November 2012 - arrivals are now underway

[StuntNun]

Previous ante-natal thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/antenatal_clubs/1573396-November-2012-counting-down-the-weeks

New post-natal thread for the graduates: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/1579907-November-2012-babies-are-here-at-last

I would cook it all then you know you only have reheat. Makes it easier if the purpose of the food is to have something to reheat!!

She says not bothering to do this herself and hoping that I will actually have to cook! Even if just quick I never remember to re heat food!!

Hugs GT You have a date to work to, and I can imagine that makes it more nerve wracking than just starting labour. Think of the lovely newborn cuddles you'll be having on Sunday.

Shelly muslin :)

Tits Bummer for 40 weeks. I just wasn't sure what they called 'term' with 37 weeks being classed as it (that is only something that I have learnt 4th time round too, just as well I think or I'd have gone stir crazy with my first at 42 weeks).

muslin not muslim

Lol , I've called them muslim cloths all my life haha, I've NEVER noticed either and I've bought loads haha!

mm I am starting my batch cooking the week too. I thought I would do a few meals that were easy to make extra of just to make life a bit easier so far I have;

Beouf Bourguinon
Spaghetti Bolognaise
Roman Josh

Brownies!
All Bran loaf

I will probably do lasagna, I just make the whole thing and shove it in the freezer, I hadn't thought of making the meAt sauce, that's a good idea.

I often do the insides of a pie and then buy some of the ready made pastry and freeze it to put a fresh top on. Also it seems easier to heat up the insides in a pan then add the top and cook till crispy this way you can be certain the inards have cooked properly!

My son has just learnt to says cake! Or cike, and won't stop asking!

I'm back home. Blood pressure came down to 120/80, blood results were all ok and baby was happy on the CTG. So fingers crossed it was just a blip and it will stay down now! Ive got to see the midwife again next week. If it was just a one off episode of high BP then I am still allowed on the birth centre. DH has decided I have been 'over doing it' and I am now on enforced resting time!

GT it must be scary suddenly being given a date, but just think how lovely it will be to have your baby here!

I've been batch cooking too, got spag bol, meatballs, chicken curry and some rogan josh sauce without meat and meat and potato pie. No space left in the freezer now!

I'd freeze all of those cooked (bar the rice, you'd cook that fresh on the day) so you just need to pop them in the microwave for a few mins. There's nothing there that screams to be frozen before cooking.

I think someone up post mention thalidomide , and I think that's what planted the seed of doubt in some expectant parents minds. I know its not the same thing, but I guess the uncertainty comes from the fact that even if something was approved its still not a gurantee and therefore some mothers are reluctant to have anything injected into them or take any forms of medication whilst pregnant.

Well... The result of consulting TWO private obstetrician .... One recommends, one doesn't !!! So there u go!!! However, the royal college of obstetricians is saying yes... Dh seems to be swaying a little now to for rather than against .....

I'm filling our freezer with purees for my sisters baby - she and DH'll are doing the cooking for us when junior arrives (and she comes up to help) as we'll not have anything frozen ready for us. Damn smeg fridges and their small freezer compartments. Mindst I'll not be home until day 7 anyway so that gives DH time to stock up the fridge with easy stuff and he's a wizz at pasta and stir fries.

Also I can't be arsed...

Thalidomide was taken in early pregnancy for morning sickness, and affected the baby so the baby didn't develop properly. Our babies are fully formed and just putting on fat now.

I had no doubt about whether to get vaccinatd, I have nursed a lot of babies with WC in the last year and do not want my baby to get it. Horrendous illness for little babies

Thanks guys - I'm super paranoid about food poisoning and only batch cooking really to give myself something to do over the next few weeks. Plus when DH goes back offshore after Christmas I doubt I'll be in a place to cook for myself and when he's at home it's not worth the clean-up operation after he's been let loose in the kitchen!

I have no doubt though that my gran (a retired professional cook/demonstrator/home ec. teacher) will want to do lots of cooking for us. And PIL when they descend upon us post junior's arrival!

Speaking of which, they announced during their weekly phonecall last night that they're coming over for a week at the end of the month. They were all set to book into a bnb down the road but I stupidly said they could just stay here. Now worrying where to put them as I've pretty much taken up full residency in our spare room/office as I can never sleep and hate keeping his lordship awake. Would it be terribly rude to uninvite them?! I'm definitely not favourite inlaw as it stands anyway, the fact I'm carrying their DS's offspring has earned me enough brownie points for them to acknowledge I even exist! Otherwise I'm just considered DH's midlife crisis...

YW I am still super jealous of your smeg fridge, regardless of whether or not it has a decent freezer capacity!! If your new house doesn't have any space for it, feel free to (not literally) throw it our way! ignores fact we've just splashed out on a new fridge freezer and have another one being used as a drinks fridge in dh's workshop....

That should say time to cook!!

Plus the freezer is full of home grown pork and lamb!!

