March 2013 Mk V: Lumpy bumpy witty knitters (patiently) await the bloom!

[Chefette]

New one marchers sorry on phone and can't link! Will post title in our old thread x

In what universe do consultants call you at 20.19? Of course I missed the call as I gave up waiting for it after 5 pm. Two missed calls and two voicemails giving me no info other than the fact that he's off tomorrow so will have to call me from his personal mobile!!
Fooooook! Please let him call me tomorrow!!

Am afraid of my own boobs though. But the pain was only in the cold section so I am not convinced its thrush. Will ask at my next checkup.

I am the queen of internet grocery shopping. I have tried them all and will now use only Ocado. They are the only ones who haven't completely fecked up orders, they almost never substitute stuff and their drivers are sweetness and light who will bring your groceries in for you. I pay a monthly fee to be able to order any time of day, as many times as I want. Love them.

Asda made a substitute of real meat sausages for veggie ones - DUH.
Sainsbury's just kept breaking stuff (eggs, bottles) and were always late.
Tesco didn't even get off the ground - first ever order (10pm) the driver called and said it was past his clocking off time and he wasn't coming. With his van full of my groceries! I was livid.

Ocado match branded stuff price for price at tesco. If you shop through mysupermarket.com you can easily hunt out the best bargains of the week, and because you're not tempted by naughty product placement around the supermarket you actually spend less than on a shopping trip. I find I spend up to £20 less.

I use sainsburys for online shopping never had a problem with them (except being asked if there was an adult home to accept my shopping ) and I have found I spend less online than if I go in the shop and get drawn in by offers!

To those who have sore boobs, I think I must be the odd one out, mine hurt for about a week at 6 weeks ish and then have felt fine since. They haven't grown or change at all either? Is that weird? Mind you I am not very blessed in the boob department so maybe that's why!

I use Ocado - I pay £6.99 per month for a delivery pass, and can place as many orders as I want for that. Several a week if I felt the need. I usually order once a week though. That's just under £1.40 per delivery based on 5 deliveries per month.

Ocado price match brands with tesco, and have an own brand ocado range that is good value (not always best quality though). They also have a shelf life guarantee so you can plan your menus for the week. I have tried other supermarket deliveries but got fed up with a high number of missing items, really stupidly inappropriate substitutions and very short shelf lifes.

My only bug bear - you have to buy pre bagged fruit and veg, so cannot order loose stuff by the kilo. That works out more expensive.

pink thank you for the nursing top hint. My poor boobs are agony. Takes me back to the misery of the milk coming in and (thankfully very mild) mastitis.

Hi all, quick message from sunnyish Devon! Hope you are all ok. Heavens knows when I'll be able to catch up on thus thread! Just on prams, my friend had just had her travel system delivered today. It's an uppababy one (new make I think) v v nice! Catch up soon.

Tesco are OK, but you get a lot of substitutes and the fruit & veg can be ropey. However they do have good offers and I have found I can save a fair bit shopping with them. Generally I only do this for a specific occasion like a BBQ.

Sainsburys - I just find that everything they pack seems to go off in two days. I suspect outside of London it is better.

Ocado and Waitrose - brilliant. Fewer substitutions and when you have them they are sensible. The fruit & veg is better and for a vegetarian the options on offer at Waitrose are sooo much better. I accept not the cheapest on offer, but the quality makes up for it I think and as noted by others, when you shop online you tend to buy what you want rather than get seduced by things.

Alternatives - you can get vegetable boxes from Able and Cole. It's seasonal veg and with one or two items that you can rule out you get what you get. You have an allotment though don't you, so veg probably not an issue for you.

Funniest/daftest substitution I had was a Sainsburys shop. They didn't have the loo roll brand I had ordered so substituted for a can of air freshener. Presumably someone somewhere was laughing.

JoJo - that is seriously annoying. I suppose they were at least trying to be helpful.

Thanks for the online shopping recommendations! I did a price comparison of a few of our regular items and Ocado was second cheapest after Asda but I found the Asda website less friendly, and going off how many people have been raving about Ocado here and elsewhere we're giving them a go first. Took me ages to look up everything we need but hopefully will be quicker next time as I've favourited stuff etc. And we got ungodly hour free delivery! Yippee!

Sundae someone else mentioned blanching then freezing veggies recently - generally I just freeze them so what's the benefit of the blanching?

