December 2013 - creeping closer but no more hospital stays please god!

[LadyMedea]

We are a chatty lot!

I've probably shared this before but as we're back on names this website - names.darkgreener.com - is really good. You can put in any name and it will show you how popular a name has been every year since 1996.

I love Amelia but it was no. 1 in 2011 and 2012.

anyone who's yet to get their car seat etc sorted- I think I've found a great bargain..

Been checking on prices for the maxi cosi isofix family fix base for a few weeks. This afternoon had my usual scout round and have found this:

m.johnlewis.com/mt/www.johnlewis.com/maxi-cosi-familyfix-car-seat-base/p231301622

Really hope I've not cocked up here with my pregnancy brain but seems to me at £87 inc free delivery it's almost half the RRP?

Just wanted to share- ( really hope it's the bargain I think it is!)

If you're looking for just the base it's about right? They are price matching Kiddicare 15% off. The seat is separate!

Ignore, just done a price check and that IS a good deal!

Hey all,

Have massively cheered up because our bath is FINALLY here!!!!!!

My real name isn't Violet, but I really like that name so chose it as a pseudonym for mn. Won't be using it though as we're having a boy...

Great website, Lady, thanks! I also really like www.nymbler.com/

I think the 90-95% figure came from one of my pregnancy apps but if you type into google 'baby sleeping 32 weeks pregnant' there are loads of sites that seem to cite the same figure.

Thanks Molly- yes got seat on a good deal from kiddicare a while ago but best I've seen base is £120-130 so this seems too good to be true. However can't find a fault! DH will be home soon and probably find I've ordered something spurious!

lady I'm a bit obsessed with that site and the aftekch equivalent. One of the names we're considering isn't on there at all (but it's very French) and another is well down in the 5000s so I'm not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing! Second name will be Catherine and then DH favours Serenity and I prefer Amity for a third name - family tradition to have a virtue as a middle name.

chelsea what other styles of name do you like? What kinds of sounds? I am queen of pretty and unusual names

Good news on the bath violet. I could kill for a bath right now.

I don't have anyone to take over from me so it seems my class just won't have English timetabled until April. Doesn't bother me really. I can't stop on my SE stuff anyway!

I don't plan to bath baby for a few weeks. They don't need it - topping and tailing is fine and the routine will come later.

Re nursing bras I would get some expanding ones for the first couple of weeks. Your rib cage should shrink back down within a fortnight or so and by then your boobs will have gotten over the first ginormous week, so don't spend ££££ on nursing bras. I spent the first few days in a support BFing vest! If you are buying bras then avoid seams across the boobs and underwires. Cotton is best because you can boil/iron it in case of thrush.

NomDeClavier

Im very drawn to "la" sounding names such as Isla, Delila, layla but im not keen on the 3 i just said haha!

I like flower and stone names also and just anything unusual. Im just very fussy!

Saw the John Lewis familyfix on offer this am. it's ordered and being picked up tomorrow!

In terms of cover my timetable is being covered by another member of the staff as I have exam classes and the last-minute, no idea what he's like supply has the safety timetable of mainly lower school groups. I'm happier about this.

We have a shortlist of three boys names but keep changing our minds!

Ah Bohemian I managed to avoid any important classes. We are in Sweden, so no exam classes as such, but year 9 here are like English year 11, leaving school to go to college. I only have year 7 and 8 this year (my choice, I asked to drop my year 9s so they wouldn't change teacher mid year)

My year 8s have begged me to return early so I can have them for year 9. I don't think so.

Has anyone elses boobs not got any bigger? My ribs have expanded but my boobs have remained exactly the same so far, how disappointing, lol. Leaving getting a nursing bra fitted as long as possible as assuming they'll have to change at some point right?

We're struggling with options for boys names. We'd like something a bit different but find a lot of the unusual boys names sound a tad ridiculous. I do kind of like Edward but that's because shortening it to Teddy would be so cute.

Hi all, I decided to take your advice and stay on the sofa this morning, but then mum phoned and asked me to meet a little earlier, so got ready and was still ridiculously early so went to supermarket before starting Christmas shopping. Shopping started well, but then my brother and his incredibly badly behaved 7 year old turned up and wouldn't leave - I love them both dearly, but DB is one of those people who is incapable of not talking, even when he's run out of anything vaguely interesting to say. He's obsessed with money and wants you to guess how much everything he's wearing cost (he's 31 but, well, he's an individual), even when he's already told you twice and the figure keeps going up. My DN is unfortunately going through a phase of whining when she can't have her own way immediately, and enjoys winding up my DS. Which she did to fucking perfection today, so he had no nap and was a little nightmare. ARRRGH!!!

Still, now have only 5 presents to buy, and 2 of those are at least identified and can be easily picked up. The other 3 are for grandfathers and DB, I'm sure that won't be TOO hard! I also got 70 size 1 nappies and 150 size 2, that should be enough to keep us going for a while! My hospital bag is now officially complete with the addition of peppermint tea bags and drinking straws - will hoik everything out in next couple of days and inventory it for your critique! Only have to persuade DH to actually pack something for himself, take DS's travel cot and 'Best Big Brother' t-shirt to my mum's and write a list of things that need to go to hospital with me but can't live in the bag, like chargers, iPad, etc.

Going for my first ever manicure/pedicure tomorrow! It's a 'Gelish' one, anyone have any experience? If you do, do you reckon they'll be able todo anything with a thumbnail starting to split horizontally just before the bit where it's no longer connected the flesh? Only it's painful!

Re: boobs/bras, I've noticed mine have gotten stupidly bigger - my E cup bras are decidedly snug! I've bought some of those stretchy seam-free bras beloved of nanas, they're a revelation! I'm planning on feeding in them, they're stretchy enough to handle it and I found nursing bras a right faff last time.

