January 2012 - Thread 4

[shonnomanom]

Can believe we are on Thread 4 already! We must chat too much

fish I am major starving, every day recently. I could get up and eat lunch and then have lunch all over again at midday if I let myself!

Well done to everyone crafting and making things for the sproglettes, wish I had the time, patience, energy! Sounds lovely, though!

I know what you mean about lack of interest surrounding the new arrivals - it's like, 'oh what's new, you already have one', 'or we already have grandchildren so nothing new there, so no big deal'! grrr

I have been chasing HR for weeks to get a meeting regarding the maternity package here, since I need to let them know my plans by Monday. All I get in return is 'we're busy, we'll email you to arrange a meeting'. Great, well stop chasing me for dates then loooothers!

cakes I know exactly what you mean! We are in the fortunate position that we could buy stuff for the baby if we needed to, but thoughtful homemade things would mean a lot more. We're lucky with our family though and my nana has already made the most beautiful wool blanket, and I think MiL is thinking of doing a quilt (and FiL is making the bed-nest). Have you thought about just balls-out saying to your MiL that a home made blanket would mean a lot more?

oeisha yes, I do wonder why the co-ordinators bother if they're not going to promote the class in any way or actually try to make it happen. The only NCT info I've ever seen has been on their website when I actively went looking for it. They don't seem to advertise at my GP or in the town hall or anything. My town is always full of yummy mummy types (could be tourism though) and so even though the demographic is typically older/retired people, there must be other expectant parents nearby. It's an affluent area too so surely people have the money to join the classes!

on the subject of flu jab - I will definitely definitely get it as soon as it's offered. I am entitled every year as I'm asthmatic - last year I was too busy and missed it, and in March I got proper full on flu. It was thoroughly miserable and left me weak for quite a few weeks. Seriously though - do not want a repeat of last year's flu with a newborn around! Plus I hear it might have the benefit of passing along some level of immunity to the baby, is that right?

cakes on the cola cake - just had another piece now! It really was a bit too moist to be quite right, so I'll definitely add more time if I make it again. I only had a square tin too which may have affected cooking time a bit. This is the cake we have lined up for next time! (yum)

Heard the heartbeat for the first time today, squeeeee. So lovely.

Sounds like a freight train. BP fine, no sugar in wee, weight gain all fine, fundus measurement fine. All is well. :)

I am tired to death today, I have a day off tomorrow, I was going to spend it catching up on all the stuff but I may have to take time to read my kindle in the park.

ghost - mmm - lemon icing on a ginger cake - why didn;t I think of that. Yum. I have a lovely sticky stem ginger cake and the icing is double sugary cos it's made with icing sugar and the syrup from the stem ginger. It is divine though!

I've finished piecing the front of the quilt/playmat now. Posted a pic if you want to see. the colours haven't showed up quite right on screen - they're much brighter and clearer in person: great for stimulating small people. I think it needs a thin pale turquoise border that matches the base colour of the centre panel then I can use any colour backing I want. need to get me down to a quilt shop to have a look for something suitable! Alternatively I use the boring pale yellow cotton I already have, but I did like the idea of something soft and fuzzy. Hrmm.

Am thinking of using the remnants from the quilt for (at least) one of those play blocks you mentioned ghost - what did you use for stuffing?

fish - it's so exciting to hear that little heartbeat inside you, isn't it?

ugh - I'm getting kicked in the cervix a lot today. Still the weirdest feeling.

Cakes that's gorgeous! Just finishing mine off but dd likes it so much I may just give it richer and use her bedding for the new baby

Sorry that should say just give it to her

Look forward to seeing a pic of yours addicted!

Just quickly on this baby not being seen as important. My bump is having to compete with twins already. I really do wish that I have this baby in December as there is slight chance of all three arriving on the same day. Thankful that my sister doesn't live local anymore . Rant over x

Hello everyone! I'm back from wicked gig in Jersey with lots of nice seafood. Jersey is weird though - went to a costume party and there was actually really and truly a guy who had blacked up. And said he had come as a pimp. I guess these things happen outside of London....

Was good tho. But now I'm dead. and I don't have a day off until next Tuesday !!!!!! will be lots of early nights for me!

Just tried to catch up on everyone's news - sorry to hear about annoying MIL's and tummy bugs how rancid for you all.

Got some questions on the back of all your postings - No.1: cervix kicking. Is this what I've recently been feeling? Really low down and uncomfortable, almost feels like it's kicking your G-spot or something, but not in a nice way!!?

