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

em I once saw someone from my oct10 thread in boots. Total fluke on me knowing who it was. I didn't approach her though

zoey how are you doing? Are you trying to cut back now?

em next door in the warehouse place. They kind of link together anyway. I found it sccidentally after a trip to Stonegate Yard!!
Yummy, must go back :)

The plan was to cut down Ood but had a problem at work Friday which resulted in assistant being sacked - found he was spending the day running a betting ring with mates which is why not doing stuff and the phone calls were his mates for updates not work, so can see boss trying he luck!!!!!
Consultant is back this week and I am his ist patient in clinic Thursday which will cheer me up as had a little bleed last week and when I rang maternity they said not to come in!

Am shattered tonight as DH has been painting boys room in a jungle theme and even though it looks amazing means I have had to do more and have both kids all weekend which is fine but the lifting of DS2 has left me in a lot of pain!

In other news the xmas tree and decorations are up and making Christmas more real and scary I could have a baby next month!!!!! As DS2 was due later in march than this one and is a Jan baby

Welcome lauren and congrats on your little girl - loving the name choice

em vent away there are times I want to kick mine somewhere even bough he hasn't really done anything major- its worse when e sleeping am I am just laying there wide awake!

Oh Lexi I was just saying exactly the same thing to DH and my bf earlier, I feel very pathetic at work and home, none of my jobs are getting done properly and I've already had to take so much time off that its been mentioned by HR to my boss! My boss just said to ignore it but still, I had hardly any time off at all before and it just seems like yet another thing to worry about. DH and bf said that work is not a priority at the moment, work will be there when we get back from leave but your baby's health is not so assured. It's not like we're taking sick time over the slightest thing either.
Unfortunately I threw a massive wobbly earlier, tears, snot, shouting the works! I had just felt crappy all weekend, nauseous, on the verge of a cold, tired, and then today BabyBoo wasn't moving anywhere near as much as normal. Then dh's phone rang with two separate members of his family needing tech help and expecting him to drop everything to tend to them. He was already anxious and really busy and just seeing the phone calls effect on him really upset me. Obvs my hormones thought the best thing to do would be to throw a fit about the situation and make him worry even more!

I have one chest of drawers for BabyBoo with three drawers, its the Ikea Hemnes in white, I put some of the dividers they sell in one of the drawers to separate out her bibs, socks, hats, onesies, sleepsuits, booties and scratch mitts. In the bottom drawer I've put the proper outfits and then in the top drawer I've put all the changing stuff we have so far so there's nappy cream, nappies, baby wipes etc. this is all stuff we've been given btw, I'm really not organised!

manda that hamper looked amazing, can I be your friend please?! ;)

Right, now it's time to freak myself out by watching Critchley Hall. I really scared DH last night, we have the baby monitor set up to check it works and monitor the temperature in her room, DH was in there and I said 'Boo!' Through the monitor - he actually screamed! I haven't laughed so much in ages!

zoey don't take any risks, you've warned your boss plenty!

hermionie if it's pregnancy related absence then you can't get in trouble for it.

lexi don't push yourself if you're not well

ood take your own advice

Gonna sound really stupid now, can someone tell me what DH and that means please?

I'm used to LG/LB - little boy/little girl and OH- Other half on Mumsworld so these are new to me!

And thank you to all who said about the name choice and welcomed me! It was the only name my bloke agreed to in the end :)

Dh- dear husband
DP- dear partner
Dd- dear daughter
DS- dear son
Dc- dear children
Pretty much the d means dear( or darling) Still use OH and loads more.
If you are on a computer there's an acronyms page at the top but I'm on mobile site and can't find it and I can't change to desk top

Ahhh now that now makes sense! Thank you :) I can't see the acronyms page but i'll have a closer nosey!

Can I be your friend too manda ur hamper was amazing and I have been after one of those Xmas puddings in for the last 2 years and they are Always sold out here I even cheered yesterday
Boss as been warned and tobe fair I am exhausted so it's a case of tough luck I need to chill
DH - darling husband if u get confused look at the acronyms tab below it helped me loads to start
Went to mums earlier and she said she had been shopping and got me stuff- I got super excited by the HUGE bag she produced to be presented with breast pads, maternity pads, creams, cotton wool balls, nappies, baby sponge and baby wipes,lol!!! Very sweet of her but not what I was expecting- tillshe produced the new jimmy Choos perfum for me, got to love mums

I've found the acronyms tab. There is a damn lot of them. Talk about having your own little dictionary on here haha.

