h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*bounce*

How exciting for you Kelli, and Candi too!

Kelli, a friend of mine rents most of her baby-clothes off e-bay - I don't think they actually pay for themselves but the are massively cheaper that way. And my sister's NCT lady had the very soothiing mantra "baby won't mind" whenever any of the NCT group started gulping at the cost of mothercare things or silver cross prams or whatever. Mind you, even she admitted that while "baby won't mind" having a drawer for a crib, grandma might!

Great photos Kelli!

Nice to see it looks, er, exactly like a 12 week old fetus should do!

*I nod in agreement about buying cheap baby stuff, baby won't mind*.

I must be really stupid, I'd never even considered that wee ones in the womb slept and woke up, and that this didn't necessarily coincide with mum's sleeping and waking. How very intriguing.

Baby doesn't mind what he/she gets, and if mum and dad can't afford the ridiculously expensive stuff, then grandma should accept that. Well, that's what I think anyway.

I actually DID sleep in a drawer for the first three months of my life. I always thought it was rather cool, so not only did I not mind, I'm now all for drawers as cribs.

An open drawer, taken out and laid carefully on a low table, with a proper baby mattress in, I hasten to add. My youngest cousin is still under the happy delusion that I was actually shut away with the underpants every night.

I used to think it hilarious in the bath when the baby would move to the unsubmerged part of the bump if she thought it was too hot. I got a real pointy bump then and a horrible outie of a belly-button.

oops, getting broody again. I'd better check how the gruesome room tidying is going, that will cure me.

I agree about the baby won't mind thing, although buying reasonable quality stuff that will last for this one and for any subsequent children makes sense to me. So am keen to buy sturdy furniture things that are gender non-specific. The big thing at the moment seems to be bugaboo pushchars - these are very expensive for not a great deal of gain as far as I can tell - baby might not mind but their dad definitely would! NCT have rather famous second-hand sales, it is a very good reason to pay the thirty extra quid to join on top of the £145 the antenatal classes are going to cost.

I haven't felt any movement yet, not that I have recognised anyway - plenty of wind though, maybe some of that is the baby? They do say that you feel it earlier with second babies because you recognise the sensation. It is great to finally feel that I am allowed to anticipate all these things

Very much looking forward to going to work tomorrow (for once) so I can tell people and show off my pictures!

Mum and dad have just gone home, they came for lunch to celebrate. I said at least we can tell everyone now - mum looked a bit sheepish and admitted she's told practically everyone she knows already - she is that excited! She didn't tell family though as she thought I'd like to do that

Dad is being very sweet and wanted to know what supplements I was taking, think he is almost as excited as mum is

My dad was quietly excited too, more worried about practical things than I was, which was a help sometimes. Knowing how much coffee I used to drink, though, he sent me a massive parcel of lovely herbal and fruit teas which up to then I'd steadfasly refused to try.

He got me quite addicted.

I bought a very good 2nd hand Silver Cross pram/buggy thing for #1 which did very well for #2. But the buggy was quite big, even folded, so when #2 was big enough I got (again 2nd hand) a nice umbrella folding buggy (really... I had a mini at the time, one baby in the front with the pushchair taking up the whole of the back seat was ok, but not for 2 babies!)

One thing I got and later regretted was a changing table - I got one which went over the bath after a while, and that was great (handy for the nappy bucket). But our best investment (guess what? yep, 2nd hand) was the baby rucksack. You can't use them until the baby can sit up, but it was fantastic. We used it a lot, and when the Gruesomes were quite small I used it too. (even schlepped #1 in it when I was a little pregnant with #2)

oops... getting broody again!

Best Friend said that a moses basket would be something she'd want another time round. Something to do with it being a handy portable bed if you were away from home and baby needed a nap.