Yep, Tramp, veg less of an issue in the summer, at least, though our onions are already about to run out and our spuds won't see us through till end of autumn, boo. Will think again about Abel and Cole. I've been in a ton of veg schemes - local, national - and I used them years ago but my friend's Riverford box always looked better than mine! I liked A&C because you could get a batch of staples (soy milk, lentils, tins etc) delivered too. In fact I never got the box, just the precise veg I wanted + staples!

Really helpful - thanks everyone.

Hope Devon is treating you well Ethel

Oh forgot to say that MIL sent us a pack of five pairs of white cotton newborn socks and I nearly fainted from cute overload! Cue putting them on belly and talking to babies about how they have to hurry up and grow so they can put them on DH thought I lost my marbles though very little surprises him nowadays! Well, I guess we've got our first brand new baby clothes! (We've got a ton of boys/unisex clothes from baby to toddler from a mate up in the loft!)

Manda that is so cute! Every time I get the newborn clothes out I marvel in their tininess! We also use Ocado and have for about 10 years! We have the monthly delivery pass someone else mentioned. I can honestly say that in all that time they have only been crap twice & even then they compensate with vouchers so you end up being better off!

I'm another one that would recommend Ocado though I had an awful delivery man last time and it's put me right off. He told me that the area in which I live is 'rough', it's not at all, it's just rows of Victorian terraces near a junior school and near two gorgeous parks. He also argued with me when I said I wasn't a student, I answered the door in my uniform which has the name of the Uni and IT Services written on it and he kept saying of course you're a student so you don't order from Ocado much and oh you wouldn't have dogs would you being a student (he told he had a dog phobia as soon as I opened the door). When I told him repeatedly that I am not a student he just laughed and said yeah but you work with students. I don't, they're about but I don't have anything to do with them. I complained and I got an apology email, but just couldn't believe that he thought our area was rough, I've lived in some rough places and this really isn't one of them!

Does anyone else throw up when they're stressed? I had a really stressful day at work yesterday and havent been able to keep anything down since and been awake half the night with bad stomach cramps. I've taken the day off sick today to destress a bit but this time of year is busy and stressful at work so I can't be throwing up every day! Health and safety says I should avoid stress and anxiety but my work have already adjusted my job so much so I don't do any heavy lifting (which took up quite a bit of my job), I already feel that my job has changed so much that not taking part in the busy times of the year would be a step too far. But then, my job isn't as important as babyBoo!

Hermione - throwing up due to stress sounds pretty bad. Can you maybe take an hour at lunch and find a sofa to stretch out on or something to help relax?

I had a tarka daal last night, not quite as non spiced as it should've been and I really don't cope well with spicy. Seems Socs isn't keen either. Not a great nights sleep. Boo.

Ooh, I'm sixteen weeks today! Babies are the size of avocados, the babycentre.co.uk weekly email tells me. I don't think MW is scheduled to take bloods on Thurs, but I'm going to ask her if she will to as I'm concerned about my iron/thyroid levels dipping further

Hermione that's crap! That driver sounds like he had a right chip on his shoulder about students! And what does it matter in any case? My dad was a bread delivery man for 21 years and had some tricky deliveries around some sketchy bits of Manchester, but he just got on with it and asked for back-up when needed. I think if the Ocada man felt he or his van was actually in danger then he'd have something to complain about (to his employer) - but not you. Boooo!

Oooh window cleaner is here. When I last time ran into him he was like 'How's the pregnancy?' and altho we were trying I either wasn't pregnant or it was v. early days and poor guy had got me confused with someone else! Wonder if he'll spot the bump today?!

Oh, having a bit of a panic about aspartame (sp?), the artificial sweetener. I drink about 4 pints of Ribena or orange cordial a day and I've only just realised there may be reasons for avoiding it in pregnancy. Anyone know anything more about this? Interweb is not very authoritative on the matter, from a quick scan.

PS Hermione only for a wee while in a particular job when I was having some difficulties with my boss did I feel nauseous about work. Can't remember throwing up, but think the stress manifested in other ways - very mild panic attacks and the like. You poor thing. Need to avoid that if possible! But understand the need to keep fully engaged at work.

Dunno if it's your thing, but in times of real stress and feeling slightly out of control with things I always go back to a set of Jon Kabat-Zinn mindfulness meditation CDs my old counsellor recommended. They really ground me in the moment of me being me through, essentially, breathing exercises, and magically enable me to get on with stuff without the emotions and the stress getting in the way. Really good, and not too wifflywaffly at all. I had them on my iPod all the time, almost 24/7, in the final weeks of submitting my thesis (whislt working a 4-day week!) and although I wasn't actively listening (I knew it all by heart by then anyway) they kept me focused and on track. Kind of indoctrination, perhaps, but it's all harmless, wholesome and really helpful stuff.

