Due in Dec 05 - The wind up to the countdown!!!!!!

[sweetheart]

OK, well we've needed a new thread for ages so I've taken it upon myself to start it.

Good luck ladies - we are nearly down to the last month

35 + 2 or should I say "T minus 4wks 5 days"!

funnily enough, dh and I were just talking about our dd2 (whos 2) last night, shes started being v cranky and naughty......i wonder if they can 'sense' something/ like a new babys arrival? she def started playing up last few days the only part that keeps me sane (ish)is the fact a two year old being cranky is nothing compared to an 11yr old -trust me! and ebbie, i ahve been stubborn today with my 11yr old...shes suppposed to be going to rehearsals tonight and I have stopped her, (abit like cutting off her arm as shes so into drama) she is seriously shocked I did that but after last night......
george, sorry youre not sleeping in the mornings....its the only time i CAN sleep, and of course have to get up! hope todays an easy one for you and bump.
going out for lunch today, and as my house is chilly (to put it mildly) thats great! intend to eat lots of hot choc and puddings

I think you're right dq, they can sense the change that's happening and act up accordingly. Children pick up SO much more than we think, don't they? L is being good on the whole but had a really bad day yesterday including biting another child's finger.
He won a raffle on Friday, this hobby horse thing he'd wanted for weeks! so he was delighted about that, AND a teddy bear which he said was for baby so I think he is positive about baby overall. Then on Saturday he was a MONSTER in town, partly because I was over-strict I think and took this balloon away instead of being a bit more pragmatic, went into the MOST incredible tantrum and I ended up carrying him most of the way to the car which didn't do wonders for my general state of health. Will be good to have this bump out of the way and some energy back to chase him!

DQ - do you worry that at 11 it's too late to put things right. I can't help thinking that I've done something fundamentally wrong in raising dd and that it's too late to change it.

She's 5.5 and very stubborn. She clams up when I try talking to her but I'm not sure if thats her or her age.

Dh thinks I am over reacting but I'm worried if we ignore her recent behaviour it will just get worse. Trouble is punishing her just doesn't sesem to be working.

Good on you for sticking to your guns DQ - It will make a difference as she'll know you mean business - I remember my mum doing something similar to me when I was younger.

I have been following your thread and just my ds found great relief from a supplement from the health food shop when he was stressed over starting school - it is by Bioforce and is called Child essence - I have just checked and it is recommended for life changes at home/school, may be worth trying? the website is

www.bioforce.co.uk

Just found this on another thread. worth a try?
Sh course it's not too late! I am also in favour of strict parenting but sometimes a bit of flexibility can do wonders too, for instance the balloon episode on Sat, I know now I could have saved both L and myself time and grief by another way of dealing ...

the above part of that IS a quote, I have NEVER purchased Child Essence! great name, Essence of Beelzebub wd fit better sometimes tho!

s/h no its not 'too late' they change so much as they grow up, theres nicer phases than other...as long as you stick by your morals and keep teaching/saying the same things, I do think they will 'get it' of course each have their own personality, and if your dd is not a chatty opening up type she never will be, (and stubborn is mostly an age thing, remember as a an adult this will be a good thing on her CV 'determined and forthright' )dosnt mean you cant be open towards her incase she does ever want to open up more. at her age, I found, they really are trying everything out, changing from a mini you to their own personality iyswim. hang in there, give her a break everyso often -like ninah said, sometimes we KNOW we could of stepped back and save ourselves some hassle!- and remember she will grow up lovely because youve loved her and brought her up properly. that sounds abit soppy but seriously, thats what i keep seeing my children, flashes of kind decent humans they will hopefully be when they stop with the hormones and tantrums!!!

great post dq (as they say on here!)

DQ/ninah - thanks. Your posts have set me off again though!!!

I think it's a combination of a cold, loads of hormones, stress about dd and exam and new baby. I feel like I'm fighting a loosing battle.

I'm not doing a very good job with one child - what the hell will happen when I have to worry about 2!!!

Morning all,
I am trying to catch up but failing.. Hope all bumps are ok..

flutter,
How is you bundle of joy doing? Pics are just fab.

I'm another non sleeper!! and i snore on my left side! and there is never enough room in the bed for me even though its a king size bed! DP will have to go..

