We will brook no argument for a boring, uneventful, blooming pregnancy; followed by a perfectly-timed pain-free sneeze birth; vol 5

[ScreamIfYouWantToMeetSanta]

Hi No Brookers! I do hope this has worked and is in the right place...

I've added a few extra sofas so we have plenty of space for all the Rat Smackers who will be joining us soon. There's also a nice long table filled with mince pies, yule logs, gingerbread snowmen and xmas puds! Plus some non-alcoholic mulled wine. I've strategically positioned a few clean glittery vom buckets under the table, just in case it's still a bit too early for xmas munchies for some people!

As you were...

Good luck for tom Purple! I'm sure it'll be fine and it's just an admin mix up.

All ok over here. Moved out of icu onto a general paeds ward. F still on a bit if o2 and half feeds by ng tube but then also on demand bf-ing as well so hopefully we've turned the corner and will be out soonish. Want to go home (she wails).

Hawthers you are amazing! :) SO pleased the bf is going well and you have managed to keep it going through all this. I bet you can't wait to get him back :)

Scream I emailed Winstanley's pramworld and aked if they gave extra discount on bigger orders and they have given me an extra 10% off and some of the things had a discount compared to most places anyway. They ship in the Uk for free to. So always worth asking! Mine is £50 off a £500 spend, thye have cots have a look see :)

Nanny-in-law doesn't like my favourite name either, maybe it is a generational thing?
Thanks for the luck, just a bit wibbly as it would be a horrible stress and I have only just sorted out my blood pressure!

Hawthers that's amazing news about Farley, well done to you both! I'll be keeping up the No Brooking until you have him home safe and sound!

Purple I've heard really good things about Winstanleys actually! It's supposed to be one of the cheapest places to get an iCandy pram from! However retailers aren't allowed to sell the iCandy online, and even when I rang them directly they said I can't order it over the phone and have it delivered. Sadly the actual store is nowhere near London, and they don't do the cot I want either! Still, for anyone who's after one of the brands they have in stock, they sound great!

I'm impressed your mws do appointments on Sundays! I'm sure they are looking after you well, and there's nothing for you to worry about!

Hawthers so glad you're moved out of ICU - and it sounds as though Farley is doing really well, especially to still be bf! Hope you're all home soon.

Purple good luck with your mw appt today. I can't imagine getting any mw appts on a Sunday here! I'm sure it's nothing to worry about though - I bet someone spilt a coffee on the appt book or accidentally deleted something important on the computer, so they've had to rebook everyone . Lots of brooking that it's nothing serious. How many weeks are you now?

Scream it sounds as though you've got everything in hand if you know what it is you're looking for. That's the hardest bit I found - actually picking everything. So once you know what you're looking for that does make it a bit easier. I bet it's hard though to find a deal on an iCandy. I'd never actually heard of them when we got our bugaboo or else I'd have definitely compared (I think they were pretty new 4yrs ago when we were buying), but I remember looking at them when my friend got one and JL weren't even allowed to put the price on the website!

Is it worth starting a thread either in Pregnancy or Products to see if anyone knows how to get a deal on either the iCandy or the Pacapod?

I have to confess we're only so organised this time round because dh will be super flat out once he goes back to work and we'd never get it all done with only the odd half day here and there. I think he was feeling the pressure about getting it all done (as you say Scarlet, it's his job), and since we already had everything like the cot etc in the loft it only took an Ikea trip to get the other bits sorted. Plus we're both conscious of the baby coming early so the last thing he wanted was to be begging them to keep me in hospital so he could finish building the furniture . Last time we were the complete opposite in terms of organisation!

Last day of DH's holidays today so we've ditched everything else on the to do list and we're going to a farm park thing with some friends which should be luverley .

Just another thought Scream - well 2 actually. Firstly, have you registered on the mailing lists of places like Jojo Maman Bebe and Mothercare etc. They quite frequently have 10% or more off offers that I get through the post which might help?

