Due March 2007 - Heading for the third trimester

[Booboobedoo]

Thought I'd start a new thread as the other one's about to run out.

evenhope - all those babysitters for when you want to go out clubbing!!!

Awww Muppet what a cutie Alfie is!

Foxes I don't konw why but the thought of the minibus whirling round in a tornado made me smile! you must think I'm mean.

All went well with the MW, blood pressure has stayed exactly the smae throughout, sample was fine too, took some more bloods will find out if I'm anemic(spelling) next week. Heart beat was good too, MW seemed very pleased. Measured bump, or fungal height as I keep wrongly saying, and its measuring BIG! LOL almost 4cm more than it should. Anyone else measured big and anyone know how accurate it is? Not worrying yet. But may increase pelvic floor squeezes and get that prenanium stretched!

Amie - LOL at your fungal height!!!

If you go onto BBc News there's pics of the tornado damage (can't do link) one house had its whole side ripped off

Hello Ladies
OMG its windy here, am worried about the large oak tree in our back garden its whipping around like mad.
got early tickets to see the Holiday last night my hubby did not thank me for it, its a really girly film. Don't care though when's the next time after baby that I get to go to the Cinema!

Oh Fox & Diva, sorry I left that hanging on a thread, yes, my friends baby is fine and at home now. I haven't seen him since he has come home and really looking forward to having a cuddle !

I'm also not sure about the birth plan thing, I asked my consultant about it and asked when it would be normal to see a midwife to discuss it, she replied - if you have any questions about the birth you can ask me! I'm going to write up a load of stuff for my appointment after the next one to discuss with her. I think its a good idea even if to get things clear in your own mind about what you want and what you expect and to avoid being pushed into doing things that inthe experience of loads of other mothers on here are not the best way to go.

Muppet - about your cat. I hope he is ok.

Tornado???? we have the most wonderful weather here today, clear skies, sunshine !

Amie, great to hear your mw appointment went well today. The measuring the fungal height I think is supposed to be very inaccurate, they don't seem to bother doing it here at all.

Hello ladies

Just popping in to see how you all are. Not been feeling well this week and so have been toddling off to bed early. Plus am super shafted at work again (just for a change) so cant log on there and catch up and just oo tired in the evening.

Muppet, so sorry to read about your cat. Really hoping he pulls through. He is such a sweetie. Know what you mean about attachment to animals. I had a cat a few years ago and was so upset when she died... and that was without the hormone surge of being 6 months pregnant.

Amie, the fungal height thing is a load of old bollocks. Everyone got so worked up about it when I was pg last time but it was a combination of a big baby and lots of lard on me! I don't see how my fungal height can be the same as a woman who started off at 5 foot and 8 stone. Seeing as I started at 5 ft 9 and .... stone (can't bring myslef to type it as it's double figures) I think everything is going to be bigger. You might be able to blag a few extra scans on the back of it to check for excess fluid etc but I don't think that it is very accurate.

I haven't bought a single card and only 2 presents. My MIL rang at 11pm last night to ask which kitchen from the early learning centre DD wanted. SHe seemed surprised that I was asleep! She rang 5 times on Sunday to stalk me about the kitchen. Thank god for caller display .

Hope you are all well and happy. XXXXXX

hi everyone, so much has happened to you all! hope things get easier- am really sorry but don';t get on here much and the thread is so daunting with the birthplan, we are encouraged to write one and discuss it with the midwife. i am seeing mine in 2 weeks for blood tests, so will visit the subject then.. as my dad keeps saying in his letters-the big day is getting closer then its mw/doc every two weeks, then every week. we are encourade to call whenever which i do do, sure if have another baby after this one will be much more relaxed! am doing the buggy hunt.. how expensive!

Dolly - that's what I was thinking! How can my measurements be the same as someone who was stick thin before!!!

Made me smile, everyone is using "fungal"!

I won't worry about it, LO will be however LO wants to be.

I was also asked to keep track of movement, and if bump doesn't wriggle 10 times a day I have to phone the labour ward, even if its every day... is this normal procedure? seems.. excessive to me. Though at the moment, I must get booted 10 times every 2 hours.

