Shagged out Viroid Grads 3...

[ConfessionsOfAnAchingFanjo]

Ha! I made it to the next thread.

yeay! welcome home DH!

don't make him too do much to start with though, you don't want him needing to go back in

Hurrah for MrFanjo's homecoming.

BB sorry your mum/MIL are making you uncomfortable. It sounds sensible (and very reasonable ) to ask your mum and be straight about how it makes you feel now you know about it as the longer it goes on the more it will become a "norm" that you're "taking away from them" (I know you're not btw but they may construe it that way) Good luck with sorting them both out. It's not a task I would relish!

I MUST get on with packing my hospital bag. Just over 4 weeks to EDD. We're going IKEA in London today then on to see the ILs. I vaguely wondered if I ought to be carrying my maternity notes around with me at this stage...the mws have told me they should be about my person at all times by now.
We have a a long list of what we need from IKEA but I doubt we'll get it all. We never agree on what we like when we get there!

Have bought some raspberry leaf capsules. Hope it's not too late to start using them. Am secretly hoping that if they cause contractions it may have an effect on my intestines. Isn't the reason that you can't take sennakot that it might induce uterine contractions as the intestines move? Maybe it works both ways. Could use some help in that department

Am still waiting on John Lewis to get back to me with their pricematch. I handed it in on Tuesday and the nice lady I spoke to said I would have a definite answer within 48 hours. I phoned this morning and a (still nice but fairly useless) lady told me that it hadn't yet been dealt with but she'd get someone to phone me back this morning to update me on their progress. Sounds like it has progressed from one person's desk to another but no further! I'm unimpressed with their so-called wonderful customer service tbh. I was given two lots of different information by staff in the nursery dept (and it seems both were wrong!) otherwise I'd have done all the price matching in advance. AND I didn't get the colour of pram I wanted because it was way more expensive if I wanted a bundle deal. [sulk]

Sorry for long rambling post!

I know it's not baby-related, but I'm just laughing at this man who's in my shop right now.
He came up to me and said "i would like to make a suggestion" telling me I should put all the books in section s marked with agres of the children (or reading age).
I pointed out to him that they are - board books are for toddlers, picture books are usually for children up to 6, and all of the othersections have headers to say the age of the child (eg, aged 6 and upwards, aged 8 and upwards)
why did he think that i wouldn't have thought of this?

bb I totally sympathise. I love my mum and we have a good relationship, but I need my independence and she often feels quite rejected by that. I would find it really difficult to be in your shoes (but it sounds familiar!). If it was me I wouldn't go in all guns blazing, I'd just talk to my mum and try to reassure her that I will keep her in the loop but also ask her to let it be down to me. That's my only strategy and it only ever works a bit, but it stops most arguments from developing (coward over here!!!).

nickel at your customer. People are weird

On the hospital bag front, here are my insights:

1. We packed jelly babies and lots of them. Though it was weird to eat a jelly baby just after giving birth to a real baby (and quite a lot of 'jelly') they kept me going after the birth when I didn't have time to drink my tea or eat my toast and had to wait about four hours to get a sandwich!

1. We also packed rhubarb and custards, and DH offered me one when I was 5cm and the mw had gone off to get the pethidine. Needless to say, I just wanted the pethidine . Plus I'd have choked on a hard boiled sweet had I had a contraction

1. I packed a big Mint Aero and 2 Lindt bars, put the hospital bag in the boot, and found them mushed up and melted about a week later. Don't pack chocolate unless you're keeping the bag somewhere cold ha ha!

1. Hospital bag goodies are for eating. If you eat them beforehand, you can always send your DH to the shop in the hospital for more afterwards :)

Isobel is doing really well, despite being a bit of a puke-monster :) We had my ILs up today and they were suitably impressed, which is the only reaction I will accept. I'm still gobsmacked that we're not continually stopped in the street by people wanting to meet the little miracle I have in the buggy. Don't these people realise what I've got in there?!

Hope everyone else is doing well :)

nickel that reminds me of

My fanjo is aching today. Surely this baby is ready to come out now?

