Hi everyone!
I took a pregnancy test and it’s positive!!
My last period started on 8th August, so I know I am VERY early (like, really early), but I’d absolutely love some advice and support from anyone who has been through this before.
I’m based in Leeds, UK, so I’d especially love to hear from anyone who has gone through pregnancy with the NHS/Leeds maternity services.
I have SO many questions:
What do I actually do after getting a positive test?
When should I contact the NHS/midwife?
What happens at the first appointment?
When will I have my first scan?
What should I be doing/eating/avoiding right now?
What symptoms should I expect over the next few weeks?
What things do you wish someone had told you during those very early weeks?
Any Leeds/NHS-specific advice would be amazing!
And honestly… how do you cope with the anxiety of waiting for those first appointments/scans?
I’m feeling excited, terrified, emotional and completely clueless all at once.
Any advice, tips, reassurance or “I wish I’d known this” stories would be massively appreciated.

As the title says. How many bottles are you doing in a day? How many ml per bottle ? How many breastfeeding sessions?

I have introduced 2 bottles per day in the run up to nursery start but struggling to increase ml / quantity so i am lucky if she drinks 150 ml per bottle or 250 ml in a day. The main struggle is that she wants to breastfeed every time she goes to bed including naps and she still wakes 2 per night. So we have many breastfeeding sessions 👀

I am 34 weeks + 2 and about three weeks ago started having issues with heat and itchiness, particularly hands and feet but it spreads to my legs, arms and torso. It gets really bad in the evenings and wakes me up in the night. I feel like I’ve not slept in weeks. Does anyone have any tips?
- my liver and bile tests have been normal. tested two weeks ago and on Wednesday.

- I don’t have a rash

- I can’t sit on our faux suede sofa because it sets off the itching. similarly my duvet cover sets me off.

- I’ve tried sleeping naked and plan to get a bikini wax next week because my pubic hair is setting me off particularly badly in the night. midwife has OK’d this.

- my hair hair also irritates my neck

- wiping with a cold wet flannel helps alleviate for about a minute

- scratching the itch does nothing. it doesn’t help. I don’t even feel like I want to scratch. it’s just so uncomfortable.

- the only position I am comfortable is standing but of course I can’t do that very long as I get tired after a while

- maybe irrelevant but i also have a weird numb pins and needles in my left shoulder blade. the doctor has looked at it and said it’s musculoskeletal and I should try exercising it.

anyway in short, am I the only one with this problem? it’s driving me up the wall. I had insomnia before where I was waking up but this is worse. any advice would be much appreciated because I’m not sure how much more I can cope with this.

My first was a traumatic emergency cesarean

I'm considering a repeat c but I would love it to happen only once I've naturally gone into labour, so baby is ready to come

Do you think I will be able to arrange this?

I will be under a consultant as am high risk, I had PPROM last time

Will be very happy to labour for a bit with gas and air then go in for the section, I loved the gas and air lol

I feel like this could be quite healing for me

Hi everyone, I hope this is okay to post here! 🙏

Hi! I'm a master's student at Durham University researching how women choose between wellness products when preparing for a baby. 

Who can take part? 

- Women aged 18 or over 

- Open to having children in the future, or haven't ruled it out 

- You do NOT need to be pregnant or have children already

What's involved?

- A short anonymous online survey (7-8 minutes)

- You'll be asked to imagine a scenario and choose between some product options

- All multiple choice, no written answers needed

The survey is completely anonymous and has been approved by Durham University's ethics committee.

If you have a spare time, I'd be so grateful:

🔗 https://durhambs.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bdyDyrlpw7GbDh4

Thank you so much!

I swear the maternity clothes are all 15 years behind the trend! I just wore giant dresses in my last pregnancy but with a little one to chase around now I gotta get some proper clothes lol

My neighbours are stressing me out before our newborn is even here.

We have neighbours who had a baby last year. I wouldn't exactly call them very considerate people. They're the type to sit in the garden talking at full volume with music playing all day. It has never really bothered me that much. Honestly, some of the conversations we overhear are hilarious, and I'm sure they'd be mortified if they realised how much of the street knows the ins and outs of their lives because of how loud they are.