New chickens are on their way!!!! Yay!!!!

I also was pg with the SF epidemic. I was vaccinated around 14 weeks, just before they advised to vaccinate later in pg. It was a long worrying wait I can tell you. Very different to WC.

shelly the link even says muslin you doughnut

Also imtrigued by sophias roman josh!

Good news little

GT understandable to be so tearful. You are not well, itchy, not getting good treatment, and now not getting the natural birth you hoped for. Read up about inductions. They do not all lead to epidurals and further interventions, but there are some not so nice stories too. Just see how it goes, and take pain relief if you need it. Remember all that really matters is baby and you are safe. You are, however unlikely to be cuddling baby on Sunday. Likely Tuesday tbh as first ones, especially early inductions, can take a while. You never know though, you might have one pessary and pop him out

I too like a bit of Smeg.

Intrigued. It is catching!

Another good suggestion as well as making freezer type food is when u go into early labour at home. Do ur online food shopping to be delivered a few days later. That way u will get fresh milk and fruit and veg delivered after a few days coming back from home :D

MM I'd assemble the lasagne then freeze it. Once defrosted, 40 mins at 180 will do it.

Sophia and Candy there is absolutely no need to associate the WC vaccination with thalidomide. That was 50 years ago and at the time there was no concept that a drug the mother took could cause birth defects. It is because of that tragedy that we know that. In fact the manufacturers of thalidomide did every test that was required of them and it passed, if they had been required to test it in pregnant rats (as they would be now) thalidomide would never have been approved. Thalidomide is well known because the effects were so widespread but in fact there were a series of disasters throughout medical history, each of which led to an increase in the requirements for testing new drugs.

I am currently sat on a birthing ball. With a dining room chair in front of me, to lean on to (I lack balance at the best of times!) and 5 cushions stacked on the chair with the laptop perched on top

DP came home and said all he could see from the window was me bobbing up and down with a laptop floating in mid air

I've bought the moses basket downstairs now. It feels more real. I'm not sure if I need to rearrange the living room though.... I can't put the basket next to the sofa, as there is nowhere for it to go. Hmmmmm.

DH has reorganised the lounge today. He keeps saying I need to focus on the essentials, and not get sidetracked by unnecessary faffing, but clearly this does not apply to me.

Keep finding baby stuff I forgot I had. Still cannot find my electric pump though. I plan to sell it, not use it, so no urgency. Need to send him up in the roof too as I know there are some things up there. Sorted out a couple of bottles and the steriliser and hand pump, plus all the small nappies, so a good day all round. Cot up, Moses basket set up, clothes and bedding washed, bags packed. Not batch cooking as my mum is feeding us for the first week. She lives around the corner, and needs to be kept busy as she is stressing about the delivery.

Funny all the cooking chat. I have been counting out portions of soup this afternoon.

We regularly batch cook anyway but I was wondering what you all put your food in to freeze? We don't have enough oven proof dishes to do many thing like cottage pie or lasagne. Bolognese or chilli we would put in Tupperware or freezer bags. DH does pretty much all of the cooking anyway so there is no urgent need but it would be nice to have some things in. I wouldn't cook lasagne or cottage pie but defrost then cook as if freshly made. I would do that because I am worried about no fully cooking things.

I can completely understand GT's tears. I think I would be exactly the same.

horsey I am jealous of your home grown freezer full. As a child growing up on a farm we frequently had bits of beef from the farm - nothing romantic - large scale farming - but it was fresh and my dad knew it personally. He always referred to whatever cow was in there as "number 73". Used to make my mum queezy.

My DP has gone on some mad baking binge, bare in mind he has never baked anything in his life so has tipped half the baking cupboard in a bowl and mixed it up before slapping it on a tray. I swear I will kill him if he doesn't clear up after himself.

I want to batch cook but I'm still waiting on getting a small chest freezer for the dining room.

Ahhhh MM1 we sold the smeg fridge as fixtures and fittings with the house, as it will be too huge to move when we head south! (Along with my lovely washer, which I'm more gutted about as it is awesome). As much as I love the look of smeg fridges - I'd probably not get one again and am glad we only got a second hand one from Ebay rather than forking out full price. We just don't know whether the house we buy will have an integrated fridge so can't justify another one just yet.

There are positives and negatives to this birthing ball thing.

Down sides. It has given me a sweaty bum

Positive sides. I can use it to cut/paint my toe nails much more easily. I'm still not gonna bother though!

I've not had any response to fridays email yet. I thought I may at least get an acknowledgement :(

I also rang and left a message about the pools, just to make sure there are definitely none available. No call back there either :(

Sudacrem has worked wonders on my sweaty boob rash.

I sense a sweat theme here [shocked]

I'm not batch cooking, because a) I CBA and b) DP likes cooking, and it will keep him from under my toes when baby arrives oh and c) I'd quite like to have a few takeaways