And my other thought that might help is Quidco - if you could find somewhere that can give you cash back on the purchase that could be quite substantial on the price of a pushchair? Although most of their deals are online only (which as you say is a problem for the iCandy) sometimes you can get deals for in store too.

Which Pacapod bag is it you're after Scream? They only seem to have one on Jojo and Mothercare?

Purple, good luck for today :) I'm sure it's just an admin thing! I'm also impressed you've got an appointment on a Sunday - not sure if that would happen around here (although my booking app was a Sat morn..)

Hawthers, so glad Farley's doing better and out of ICU. Glad the BFing is going well too! Hoping you'll be home safe and sound soon.

Loving the name chat! We have a girls shortlist, but very few names for boys yet. The one I like most starts with the same initial as my name. Is that a problem? I can't decide if it is or isn't. Need some more for the list anyway - hopefully DH and I can sit down and blitz the list later today.

I've taken a similar approach to organisation as you Biscuits - as soon as term starts (this week) I'll be working pretty much full on, working freelance during the weekends... so have tried to start getting organised now! Haven't yet bought cot, car seat and moses basket (needed because of the size of our bedroom!), but we've picked them, so at least that's one hurdle overcome.

Deciding where we want to live is the next one. After looking round another house on Friday, we've been giving more thought to seeing if we can buy the place we are renting. Things we'd need to sort include a second loo - might be able to get one in the massive understairs cupboard, but would need a cunning solution for ventilation, so need to get someone in to see what they think could be done. Secondly is the water system, which heats up ridiculously slowly so you have to run the water for ages before it heats up, thus costing us an awful lot more than it did in London. Still, I really love this house and the location, so maybe if we can factor those elements into the price of buying it, it might be worth it... and then we could redecorate one of the spare rooms and nursery-ise it!

Purple's midwife appointment reminds me. My doctor decided to phone on Friday - but phoned the house phone, and I wasn't in. DH was (working from home), and was asked to get me to call back - apparently she sounded surprised that I was at work? Anyway, DH didn't give the message until just after the doctor had left the surgery - slightly annoyed at him, but moreso at the doctor who didn't even bother to try my mobile! Again! Anyway, apparently she'll call again on Monday. Slightly anxious as to what it could be. I had to have a second lot of samples sent off to confirm I'd beaten the food poisoning - what if it's still in my system? Or something else is wrong with them?

I'm a natural worrier in case you can't tell..

Oh, one more thing - anyone got any sleeping tips? Heading towards a week of rubbish sleep - I know it happens a lot during pregnancy, but beginning to feel it now! Can we use lavender-y sprays/pillows at all? On the plus side, means I was up nice and early today, so have made a start on all the chores before DH is even up!

Sorry for me me me me.. will come back and be more with it after a nap maybe.. zzz.

Musical I'm the doctor would have made it clear to your husband if it was a serious/urgent issue. It'll turn out to be something totally minor I'm sure. I can imagine your frustration at the delay in finding out though!

Your plan for buying your current house sounds like a good compromise. Even if you bought a new house you'd still have to make adjustments to it, and this way you don't have to move! Good luck with it all.

What's your girls' names shortlist? If you don't want to post it though that's fair enough!

Biscuits sounds like you have a lovely day planned for your DH's last day of freedom! Hope you all have a great time!

Thanks for all the shopping advice as well! It's obvious you're a wise and experienced baby shopper! I think the iCandy is still relatively new as a brand. They have this annoying no-offers policy (which goes hand-in-hand with the annoying no online sales policy) which means that technically everyone has to sell their prams at full price. What several places will do though is bundle the pram together with the maxi cosi, and give a discounted bundle price which can make the car seat almost free if you go to the right place. There are lots of existing threads on MN and other forums asking about where to get the iCandy cheapest (which is where Winstanleys keeps being mentioned!) but out of my limited options in London most people think the Baby Show has the best offers. Hence the waiting to Feb. Might start a thread asking about cheap places to buy a Pacapod bag though. The one I want is the Portland (although I need to check it out in John Lewis first before buying - I was supposed to be going there today but once again can't walk as far as the bathroom without pain! So frustrating!)