My piglet is proper going for it now, kicking me like mad all the time, with no regard for when I'm doing a gig or a recording - it's put me off a fair few times now!! I can see it bumping around under my skin now too, very freaky....

No.2 Is it recommended and advised that we get flu jabs? i've never had one and never thought about it.

No.3 People considering home birth - please read Ina May Gaskin ' A Guide to Childbirth' - an incredible and inspiring book, and has turned me into a homebirth evangelist. It has hippy moments but also masses of scientific research and facts for those of you who hate all the home-birthing hippy woo. Fryn if you don't want to shell out for a copy you're very welcome to borrow mine? I've got another book by her as well, much more hippy, but also inspiring and uplifting. I'm actually looking forward to mine, despite people seeming absolutely desperate to tell me their birthing horror stories.

Can't think of anything else right now. Oh - I am attempting to knit a blanket with heart shapes knitted in. Done the first line - made a few m istakes.... don't know how to correct them.... and now the hearts look like space invaders. What a pile of crap. Poor baby... makes your quilt is so ultra impressive. Well done, gorgeous.

Sorry this is so long! Jesus Christ!!

redhead - re: cervix kicking - yup, that's exactly how it feels - like it should be pleasurable, but really it's just weird and uncomfortable!

As to homebirth I would love to if it was the only alternative to a hospital, but I'm lucky enough to live near an excellent MW led unit which I would actually prefer because it's less isolated so if I should need an ambulance it would be easier to find (plus someone else can do all the clearing up!) and we don't have a bath here, so I wouldn't even be able to wallow in warm water here!

redhead Yes, it's recommended that all pg women get the flu jab as we're apparently immunno-compramised. We're no2 on the list on the NHS website There are some theories that partial immunity to flu is passed to lO when pg, for a few weeks after and a bit longer if you bf...

fish I love hearing Abi's heart beat too, even if she doesn't sound 'normal'. Glad to hear that everything's well too.

I don't get this weirdness about "it being different when it's your daughter that's PG". But then maybe that's something that comes with being a grandparent. My MIL only has sons, so does that mean she's "missing something" or is there some weird sisterhood thing that I'm unaware of? (and that no female member of my family has ever felt the need to include me in before).

Mum keeps telling me it IS different, but she's going to be less involved with this child than the other grand children, so I don't get exactly what IS different (other than maybe they feel it's ok to interfere more?!) - geography alone is going to cause this and I WILL NOT have them visiting every couple of weekends (mainly I suspect because I will be working) as I want a life with my own little family, not one where I'm stressed beyond belief managing their expectations against my ability to be rational.

Anyway, to those with frankly insensitive parents. Fuck 'em. Enjoy your babies and let them feel the jealousy when you're having fun without them!

Also, very jealous of all you eaters. Wish I had an appetite. To say I'm eating because I have to's a little too dramatic, but that's basically it.

Cakes that is a work of art! Well done. I bet you could make a nice profit if you were to make more for selling.

I might go to bed when I have finally finished eating. Oatcakes, with balsamic onion cornish cruncher cheddar and an apple now.

I have my flu jab on 18th of next month. Ouchy, but better than flu.

Oh fish. Just reading that made me feel queasy. Pre-pg I'd have loved that. I think exhaustion is making it worse...off to bed.

Sorry Oiesha. I am just amazed at how much food i'm putting away. i hope your apetite returns soon. Didn't mean to make you ill x

Makescakes that playmat is sooo beautiful! You are so skilled!
You're all right - homemade things are sooo much more wonderful than bought things.
Just to show you, I am putting up a pic of the playmat my girls had and little Ruthie will also inherit, made by my Mum (the baby is DD1, 7.5 years ago !). The applique bits are flowers and mushrooms and I love it. My mum also made a crochet squares blanket for each of them and I'm hoping she'll make one for Ruth too.
My auntie has made a sampler for each one (one with Beatrix Potter figures and one with Winnie the Pooh characters) with their full names and dates of birth and the relevant quote from that poem about the day of the week on which they were born. I have cheekily asked her if she'll make one for Ruth too!
And when I was back in the UK in August I met up with a friend from school who I hadn't seen for 22 years (since she left our school) and she is an avid knitter with no kids, and she says she'll knit me something too. She's also a vegan so there's a chance I may get something knited from bamboo fibres (or cotton) because she won't use wool! How exotic is that!
Aha and my Mum is learning felting, and I've asked her to try her hand at some felted bootees that I saw in a yummy-mummy style toy shop in Hebden Bridge for 45 quid .

Och and before I go, Makescakes you wouldn't share the recipe for your stem ginger cake would you? I am a complete ginger fiend...

