It's the dream combo of carbs and couples massagers, welcoming pukey newbies and teffrifying norks, it's GTTs a go go on JS Grads 41!

[ThursdayLastWeek]

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the 41st grads thread... celebrating the success of Just Shagging in getting us viroids upduffed!

For those that don't know, a 'viroid' is from the original JSing thread 1, where someone was trying to type ladies (in reference to all the JSing ladies), but their phone decided to call us all viroids instead!

The name stuck and we've been the JSing viroids ever since.

The 40th grads thread is HERE

The thread we have graduated from is HERE in its 55th outing. WARNING: they're all a bit kerazy not to mention randy!

There is also a Just Mumming thread HERE
for once your babies come along, or to keep up with the graduated graduates!

There is also a private facebook group (so it doesn't give the game away in your news feed!)... if you want to join to see photos of new babies etc, just ask in-thread!

HERE is the stats list, please update your own spot with any updates.

Glad it's not just me then. The book i was recommended is by Katherine Graves, she's apparently the hypnobirthing queen of the UK or some bollocks like that, but I just can't get on with it. Niff there was something similar in my book and I just scoffed at it. I'll take your advice thurs and just ignore it!

niff no news on lemon on FB as of this morning :( poor gal's been in labour since sunday!!

Jelly my friend did a hypnobirthing course and absolutely raved about it. She had her dream birth and credited the course completely. I will ask her if she recommends any books.
I like a lot of things about it, but I agree with Niff, pretending primitive births are never scary is just moronic.
I'm a bit scared of going to classes, mainly because my grasp of the language isn't up to scratch. DH can translate for me but I'm worried about getting the wrong end of the stick, plus I'm not sure he knows all the specific vocabulary. Also, organised fun
I'm back from a wonderful few days in London. Saw lots of friends and bought some boring underwear and a few vest tops and jumpers with extra room for my lovely lady bumps.
Also went looking at prams and was overwhelmed by the choice. Anyone got a recommendation for a 4wd number?

It depends on so much fruit, budget, size of your car, if you want big or small wheels etc. We got the icandy peach :)

Car is the size of a spaceship so that's not a problem! parking it is Budget is v flexible because if we go for a high end one we might buy second hand. Wish list is for something that can handle rough terrain and a big basket because I usually walk to the shops.

Well I'm biased but the icandy has a massive basket and is really maneuverable. There's just so many to choose from.

Jelly I also did not get on with the hypnobirthing book. I thought there was a huge amount of scare mongering in it, I.e. Doctors are evil and will treat you against your will and it will be horrendous! Which is, of course, utter bollocks. I do believe in hypnotherapy as a pain relief option though (my Dad is actually a hypnotherapist) and I am getting on much, much better with the natal hypnotherapy book.

Good luck to those of you NCTing. I have found evening classes (Daisy birthing and my sewing class) hard work from 30 weeks. Our NHS ante natal classes are on Saturday mornings which is good because I'm awake! Oh, and my DH passed out on a first aid course. He has said he will be FINE in labour though.

Pee congrats on your mw appointment, eep, feeling real for you now!

Ill sympathies on the cat vom.

Bad news: lost my phone. It's in the house but I can't find it. Tis taking ages to type this all on the iPad.
Good news: 34 week mw appointment and she said I was boringly normal, yey! Head is low down and she wrote in my notes 'at brim' under the 5th palpable column. Does this mean baby's head is at the brim of the pelvis but not in it yet?

Off to watch Grays Anatomy and wrap Xmas presents. Hope Lemon has either done a baby or drunk a bottle of gin by now. Or both.

Yay for normality pud :) it's scary how close you are because it means in getting closer too! Boo about the phone though. I'm always losing mine.

This baby is determined to mine her way out of my belly today. It's quite amusing seeing the movement in work lol.

Our nct classes don't finish till 9:45. Last week and this week's I've also had to drive back 50 miles after it finishes so you can imagine how shattered I was afterwards lol. Can't wait to move.

jelly - I looked into hypnobirthing briefing and found it to be actively offensive, so you're definitely not alone!

yorkshire - urgh, losing phones in the house is always such a pain in the arse! I guess it's still better than losing it and having literally no idea where it is though. At least it's lost within a GEOGRAPHICALLY FINITE space

fruit - which country are you in? I had similar concerns, but have been surprised at how easy the terms have been to pick up. Obviously that might not be the case for you though if you are in, say, Denmark or China compared to France! I found it helpful to look at a few (admittedly very rubbish) native forums. Not only good for vocab, but you also get a much better sense about what the differences in approach are. For example, gas and air doesn't really exist here as a concept. The only pain relief people talk about is the epidural, as that is the only thing offered (and the natural birth trend doesn't really exist here so people actively want it).