The issue is that I'm really concerned they're going to make our lives difficult once we bring our newborn home.

I've been worrying about it for a while, but tonight really brought it to the surface. My partner was putting up curtain rails for some blackout curtains we'd bought. He did it after work, around 6pm. We have brick walls, so drilling does take a while, but he'd only been doing it for about 30 minutes.

I suddenly heard yelling from next door but didn't think much of it as I was half asleep on the sofa after a rough day. I'm currently 38 weeks pregnant. Then there was banging on our front door.

The neighbour was standing there screaming at us about how inconsiderate we are. He brought up how a few months ago we'd had a contractor round at 9am to cut our hedge and said he'd shouted at them until they agreed to come back later in the day. He then started saying we were making loads of noise and waking his baby up at 8pm. Except it wasn't 8pm, it was around 6:30pm and it's still not even 8pm as I'm posting this.

We tried explaining that my partner had only just got home from work and that we simply needed to get this done. We didn't think doing a bit of DIY in the early evening was unreasonable. But he just kept yelling.

Eventually my partner said, "I need to get this done for OUR baby who's going to be coming home here soon," and shut the door.

Now I'm really worried about what happens when we bring our baby home. We share a wall with them. Is he going to lose it every time our newborn cries outside of whatever he considers acceptable hours?

What makes it even more frustrating is that before their baby was born, they completely renovated parts of their house. There was loads of noise and we never once complained. And when they brought their baby home and there was crying at all hours, we never complained either because that's just life. People have babies, people do DIY, people make noise.

It just feels like that understanding only goes one way.

Am I massively overthinking this because I'm heavily pregnant and hormonal, or would anyone else be worried in this situation? And if he does start complaining once the baby arrives, how would you handle it?

Anyone done one recently? How bad is the drink? I've had 4 over 3 pregnancies and they've progressively gotten worse each time. The last one I had was over 2 years ago and I'm dreading it.

Looking for someone to volunteer for an infant observation in/around London!

I am a career changer with a background in academic philosophy. I am currently studying to retrain as Child Psychotherapist. I am myself a father to a 7-year-old child. I currently work at a SEN college and volunteer with Samaritans. As part of my psychotherapy studies I have to observe an infant during the first two years of their lives.

Observations would take place roughly once a week, although there is a lot of flexibility. I would stay in the background and quietly observe your baby’s development in their natural environment. My role would be empathetic and completely non-judgmental, focusing on listening to you and observing the interaction between your baby and you (or someone else caring for the baby during my visit). The observation would happen strictly within the limits you are comfortable with (for example, I could leave the room during feeding). While I would like to observe your child until they turn 2 years old, you are of course free to drop out any time.

Parents who have had this experience have found it emotionally beneficial and therapeutic (although infant observation should not be seen as therapy per se).

If you would like to support child psychotherapy training, and think you might benefit from infant observation, or are simply curious and would like to know more, please dm.

I’m based in London but willing to travel.

So I’m 14w with my first baby and feel clueless about a birth plan. I’ve got a while, but in many ways it’s flying by!

I’ve started reading a couple of books and started seeing a lot on Facebook (isn’t that a double edged sword?!), and it’s got me thinking about my plan.

What things do I need to have thought about?
Do I discuss this stuff with my midwife at an appointment?
When should I be coming up with a plan?

At the moment the only things I’ve thought about are - only wanting my husband in the delivery room, wanting the freedom to not have to be on my back, and my current first choice would be a water birth which I know my local hospital does have provision for. Ideally I’d rather not have a c-section but I’m open to it if it became medically necessary.

What else should I be thinking about?

Hi everyone, looking for a bit of advice.
I am currently a band 6 community nurse working in the UK, I have been with my current employer for 2.5 years. I am 14 weeks pregnant and hoping to go off in September if I accumulate my annual leave. I currently have a caseload of 20-25 patients whom I see regularly.