I wish i was still working. I was told i was a health and safety risk behind the bar so they slowly reduced my hours, then i was first to go in September (seasonal work), and now the job center drives me insane!! :( Plus i always get funny looks because i look younger than i am :/

Evening! Feel like I have neglected to join this thread sooner, but lovely to have a christmassy one :)

Love that Em and Ethel met! Nice to have mutual reassurance that at least two of us aren't hairy truckers as my DH keeps insinuating!

Welcome Lauren, hope you're enjoying thread so far. Love the name Isobelle.

Having had a busy week suddenly feeling really tired now. Also went to a nearly new sale yesterday and spent around £70! (how?) Did kit up quite a few lovely bits for LO, things that really do look completely unworn and really great quality. The bits for baby include a rather fetching christmas outfit for next year in the 9-12 months size. I had a little chart that i'd made on a post it to walk round with to use as a guide for what sizes i'd need for each season if little ds grows at the same rate as dd. Looked like a total geek but it did help me to decide on things. Also bought a big load of fisher-price 'little people' toys which i'd been looking at in Boots the day before.

Boob leakage - i don't have it yet, but had it around this time with dd. Only on one occasion though, woke up in the night with patches on my top. Found it really disgusting - thought it must be how a teenage boy feels with his first nocturnal emission! Went on to have a massive oversupply problem after dd was born, but at least I didn't ever had mastitis.

Storage - I just bought a load from people who have moved to the states. For the first time in what feels like an age 'nursery' is relatively tidy. My lesson from this; don't wait two years to get a good system in place! I also really undersetimated how fast you need to switch the clothes sizes over. I'm putting bags in the attic now labelled with the month that i'm (approximatly) going to need them. I'm also not going to have way too many like I did last time. We were literally swimming in clothes which now I can't even reuse as they are all pretty girly.

Dreams- had such a random one last night where the main thing I remember is just being really angry and having a massive shouty rant at someone, can't even remember who!

Decs - will be looking for a tree this week, yay. DH has just finished painting the feature wall in the lounge in a lush deep red so will look great with some foraged foliage if I get the chance.

Went to/helped out Ted x Women event in MK today. It was really amazing, so inspiring. One of the speakers was the woman who first started SureStart. She came and spoke to me as she could see I was pg and it was so interesting to talk to her about the parenting/childcare/early years education issues. One of my main pet topics for various reasons.

Baby is kicking loads today, flumping around. Started feeling breathless and not being able to move so quickly. Backache; check, heartburn; check. Feel absolutly amazing in general though compared to how I have felt in this pregnancy though. This is an amazing time. Am generally enjoying it :)

manda I have vac bagged all my kids clothes partic as am fortunate my oldest db has 4 boys with the youngest a year older than my eldest. So get loads if fab hand me downs. I have a whole wardrobe with bags labelled up, even bags of different sized gro bags and baby towels etc. when the little ones get bigger I just go to my "shop" in the wardrobe and get the right bag out and pack the old lot away!!
One chest of drawers is enough per child in my house!

Ohhh Ladies wow you are so organised - all thus talk on clothes and nurseries and storage!!!!!!! I have done nothing!
Welcome Lauren - I do hope you can keep up these thread tend to move quickly!!!
Nice to hear that baby movement are getting stronger my ds2 has his head on my belly as baby started moving he was so shocked and then calmly planted to kisses on my belly for baby!!! Arhhhhhhhh!
Strange to believe that we have to give maternity leave dates to HR I'm clueless to when I want to start all depending on how my body keeps up with it all!!! Back ache and throbbing legs ain't fun though!!!
Glad the Hamper was a success great thought and clearly well deserved how lovely for you to get so much stuff!!!!
I gave yet another bag of my ds bits smart shirts and trousers from next and Zara - too cute to give to the never ending charity bags we keep getting but managed to fill 3 with my stuff I will never wear again and the dc bits they tend to get rid of things not that old but insist they will never wear again!!! Have images of them walking strong naked at this rate of them growing!!!!!
Backwards - good luck on the job front I'm sure you'll get your pick of what job to take!!!!
Zoey - that's the kind of thing my mum would of done! This time of the year is hard as lost her in 09 and me being the baby having baby is really hard not to have her around looking after me! Mil is great but just not the same! Had dilemma with ds as she wanted to be there at birth I just prayed it would be a early morning labour for her not to attend and it happened she was first on scene after he came which was fine!
Felt bad but my mum was the only one I wanted there!!!!

Hello all,

Glad to see everyone is getting a bit more organised. I've sorted travel set, cot and knitted/crocheted five blankets. Need to organise a new house and then get remaining bits.

