December 2011 - Support tights time!

[BeeMyBaby]

Had no idea what to call it, sorry. Just googled third trimester and that was the recommendation...

Dh says a collective noun of pregnant geeks has to include a reference to online shopping! So alternatively we're an Amazon of Nerds (does that fulfil a feminism reference too, msbuggy?)

Now what are the chances of so many people with babies due on Dec 2011 having been to the same university! seven - university is definitely not necessarily a sign you are especially clever I agree, depends on what life choices you want to make. My uncle is definitely the most clever person I know (ie wide general knowledge, good at cryptic crosswords, can turn his hand to all manner of things etc etc) and he decided uni was not for him and went off travelling round the world before starting work.

Baby having a kicking frenzy tonight. how is everyone else?

Fenland Polytechnic, indeed! Refugees from persecution in Splodgeford!

sevenesevenseven, you still seem like the type, if you see what I mean. There are some people in this world who did, provably go to university, yet it's still hard to believe it, not least because they are such completely limited people. Your posts aren't like that at all!

On a non-academic note, I managed a successful attack on DH in bed last night - hurray! The trick was catching him asleep, as he comes to bed after me, and gets up before.

...and they must be rubbing their hands together with glee at MNHQ, planning an advertising blitz on this page with us showing off like this!

Pity they will need to take into account the contrary boasts of those who are hard up despite their education!

seven, don't worry..you're not alone in this sea of nerds .
I never bothered with school as I always wanted to be in the Police, and then a housewife (which never went down well at the (poncey) Kensington comprehensive secondary). Like you if I had gone to University, I would've never of met DH, or my best mates, so I made the right choice for me however MIL is slightly horrified that I don't have a degree (I'm the only person in their family without one), and thinks I'll regret it at some point...I've won every game of scrabble ever played, so I'm doing alright!

Has been really interesting reading more, non-baby related, stuff about all of you!!

jiggle I had my first 'proper' Braxton Hicks contractions earlier this evening! Squatter has calmed down since then, which is great as the last two nights it's been party central & I've not been getting to sleep before 3!

aethelfleda, a conference of geekmamas is hilarious! Imagine the queues for the toilet....

Can I out myself as yet another geek? I did a first degree over the pond and studied engineering. I was a trading floor software programmer for a number of years in various investment banks where I also met DH another IT nerd,just like pippy (had to do a double take at your bio actually). I then had DD 3 yrs ago and became clear that working my hours would never be doable with a small baby. Now I study Artificial Intelligence and run my own software company mostly from home.

Whilst I am a geek, I actually don't think I am particularly bright but my parents (immigrants) made me work, work and work at school so this has carried on throughout my life. I wouldn't be as strict with my own children but I would be slightly disappointed if they didn't work to the best of their abilities whatever level that might be.

I still haven't had any braxton hicks, I'm sure I was having them by now last time.

I'm knackered tonight, we took DS to soft play this morning then DH cut the hedge this afternoon so me and DS have been helping tidy up the hedge cuttings, the heat's really taken it out of me.

To change subject completely, husband is making a cake for a work thing tomorrow. It smells AMAZING and I can't have any! I feel like crying!! I WANT CAKE!

Can you at least lick the bowl, mopsy? I know it's dodgy with the raw egg, blah, blah, but...... I made brownies with DS on Saturday, and licking the bowl kept him quiet for aaaages. He was so happy!

mopsy, how could your DH deny his heavily pregnant wife a slice? You just need to put your foot down or else develop a sleep eating habit . Next time he will remember to make two cakes.

I have the intelligence, I don't have the application. I stopped my uni stuies due to mental health problems, and though I have plotted a return to finish up and settle some personal issues with myself I have yet to time it right. I was supposed to be going back this year, but have had to put a brake on that for now >_<

Not feeling so great this week. Had a miserable migraine over Sunday/Monday and the delightful 'hangover' yesterday. Not sleeping too well and my hips/pelvis area feels as though it is held together by pieces of old and worn elastic band.

Am hoping that you're all having a less painful time of it:)

Lastly: May I throw User Friendly into the geek comic pool? Used to love that one. I even made a dust puppy many moons ago when I ought to have been helping a bunch of brownies make snowmen pompoms which looked rather fabulous :)

Haven't been on in ages and had lots of catching up to do - things have been v busy! Msbuggywinkle, so sorry about your break in and hope things are back on even keel.

