TTC a 2012 baby - the GRADUATES!

[Carlitawantsababy]

As requested/suggested this is a thread for those graduating from the TTC a 2012 baby -this is our year thread! Bring your BFPs and get yourselves comfy

Oh no Fools! DS has lovely floppy blonde hair too and I'd be equally upset if someone had done that to his - especially someone who's allegedly a professional! I agree that having it tidied up might be a good idea, it might take a bit longer to grow back but it won't be upsetting you every time you look at it.

Really not sure about the bedroom yet. We rent so painting the walls isn't really an option and DS already has lots of blue furniture that he loves, it wasn't cheap and it isn't old so I'm reluctant to change it all (because we're not loaded ). The furniture he has comes in red/pink and have found this (and lots of lovely alternatives) that you can personalise with the name and change the colours which might be a good option to tie the boy and girl sides of the room together. Luckily it's a good sized double so should be ok for space.

Am so excited about Christmas now (was pinning lots of lovely festive things last night), can't wait to get the flat finished (last bits of furniture coming next week) so I can start doing lots of lovely festive bits.

Forgot to say, sorry to hear your DP will be away Trope. DP was in uni here in Brighton for 2 years before I moved down from Wales at the beginning of our relationship so I wasn't too bad when I had to spend 3 weeks away from him last year. But if it's the longest you've ever been apart it must be pretty daunting! Keeping yourself busy (esp with wonderful Christmas projects!) is definitely the best way to get through the time, maybe a trip to see your sister and lovely niece is in order? ? The 3 weeks will be over before you know it

Trope and Piggy, a sprint triathlon is not such a scary idea for a beginner (actually, looking at the event distances I wonder if it might be supersprint?) Also, the name refers to the short distances, not my target pace! The order is swim/bike/run so the distances really aren't that bad. I've run several 10k in my time so the mental prep for a 5k isn't too bad really, and I could whizz around on a bike all day.

Super sprint - 400m/10km/2.5km
Sprint distance - 750m/20km/5km

No one else keen? No? trope, I too need to keep fit for health reasons - I'm asthmatic so if I lose fitness it's a bugger to get back. Sounds like you have a good target in mind, but might be worth working up to it with something a bit more controlled than squash (if you're anything like me, I forget myself when playing hockey sometimes and throw myself around after the ball even if I'm supposed to be taking it easy).

oh and trope as a veteran left-behind wife (DH is military and does 3-5 month long trips away each year) I sympathise. I usually use the time to catch up with friends in London etc and make sure I have some evening classes/events to keep me busy. It's usually only really the last weekend of his away time that I notice he's been gone! I expect all that will change next year though; it's going to be a scary prospect looking after the baby by myself for so long, especially since both sets of gps are 200 miles away.

Carlita, so sorry to hear about your phone. Hope you get it back soon, failing that, a replacement. Good luck for the scan tomorrow! Bet you can't wait!

Ghost love the idea of setting yourself a goal to get back into shape. But a triathalon? Are you mad!

Piggy, you fill me with hope. The tiredness really eases up? I can't do anything without wanting to sleep after. Having to go to bed at 8.30 every night.

Bun that wall transfer sounds like a really good solution. Ds is car mad, would stand no hope of feminising (I may well have just created a word there according to my phone dictionary) his space.

Right, I have actually shed quite a few tears over munchkin's hair now. Have tried to call them multiple times but no answer (surprise surprise). So my upset has now officially turned into anger. About to go down there, find out who did it, "style" their hair for them and will then demand my money back. I am not to be messed with when angry.

I GOT A REFUND! And have now booked him into my painfully expensive very good hairdressers. My mum and I have been going there for so long the deputy manager is fixing the problem half price. It will be terribly short :(, but at least a decent cut.

That is all, you may now return to your lives. :)

well done fools!! Was waiting with bated breath for the outcome! I hope the Sweeney Todd barber apologised and accepted responsibility of it!

wow bun and ghost - I feel bad about complaining about 3 weeks now!! Can't imagine having such long periods apart! 3 weeks definitely sounds more do-able in the context of 3-5month long trips away! I'm also nervous about coping with these sorts of trips once fuzzy arrives - but then i'm already a bit nervy about what mon-fri 12-15 hours a day alone with the baby will be like Really wish DP could work nearer to home - but for now needs must and London is the only place he can earn a decent wage with a stable company (we work in games and companies are going under/doing redundancies left right and centre) so we shall cope! Somehow!!

ghost yeah - i'm the same, tendency to get carried away and go all out on the courts! Doesn't help that I often play my cousins who are fit young men in their twenties!! Games against them are bloody hard work!!

fools - WOOOOOOOO! well done! I hope your good hairdresser can get it looking nicer without taking too much off!

