We will have a serene, pain free, uneventful pregnancy and birth and will BROOK NO ARGUMENT on that.

[scarletfingernail]

New thread.

Good news on the boiler scarlet. Does that mean your ds can go and stay with them when needed? Glad he's getting over the finger bite. DS bit me once when he was very very young (probably only had about 6 teeth at the time) and it bloody hurt!
Well, I've got to work tomorrow morning as dp only managed to get half a day off to look after ds, so i've got weds afternoon and all day thursday off and don't work fridays, yay! Now what can I do with a contagious 4 year old for all that time? Answers on a postcard please......

Scarlet do we need to take a urine sample tomorrow? I don't honk it said anything about it on the instructions....
So glad your parents have resolved boilergate . Sleepovers ahoy

Ninja - ideas for DS.... Hmmmm ... How does he seem in himself? Does he seem out of sorts or is he just contagious?

How's it going at Dream towers tonight?

biscuits he's fine in himself, just spotty and contagious and a bit sniffly. RE the urine sample, don't you pretty much always need one if you're pregnant and have an appointment somewhere?

I do sometimes take one to the supermarket just in case someone asks while I'm there

So you can still do stuff with DS as long as he doesn't come into contact with others? Hmmm, baking, painting etc? DVD snuggles on the sofa? What about the park if it wasn't raining? If you could pick a quiet time you might not run into too many others?

Of course you might need to stop him from scratching his face whilst baking

I'm going to take one with me Biscuits just in case. I'd rather do it at home than faff around in the toilets there. Not sure if we need one or not.

Yes, we're hoping DS will have a couple of practice runs sleeping at my parents before D day. But every time so far I've brought it up with him he says "no thanks, stay here in my bed" . I'm not sure whether to stay over with him myself the first time to help him get used to it, but on the other hand will that make it harder for the first time after that? We really should have started a couple of years ago so it became normal.

Ninja some suggestions, painting, playdoh and plenty of books and DVDs. A run round the garden if he needs to let off some energy and get some fresh air.

The menace may have just gone to sleep. Little tike. Huge purple bags under her eyes, why fight sleep til 9pm!?!?!
I'm having a total panic wonder about what I'll do if she's not going to bed well when the babies arrive... 10 or 11 weeks to go. Would have thought that should be loads of time but its been months of sleeping hell now. biscuits, she has a spacer with her inhaler so you slot the inhaler into this chamber thing with a face mask at other end and squirt it and just hold the mask so she breathes it in. Dh did stories tonight, reported minimal impact, still rattling away. If no benefits in a few days, we abandon it.

scarlet, good to hear ds finger ok and boilergate resolved. Guess what?! I just realised ours hasn't been serviced for 14 months next week!!! Oops. Must book. Any way your parents can come and stay at your house with ds so he's in own bed? That's what I'm hoping for. Otherwise don't ask if he wants to, tell him he's going to stay in eg 2 or 3 days and get your parents to plan something really good and try and get him really excited about it! Great activity, favourite food etc . Would that work? Worst would be you collect Jim if he doesn't settle for them... I think you staying might work too as at least he'd be getting used to sleeping in their house, waking up somewhere different etc

ninja, I'm stuck for activities not already mentioned. Park, exploring outdoors, puddle stamping, playground. Or indoor things as discussed. Maybe going out to buy a kids magazine with things to colour or make in it could pass a morning....? Don't know, only up to young toddler stage!

Mine's still awake tonight dream, he's got a cold coming on so his snottery blocked nose is impairing the magic power of thumb sucking! just been in with a drink and some calpol as he seemed a bit warm and rosy at bedtime. seems a bit quieter now...

fx for a good night for you. :)

Oh no jaggy not another poorly DC for us brookers . DS is already on his second cold of 2012 and went to bed fully vapour rubbed up and with his Kalvol plug on. Roll on spring...

dream I've got everything crossed for a better night for you and your DD tonight. I don't know how you manage to get through the day you must be exhausted.

We're definitely going to get DS used to staying with his grandparents rather than have them come here. If my labour is anything like my previous one I don't want DS to see me like it. We're planning on taking him to them as soon as things kick off so I can wail like a banshee in the comfort of my own home without scaring him I can relax as much as possible during the early stages without worrying about him. Plus I'd rather my parents weren't around during that time as well. Ideally I'll cope for longer at home this time. I think it will be nice for DS to have fun with his grandparents on his own when the new baby comes so I'd really like him to now get used to it sooner rather than later. Doing his favourite actitivites with them is a great idea.

morning all.

he slept fine scarlet, so hoping it's just a sniffle. he was vapour rubbed thoroughly too. aw he's just waking up and can hear his wee snottery voice on the monitor!

hope all the other wee ones are feeling better soon.