Spongecake - hello! - great to see you! Don't worry about not keeping up. There are loads of us on this thread who make guest appearances as and when. I frequently can't keep up with the posts and just do a general hello to everyone. How are things your end? How are you feeling? Hope you are getting well looked after now. Big hugs.

Amie - they do get a bit more anxious about baby movements after about 24 weeks as if you don't have them fairly regularly it could indicate a problem (or it could be the baby is asleep!). I had a couple of trups to hospital last time as I felt DD wasn't moving as much as she had done. Everything was fine, but you just need to have the heartbeat monitored for reassurance. If you are being bashed to death, it's a great sign (if a little uncomfortable at times!) I was told that, if I was worried about movements, to lie down with a cold drink and a biscuit and just relax. After eating the biscuit and having the drink, I had to count the movements. If you get 10 in an hour everything is fine. If not, then you are supposed to repeat the test and only then go into hosp for a chat with the MW.

I would say this is quite a good thing to do if you are worried. Much better to get it checked out than panic yourself. Plus you get a lie down with some food - can't be bad. It's really rare for a baby to get into problems in the womb at this late stage in pg but it's worth keeping an eye on if you have a quiet day with him or her. I needed loads of reassurance in my first pg and was a regular fixture in the day unit at St Thomas's. THey don't mind at all and would rather you were checked out than panicking.

I am supposed to be working at home today, but so far have just managed to eat a pot of coleslaw, 2 mince pies and 2 cups of coffee! Must get on. More later. XXXX

Grrr - have been having fun(?) and games with work again. We've got a ban on uk recruitment, so everything has to be "off-shored" - which means that my maternity cover people (yes 2 or 3 of them, not 1!) will be in Hungary. They wanted me to go there in March to do training, so I had to point out that even if I wanted to the airlines wouldn't let me fly after the end of January, and the company travel insurance probably wouldn't cover me either. However because my contract says I'll travel as required, not going is apparently another disciplinary matter. As another of our wonderful company policies is that once a function has been offshored it can't be brought back, I've already been told that that there might not be a job for me to come back to - so it's starting to look awfully like they're building a case to get rid of me on disciplinary grounds to avoid paying redundancy.

Amie - funny how things vary when we're so close. I saw the midwife this week and she didn't even bother to measure anything.

Lunar your situation with work is horrendous! How horrible, I hope you can come out on top and then find a lovely place to work for the future. Lifes too short to work in a nasty setup.

Dh is off for lipids test and ecg this morning. The Dr says there's probably nothing to worry about so hopefully he's fine but probably could do with a healthier lifestyle!

I'm back onto grapefruit juice, it is such a strong craving I have for it, especially at night

Hi gang

No time to post yesterday but I was keeping up with Alfie's situation Muppet. Really hoping he's doing ok. He's absolutely gorgeous btw and the weird thing is he looks very like I'd pictured him even before you posted the photo of him.

Amie glad the funeral went well. It's not funny to describe a funeral as lovely if they give the right send-off to the person.

Well, it was our Christmas do last night and I managed to get out of work and into the pub a whole 40 minutes before the officially sanctioned "early" leaving time of 8.30 as I'd done 8 hours work in 5. Actually had a really good time - one of my colleagues got very drunk and being sober myself it was highly amusing to watch. Guess what time I got home - 2.30AM!!!!! I think I'm gonna be toast by about 6pm, sadly in work till 10 again, never mind. Moss, in answer to your earlier question, my work shifts are either 6.30am or 7-2.30 or 2pm til 10, occasionally do days (10-"6" generally) so that's why I'm there so late sometimes.

Thanks to those with the art stuff suggestions - that was a very precise one Foxy.

I think the idea of sharing birth plans is a good one. I'd like to know what people have found useful with them in the past and do they get listened to!

Actually, going to revise that estimate on feeling tired - I might go back to bed now....

X posts - Lunar - my blood is now boiling after reading your post. I'm sure they are breaking the law by treating you like this. An employer has a legal duty of care to its pregnant staff and it is their responsiblity to ensure your working life during pregnancy is made as easy as possible. They cannot discipline you for something you physically cannot do. I really think you should try and get some legal advice if possible - the Citizen's Advice Bureau might be able to help.

