Due in June - bounce on your ball till your bum goes numb or it gets so sweaty that you just fall off.

[derlor]

oops hope i've fixed it????

I didn't Annobal...I've had the princely sum of 3 hours sleep, and poor poor DS has been yelled at several times this morning! Off now to do the school run and then off back to bed for some blissful Zzzzzzzzzzzs hopefully.

Bump has definately dropped though. LOs botton was under my ribs.....now about halfway between my ribs and belly button and very unconfortable in the pelvic region....looks like I'm going to be waddling for the next few weeks

Know what you mean about the slugs JBM...my lupins from last year haven't even bothered to come up as I think the slugs ahve eaten them....and they ate all my dahlia corms last year.....and they had a veritable feast on our courgettes, so don't know why yours aren't getting eaten . Saw a thing about nematodes on Gardener's World....they eat the slugs from the inside out...he, he, he...no more than they deserve!!

BadZelda....not JBM....lord I'm half asleep I think...JBM is a keen gardener, so....easy mix up?

Morning everybody,

Was reading my pregnancy book last night, and came across a section regarding strep B, it says a routine test isn't taken to see if you have it, however you can demand one. Its to be done 37-38 weeks.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me, and is anyone having it done? - is it recommended? didn't have it with dd1

Sent off the final secret shower emails!

The June Secret Shower is now officially closed!

Happy shopping and don't forget to post on the secret shower thread for me to delight in your delight.

Mars

Thank you lovely Mars Lady - very exciting to have another wave of pressies - I did think about signing up again!

I didn't come onto MN at all yesterday (big badge for Foxy please!) But that was because I thought I was in premature labour. Had contractions from lunchtime until 9.30 pm, and were so bad I couldn't catch my breath. The ladies at our 1 O'clock club (our play scheme place) were rather concerned and told me I should be at home (because they didn't want me to have a baby there!). As I said to them, I've been thrown out of some clubs in my time ... but really!

Anyway, DP came home early, sat on my ball and that helped. Went to bed and slept until DD woke me up at 1.30am, couldn't get back to sleep so feel like a bag of shit now. Great! Still, the pains have passed so am feeling better.

I did poo my pants though. I'm not someone who panics, but I also had lower back pain and the BHs in conjunction with the trapped nerve pain was fucking awful.

Did anyone see the article in the Guardian about unassisted birth? Seems there's a new movement (mainly in the States) for women to give birth alone. Apparently its a private, almost sexual experience

Morning Foxy....sounds scary, especially as you've ages to go. Drink lots and rest...it worked for me! Did you call the MW? or just wait for things to settle? Hope you're OK today anyway .

Giving birth alone ....according to a few of my friends, a s aresult of NHS cuts, they practically had to do just that anyway.

I told my twunt of a DH that as he's so clued up about labour (I was telling him I'd had a dream where I was in labour and was walking and walking to get things going...and he told me that it poor of the hospital to make me do that....does he not know anything?) I'll be better off on my own. He's not gonna be much use to me if he doesn't even know the basics. But I hope I at least have a MW with me!!

Oh Daisy...that's not very reassuring for somebody planning a home birth. Turns out the midwives don't even come round to deliver kit / have a pre-birth chat in my area - they just come along once labour is established. I nearly had Ella by myself first time round, as the midwives kept telling me I sounded too calm to be in labour, so not to come to the hospital yet. In the end got there just in time for them to catch her on the way out. Partly why I want to do it at home this time...but not unassisted!

Hi Claire, re Strep B. I tested positive for it with DS2 and had the antibiotics in labour. With every swab, I have been tested this time around but it hasn't shown up. I have quite an unorthodox view on strep b and am usually quiet about it...

I hated having the abs in labour as it meant I had a canula (?) in my hand for the whole labour and spent most of it on my back. I talked to my (independent) mw about this and after discussing the options we agreed that as long as I didn't go into labour before 37 weeks or waters broken for longer than 18 hours, I wouldn't have the abs.

