The PESH Deli; Won't somebody think of the children???????

[Cosmosis]

THE NOT LIST

BESH BAYBEES
dontrythisathome, girl born March 25.
Cheggers, twinz girlz, born April
FannyPriceless, boy, born June 8
CurlyCasper, girl, born June 24
CUNextTuesday, boy, born June 29
Skihorse, boy, born 1 July
Carrots, boy, born July
IggyPiggy, girl, born July

UPDIFFED
Cosmosis, the one that likes a good ride, due August 22
backinthebox, thinking of inventive uses for courgettes, due September 6
skatergrrrl, the one that overtook the rest, September 1
VAG, lives in De Nile, due 19 September
silversky, the biggest farter, due 18 October (first baybee)
Honeymoo, 3 wees a night, due October 31 (boy)
okiecokie, self-confessed control freak, due November 6
SomethingSuitablyWitty, benelux babe, due November 14
ReginaMonologue, knows when all the sales are, due November 20 (boy)
maswera, jungle hottie - due December 11
PollyPoo, wants to name her baybee after the dog, The New Messiah is due December 25

beginning of december for due date of end jan? Are they mad? I finished at 37 weeks, could have gone to 38 really but I was too lazy ;)

As I only get 6 weeks on full pay I intend to work until 2/3 weeks before as well. And hopefully some of that will be annual leave. I want as long off after the birth as possible anyway.

Cho 12 days before due date last time (and he was 8 days late) and this time 4 weeks before due date. I am more tired this time, work is shit and I have a list of jobs as long as my arms to do before baybee arrives.

You will get time off over Christmas, and a few Bank hols - could you go back for the first week or so in Jan when everything is a bit slow anyway (well in my work world it is)and finish mid Jan?

Yeah, I have been giving some thought to ML as well. My plan is to stop at 38 weeks - taking one week's hols and one week's ML prior to due date. (By law here you have to take at least one week's ML before EDD and if you don't - for example because the baby comes early - then you just lose that week. You have the option of taking up to six weeks beforehand - but obviously I want to keep the leave for when the baby is actually born. So I figure by leaving work two weeks before EDD, I maximise my chances of getting the one week's ML in and not losing any of it - but hopefully won't end up going 2 additional weeks overdue...

So tell me, was that explanation dry enough for you or would you like me to explain more about how maternity pay will work? ...

meant to say the first two weeks of mine were AL, not ML.

2 months off?? I wish. I'm having a month, and I feel greedy at that to be honest. Obviously I need a month to get the Volvo valeted and look into a mandarin speaking nanny for my little one.

I feel quite weird about work. Have 3.5 weeks to go (after hols next week) but in many ways don't feel like I can let go because we have a really fantastic campaign due to launch just before the baby comes. It will be touch and go if I can go on the shoot before I go, but I'm fucked if I'm missing out that's for sure. Weird to be feeling like this when I should be winding down and not giving a shit.

silver I seem to have found a cure for my insomnia. Listened to my hippobirthing CD they gave us on the course last week when I got into bed. Slept like a frigging log last night was brilliant. No idea if connected but can't be bad can it. Have also just listened to my affirmations for half an hour on ipod. Feel weirdly more nervous about stuff having done. Am I just setting myself up for a major disappointment I wonder.

Btw silver I'd join for the first year. I don't think it's that much extra on top really and you don't know whether you'll benefit or not unless you give it a go.

I really should give this hippo birthing thing a try. Did Box say she had a book she was happy to donate?

Okie - if you are serious about it (and I do think it's worth doing) I think you will need some classes - and honey can obviously recommend someone. My plan was to manage just with the book (as classes not really an option here) but it can't really be done - at least not with the one I have (Marie Mongan) as it airily refers to a whole lot of techniques and exercises you will learn in your class and then apply. They are either not in the book or barely outlined. Also, OH needs to be on board as "birthing companion" - this is quite key as a lot of the whole approach is based around the birthing companion's role. The book alone is a good introduction to the ideas and philosophy, but it just isn't sufficient to apply the approach in practice.

okie Mr Moo started out a bit WTF and is actually quite tuned in to the idea now he actually understands a bit more why it might help. If you want me to send you the number of the woman in Wandsworth let me know.

It's really nice that he's on board with it honey. I didn't feel equal to the task of trying to get boyfy involved without a bit of structure in the form of a class or something. He would be sceptical I know, though prepared to give a whirl to whatever I wanted...feel a bit sorry that this is not really going to work out for us.

I am going to try at least to do some yoga etc and we are signed up for 6 evening antenatal sessions which seem to be very good.

Sorry...dragged away by work matters - the temerity!

Re. ML: I have two weeks off at Christmas anyway, so I would hope to go back in for a couple of weeks at the beginning of January, then off for a couple of weeks before my due date.

A friend went with this laydee & felt no pain at all despite B2B birth so she somes highly recommended:

[http://www.thehypnobirthingcentre.co.uk/]

Am due a few days after you Cho & was planning on starting ML first week in Jan - will be 36 weeks then. Worked all the way through to 38 weeks last time [nutter] & saved up all my annual leave for the end (pay rise was due mid-ML so meant holiday was paid at higher pay IYSWIM)

Box - talk of Kettle chips won't endear you to the flavour experts here I'm afraid....suspect you may be wrong target market for us with your dodgy flavours!

test

Hi ladies - missing you all dreadfully, keeping head down in last week of work but normal service to be resumed once I am "on holiday" (as best friend insists on putting it). Well done to recent scanned peeps. Kettle chips search will commence soon. I am taking ML from 37 weeks. Am also listening to hippostuff though cannot stay awake. And Skater is bound to pop waaaay before I do seeing as she's due waaaay before I am due to her sneaky ways. And apols to all the bits I have missed. Happy Tuesday!

