Sneeze births please, and we'll BROOK NO ARGUMENT

[TheLittleFriend]

Over here Brookers. I'll stick a cake in the oven

Ooh Sparks lovely, I'm sure twinkle is all fine and well, they are very well protected in there but your poor knee take it easy and I prescribe hot chocolate and cake (for the shock of course)

Oh Sparks you poor poor thing! The others are right though, wee twinkle will be perfectly protected in there and when he/she comes out will have to remember to say thank you to your knee for jumping to his/her/(their? ) defence.

As for you though, take it easy and if needed get home from work early. Second the prescription for cake and chocolate Hope your knee and back feel better soon xxx

smegs what a lovely birth story you A* brooker you!!!! Lol at DH and DDad stopping for a cuppa! Glad you are all home and settled and being superwoman - i hope i get similar nipples of steel!!

little thanks! I am 23 weeks today - it has absolutely flown by so far!

sparks you poor thing :( but you mustnt worry, minisparks will be fine. I fell over actually in the midwifes office trying to climb onto the bed (so embarassing) and she reassured me the baby is so well protected the only damage i would do is to myself!!! Hope your poor knee is OK and i second prescriptions of cake and rest!

I just sorted my ML leaves dates out in work- im not starting mat leave till be due date on 5 April but because i have to use all my annual leave and cant roll it over ill be finishing mid february!!!! Ridiculous!!!! Ill be so bored but its that or lose the leave! Ill have to find a hobby or learn to stitch up all the things I have knit but dont know how t put together

When I fell over I landed on the terrier but she took it with spirit. I have a blue-brown knee now. Somehow managed a fairly swift almost elegant recovery but felt quite shaken.

All good with MW. I have good BP, no glucose, loud, steady heartbeat, and baby is engaged, though has back to the right instead of left. Not a big deal I don't think. They don't induce until 41+5 here and it is totally optional though they start scanning every other day from 42 wks (which is reassuring).

Forgot to say welcome back to you Frootz - can't believe you are already 23 weeks! How fab. What was your 20wk scan like? Great to hear that it's going quickly for you. You might enjoy the extra MAT leave, no? You can nest or visit family if not miles away? Mind you, I know what you mean: I think it's best to be busy in the build-up to birth, but I find there's usually plenty to fill your time with. Treat yourself.

xxx

I'm crying any feeling sorry for myself, and need to vent to pull myself together. DH has a week left at work, with the plan that my due date is Sunday, so if baby comes it'll be a week of paternity leave, and if the baby is late he'll have his Christmas holidays start, and use some/all of his paternity leave in January.

However a couple of days ago he realised he'd miscounted his holidays, and still has 6 days leave to take. The rules are you can only carry 5 over, and he's already carried 3 days forward, so he has to use or lose 4 days leave.

However, he doesn't want to even ask if he can carry more over. He dies t want to ask for any time off next week, as he has "things to do". I'm just getting SOOOO angry with him for making this a discussion. He's already made up his mind.

What does he think he's going to do if the baby comes on time? If he's not ready to stop work voluntarily, then how will he handle stopping for the baby?

And why doesn't he want to spend time with me?

He's probably scared/in denial Stacks. (My DP is a bit like this about the prospect of another one, though I think he knows that he has to negotiate with me about everything.) Poor you. I'm afraid you have to either get really stroppy/tearful and scare him a little, or ask lots of gentle questions to get to the bottom of it all. Possibly write down how his decisions are making you feel in a few short sentences - but try to appeal to his sympathy rather than make him defensive - and then present it to him when you are feeling a bit more calm about it all. All v tricky and sometimes I think it would be much better just to wallop them and have a good shout, rather than pussyfoot around being nice and caring and understanding. These things usually work out for the best in the end, but it's the principle of him not putting you and the baby first that hurts - I can see that. Good luck with him - sending you a big brook.

Oh dear stacks it sounds like you've had a tough day! Does your husband know how you feel? I had a bit of a meltdown the other day about sorting things out for the boys for Christmas and realised (after spending some time shouting at MrWhim) he had no idea I felt like that, so he is now taking a half day so I can do ALL the Christmas shopping and another one so we can go out for lunch together. You know, just the two of us a bump and a toddler. Romantic huh! It can be hard to explain when you're angry / hormonal (and I find I burst into tears quite easily, which makes everything worse).

