Sloths, slugs and heffalump bumps-july13

[princessllama]

Hope this works

Well, it wasn't quite a whole day, sadly. About 3 hours though, which felt totally luxurious.

Re violin at 4... I started violin at 3 and my brother started cello at 2.5, DS "plays" DB's old teeny tiny cello at my Mum's sometimes too ! In our defence my Mum is a musician so we were begging her to let us have a go, and it was all done in a fun, child led way. I'm married to a musician/music teacher so envisage doing the same with DS, if he shows an interest.

I can foresee it being a bit of a tricky path to tread wrt being "pushy" - DS has already been described as "gifted" by nursery (which frankly must be nonsense at 2 but I see why they are saying it), and I can well imagine both he and us finding it frustrating in the future if he was consistently not being challenged... How this will fit with our ideological commitment to non selective state education we will see!

Whoops bit of an off topic ramble.

Yep its the yeo valley one Vinegar but have just felt obligated to add a yoomoo one to tomorrows online shop so I can compare and contrast the two.

Thinking - am in the NHS bit of St Marys, hoping for the birth centre if Bean plays ball. The private Lindo wing where the royal birth will be has the same entrance as the birth centre and no way do I want to be waddling past the press hordes in active labour!!

I think if the child shows an interest/talent its a different story - my two love messing around on my old guitar and piano at my folks but I know they're not ready to formally learn an instrument and it would drive all concerned crazy if I pressed for that. I've said to ds1 if he wants to learn an instrument when he's 8 we'll give it a go. Ds2 is more of a dancer than a musician at 4 but the offer is open to him too. It was just these parents insistence that their child must learn an instrument/join year one after school clubs regardless of the schools carefully thought out reasons I found super pushy.

Some parents are really weird. DS1(7) has just started learning the piano and really enjoying it but DS2(5) prefers to just randomly strum my guitar or play random notes on various instruments which I think is fairly normal for his age. DS3 just likes to sing the fireman sam theme tune really loudly .

Wow, lots occurring while I've been distracted on the decluttering thread.

Schro-keeping fingers crossed all going well for you.

Just got into bed & waiting to see if heartburn calms down after glass of milk. Last night it was horrendous even though I had gaviscon, tums & rennie.

I'm booked for lunch, massage & spa afternoon tomorrow & am so excited. Will make a list of hospital snack things to buy & gotta get some of this fro-yo to try. Everything just makes me feel ill but ice cream type stuff is good-think it's one of the few things that don't cause heartburn!

Any snack ideas for hospital bag appreciated-thinking sports bottle, alphabet letters, tuc biscuits, grapes, apples, maybe a few pots of custard?!

Ordered a new changing bag which eBay lady made for me, (wanted cath kidston but they seem a bit rubbish-always ripping etc & she makes with the CK oilcloth fabric) & I love it so repacked all baby stuff in there.

I feel like I'm doing a lot of dithering in these last few weeks, ho hum & hopefully goodnight all ;)

cheek I managed to avoid nesting today and mostly sat on the sofa / napped. Most luxurious! As dh is shortly off himself I'm anticipating us getting stuck into diy together, so the rest now is key! Thanks to everyone for the mat leave good wishes, it's sorted the worst of the cankle issue today

Good luck with your last day totally!

dinky is this all an elaborate cover for your true identity?

evelyn your day sounds amazing, I hope you're completely relaxed after! Alphabet sweets are a good call for your bag, and one I'll be using. In case my ident wasn't already obvious, anyone who knows me will recognise my love of them! Who on ebay have you bought your bag through? I'm intrigued, so many changing bags are so ugly.

has anyone been watching child genius? it's really interesting seeing the different parenting styles. I think hugos mum is a hoot.

dinky you might meet the queen! how exciting. are your due dates close?.it would be pretty stressful having so many paps around though.

has everyone found their blood pressure increasing. I'm a bit confused. I booked in at 90/60,.at last hosp appt the dr suggested I booked a follow up appt at gps as bp was 120/70 so not high but high for me. I went to gps today and saw the nurse. she confirmed it was higher 130/78 and suggested it was just due to carrying baby weight. Is that most peoples experience?

For those not on Facebook, another June arrival hopefully pending! Am being induced early today due to small baby and slowing growth. Excited and scared in equal measure!!

