Hello everyone, I'm back from my hols and been catching up, it's taken me nearly an hour and I've been taking notes so I don't forget anything. Apologies if I have!
Willjo - welcome to another south londoner, I'm in Battersea and having the baby in St Georges... I love the idea of a home birth but I'm a total wimp and need the reassurance of the hospital
HIWBB - I hope your dh continues to recover from his op. The accident sounds terrible. I'm with you on the whole motorcycle police thing, it was 17 years ago, but my sister and her boyfriend at the time were in a hit and run accident but it was the other way round, they were in a car and the motorcyclist hit them. The motorcyclist was doing 130mph on the wrong side of the road at night on an unlit road with his lights off after having spent 10 hours in the pub. He died, as did his girlfriend riding pillion. His mates who were on bikes behind weaved through the wreckage and left the scene. My sister had serious jaw injuries and her boyfriend lost his sight, was in hospital for 4 months and so nearly died. I take such a dim view of anyone who drives drunk or irresponsibly, whatever they're on or in On a lighter note, well done on getting your nursery decorated, I'm quite jealous, we've only managed to paint ours, it's still got a huge pile of junk in the middle of the room.
I'm very impressed actually at everyone who's got theirs done, with themes too! The underwater theme sounds lovely, I'd love to do something like that, as a former scuba instructor!! I think we're going to have to go for a sports theme as dh is sports mad, he's already asked if we can hang his selection of cricketing giants pictures on the walls... Hmmmm poor baby might get nightmares if the first thing he sees each morning is Ian Botham!!!
Kinki - I hope the asthma and diabetes are more manageable.
MrsB - great news about your cardiology scan, must have been such a worry for you.
Floss - I hope you do get some let up at work soon, I've been told I've got to be more assertive about taking breaks too, time to start being a bit selfish now methinks!
Candadianmum - I have got the most awful swollen feet, dh keeps calling them my granny feet! They started swelling up in the car on hols and haven't really gone down, despite the numerous cold baths I've been sinking them in to. I hope your blood pressure is ok, I have a friend who's had pre-eclampsia four times and I know how awful it can be. I'm sure that not having twins this time will make it less likely to occur.
Sophus - I'm glad your mum has turned a corner, I hope you manage to find some good long term care for her. Oh and awwww about the kitten falling asleep on your bump!!!
Dal - I didn't know that watermelon is a natural diuretic, I'm off to get some!! Might sort out my granny ankles!
Filbrit - so glad you arrived safely in the PI, I hope you settle in well. I agree about sending us some sunshine over here, although I could do without the humidity!
Chatty - I hope you manage to get your baby back up to a more manageable position. It must be a bit of a worry with him/her being so nearly engaged this early. I too have had really low down movement, nothing above a point about two inches below my belly button, but no one seems to worry. I have no idea what it means, but i'm getting sharp kicks to my cervix too. My mum and sister keep telling me there's plenty of time to move but I'm 32 weeks on wednesday. I'm sure they're right though, no one seems that bothered by it yet. I was sure I could feel his head sticking out to one side a few days ago, a hard round lump sticking out under my bottom left hand side rib... maybe he's transverse... who knows!
Toadstool - what an awful thing to happen to you, I'm glad your op went ok. I hope you continue to recover. Can you get some kind of assistance if you're in plaster and with a newborn? You do have my sympathies about the ward though, I've spent plenty of time on an ortho ward with my knee ops, and they're never fun, I sound such a cow, but its always full of old people who take up all the nursing staff time. I once went 8 hours without pain relief after one op, I nearly climbed the walls, it took me descending into hysterics for them to finally get a chance to come and see me. I don't blame the staff at all, there was only two guys on a ward of 23 beds, all of whom apart from me and one other chap who'd had a car crash, were really old and all incontinent. Not fun!
LoopyLou - can I join your wimp with pain club? I'm absolutely terrible. I hyperventilate at the drop of a hat, I'm utterly ashamed at how useless I am! My fears about an op presentation aren't helped by my mum telling me about how my sister was an op presentation, she went in to labour on new years eve, and my sister was born on 2nd Jan (in the evening!!!!) Of course, now I don't think they'd let you go on so long, but still after 40 years my mum still shudders at the thought. Her comment was, no wonder I didn't bond with your sister! That to me is the greatest argument for proper pain management!
And finally, but not least.... welcome helenelisabeth!!! I hope you get some reassurance your excess fluid isn't going to be a problem.
Well it's good to be back in Blighty, France was lovely. Baking hot, I could only manage a few mins in the sun before I had to duck back in to the shade or the pool. I spent most of my time standing waist deep in the pool reading my book to make sure I didn't boil my poor baby! I have come out in my usual delightful blotchy pigmentation though, I had it when I was on the pill too, I look really odd, but I don't care now! I'll pile on the make up and maybe no one will notice! hehehe! It was so nice to have some time with just dh and I, flopping about reading and doing nothing much at all, it was worth a few blotches!
I don't envy anyone making long drives though, we split our drive down to france in to two days, the first day from 5pm til 9pm and the second day was from 9am until 5pm. That was a killer, really hot, the traffic was slow and I had a bit of a funny turn at one point. I think I was holding off drinking enough cos I have to go to the loo so much as it is. Silly really, rectified by a stop at a service station, several litres of water, an evian spray thingy from the fridge to spritz my face and a big bag of icecubes I put on the floor of the car and rested my feet on... bliss! Coming back wasn't nearly so bad as we left at 4pm and drove until 10.30pm and then the next day we were so much further north it was actually quite cool. We also broke up the journey with a stop at a retail outlet centre in Troyes in mid France and bought the car seat we wanted for £30 less than the cheapest I'd seen it in the UK, so bargain!!!! It's the bebe confort creatis one to go with the loola pushchair. It fits on the same frame, so I'm quite chuffed about that!
Anyway, I've rambled on long enough, I hope everyone's well today, we're bracing ourselves for floods today, don't hate me, but to be honest after the heat of the south of france I'm quite looking forward to it!
Have a lovely day all
xx