Blimey I couldnt get on here last night and really missed it - but have caught up now! Had to go pick something up and just pulled up outside and DS1 was sick all over car - no attempt to open door or windows even though we had stopped! Had to drive home with all windows open and poor DS2 was even retching and coughing so had the lovely job of scrubbing car at 8.30 last night!
After that had a shower and went to bed as was done for the day!
Mr DH 'we are not buying anything till 28 weeks' yesterday bought a maxi cosi car seat and isofix base - I actually give up telling him!

manda I avoid aspartame all the time , gives me migraines but there's loads online about potential affects. Sugar all the way here !

Morning! Very interested to hear about the online shopping. I haven't done it since I was a student when I ordered from Tesco a couple of times and was put off by the weird substitutions. I like the sound of Ocado and will look into the unlimited delivery offer. I usually go to Waitrose on the way home from work but this won't be possible on mat leave. I filled the basket on mysupermarket with a full shop and for the types of things I buy (just meat, veg and storecupboard) it worked out pretty much the same price as everywhere else. manda what sort of hours do they do the free delivery?
I'm glad it's not just me with non painful boobs, I was a bit worried as last time I was pg they hurt so much I couldn't sleep at times. They are bigger (about an F from an E) but other than that feel completely normal.
Hermione Your delivery made had a serious cheek, I would have been furious! Glad you complained. Sorry to hear about work stress - I work in IT too and know how it can be. Look after yourself.
Tramp Tarka dal, yummy. I'm the opposite with spices at the moment though - can't get enough.
DH and I are off to MILs tonight for dinner and I have a suspicion she has been shopping. I think I will faint at the cuteness too manda if we are given anything tiny :)

Morning all, I am baking today so just thought I would mark my place so i don't lose you all.

I think the midwives must have changed the rules a little because my midwife told me to make my appointment at gps (for what I thought should have been my 16 wk check up) and it was the week before my 20 week scan, of course when I rang gp I mistakenly booked it for 18 weeks

Although this is number 4 I feel I am worrying so much more, have an appointment next week for thyroid in the antenatal clinic, so I'm really hoping for a wee sneaky scan but I doubt it

Morning Gummi what are you baking? Can we have some?
On the subject of appointments - I have my 16 week appointment with the midwife on monday (please please listen for the heartbeat!) but also have an appointment this thursday at the hospital. I'm not entirely sure why they called me for this and the hospital receptionist wasn't either when I asked. She suggested it might be to do with my blood pressure as it was high when the doctor measured it to fill in my forms (well it would be, she said something insensitive about miscarriage). Has anyone else got this kind of extra appointment? I'm really hoping I can hear the heartbeat then.

Gummi - is the additional worry because you feel a bit different this time around? Just curious.

Im not experimenting with Indian again, even if it was milder than black pepper (MrM). Feel rough as old boots today. I've just nibbled an oat & raisin cookie on train because the bananas all looked so manky. Am attempting to remove my black raincloud with "happy tunes" - can't spend whole day being total miser.

Zoey - the car scrubbing & whole journey sounds awful. Poorly child or travel sickness? Either way I feel for you, thats properly rotten.

Is it me or has MrsRigsby been absent for a bit?

I'm trying to avoid cute baby stuff for now. I think I'm not quite ready to go there. But I'm researching :)

Hello, I've been lurking since the early days, but I had a couple of miscarriages and chemical pregnancies before DD and assumed that getting DC2 would be equally difficult and really didn't want to have to post about another loss. However, 16 weeks tomorrow and it all seems to be going well. I've got an exciting glucose tolerance test this Friday, since I had gestational diabetes last time and midwife a week tomorrow.

Hope everyone's having a lovely Tuesday.

Welcome BLP and so pleased to hear things are going well.

Sheldon, the totally free delivery is late most nights, between 9ish and 11.30ish. I think we got the 10-11pm slot, which is fine for us. BUT, I discovered that you have to spend min. £75 to get it, otherwise it's £2.99 delivery (which is still less than we'd pay to hire a car to go to Tesco/Sains, and the shopping works out cheaper!)

Baking, Gummi? For us?! Aw, you shouldn't have!

Welcome, bestlaidplans - there's always room for another! I'm 16 weeks today, so we're nearly exactly matching on dates. It feels like a good place to be, tho I understand your nervousness.

At the airport catching up!
Welcome Bestlaidplans :-)
Another Ocado-ite here - I find it definitely helps me stick to budget & you get nice stuff with a decent shelf life! And it does save me time too.