Due May 07 - W/C 5th February

[charleymouse]

Good Morning all, hope you all had a good weekend will catch up later.
Hurrah it was light when I left the house this morning for the first time in ages so feel much happier about being up and at work.
Cheers CM

Hello all..............

Big appologies as I haven't been able to catch up properly. Just managed a sneak look whilst at a friends.

Had a lovely cuppa and squidge cake with AM on Sunday. Thank you for your hospitality and ds is just soooooooooooooooo cute AM.

Still no lg&t, I hope she's ok?

Will try to catch up properly soon, Missing ds and dh too, haven't been away from ds for a week before. I feel like I'm missing something everywhere I go.

Hope all bumps are doing ok..............speak soon xxx

Hasnt LGT gone to her mums maybe shes got no internet

Hope ev1's ok today

Struggled to get out of bed - its tooooo cold, and I didnt get a good nights sleep, dp snoring, needed the loo and general inablility to sleep after I was awake - oh well

Yeah, LG&T went to see the rellies, but we assumed she'd be back by now, that's all. Perhaps she's decided to stay!

SO annoying when you have to get up in the night and there's someone snoring in the bed when you get back. Any chance you had of drifting back of is ruined. Tsk.

It's nice that it's lighter in the mornings though. I leave before 7 and even then it's not properly dark any more. Hurrah!

Hello ladies. Missed you all yesterday as I had a chap in fitting carpets and lino etc. Now DS and nursery have more than cold floorboards in. I also decorated the nursery in Jungle Book - looks soooo cute.

Juicy - I am 24 weeks and only get kicked randomly at the moment. You'll soon be moaning your bubs is doing the wall of death at 3am

SOH - any kitty news?

As for hospital cleanliness - I am going for a tour of St Richards at Chichester on Sat to check it out. I wrote to them about my disgust at the state of the antenatal clinic - no soap in the loos and not one person (staff or visitor) using the hand gel in the two hours I was at there waiting

I got a letter back saying they were aware of this since last Xmas and will be looking into it - scary.

Morning all hope you are all well

Had a nice weekend, it was good to get away and relax but it was also quite boring. We stayed in a Mariott spa and country club so i was expecting pure luxury like the MacDonalds one I took dh to last year but am sad to say we were a bit disappointed. Although the room had two lovely comfortable double beds there was nothing special even though it was supposed to be the deluxe room, the food was poo (£17 for a small 10oz steak, overcooked chips and green beans, £9 for a chicken ceasar salad which was all lettuce and three tiny bits of chicken,£5 for a manky chesse and pickle sandwich, i think you get the idea) We payed £6 for one small glass of wine before buying the whole bottle for £16 and it was the same bottle that you can buy in Asda for about £8 and a 1L bottle of average water cost £4. There was just no atmosphere to the place and by 9.30 we were bored, 5 mins later we were tucked up in bed watching tv (must be getting old) Then i moved to the other bed where the lamp was to read and ended up sleeping there until about 6am Not many people go away for a romantic break with their Dh's and sleep in seperate beds I did cuddle up to him after that though but i think he enjoyed having a big bed all to himself, no one moaning hes pinched the covers. The highlight of the weekend was having breakfast in bed, we paid £2.50 for the privelege but it was worth it as we never get the chance to do that back home, one of us always has to get up to cook it, normally me . Luckily we got the hotel cheap using MIL's tesco clubcard tokens so that made up for the disappointment. I think if there had been a group of us it would have been better but with just two of us it was boring.

The funny thing was i'd bought a new tankini off of ebay a week before ready for the weekend but it didnt turn up so i made dh stop off at Asda on the way to the hotel so i could buy one (they've stopped doing maternity by the way ) and in the end i didnt even go swimming. My ebay tankini has just turned up this morning so now i have two new tankinis that i doubt i will be wearing as we dont go swimming much Oh well!!

Apart from our strange weekend everything here has been fine. Baby is moving about lots although it still seems to prefer lying low in my groin making it hard to walk sometimes. Ds2 has settled in well at pre-school, we had a bit of trouble getting him there about two weeks ago but he loves it now. His teacher says he is excited about the baby, keeps talking about it but moaning because he cant see it yet, im sure that will change once its here and keeping him awake. DS1 has been chosen to learn the flute at school (he only chose it because I play it and he told his teachers that i could help teach him!) The funny thing is the man in charge of the project (its a joint venture between all the schools in the area and they are hoping to form a band) is my old music teacher from senior school who thought i was great so no pressure on ds1 at all At least it will keep him busy along with his football and his parctice for a dance festival coming up (another group venture with the local schools)so i wont have to listen to the dreaded 'Im bored' all the time