I'm having a rather crap few days; didn't make it to Bentalls to look at the iCandy as DP had to work late at the last minute :( Spent the day with a friend who lives 1.5 hours away, as it was on the way to Kingston, then ended up having to just drive myself back home again in the evening - was knackered :( Then today, I came out of our bathroom after my shower to discover the boiler making the most ominous clanging wheezing air escaping noise imaginable and steam pouring out of the top of it :(:(:( I thought it was smoke at first and nearly ran out of the house calling the fire brigade - managed to take a breath and realise that it didn't smell of smoke and the smoke alarm wasn't going off and the room wasn't going black so it must be steam - but I honestly thought that the boiler might explode. Had to clamber up and trip the master switch on the fuse box to cut power out to it as fast as I can (was afraid to go close to the boiler to use the overide switch we have installed next to it) then opened the back door in case gas was escaping - looked at the gas meter/switch and debated turning off the gas, but wasn't sure I could turn it back on again myself so decided to wait and see what happened!!

We have an old boiler that the previous owner took less than no care of and we've spent a fortune keeping it going since we bought the house 4 years ago. We had a minor fault recently (a flow valve stuck) and couldn't get our usual excellent plumber out - so we used a guy a friend recommended - ever since then we've had problems with the boiler (we discovered on Tuesday that the heating doesn't work properly anymore, for example) - I think he's really bollocksed it up :( Our plumber is coming over at 9am tomorrow (which is fast by his standards - assuming he turns up - he's great at his job but horribly unreliable) so now I have to stay home and wait for him, while DP goes and helps our friends move house. Another day apart and potentially a HUGE bill - DP described the issue to our plumber and if it's what he thinks it is it could well have damaged other parts of the boiler. It's looking like one of the parts the other guy replaced is either faulty or not installed properly - if so, this could be the final thing that tips the boiler over into not being worth repairing - cue £2k bill for a new one - something we'd really really hoped to avoid as we're really short of money right now. I'm really hoping that I caught it quickly enough that it hasn't trashed the rest of the boiler - but i'm worried in case i'm wrong...

On the (hopefully) bright side DP's work are offering him a permanent position - hurrah! They should be giving him the offer details today - fingers crossed the salary will be good as we really really need some more income if we're to cope with our crappy house and a baby!

Sorry for another rant - i'm still shaking from finding the boiler venting steam and growling at me - just a horrid horrid start to the day :(

Oh my gosh! Trope, that's just awful. Surely if plumber number one has botched it, and number two can prove it, he would be at least partially liable? 3 weeks is no time at all, and if you get really lonely, you can borrow my dh he's almost house trained and to be honest, I could do with a break!

My hairdressers were aghast at what they saw. She even it up as best she could, but its not perfect so they refused to charge me. My colourist (the ultimate in stereotypical gay male hairdressers) also gave me an utter bollocking had a quiet word with me about the state of my hair and refused to let me leave until I had booked some "me time". In my defense, I took the dogs for a woodland jog while pushing buggy and didn't bother to wash my hair before fixing munchkin's. Shall post a photo of the Hitler cut for you all to giggle over. May even add the before and afters if you're lucky!

Thank you all for listening to my mini saga. Felt so much better for off loading.

Any fun plans for the weekend? I'm attempting my first ever eBay sales! Yikes.

Oh fools please post the pictures! Would love to see the Hitler cut! Glad your hairdresser managed to even it up and at least from their reaction you can see you didn't over react!
Just had my 13 week scan, it was wonderful! The baby is now almost double the size and was arching his back and rolling around, it was really clear and amazing. I asked if I was right that it was a boy and the sonographer said " it is very prominent between the legs but I couldn't say for sure" ! How exciting, have my 20 week scan booked - only 7 weeks to go and can't believe that between now and then I'll start to feel him move! I am absolutely loving being pregnant, now planning on having children forever!

Carlita! That is fantastic! So thrilled for you! Very glad you love being pregnant so much but pregnant forever would surely lose its novelty and appeal? There are too many things making me queasy to "enjoy" this one and I resent the tiredness as its stopping me being my normal efficient self :)

Photos should be up. Feel free to peruse at will. At least, I hope they're up....

Ah so pleased for you Carlita that's fantastic! Brilliant to hear you are loving being pregnant!