Best of luck BB01 - hope all goes smoothly and swiftly today and you get to meet your baby soon x

Cheek - my blood pressure has gone up abit but is still in the acceptable range. It does go up as your pregnancy progresses and if the mW/Dr isn't concerned there's no reason for you to be,

I think the royal due date is a couple of weeks after my due date so hopefully will have been and gone before the hospital goes into royal lockdown mode!

Evelyn, have a lovely relaxing day today. I like lucozade sport lite for labour/post labour. Hope you avoided the heartburn attack last night. I was awake between 2 and 5 for no apparent reason this morning which was fun - not! Luckily I have a not so hectic day of sorting house drawers/cupboards, getting as new ink cartridge for the printer and faffing around ahead of me before heading out to see pride and prejudice at regents park tonight. Though looking at the sky out there suspect it may be rained off.

Good luck bb01 hopes it all goes well.
Off to hospital myself in a bit to see if this one is still growing well. Very scared too.

Dinky I was awake too between those hours. Really need to learn to sleep!

Hugs Shelley and some virtual chocolate winging its way over the web to you. Hope the appointment goes well today. keep us posted.

Good luck BB - best advice from me for induction is take plenty of snacks, reading material and patience! This is your first, isn't it? Be prepared for it to take up to 2-3 days!

shelley lots of good growing vibes - either way,better to know I reckon, so it can be acted on.

Off to help out at DS's nursery today, bit cooler and less muggy thank goodness.

38+3

Anyone having weird baby dreams? Last night I dreamt she was five days old talking to me already (slightly weird trying to breastfeed and she's trying to hold a conversation). Then some reason I was letting her live with my inlaws (still five days old) and they are in their 80s. So weird.

Shelly hugs to you dear.

Totally good luck with your last day at work.

BB01 good luck today and let us all know how your doing (if you feel up for it/need to pass some time).

Best of luck and good wishes to BB01 and Shelly

I had another night of semi regular but painful contractions, think I must be going for a world record in long drawn out early labour , thankfully DD decided to be very grown up and stayed in her bed all night, and dressed herself this morning before coming into my bed

Lol re the biscuit boobs !

Mmmm fro yo, might have to get some of that today sounds delish. Enjoy P&P tonight Dinky sounds fab.

Hope your last day at work goes ok Totally enjoy the time off before the fun begins.

shelley good luck today, are you having another scan or just check BP /urine etc?

bb01 good luck with induction, having been induced twice I can tell you it can hopefully be a very positive experience

cheek I've been watching it, it's interesting to see the different parenting styles and radically different personalities - was it Oscar who memorised the whole pack of cards- he seems like a lovely kid, as does the girl Catherine. Some of the other children I think would be best described as tiring!! (for the parents I mean- I like Hugo's mum too!)
My BP has gone up from about 90/50 to 110/60 which is high for me but normal enough I think

vinegar that process of learning instruments sounds totally normal/organic process where child sees parent doing something and then just wants to copy. Definitely nothing pushy there! A bit like my ds2's obsession with my 'stetoscope' as he's seen me listen to their chests on occasion
Ds1 is way ahead at the moment, and people have always been a bit astonished at his language skills in general but I'm very aware that this may just be that he was an early starter and we are not trying to push him on, just keep him stimulated and interested in books etc. Luckily his school are focused on helping more able as well as less able kids to meet their full potential rather than just letting the bright ones coast along. State school, very happy that we can avoid private education as it would probably bankrupt us with 4 kids!!

Evelyn I'd recommend dried fruit such as apricots, cranberries etc for hospital bag too, as it is easy to eat and
helps bowels get going post labour!

dinky I'm going to have to source some of this frozen yoghurt! Sounds great and less unhealthy than ice-cream probably. At the moment I'm obsessed with strawberries as co-op is selling them really cheap and they are delicious- from Perth which is (I think) where some of the best Scottish strawbs are from

mrsross I might try and have a lazy day today too- slept really badly last night because it was too hot. What are alphabet sweets btw??

Phew monster post! Whole day ahead of me and nothing planned so will try and ignore the things that obviously need done! We are having some new furniture delivered this weekend which will involve lots of shifting of clothes/books etc so need to save my energy for that

Also been getting those horrible sharp cervix kind of pains last couple of days, hoping this means baby is moving further down! But still no sign of impending labour

38+3

thinking alphabet sweets are teeny hard sweeties shaped to look like letters. Addictive, but yummy.