Otherwise, you could try buying a pregnancy book in the native language. Really helpful as well.

The attitude towards epidural is weird in France gouda, my mum is genuinely shocked I don't want one (she's lived there since I was born, so 25 years! ). One message from her was "you will beg for one by the end, just have it..." Must be a culture thing?

Honey

Ill sorry about bad night, hope your cat is better and you can catch up on sleep tonight.

Pud yes, not engaged yet, but headed that way.

I don't think hypnobirthing would be my thing either. Although my mind did go into some parallel space in labour.

If going to a course means driving into a different area I wouldn't bother. I think people make more friends in local baby groups.

NFMD: we're having a Japanese takeaway tonight!

Oo I've never heard of Japanese takeaway! Interesting.

Jelly did you tell her to fuck off and butt out?

Pretty much. She's not spoken to me since my 20w scan except to ask me to fill in a passport application for her so I think she got the message haha

Thanks - leg is feeling a bit better and cat was eating well this morning.

Pud - yay for normal

Jelly - told DH from the beginning that I am having all the drugs, also he may or may not be allowed in the delivery room. Damn Americans are oddly insistent about filming it as well so have to nip that in the bud, I have been offered the ability to see my DH's birth - erm no thanks.

Sorry jel didn't realize it was unwanted advising. It's your body and you can do whatever you want.

To be honest ill I am.fine accepting advice from folks, I just have mummy issues

Oh I am glad this hypnobirthing dialogue has come up. I need to find a way to stay calm and focused and I am like the opposite of crunchy... What do you all reckon would be good for a cyncical old grouch? I plan to have all the pain relief but last time around I couldn't dialate on my own... I have a hormone imbalance so I think it was the adrenaline.

To be fair Jelly, I think your Mum is the one with the issues, not you!

Sky - gin.

Hypnobirthing and a lot of the natural birth movement gives me the rage. I went into ds's birth completely calm, completely open to doing what I needed to do and still ended up with an emcs. Ive had some natural birthers from my nct class tell me it was my fault it happened because I must have done something wrong in labour to halt the birth process. Grrrrr. Tis why I like the daisy classes, I know they're a mixed bag depending on where you go but I love their ethos of 'your birth, your choice'. My teacher has been amazing in supporting everyone and very keen to promote the view that whatever birth we have issue right birth for us if we are making informed choices. I appreciate that.

Re whooping cough, I had my jab with DS about 19 months ago. They told me I'd need it again to ensure the immunity gets passed on to this baby so I guess you need a fresh batch each time?!

Thanks for the love everyone, still feel utterly flattened by everything but nearly the weekend and managed a huge chunk of (online) Christmas shopping today which is a nice tick off the list.

Boo to phone loosing. I've lost my glasses in the house so can't see to drive or watch telly ahhhhh

Re scan went well the blighter was stubborn again but this time the sonographer gave me a right jiggle to force country bean to move! She also rubbished that my placenta was a little small so all looking ok

Glad all went well country :)

And pud you are spot on there lol.

Mmm carrot that sounds delicious!
Glad you had a good scan country.
Thanks for the tips Gouda. I don't want to out myself but I'm in Europe so the language isn't too difficult. I have a teacher but he's a bit of a prude so I will have to look up all the foofy words myself! Will look for a preggo book, that's a great idea. Pretty sure they don't do gas and air here either but they have lots of natural pain relief options alongside the drugs. My doc is pretty open to me having whatever kind of birth I want, if all goes well. She's awesome.

jelly - Luckily I fit into the french mentality on pain relief, which is basically "why on earth would anyone voluntarily remain in huge amounts of pain?", so the attitudes here don't bother me at all.

That said, I totally appreciate how annoying it is when someone is so dismissive and insistent about weird things, even if you don't really feel that strongly about them. It's just the butting in I guess?

Illiria - insistent on filming? YOUR body? I think it would be very understandable for you to threaten to shove any cameras up his arse if he goes anywhere near you with one!!

Molly - That's pretty much justifiable homicide. Just saying. Bunch of twats.

Sky - I think there are limits to how calm and focused one can stay when in huge amounts of pain, and part of staying calm is accepting that you probably won't be that calm (if that makes sense?). Some people will naturally disassociate from it, but I don't think that's overly common. Aside from that, what works for someone probably wouldn't work for another. I would find having to do a birth plan an enormous source of stress, whilst someone else would be the opposite. I guess maybe have a think about what you would derive most reassurance from. For me, that's being surrounded by very competent medical professionals and letting them tell me what to do (aside from my refusal to have an episiotomy!), and knowing that there is strong pain relief available if I need it. For someone else, they might really need that sense of control instead.

But yeah, otherwise as yorkshire says - gin.