March 2013 IX: Cruising to Christmas with burgeoning bumps

[Sheldonella]

Thanks sarahs999 for the lovely new thread name :)

Old thread here

No 9, can you believe it

I just need to know if manda has done a poo. I'll sleep better, it been on my mind all day and I've up'ed my fruit intake in sympathy!

Plus our christmas tree is up and I made mince pies!!

Oh Eigmum I log on and am very touched by your concern for me old bowels! I have Good News to share, ladies! Oh yes. After a couple of days on the Lactulose things s-l-o-w-l-y started moving. And I did a normal sized one earlier - I was so very pleased with myself! Yippee! Thanks for all your advice and sympathy! Constipation is awful!

Oh, and Eig my thyroid has been struggling to keep up during the pregnancy. I'm only on 25mg one day and 50mg the next, but I feel better for it. I've been overactive in the past, and Mum and bro both have thyroid issues one way or the other. I expect hope mine to go back to normal after pregnancy.

The JL voucher idea is tops and, yes, she could have used it on her, the house, or the kids. That would have been perfect, but I got so taken with Sundae's suggestion on FB that I have a go at making my own xmas hamper that we were at Waitrose at 0830 this morning buying all manner of chutneys, chocolate, ginger wine and biscuits. Spent £40, and it looked just great in a wrapped and dressed up cardboard box! Friend loved it

She is such a sweetie. Brought one of those big sausage pillows for sleeping and feeding, two pram sleeping bag things, and two newborn inserts for prams and car seats. The two Britax car seats are on their way in Jan. Five years ago she was due just the day after me (my official due date is 5 Mar) and her boys arrived a few weeks early at the end of Jan ? which really made me think! I'm expecting February babies, because twins tend to be born early ? but January?! That's next month!

Went to Ikea tonight and wished that I'd been able to get a wheelchair. By the end, in the flat-pack bit, I collapsed in a settee whilst DH fetched stuff, and a member of staff came up to me really worried asking if I was okay! Funny.

Ethel how did NCT sale go?

JoJo I'd say £40 each is a lot of dosh! My main worry is that they would break. I am happy to spend on stuff if I know it will last. Solid furniture etc. But a grinder could easily wear out / break after a couple of years ? but, then again, if they are perfect ? !

Possom wayhey re HoD job!!! So happy for you! FX?..

Sheldon wow re light!! Am going to try that! Yay for lie in! Hurray for pram but eek re boob! Am sure it's normal!

I slept through last night with only one wake-up - amazing!

Hermione I can't speak from experience, but if you're suffering now ? it's only going to get worse as you get bigger, and with the cumulative impact on your muscles etc. Can you get another risk assessment done and stress the parts of your job which are now becoming awkward? Or get a doctors note to say you simply can't do so much walking and stairs? Seriously, you're not being draft about this.

Yes to leaky boobs.

Gallery is showing examples of our neighbours art. We are the non artists in a street filled with artists & their studios. Theyre opening their studios this weekend so we've opened our gallery in a complimentary fashion. A really interesting mix of types & styles of art. If you're in London pop in.

I've a fancy for one of the pieces, which is under £100, and I'm thinking MrM and I could buy it for ourselves for Christmas...

JoJo on salt & pepper grinders. I have snazzy ones (presies, personally I don't like or use salt & pepper apart from in odd recipe) which is perhaps why they're never used & the grinder sea salt & grinder pepper spice type jars get used instead. MrM has a metal seat that cost a tenner that seem to work. However my Mum has a v nice and pricey wooden set she has had for at least 30 years. She cleans it once a year etc, so it's looked after. So I reckon if you love, I'd you'd use and if you'll look after £40 s not so bad.

Manda- 3 cheers for bowel movements. :)

Christmas trees already, cripes.

Tramp well done on gallery opening. Sounds like a great area! Definitely go for it with the art work. If your gut is drawing you to it you'll only ever regret not buying it.

Manda - I am pleased about the movements! All my family have thyroid issues. I started over active and then went under, I started this pregancy on 75 mg a day but went to a score of 0.006 so am now on 50 mg a day with a healthy score of 0.9, pre pregnancy without drugs I was about 5 which is verge of normal but I was knackered and the doctor made me get to a score of 2 with drugs before we started trying which is just as well as I got pregnant the first time we did! Is that tmi! I didn't have any issues before my first pregnancy but looking back it probably was starting to go and pregnancy definitely accelerated things. Hence for me number 2 will be enough!!

