March 2013 VI: cooking, crocheting and chit-chat

[theTramp]

Old thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/antenatal_clubs/1558560-March-2013-Mk-V-Lumpy-bumpy-witty-knitters-patiently-await-the-bloom?msgid=34370452#34370452

And on with the conversation

20 mins to go until scan. I'm both excited and apprehensive!! Mostly because I don't know how I'll feel having my tummy prodded for that length of time when I'm still a bit tender!!
I'm sure baby will distract me though :)

Ooh, exciting jojo hope you're having fun!

Looks like I'm team blue :) baby was playing with his toes, very funny to watch and the flumps I've been feeling are his feet booting me! It happened in the scan, very happy indeed!!

Ooh, congrats JoJo how lovely! :)

Oh jojo, lovely, lovely news!! Sounds very cute!

Congrats JoJo boys are fab

Loveky jojo

Am currently posting from a wall in a car park. Arranged to meet a child for hot chocolate & didn't confirm which cafe so am sat between the two!

Congrats on team blue Jojo and glad baby was all good and prob unaware of all the stress you have been under with the op etc!

Ah well done Jojo! How was the prodding by the sonographer when they did it?

Yeah team blue jojo,

Ood I'm currently sitting outside dd2s dance class, going to get chippy dinner AMD hope fire miraclously lights itself, I can't believe how crap I feel, and the guilt of taking yet more paracetamol, I definitely did take half as much in other pregnancies

My loud sneezing and nose blowi.g must hVe disturbed the baby last night as I was feeling alsorts of things going on in tummy and TMI alert pelvic floor is f#*ked with all this sneezing

three she was quite gentle and pre warned me if she had to dig in a bit harder!! Baby was upside down so she had to tilt the table to encourage him to shift, that meant she didn't have to press on the really tender part of my scar!!!
zoey he was happily occupied with his feet :) non the wiser of all the trouble he'd escaped!
I'm still feeling his flumps now, he's having a nice stretch and booting me in the side!!

JoJo - that's both reassuring and fab. Hurrah for baby back flips

Lord I'm stresses today. I need to either a) clone myself for a week or b) pause time in order that I can squeeze in a weeks worth of work whilst no ones aware

Basically - huge presentation to have ready by next Thursday evening for Friday am present AND my key client is a man down and has 10 (at last count) BIG urgent things that must be done in next 7 days and just me to do them on equivalent of 2 days a week. Usually extra hours would be fine but this week I can't spare myself and of course this Monday was a write off.

Also the nausea has decided to return this week - thanks Socs.

I've a cunning plan but come next Friday I'm due a collapse into heap and sleep 4 days mode

Sorry I'm all self self self today :(

Oh Tramp that sounds very stressful and I hope it all comes good!
JoJo so pleased to hear all was well :)

Lexi - I meant to say that a few sessions with a sympathetic listener who presents a lot should help with presentation
Nerves loads. I've worked with a few people in my various teams over the years and helped them go from sweaty stuttering wrecks to v competent and in some cases confident presenters. If you've a friend who works in sales who isn't an arse who could listen & offer some tips & constructive advice it will help. Failing that come to London one day & I'll help you out.

Anyway I'm saying in a roundabout way don't think that this will prevent you from an agency type job. Honestly you just need someone who can guide you through your presentation nerve sources and practice a bit & you'll find that you're grand. You might never enjoy it of course but only a handful of people do. For everyone else it's a nerve wracking chore but the trick is to make it look like it's not.

Remember you're the expert and you're talking on a topic you're an expert on. So everyone in that room understands less than you and is looking to you to help them better understand.

And you can present however you like. If you like a flip chart and no notes - do it. If you like detailed slides and just pulling out key points do that. If you like bare bones slides & adding the detail as you talk (so they have to take copious notes) do that. Your job is to instruct and get your 3 key points or less across.

