laundry service place that will provide and pick up/wash/deliver nappies for £8 a week, which doesn't seem too bad to me. so maybe i'll think about that. (cheating, lazy etc etc).

how does £8 a week compare with the cost of buying disposables? i'd still need to do liners, presumably, and also wipes etc. but no washing/drying...

and what DO you do with a week's worth of sh1tty nappies??

I bought a moses basket and a cot bed for Sadie. We never used the moses basket as she was happy in her cot from day one (independant little madam :-)) The cot beds are great as you get some much use out of it. She is now 2 and sleeps in it as a bed.

All babies are different. It is useful to have a moses basket incase, but I would try and borrow one as you get so little use out of them.

I had my offical 12 week scan today and the nuchal scores were good and the baby is still doing well after my scare at the weekend. They could still see the area of blood in my uterus, but it has got smaller. They will scan again at 16 weeks to assess again.

I think I will take it easy for the rest of the week and start back gently with the cross trainer next week. If all goes well I will look at some gentle runs later next week.

Clare - that's great news :o) Fingers crossed all continues to go well.

We had a rocking crib - very pretty and a gift from my parents - but by about 8 weeks my little wriggler was on the go so much that I half expected him to swing himself out of it! The decider was at about 10 weeks when 3 nights on the trot we found him with arms and legs poking through the wooden bars.... We took a phot as he looked so funny, but actually it was quite alarming!

NB. We could put a pin in to stop it swinging, but it was useful to rock him off to sleep sometimes...

I hear Chicco stuff is good - personally I liked the Bugaboo as it is so light and manoueverable (sp?) which was handy as I had to have a c-section.

In my area the NCT do quite a few secondhand sales where you can pick up stuff quite cheaply if you don't want to go buying everything new (does get pricey). THen it's not quite so bad if you don't use things for long.

Hegs x