Best of luck to everyone needing rest / having contractions / already in hospital! I'm going to try to finish collecting bits for my hospital bag today.

Good luck BB01!

thinking ow yes I have started up with these sharp cervix / ligamenty / kicked by a horse pains too. Also interested to know what your signs of impending labour were?

I can sometimes feel like I have a baby's head pretty deep in my pelvis, sometimes he has moved off and up again. Finding this vv unsettling as DD was firmly in one place for months, and firmly engaged and ready to go at least 6 weeks before labour. This little guy is still making big, swooshy movements. I also wonder if he is slipping up and transverse again which is stressing me out a bit.

Also carpal tunnel nightmare - all the joints in my arm ache, and I will be joining the 4am club if I can get myself out of bed long enough. So tired!

Hi everyone,

BB01 and Shelley I hope all goes well for you both today.

Totally I hope you have a fab last day.

Hayfever wise I've been given piriton by a locum who googled what looked like the bounty chat boards to check it was safe in pg so asked the Chemist who said its fine, but in the later stages can cause the baby to be irritable if they are born with it in their system!

Dinky glad your son's school induction went well. I'm sure you'll find some mums who share your views. I use to belong to a mum's book group and one of the ladies contacted the education minister because her DS wasn't being taught letter sounds at a private nursery prior to turning 3!

Mightbemad I love your DH's idea of a productive day.

Hope everyone else is okay. Will catch up more fully when my DM goes home. Can't wait for some time without a constant stream of questions! Currently on 'Well can you just tell me what the name you're thinking of starts with. I promise I won't try to guess' Followed by well I need to know the name so I don't say the wrong thing when you announce it! Argh. I love my DM and I know she loves me but pg hormones, lack of sleep and 5 days is too much! Sorry for the rant! Off to find ice-cream!

38 + 4

OHGood sorry cross posted. I hope you manage to get some rest before labour starts. I think with the second baby always engages later. My one is still wriggling all over the place but like you DS was in place by this stage!

Dont worry MarieKL - icecream will make it all better! Lol at the mum contacting the education minister

We seem to be filling up the board nicely now people are starting maternity leave and early arrivals keep popping up.

Ooh everyone seems to be struggling with sleep, hope it gets better for you all! I seem to be sleeping through apart from a middle of the night wee now, think im just exausted to be honest.

Re ice cream my OH ha taken me to creams today he is definitely in my good books right now!

35+6

I need some crowdsourcing help please! Think back to January. Where, in my morning sickness, cyst and scan addled state would I have filed two years worth of payslips? I remember sitting on the floor sorting them out, but have a horrible feeling I then put them in the recycling pile. Either that or some genius safe place that I have now forgotten (and isn't where they should be).

Re sleep Icing I had a good patch a couple of weeks ago, but now can't manage more than 3 hours without something hurting, or needing a wee, or both...

37+5

Oh no Abzs - I hate it when that happens. Might you have put them with DH's payslips?

Mightbe - that carpal tunnel sounds horrible. Can you do anything/take anything to relieve it?

So far my super strenuous day has consisted of sorting out my underwear drawer, shredding papers from the file clear out on Monday, getting alarm on our car fixed (surprisingly expensive!), sorting Berlin hotel, taking an online shop delivery and making up baby baskets (with nappies, wipes/cotton wool, muslins, change of clothes) for the bathrooms in the house. Am now lying on my bed listening to the rain and wondering what pride and prejudice in wellies and souwesters will be like!

dinky - slow down!!

I'm celebrating my last day with a late finish at work.... Can't see me escaping before 7 & more likely closer to 8. Grrrr.

Hoping I'm not tempting fate by booking a pregnancy massage for 12 days time, when I'll be 37+6. We had to cancel our theatre tickets last time when we had DD early. Hoping I'll make it to at least 38 weeks. (ideally 39+1 with nice quick daytime delivery, if that's not too much to ask )

Abzs - can you remember what other papers you were sorting through at the same time? I hope they turn up. Can you request copies from your employer? I'm sure they gave to be able to give duplicates. They will definitely have all the info on record.