MARTIANS 2014 - Thread 7: Are you due next March? Do you have wrecking balls for breasts? Getting moist over iCandys? Then come and talk shyte with us..

[PramQueen1971]

Thread 6

I can. not. stop. eating today! Seriously, before I was preggo I would get to work, eat a biscuit with my tea, have a banana for lunch and go home for dinner. Today I have had Weetabix, toast, cereal bar, crisps, curry lunch pot, orange, apple, grapes, 2 donuts. When I stop eating, I start feeling sick, so I just keep eating...

It's how much?! The closes course to me only seems to last 2 sessions.

Did our mothers not have classes? I must ask...

Think I paid £170 for my NCT classes with DS, however they offer up to 90% discount if you're on a low income - if I wanted to do them this time I think they would be at least half price. Last time me and DH were both on a good salary, I was the breadwinner before quitting to be a SAHM!

They charge by the hour so it depends how long the course is. Between £15-20 PH depending on where it is. We wouldn't quite get the discount now, but would once I go on maternity leave!

I did NCT 4 years ago for my first and count some of the other mums I met as some of my best friends now. So glad I did it, don't know what I'd have done without them! However, my teacher was an absolute fruit loop and it was very much an anti-intervention session; when we all met up afterwards she made no secret of her distain for our epidurals.

£15-20 per hour excludes anyone but the middle-classes. And that really annoys me. This is why those at the bottom of the social ladder receive the poorest health care. Rant over for the time being

Hxyhbu

But did you see the bit about the big discount if household income below £26K?

Bloody hell I'm not doing nct then! The ante natal classes at hospital were rubbish, but that's just the one I went to. I won't bother to do any this time, they are more suited to first timers.

I think I'm getting ill, I have the beginnings of a sore throat. I get tonsillitis every year and its hideous. Just praying that's not what it is. I've felt good today, not nauseous for a change. Just a bit retchy this afternoon but I had a breadstick and felt a little better. Might this be the 2nd trimester feeling good stuff that's meant to happen?!

Fox I might look into the discount and see how it works out.

Sorry. My phone seems to be having a moment.

(in a 1950's BBC radio voice) "Please continue with your normal lives while we attempt to rectify the problem as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience caused"

promptly 5 big blokes take the phone round a corner into a darkened alley for a good talking to

The NCT class aren't really about health care though Pram. They seem to be a big social club from what I've read. And with a 90% discount they seem fairly inclusive. Never done them though. I did the free NHS ones which were a big pile o' shite.

is the 26k a year per income or joint does anyone know? not sure i want to pay that amount for how crap the ones round here sound, but as others have said may be worth it for meeting people

Joint, I'm afraid. Household income.

Household income Grey. Think £40ish of what I paid was for NCT membership for a year, which was pointless so wouldn't pay that part again!

ahh ok thanks fox and rock! what does the membership entitle you to? it all just gives me a bad vibe and i cant put my finger on why!

but where we're moving doesnt seem to have much in the way of other ways to meet other preggos unfortunately!

Me too Mummy. My throat feels tight and a bit sore and I felt nauseous earlier. Don't wanna be ill

Most of our mums probably didn't do classes (I know mine didn't) but they were also far less informed on just about everything. When in hospital after I was born, the nurses gave my mum a pill to dry up her milk and a packet of formula and she just did what they said without question. There was no discussion about feeding options. The pills and formula were handed out automatically.

Why should I have to pay to meet up socially with other women? Pregnancy is healthcare, no matter how you dress it up or down, and if NHS (free) classes are shit but NCT (expensive) classes are good then who is going to benefit? Not the less well-off, that's for sure. Even with discount the classes are a tenner and not everyone can afford that.

I hate institutions that are not inclusive.

I, too, have a sore throat and have had it for three days.

I can't stop sneezing & have a blocked nose! Doesn't seem like a cold though.

That's crazy about your mum being given a pill & formula Lyra! What year was this?

My mum bf us all, but I've no idea if that was the norm or if she was some kind of hippy

My mum was forced to have an enema!

I had no idea the NCT classes were so expensive. My MIL paid for ours as she is still best mates with about 5 ladies she met at NCT 38 years ago... She said it was non-negotiable and sorted it all put with DH... Must be more grateful next time I see her.

This was in 1971 when people were automatically expected to bottle feed. My mum said nobody in her large ward was bf their babies.
I remember seeing a woman bf her child when I was about 8 and thinking it was really weird because I'd never seen it before. Thankfully things are different now but so many people still grow up never seeing bf, think it's weird and refuse to try it themselves.

If my mum had had access to NCT all those years ago she would have had very different views on things like bf. Sadly, the poor miss out and are often left ignorant.