Ooh - butterfly - bamboo yarn is soooo lovely - all silky and soft. I made a cardie for sproglet out of a cotton/bamboo blend and I can't stop stroking it.

I'm going to pop into town to the quilting shop today to get some batting for the quilt and maybe find something to trim the edges with. So excited about getting it finished - I love finishing off a UFO (unfinished object) - it's such a buzz :-)

And Oops - just saw your post butterfly - I'll see if I can dig out the reipe and type it up later. It's one my mum wrote out for me so I don't have it on the computer atm :)

Hi ladies, spent a few days immersed in real life and the threads moved on about 200 posts :)

Hope everyone is ok, will try to read through the pages at some point.

Was my birthday on Friday, lovely Dh got me a Kindle - should see me through night feeds :)

Does anyone think that taupe coloured paint would work in a nursery with oak furniture and white&grey accessories?

Busy, busy week, next week; GTT and 28 weeks bloods on Monday, Dd has her preschool booster on Tuesday then midwife on Thursday. Wonder if I qualify for my own seat in the surgery!

Best go do some housework, or maybe sit here for a while longer (only just managed to get in the house from nursery run before a bout of projectile vomiting )

fish not to worry. I'm just jealous!

Giraffe Happy Birthday for last Friday. Good present, I agree.

A defninte TMI coming up, but, well, who else can I share this joy with eh?? I think I have a pile. Loverly present for me to wake up to. A bit tender but nowt else. You'd think with a history of IBS I'd have had them before, but no. I'm guessing there's not much I can do about it but eat yet more fibre (seriously, I'm already sprinkling allbran on everything I can - it really isn't adding to my very early lunch bowl of chicken soup). Oh joy joy joy...

I'd better go to work....via some makeup...look very tired again.

I am happy today I hav finally been paid for some of my work-been a long time since my last pay at the begining of july. Must be careful to spend wisely and not spunk it all on treats, which is what i want to do.

Conversation with my mum yesterday it all seems things are calmer over there. She's not leaving my dad but they are skint and they are needing somewhere to live-she may be going back to cornwall, which is not ideal by any means, just when my sister and i need her around, but I have decided to leave them to thier own devices. Nothing me or my sis say will change anything so theres no point wasting my breath. She's still as mad as a box of frogs.

I'm going out in a minute-next doors dogs have been barking all bloody day and i'm sick of it. She's 94 deaf as a post and she been dumped with these two dogs who stink to high heaven, they belong to her son who lives somwhere else. They are left outside all day with no walks. I have thought about calling the rspca about them but I don't want to upset neighbourly relations and i think they would know it's me. It cant be right for dogs to be shut in a garden all day can it? But does it count as cruelty? They aren't neglected as it were, shes just had them clipped, they are well fed, just never walked. and bark bark bark bark bark all flippin day.

Got my referral to physio 2 weeks. Might actually get my sciatica sorted.

Hope everyone is ok x

Oiesha Yet again we have another pregnancy ailment at the same time. Piles can be a bit uncomfortable, I am using preparation H gel and tidmans sea salt baths.

In fact I use sea salt baths for everything :)

Not eating as much as yesterday-i'm not suprised tbh, I am glad i am not stuffing like that everyday, at least it was mostly fruit.

giraffe happy birthday lovely x taupe paint will worik beautifully. I love that colour.

cakes i am purposely not commenting on your beautiful craftwork because I am insanely jealous of your efforts-so pretty. I can crochet after a fashion and want to make something for this wee babe but I have enough on my plate just getting the bloody nursery and DD's room decorated.

Ugh. So tired.
Now the stomach ache and puking has finished I think I expected I was all better and completely discounted the post-viral ugh.

Also - Is my DH being unreasonable to say that we've run out of the 'basics' just because there's no blinking fruit juice? We have three flavours of squash, ffs, who needs fruit juice every day? I drink maybe one glass a week, he gets through a carton every two or three days. It's mental. I'd like to be really cross at him, but suspect it's mostly tiredness and, compared to how awful he could be, a mild grumble about lack of fruit juice does not warrant the scathing rhetoric I have running around my brain!

Nope. Basics = bread, milk, toilet roll and pringles :)

Argh I am trying to be organised writing out names shortlists, they're not very short and not very organised and definitely not going to be agreed with by dh.

Baby Girl [surname] or Baby Boy [surname] has a certain ring to it.....doesn't it??

lol

Am so glad we have the name thing sorted - especially glad that we both like the name equally. One bonus of the sex we're having is that the name choice was much easier!