Simple no :)

Fecking spiders, I hate the little b@stards...
Whilst I was on thr stairs talking to DH on the phone, a massive one ran right past my feet. Yowzers it was big. But I did something I've never done before, I hoovered it up! I am very proud of myself!

Just watching flumps with DD! We have that and mr ben, chorlton DD the wheelies and snoopy on DVD. I she loves the retro childrens progs.

Good news on scans panic and Jojo!! mine isn't until 28th oct, so couple more weeks to go.

Re: schools think we will end up going with state school, much to DHs chagrin as he was privately educated as were his entire family (all cousins, aunts and uncles etc etc...) whereas my family was the total opposite! I think to be fair if we can get DD into the school of our choice he'll be pretty happy, but if not, I think he might be scrabbling around trying to get money together to go private because our two nearest schools are not v good really.

Stormy, are you actually in Brid? I am originally from Scarb altho live in York now.

Thanks all for your kind words.
Scan seemed to be ok but baby bug didn't move apart from a little foot wiggle, which considering it was motionless on Monday as well has me a bit worried. I suppose I'm just used to "ants in his pants" ds, so the thought of a placid baby does not compute.
I told the consultant I hadn't had any more bleeding, get home and have two more toilet visits with blooded wipes (sorry if tmi). Typical.
However, panicnot you reassured me loads and pretty much confirmed what what I thought, that it's only if there's loads of blood that I should worry. Thanks. Hooray for team blue!
Ethel well done with the spider! I have spider catchers placed strategically round the house (gift from my lovely mil), but if they're mahoosive beasties, dh still has to deal with them. We did have some too big for the catcher! I used to love the flumps, must try to find a dvd now for me ds.
jojo congrats! Boys are so much fun. Isn't it great when you can feel kicks (remembering from last pg).
tramp good luck with the cloning experiments. Failing that, hope you manage to get the work done without too much stress.
myjobis Do you think you should call the mw just to see what she thinks about the pains? There may be a number of reasons why you are getting them. Hope it gets sorted / goes away soon.

Yay Jojo very excited about your team blue news. Boys are brilliant. I love my wee manny more than I thought possible :)

shield shame baby was being so quiet, I'm sure the consultant would have let you know if s/he was worried. I'd like a chilled out baby this time please!

Work was mad today, as always. 2 more working days and we're on holiday! Yay!

Tramp If you pause the world for a week so you can catch up can you leave me un paused too, I could do with a week of catching up with no more work coming in!

Lexi I'm not really a natural presenter but much practice has made me far better and nerves not an issue generally now. Honestly, the more often you do it, the easier it becomes so as Tramp said, get someone understanding to let you practice on them. You might feel a bit of a twerp to begin with but just grit your teath and once you get stuck in, if it's a good friend, understanding with presenting experience, you'll soon forget that and get a lot out of it.

Yay for those who've had scans (and sorry for instantly forgetting who that includes other than JoJo).

Must strt doing pelvic floor excercises. Was quite good at doing it on journey to and from work last time but don't seem to have got into the habit this time and they are clearly not what they once were, it's the vomiting rather than the sneezing that causes me a little issue .

Gosh my back aches today. Hot water bottle helping though.

Hello Marchers!

Safely installed in Paris after quite an epic journey with a heavy suitcase. So tired! Think will skive the afternoon of the conference tomorrow ? it's all in French (my GCSE French is v. poor and certainly not up to academic standards so a lot of nodding and looking fascinated will be required!) and I need to write my paper for Friday anyway.

In other news, I submitted my book today!!! So that's the last you'll be hearing about that ? well, for a while at least till I get proofs back to work on ? groan!

Ooh and I outed myself on FB and got tons of wonderful messages! Feels even more real now, which I know is daft, but YIKES!

Missed so much chatter today!

Hurray for happy scans, JoJo (glad not too painful and the little lad so blissfully unworried by op!) and are we waiting to hear from Sarah?