Tramp - sounds lovely, mrE and I did that last year from a gallery in Brighton and I still love it!

Fab news on the movement Amanda I once didn't go for 10 days (ibs) and started getting ill so glad things ate sorted now

Woke up at 3.00 convinced I was in labour as was in agony and couldnt move- ummmmm it was wind and will teach me not to make curry when I know it plays games with my belly- don't think DH was impressed!!!!

DH is decorating boys room so I had DS2 yesterday which was fine but a lot of lifting and carrying the lazy monkey didn't not sit well with my back at all so had to bath for 2 horurs last night! Laid on sofa and had remote balanced on bump and little man did a massive kick and it fell off which made me giggle a lot!

Eig I never knew how important the little thyroid was till my Mum gad to gave hers taken away with the radioactive iodine (an awful, awful process - she had to be isolated in the house for about a month ). I mentioned it to my doc at the time who tested me and I had just got into overactive territory too (which explained a lot of symptoms I was having!) but mine righted itself after two years of meds. Then a few years back my young brother suddenly was finding it really difficult to stand up and walk. They eventually admitted him to hospital for all sorts of terrifying tests and eventually they discovered he had developed a rare sort of underactive thyroid which attacks the muscles - thus not being able to stand, etc - and the change in him once he started getting better was astonishing. Not just physical but also in his personality etc. Compared with my family, then, my issues have not been v. severe so I'm really hoping it's just the drain of carrying twins (that's what docs and consultants think) so fingers crossed it will go back to normal afterwards!

I keep having v vivid anxiety dreams. Usually half of my teeth fall out of my mouth (generally just the left side or just the right side), or half my hair (see teeth) or I go to hospital and scan shows empty belly, or I am in hospital and told baby hasn't made it .. That sort of v obvious anxiety dream, so no matter how vivid when I wake up I understand it wasn't real. (NB I was plagued with nightmares like this as a kid, always the bloody wobbles stabbing people with their litter sticks!).

Anyway last night I woke up totally disorientated. Gen gist: MrM had been having an affair and I was left on my own jut not knowing what to do. Woke up quite panicked and not sure why I was in bed - that kind of a vivid dream. Anyway, wee break, glass of water, back to sleep - grand. This morning I was explaining this to MrM. His response "So me losing my hair is up there for you with our child dying and you losing your teeth as an anxiety, thanks slot." Possibly greatest misheard ever ;)

Zoey Xposted! Morning! 10 days - wow, you must have been getting really uncomfortable. Bloomin' IBS! Hoho re mistaking wind for labour!

Tramp hilarious mishearing!! In my anxiety dream lately DH pissed off with a Bulgarian woman. Why Bulgarian I have no idea!

I had to send DH out at 2am to the futon as I was so huffy and puffy with discomfort. Slept better afterwards. Felt a bit bad about it but he says he slept a lot better too. He's back in bed now having a well deserved lie-in.

I'm really excited about getting his new desk built and moving him into 'my' study today. I'm a bit worried about sharing my space tho. Of course it's all 'our' space (as he keeps reminding me!) but having spent the first 13 years of my life as an only child before my brother came along I'm used to having my own space with a door that I can shut. Also, I don't have an office and I have a full-time job with part-time teaching on top, so I do need somewhere to work. But he is sensitive to all this so I shouldn't worry. It is going to be good.

Yesterday we freecycled some of the old Ikea bookcases from his man cave, his books are now spread about the house with all the others (travel with travel, art with art - can't you tell I used to be a librarian?!) and I'm going to give him two of my six bookcases in the study (not sure how I'm going to do that yet ? !) and the nursery-to-be is already looking much more light and spacious (with a pile of man crap on the floor).

Am getting a tiny bit excited now! Really want to have a space for the babies now.

On which note. What do people do with storage of babies clothes? Just a chest of drawers? We were looking at something like this in Ikea yesterday:

STUVA www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/18836/

TROFAST www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/series/19027/

The Trofast is not the prettiest stuff and neither are likely to last more than a few years but v. practical and can poss be re-used for toys later on?