Featherbag before i was pregnant i would be in the nail shop every 2 weeks! Gels are amazing dont ruin your nails and look great. With your thumb they always seem to work something out i had a broken nail once and they put some special glue looking stuff on before they put the gel on so should be okay. Nice way to pamper yourself also!!

Featherbag

I like gelish nails; but I do find they dry my nails out quite badly. I prefer to only use them if I have an important event...not everyone is the same though.

If you want a long lasting manicure with a plump effect top coat Nails Inc. have a lovely top coat called 'Gel effect Kensington and Caviar' and lately I've been swearing by it. Using it at home or at the salon my manicures can stretch to 12 days without a single chip. It's changed my life :)

My boobs just can't get any bigger. You are all frightening me :(

I really would fall flat on my face if they got any bigger!

I'm with you pink. although at least now that I have the bump, they look smallish in comparison, but I think I'm still rocking something like a 30GG which is unheard of.
so when I lose the bump they get even bigger, I will not only not find ANYTHING that fits, but will also tip over

Rose and pink My current bras are 32Ks. Seriously, a single cup is too big to wear as a hat. I could cry as it is basically impossible to buy a bigger cup size in a nursing bra. well, you can get a Royce Jasmine, but they are a tighter fit than my other, nicer 32Ks.

Before I had DS I was a 32FF. After him I settled back down to a 32G, then after DD I ended up a 32J. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN AGAIN! When I lose weight it tends to be off my (already non-existant) bum and my legs, making my chest seem even more out of proportion.

Taking the 3 year old to the childminder for (yet another) settling in day, then back home to wait for the head of family daycare here to visit and have a chat, then back to get the child. Last day of holidays for me, I officially start maternity leave on Monday.

Ah last 2 days at work, tomorrow is officially my last day.

Bought a 65cm gym ball from argos yesterday and been sitting on it like a birthing ball and its so comfy. I don't want to sit on anything else now lol

Have a good day everyone x

This baby does not stop hiccuping!! For the past 4 days its been hiccups at night and in the morning.

Finally got housing sorted I'm on a new scheme called affordable homes. I pay the rent myself but its discounted and i can start bidding tonight only for a 1 bedroom but anything will do better than the prison cell i am living out of!

Chelsea, I had a dream last night that I was helping people pick baby names (!) and distinctly remember suggesting 'Marilla' to you - she's a character in 'Anne of Green Gables'. No idea why my weird brain picked that one but anyway thought I'd better post it here, hehehe. Also I have a cousin called Annabella, if you're still looking at 'la' names.

PS congrats on the housing! great news!

Morning all

Feel for you all with big norks. Am normally a f girl myself, now a H cup and already in maternity bra's. My theory is have a couple in 2 cup sizes up but 1 size down in the back with a bra extender on standby. That way it allows for my ribcage to shrink a bit but boobs to go up when the milk comes in. And hopefully once they start to go back down again the ones I have at the moment will fit, even if I have to take the back in an inch or so.

I'm very lucky that I have the Mothercare outlet about 2 miles from me where they have nursing bra's for £10 for 2 pairs. So can try them on and they are cheap enough to have a few different sizes knocking around. And to be honest the ones I have bought so far are quite comfy and supportive and even give a decent cleavage lol. No mono boobs for me!

Got my pram yesterday as well. Decided on the Mothercare Extreme in the end. £140 in Giraffe print, which is basically black with a bit of print around the trims. Quite pleased with it. Its big and bulky but I needed something that will go off road, be sturdy enough to go across fields ect and be suitable from birth. It's not got a carry cot which I did want but in real bad weather doing the school run he can sit in the carseat and be covered up with the hoods. Its only 20 mins each way so not too long for a newborn and I'm going to get one of those padded insert things you can slot in to make it a bit comfier for him.

We decided on Sebastian just after the 20 week scan and he seems very much a baby Seb at the minute so can't see us changing.

I loved Emmeline for a girl as well as Amelia, and I think they both derivie from the same name (meaning Little Rival from memory but don't quote me on that). Loved Amelia but the popularity did put me off a little I'll admit. I also love Tabitha for a girl and Tobias for a boy. And my DD is called Francesca for whoever was looking for girls names which I and everyone else seems to love. She's frankie for her NN and it suits her!

Bit fed up at minute. Think am going to end up with a C section, baby seems to go down and turn, spends a minute or 2 there and then shoots back up. And with each day that goes he seems to find it more and more difficult to wrestle himself past my organs and inards lol. Was in the bath last night and my poor tummy looked like it had a bundle of fat puppies wriggling around under a blanket. Was going from side to side and everything!

Really want to try a natrual birth this time. Will be my last so looks like I won't get to experiance childbirth at all. Know its more important that we are both safe but am a bit disappointed all the same.

And it doesn't help that because he is right up under my boobs I am out of breath and suffering with indigestion constantly. And darent take any Ranitdine as last time I took that I had severe shits for 2 days! Sorry if thats TMI lol.

Off to do a Morrisons big shop, some housework and then going to try and have a nap later if DD will let me.

congrats on the housing chelsea

Little bit worried, I share an office with 2 other people, 1 of which has just come back after a weeks annual leave and has just told me shes on her third day of antibiotics for pneumonia! How contagious is pneumonia and should my flu jab protect me because the last thing I want is to catch that!!!!

MrsS- pneumonia is essentially a chest infection. Ideally people shouldn't come in with infections working in close environments!!

Best you can do is just avoid getting too close to her, make sure the room is ventilated and wash hands lots.