PaperBaby was quite active--when I was at work. Poor Tom got to feel her moving maybe twice. Hope J has more luck

We inherited a lot a baby equipment from sister-in-law, and bought a load for £50 from one of DH's workmate. The only new thing we bought was the car seat (and some nappies and pins and plastic pants). I remember one occasion when somebody saw No 1 in a navy baby-gro and said, "Oh, you're a navy Mum then! I always class new mums as navy or white," and I was extremely upset because *actually* I hadn't chosen a single item of clothing in her wardrobe - it was all job-lot second-hand or had been given by friends. I made sure I chose one new thing for No 2 and No 3 before they arrived. People will give you billions of baby clothes, though, especially in the smaller sizes (the first size starts not to fit after about 3 weeks), because baby clothes are so *cute*.

Anyway, we had a Moses basket *and* a carrycot, and you don't need both. The Moses basket stand is very useful, though - it comes to Guide camp with me every year, and my largest washing basket sits on it as a huge fruit bowl!

I would have loved a "proper" pram, but we really didn't have room for it in our tiny house. So we had a "transport system" which was a frame which would take the carry cot, or be a pushchair in forward or reverse positions. The whole thing was supposed to be collapsible but I only ever managed to do this once - we had a second pushchair which lived in the car (replaced by a brand new buggy for No 3 ... DH then left it behind at the country park (fortunately *after* he had strapped No 3 into the car) so No 3 then had a *second* new buggy, which didn't really seem very fair).

No 1 slept a night in a drawer at her grandparents when she was 4 months old - I have the photo

We had the family heirloom crib (Mothercare, 1969) for each of them when tiny, before they graduated to a cot. (Are you keeping count? So far, for sleeping places, there was the crib, the Moses basket, the carry-cot, and the car seat - and we also had one of those bouncy chair thingies - I have to say, at least buying new, you can choose exactly what you want, and don't find yourself lumbered with stuff you feel obliged to use). Anyway, when we came to assemble the family heirloom crib for No 3, the strut from the base was missing. And then we discovered where that handy bit of wood that DH had made into a narrow hall shelf had come from ...

David, babies not only wake/sleep in the womb, but they can be extremely picky about their position. With No 2, I had to sleep on my right, instead of my left, because she *would not* settle any other way. (She was like the princess and the pea after she was born, too).

Mol (also reminding herself firmly of the appalling state of the children's bedrooms in the hope that this will have an anti-broodiness effect)

If you need anti-broodiness, you can come visit and take over the potty-training

I think I felt the baby moving last night! Of course it might have been wind

I woke up at about 5am with a full bladder. I'd rolled almost on to my front in my sleep (can't get completely on my front now as my bump presses against my abdominal muscles and it hurts) and was feeling something a little bit like that bubbly feeling I get in my stomach when I am really hungry and my stomach rumbles - except it felt like it was in the bump rather than my tummy.

I don't know whether or not to get excited about this because it might just have been wind imy intestines, and I can't be *sure* that is what it was. Will have to wait and see if it happens again

Traveller in Time unlurking
" There is really something growing "

Isn't it exciting!
I had a similar experience as I woke up this morning... I felt a sort of fluttery twitch unlike anything else I've felt in that area before, but I was still very sleepy and not sure... I was lying there thinking - do it again! But nothing else happened.

Was thinking it was too early for me to be feeling spud stretching their legs, but maybe not if you're feeling it too! I laid there for as long as I could but my bladder forced me up and out before long

Thats exactly how it felt for me when I was expecting.

Drinking iced water or putting on music can wake them up and make them dance so you could try and see if you feel it again.

broody again

I used to love it when the bump got really big and she turned over you can often see elbows moving accross your tummy.

And...the darkened room and torch thing often works - although I don't remember trying it myself. I heard midwives do it sometimes to try to turn breach babies.

Darkened room and torch thing?

apparently, when the bump is a bit bigger, you can be in a darkened room, and shine a small but bright torch against it. If you move the torch slowly the baby will, apparently, follow it.

Like I said - I'm not sure I believe it... researchers required

Traveller in Time done research
"I do not know at what date they did react but they sure did react to a flashlight.

Singing or just talking does work even better, at one event Mesologist could feel the baby turning left and right listening to my father and brother sitting next. "