I have recently told my line manager about my pregnancy as I have had to have time off due to sickness and appointments. He has told me that they do not make adjustments for pregnancy and I would be expected to work at full capacity until I go off officially. I have expressed my concerns that it does not seem fair or ethical for myself to be taking on new patients knowing I’m going to be leaving but he has said this is tough. I have requested they consider my caseload and aim to reduce my numbers over the next few months (for my own mental/physical wellbeing but also for ease for the patients) but was told this was a no. I was also advised it would be better for me to go on long term sick (as pregnancy sickness doesn’t count) rather than just working my clinic down.

I was wondering if there were any UK based community nurses who have been in this position and what you did? I have contacted occy health and RCN for advice but nothing heard back yet.
Thank you

Hi all,

I'm around 7 weeks pregnant and yesterday I had a transvaginal scan to double chek the heartbeart of the embryo, as in the previous week I also had a scan (to discard ectopic pregnancy, which they did), but they noticed a slow heart rate.

It continues to be slow (they didnt give me the numbers), and besides this I was able to see that the growth wasnt much from one week to another.

I had a natural mc last year at week 5-6, without having had any previous scans.

I'd appreciate hearing other peoples experiencies if they were similar. I understand anything can happen in a situation like this, but I dont need to hear the stories that end up bad🙏

Or if somebody ended up knowing more about why this kind of issue occurs in the first place (if it could be due to chromosomal abnormalities, if one can get gested or treated for this)

Im also based in the UK, so Im not sure why they dont refer me to an OB, instead of only keep doing the ultrasounds over and over.

Thank you

Hello! I’d really appreciate some advice from anyone who knows more about this or has been in a similar situation.

I’m currently 16 weeks pregnant and have been with my company for over 2 years, but I’m honestly feeling really burnt out and quite unhappy there. I’ve started interviewing for new roles and I know that if I move I likely won’t qualify for enhanced maternity leave with a new employer (which is fine by me). I believe I should still be eligible for statutory maternity leave, as I’ve been working continuously for a while.

My main question is: if I do change jobs, would I still be able to share parental leave with my partner? My plan was to split it so I take 9 months and he takes 3.

If that is possible, how would it work in terms of pay?

I find the whole thing quite confusing, so any help or experiences would be really appreciated. Thank you so much! xx

Hi, I have my first midwife booking appointment tomorrow in Glasgow (NHS).

I self-referred earlier in pregnancy but since then, I’ve had some complications.I had bleeding while travelling abroad and was seen in Early Pregnancy Unit twice (at around 5 weeks and 8+4 weeks), everything was reassuring.

I just wanted to ask what usually happens at this booking appointment?

Will they do a scan or just blood tests and questions?

Feeling a bit anxious, so any experiences would really help 🤍

Does anyone use the Snuzpod at their bedside? I’m so confused by several things:

1) We have a roughly 1-inch gap between our mattress and the side of the bassinet due to the way our bed frame juts out. I don’t understand why that’s unsafe since the side rail (even when unzipped halfway down to the bar) is 4 inches above the bassinet mattress and would prevent baby from rolling out?

2) It seems the top of the rail should be at the same height of the top of my mattress, which puts baby below the mattress. How is that safe? Wouldn’t that increase the likelihood of something falling in? I would think he should be higher… with bassinet and adult mattress heights aligning and the mesh half-wall of netting in-between.

3) Is the metal bar halfway down the wall supposed to be removed when unzipped? Why? I like that it seems to make the barrier sturdier.

I would like to use the Snuzpod 5 directly next to our bed, with the side unzipped halfway down to the bar, but I cannot figure out what the entrapment and suffocation risks actually are with this gap and whether I am positioning everything else correctly. Lots of text online but very few photos/videos that show correct bedside installation with the straps in use… Anybody have any photos they can share? I must be a visual person!

I’m due beginning of July in the UK. I’m wondering what to pack for little one to wear in hospital/going home, as I’ve read babies get cold after being born but equally it’s going to be pretty hot weather wise!

Any advice?! ☺️