Susan, im having this bubs at St Richards too. I had a choice of two hospitals but went for St Richards as it was supposed to be cleaner and better than St Mary's where i had my two ds's. Also they tell you the sex of the baby which is what i wanted even though im still in the dark at 25wks because my LO decided to be very shy at the scan and keeps its legs shuts

I hadnt planned on having a tour of the hospital as ive always heard good things about it (a lot of friends have gone there) but now you have me a bit worried. Im seeing my midwife tomorrow so maybe i will get her to sort a visit out. The only thing im dreading about going to St Richards is if i make it on time when im in labour. With ds2 i stayed at home for ages and just about made it to hospital before he was born, better not do that this time or the baby may be born in the car

When are you due? Is it your first? I kow you have probably already wrote that somewhere and i expect ive read it too but my memory has gone to mush at the moment so forgive me.

Oh my word. I can't believe some of you already have the nursery done.

I wandered round Mothercare yesterday thinking, "I have absolutely no idea what I need to buy." (Other than clean maternity trousers.)

Am going to put all the little bits I have for the baby in her room, sort it out and make a list of what I need. Otherwise I'll end up with loads of cute, but useless stuff. I couldn't resist a t-shirt for her yesterday which says, "I like to go shopping with Mummy." Poor child has nothing to sleep in though.

DH has just pleased me no end by saying "he'd love to come shopping for cute baby things." Offered him one big shopping day together, or I would go and get bits and pieces each week to lessen the blow of the cost. He wants the former.

Helloooooo everyone >

How i have missed you all. Im still in Plymouth, things did not get much better once i arrived so i have decided to stay. Im still rubbish, crying mess just trying to sort myself out.

I picked the kids up from school and spoke to their teachers, they were all very nice. We set off and stopped for fuel half way, it was dark, kids moaning etc... i turned in the petrol station and promptly fell over the kerb thingy that sticks out. I was scooped up by a very nice (massive obviously) man. I hurt my wrist and landed on the bump, he moved straight away though so i figured he must all right. Made it to Plymouth knackered, had a nice day the next day but then the kids have all started getting ill. A nasty sick and poo bug, think they are over the worst now.

More misery, bet your glad im back to cheer up your days!!! DH got home for the weekend though so that was ace, exp is being a prick and being difficult. Im just trying to stay calm.

I am HUGE i just seem to have grown over night again! The baby is doing somersults all the time, i can feel knees, feet, a bottom and head all swooshing round in there!

FSF i wont be home to see you, im gutted. I just couldnt pack them all up ill to come home for week when i was going to be back here by next tuesday anyway. Thought it might have been a bit crazy. Hope you are having a lovely time. I just skimmed this weeks thread and saw you met AM! How cool.

How is SOH? Has she been poorly? Im on MIL laptop, will try to look in on you all.

TYG Ive been a bit lax when it comes to buying things for this baby too. I think its because i still have some things left from ds2 that i keep forgetting i still need more. Most of the things i have got are more for when the baby is a couple of months old anyway. Apart from a couple of sleepsuits/vests for when its first born this little one hasnt got anything I think if i knew the sex it would be easier as at the moment i dont want to go out and buy lots of neutral things when (fingers X-ed) in a few weeks i will find out the flavour (unless its still being shy)The only problem is im also thinking that by then i will only have about 7/8wks to buy everything I need and during that time it is also dh's, mine and ds1's birthdays so I will be splashing out on them too (ds1 had been promised a big party before i found out i was pregnant so we've got to do it or it wouldnt be fair, whether i wil be there though is another matter, hopefully i will be giving birth lol)

Im sure i was more organised with my previous pregnancies. By now i would have had a list of everything i needed for both the baby and the hospital bag, i would have chosen my pram, would have narrowed the names down to a couple etc this time around i havent a clue what im buying or doing I think in a way it still seems so unreal, which sounds silly after all this time but before last summer we had been adament that we didnt want any more children (well actually i was getting a bit broody but had resigned myself to the fact it wouldnt happen as Dh didnt want any more and i had accepted that) next minute dh changes his mind and im pg within a month. Im sure reality will hit one day and i'll suddenly wake up and think 'shit its really happening' but at the moment i seem to be waddling along as though i have all the time in the world to get organised. Dont get me wrong i am happy about the baby and cant wait until May but I still keep expecting to find its all in my imagination and im not really pregnant which is again stupid unless i have an alien in my stomach waiting to burst out

You poor love! My goodness. I was hoping you'd get a rest. It's good that you're staying on for a bit longer. And yes, makes more sense. Sod the school. Particularly if they're sick anyway!

