April 2011 - nearly there, all set for dropping Mofo C bombs in the delivery room

[SnapFrakkleAndPop]

Executive decision that at 987 posts we're moving over!

New challenge - can we fill up 1000 posts before the first babies arrive, given that we managed to keep our legs crossed all through the last one?!

First babies are due, officially, next month but are there any in such a hurry to see the world that they can beat our chatting?

Aww glad I'm not the only one who's been testing out the baby stuff on inanimate objects! We currently have a baby doll alternating between the pram and car seat! DSS thinks it's great to take the doll out now and again and throw it around despite much explanation that he can't do that when the real baby is in it!!

Well I feel rough as.....full of the cold and hating that I can't dose myself up with drugs as I usually would :( Been trying to limit the paracetamol to once in the morning and once before bed, still a lot more than I'd like to be taking but I just feel so grotty! Had health visitor round to visit today for introduction which was good and she pointed out better to have cold now than in a few weeks time with a tiny baby demanding all my attention as well!

Lis sorry to hear about your Grandmother but lovely she got to hear the name of your baby.

Lots of braxton hicks this afternoon but I think it means b*gger all. After the all the excitement of three weeks ago I now think I'm going to go overdue. Bring it on I say .

Last day at work on Wednesday which is a relief in some ways (no more commute) but sad in others. I love my job and love my boss. I'll be 38 weeks though and I think I've terrified my work colleagues for long enough. They're all staring at my tummy in horror imagining I'm going to give birth in reception or something equally dramatic.

Frakk No idea on the title although a mention of yoda balls is a definite. Mine is deflating slowly which either means there's a small stealth leak or I'm slowly squashing the life out of it.

Hello again!

Thanks for your hugs. I'm fine, was very teary this morning, but it wasn't unexpected. Funeral is on Thursday morning, so we'll be heading north again on Wednesday.

Anyhoo, I've been distracting myself today with baby things :). My moby wrap arrived, so I've been practising with a teddy (no cat here). Unfortunatly ted has fallen out twice, which doesn't bode well for Buster when he arrives! I must be doing something wrong.

It's a beautiful day today here, so I've done more washing and hung it out on the line. Had a little blub at that!

Made up the cot with sheets and blankets. So cute! And had a little sit in the nursery and read out loud to Buster from a book of nursery rhymes.

I'm still going to my spa day tomorrow. My grandma loved having her feet done and I always remember her giving herself "facials". Slathering on Nivea like a face pack and Atrixo on her hands in little cotton gloves. She was the wrinkliest person I've ever met so they weren't that sucesseful, but she persisted :).

Enough maudling from me. I better go get dressed before DH gets home.

Glad to hear you've found things to focus on Lis, it's nice you can think of things that remind you of your gran.

I too have been washing up a storm. Just wrestled the cover off the car seat to wash it. It's a fab seat but it was given to me by my cousin (she of many second hand gifts) and it's filthy! With the mw's comments today I thought it was worth getting it ready.

I just chat randomness to baby, perhaps I should try some rhymes too.

Frakk I think someone mentioned for the last thread title about surfboard mat pads (frozen or otherwise).

Not much to say here, have booked a haircut for Wed and found number for beauty salon place to try and book a pg massage for next week, i think one thing a week to distract me :)

MrsWajs - i had a stinker of a cold a while back and decided after much deliberating & a thread on here that i would take some Day Nurse. It was my birthday present to myself :)
Figure at this late stage all major development is done so shouldn't be that bad.

Finished my BF supporter course this morning, just have to tidy my file/rewrite some scruffy notes & then hand it in asap or i imagine it won't ever get handed in!

Evening all. I've been off work and asleep most of the day with a stinking cold. Reckon I was given it at a birthday party on Saturday night where an acquaintance was complaining how sick she was with cold, but kept kissing everyone effusively. I must have had 4 kisses from her over the course of the evening. I kept thinking "back off with your germs, lady" but of course was too British to say anything and now am full of woe and simmering resentment. Who goes around kissing everyone unnecessarily when they're full of cold, much less kissing an 8-months pregnant woman??? Bah.