I'm afraid I'm with fools at the moment resenting the tiredness. I think I'm quite lucky though as it's the only symptom (apart from mahoosive sore boobs) that I have but it's wiping me out completely. Hating the fact that a good sleep makes no difference what so ever either!!!

Yey well done Fools! Great outcome and how lovely of your hairdresser to not charge you for it

Carlita, congratulations on the fantastic scan of your possible boy!

Trope, any news on the boiler situation? Sounds like a bloody nightmare!

We went to London for the day yesterday to catch up with some friends and bloody hell was it hard work! Friends were late so we had to wait at the Southbank for an hour, DS kept on trying to run off to play with random children/birds/anything which wasn't an option with all the crowds. The park was closed so we ended up having to put him in his pram - which let to screams and tantrums (and disapproving looks from other people ). Friends arrived, we went for lunch which was lovely. Went to a nearby park for DS to have a run around, it started bucketing it down - thunder storm, we got soaked, ran to a nearby pub. DS over-tired wanting to play, too tired to play, refused point blank to sleep - cue more tantrums. I was completely exhausted by this point, in pain, still feeling ill - nearly fell asleep in the pub .

Sick again this morning. But, DP is going to take DS out to buy my birthday presents later (yey!) so I'll be going back to bed to re-charge my batteries.

Sorry, I've been whining too much lately! In other, less moaning news. Baby is lovely and wriggly, don't think it'll be long until DP will be able to feel the kicks too. He keeps poking my tummy to see

Hope you're all having lovely weekends. I'm off to get these two moving and ready to go so I can catch some z's

Argh - the boiler is borked :( We have hot water but no heating now. Basically the other guy replaced parts that didn't actually need replacing, appears to have not fitted them properly, has knocked another part causing it to leak which has rapidly caused other nearly knackered parts to finally give up the ghost. Plus it looks like the heating wouldn't have worked anyway when we came to switch it on for the winter due to the diverter (the bit that tells it to heat the rads, not just hot water for showers etc) getting stuck and no longer working... My plumber costed it all up and said we're looking at around £700 to get the heating working again, but he doubts it would work for long - the boiler is so old and buggered that it is just falling apart now and is a complete money pit. He says he really ought to condemn it, but as it's safe to use just the hot water he's left it on with the heating switched off and quoted me for a new one. (His wife suffers with arthritis like I do, so he understands how important having hot water for a shower/bath is to us stiff & achy people!) He was really helpful though - spent time with me showing me which boiler he recommended online and what parts he'd need to install it and has said I can buy everything online myself to save money (told me what it would cost him and what his mark up would be so I could work out whether I was saving money or not) and has given me soft copies of all the manuals etc for the boiler he recommends (which you normally only get when you buy it!) so we can have a read through and make sure we're happy with the one he thinks we should get (I am - had already researched boilers last time ours nearly died and he suggested the one I had independently decided was probably best - and "Which" agree too which is good!) He's given me a fixed price for the boiler installation too and will dispose of the old one free of charge. He's all up to speed with the myraid regulations etc and will do the gas safe registration and benchmark certificate - so we can at least relax and know that we should end up with a legal, more energy efficient boiler... but first we need to find £1800 .....

Getting compensation from the other guy - not a hope :( The friend who had recommended him is usually really on the ball with checking credentials etc - so I stupidly assumed this guy was legit - when I went to pay him, he said he only took cash as he worked for a big company and wasn't allowed to "moonlight" - but he took on a few jobs for friends cash in hand... It was too late to do anything so I just paid him and swore never to use him again... Was really stupid of me - i'm normally really careful about checking stuff like this out - we don't like doing cash in hand - I like an invoice, a receipt / papertrail and comeback if something goes wrong! You live and you learn! :(

I think we're going to end up borrowing the money from my family and paying back monthly. We also have to re-render the front of our house ASAP as it's really cracked and damp is getting in. We should have done it last year but had no money at all (were paying for food out of the coppers jar! DP was freelancing and we had a nasty gap in contracts that left us shafted for months)... My folks will give us money for my birthday (next month) and xmas and do the same for DP, as will his mum no doubt - so that will go some way towards it. I have about £500 saved and a mountain of stuff waiting to be ebayed which should make £75-100ish I hope! Waiting for my folks to get back from their holiday this week before calling them to ask. Hate being 32 and needing my parents help like this, but if fuzzy needed help one day I'd hope that I would be happy to give it no matter how old they were - so I figure I shouldn't feel too bad about letting my folks help. Plus, bluntly, my parents are pretty loaded, the £3K we need for urgent house/boiler stuff is peanuts to them, so it's not like we're leaving them short! This is the first time i've ever had to ask for help like this - the house deposit/renovation money was all saved by me over years and years... God, listen to me justifying it - I really do feel crap about asking. Am so used to being independent, but nearly 3 years out of work (was made redundant in Jan 09 and have done a tiny bit of freelance work since then, but not much, have been too ill sadly) and the recession stuffing up DPs career (till v recently) has absolutely hammered my savings... Still, DP is earning well again now so I reckon we'll be able to pay it back fairly quickly at least!