Glad Isobel's doing well TTL. Shame on those around you who are blithely unaware of your bundle of amazingness. Their loss though .
Also fully agree with you on relationship with parents. I'm happy with the distance they're at and I need my independence. I do think they feel rejected by that but the more they try to cling on then the more it makes me bristle and not especially inclined to arrange more contact. A classic one is that my dad in particular can never end a visit or phonecall without knowing when the next is going to be. We are in a pattern of speaking at the weekend but without fail he will end a call with "We must catch up during the week" which to me feels really intrusive and like my weekly call isn't enough, so I end up telling him why I'm too busy. And when we do have visits arranged for the future he decides that they're too far away and they'll "just pop down" (cause it's so easy to just pop 200+ miles) and see us for an hour or so (and of course we then have to invite them to stay or offer to meet them half way up the A1 or something.

Nickel was he particularly daft? Could he not see how your shelves were arranged? Or was he just trying to buy a present for a child of a given age and as there weren't flashing arrows saying "Mr Customer this is the book you should buy" then he was clueless?

We had a predictably stressful time at IKEA, and didn't even get what we wanted. The irony is we went further away to a bigger store mostly because it's nearer DH's parents, but had we gone to the (slightly) nearer store then everything we wanted would have been available.

I'm writing a very stroppy email to John Lewis. They didn't ring back at all today . Am threatening to return everything and order from elsewhere if I don't hear from them by thursday (is that too generous??). Problem is there's no store email address, just a pathetic web form to fill in. Alternative is to post the letter and copy to head office, but that is much slower and I can't expect to take drastic action by Thurs if they don't receive letter til Tues can I?

Sorry, that's another long ranty post. I think I might be getting some of these hormones I keep hearing aboug

Can I just comment on TTL's 4th point above. This only works if your baby decides to be born during the day when the hospital shop is actually open.

aStar as soon as my stiches are fully healed I'll happily pass my achingfanjo crown over.

My parents haven't got much choice about the distance thing. They live on the other side of the world, so Skype it was for meeting their first Granddaughter. Though Esk my Dad often finishes a call with 'when shall we skype next?' (um I dunno! when I have something interesting to tell you maybe)

Argh after spending all of last week telling DH that I needed him to call a client and have them drop off money they owe him so that our rent could get paid, he's annoyed at me for going into overdraft to pay the rent and incurring a fee after he kept ignoring me and not mentioning it. How the fck am I supposed to pay bills with no fcking money!

Esk on your behalf. I am amzed at the fact people do not deal immediately with pregnant women's complaints. They are clearly making a rod for their own back. I had a HUGE rant at Isablella Oliver on the the phone over some error on their part. They must have that all the time

My pushchair is in it's boxes upstairs now! In two minds whether to open it as it is really neat for storage....

Thanks for the hopsital bag food tips. My Dad and I made the journey to an out of town (well, edge of London!) Tesco this morning to finally get my free Huggies from Bounty (there are no actual Tescos in London, only Metros and Expresses which seem to solely stock Pampers ) We were both like kids in a sweet shop. Not sure you appreciate this if your regular supermarket is a humongous one but Tesco Extra was AWESOME Spent 90 mins in there....! Did finish off lots of hospital bag shopping like Andrex with Aloe Vera loo roll (thanks for the tip!) huge black pants (4 for £3 - Dad was very at these, one of those peg sock dryer thingys - for hangin nappy inserts from...Oh the (genuine) fun

Talking of Senoket, I have also stocked up on post-birth delights...Anusol and lactulose - althought TBH, chances of either of these lasting until post birth at the moment... :( Also will no reassess as I (TMI) get hideous wind with lactulose so will swap it for some senoket! I swear the post birth poo is scaring me more than the actual birth!!

Re: Taking Senoket to bring on labour....do you really want to be strenuously pushing after taking a laxative?!

LOL at the stupid man in the shop Nickel - I was that person today. Asked a man where the bleach was...he was a customer....

TTL glad to hear Isobel is good!

COAAF at late paying customer. If you DH were that way inclined I would get him to add the charge of the overdraft on to the late-payers invoice.

The problem is Vallinna, that DH DIDN'T call said customer all blimmin week, despite saying several times he would. So he can't really justify adding the charge on cust's bill.

Oh oh, DD can tell I'm trying to sneak 2 mins to myself and is squeaking in a pay attention to ME! kind of way. Good thing she is so damn cute!