This is an extract from the TUC's WorkSmart website

"Sex discrimination legislation clearly protects women from any detrimental treatment including sacking, dismissal or redundancy on grounds that are wholly or partly related to pregnancy.
..... (that definitely covers disciplining for not being able to travel abroad two/three weeks before your child is due!)

It goes on:
"You are also protected from detrimental treatment other than dismissal, connected with either your pregnancy, childbirth or maternity leave and can include, for example, being harassed, having to do inconvenient shifts or having your job downgraded."

Here's a link to the WorkSmart website.

I'm going to put on my birth plan that I'm hoping for a natural birth with just gas and air, that I haven't managed to get any benefit with gas and air in the past because its been shoved in my mouth too late.

I want to be in the delivery suite nice and early as my transition lasts about 2 seconds and last two labours my body was pushing the baby out on a trolley in a public corridor.

Actually I've changed hospitals this time because in the Royal they put you in the antenatal ward when you go in so you are in labour and trying to be quiet etc when people around you are having visiting time etc. Gosh the more I think about it the more I wish I was having a homebirth.....

Lunar, have you informed your employer in writing that you are pg? If so, they are required to perform a risk assesment of your work station, hours, and duties. If any of your duties are too risky to perform whilst pregnant they need to stop you doing them whilst keeping your pay the same. That includes flying.

If you take them to a tribunal you can claim for unlimited compensation; there is no upper limit.

You might want to use the phrase "industrial tribunal" very loudly in work. I did; I made sure that my boss overheard me talking to our Administrator very loudly about it and he sh*t himself tbh. If he ever says anything now even as a joke I "joke" back to him that it's going in my spreadsheet. (Oh, and I do have a spreadsheet by the way.) My life's been a little easier since then.

I'm sorry to hear you're having such an awful time of it but they are totally in the wrong and if you took it to court you could screw them over for a fortune. It would be very stressful but if they even think you're prepared to do it, they might ease up.

I'm glad lots of you think that fungal (!) height thing is rubbish. It confused me; how can I, at dress size sixteen, and a 24 weeks pg woman dress size eight, have the same size fungi?

(I just wanted to say fungi!)

I just wanted to share with you all two really awful jokes I have just heard, too.

1. Went into PC world the other day. Had to watch what I said.

2. I went to the zoo last week. There was only one dog! It was a shitzu.

loved the jokes

hello all, keeping an eye on how you are all doing but i'm just too tired and christmas busy to post decent replies so i've decided to keep out until i can spare the time properly.

Lunar you need to start getting really arsey now

Lunar - works sounds as though it's taking the p*ss to me... either get yourself to CAB or take some other legal advice - it sounds like they're just trying to bully you along - don't be bullied. It makes my blood boil when I hear of companies behaving like this..

Alfie update is not good... spinal nerves are really damaged - vet says he's getting worse, so made decision to get him put down. will got there about 6pm which gives me time to let kids pop in after school to say goodbye and dh to get back from work to do same... deep breaths...

Aahh Muppet I'm sorry to hear about Alfie.

Muppet I'm sorry. Poor little thing. Are you going to be with him when they do it?

If you have never done it before be prepared for the fact that after it happens the air empties from his lungs and it looks like he is taking a breath, which is really shocking if you don't realise. I screamed at the vet because I thought she hadn't done it properly.

I'm really sorry, really upset for you. What a horrid thing to happen. I hope whoever did it is never able to sleep again.

Sorry to hear your sad news Muppet

Lunar.. I hope things change or you get something sorted out soon and they realise what ass hats they are being!

I hope everyone has relaxing weekends.

Muppet I am so so sorry about Alfie
I had so hoped he would get better
Hope you and the kids get through it ok xx

Yes, I'll be with him. DH is going to let the kids see him to say goodbye and then he'll take them back to car. I'll stay there and hold him.

Feel really down, he's the best cat ever - more like a little dog really, a real soppy date as my granny would say.

Muppet you have my every sympathy, it really is horrible losing a pet.