Hope you all feel better soon. x

Pebble - I'm glad it's not just me then!

TYG - I'm now officially addicted to Twixes So far I've managed half a day, but I can feel a double whammy coming on.

I have only bought reusable nappies so far and they'll probably be too big to begin with. Baby has NOTHING to wear, nowhere to sleep and will have be carried everywhere in my arms!!

Was thinking I could still wait a couple of months before starting the preparation and only want to buy things to last the first 8 weeks as we're moving after. Can now see me getting to May, still having nothing, the baby coming early and me entering into mad panic!

Off to see the filming of Al Murrays Happy Hour tonight. No idea what it's like and who the guest(2)? are. Anyone seen it?

By the way, Pod is abit more active today, so mild panic subdued.

It's all my fault. I am a Twix pusher.

Hello all. I just cannot keep up with this thread.

Hope you are all well.

Anybody else just popped out in the past few weeks? I was feeling really smug until about 23 weeks - the bump was visible but very compact - not so now. Gawd I look like I have a football under my jumper.

Hi everyone...

You all seem to know each other already! I am due end of May so I thought I would introduce myself. This is my first baby and I can't believe how organised you all are! We are in the process of buying a house (hopefully we will be able to move in around 10th March) but we don't have a single thing for the little one yet. DH is obsessively researching prams but other than that... I thought it was too early to be buying baby things - obviously not!

dejags - I am exactly the same. My bump has suddenly popped out. Everytime I catch sight of myself from the side in a shop window or something I laugh. It's still a shock!

Anyway, love to you all.

Aqua xx

Welcome Aquasea. Happy reading - this thread will certainly keep you busy.

Have been following your thread about allowing the IL's to stay with you after the birth. Good luck with that.

We are having a homebirth. Our DS's can go to their Godmother for a few days if we decide on this but I am still undecided. On the one hand I don't want them to feel left out, on the other hand I'd love to have a little time just me, DH and DD before the boys get stuck in. No worries about IL's or parents for us though. Thank goodness.

Thanks dejags. Yeah the inlaws thread is sort of insane! I never expected so many people to feel so strongly about it. It's really be great though as it has helped me to make up my mind to be determined and to look after myself.
I would love to have a homebirth (I was in hospital when the little one was 11 weeks and it seriously put me off... I guess it didn't help that the obstetrician teld me that the postnatal wards are "horrific zoos" and "far worse" than the medical emergency ward I was on!).
xx

Afternoon all

Well I had a very....intersting night! My flatmates all went out last night, I stayed in cause I cant do the whole club scene thing anymore, it's too tiring! So it was my female flatmate Nic who went out with all the guys. So everything was hunky dory, I was curled up in bed nice and warm, hot chocolate in hand watching only fools and horses. Drifted of to sleep, having lovely dreams - bliss.

3AM comes around and my mobile starts ringing, I wake up and debated whether or not to answer and I did. It was my flatmate Nic in floods of tears, I could barely make her out. She was absolutely hammered, was on her own and didn't know where she was! My immediate reaction was to start panicing, cause in that state anyone could have grabbed her IYKWIM. So I climb out of bed and sling a jacket on and am out at 3 in the morning looking for her, oooo and it was cold. Half an hour later I found her, she was half walking half crawling up the road, floods of tears still, smoking a fag that had snapped in half, doing that one eyed blink thing that drunk people do cause she cant see 1 foot infront of her carrying a shoe that didn't belong to her! She was such a mess and was freezing cold. But it was also kinda the funniest thing I had seen in a while, she was so drunk!

Anyway 15 minutes later after finally convincing her to get into the flat, she was sat in the kitchen. Repeatedly fell of her seat, I gave up picking her up and sitting her back down so just left her to play with her new shoe on the floor. Made her a cup of tea, most of which ended up in her hair - how??!! And a cheese toasty cause i'm a good friend! There she was in all her glory, Nic, the usually sensible law student sat on a dirty kitchen floor, tea in her hair, attempting to eat a cheese toasty with HP sauce all round her face, half hugging her new shoe (manky old, wet trainer - no idea still where it came from). What a sight for sore eyes!

Managed to get her into bed (still hugging her new shoe), set her alarm and put a pint of water and 2 painkillers on her table next to her bed at just gone 4 in the morning. ME, the pregnant one helping someone else into bed, and I thought it was supposed to be the other way around!

Was a very eventful night, very funny but I was so worried at the same time cause anything could have happened to her. And I have yet to get hold of the guys who left her....think they are all hiding from me at the mo after I sent them a not so nice txt msg earlier after getting Nic settled. I mean if your a group of guys who are out for the night and there is 1 girl with you, you flippin do your hardest to look after her! Imagine just leaving her all on her own, mind they were all just as pissed as her. But still makes me that they left her in that state to crawl home on her own.