I've actually started packing my hospital bag properly (I started a while ago and DH just laughed at me). Am 35+5 so it's probably rather later than ideal.
Viroids who've had babies already - how many nappies do you need to take along? I was thinking 6 or so in the change bag and a pack in the car in case. Actually I think the car boot will be full of lots of things "just in case" as the mw at the hospital warned us on the tour that they don't allow people to bring in lots of bags. Any other top hospital bag tips? (apart from sweeties??)

Squig is still in funny positions - def not head down. My bump had corners today, I looked like I had a shoebox up my jumper rather than a football!! I assume that it was still transverse with it's back to my tummy and pushing outwards. It looked most strange! I rather hope it's still transverse on Tues at my 36 week appt as the mw keeps telling me it's head down and fine, when it's clearly still moving around a lot (can't say it's been anything other than transverse this week though)

Afternoon all... I'm still here waiting ... 39 & 5 today and was convinced I'd be early and my mum was early with both of us

Come on baby!!!

Quite and also today as been called by my maternity cover as senior managment have just changed our jobs substantially (less responsibility) and even gives me reason to doubt whether my job will be there when I get back. Of all the things I don't want to be worried about when I'm this close to popping!!! Arrgghhh, I think i need to look into more after baby here .. does anyone know aboutthe legality of changig your role when you are on mat leave? Or where I can get some advice?

TTL at 'do people not know what I've got in there'? So please everything is going so well and your LO is a little star!

COAF poor you re the moeny situation and DH being cr*p about it... you're really going through it at the moment. Hope everything gets sorted soon and life gets a bit easier.

Esk sounds pretty poor from both JL and IKEA, shame you're shopping isn't going to plan right now. Took us ages to get the price match too, and when we did never gt the formal letter as they had print issues for days

Val hoping you don't need the anusol anytime soon

Sorry re sp!

Sorry forgot to ask .. for those viroids that have popped .. how much weight did you lose in total in first couple of weeks including baby etc? I braced myself and weighed in this morning and put on 2 st 10lbs in total .. wondering how much of this I'll need to diet/exercise off and how much will just go i.e.. baby, blood, fluid, placenta etc. Ta!

I've still got my annoying leg rash.
rang the doctor this morning to get an appointment, and because one of the drs was ill last week (no cover), they've had to move all her appts, so are backed up until 29th
my legs could have dropped off by then!
so I mentioned my rash, that I was pregnant and therefore couldn't take anti-histamines.
so she arranged for a dr to ring me at the end of morning surgery to judge what I could do - he decided that i needed to see someone this week. so then I had to ring back the recptionist and tell her to get an appt.
[phew]

sod's law says that after 5 days, i'll wake up tomorrow with no rash!

Put on 10kg, lost 7kg instantly then another 2kg over a couple of days presumably from sweating/producing colostrum then put a little on when milk came in and 3 months later am below pre-preg weight without any discernible effort and eating plenty of cake.

esk we got through a pack of 28 nappies in 4 days.

Sorry for micro posts!

Last weigh in I was 4kg off pre baby weight. That was less than 2 weeks after birth. Not really sure what my total weight gain before birth was and I'm pretty sure my giant milk filled boobs are accounting for most of my extra weight now.

As for hospital bag, maternity pads. It really depends on what your hospital provides, but I got a bit caught out first time round so took 2 packs with me this time. And a whole pack of nappies. I wanted to be prepared for not getting early discharge. Take spare pj trousers too.

Sorry about your rash Nickel. I hope it turns out to be nothing serious.

Am of all the weight loss. I'm feeling like an elephant today. Baby is nothing like engaged (I don't think, am seeing mw tomorrow) so I doubt it's going to be an early one. Dyna I feel your frustration (though I'm not on mat leave yet so it can't come just now!) as I have more or less convinced myself it's coming early (even though I have days when I'm not convinced it's actually happening at all!) and am having to remind myself that it could be two weeks late

I phoned John Lewis after work as no message from them again. Actually spoke to someone apologetic and helpful this time but, guess what, they're going to phone me back .

Esk I am in denial he will be anything other than around 38 weeks [complete idiot emoticon]. I keep saying to myself 'oh, in 4-5 weeks he'll be here' - I am 33 weeks. It could actually be closer to 10

Absolutely shattered. 1 week 4 working days to mat leave

coaaf yes you are right. I am an idiot - you should definitely have supplies ready as hospital shops are shut more hours than they're open! What rubbish advice!

