January 2012 - The one with the heartburn, kick counting and bump-gropers losing their hands...

[shonnomanom]

There we go, a nice new thread.

The BIG Question??? Will the first baby arrive during this thread???????

Yea parsley. Congratulations!!!

I'm going to visit the ils today and am dreading it! :( I really can't be bothered with the mad batty sil who will no doubt make her feelings known towards dd and bump. There will be a tantrum and 30 minutes after arriving I will be ready to leave. I really dont want to go :(.

Right whinge over I'm off to shower and get dressed and get ready for the 2 hour drive, which thankfully we won't have to repeat before christmas.

Yey parsley - congratulations! Great to hear it was the day you wanted

woop woop parsley mahoosive congratulations and

Congratulations parsley I'm glad you had the special day you and your husband wanted x

Thanks guys :) The bump got lots of attention and a bit of touching, but luckily everybody who tried it was allowed

Congratulations ParsleyLion1 I was married 15 months ago and it feels like a decade ago! I would do it all again in a flash, even if we have the same weather conditions - rain, rain and more rain!

DH decided last night was the time to put up the cotbed. :) It took us 20 minutes. Although I was too knackered to do anything else so all the other stuff has been dumped in the room and the door shut for now. DH moaned several times that Peanut has more stuff than him! (I've only got the 'basics'!)

Congratulations parsley! Glad it was everything you wanted it to be.

Oeisha and Shon, thank you both I do now have a fully functioning pram! Unfortunately I went out for dinner with friends that night and when I came home my husband had assembled everything, so I'm still none the wiser how it was done! However, I did have fun wheeling it around the kitchen :-) He says it was easy, so it probably was just my pregnancy hormones blocking my sense of logic!

How long does everyone have left at work? I've got 5 weeks and it cannot come sooner!

Congrats parsley. Mrs "Parsley" i should say :)

bella i have 2 weeks left. 7 weeks to go.

Fish I bet you can't wait. I have 7 weeks left too, I don't know what I was thinking trying to work up to almost 38 weeks. I'm already knackered.

i have just sorted through 7 boxes marked DS1 from the attic. So I now have three piles, recycling, boys stuff and unisex. We have meant to be having a girl so I can now wash the unisex and then figure out what we have in what sizes I finally feel like we are getting somewhere! Gonna keep the boys stuff just in case, and if not needed that will be sorted into give away and sell.

and relax.....

chicken dinner for tea, can't BLOODY WAIT!

Bellakins I have 2 weeks left! yay!!!

My friend's sister had her 9lb baby boy this morning via emergency c section. She was due Nov 6th so they began inducing her on Friday morning. There wasn't much progress and at 3pm yesterday they broke her waters. Between then and 7am this morning, the baby passed meconium and so had to be delivered asap. He's in special care on antibiotics but other than that seems to be fine. Friend's, sister's DP left her snoring at 9 this morning!!!

Just a quick hello ladies, from Sorrento (just thought I'd drop that in!) I wouldn't normally spend my holiday on the internet, but due to a landslide near here the buses are screwed, which means that all our hotel plans have gone tits up, so just trying to rearrange everything. Hoping they'll be understanding rather than charging us for missed nights. Anyway, glorious weather, and following on from the weight discussion earlier, based on 2 days worth of eating, I can safely say I'll be several kg heavier by the time I get back!

Parsley - congratulations!

And I hope all the rest of you are feeling better!

fryn gorgeous sorrento. We had our honeymoon there, it's such a delightful place.

Please have some limoncello for me. If you get a chance to go across the water to ischia, it's a beautiful Island.

Fryn we stayed here www.aminta.com/. Where are you staying?

ooooh fryn i forgot you were in Italy, so jealous. Shame about the landslide (!) but I hope you're still managing to get out and about and have a good time.

I've also got about 2 weeks of work left before it starts drying up - I was officially going to call time on my freelance stuff on the 19th dec but i don't have much stuff anyway so I guess I can just let it drift...

don't want to panic anyone but a friend of mine who is on a feb ante-natal thread (different website, pah) says TWO of the women have already given birth, both at 28 weeks!!!!!!!!!! Jesus Christ. And my doula says she's going to be away over christmas so I hope to god mine doesn't come out early!!!!

Oh wow red what are the chances of that?! Hope both babies are healthy.