Bun - I reckon my "whining" is far worse than yours - you can definitely feel better about it after my self indulgent ramblings above!! (though to be clear, I don't think you have whined at all!) Sounds like you had quite a day - we got caught in the storms too - we were helping friends move and there were some impressive lightning / rain! Hope you are having a nice lazy afternoon! So nice about baby being super wriggly - can't wait to feel fuzzy move too!! :) When is your birthday btw? Do you have anything fun planned?

fools lol - thanks! How is your DP with spiders? We came home to one lurking by the toilet last night and it was ENORMOUS - DP could hardly get it in a glass to get it outside!! Reckon that may be my biggest challenge while he is away (am quite arachnophobic - can deal with the little ones and the spindly ones, but the big fat ones scare me silly!)

Carlita - YAY! Congratulations! How awesome that you could tell it was a boy!! :) So happy that you are having a good pregnancy - I look forward to feeling that way too (hopefully!!) Any joy finding your iphone?

carlita congrats on the scan - can't wait for confirmation of the sex at your 20-week scan now!

bun when is your birthday? Hope you're feeling a bit better for it Any ideas what presents you will be getting?

fools can't believe those pics of your poor boys' hair! He has suck gorgeous blond hair as well At least it is sorted and I'm sure it will grow back in a few weeks.

peapop sorry to hear you're feeling so tired. My energy has definitely started to come back in the past week or two so hopefully it won't last much longer for you. I wish my boobs would grow a bit quicker They have probs gone up to a 32D now, but I haven't got any new bras yet. I thought I'd wait a bit longer as I don't want to have to fork out for new ones every couple of months.

trope gutted about the boiler They are so expensive and a right pain in the arse to fit as well - mess etc. I'm sure your parents would be glad of you asking for help rather than struggling on and feeling that you can't approach them. Especially if they can afford it - it's not as if they are on the breadline! That's what parents are for .

Hi to davina and ghost hope all is well with you both.

All is fine here - feeling pretty good - not quite on the same level as carlita's embracing of pregnancy! - but not too bad all the same. I've finally come out of hibernation with my friends - have been avoiding people and not meeting up due to feeling so naff and not wanting people to guess, so I'm now arranging meet ups.

Got my midwife bloods on Tues - not looking forward to it as I've got to have an extra vial taken as I had some tests done for thyroid a couple of weeks ago and had a phone call to say the nurse hadn't labelled them properly so I had to have the test again [grr]. Not happy as I hate blood tests so I asked if I could get it taken again with midwifery bloods. Now thinking that might've been a bad idea if I'm sat there while she drains me dry!!

Good evening all! I'm writing this in bed, with tissue stuck up one nose and a sudocrem mustache. Dh says I'm sexy, I say I'm dying. :) Have decided I can handle tiredness and sickness but I hate not being able to take anything for flu.

Bun, do you know what you're getting for your birthday yet? You can hopefully look forward to a day of pampering. Very exciting that baby is wriggly, have you found anything that seems to set it off more yet? Ds used to swim in the bath and dance to music. Not much has changed since he came out either, he's still a dancing fish.

Trope, you poor thing. But at least you have hot water and a decent plumber to help as best he can now. And this is what parents are for, helping you out when you desperately need them. Age doesn't seem to matter. My mum always says that I'm still her baby girl Consider yourself lucky that they can afford to help and be proud that you will be paying them back, some people never quite grasp that and just take take take like my baby brother who still lives at home with no job sponging off my parents at twenty fucking five. Twat. Dh, by the way, hates spiders but will remove them and anything else requested (and makes a decent hot cocoa) in return for moth removal! He screams like a little girl at those, which is rather entertaining. :)

Piggy, glad you're getting some friend time again. When are you going to announce to the world? Even better that you've regained some energy. Not jealous, not jealous at all! Sorry about the blood tests. What a bore them not marking them properly.
At least you get it all out of the way at once though. I doubt it'll be much more blood the vampires steal from you. And its a fantastic excuse for tuc biscuits and sugary drinks after!

