The Wagon has got plenty of new arrivals, a few more on the way and still waiting for a honk or 2

[McKayz]

Here we go a nice new thread!!

Saying a big Wagon Hello to little Aoife. Ses She is beautiful.

Come on Baby McKayz!!!!!

Kayz - yay! Well done to both you and Rosalie :)
Sounds like you are doing brilliantly!

BB - hope you had a better night

Ginger - not heard from you in a while. Hope all ok?

LBOT - how's things? Have you had your bloods done? When do you get results?

Tink - sounds like things are going well!

Hello to everyone else too - Star, Diege, Rugby and anyone I've missed.

All good here. DD slept 10.30-3.15 in her crib last night. DS has settled down and bedtime much better. We've done him a bedtime sticker chart and told him once he has 5 stickers he gets a small present.
DD gets weighed tomorrow so hoping she'll be back to birth weight of 9lb11. I think she's put weight on but might still be a little bit short of her birthweight but we'll see. Also gets her hearing test redone as one ear didn't give a clear result.

I've walked down to Starbucks this morning and was chatting with another BF mum who was lovely. She had a 4mo DS who was gorgeously chubby! Headed back home in a minute and friends popping round thus afternoon.

hi ses [sounds] all sounds great with you
glad dd sleeping well and ds has calmed down

Hey all

Much better night thanks, thank goodness! I dont loose my rag often but that type of sleep deprivation is not something i could sustain, for me it feels different when you know they are capable of sleeping through?! Its a fault admittedly but i dont have that many so I've decided to let myself off

Had a busy week at work but then one more and a whole 9 days off

We have been having a few chats and I'd like to know your thoughts...

I know from last time how tired I will be in the last stages of pg. I imagine more so this time. I also know how much an untidy / not as clean as id like house, stresses me out. So in the weeks before birth and the weeks following, im thinking of getting a cleaner?
Thing is I feel like its an admission of lazyness?
We can afford it, it would be a deep clean then an hour a week For a while, decreasing then to half hour (if I can find someone to do that)

Am I being lazy? Should I just do it?

Get a cleaner!!! I'd give my right arm for a cleaner. Especially as PIL are coming on Sunday.

Hehe thanks kayz glad you didnt say do it yourself lazy! Thats what my darling mum said!! Aw im sure PILs are keen to See you all not the house!
Hows little DD settling? What doe DDog make of her? And DS's?

Glad DD is settling well ses and things calming down! From FB i now want to virtually tour your house haha thats odd isnt it?

Tink glad things ticking along

Hi to everyone else hope all are well!

I dont know how religious any of you are but whatever your equivalent can you please hold expats DD allidh in your thoughts tonight, she is so poorly

BB, its heartbreaking reading Expats updates on facebook

All sounds very sad
All gd here

Kayz it really is tink she is such a brave little girl fingers x'd for a better day for her!

Hope everyone is ok, dentist then scan for me today eek!

oh bb good luck with both

Thanks tink scan was fab confirmed EDD 5/1, making me 13 weeks sat! Dentist was Ok DS was having non of it but she fixed a crack in my tooth which i thought was a hole, painless just uncomfortable!

Feeling so tired today!

Hope everyone one is well

BB I'm glad your scan went well!!

DD has slept from 1 until about half 5!!! She's got a blocked nose like the rest of us so I need to buy one of those things to clear her nose. Poor little mite.

We're off to the farm today with DS2's playschool. So that should be nice. Bit worried about trying to bf in public though.

hi bb great ews with scan
poor dd kay bless her enjoy farm

Hello!!

Sorry for absence, have been on hols for 2wks

Kayz- CONGRATULATIONS!!! I was thinking of you whilst away but unable to get onto MN to see if you'd given birth! Is there a birth story?

Big waves to everyone, I've not really had a proper read- just a scan for birth news

What's happened to expat's DD?

Welcome back! Hope you had a great time and are feeling well :)

Expat's 9yo DD was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia before Christmas, has thankfully had a bone marrow transplant but it doesn't seem to be grafting well and her lungs & kidneys aren't working as they should now. She's in intensive care on a ventilator. There's a thread in chat and one in philosophy/religion as well as a FB group. It's kind of taken over the thoughts & prayers for lots on MN.

We're off to (finally) register DD today.

Hi ginger nice to hear from u
How was hol?
All gd here
We had our first options meeting for new house
We chose :-

Walnut grain shiny kitchen cupboard doors with chrome handels
Icy White speckled worktop called glacier storm
Intergrated dishwasher and washing machine
Free standing chrome fridge freezer
3 downlighters on ceiling only get 1 pendant light
Extra double socket
Lighting in garage
Outside tap
Chrome taps on sinks

At next meeting choosing flooring and wall
tiles etc end of july

Here is my birth story. It really is a complete ramble though. Sorry.

I woke up at about 4am and went to the toilet. I had a show and thought that things might be starting as I had bad backache. I decided to get the front room ready with the tarpaulin down and the pool inflated.

I rang my Mum to get her to take DS1 to school. I filled the pool and put my swimming cossie on just so I could relax in there for a bit to help my back ache.
I was having occasional contractions on and off all day, every time I thought they were ramping up they stopped again.