Trofast is on our list of possibles for toys, always recommended on here.
Dd3 currently has 2 drawers in our room as she is still in with us. Babies don't need a lot of storage, dd3 is 2 and could probably do with 3 drawers plus 2 hangers in my wardrobe.

Hello All, sorry I haven't been around much, managed to leave my iPhone at my aunts house in Hull on Friday and feeling a bit cut off from the world now! I don't have the time to drive back and get it at the moment!!

Ah funny dreams! It's amazing what randomness the subconscious comes up with when we're asleep!

manda baby clothing storage, I tend to stuff it wherever I can find the space!! Really should follow your example and be more organised!

sheldon yay for new pram! Sounds fab.

ood love the christmassy name! I wanted to get our Christmas tree this morning but sadly I'm just too tired, so will head over to my mums for roast beef and Yorkshire puds instead! Can't wait to get Christmas started in this house. Trying to explain the concept of an advent calendar to ds who just ants to eat all the chocolate on day 1 like his mum then

Went to the nct sale in York yesterday and met Ethel! Who was lovely and looking very radiant! Spent a small fortune on clothes for ds but not too much for baby as a) I still don't trust sonographer that she is indeed a she and b) I don't know how much stuff we are going to be given!

Had a Mum's night out with some of my friends last night, was a great giggle but called it a day after the meal and got home about 12.45 - suffering this morning!! So tired! Hope everyone else is having nice Sundays! Ttfn!

We've already got quite a large suitcase and several carrier bags of clothing donated to us - quite bit for vastly different ages - and nowhere else to store it, so that's why I'm thinking of just having it organised by size in the one room. If it goes in the loft I think I'll forget what we've got!) I guess the babies may come out slightly different sizes too? (They are a bit different already in utero.)

Also, I'd like all the bedding etc storage to be in the one room, not least because we really don't have extra space for it elsewhere. It's a reasonably sized box room, but still I think we are going to have to go high to get everything in!

Hi Em - xposted - how brilliant that you and Ethel met at the NCT sale yesterday! I love that!

Uh-oh, given the state of my own wardrobe, in which the principle is stuff it in and hope for the best, I really think I need a system with the babies, given they are going to need so many changes. My own wardrobe chaos I can deal with comfortably but being organised with the babies' stuff will lull me into a sense of coping more generally, I think!

Ood I love the xmassy name too!

manda vac bag each size. Anything above 0-3 months put in loft. Keep newborn/0-3 separate in drawers.

Yup, 2 interviews, both on the same day! Am a bit stressed about them, but just going to go for it and keep my fingers crossed that I'm the best candidate

Ood love the name change!

Manda We have Stuva toyboxes in our playroom and they are brilliant. They look really nice and you can fit loads in them. I bought one of their cupboards with drawers for our kitchen to put the boys art stuff in and that's great too. You could use that for clothes and it's not that big. My boys have a chest of drawers and wardrobe each in their rooms but the chest of drawers is half empty because I just hang everything up so I can see what they have. Unless we are really organised and move ds3 into ds2's room before this baby arrives, she will have a few storage boxes in my wardrobe to keep her clothes. Newborn stuff is so tiny that it doesn't take up that much space.

backward good luck with your job interview.

Em how funny that you met Ethel was it weird?! Glad you managed to get some good stuff at the sale.

Tramp I have horrid dreams when pregnant too. Very vivid and I often end up really crying!! Very strange

Sheldon Definitely not too early for leakage, I remember being freaked out with ds1 when it happened!

JoJo what are the grinders like? We really need new ones because ours are crap. I think it's worth spending on something you will probably use everyday for years.

I am knackered today. Spent all day yesterday walking around London. My sister came and we went to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park which was very fun but freezing cold! We then took the boys to Wagamamas in Harvey Nick's for lunch and then to see Father Christmas in Chelsea. Ds3 was terrified and wouldn't go near him but they bigger boys loved it and we got a sweet photo. DH was at the rugby at Twickenham and managed to stay out drinking for 12 hours. Not impressed, he snored all night long and stank of booze so I couldn't sleep. Grrrrrrrr I wish he had slept on the sofa.