Due in the hospital today, yippeee

well sadly my lunch isn't happening today as my colleague has a client lunch he didn't know about. so i'm going to nose around mothercare instead
this morning I've put together the phone number list of who dh needs to call after baby arrives, and have drafted an email being sent out to everyone else, & collated their email addresses, so just need to set that up at home, so he fills in the blanks and hits send....
went to book dd in for her first dentist appt, with my dentist (who I'm seeing next week) & they tell me that they aren't taking anymore new patients until Jan, even if I have a baby due in 3.5wks But have rung another place 1 minute's walk from where I'm registed and am going to drop in there tomorrow to fill in the forms and try to get her appt for next week.....
Also sent out the email today to our group of friends who are happy to take dd at short notice, should we need her looked after - having no family here means our very good friends may get the midnight phone call (dd was born at 4.08am) but they are all cool with that, we are very lucky. Just reminded them of when I'm due, which hospital I'm going to, and where dd's nursery is, should they need to drop her off/collect her.
Good think my replacement is here, I've too many other things to do finalise to be doing too much work
Shame for those of you not sleeping or with spd, I'm feeling ok so far today.....
ei, dd's room is painted lemon, it's also one of my favourite colours! nemo, know what you mean about adam and his milk, dd wakes up and her first words are 'I'm really really hungry and I cant' wait' but wait she does if it's before 7am She's learning the hard way lately that if she doesn't eat much dinner, her parents won't get up at 6am to give her an early breakfast to compensate......
I think they definitely do pick up on the change in vibes around the house, especially with us all being due so soon now. I think it's natural to want more of our attention, whichever way they can get it. Doesn't mean I remember this when she is driving me batty though

god scully you're organised!
not more baby shopping saw you in Mamas and Papas in B'stoke y'now! not long to go now before you too can be rushing around at home making us 'working' mums feel like big sedentary blobs!
sh my theory is that having 2 is actually easier than having 1 in that the dynamics between the two of them diffuse some of the stress of focusing on the one - dq will prob tell me I'm barking

Sweetheart, i know how oyu feel with a 5 and a hlaf year old of my own! I must say that Ben is definately pushing boundries at the moment. Last night he just went on and on at me to do something for him that i had told him he couldnt do! Ended up screeching at him to go to bed
He wasnt much better this morning but i think i handled myself better! He refused to put his hat and gloves and coat on so i just walked out and said fine! Needless to say that within minutes of being out of the house he had done the task and i took great joy in saying mummy told you so!!
DS tends to get rude when he has been told off etc, he does tend to back chat which actually makes it easier for me to punish him where as DSD who is 4 and a half also tends to clam up like your daughter which i find alot harder to deal with. For some reason i would prefer her to shout back or something rather than stand there and completely stare through me! We have been trying to point out to them both when they are being rude/ignorant and use timeout in these situations! Must say that Ben is reacting well to the removal of treats so for his outburst this morning he is not allowed the computer on tonight! I have been told it gets better!!! fingers crossed for you. They do have SO much going on for them right now that im finding that all i can do is be consistent and let them go through this phase!

also, would you girls be annoyed if this happened to you?
My niece had a baby this morning. We spent alot of time together when we were organising my mums funeral and she was going to call her baby boy Jordan. Well just had a call off my sister to tell me she has had the baby and has called him ALEX! She knew we were calling our little girl Alex and told my sister that we would now have to change our daughters name cos her son came first!! My sister told her that she was out of order and would only call her son ALEXANDER even though my niece is putting ALEX on the birth cetificate. SO what now?

I start to twitchy if certain things aren't done, this is made worse when I'm pregnant dh loves it.......
I know, I'm a very good window shopper Actually am wanting to buy a mamas and papas bouncer, but refuse to pay their silly prices, so have been watching several on Ebay, so checked them out in the store to make sure I like them & I have a friend from work coming with me to M'care today, so can point out to the things on my list that I suggested work buy me as a leaving gift - cheeky I know, but they did ask for suggestions!
Interesting theory Ninah about the 2 vs 1..... I am hoping that by having 2 will shift the focus of dd somewhat, which is why we didn't want her as an only child in the first place. But I can also just see me losing patience with 2 children, rather than 1, on the odd occassion
Just about to order the moses basket and cot mattresses online now, so they can get delivered this week hopefully, whilst dh is home.

hellloooooo all

Bonkerz yes I would be annoyed..
DQ agree about 2 yr olds playing up as Adam has been a tinker but I think he is unsettled about the baby, and all the decorating/preperation that has been going on.

well I am in a fab mood today. PSychatrist was an arse but nevermind. Consultant fab and did a quick scan to see if baby was head down and checked spine but avoided by the legs as weve got so far now we dont want to know..lol So all ready for 3wks on thursday..eeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkk am so scared but excited now I know baby isnt breech. Also came home to a letter from debt management company [as some of you know we have been very skint and struggling] well they are taking us on and part of it is that they sort out the tax credits people so we will be getting our money back..wooo hooo. Also means should be able to afford a meet up in the new year as they have worked out a budget that more than allows for us to have a bit of a life compared to the way we are now. I am sooooooooooo happy at the minute Also dh has decided we are putting our xmas tree up on sunday as it is first week of advent and he is off so can help me to do it...cant wait..am such a big kid

that's great news nemo! and bonkerz I would be v v cross about that, hope you're not going to change your mind about the name though. and at least your sister agrees with you that it's out of order.
haven't made it to mothercare yet, not sure if I will now as I'm watching a bouncer chair on ebay which finishes at 2.52pm!

well I've been to the mw - head is fully engaged and ready to go, she said thats probably whats the pains are I've been having. She said it's very low down and she can't even feel it now. I think I'll have bruises where she poked me so hard!