DS1 came home and the boys had their dinner and went to bed about 7pm. Contractions were still very irregular so I thought it would probably be another sleepless night. I settled down to watch the England game.

At about 9pm I thought that the contractions were getting more regular, maybe 2 every 10 minutes. They were getting more and more painful so I decided to ring the midwife at about 10:15 and also rang my Mum to come round.

Contractions were now about 3-4 in 10 minutes and at 11pm I was 4cm and got lovely G&A. The MW decided to ring the other MW to come and also I had a student MW there so 3 in all. Once they arrived I was able to get into the pool which was about midnight.

The pool was amazing, they still hurt but not as bad. The contractions now seemed to be coming every 30 seconds or so. The MWs left it all up to me when I wanted to push, no attempts to exam me once I was in the pool.

I got the urge to push and it took about 5 pushes for DD to be born. One of the MWs helped me get her to bring her up to the surface. We sat in the pool for about 10 minutes. I had originally wanted to wait for the cord to stop pulsating but I really wanted to get out of the pool, so they cut the cord and I got out and had the injection to get the placenta to come out. She was born at 1:08am. I didn't tear or anything which is nice after tearing with both boys.

While I delivered the placenta DD was weighed and was 9lb 6.5oz so 7lb less than the growth scan predicted. I then got some clothes on and DD breastfed for a while. Mum and the MWs tidied up.

I don't remember this but she apparently passed meconium just as she came out so they had to wait and do checks when she was 2 hours old which were all fine. So the MWs and my Mum went home and we went up to bed.
The boys were most amused the next morning to see their little sister. They went off to school.

Everything seems to be going very very well. BF took a few days to settle down.

well done kayz

Hi all

Ginger was hol nice?
Tink house sounds very nice!
Ses sounds like all is going well did you give DD a middle name?
Kayz birth sounds like it was very peaceful! Isnt Dh due home soon? Bet he is excited!

Scan went well baby looks like a real baby haha! Is a relief at each scan just to see baby as still at that is this real stage! Sonographer said EDD is now 5/1 so could be delivered before christmas which would be nice. Also said that placenta is infront again so wont feel baby until later like with DS oh well! Next scan is august so not far off really which feels crazy!

Have had a week that could best be described as torrid but hopefully all on the up now. Bought a maternity top today (just 'cos i liked it ) says "keep calm and push" haha! We are off work this week so took advantage of DS being at nursery to have a lazy morning and go for lunch, we are going to pick him up nice and early though. Ironically we are all coming down with colds that'll be this lovely summer weather i am having a vit c drink of an evening so that should help.

Hope all are well

DH should be home on Saturday!!

Hi everyone :) Sorry I've been MIA but have had a proper catch up now.

First off, Kayz, how did I not manage to get on here to congratulate you?!? Well done and welcome to the world Rosalie! Sounds like you're coping brilliantly. Sounds super difficult to look after a newborn and two little boys on your own.

SES - sorry DS has been acting up but sounds like it's just a cry for a little attention and reassurance. His little world has been turned upside down and it's completely understandable! Sounds like you're doing brilliantly as well!

BB - totally go for the cleaner! I would love to have my house deep cleaned twice a year or so. I really don't know very many people who DON'T have a cleaner in these parts! And hooray for lovely scan!

Ginger - hope you had a lovely holiday

Tink - kitchen sounds by nice!

So I've had my blood test results and all came back normal despite bleeding from 2dpo p until af's arrival this month. Saw the GP on Friday and she doesn't seem to think anything is wrong, that since my cycle is a quite regular 26 days or so it's normal. Also thinks an LP of 10-11 days with spotting from 8dpo on a regular basis is fine . She thinks this month might've just been a 'hormonal blip'... BUT she did do the smear and swabs to check for anything untoward and then did a pelvic exam. She said my uterus does feel a bit 'bulkier' than she would expect to feel so she agreed to refer me for a scan. Appointment should come through in two weeks time but if it takes ages to get seen DH and I agreed to go for a private consult. When I mentioned fibroids GP poo-poo'd it and said that wouldn't cause spotting...so I'm more confused than ever! :(

Hello

Kayz- great story, you make it sound so easy!! You sound like you coped amazingly especially for that early section without any partner! The weight was interesting too... did the scan say she'd be 7lbs heavier? ? Well done! and welcome to DD
Hooray for DH coming home!!

It's very inspirational about home water births. Despite having had one, so many people give me the look or say "its not safe" that I was starting to get the willies about it, especially with all the medics banging on about big babies...... I've been doing blood tests and my blood sugars are consistently below the pre meal amount even when I've eaten so I hope that will get them off my back for a bit....

BB- scan sounds good, as does the top! did you enjoy your lazy day? My hol was fabulous thanks!

LBOT- sorry for confusing results.. good that they are going to scan you to check the uterus. FWIW, I've always had spotting before AF for at least 5 to 6 days. So with a 14 day LP, that makes it from day 9. That is normal for me since i was a teen. When is scan

Ses- thanks for the info re expats DD. Just seen the FB stuff. How sad.
I agree DS has had a lot of change to cope with recently. Not that it's much consolation but its a reason. How are you healing after the csect? How is the BFing going?

Hi tink and everyone else.xx