As for mailing lists, I signed up for a few before xmas but they drove me mad with the constant emails! I ended up unsubscribing from them all. Ultimately I'm willing to do the bargain hunt thing for the big purchases (cots, pram, etc) but I really don't care what the little stuff costs. I'll just go to a big Mothercare one weekend and blitz everything in one go. I'm maxed out on baby stuff research!

Glad to hear that Farley has the no brooking mindset hawthers

I've gone ahead and ordered the pram, should be here Tuesday. Looking at cots now. I'm thinking of going cotbed to last that bit longer and have only seen 1 I like so far. I want a dropside and also want both ends to go smaller when converting to the bed as I think it looks a bit awkward with high ends. Looking at the Cosatto Arlo at the moment.

Nursery is all painted, Dad is building us a wardrobe in there at the moment and we are looking for carpet. We've gone for yellow walls as the wardrobe has chalkboard doors for me and DH to play with so need to counteract the dark doors.

Been looking for maternity clothes, so frustrating that hardly any shops seem to have them in and not all that do go up to a size 20. Looks like I'll have to buy online but I don't like doing that with clothes as I like to try on and it's a pain to have to return what doesn't fit.

Still no bump here but for the past few days I've been aching at the bottom of my belly. I'm guessing this means that maybe it's going to start growing soon. Although being a fatty anyway, anyone who doesn't know me would say I look pregnant as I've had a food bump for years :)

Silly me previewed my message to check my links were done right and now can't remember who said what up the thread so apologies for lack of/wrong names

Biscuits, so sweet about your DS making preparations

Can't remember who Sure that the week early mw appointment was due to a general balls up and not just specific to you

Ninja? I heard heartbeat at 16 weeks

Little glad to hear that operation no dummy is working well

Scream DD will get back to normal bedtime routine. She has been ill for so long on and off that she probably can't remember how to just go to sleep.

Hi, I don't mind sharing names on here although we don't talk names with anyone in RL. That way we are not influenced by other people's opinions.(I don't mind yours as you all seem so nice[:)] I have been on some of the naming boards to look for ideas but some people on there are a bit rude IMO. It is also something special to be announced on their birth day. Our favourite name at the moment is Dexter. It fits well with our other boys names but it has crept into top 100. Ds1 is still way down but Ds2 is about 47 now ( not in 100 14 years ago! ) I don't know how popular Dexter is around here but I have been in childcare for 22 years and haven't come across one yet! Is it more popular elsewhere?
Yay for mini Hs recovery, let's hope it speeds up in the next few days and you can all go home!

Scream my local stockist does Icandy with 10% off, which one are you hoping to get? I was going to get a Peach but got a bit annoyed about the pip 2 shenanigans! If you have any family near a stockist that could pick it up and post? Fingers crossed for the baby show.

Music it is probably nothing important, apparently my MW was having a senior moment. She is keeping my next week appointment though so she is obviously keen to keep an eye on me!

Biscuits I think it was who asked, I am 31+2, except I thought I was 32!

Thanks for all the luck! :)

Good work on the preparation Jen! That looks like a very slick pram - nice!

Dexter is an excellent name Wants! I love names that everyone will know and recognise but aren't overly common.

I think the baby names threads are often unnecessarily rude. I appreciate that if I ask someone for their opinion they are fully entitled to have a negative one, but I just don't think it needs to be expressed in such a blunt way. Whenever anyone else asks me about a name I'm very conscious that even if I personally don't like it that doesn't mean they won't still end up using it, and it's not helpful to have said really mean things about it!