Not much going on here, in all the hair excitement I totally forgot that we took ds to the local zoo on Tuesday. Daddy took a rare day off work so munchkin was thrilled. His favourite bit, meerkats? Nope. Monkeys? No. Penguins? No. Zebras (which you can feed. Very cool!) No. Soft play area? Yup. And who was the lucky person who got to go in with him because he's too short to climb up some bits? Meeeee! Twas so much fun. Although that's probably where I caught this virus, thinking about it. Grrr.

Fairly sure that is all for now. Just finished putting ds to sleep as he wouldn't go down for daddy (ill too so only mummy will do). Am off back to bed. Any safe remedies to help me speak, stop shivering or to plug my nose up will be greatly received!

Oh what a bummer Trope, just the type of stress you don't need right now! Sure your parents won't want you feeling so bad about asking for help, it's a one off and just isn't the type of thing you could foresee. Bet they'll be happy to help.

Glad you're feeling more human Piggy Not good that they messed up your thyroid test - bet you were fuming!

Had a nice relaxing afternoon which has made me feel more human thanks

My birthday is on Tuesday. Nothing planned really, had food and drinks with friends this weekend and will probably get treated on the day by DP. I not really feeling it this year tbh which is very unusual for me - am normally like a little kid when it comes to birthdays and Christmas. Have some lovely presents on their merry way to me though - some lovely toiletries, a Kindle, and these lovely boots for the winter. Will get other bits and bobs too and some money which I'm going to put towards a much needed maternity winter coat - am getting spoilt

Sorry, xposted with you Fools, am easily distracted at the moment and my posts have been a taking a while to get done!
Sorry to hear you're ill am just coming out the other end of it so know your pain. I have no suggestions I'm afraid, just paracetamol for the headaches, sinus pain etc and plenty of moping around...that's what I did anyway!

Baby wriggles seem to step up a notch at night, especially when I'm on my side. No action at all in the bath, she's not playing ball when it comes to being prodded at by DP either atm, stubborn

Hope you get a good nights sleep and feel better soon!

Hey ladies! Really sorry to hear about boiler troubles, trope - we had a similar thing last year so had to replace ours a few months before our wedding!

Met up with a few local MNers today, very exciting, esp since we're all due in Jan/Feb!

Am currently scaring the bejeesus out of myself watching a waterbirth DVD loaned to me be my yoga instructor. There is much moaning going on; good job I have headphones in right now as it sounds strikingly like porn right now! Def keen on waterbirth idea, but definitely not on being filmed...

Haha Ghost! Woe betide anyone who attempts to point a camera at me during labour! Thankfully DP had the sense to never suggest such a thing
Water births are great

Ok, just to report back: three waterbirth films later, and it wasn't too scary. One woman was eerily silent, another was a bit porn-esque in her commentary, and the third screamed bloody murder in russian . Not scary really, but did make me realise I'll need to be a bit less... English about the whole thing! Waterbirth is definitely the way for me, as the MW team have to be really sure they need to examine you to get you out of the water = less poking and prodding, which sounds good to me.

Ghost thank you! That really made me chuckle.

Bun, feeling better today and hope you are too. How exciting about all those lovely gifts. We were given a stethoscope to listen to the heart beat at home by a friend for ds. Helped dh feel involved as he was better at finding it than I was! Maybe something to consider.

We have a lovely day here, blue skies, sunshine and rusted leaves. I fear a trip to the park may be on the menu, health dependent.

Thanks folks - I know i'm lucky to have parents I can fall back on! Just wish I didn't have to!

I too have evil cold/flu thing - was up half the night snotting and coughing and feeling rough :( Glad you're feeling better today fools I rely on a big glug of honey in hot ribena for sore throats / tickly coughs - usually takes the edge off for long enough to get to sleep. It is very sickly sweet though (but as my only "craving" so far is for anything and everything sweet I shall cope!) I believe it's safe to put karvol on a hanky to help with the blocked nose too! For now i've also been rocking the super sexy tissues up nose look! Hoping it clears up soon otherwise I shall have to stop my arthritis meds (they work by suppressing my immune system) which would really suck :(

Love that your DH can do spiders but freaks at moths!! Hot cocoa sounds good right now too!