Baby is back to back unfortunalty to I've gotta try and move it round. I've been booked in again next week to check the progress - apparently the position it's in makes labour longer and more painful - GREAT!!!!!

Right, off to get dd from school.

nemo, thats truly great news, hope your day keeps getting better and better
did you win the seat scully?
bonkerz, hmmmmmm, thats why we never told anyone our chosen names! best kept secret imo. (well I told you guys!)
s/h ((hug)) children are sent to try us and give us grey hairs, dont worry you dd will be fine. tho expect her to play up once baby arrives, but after abit settle back to her old self, or maybe a new version of her old self thats just as lovely. and as for your theory ninah........well I'm kinda hoping that having four will difuse having three........... altho in all honestly youre right, I found the change from one to two one hell of a shock, but got more and more laid back about it, two to three wasnt really hard -and I'll let you know about three to four!!
just been totally spoilt huge lunch, lots of lovely chitchat, flowers, christmas gifts and cards, money for the baby.its been lovely. I cried when my friends left! I am hormonal tearful woman lately.........

sweetheart - no! what your midwife meant to say was it CAN make labour more prlonged. not it does. and labours painful anyway. and most babys turn during first contractions if they are back to back. honest (dd1 was) dont fret, you can do this!

SH adam was back to back even when I was induced and the labour was still only 90mins long. Apparently back to back supposed to be more painful etc but he wasnt and didnt need stitches or anything as he turned as he was coming out.

Hi Ladies,

Just managed to grab a couple of mins to catch up with you all, I seem to do nothing all day but still always be busy.

George still wont sleep in his crib whether he is swaddled or not but is sleeping in his rocking chair (it lies out flat) so DH and I have been able to snuggle up together which has been nice. We are going to try the crib again this afternoon, we are going to pop a hot water bottle in it for 10mins first to warm it up at the MW says that this sometimes fools them into thinking they are lying on us.

I have had to stop breast feeding and revert to powdered milk George wasn't drinking enough and has lost weight at all 3 of his weigh ins, we think it's just becasue he is s premature. He tended to suck really really well for 2 or 3 feeds but just have a couple of sucks at the rest and give up, use it for comfort and fall asleep (tipical man), but since putting him on the bottle (24 hours ago) he has fed really well having a minimum of 2 and a quater ounces every feed and for the last 3 the full 3 onces. So I am really pleased with him and will be really really shocked if he hasn't put on tomorrow.

I have to say I feel really shit at the moment I have picked up a terrible cold from somewhere and my throat is killing me and to top it all off because I have stopped breast feeding my boobs are huge, rock hard and killing me. DH says I look like Jordan but trust me girls they are agony. On the up side where I tore seems to have healed really well (not stiched just left to heal naturally) and it doesn't kill when I have a wee any more. I would advise all of you girls to buy some lavender oil or tea tree oil to pop in the bath after giving birth as it helps the healing process it has really helped me and I'm going to jump into another bath of it tonight also make sure that the nurses offer you the cold which hazel pads to put in your knickers as these are pure heaven.

OK I think I have waffled on for long enough, I am expecting to hear of more births on here very soon as I neem someone to talk to before we can start a post natal thread

flutterbee when i stoppend bf adam i had agony as i have very large boobs. What i used to do was express a little in the shower or the bath and it made them feel soooooooo much better. Just takes the edge off the pain that there is.

ok just looked at my notes and it says baby is 3/5ths engaged...oooo i knew it had dropped but that is scarey as adam was never engaged..lol

hey ladies!
how is everyone?? i feel like a big round bag of crap today i spoke to my gp on the phone this mornin who has agreed that he thinks iv got another water infection and has written me a prescription for antibiotics finally! it will be ready later so i hopefully might start to feel a bit better in the next couple of days! woohoo
flutter, lovely to hear from you hun glad all is well!
bonkerz, i would be so annoyed if someone did that to me- steal my chosen name that is! i would still use your chosen name hun cos your cousin shouldnt have called her child the name you had chosen knowing that you had your mind set on it!! its rather rude in my opinion and you have every reason to feel upset/angry about it!! my aunty did this exact thing to her brother with funnily enough the same name!! it must just be a popular name to steal!!
hey to everyone else what are you all up to this evenin?? im sittin in all on my lonesome as my dp is doin an electrical job for someone!! he wont even be home til after 9 then he will want to go straight to bed as hes in wk early tomorrow!! so itll basically be sittin on my own for the next 2 days!! hmph!!

iv started a new dec thread as this ones gettin a bit long!! as you know im rubbish at linking so cud someone do the honours?? please??