Laughing at today's posts - I'm sure there's a research paper in it somewhere! I'm also the geeky, top of the class type, with 1st Class Hons from top uni and silly driven, work ethic but hubby not at all like that! Yes, he has degree from Russell Group Uni but his is 3rd Class Hons and he spent 5 yrs getting it (unlike the 3 it should have taken). He is also the most caring, compassionate and people-focused person I know and has unbelievable amounts of friends because of it! I love him so much because he's not me and he balances me out - another version of me would only stress me out! So despite my driven nature, I don't mind how my kids are academically, so long as they have good values in life! In fact, would prefer them with kind heart and less ability to selfish, materialistic, self promoting but top of the class (although I'm sure everyone would say that)! What would really upset me was a child who was lazy and sat around a lot - I'm hoping that's more about upbringing than nature though so I am promising myself now that child will not be indulged to the point of losing all initiative!

That's a long enough post for now - heading to bed! Hope all the pregnancy-related niggles are sorting themselves out.

Funny you should call us "heavily pregnant", fusam. I know we've all been moaning about the size of us, but I was a bit huffy to see the term applied to "Ruby the Heartstealer" (one of Berlusconi's underage squeezes) in the Sunday Times... when she's due in December too! I thought "heavily pregnant" was eight months!

I'm heavy and pregnant...

Taking myself off to bed now. I have made an ofering to the washing machine sock monster, with added vanish seasoning, so all should be well in the utility room until I wake up to find the machine empty and hear the echoing burp of a satisfied entity lurking in the house...

I went to bed and the cake monster within me went to sleep. I might have to go and get a coffee and muffin for breakfast instead of cornflakes though just to keep it appeased ...

Although I went to a good private all girls school and good uni I just never could be bothered with it and I'm now much happier as a secretary. I think my parents are disappointed that I didn't have higher goals, especially with all the money they threw at my education and my siblings - not only can I not afford private education for my own children, I also think it is a massive waste of money. I would like my DC's to be bright, but that wouldn't come from me, it would come from DH - he's currently doing his masters and speaks 4 languages fluently (the norm where he is from). I'm afraid I am terrified of having a SN child, my cousin's second child has SN and at almost three she struggles to roll or sit (although an incredibly happy little girl)- its said to be chromosomal so a massive shock for their family as she was only 23 or 24 when she had her. I refused the blood test and nuchal scan so its always at the back of my mind that its a possibility.

Don't worry seven you're not the only one without a degree! I didn't go to uni, it just wasn't for me...I was sent to boarding school at 7 years old & all girls private schools after that; all on scholarship as we were very poor. Was always a year ahead, very academic then I got to A Levels & discovered boys :o Did ok even with that major distraction!

I had big plans of being at the top of my career as quickly as possible so I skipped uni thinking it was far too slow & fast-tracked through a couple of different fashion companies until I ended up with an incredibly well paid high pressure job working abroad for a major US brand at just 22 but I was so unhappy. I'd worked my ass off for years to get somewhere I just didn't want to be (or maybe wasn't emotionally ready for ).

I suppose that's why I have absolutely no interest in my kids being academic. DP & I have a 5 year plan to move to Southern Italy to a place with holiday lets where he can continue roofing, because he loves it, & I can change the sheets weekly & make our guests welcome & basically just relax & enjoy our family :) If our kids want to go to uni that's fine but I'm definitely not going to encourage it. I expect them to be avid readers though, I devour books so I would think they'd follow my lead. I think I'd be happier if they decided to travel the world for 3 or 4 years gaining life experience than go to uni. I wonder if I'll be less of a lentil weaver once the pregnancy hormones wear off :o

plu definitely feeling heavily pregnant here! I was stretching my back out on the bus yesterday, leaning forward as it was a very long journey & a worried looking man tapped me on the shoulder & asked if I was ok. I swear from the look on his face he thought I was about to give birth :o

I did consider not going to university after I read David Lodge's "Nice Work", since one of the main characters was terrifyingly awful. She lived in the mind and was unbearably smug. I knew I couldn't stand to be like her, and my headmaster at the time was pissing me off with his Oxbridge snobbishness (turns out his Cambridge college was not a full college at the time he was there, but the school governors hushed it all up - disgusting hypocrisy on all sides).