Hooray only one wake up for dd and it only cost me less than an hour out of bed to get her back to sleep . Feel much more human. Last day at work.

Glad ds slept ok jaggy

Must rush off to work, later all!

Boo to ill toddlers but yay for some sleep. How exciting dream for last day!

I have a cold - not a bad one but already reduced lung space definitely not helped by all the snot. I got really breathless getting dd ready for nursery this am. Glad its a nursery day anyway although I have so many household chores to do! Urgh. Hate the housewife part of my post dd existence, it does not suit me :)

I will offer up my poorly toddler too! In bed with me last night (until I swapped with DH at 4.30am for several blissful hours all alone). She is hopefully not too poorly- a bit snotty but with quite a tight, painful-sounding cough.

Dream DD had a run of illness last year from Christmas till April/ May and kept getting bad ear infections. The GP said that she might be a bit low on iron and gave her supplements, which definitely made a difference. She really did perk up a lot and has been much better at shaking things off- she still gets them but gets rid of things much quicker. This was partly based on her low birth weight, but might be worth asking your DH or GP about maybe?

I had a midwife appointment at the start of the week. All seemed fine, had blood taken for full blood count and antibodies. My blood pressure is still marvellous, which pleases me! I hope it stays that way. Apart from anything else the thought of all the trekking back and forth to daycare that I had to do last time makes me feel exhausted! The midwife was absolutely lovely to DD and let her press all sorts of buttons which made the appoinment much more relaxed. Last time the midwife (a different one) seemed really flustered by DD, who is pretty well behaved most of the time.

Next appointment is a growth scan and then check up with the consultant, at which point I will be 31 weeks. I was rather surprised said when the midwife said that I was 28 weeks at this week's appointment

Hope the GTT tests are going well and that you were able to sit and chat to each other.

Yay for the relatively good nights had with various poorly LOs . Fishcake I hope your LO is able to catch up with the others and have a better night tonight.

I hope the GTTs went well also!

How exciting that it's Dream's last day! Esp since you'll be a SAHM after this. I hope your colleagues give you a nice send off.

I'm 26+4 today, which means I have just one more day to get through and then I've passed the huge psychological barrier of the day my friend gave birth to her DD. Tomorrow is also the day of my extra growth scan and second consultant opinion, so I'm a little apprehensive about that. I'm half thinking they'll scan me and find the placenta is nowhere near my fibroid, and then accuse me of crying wolf! Or they'll confirm the fibroid is under the placenta but again say that there's no point in monitoring it because the baby seems fine at the moment, which will leave me just as worried as before. Plus with my GTT coming up next week I'm also a little paranoid that the baby might be too BIG and this will be the first warning sign that I'm going to fail the GTT... ARGH!! Need to stop overthinking things!

Keeping busy in a positive way whilst stuck at home and not very mobile is challenging! Yesterday I tried to wash out a baby bath we've been given, and just spending 15 minutes bending over our main bath left me in serious pain for the rest of the day! Plus I got a call from the home visits physio today, and she said that she's not really qualified to deal with pregnancy-related physio issues and she's suggesting I see a specialist. Sigh. So there go my home visits :(

Still, it's a huge relief not to be working, and I'm still hopeful the new physio will be able to organise getting some crutches for me on the NHS. On another positive, my evil BIL is FINALLY finally back in Switzerland, so fingers crossed DH and I can now stop arguing about him for a little while at least! Although DH is already pestering me about wanting to go out to visit him and completely ignoring the fact that for me to be stuck in the house immobile by myself for several days would be extremely difficult

Right. I have been thinking about my C-section hospital bag. I have realised that much of what I will pack will be the same as what others hoping for a straightforward delivery and quick discharge. These are:

Big pants and maternity pads.
Disposable pants for immediately post section (although the midwife gave me some last time).
Breast pads.
Lansinoh.
Tracksuit bottoms with a drawstring (no tight waist band on scar).
Several nice, loose maternity tops.
Several feeding vests.
Cardigan that can also be worn over pjs.
PJs.
Flip flops for swollen feet and nicer for shuffling round a hot ward/ possible grubby shower.
Shampoo/ unscented soap so as not to aggravate wound.
Book - a cheerful one I have read before because the hormones would make anything else a bad idea! (I did actually have quite a bit of sitting around time last time.)
Make up- because I wear it normally and I found I had time to put make up on last time, plus it made me feel a bit more like myself. (am pretty low maintainance generally, though, unlike the woman in the bed opposite me who set the smoke alarm off with her hairspray!)