Sorry about the rash nickel - how annoying! And how annoying about John Lewis esk

On the weight front I started at 9 stone 2 and went to 11 stone 4. It's two weeks since Isobel was born (and a day) and I now weigh 9 stone 12, despite copious chocolate consumption. My figure is more or less back though I have a very wobbly tummy and practically no stomach muscles - I wish I'd gone for nickel's belly dancing lessons! I'm basically ignoring all weight issues and eating what the hell I like until the six week check, and then I'll see where I am - planning on doing BuggyFit and Zumba once the check is done.

How are the rest of you ladies? vallinna 33 weeks! You're getting close, though the next few weeks will feel like an eternity. But soon you'll be cuddling your newborn :)

mmmm I love lazy mornings. I haven't had one for ages because my sleep patterns have been well and truly buggered. Not sure how I've been functioning on so little sleep (grumpily certainly). But I have my 36 week MW appt at 10.15 today so its not worth going in to work beforehand but also not worth trying to get anything done at home either (don't tell DH ).

Hospital shops shutting is pretty rubbish who's going to get me my post birth coke?. DH is also v upset to find out that the Costa in our hospital, which he's had his eye on since the 12 week scan, is only open 9-5 on weekdays. Espresso drinker that he is, he's now insisting that the only acceptable times for labour coincide with opening hours!!

esk I have a 9:40 MW on Monday which I was looking forward to but it is now at a Children's Centre much further away than normal so up at work time for us

I am in single figures in terms of working days until mat leave! 9 to go . I am so exhausted it is untrue. My night time stairmaster sessions just to pee are no fun :(

Weight-wise I am a teeny bit concerned as in the past 6 weeks or so I have put on no weight. I fluctuated between 10st 2lbs and 10st 6lbs in that time but always up then down. Bump has definitely gone up, and I realise this is a 'good' problem in terms of selfish body image. Will as the MW on Monday but I am assuming as long as bump measures 34cms they won't be overly concerned? Probably the bloody stair/loo workout

Things are definately starting to fall apart now. Achy back for starters, turning over in bed (with my v-pillow wedged between my legs) is a feat and Sunday and yesterday I was pretty convinced I had pulled something in my right butt cheek! I huff to bend down to do the buckles on my flip flops up and have been staring at my toes, delaying a fresh coat of paint until my new nail polish arrives. I can still shave my legs but only becuase the ledge at my Mum's I rest my foot on is higher than ours was! Went to trim the fanjo before my wax yesterday and snipped some flesh which bled like a fountain!

One bizarre thing though, despite all this, is a still don't really feel pregnant. I know that sounds daft but I catch my reflection in shop windows sometimes and I am like 'bloody hell! When did that happen?!' I feel like I have wished a lot of this time away with all the anxiety and just wanting him to be here safely

fraktious frak honey
thank you very very much for the clothes that arrived today!
Please let me know how much you want (to reimburse for postage) - it can't have been cheap to send from abroad.

but thank you thank you thank you

i shall try them on tonight - i've pulled them all out to look at, andthey're all gorgeous

MN went offline after I typed a really long reply.

it basically said to ttl that you weigh less than i did before I started, and to sign up to bellydancing lessons when you're well enough (or non-tired enough!)

and to vallinna - not to worry abotu weight gain as long as you're eating and exercising - that weigth is probably from earlier on when you gained fastert han you needed to - so now it's the baby weight has taken over from your weight, that's why it seems to be going down. and that my dance teacher lost loads of weight when she was pg with her 2nd, mainly because she had so much left to lose from before.

Just back from Midwife. She reckons Squig is now head down, and I agree with her today, but as soon as I hopped off the bed it moved and she agreed that there was a hard lump on both sides of my abdomen. So I'm going for a "presentation scan" on Thurs to see what its up to. Scary sounding things may follow, especially if it's unstable. Strangely the one I like the sound of least is the "they may take the opportunity to induce you quick if it's head down". That worries me more than the possibility of a CS strangely.
Will see what they say on Thurs.

Do you think they'll tell me the sex?!!