In other news, my boobs are all of a sudden ON FIRE. And that (Kings of Leon?) 'Sex on Fire' song keeps running round my head, but with the words changed to "breasts on fire". I am very childish. It's like they were in the first few weeks of pregnancy, although they settled down about 8 weeks and I haven't heard a peep from them since. OUCH.

Went to have my blood pressure checked on Sunday and it was up again, but still nothing to suggest PE in bloods or urine, so they're going to keep me on BP testing twice a week from now until delivery. They gave me a tablet to bring it down yesterday, which it did in about half an hour, but they want to see whether it stays down now. They haven't said anything yet, but I'm worried this means my visions of serene water birth in MLU are starting to fly out the window, but I'm going to fight my corner unless they can come up with a specific reason why water birth would be riskier than dry land if my only symptom is high BP.

Lis so sorry to hear about your Grandma - hugs from me too

I'm on the raspberry leaf tea -been drinking 1 cup a day since 32 weeks, it won't bring on labour it's just meant to strengthen uterine muscles so it makes contractions more effective. And it tastes fine to me! Just like any other herbal tea it doesn't taste of all that much!

hello an welcome chillikat! i'm on first day of my maternity leave (though it's officially holiday) and it feels brilliant. It's so good to finally be off work even though I had to get up ridiculously early to take DP to the station for a job interview.. arrived at station at 6.45 but there is something really enjoyable about going back to bed that's even better than just staying there - it was bliss!

I also had a presentation scan this afternoon and I'm very pleased that baby is head down.. hurrah so I'm going ahead with ordering the pool for the homebirth and feel a million times better now we can get cracking with that. Spent all afternoon in town buying baby related things that we still need to try and get over the panicky 'I'M NOT READY' feeling I have at the moment and lovely DP is cooking dinner. Ahhh, all feels good.

Also re yoda balls, whoever said it really helps if you're having trouble with going to the toilet regularly is absolutely right! Sorry I can't remember who that was but thanks for the tip :)

Wow, that was a lot of complaining. Just realise that others have actual things to complain about, sorry Lis and others who have suffered recent bereavements

JKS re: day nurse - I had the same reasoning, and had wine last night! (half a glass, over about 2 hours!)

Think I might have another tonight! (woah, living on the edge!)

I think (and there's still time to jinx it!) that I might finally have triumphed with the slow cooker today. DH usually cooks (he actually enjoys cooking - baffling!) but since I'm off, I feel like I should make some kind of effort, so I've been trying to work out how to use the slow cooker. Mostly I make soggy veg and water, but today I think I've cracked it with a veggie chilli! Woop!

BH's have continued all day again, and have stepped up a notch this evening. And why does LO kick when I'm getting a BH? It really hurts when he's trying to stick his feet out against my straining side!

Baby just had a good wriggle after Thai curry which was quite uncomfortable and seems to be trying to get out of my chest feet first most of the time.

Has anyone else got swollen ankles and feet? It's been a gradual build up over the last few weeks and no other PE symptoms so I'm assuming it's just water retention but I'm down to one pair of shoes or slippers now. I had a pedicure last week hoping that the massage would help, it didn't really but was very relaxing and I do have lovely jade green toenails now :)

Oooh, I have a slow cooker, where did you get the veggie chilli recipe?

Have just been attempting to write a birth plan. There's so much to put in, I'm not meant to give birth on my back (because of dodgy hips), I'd like to use the pool, DP does NOT want to cut the cord, I want skin to skin, no stirrups!

It's all so complicated!

Oh well, for some reason having the car seat cover clean has made me feel so much better

allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Vegetable-Chili/Detail.aspx

It's a bit american, and very basic! (I need basic!) And I kindof just bunged a bunch of veg in, with a carton of passata (no tinned tomatoes) and a tin of kidney beans (not whatever weird ones they talk about), and an approximation of the spices they suggest. I also added a bit of stock, because it didn't seem wet enough. But I've since taken the lid off to reduce it down

Let me know if you find any other good veggie slow cooker recipes - I'm struggling!