I hope you feel better on all counts soon. And don't worry about the baby re falling over, as everyone else has said, they're pretty well protected. Poor Mark4 over here is frequently subjected to #3's Mexican wrestling moves, but appears to be bearing up.

Hope your knee is on the mend too tock.

I feel a bit better now, mostly just because we've made up though. I hate being angry with him, makes me feel like a terrible person. Particularly as he's at work, and all this argument has been through the awful medium of text.

I'll talk with him more later, properly. Just totally over reacted to how much of a non-discussion it all was. He seemed confused about what to do, when having already made all the decisions which needed to be made.

I also was evil to my cat who chose the wrong time to indulge in his most annoying behaviours. Chased him round the house like a mad woman.. Which then made him too scared to come near me when I wanted to apologise . Happily I've made up with the cat too.

I think I've got through this whole pregnancy really lightly on the hormone-hell front. Today I think has been 9 months of hormones rolled into one. Does this mean baby will come soon? Please.

It might well do stacks. I tend not to be particularly communicative demonstrative at the best of times, prefering simmering resentment to any actual confrontation. I blame boarding school for making me completely emotionally retarded! But i do remember throwing my lodger's lunchbox at her when I was pg with DS1. In my defence it had been on the sitting room floor for days.

Hope you have a good weekend with your husband and get everything sorted out.

Thanks Whims - nothing too serious, luckily. I admire a lunchbox thrower btw.

Everyone go and vote for Smegs in the namechange competition here

Voted

Brookers Smegs needs you! She is in joint lead at the moment.

to you guys for voting for me. I had no idea I was even in the shortlist! Am so incredibly chuffed to be on that list - as is DH, it was his suggestion

We're still doing really well, if a bit tired. Not sure why, as I've had loads of sleep. Maybe because it's fragmented? Oh well, I still feel a hundred times better than when I had DD1.

Will be back later on laptop to reply to you all properly. Stacks I hope you're having a better day today

Deep breath, brook for me, off to see mental mil, can't get out of it this time :(

Good luck boo

Thanks Sparks it is done, not too bad, I think she had been warned to be on her best behaviour, there were a couple of small comments I just ignored looked the other way and pretended I didn't hear

my mil told me yesterday I had a fat face!

omg Sparks I hope you poked her in the eye!

We were stuck in a car together for nearly 2 hours figured any kind of reaction would've made being in the car really unbearable!' Thing is before she said that I'd been saying how hungry I was and how it made me sick, then she made the fat face comment so I changed my mind about eating while I was with her, got home and was violently sick!!

Oh no, how awful Sparks, these mil's really are something else! How are you feeling today?

Oh I'm fine now, my mil is normally very good, especially now she knows I'm 'finally' give her a grandchild, but I think she's forgotten what morning sickness is actually like!! I probably have put on weight but I wouldn't expect anyone to actually point it out to me!!

Off to see my friend today, even if my knee is still really hurting she knows we were trying but doesn't know we've been successful!!

Sparks at your MIL! What a caaaaaaaaah! Although sadly not surprised, given the comments she's made to you before.

And Boo I'm glad your MIL managed to mostly behave well to you. I'm so lucky that my MIL is lovely, I read so many stories about MIL's which make me on here.

So, MW visit today, DD2 is 5 days old today and she's back to her birthweight! Am so chuffed, it means bfing is going really well. We had a bit of a wobble yesterday, I forgot to take my Floradix and was incredibly wiped out by the evening, especially as we went out to meet some friends locally. Of course that meant that I was pinned to the sofa in the evening as I don't think she was getting quite enough milk . Today I'm a lot better, remembered my vits this time and am taking it easy. And I may have a nap shortly .

We've got the tree up! DD1 is out with her GP's to see the Christmas lights in central London, so when she comes home I will get her to decorate it with me. And then when she's in bed I'll thin out the lower branches a bit Feels so christmassy. Mulled cider anyone? Go on, it's christmas, and one virtual won't hurt

I will have a virtual with you thank you it sounds so festive at your house today, we have our tree up, teen boo and toddly boo both helped. I think we should put some pics on our fb page

smeg she has her moments!! But on a whole she's actually nice, I probably moan about her too much!! She does lot for us, and no doubt will spoil the baby rotten when it arrives but sometimes I don't think she realised what she's saying!!

You're an inspiration to us all!!

Our Christmas tree is up and now we're watching elf, well I am while mrsparks cooks dinner!!