June 2014: THREAD 3: Booking in+counting down 'til the 12 week scan!!

[GillyBillyWilly]

86 June babies!

pomdereplay 28 May
Penguin13 29 May
highlandfling10 1 June
grainofrice 1 June
WooWooCaChoo 1 June
bludgerwitch 2 June
monkeybananas 2 June
wispaxmas 3 June
Mezzaluna 3 June
carrie105 3 June
Bezzabelle 3 June
bee024 3 June
Seatfor5 4 June
SicknSpan 4 June
Loudandlarge 4 June
MAgirl75 5 June
Katsan 5 June
Mrs MLB 6 June
Norah Vanstone 6 June
cheesysmile 7 June
AuntPittyPay 7 June
adaloveslace 7 June
LondonSuperTrooper 8 June
barnsey14 8 June
Winglet 8th June
GillyWillyBilly 9 June
CarrotCakeMuffins 9 June
Snowlet 10 June
Threefromdesire 10 June
noseymcposey 10 June
Kirsty4609 11 June
TheMoonInJune 11 June
CleverOl10 11 June
squiglet 12 June
Giraffelegs 12 June
Mixology 13 June
Gingerandcocoa 13 June
NessieMcFessie 13 June
Londoncitymum 13 June
littlepickly 13 June
just 13 June
Mumof5plusazoo 13 June
blondiedollface 14 June
sebsmummy1 14 June
typhoonsmum 14 June
Hannahc1989 14 June
liquidambar 15 June
MTMD 15/16 June
ElizaB3 16 June
RaRa1988 16 June
Ginandstripes 16 June
Mitchell2 16 June
MrsGasMan 17 June
Sussex31 17 June
VickyVix 18 June
Ohcluttergotme 19 June
Beckala 20 June
Unoriginalusername123 20 June
MarlenaGru 21 June
Bellygrazing 21 June
WifeofGru 22 June
Sheilatakeabow 22 June
SarahAnderson 22 June
Lmf679 22 June
Emmazers 25 June
Bumblebeesmum 26 June
Coocoocachoo 26 June
Simpatico 27 June
Ladygonegaga 27 June
Mynameiswinkly 27 June
Jaykay987 27 June
Kittybubbles 27 June
superlambanana 27 June
Batmam 28 June
Stacks 28 June
NellyOC 28 June
Mrsb2013 1 July
jessieagain 1 July
catslicer ???
airyfairy123 ???
SparklyMasterMummy ????
kirstlovestea ???
Junebaby2014 ???
Stacks ???
Kittygirl33 ???
Girlsgotink85 ???

For those asking about Homerton - that's where I had my first.

I would go there again for this birth, except I live within walking distance of Whipp's Cross, so it would be silly not to go there.

I was fine at the Homerton - at the end of the day it's a busy city hospital so I always had to wait while for MW appts and such. But when I had my son everything was fine. I had lots of interventions (induced, epidural, forceps) ending in an EMCS but that was due to the position the baby was lying in, not anything they did! They tried everything to help me have a natural birth but I just couldn't get the baby out!

At all times I felt really well cared for and looked after, and totally informed of everything happening. All the midwives I saw in my labour (and I was at it for three days so I saw a few) were delightful to be around. It was very clean as well.

The post labour ward was slightly verging on bedlam but again, I think they all are! Again it was spotlessly clean. I remember getting annoyed as I could never seem to go to the loo as it was constantly shut for cleaning! I also managed to get a one on one breastfeeding session with a midwife which made a MASSIVE difference to me as until then I had been doing it completely wrong.

A friend of mine had her first at Homerton, but chose to go to Whittington for her second as she felt it was 'more middle class'. She was privately educated and I am not. I don't know whether that makes a difference in perception.

Just got scan date- 20th nov!!

That's good to know about homerton, thank you. You've put my mind at rest because I've heard mixed things but I think that's before they opened the new maternity unit

Just went to a 1230-3pm meeting, i.e. over lunchtime. Turned up STARVING as had been in meetings all morning. Available to eat and drink was:

• wine
• soft cheeses like Stilton
• canapes that had pate on them
• very fatty sausages
• little seafoods on sticks
• vegetable samosas

.... and THAT'S ALL. It was like they'd taken the pregnancy food 'what not to eat' guidelines and used them as a cookbook.

Needless to say I took two sips of wine (was with a colleague, keeping up appearances) and stuffed myself full of vegetable samosas....

LMF where are you in Waltham Forest?

Ugh, Sarah, no, that's really awful - we went to my MiL's this weekend and the fridge was full of pate, brie and white wine.

At least she'd bought a bottle of Schloer for me!

Beewitched know how you feel re mental health I feel that my hormones are messing me up again! Although reading some of the comments on other threads - like the Preggo Rage - actually is reassuring as seriously my feelings and reactions to things sounds completely normal around here with women and their pg hormones!

Waitinggame I echo the two birds suggestion.

Thanks hackneybird for the homerton info - looks like I will try to transfer... and to be honest a nice walk through the park to get to my appointments rather than walking through the ghetto's to get to Royal London sounds much more appealing!