I haven't written a birth plan, not sure if I will since I'm supposed to do it at the MLU (where the values are the same as mine as standard), and if I get transferred to hosp, presumably intervention will be necessary anyway...

Lis So sorry about your gran x

Kits My mum bought a Skoda Roomster as there was so much room in the back for car seats. You and your DH don't sound like Skoda people, but perhaps you could threaten him with one if he doesn't get his arse into gear soon

Big wave to Chilli and Daisy

Ecuse and MrsW I had a cold for about 2 months over xmas and have just picked up a v mild sniffle - Olbas Oil (and paracetamol) are seeing me through.

ILTMI and Caramel I am so glad I am not the only mummy resorting to CBeebies and being driven round the bend by potty training.

Opps got to go, DD had just pooped herself...

Where was I?

Oh yes, I am trying not to get excited that something might tonight despite having an explosive stomache (this was how my last labour started). I can't help hoping it is as I'm sure my bump must be 44cm by now. Plus I am totally ready: DH is proof reading the novel (he is very anal good at spotting tiny mistakes) so it can go back to the agent who expressed an interest and suggested the rewrite; my freezer is absolutely chokka with home made dinners; and, best of all, I finally have nice hair It took £65 worth of highlights but it is definately now more blonde than ginger.

Bet I go overdue now...

Hello chilli :) I have slightly swollen ankles and feet by the end of the day, but they do go down completely overnight.
My weirdness is that my left hand (and only my left) is always swollen when I wake up in the morning. Very strange, although that goes down too once I'm up and doing.

Lis you talking about your grandma and her facials really made me smile :) I'm glad you can think of happy memories.

Petal - I've decided that wine at this stage can do no harm. I've been having the odd glass all the way through but I had 2 glasses on Saturday because it was DH's birthday - one with lunch out and then some champagne with birthday cake later. Yum!

lucie - good news about head down-ness

I have a cute story. I was sitting in bed this morning drinking my tea, and DS had some milk and was watching CBeebies. He suddenly threw himself at my bump (ouch!) and gave it a big hug 'Mummy I love you, and I love the baby'. It made me all teary! :)

The baby has been so wriggly today, almost no quiet periods at all, whereas yesterday it was asleep until about 8pm! I can see my belly moving out of the corner of my eye now as I'm typing

Lis-sorry to hear about your grandma.

I'm getting lots of BH's at the moment, I didn't have them much the last two times and am secretly hoping that it means I won't go overdue this time.

My haircut and bikini wax is booked a week before due date, although i did have my toenails done today.

Notanother ooooh, exciting on the tummy ache front. I've got period pain this evening but I've had this before and nuffink has happened so I'm putting it down to further uterine growth (sigh!). Bet you're starting though - there's been a lot of 'activity' for you recently hasn't there so I think things have obviously been getting ready? Exciting stuff.

You prophesize well as I can't say we're Skoda people and our situation is not helped by the fact that we're both allergic to people carriers - not sure why, I think it feels too 'parental', which is odd as we're about to have three children....I think a solution has been reached thought so the end is in sight. I've nagged incessantly reminded my husband a couple of times today that we need it sorted by the weekend so he knows my threshold. After that I go into full meltdown mode.

Beauty preparations are pretty much done. Have been waxed and everything is fine apart from my eyebrows, which I'm due to have threaded on Wednesday. Might squeeze in a last minute pedicure too if I get the time. Odd, because the baby isn't going to give a crap but it's nice to know that beauty maintenence can take a back seat for a couple of weeks post-birth.

About to watch OBEM. Why am I doing this to myself?!!

Nothing is happening...Grr. Watching OBEM may well have stalled it

Oh well, growth scan and MW to look forward to tomorrow... Except I seem to have booked the appointments just ten minutes apart in my useless pg lady brain fog Honestly, how are any of you still managing to go to work?

Morning all. Am training my replacement in prep for my last day next we'd so will be keeping updated on you all but prob quieter. Will be nice when she knows what she's doing cos my brain has stopped working! 6.5 more days in the office and counting.