She gave me some research which had the main points as following:

• the most instances of strep b infection in newborns were with premmie babies (can't remember the percent but can look it up)
• the risk of baby getting a gbs infection (not premmie or waters broken for more than 18 hours) is something like one in 10,000
• in the mother having the abs, it wipes out all the good bacteria that the baby gets a good dose of as s/he comes out (as she put it, the baby doesn't come out facing your bum for no reason) and can therefore have related problems at a later date.

As I said, I'm pretty unorthodox in my decision and there will be lots of people on MN who disagree with me. There is a GBS website - it is pretty scary though as it was set up by people who have direct experience.

Sorry for long post...

I didn't mean to scare you BadZelda, sorry . I was referring to a particular friend of mine who was left to labour alone (her hubby was with her) for nearly five hours at the hospital with her first. She had a homebirth with her second and had two lovely community MWs with her throughout.

A big thank you to the Lovely Mars lady

Foxy - that sounds awful, you poor thing. Put your feet up today and get some rest

Re unassisted births - my area is particularly bad for home births where the mw hasn't turned up until after the birth.

I did read somewhere about unassisted births - not really my cup of tea as I do need at least one other person to shout at

I hope you don't live in Lambeth Annobal!

One bright spot on the horizon I guess...hubby grew up on a farm, so has delivered plenty of sheep and cows...

LOL at farm animals comment BZ!

Morning everyone! What a miserable day !

Foxy, hope you are feeling ok now. How scary for you. Hope you are having a rest now xxx

Daisy maybe you should go and have an afternoon nap after lunch. It does you the world of good!

BZ I FARKING HATE SLUGS!!! Slimey little bastards! I'm a bit of an organic veggie hippy, but this year it's war and slug bait is the way forward!

And my husband saw them perform my c-section with DS....but I'm not letting him anywhere near me with a scalpel

Seriously - he has had his arm all the way up a cow's fanjo!

It sounds like everyone needs to try and have a relaxing day and maybe get back to bed at some point! (easier said than done when you have other DCs I suppose!) Sorry that some of you have had a terrible nights sleep. Mine wasn't too bad apart from DH poking me awake at various intervals to inform me that I was snoring.

Well that is one thing BZ...

No, not in Lambeth - Lewisham/Greenwich, specifically Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich.

Sorry, X-post city here!!

Lol daisy! My dp would never have even gone near the room if I'd have had to have a cs! He informed me yesterday, when I went to get my bloods done, that every time he has had a blood test or injection he has fainted! I knew he was squeamish, but I didn't realise it was that bad! How reassuring!

holly...get some copper tape to go around the top of your raised beds (if you have raised beds) and order some nematode worms over the internet.....the nematodes eat the slugs and die happy...they have a naturally short life span. 100% organic. You could also try planting chives/garlic/onions/parsley/marigolds near vulnerable plants as they don't like them and should stay away.

Right...shopping gurus...the other week when I was surfing looking for baby shower gifts, I came across a couple of websites selling really nice hand-made wooden cot mobiles. I'm not a fan of tinny plinkity plonkity wind up musical ones so thought I'd get a nice traditional one. Virus checker has completely erased all the temp internet files on my computer and searches aren't producing anything worthwhile......Holly, Sputnik...anyone???

By the way IT'S MY LAST DAY IN THE OFFICE TODAY. W00000t!

Still got another 2 weeks work at home (finishing on the 25th) but at least I won't have to wear smart clothes / drag myself out of the house any more ;)

LOL BadZelda ...as long as he doesn't try the same trick with you!!

I know what you mean about slugs Holly. They're gross. Where we used to live, they'd somehow get in the kitchen at night and you'd find horrid slimy trails over everything the next morning coupled with the few unlucky ones that the cat had got hold of. YUK!

These any good?mobiles

There are some lovely wooden mobiles on ebay, just put wooden mobile in the search box.

I have this really cool slug bait that is natural(ish) and is not harmful to children or other animals. It dissolves in the soil and lasts for ages. I was going to get that nemaslug stuff, but I don't really have enough of a veggie patch to justify using it.