Catching up, am in Oxford - sounds like just me in that neck of the woods? Although I haven't physically been sick, feel rough most days but as am at New job am not entitled to sick pay for six months... duh. Have got booking appt for 27th November, no word on scan yet...

Urgh feel rotten today. Was supposed to spend my afternoon off working really hard - got so much to be done before going back tomorrow, yet a two hour nap has not helped. The house is a tip and the work is still sat there. Feel so annoyed with my lack of energy :(

Thanks hackneybird That echoes reports I've read of Homerton, so I've made the right decision.

My best friend had her baby at the Whittington, he was super early and they have nothing but praise for them. Sadly she can't say the same for their A&E department when he was a year old - said the difference was incredible.

I've taken full advantage of feeling pretty good this afternoon and I've done a load of washing and loaded the dishwasher, told my boyfriend and he seems upset that I've not left him anything to do when he gets in. Think he's been enjoying his role as Wonder Man recently!

I was pondering the ban on sushi last night, thinking ‘I wonder how Japanese women cope?’. So googled it and found this page. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_in_Japan#Local_conceptualization_of_pregnancy
I found it fascinating and some of you might too…. (scroll down to ‘pregnancy behaviours and beliefs’).

sarah thats really interesting. So many different cultures have different outlooks on this whole thing. Re sushi - I put my hand up and say I have been having it. But under NHS guidelines it says its safe to eat as long as the fish as been frozen (and I am confident that in all cases it would have been). To be honest the only three things I have been avoiding is runny eggs, bloody/raw meat and sadly unpasteurized cheeses - that said my creamy cheese cravings for brie etc have been replaced with some nice pasteurized Burrata - yum!

There is mixed reports with the runny egg thing - from what I have read pasteurised eggs will be free of salmonella, so any eggs with a lions stamp are fine to have runny. But this isn't very clear.

My rule at the moment is I can have runny eggs at home, because I know where the eggs have come from, how I have looked after them and the freshness.

But out and about... not so much!

I've gone off fish entirely, so sushi doesn't even tempt me! And I've always hated runny egg . What really made me sad was having to cook my hamburger until it was barely pink last night

For busy people, this to me is the most interesting stuff: (a) apparently Japanese women give up working as soon as they find out they’re pregnant (b) the emphasis is on ‘staying very still’ during the first months (c) discouraged foods include sweets (but not fish) (d) hardly any epidurals (e) screaming during birth is frowned upon, with grunting much preferred (f) typically new mum stays in hospital for up to a week after birth to recuperate! Not sure if these are really accurate but I find it quite comforting to know that cultural traditions vary so much – further evidence that you can ignore most of the crap.

Oh, and sarah, there are more sushi restaurants here in my neighbourhood Paris than there were in the town I lived in in Japan. Sushi is not eaten very often. When I lived there it was more common to go out for ramen or okonomiyaki or other Japanese food.. This is really making me crave wagamama ramen now, though.

Ooh Gin - I miss my runny eggs I shall google this and may partake in the naughty runny eggs at home!

And as for the Japanese health care system? They tried to give me a medication for asthma that had been banned in the western world since the 80's for adverse side effects, but was for some reason still allowed there. I had to specifically tell my doctor what to prescribe me and he had never heard of it, or any other combined drugs for asthma, that had been around for a decade by then!

Sorry, the point of the previous post was that they might allow pg women to eat things the rest of the world knows to be harmful, but that doesn't make them any less potentially risky.

wispa I'm off fish too at the moment. Made a fish pie last week but cut up the salmon too small and it overcooked it, was not a fan! It's put me off since, also the smell of the bin the next day was bleurgh!

Mitchell Good News about Runny Eggs

Sarah- the NHS has now said that Stilton is fine to eat in pregnancy which is odd! Can also eat Brie and Camembert if cooked through as kills bacteria.

I will be eating whatever I like frankly. I will also be wait for it DRINKING! (As soon as I can face it ) Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to be getting pissed every night but the odd glass of wine or beer is demonstrably not going to do any harm. In fact there's a recent, very rigorous longitudinal study showing that the children of mothers who drank moderately in pregnancy actually perform better on cognitive function tests than those whose mothers never drank.

When we're on the subject attention cheese lovers! I went to France when I was pregnant with my daughter and was told at a very fancy cheese shop that Roquefort is fine when your pregnant because (this is amazing) the mould in it is a form of penicillin that is deadly to listeria, which is the worry with blue cheeses.

Also don't forget that any cheese, even unpasteurised, is fine as long as it's been heated up to piping hot. They never seem to mention that.

Yay for the voice of Emma

I had a glass of Champagne at the weekend, which I drank veeery slowly but was lovely.

My doctor said to me that a glass every now and again wouldn't hurt anyone.

I'm very much into smoked salmon and pickled herrings at the moment but no interest in cooked fish. Oh and I bought some seaweed which I adore but no longer sure I'm allowed to eat it?

Whittington is v Middle Class? Hahah! I have to tell this to DH who went to posh public school :)

So I told my manager and I think she was relieved it wasn't a 'this is my 4 weeks notice' chat. She was worried I wanted a private setting. She also seem to believe pg sickness leave is counted towards general s/l but is "looked at differently". What is that supposed to mean? Will have to read the policy and double check its legal - our hr are really useless.

Have a nice evening everyone!