Hello everyone!!

Sunbeam - lovely to see your HCG numbers bumping up so well!

Bonham - I have my fingers crossed that sticky vibes keep coming your way - there is such a strength in the way you deal with what is happening

Cherished - huge congrats on reaching the (apparently a dream LOL) second tri - it is a lovely relief when you can look an omelette in the face again - your scan brought a smile to my face - I remember Tiger Two (DD's name for our second one) running rampant from the sonographer - he loathed scans

Twinsis - glad to hear things are warming up for you - layers must be awkward at times!

Sparkles, Kirsten74 and Possum - it is lovely to see people jump in with support from the ether - it makes it all the more special

Dory - it is good to hear your scare has settled - I've had a few friends who have had - god help me on the spelling - haematomas (?) caused by illness (excessive coughing) or ms that rips muscles - the bleeding is external to the baby and placenta - but it all causes a hell of a scare - sorry you had to go through it - I hear you on the work front - I know I was stressed to the max and run down when I had my mc in 2008 - and I had to face the reality that it was necessary for me to scale back if I was going to give myself and the bub a good chance at a good pg and birth - I went part-time (not an option for everyone though) and it helped immensely on my sanity and health fronts - is it possible to engage in a different, calmer job part-time to stave off boredom???? I understand financial situations don't always support us when we need them to. I'm probably a lot more disorganised than a lot of people - I found there was a huge amount of house stuff that really, really did need doing - esp. 2nd time round when I KNEW how little time there would be to get stuff done - lots of little creative projects that kept getting relocated to decorative boxes - I still haven't finished sorting out my office from when Joss was born last year!!! ...

Chuckie - wonderful news on your scan - hope the hols are bringing sweet relief! Eliselouise85 - kudos on the great scan too!!! I cried with the heartbeats too - esp. the first time I heard it in the pg - had the same sonographer for my mc and the next pg with DS too - how weird is that??? It must be really challenging for u/s staff faced with the tragedy of lost bubs and the shock it often comes as - I knew my bub was gone before the 9 wk scan but it was still hard

TinaR - I will always give thanks to my pg yoga instructor who said two invaluable things to me - one, this is the only pain you'll feel for a good reason and each contraction needs you to surrender and open to it, to breathe through it with good long breaths (and lots of deep breaths in between for good oxygen to stave off tiredness and for bub) and two, in your mind keep seeing the baby as a beautiful flower of light with each contraction an unfolding petal that you need to allow to unfold, to let the contraction happen to do this - sounds a little flaky but every time I wanted to tighten up or hold my breath - I kept remembering what she said. Second thanks always goes to my first midwife who said "Open upstairs, open downstairs" - that you don't have to make noise if it's not you but that a tight mouth kept things tight - again with the good breathing She was also the one who kept me moving and off my back - I haven't given birth to a bub yet that didn't do a tour of the house first to get here! I won't tell you about my second wonderful midwife who had me whinny like a horse to shift a lip of cervix!!!

Sunny09 - OMG - there is no emoticon for the absolute fury I feel at the negligence and callousness of that excuse for a caregiver who apparently is meant to be providing you with antenatal care - how dare she deliver any of that diagnosis based on just her own observations - without getting a second check (it is often challenging to find heartbeats with some bubs in different positions, even for experienced caregivers) and the manner in which she delivered it is appalling - sweetheart - I pray you never have to get that woman again - it is up to you whether you feel it is OK for you at this point to consider a complaint or not but know that she richly deserves one... I'm pleased you had other more compassionate and considerate people to rectify the damage.

LittleOnes – I understand what you are saying about your older child – DD was acting out a lot before the bub was born – we had to have a lot of quiet night talks about loving, sharing, the birth (it was fairly dramatic as she was going to be at the birth as well) and what a wonderful big sister she was going to be – moved a lot backwards and forwards in terms of being excited, having a lot of trepidation – but when the birth and the baby came – DD was amazing – we got the baby to ‘buy’ her a special present (just for being his big sis) that the baby ‘gave’ her when he was born to make her feel special – it is hard because you want to be supportive of your older children and at the same time do not want that to happen at the expense of the baby or younger children – the incredibly difficult job of parenting I suppose…

Tanya - it is great to hear you so full of confidence and going well - it is one of the great joys of this site and our forums

Smallfryplus – brava on the belly cast – I loved the idea but wussed out – it will look epic when you have it painted up esp. with the contributions of your little ones – my talented girlfriend took beautiful pg pix for me instead – in canefields and waterfalls – both times in winter, bloody freezing but at least skin tone would have been good LOL

AFM - in the time it has taken me to type this - had to rescue DP who had been poked in the eye with the corner of a storybook which drew blood and a few words we don't need to repeat; DD has been totally distressed by her accidental wounding of dad and flown to room after injuring DP; DD then managed to glue very resilient bandaid into hair which had to be cut out; Joss has been BFing in lap - but now have actually finished something today - probably first thing - so ladies thank you for this wonderful capacity you have and the inspiration and support you give each other and all the other wonderful women looking to embark on this journey

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

And yes, with lovely long posts I have the insurance policy of emergency saving it into a word doc. first before I post and then I post!!! Just for those who, like me, have experienced post-posting failure... (Is there a pill for that yet??)

Much love
Karen van