Welcome chilli

I believe we are "kicking back with lactulose cocktails, plastic jugs and riding the maternity surf boards" in postnatal , which with 2 popped we should surely have by now anyway?!

But yoda balls and frozen surfboards sounds like a plan! I love new thread titles - so often I've looked at truly bizarre ones (the TSA lot come to mind) and now I want revenge by being on a thread with awesome names myself rather than the slightly mimsy ones you often find in ante/post natal.

I have done zero on the beauty prep - am most impressed with people who have - but I have a whole week next week when DH isn't around and I'm on maternity leave (2.5 teaching days and counting).

Good luck for scan and MW appointment Notanother - I managed to double book myself one time but MW wasn't bothered. I really want to read your novel We'll have a big party when it's published and all get signed copies.

That's soooo cute of your DS Ali!

Yay for head-down lucie! Now you can prepare for a home-birth with a clear conscience.

chilli I'm quite puffed up too but MW isn't worried as there are no other signs.

ecuse you are totally entitled to moan. High BP must be pretty worrying and I'm sure you could do without the hassle of extra monitoring. Maybe it's up because the inconsiderate bitch lovely, generous, germ-laden lady infected you with lurgy?

Congrats on finishing the course JKS We know where to come for help now :)

Well done on the slow cooker front petal. Try a risotto - unfortunately my mushroom risotto involves half a bottle of wine but maybe the alcohol simmers off?

to Lis, I'm sure your grandma would approve of a spa day.

Eugh, BHs all night again. Then I got a really sharp pain low in the bump meant I ended up on the sofa with the cats at 4.30 this morning

The pain has gone but I'm feeling rather sorry for myself. Get out baby!

As for thread names I agree that riding our frozen surfboards to motherhood is sufficiently bizarre

Ooh, just remembered I'm getting my hair cut this morning, that'll be nice. Don't think I could get waxed though. I've never been waxed in my personal area before, dunno if 38 weeks pg is ideal for my first time...

I think it needs phrasing in a yoda-esque fashion for full effect.

April 2011 - towards motherhood boucing on yoda balls and riding frozen surfboards we are.

Cycle you poor thing :( I'm not waxing either - ouch ouch! Am planning to get my epilator round my legs later today though.
I thought about a pedicure, but if I have a section they will want to take it all off anyway, so I'm going to have one once I'm home from hospital instead.

NotAnother - I watched OBEM last night too. The lovely BFing bit made my cry more than the births, which were pretty horrendous looking!
The closer I get, the more I want this baby to stay put until Monday morning so that I can just have my section and be done with it

Lis I'm sorry to hear of your Grandma passing. Nice memories like those you mention are so precious. I miss my Gran still especially now (who raised me, from 5 years on) she passed away 4 years ago and I still pick up the phone and start to dial her number forgetting sometimes. The nice memories are held very close to my heart. I think it's a very good idea to go along to the spa day just now and I agree with Frak

Hope all goes well at a further scan NotAnother I've been having the BH in the night and spending time in the dark telling myself that it's just body getting ready but so far nothing further, thank God, as we're just not quite ready. The birthpool has sprung a leak and is being puncture repaired just now...

Lucie big smiles for the ceph. baby...now you can get encouraging them down!

SPD is driving me loopy here. Couple it with a monster nesting instinct and you have a nightmare for my husband. I waddle about the house in pain picking things up/turning lights off/ strightening the washing up liquid bottle just so after him like a fiery tutting dragon. I was over the top happy that he hoovered downstairs yesterday honestly you would have thought he had bought me a surprise bunch of roses. I chase him about with a wish list, poor man. When he asked me if there was anything I would like for Mother's Day I got excited and presented him with my list (almost the same one from Christmas and Valentines) and told him I didn't want money spent but I would be genuinely thrilled to have jobs done such as the stairs finished, and the skirting boards painted. Exciting aren't I? :D

I'm flipping out a bit this morning as I've got to go and see the doommonger MW (you remember the lovely lady from previous posts) and give a blood sample at 2pm. I'm quite chilled about the blood but not about what other gems she may come out with today to wind me up with.