I would love to go to Italy. Dp has been a few times, but that was before we met.

bella I should've been finishing on Nov30th but had to finish on nov11 dye to health. Glad youv git a fully functioning pram now

OMG - Congratulations Parsley - I do hope we get to see some pics of you in that dress all glowing and happy :) I love weddings! So so happy you had a wonderful day.

I, too, had a fab day today and feel really bloody stupid for all my silly whingeing. I feel very blessed by my friends and family and keep weeping a little weep from happiness (and probably tiredness, but let's gloss over that!) I hope those of you having some kind of bump party feel as special and loved as I did today - I made the most of it. Once bump becomes bubba I won;t be the centre of attention any more!

Hi guys, long time no see...
Red, cakes, oeisha, hope you're all feeling better.
Parsley congrats on the wedding, bask in the glowy newly-wed feeling for as long as possible!

I had my 3 days away as planned, was a nice break even though I spent most of it on trains (25 hours out of a total 72!)... Met up with a friend who is the national coordinator for the babywearing community so she brought her slings and advice along and we spent a happy time discussing different types of carry, sling and potential problems and how to solve them...

DH finally brought the pram/carseat combo in from the outhouse, only for us to find it's got mould from the damp, so he is on penitential scrubbing, washing and airing duty this week Grrr. Can't believe he put it in there...
I've got loads of baby clothes washed and on shelves but still no nearer to packing bag or buying essentials like nappies, creams, mat pads, etc... Head still firmly in sand about this whole thing!
Working like a Trojan and that looks set for now, with 3 more assignments at least to finish before B-Day, 2 of them big ones.
But for now I'm off to bed, busy week ahead with shedloads of work and guests coming Thursday as well for 4 days!
PS Just wanted to say how brave all of you are having parents/ILs lined up for so soon after birth. Luckily my mum is in a different country and has to book flights so she has booked to come a month after DD (so prob. about 2-3wks after actual birth, given my history of going 8-9 days over), and PILs don't drive any more, so will have to wait until I am strong enough to go visit them rather than the other way round. I am nicely in control here, methinks . NO way am I dealing with all those emotions as well as post-birth hormones! Those first days and weeks are for me, DH and the DDs alone!

Well my mum was phenomenal today - she worked her arse off. I need that kind of back up when I've just given birth :)

What conclusion did you come to with the sling/wrap discussion butterfly? I got given a beautiful purple woven wrap today and, um, may have tried it out with DH and the cat...

Glad you had a good day cakes

OH is so exhausted from yesterday that he fell asleep about 4.30 and went to bed at 6. I had a little nap about 5 and am about to have a nice bath before ( hopefully) joining him in snooze land.

We've got enough John Lewis vouchers as presents to buy a pushchair. Just got to pick one now.

Oh cakes please please tell me you have photos of the cat in the sling!! would love to see that. Ps glad youv had such a good day surrounded by all your favourite people. Don't beat yourself up about the other day, we all have days like that. Bloody hormones eh x

Wow people have been really busy hope italy was nice Fryn. I have only been to Rome and Venice but we had a super week ( honeymoon). As for me I seem to need to sleep more and more. Had a 2 hour sleep this afternoon and ready for bed now. It has been a pleasant weekend with all 3 older kids completing homework.

Ive ordered dome free sco nappy samples form beaming baby. I'm not sure how many I will get but it will be good to see the difference between pampers/huggies and eco ones. I have got 15 tiny fit by Tots bots I got them from tescos for a good deal. I just don't know how I will be and how much help I will get which will effect how quickly I get back to speed.

How much time will most dh's get off for paternity leave? My dh is entitled to 2 what is the norm. I am making him take every day of it this time as he didn't last time.

Morning everybody

I think 2 weeks is the norm for paternity but the amount of days that are paid varies. Where I work the guys get 2 days paid. My OH gets 5 days I think- he will top up with another 5 days annual leave.

Hey Parsley - don't you mean DH?? :) :D

Yes Nanny - the UK norm is 2 weeks, but my DH gets 3 days from his company on full pay, then the rest (if he chooses to take it) at the statutory rate, so he's splitting it, 3 days from the company, 2 days annual leave, 5 days paternity leave - it's the most economically viable way of taking the full amount :) HTH

And shon I think my sis took some pics of the cat in the sling, so will FB them if so :)

My OH is self employed so he gets nothing as far as we can see. So he's taking two weeks off teaching and then it's nearly half term so he'll have that off too. Wish it was more!!