Question. OH's brother and sister in law came over yesterday. She reached over and patted my belly which I have decided I really don't like!!! Any suggestions for an appropriate response. We are not friends and maybe that's why it annoyed me so much. She then moved on to child care. We at opposite ends on that too. Me with career and options to return post child with some working from home. While she has two sons in high school and doesn't work. So feel she making judgement. Grrrr

Well beginning of a really busy week. Last week at work before I fly to Australia for Christmas (BIG YEAH), month end so lots of reports, paperwork for OH's business, doctors appointment to get letter to fly, mid wife appt, dentist as crown fell out over weekend. And then need to get all Christmas presents to take home once I get replacement credit cards (wallet stolen)..... Deep breath and think of sunshine in Sydney!!!

Three the TedX talks are so inspiring, didn't realise that there was an event in MK! How cool!
No decorations here as we still hope building work will start soon. We need some things doing downstairs to meet fire regs so does not seem much point but I would love to get them up to brighten the place up!
Have taken your advice & am off sick, remote desktopped in and answered some emails that were urgent, then set my out of office. Being pg has definitely messed up my sickness record but as the doctor said, I should rest. DH was quite adamant as well. And thank-you for good wishes re: family; my Nan is terminally ill with very bad dementia too, my Mum has legal responsibility for her care and one of her sisters is being very difficult,my Mum had a bit of a meltdown with the stress hence rushed visit.
Right, off to drink hot honey and lemon and rest - have a good day, all!

Morning gang, it's been a while, sorry! Just can't keep up, even FB defeats me beyond the occasional like/photo comment at the mo! Welcome newbs, have skim read most post but have nothing too earth shattering to share!

Done next to no baby shopping, no Xmas shopping and no decs as not in house yet, looking like the 15th.......OMGA am rather stressed. Kitchen paint traumas abound, and cost of refurb keeping me awake more often than not.

It's snowing. And has snowed. Lovely, but not when you are trying to get to work! Left home at 6:30 for the usual 45 min journey and still about an hour away in travel time, and my feet are wet!!!!!!

I've spent £30 each on grinders before, sadly they lasted only 18months!

Am mainlining gaviscon, well the generic prescription stuff, and sleeping rather badly, but other than that all is well. The ante-natal relaxation/self-hypnosis classes are going well, and happily, with hols, training, condensed working hours I have only 9 office days left to work in December!!!

Sorry to hear of woes and pains and bad dreams, but new cars, job interviews, lovely friends and mums and OHs and cute DCs are hopefully making the days fly by!

28 week check for me on wed, anti Rh D injection, and blood tests etc. by Christmas time I'll be down to single figure weeks to go!!

Girl at work gave birth at 30 weeks last week to a wee girl, both are ok with baby breathing on own, and able to feed expressed milk, but only 2lb oz and needing to stay in a few weeks, gulp, I find it overwhelming to think if that happened I could have a LO here before end 2012?!!!

Stay safe and well ladies, and have good weeks x

Ps - very about this, but think I have started to leak a little bit of wee despite doing my Kegels religiously - paranoid I smell like an old lady! What can you do about it, apart from secreting Tena Lady round your person? Will Thisbe the same after birth? Am mortified!

Chef glad to hear all is well with you - hope building stresses are over soon and the snow abates.

Lexi - rest up and get better my dear.

Chef - hello! And hope you get to work ok. No snow in London (boo).

Mat leave - I've a v good book about preparing for motherhood, in the practical - what does each appointment when pregnant mean, what really are nursery essentials? What are te diff type of births? What should you consider for your birth plan? What are mat leave laws & so on and so forth form of practical. Anyway, interestingly view in the book is you're better to take more time off preBaby than most women do. Min time preBaby for mat leave start she recommends is a month. Basic gist is; last month having feet up & resting more is better for you and baby. It gets harder to concentrate on work the closer you get to due date for both physical & hormonal reasons. Lots of evidence to show that it's first 6 months that a Mum really needs to be with baby all time but after that it's a choice more than need thing and it can be counter productive. Women don't take enough pre baby mat time and can get stressed which is a bad thing.

I've paraphrased hugely but it was interesting stuff.

Acronyms - I still find DH rather than OH somewhat odd. If you think on it saying 'dear' or 'darling' son/daughter/hubby is rather lovely. But you'll note I don't use it ;)

Gallery opening was a success and as always lovely to natter away with our fab neighbours. Slight disappointment in so much as post gallery I wanted a roast from local pub last night. Was so tired and hungry & grouchy. Anyway long & short - pub only does roast in day now. Queue massive disappointment. But was too shattered & it was too bloody cold, to bother going elsewhere and supermarket was shut. So it may be a roast for tea tonight methinks. Obsessive, me?!