Couple of vests and babygros/ scratch mitts/ hat/cardigan in tiny baby and newborn size.
Muslins.
Nappies and cotton wool.

Present for DD.

BUT based on my experience last time I will be sorting out various things to be left at home and ferried in by DH each day. The space around my bed was very small and the thought of keeping everything I need for three/ four days is not appealing and due to bleeding and postnatal night sweats I don't expect I will want to wear things twice! Plus, the postnatal room I was in was pretty busy with other people's partners, children, visitors etc and I didn't want my stuff getting in people's way or being strewn all over the place.

So- I will sort out several tops, spare pants, spare trousers, spare pjs or nightie for DH to bring in. I can then hand him my worn ones to take home.

I will do the same with the baby clothes- will make separate bundles of tiny baby and newborn clothes so that DH can bring in size appropriate clothes. Of course, the tiny baby clothes will be completely redundant due to all the marvellous brooking that has been going on.

I will also sort out several parcels of snacks for him to bring in. Based on last time I will get several large spinach salad bowls, with seeds and nuts to add, and a yogurt drink because my digestion took a bit of a battering from the codeine and the surgery, and some other more fun snacks. No fizzy drinks though as the midwife who looked after me immediately pre and post section said they were a bad idea.

No idea if that has been of any help to anyone else but it has made me realise there are quite a few things I need to buy.

Apologies for a somewhat epic post. Sorry

Afternoon all, well I've been bled and scanned and am now enjoying some lunch!

Scream glad that not working is helping but it must be so frustrating if every little task around the house leaves you in pain. Hope those crutches materialise.

Dream - yay for your last day at work. As Scream said, hope they give you a food send off. And double yay for only one night time wake . Hope it continues to improve.

And hoping all the other poorly toddlers perk up too.

So I did briefly get to see Scarlet before my first blood test, but then they took me to a different waiting area in between the tests as they managed to fit my scan in the gap rather than doing it at the end. Was lovely to catch up in any case, even if not for as long as I'd hoped!

So we should get the GTT results back in a week or so, so that's just a waiting game. Scan wise, the consultant said she wasn't unduly concerned by the size of the baby or the amount of fluid. In her report she said that fetal size is expected to be 'in line with maternal and paternal stature' Now DH might be a freakish giant but I'm not that enormous - just because she was an elf-like waif . But it is hopefully a fair point that neither of us are tiddlers.

Kidney wise the right kidney is a lot bigger than the left. The left shows some swelling / increase in size but the right is a lot bigger. The diagnosis is still the same as before - either the urine can't get out or is coming back in. Nothing really that can be done now, but they will still monitor it. We'll be scanned again in 4 weeks and then they'll look at the baby when it's about 6 weeks old I think to see what's what.

Obviously I wish there was nothing wrong but I am glad we know about it - if we'd never needed another scan it wouldn't have been picked up so I'd rather be on the front foot as it were, and at least we're 'in the system'.

I was really impressed though at the way all the different departments seem to be able to work together and know what's what. It's so easy when you're seeing all different people that you have to explain everything again and again, or people don't seem to know what's happened previously, but they all seemed to know w writhing. The consultant even knew that I'd originally gone in for reduced movements and reassured me on that too while I was there. She checked loads of stuff like the heart too so it's nice to have had all those things checked without a problem showing up. And I noticed on the report that it says 'for sex of baby please some other report (not in my notes) as parents don't want to know'. It seems kind of them to make an effort to not tell us - I feel like it puts them out a bit, but again, she already knew this - I haven't had to mention it today. So so far I'm feeling pretty pleased with the care received so far.

Screan I do hop your consultant / scan appt goes well tomorrow - I'm brooking like a good'un. And you will get answers about this 'to monitor or not' thing. You have your mw there too to make sure you get all the info you want. Go get 'em

Right, this is a mammoth post so I'd better go now I've finished my lunch.

