Detective I watched that Midwives last night on catch up and I'm so glad that Joyce isn't my midwife, what a grumpy old cow, why did she agree to even be on the program? Had to admit that I lol'd when that girl sacked her on her last week 
Also wouldn't like that Gill (?), the one with very short blonde hair and glasses in the hospital! I felt quite emotional watching that one and nearly cried for the poor girl who had wanted a homebirth and then got transferred at the last minute. Probably because I'm having one and it resonated....
Horsey As someone who already has children, my very strong and bossy advise would be that if you can afford the cleaner, then please, please keep her on for as long as you can. You only have your first baby once, the next (if you have another) will NEVER get all the precious time on it's own with you and vise versa. Make the most of every spare second you can scrape together with your baby because before you know it he'll be all grown up :( I remember being so in love with my first (and obviously the next 2) that I just sat on the settee for hours and hours staring at her with absolute wonder and amazement at how utterly perfect she was. That is literally all I did for the first few weeks. I put the washer on the Sunday after I had her, I emptied it on the Tuesday if you need a point of reference on how difficult fitting boring household tasks can be.
Blue Fantastic news on the maternity pay, they are very nice employers :) they must really value you as a worker.
Evil Lol , the only talking to my bump get is 'oh for gods sake that's my RIB your kicking!'
mcsuared and don't forget all the stuff you forgot to buy from the shops every day :)
I've also lost 2lb this week (was it you Horsey who has aswell?), found this tool here that gives an estimate on how much you will put on depending on your weight. According to this I now have to put on another 10lb AT LEAST to make the minimum :( I've just shoved some bread with inch thick Lurpak in my gob to get some fatty calories swimming about.
As for the old 14 inches man, keep it love, I wouldn't want it if it was 6! Filthy horrible things!
Feeling a bit shit again today, but have done some baby shopping today and all clothes are in the washer as we speak ready to go out on the line. Am contemplating whether to go camping again this weekend as it's supposed to be beautiful and to be honest, I feel like I could do with 48 hours of pure, clean fresh air.