On a separate note, an old friend of mine was just ahead of me in her pregnancy (only 2 weeks further, so 26 weeks) and she gave birth yesterday! Such a shock to everyone. Fortunately her little girl (who has a beautiful name) is in a stable condition and she was even breathing on her own when she was first born. So at the moment things look as good as they can. 26 weeks is so early though! That news really tugged at my heart strings, particularly because I'd expected us to have our babies around the same time!

Scream look here :)

I like Dexter, although I couldn't use it myself.

Glad your appt went well Purple, and it's good to know your mw is looking out for you (even if she is a little scatterbrained! ).

Ooooo which stockist is it that has the iCandy at 10% off!?! All of my family are in London though, and although DH's family are scattered around the country they're all super-thrifty (despite being highly paid doctors / surgeons) and believe in buying everything secondhand! They'd probably freak if they knew how much we're spending on everything . It was hilarious actually, after DH and I designed my engagement ring at the jewellers, they posted the completed ring through to his uncle (DH didn't want to me to know when it had arrived). The package had the price of the ring clearly marked on the outside for insurance purposes, and DH's uncle nearly had a heart attack! He actually rang DH up to make sure he was aware of how much he'd spent!

Still, seeing as my parents are the ones buying the pram, I really want to make sure I find the absolute best deal possible, so I'd be very interested to ring that stockist Purple. What are "pip 2 shenanigans" by the way?

Thanks Purple! That's a fantastic thread!

I wanted it as a double and the pip 2 is the new converter, and the back seat is larger and basically they are not being forthcoming on when it is released except 'soon' so I didn't want to spend so much money on a new peach for it to not be up to date in about 5 minutes! I am just generally not impressed with their customer service, so have gone for something different and got a bargain to!
Still frivolous really as only hope to need the double aspect for a few months unless we have no.3!

I know what you mean about thrifty types, I am usually pretty tight myself, however I do believe in spending money on things that are going to last better/have greater resale value .etc
My wedding ring is platinum as I knew I wanted it to last and didn't want to have it re-dipped like with white gold .etc Then I don't mind buying value chopped tomatoes, whereas Dh likes napoli ones and can be at odds to me.

I will get my stockist number for you and PM, they are not online any more and is in Devon.

That's such good news Hawthers I'm so pleased to hear little Farley is doing so well with his recovery.

Purple glad your MW appointment wasn't for anything worrying. I'm sure it will be the same with your Dr Musical

Wants Dexter is lovely. I only know of one Dexter and that is a relative of an ex-colleague so not common at all round these parts but is a very good, strong sounding name. I also don't discuss names in RL, not even with my Mum.

Scream fingers crossed for your friend's DD, stories like that terrify me! I'm 25+2 today so not far off from 26 weeks and I daren't imagaine that happening.

Sounds as though you're getting organised to jen. Re maternity clothes have a look on the Mothercare website, I'm sure they do size 20. IME their clothes also come up pretty big so you may get away with a size smaller with them too.

Hee hee you sound exactly like me on the expenditure front Purple! I wanted a platinium ring so that it will last, and I want the very best brand new stuff I can find for the baby this time round because I'm intending to use it for no.2 (and even 3 if I'm actually still considering a third after 2 pregnancies and births! ). Conversely I can't see the point in paying extra money for something when I can't see a reasonable difference, so I always buy value tomatoes etc! DH on the other hand is happy to buy Napoli tomatoes (even though he can't tell the difference from value ones!) but he hates spending large lumps of cash so he'd rather get the cheapest secondhand pram we can find! (He knows that's not going to happen though, so hasn't even tried to dissuade me from any of my expensive baby selections ). He was willing to fork out on the engagement ring because he knows it's important to me, but even though I was the one who paid for his wedding ring he still didn't want me to get platinium for him (he chose white gold).

Please do PM me the stockist details! Now that Belgium is off the cards, and particularly because I might be going on mat leave insanely early, we might actually end up spending a weekend in somewhere like Devon as a holiday. Would it be too strange to plan a holiday around collecting a pram!?!