Laters xx

Hi all

I've had my GTT too. I managed to keep the drink down, which I was a little worried about and just got to wait now for the results.

Biscuits it was very nice to see you this morning, albeit briefly. I think you had the better deal with regards where you were waiting. I think every pregnant smoker in our area was waiting with me and I spent my 2 hour wait with my nose under my coat. Glad to hear that there's no concern re the size of the baby and they're not overly worried about the kidney. I'm also having a scan in 4 weeks, who knows we may even be there at the same time again!

Scream pleased to hear your BIL has buggered off again. Will he be coming back to visit the baby soon after you've had her?

I hope you enjoy your last day at work dream and you have a lovely send off.

Fishcake your list looks entirely reasonable and thank you for posting it. I think I need to go through my list and figure out why on earth it's so much longer, and probably I need to take off my list all the things that aren't on yours!!

Glad the GTTs weren't too stressful. How annoying about the pregnant smokers though Scarlet! I don't understand, was the waiting area outside in the January weather? How were they allowed to smoke inside?! Cigarette smoke has always been one of my pet hates and I was soooooooooooooo happy when the smoking ban came into effect! It's still annoying when people smoke at places like bus stops, but now that I'm pregnant I just stick my belly out and cough loudly in the direction of the smoker Surely if someone is going to have to move away from the bus stop it should be the person smoking not the bystander!

Unfortunately for me April is when the evil BIL usually returns to the UK anyway. The ski season ends in March and he comes back for a couple of months straight afterwards. I've already told DH that he can come to the hospital if he stays downstairs and DH can take the baby to him for a little "introduction". I understand that DH wants his brother to see his first child straight away and that's fine so long as I don't have to see him (whilst exhausted and in pain and generally out of it). Under NO circumstances is BIL to be allowed into whichever postnatal room I'm actually in. I've also said that he can obviously come to the "open house" we're planning to have shortly after the baby is born, however the BIL will be included on the list of people banned from the house for the 2 weeks after the open house. All of this has been debated and agreed in advance, but I KNOW that DH will still ask on a daily basis if his brother can come round, and I'm sure that won't cause any arguments at all while I'm sleep-deprived and hormonal

No smoking in the indoor waiting room Scream Just loads of people who stank of fags and then kept disappearing out for more and coming back in again. Bleugh.

Ooooo the cute Peter Rabbit clock is here! Plus the ventiflow mattress! (Dream it's so bouncy! Thanks for the recommendation! I still can't believe how big it is compared to the bedside cot mattress that arrived yesterday.) About to crawl up to the nursery, and DH and I are going to try out the wall stickers

Another good result, the home visits physio has agreed that even though she doesn't think she's the best person to handle my long term care, she will bring round some crutches for me next week So at least I can be properly fitted for those and see if they make any difference!

x-posts with Scarlet. I know exactly what you mean about people constantly popping in and out and reeking of smoke - I feel for you! Yuk yuk yuk. It'll all be worth it when your perfect GTT results come back though

I have just purchased a Ventiflow mattress too :)

Am going great guns getting everything for the baby. In fact I can't think of many things I haven't got now . Poor DS has been waiting for 3 weeks now to get his new car seat and it still hasn't arrived at the stockist - grrrrr!!

Another one here who's just ordered that mattress. Thanks for the recommendation dream. I've also ordered the mattresses for the moses basket and the pram. Finally feel like I'm doing something to acknowledge there will be a baby here soon.

Good news re the physio Scream

Glad to hear the GTT tests went well and that your scan was ok, even if they weren't able to give you any definite answers, Biscuit.
Scarlet, I am with you on the smoking- stale smoke is just a horrible smell.

Scream- I expect I have forgotten all sorts of things. In fact if there are any glaring omissions please tell me! I am just keen to avoid tripping over everything I might possibly need for days when I can just get DH to fetch it for me. Last time I used to send him with lists and a bag of dirty washing so I am trying to make it a bit easier for him this time.

I need to get a new baby car seat. Does anyone know what is currently topping the which? guide? We have Isofix. I would rather get the 0+ size (is that right? The size that does them for longer, anyway.) That way I can keep them rear facing for longer. Because DD is only wee she stayed in her first car seat until she was 2! There are some benefits to being little

Right I am off to investigate these mattresses too. I want one if you lot all have one...