I do have a hoppo book for anyone who wants it. Okie do you want it anyway? Tis PESH property and all that as I got it from Rots.

I worked until 39 weeks last time, and I mean I actually went into work. Freaked out some of my work colleagues completely as I was doing my actual job but in a simulator capacity. This time round my start date for ML is actually the day before my due date, but I work 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. I am actually in a '2 weeks off' period right now, and when I am back in my 'on' days I will be taking them as leave. I only need to take 2 days leave and that will ensure I get my full pay right up until my due date, iyswim. Clever, eh? That NCT smug lady clearly had no idea about my intellectual prowess.

Am eating the rest of the kettle chips right now. Sorry if that offends, Clucky but needs must. And they taste a bit like blue cheese.

It seems I can't fucking type at all atm. Sorry for all the stupid typos in my last few posts. My brain is slowing down in preparation for sneezing, I think!

I've just been looking at the which maternity pads are the best thread and to save you all the time, the advice seems to be:

Kotex maternity pads (with wings)

Also douse them in neat witch hazel from fridge (nice and soothing) apparently.

People also use maternity pads i.e. great big squares you lie on in bed - handy for not changing sheets every 3 minutes. It just occurred to me that we have left over puppy pads which sound like exactly the same thing. Is that a bit gross? I mean they're clean and made of the same nappy type material. Waste not, want not.

just marking my place because somehow the Deli disappeared from my I'm On list.

will talk later but right now I have to calm a recently injected little lady

I'm thinking late Feb for a 12 March DD.

Thanks for the advice y'all. I haz bitten the bullet and signed my life away for a year to NCT. Suck it and see.

Maternity pads, I got two packs from Boots avec wings and one pack from MC with aloe vera and wings. I also got some bed mats too. Be a nightmare if mybodiky fluids wreck the mattress! An expense we can well do without.

ML - I am jacking work in wrapping things up in my 36th week. I have already had enough!! I have some time off this week and next and I WILL do my hospital bag. Honest guv.

Oh and rots me soap nuts have arrived. Going to give them a whirl this weekend. The question is do I wash ALL the baby clothes I have or wait or just do a few in case the baybee is a whopper (eg big baby not a hamburger in a sesame bun served with fries) and i have stuff that is too small which I could take back and exchange? What to do? Pls to share your motherly guidance.

chocho The only explanation I can think of is that given the timing of the xmas holidays they don't want you hanging around for 2 weeks in Jan getting paid but not enough time to get your teeth in to something gritty. Well, not really your problem if you get paid to waft around all Earth Mother like for a fortnight! :)

honey The puppy pads sound absolutely ideal. In the hospital they put down something similar - although being medical they were probably half the price. E.g., digital thermometer to stick up Bear's bum = 5 euros. Digital thermometer with tacky horse logo to stick up horse's bum = 10 euros. Obviously I don't know how long the bleeding will be heavy for - but for me it was just the first 48 hours - and it wasn't overly heavy - but heavy enough to find a way past the pads, through cheap Primarni undercrackers and on to the bedsheets.

silver How big is your tiny stuff? I had the opposite question of course. Bear left the hospital looking like 50 cents with his top down to his shins and his trousers rolled up. :( He wore the same outfit yesterday and it looked great... I washed all the stuff I thought was "newborn" size - I didn't even consider taking any of it back due to wrong size - of course I've been able to get use from all of it.

silver I've only washed a few bits, not everything.

Re mat pads I think I used heaps - I bled for approx 6 weeks - think I used mothercare own brand with Aloe Vera but happy to give Kotex a while if they are the business. I didn't get one of those pads for bed though and was "lucky enough" to have my waters break on the bedroom floor (wood), think the doggie pad things moo would be just the ticket. Speaking of pads - the nip ones I used were Laninsoh.

I washed pretty much all baby clothes before wearing until about 3-4 months old - anal?

Curly the reason we are not on your "I'm on" list is that you never come to visit us anymore!! But understand you have your hands full. Hope squeak is OK after jabs. I think I found those early ones more traumatic that he did. MMR a different matter in my experience. We are still suffering the consequences of the 2nd said jab 2 weeks later. Have made Doctors appt (finally) as we have had 5 days of temps over 39 - 18 months ago I would have been to doctors on day 1, now it is day 5...

Also had appt at hospital yesterday for mini Okie's odd shaped head (I have mentioned this before) and pleased to say we needn't go back for 2 years. I personally don't see much improvement but I just hope is that he never turns bald or becomes a professional swimmer - he would look weird.

Today I feel BIG.

I'm usually lurking okie, but get rudely interrupted every time I go to post - she lets me do only one fred at a time! But she's catching up on sleep now after last night's hours of screaming. Jabs seem to be forgotten, thanks. Sorry to hear miniOkes is suffering and really hope he's better soon. You have enough on your plate! Good news about hospital saying head ok though - I'm sure he'll look just fine by the time his hairline recedes

Maternity pads, I bought some pretty straightforward non winged ones from mothercare and they were ok. Not great for the first few days, and had a couple of small leaks onto my PJs and the big pad in the hospital bed. I should have taken up the offer of using more of the hospital's giant knicker pads. But once home I never finished the whole pack. The bed pads were also great in hospital for when getting in and out of the shower etc. At home I just put down an old, dark towel - actually the ones I had taken in for after labour and didn't use because they handed me lovely white NHS ones to mess up

One regret I had is that my hossie PJs were pale coloured - hadn't thought about leaks. I had black cheap knickers, and disposable knickers, but these did not stop my nice jim jams getting sullied.

You all know my thoughts on ML - get out as soon as you can in case you get a big surprise. But not a Sam-Cam one - David C is saying it was sudden, then we hear she had contractions for two days...