Aw Bun i'm sorry you're not so excited about your birthday this year! Any idea why? Just tired from the pregnancy? I don't get excited about it like I do christmas, but DP and I always do something nice together (and he's really good at birthday surprises - tickets to gigs etc) so I do really look forward to that every year. You realise we'll have the same boots this winter? I just got a pair in huckleberry off ebay - they're a touch on the big side, but I figure with winter socks they'll be a decent fit! Cracked and ordered them last week as I couldn't face another winter of icy toes!! We shall have to be careful to get different winter coats!!

ghost ooh the waterbirth DVDs sound fascinating! I've seen one or two waterbirths on telly and always thought they looked so much nicer than being stuck in a hospital bed! They have a birthing pool on the high risk ward at our local hospital so I'm hopeful that I'll get to use it as it would be so much better for my arthritis! Have you looked into where you will give birth - are there many choices where you are? Is anyone planning on trying for a home birth?

fools is lovely here in Hove today too! That being said, autumn is the only time when I miss living up in Surrey - all the beautiful colours - the seafront isn't autumnul in the same way really!

I have my booking in appointment tomorrow which I'm very excited about! Getting my notes sorted will make it feel all official!! Looked at my dates this weekend and realised I'd mis-counted by one day - so am in fact exactly 10 weeks today! Hurrah!

ooh - there's an old mumsnet thread here with suggestions for cold/flu remedies for pregnant folk!

hi trope - definitely check out the pool if you can, I bet it would help, especially if you feel the need to get into wacky birthing positions, as some people do. There are a tonne of reasons why trying to give birth flat on your back makes things harder on you and the baby, so wherever possible it's best to avoid that position (for me that's the main disincentive for an epidural).

I'm near Oxford so we have a very good array of MW-led centres as well as hospital birth centres. I'm currently thinking I'll go to the Spires, which is exclusively midwife led but is physically linked to the hospital in Oxford. But I really (really really) want to be in the water for at least some of the time and I'll be gutted if the facilities there are full, so I'm contemplating the idea of a home birth so that I can have a pool at home. I think the home birth option might be something to explore for future DC, though, as I haven't the faintest idea whether this will all go out of the window when I go into labour! I'm not scared of hospitals but equally I like the idea of being in my own space and not having to plan on getting to the hospital (about 10 miles away) if there is bad weather, which is a real possibility in January (I should know; I'm a January birthday and I was born in a massive snow storm. My dad almost didn't make it in time!)

Love the idea of wacky birth positions! My obst has said she will get me in to see a physiotherapist when i'm further on so we can work out what birth positions should be manageable with my arthritis and good for getting fuzzy out! A nice warm birthing pool strikes me as a great idea though - will help keep my joints supple too (they freeze up when I get cold). Definitely do not want to be flat on my back!! I'm hoping they'll let me see the high risk unit at some point (as i'm only allowed to give birth there sadly - no midwife led birthing units for me!!) Would be nice to be able to see it before giving birth - the more I know the less i'll stress! :)

One of my best friends has had two home births and really recommends them - she was low risk and does live walking distance of the hospital though, so if there were any problems she could quickly and easily transfer to the hospital, no matter what the weather! Of my other friends & family who planned home births, sadly none of them have been able to - they have all had emergency transfers to hospital - I don't know if that's due to bad luck, or overly cautious midwives or what though.

In an ideal world I'd love a home birth - as you say - you can have your own birthing pool then, plus I think it would be so nice to stay in your own home. Far less stressful I reckon! But the Spires sounds great - best of both worlds perhaps! Fingers crossed the weather isn't so bad this year! Do you have any friends with 4X4s that can be on call to get you to the birthing centre if needs be? Here in Brighton/hove they put out a call to owners of 4X4s last year to assist the emergency services as they were so woefully under-prepared!! (To be fair we rarely get snow in this area, what with being southern and coastal, but it was shocking just how poorly prepared they were - salt bins empty, no gritting of many major roads - even though the shopping area in the centre of town got done, etc etc).

We've had snow in April once since I moved to Hove - so i'm hoping we won't have to contend with that! Just lots of rain and wind!!

Glad you're feeling better Fools. I'm pretty much there too, just a bit chesty still (I have asthma so stuff like this always tends to stick around).

Yes Trope, just don't really have the energy for it this year. Haha can't believe it! I've got them in huckleberry from eBay too. Of all the boots in all the world... you have impeccable taste

Ghost as another due in January-er, I am getting a bit nervy about the possible problems the weather might throw up. Am about 15 minutes from the hospital and main roads though so will hopefully be ok.