I have pmed you now :)
Glad I am not the only one with the same logic! I wouldn't think it is strange at all to plan a holiday and we have a great hospital here, if anything went wrong, not that it will! And I can recommend a lovely hotel although is a bit ££s!
I bought a rubbish pram new, but ended up selling it for pence as it was awful, I am now a fan of long warranties and customer service!

Our carseat was from Winstanleys, its in reach of us! Well, about a 50 min drive but bearable.

Ooh yes, will you share your girls names shortlist musical? My Dh and dd have same first initial. Doesn't bother us! I wouldn't give one of the boys the same initial or it'd become a mouthful introducing my family!!!

Right. Dd wont even nap. ive been exercising her outdoors all morning too. Off to do the walk of sleep...

Scream and Purple, I'm hoping the doctors' call is nothing. However, last time I got a call from the surgery (and a receptionist), I didn't hear from them again for five days, and it was the food poisoning that meant I shouldn't have been in contact with children. And this time the call was from the doctor itself. Hmm...

I also always buy the value tomatoes In terms of baby bits, we're going in between in the price stakes - things that will (hopefully) last for future children, if we're lucky enough to have them, but yet that don't break the bank. We've therefore spent quite a bit of time finding deals etc, but have bought new this time round. I'll be buying all the little bits from wherever I find them cheapest ish- mostly Amazon by the looks of things!

Hope your friend and her baby are doing well Scream. Scary when they're born so early...

Current girls names on our list are Madeline, Eleanor and Kathryn. We like longer names you can shorten! The only big argument we're having at the moment is whether to have one middle name (like I do), or two (like DH does!). Time to work on the boys names list..

oh rubbish, missed 10,000,000 posts.

jen, I've seen the cosatto arlo in the flesh. Very nice cotbed. I chose the cosatto hogarth instead as I preferred its curves. I didn't get dd a cotbed, as we took a hand me down cot, but I think the transition to bed may be easier with a toddler bed once its converted. DD won't be doing that though, straight to a single for her!!!

My theory re:baby stuff was not to plan too far ahead though I had to restrain myself intensively. I think I would have got the good stuff though if by Herculean effort I hadn't managed to buy nothing and accept everything second or thirrd hand (sounds stupid, but I found buying nothing new for my baby a bit hard!!!) Good job I didn't in the end- we need totally different to what I thought we would for numbers 2 &3 with them arriving together!

scream, the thought of a 26 weeker is terrifying to me- especially as I wouldn't relax at all til they were at least 2 and didn't seem to have cerebral palsy etc etc. I really hope your friends baby is fine. Must be a frightening tie for them. I would absolutely plan a holiday around picking up a pram, especially as it;s somewhere lovely like Devon.

Yes the baby names threads can be a bit rude, or just plain ridiculous... I shall ask you lot!!

Hooray little Farley, good on you, keep it up! hope you have him home soon hawthers.

DH has taken dd for the walk of sleep. Not particularly graciously. He's got a pretty horrible cold, I'm tired, we're being snappy to each other... He has ssaid again i'm on phone/computer too much so will cut down. (getting this sneaky bit of mn-ing in!)

I like all your names musical- I think Madeline is my favourite. We considered Eleanor for DD. I also wanted a name I could shorten, but have ended up with a pretty short name for DD, though i bet I could shorten it!!! You're going for quality stuff though- the baby joggers have a lifetime warranty and are great!! And sometimes it's ridiculous. You can spend £700 on a cotbed- why would you need to?!

Thanks for your positive comments about our name choice, just need to work on DS1 now! I have given him links too all the name websites so he can make suggestions of his own. Ds2 calls baby moon child and I still refer to him as little man. Whatever name we choose we won't use it until baby is born.
I have been offered a crib today by my aunt so that is cot and crib sorted. When I visit my sister she will be giving me a bag of newborn boys clothes that DN didn't wear as he was a big newborn! Unfortunately all the plumbing,car and architect bills wiped out our baby funds so we won't be buying anything for a while yet!