I'm really sore and snuffly this am. I'll be grand once I shift my arse I'm sure but right now I'm shifting slowly. MrM has rubbed my back, which helped a bit, but bah. I hate waking up feeling anything other than refreshed. Lots to do today though and a great new bid lead so - wahoo!

Enjoy Aus, sounds brilliant! Although week of packing, MW and dentist sounds less fun.

On storage etc. Socs room has built in cupboard/wardrobe thing and a chest of draws. You box is presently my ironing to be done box - I'll sort that one eventually. I'm planning on using an old Laudry basket for toy storage etc. Bung it in for neat & tidy; tip it over for toy access - simples! I'm v impressed by how organised you all are with vac packed bags, months labelled, draw dividers etc.

Hope Monday is ok and Zoey - rest up! And seriously, a betting ring?! Bloody hell.

The tena lights and oops are very good, I find an "oops" is enough and they are just a good panty liner really, so not too bad.

Would second stealth on the bags that you Hoover. All DS's clothes are put away by 3 month groups and will be ready to take out for new Ds and when needed. Stealth - what bigger towels do you use? Need to get a couple of new ones for Ds.

mums of more than 1. Do I need to buy new Muslins for new baby? Would it be mad? How would I differentiate? Have all the practical babygros but going to buy him some new special outfits for coming home and leaving hospital etc. anything else I need to buy? New bottles I presume? Anything else? Can't really get my head around what I should do. Don't know why it this taxing my brain so much!

No decorations here - will do it on Sunday I think. Catholic tradition is after 8th December - not that it really matters much.

Have a shopping list sorted so just need to actually buy presents. We do secret Santa in both families so Tis very handy. DH is in NYC later in week so going to sort out the presents for us. Yippee!

Sorry to hear so many are feeling rough. I am feeling great but didn't sleep well last night so am exhausted today and have lots to do. DH away later in week so won't have much down time though am staying with my mum on Thursday as she is babysitting for me so that will be nice!

Lovely sunny day here so must get dressed and head out for a walk.

Hope everyone has a lovely Monday.

OC x

Grr, just lost a bug post! The gist of it was:
Very busy weekend where I thought tackling my garden was a good idea. Underneath my bump now aches horrible and I had a huge teary meltdown just before I left for work. Emergency make up had to be applied but I don't think anyone has noticed. Sympathies to everyone feeling worn down by all the discomfort, hopefully we will all get some rest over xmas.
Thanks for the reassurance on boob leakage - Three your comparison to teenage boys pretty much describes how I felt. It hasn't happened again yet but I am going to get some breast pads today just in case.
manda Glad your problem resolved itself. Mine too fortunately although I didn't take anything for it in the end and it all ended a bit unpleasantly Do you recommend lactulose? I think I'll get some in today too.
Ood Love the festive name change
Em and Ethel How lovely that you met. Hopefully more of us will meet too :)
Tramp Glad the gallery opening went well. What is the book? It sounds interesting.
Lexi Sorry to hear about your family emergency and your grandma. Good that you are resting today though, hope you feel better for it. I see you are suffering leakage problems too - I sympathise. Lovely pregnancy symptoms that no one warned us about!
to chef. Eek, snow already, hope your drives to work aren't too traumatic!
Vivee Australia! How lovely. I can't imagine christmas in a nice hot place but it sounds wonderful. Not sure what to say to belly patting, fortunately only family have done it to me too far. It would definitely feel like an invasion of personal space from anyone else though.

I'm very impressed with all the organisation of baby clothes, creams and the like. I think this will be one of my next tasks as I'm loving getting sorted. We haven't had to buy anything to store it in as we have DH's old wardrobes and chest of drawers from his childhood and they are in great condition and nice solid wood. I have stacked up all my nappies neatly and I must admit the neatness makes me smile whenever I look at it :) Neatness is new to me - I was never much like this before pregnancy
Sad to report no xmas tree yet but I will do it this week. Might put a pic on fb

octcarrot I have the toddler hooded towels which are fantastic as off they toddle dressed as a pirate/ladybird/fireman and they fit my 5 yr old as well!
For little toddlers I had the cuddle dry towels then for bigger kids the kidorable hooded towels which if you hunt around can usually be got at a discount as they are quite expensive but are fab!

Also why would you need different Muslins for a new baby? Is your older one still attached to them (mine never were)? Just make sure they have a hot wash and are ironed and if you do need to differentiate get a different colour eg the yellow ones from John Lewis (at least u used to be able to get diff colour)

Hello all!

Just a v quick text as currently in muddle of making play-doh snowmen with Dd! will catch up with thread this aft.
Yes, em and I met at the NCT sale, was great! And luckily neither of us were hairy truckers! Ha ha ha!

Better get back to the snowmen, will write more in a bit. X