Glad to hear PhD progress is going well Shield and don't worry too much about your bean. Am sure if there had been the slightest thing to concern the consultant you'd have lots more tests. One of my babies was all over the shop last week, but the other one was just swallowing - that still plays on my mind a bit, so I can empathise?take care and get straight back on the phone to hospital if you're worrying too much.

Em sounds like you needed that glass of vino! What a big day!

Lexi, on presenting, I used to be a bit fearful too. I didn't like everyone looking at me. I have kind of got over it over the years, and now am quite confident. One trick I used was to emulate someone I really admired as a speaker and kind of take on bits of her persona. So that helped me with delivery - kind of like pretending to be someone else - and I could work on my own confidence in the meantime. Oh I also had a two-hour presentation training where I got some awful feedback from the group - helped in the long run tho!

Lanny I am honoured to have been in your dream with the others! But sweetie, no-one's going anywhere Awww! Dreams are funny, hehe!

Tramp sounds like really, really tough days ahead with work. Hope the cunning plan comes to fruition! It might be totally knackering but I feel sure you can do it...

Hope the bump-pain has eased panic?

Gummi oh dear re pelvic floor and sneezes! TMI alert: I went to loo at the rail station earlier today, thought I'd finished, AND I HADN'T!!! The horror! Slightly wet pants afterwads! Is this my pelvic floor giving up the ghost?

shield I am sure the baby was just snoozing!

lexi I really dislike presenting too, which is funny bearing in mind i used to love doing drama and singing and all that. My best tip would be to talk slowly, pick a spot at the back of the room to project to, but not to be afraid to make eye contact with people. I get the sweaty palms and red face and neck and all that, but I think if I speak fairly slowly, but with some variation in tone it helps. People normally say I am a good presenter, but believe me, I hate it. I just think that if you're not monotonous and not too quiet or fast, that's half the battle.

Filled in the Brum meet up dates, I'm sure I was busier than that but obv not, I seem to be free very weekend!
Lexi I used to have public speaking lessons and do public speaking competitions at school and everything that people say here is what I remember from my lessons. I find it helps my nerves if I concentrate on how I'm speaking rather than thinking about the people I'm speaking to, speak slowly and breathe, talk to the people at the back of the room and practice what you're going to say loads so you feel comfortable. I'm one of those sad people that quite like presenting and would gladly help if I can.

Know what you have to say - take in prompts and say it however the hell you like, just don't rush through it.. It all sounds so simple and yet when you have a go it seems impossible. I promise, a good listener to practice on will help you get through this one. 3 practice runs, no more, or you'll over think it all.

Any typos btw are entirely down to fact that one of my cats has decided I am giving lap top more attention than her so has decided to fall asleep on my right arm. Her tail is swishing - any luck and she'll jump off i a snit - despite all the snores presently eminating.

Thanks all for encouragement - I am clearly having a feel sorry for myself week. I'm basically fecked, no way I can get it all done, BUT if I can pull together presentation for friday and then send over more indepth report for following week - providing me with an additional weekend to work on it, well then perhaps all will be well. And I'm paying someone to help me out for two days - which will also help :)

Shel - sounds to me like a sleepy baby. As noted, if they were worried am sure there'd be additional checks. I believe heartbeat and organs etc is what they're interested in, so if thats all grand you just have yourself a sleepy child.

I'm 17 weeks tomorrow, so behind a fair few of you but it does mean only another couple of weeks til next scan - hurrah (note how I pay fast and loose with time). After chatting to MrMs mum this evening, who I think feels like she should be more involved, I have decided forget snazzy 4D scan and go with other guys again and get another video so that grandparents can view and feel included. And come the new year bombard them with nappy, pram, cot and other gumph chatter.

Hope everyone is feeling ok.

Manda - Paris sounds like it should come with a nice lie in but its a bummer that the wine and cheese are on the no eating list. you'll have to make it up by eating lots of patisserie... :)