However, my tutor told me calmly that I would be spiting myself not to go if I had the chance, and so I decided to challenge the expectations I was afraid of (thinking I needn't end up as either the egghead or the hypocrite, and hopefully I haven't). However, it was a good crisis to have gone through, as people really ought to think about why they are going to university, and indeed if they should go. That "if" is going to be particularly relevant for our children's generation, after all.

Back to pregnancy: a nurse asked me this week whether I had a bag packed yet, apparently just because I told her DS was born a week early. I'm not even 30 weeks yet! When is everyone planning on having the bag packed? I thought 35 weeks was the sensible suggestion.

I've got a bag already.... With 6 pairs of chuckable knickers in it, two packs of night time pads in, a breastfeeding-friendly nightshirt and an anti-perspirant. And a couple of babygros. Minimalist in the extreme but I don't think i got around to proper packing til 38 weeks last time!

Oh, and my DDs have turned into the food police!!

I said yesterday to them , aw, I REALLY feel like a brie sandwich, and DD2 (who's just turned 4) said sternly to me "No, mummy. You know you're not allowed brie til the babys come out. Or salami or pate."

I suspect I may have been whining about my food restrictions a little :)

Going back many pages ...

We have our name he is going to be called Saul and Harrison for the middle name

And for the geeks, i went to Grammar school, sailed through A levels, went to a "normal" university and have since not used my degree. I have a crappy job (ie non important and boring as it doesn't require use of a brain!!)... but i earn far more than anyone i went to university with and the beneits are fantastic. It was the only reason i took the job to be honest! Money shouldn't be everything but i was saving to go traveling, so it was at the time. I was lucky enough to get 3 months off work to travel AND was still paid!

back to pregnancy- i too am having period type pains, only mild and not all the time. Also my lower back is so painful . I ask OH for a massage but he wont do it :(
awch was it you talking about belly buttons?? mine has gone from being very deep to now sticking out... it looks like a peanut M&M on the outside!! lol

kri5ty, it was me talking about belly buttons. Congratulations on popping (I think?), did it happen overnight?
Saul Harrison is an awesome name!

Planning for a home birth, but I assume if I needed to go to hospital I'd have 5 minutes to throw lots of crap in a bag/get DH to do it (which sounds like a much more interesting way to do it, wonder what a man would pack in a womans hospital bag)?

mopsy, I had 3 mini chocolate bars & a hot chocolate for breakfast. This after saying I'd gone off chocolate last week.

Honey, you sound very much like me (hurrah for lentil weavers!), I'd rather my children were happy than stressed out...and if that means shelf stacking in Sainburys then I'm fine with it (as long as they understand that it means they can't afford to go to St Tropez on holiday), although if I could force them into anything, I'd love to have them in the armed forces (both DH & I regret not joining, he didn't do well enough at maths to do what he wanted in the RAF, and I was banned from joining by my Grandmother, although we would never of met..so cheers Nana!).
V. jealous of your 5 year plan!
We're a bookworm-y bunch too, we've already got a big pile of 'must reads' for the LO so I'm hoping it picks up our love of books.

Just read back a bit as I was out all day yesterday Tyel sorry to hear about your birthing centre but YAY for another homebirth!!! How exciting; I bet you won't regret it if it's what you choose, you seem to be getting on really well with the hypnobirthing & homebirthing is very much in keeping with that. I'm going out next week to get some lamps & lots of candles for low lighting during the birth to set the right mood. Can't believe I'm 31 weeks tomorrow...it's creeping up fast. :)

Oi glad gingerbaby is within normal weight range. Weird of your MW to say that about more than 10 movements, I thought the latest info was to call if there were any change to what's normal for your baby, since everyone is different

kri5ty I've been having pains like that too, was going to ask the MW about them at appointment next Tues.

AWCH If I had to describe my childhood in one word it would be stressed Took me a long time & losing someone very close to me to realise that life is just too short for all that...I'm perfectly happy for my kids to grow up to be beach bums or lentil weavers living off the land :o ....just so long as they support themselves & don't expect handouts.