Hello ladies,
Sorry I've been away for so long - so rude! All is going really really well here and I haven't been on MN much at all, but I'm ready for my fix again now :) Isobel is doing brilliantly - she weights 10lbs now (from 7lbs at birth) and is 6 weeks and 5 days old. All of you in the queue have such a lovely time to look forward to (sleepless nights etc. notwithstanding, of course). And that includes, as some of you have said, lying on your tummy again (it's amazing!), being able to chuck out the Gaviscon and eat food without it being followed by three hours of throat-burning, and not having to get up for the toilet 5 times a night :). The return of wine to my life has also been pretty good. I think if you're knackered or struggling to adjust or anything it's easy to forget these small pleasures 
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Haven't JSed though. Have the six week postnatal check next week (at nearly 8 weeks!) and will get contraception then. Am BFing which is supposed to give you protection but I've heard some horror stories about immediate accidental conception so I'm not risking it. Plus I'm slightly nervous about it - I can still feel my scar despite not having needed any stitches. We've done some other naughty stuff though 
I can't believe how much I love being a mummy. I'm quite surprised, actually - obviously I wanted to have a family and knew I'd love my LO but I wasn't expecting to feel this happy. It's like a strange, tiny little person with terrible wind and a drink habit has moved into my house and now I don't know why I didn't move her in sooner . I'm sure if we have a second child he/she will be screaming the place down and we'll be shocked out of our lives, since Isobel is pretty laid back (despite having reflux and vomiting five billion times a day - DH said to me the other day 'will you still fancy me if I just wear this T-shirt with sick on it? It's just I haven't got any others left' ).
We've been doing a lot with our NCT group - coffee every Tuesday morning, cinema on Wednesday mornings (you can take under-1s to a special screening at our local Picturehouse and though there's a lot of screaming it's pretty good), and the odd lunch here and there too. DH is off work since he's a teacher and because we've been on top of things we've been having lots of visitors and doing a bit of visiting ourselves. But we've had a lot of time to relax too. I definitely recommend DHs taking off as much time as they can, if possible (though the downside is I'm pretty dependent now - September might be a shock!).
val I just read the last few pages of the thread and you have absolutely done the right thing with your family. I am 
and 
for you - I had similar with my mum, who drove me nuts before the birth. She has now admitted that she didn't 'trust' me to tell her when I went into labour and that's why she kept ringing three times a day, sometimes really early in the morning or late at night, so that she could catch me out. I am pretty disgusted with that sort of behaviour, since it was my birth and if I didn't want to tell her she should have respected that. Three days before my due date she also begged me to be at the birth because it is such a wonderful moment and she would regret it for the rest of her life if she missed it! This despite me being clear all the way through that I only wanted DH there. We also asked for no visitors at the hospital if we were able to come home the same day, but less than an hour after the birth my mum and step-dad asked me, on the phone, if they could come anyway because it was Sunday and they had work the next day, which made me feel unreasonable - as if I was asking them to take days off work when it wasn't necessary. I relented and it was fine (and all the parents/siblings etc came in the end) but in hindsight it was pretty shoddy behaviour - if I'd had her on a Monday they'd have still come up. It was really unfair to put that on me when I was weak and emotional from the birth.
BUT - the reason I'm repeating all this stuff is because actually, in the end, apart from the thing about the hospital, we stuck (politely) to our guns no matter how difficult it was, and people did actually respect it once Isobel was born. People have given us plenty of space and we really needed it. By the time my mum came to stay two weeks later we were really on top of things - we had the hang of most of it and so I didn't feel like she would need to take over. Plus it was a magical time. I'm sure the reason we have coped as well as we have is because we forced people to basically leave us alone, bar the odd visit, for the first two weeks. And once she was born and close family had seen her they all calmed down. I think people just get in a frenzy before the birth. So I hope you can stick to your guns and I'm sure that things will settle down and you'll be really pleased you asked for what you want. Once Teddy is born they'll all be so infatuated with him they'll forget all this.
Woah that was long! esk and dyna are you this week? How's it going coaaf - how's your DH doing? And Alba? And your DS? Have I missed the births of any babies?
esk I saw what you said about people at church. It's really annoying, isn't it? It's the same as what val said - people suddenly think that their desire to know about/see your baby is more important than anything you think or feel. I hope your LO pops before Sunday so you don't have to see anyone! (Either that or I'd skive if I were you . These are the kinds of occasions God invented lying for :)).
Hope everyone else is well?
xxx