So that was my night, have yet to see Nic and see if she is alive today, and see what fate her new shoe has met once she was sober

Hi Pebblemum,

I chose St R's as it was the only place I could get a nuchal scan even tho I'm 38 .They are also highly recommended by Unicef as a baby friendly hosp.

I called them directly to book a visit and they said just to turn up any Sat at 3pm and they take the whole group round. I am going this weekend if you want to meetup - I'll be taking DH and DS.

I was a bit spoilt when I had DS in Dorchester as I had a huge room, private bathroom and the food was amazing.

Shame you didn't get to find out the sex - I would have been mad. DS was a surprise but I had to know this time and its handy to know I'm having another boy.

I didn't realise you had to pay to email someone on here but if you want to chat I go on BW as the same login - I have a few things in the DDD page you can link to my email if you want.

Susan

Lwatkins - now a real friend would have got the camera out

LOL at your flatmate Lwatkins!!! Oh those were the days.......

Pebble im soooo glad you got your weekend away, even if it was quiet. You do know that your 6 months preg right? and your supposed to be having a quiet rest and chilling out?!!! Did you want a Lwatkins evening instead?! Methinks your clinging on to your pre preg drunken antics and wild weekends........ Submit to the Twix's and Krispy Kremes.......you know you want too....

Twix... quite fancy one now.....TYG you have alot to answer for....

Welcome Aqua, nice name. I have just seen a friend and got back some baby stuff. Lots of clothes, a little french cradle thingy and my fabby baby bjorn sling. It is very used but the best baby purchase i ever made. Its denim and looks like a very old pair of fave denim jeans, i love it and advise you all to put it on your baby list.

I just heard from dh, he has been given another draft, in Plymouth....WTF....he will be away from the middle of April to end of May. He can get home weekends (late fri and return sun lunchtime) but will be a 6 hour train ride away. So i will be on my own all week, not good news. I have been joking about having this baby alone (not forgetting the 5 children) thinking he would be an hour away at the most.... looks like i was right, you all have to brush up on delivery girls, ok?

hello all, and welcome back LG&T!!!

Is this my birthday come early?? I went for a little shopping trip to Kingston, found so many lovely little flat shoes and cute tops at cheap prices (thank you New Look and Top Shop!!) and stopped off for a Krispy Kreme... and... was given a free one, piping hot and fresh off the baking rack!!!

The guy at the counter said, "ok, here's your 3, but have you ever had one of these?" as he grabbed one and just handed it to me. I couldn't say no!! How could any pg lady say no??!??!? Oh it was delicious...mmmmmm

Ok sorry must go back and catch up now. La la la, la la la...

Oh no LG&T! I mean, it's better than the feckin' Falklands, but still... Your baby is going to have to come on a weekend.

Just been to see the midwife. I was a "community based midwife" virgin and now I know what I've been missing out on! How lovely are these women? Saw GP last week on my "shared care" system and when I asked about a homebirth she made an appt for me with the midwife.

"My own" midwife is now coming round on Monday morning at 9am (my boss is just not going to believe me that I have another appt) to MY HOUSE! OK, perhaps you all knew that the system worked that way, but how great is that? I'm chuffed. She even texted me with her mobile number and stuff. God bless the NHS. It has it's failings, but by opting to give birth at home, I get this level of care. It's amazing.

They're going to book me into local (backup) hospital and sort that end out. Mentioned to midwife at clinic that I was feeling tired and she said that the lady coming round on Monday would take blood and check the iron levels or whatever it is they do.

Awh, they were just lovely. No wonder you miss it LG&T - being a midwife I mean.

And she was all happy and said, "Oh we LOVE doing homebirths on our team. It's great."

SOH - sod the long driveway (and the cold dining room - borrow a heater). Have you seen a community midwife at all? If not, I expect they'll try harder to make it work for you than a doctor would.

hi there, re the tiredness, on my other antenatal thread (as I bridge May/June) a kind woman suggested SpaTone iron supplements. It's a kind of liquid you pour into juice each day. Can't taste it when mixed with orange juice. I'm on it for second day and feel absolutely remarkable!! Available at Boots - worth a go. Oh and no nasty stoppages in the bowels either. Glad to hear your appt went so well too, TWG!!

Thanks lilkel. I just put myself on Floradix, which I think does pretty much the same job. Midwife said to up the dose when I was there so will do that and hopefully will feel the benefit in a couple of days as well.