Hope everyone has a lovely Sunday

Hi Ladies,

New to Mumsnet, thought i'd introduce myself! OodKingWenceslas led me here through a post i made in the Pregnancy bit about Midwife Appointments. Sorry to but in mid conversation/posts.

My names Lauren, i'm due my little girl bump on 18th March. Her names Isabelle :) We're from Somerset, Burnham On Sea way, and live with my partner Aaron.

Nice to meet you all

xx

Hi Lauren, welcome!

Hi Lauren , glad you found us. Lots of comparing notes here!

pink they're solid wood but red. Really pretty though as you can still see the pattern of the wood through the colour rather than a patent shiny red which would be too garish! We're looking for red accessories but long lasting and good quality.
I never imagined grinders could cost so much, I've only ever had cheap ones that break easily hence my caution with spending £80 on them... I should probably find out if they come with any form of warranty other than the standard 12 months. There has to be a reason they're so expensive! They're stunning though (at least, as stunning as grinders can be)!

JoJo My parents have always had proper grinders and despite them seemingly costing a lot (and my parents are renowned for tightness but still spent lots on grinders) the salt ones always seemed to wear out. Then a while back they found some where the mechansism was made of something different and they had a life time garuntee. They were even more expensive but are absolutly brilliant, must be 10 years old now and still seem like brand new. And those type are now far more common, so perhaps (hopefully?!) your red pair are some of that sort, In which case I would say the £40 each is worth it, but as you say, check the garuntee. I'll see if I can remember anything more useful/helpful about the make and the mechanism thing. Yours do sound beautiful. I like proper grinders.

Possum go you, well done on the interviews.

Manda My DS has always had a 4 drawer chest of drawers. 2 have had clothes in, one nappies (cloth) and one bedding (cot sheets, travel cot sheets, sleeping bags) and his spare towel etc. It's more than big enough still now and he's 2.

We need to think about some proper toy storage now DS is getting older and now we have the new house. On house stuff there is more painting to do than we thought now you see it empty. Unfortunately we started today with kitchen and our bedroom which are the ones that need doing most and DH has decided he doesn't like the paint we bought for either now we have a wall done in each room. Oh dear! FIL is bussy putting some new sockets into the kitchen and we rashly decided to pull off the stainless steel splash backs and the adhesive is proving VERY difficult to remove so we've just added a large task for our selves there. Oh well, will be nicer without them, it was a bit too much steel. We seem to have done a lot of polyfillering so far!

Welcome Lauren and congratulations.

Oh welcome lauren sorry I completely missed your post .
Love the name Isabelle. Isabella was on my shortlist of girls names but OH wasn't keen on either of the nicknames with our surname so vetoed it!!

possum great news on job interviews, and yeay to house completion flowery!
Hermione I think your request is very reasonable. also getting annoyed by people telling me they worked until the day before birth blah blah blah!
Tramp another one with vivid anxiety dreams - such a weird feeling when you wake up!
lauren welcome!

Another moan ahead......feeling a bit at the end of my tether - rushed to Somerset and back this weekend for family emergency, now also have runny nose, sore throat and feel generally awful. I know it is just a cold but I suspect I will be off work tomorrow - I feel so pathetic & like I'm doing everything badly, especially work :(

Aw lexi please don't feel guilty about taking time off if you're not feeling well! I pushed through everything when I had my first pregnancy and really regret it because once the baby arrives, taking a day off when you feel grotty isn't an option! Hope your family is ok?

Welcome Lauren Isabelle is a great name and would have been our choice for our first baby but doesn't suit little boys very well

flowery hope you're settling in to your new house.

To add to the grinder debate, DH aunt gave us a pair of electric chrome ones that light up when we got our first flat. At the time I thought they were a total waste of time but over the years I have come to love them! Sorry, that doesn't really help you much jojo! Were you in Mulberry Hall? I love it in there!!

possom congratulations on job interviews!

pink was a bit nerve wracking marching up to a random pregnant stranger and asking her if she was Ethel but fortunately I had the right person and we were able to have a nice chat!! Sounds like a fab (if exhausting) day in London for you! Hope your DH is making it up to you for keeping you up all night!

Speaking of DHs, I am not on speaking terms with mine!! He is getting on my nerves, pretty certain it's amplified by hormones but I am sick of how blimmin lazy and selfish he is!! Sorry, rant over, feels better to get it out!