Due March 2008-New trimester, new thread

[turtle23]

I'll start one!

I bought a doppler last week from ebay! Works well, although takes me a couple of minutes to find hb, Kids enjoy using to listen to their own hb's more though!!

Derah, don't mind about the info you gave me about St Peters. Sounds pretty similar to the c**p I had when I was there! How old is your dd? Part of me thinks I'm a nutter for even contemplating going back there, and if they upset me in any way shape or form I will insist on a homebirth, but as this will be a vba2c I know that won't be easy!! I'm hoping that as I now know more about labour, etc, and the sort of help I'll need afterwards that I will get up and demand it as opposed to just struggling along unaided with a huge weeping c-section scar, plenty of sedatives still in my system and no idea of what to do with a newborn!! I actually feel sorry in advance for anyone who stands in my way this time!!

Funny that everyone has colds - mine isn't full blown but there is certainly something festering away, ready to strike me down!!

BrazilianMum I am definitely going to the Baby Show, they are a client of mine so free tickets, hurrah!

Also tempted to go and check out the Southwark and Lambeth NCT sale, girl at work went to one and said it was awful but would like to see for myself! Where do you live BrazilianMum?

I got an ex rental doppler from Ana Wiz on ebay and it was only £40 which I think is the same price as the Argos one so well worth doing that for those who haven't bought one yet and want to. Although, hopefully over the next month or so we might start to feel little flutters which I'm sure will reduce the worrying that we currently alleviate by doppler-ing!

I have a supplier who is going to get me tickets for the Baby show, as an event manager I refuse to pay to go to exhibitions.

I'm in Hither Green, SE London. I'll prob try to go to the Southwark one and see what it's like. Have visions of it being like a jumble sale. But anyway have nothing planned for that day so will pop in and see.

i guess i'll see you all there at Earl's Court- i'm exhibiting (actually i'm doing demonstrations of a well known brand's pram/pushchair range )

Ahh, an events manager. As a recruiter within the conference, exhibitions and events marketplace I have the same attitude!

I'm thinking that I may go to the Southwark one too if I remember. If I don't, please ensure you feedback how hideous/fabulous it is

DP and I have been discussing prams since we found out I was pregnant, not sure why, guess things with wheels get's boys interested. We are thinking of either getting a quinny zapp or the new MC buggster. Anyone else has been obssessing with prams?

Yep we have too! I admit we have been seduced by the Bugaboo but it seems so expensive I don't know if we would actually go for it. £530 - eek!

Hoping that all the big retailers have some lovely show discounts!

Sorry to intrude on your thread; I was just being nosey and having a look because your thread moves much faster than the feb one I'm on, and the name Quinny Zapp really made me laugh. What a silly name for a pram.

ooh pram talk- this is where i'm happiest!!

Quinny- never liked the buzz, hated the zapp with a passion but never used it as a travel system iyswim

Bugaboo- fine if you don't mind being a 'bug pusher' to start with bugs were- 'ooh look that cost over £500', NOW they're more like- 'ooh look, lack of imagination, they bought a bug'.
i've got a cam and hate it, i do however LOVE my stokke xplory and the price is comparable!

Anyway- oh and please no-one buy the bugaboo bee- what a f***g ugly pram! i walk past it every morning on my way into the office and can't help falling around laughing!!

I love Bugaboos too, but I don't think I can justify the expense!! I also don't want to splurge on a big pram if we'll just have to buy a double at some point soon (have not even considered #2, I hear it happens quickly though!)
We don't have a car, so my main priority is getting it on busses and the tube. Oh, and looking cool of course.
I might try to go to the Greenwich sale- NCT sales are supposed to be fab, but maybe more if you hit up posher areas.

don't know if this is indicative of overall quality, but our quinny buzz only lasted a year before the brakes started giving up, a handle fell off and the material started fraying. mind you, we used it at least 4 miles a day on rough london roads and stairs and buses.

brazilianmum, i had a boss several years ago who lived in hither green. she was a fruity sort of lady, and always called it 'come hither'green with a little heave of cleavage and a wink

Preggers I had never seen a Stokke Xplory and it look svery cool. But it's about the same price as a bugaboo so not sure it's for me. I like the Zapp because it's small and light. We live on a first floor flat and I don't want to get something which will be heavy to get up and down stairs. I quite like that you can fit the car seat on to the Stokke. Must research more.

Merryberry I will try to say it that way next time someone asks me where I live, the cleavge thing won't be a problem as my boobs are expanding by the week and they weren't very small to start with.

On the boobs debate, I switched from underwires to M&S maternity bras quite a few weeks ago, the ones without underwire are so much more comfortable for me now. Also bought huge Bridget Jones size knickers. Feeling very sexy these days... NOT!!

Hello all! Just about caught up with all the happenings of the last week - congrats preggersagain - more twins!! I'll be taking lots of advice from you - you sound like a no nonsense sort of person which is exactly what I need to hear! (what type of double buggy are you going for for instance?)

Had an AMAZING time in Paris. Lovely lovely break, v romantic, and just brilliant to get away for a long weekend. Guess thats our last holiday for a while tho!
Was v naughty and had a couple of glasses of wine AND some coffee AND some medium (rather than well done) steak (altho the waiter was still horrified at me asking for anything other than rare). Tut tut, the social services will be out to get me. Still, I got talking to a french pregnant lady who was horrified at our "silly British nannying attitude towards risk" (her words not mine) when we compared notes as to what the doctors/midwives/books tell you to do and not to do, in relation to things like pate, cheese, wine, coffee etc. I don't agree with their entire attitude (she told me she was still smoking for example, which has to be a very bad thing) but there is something to be said for being a bit more relaxed about risks.

Ah well, back to work. Hate my boss. He's being a real ar$ehole. Wants me to wait to tell clients for a few months. Hello? My bump and cleavage is so big thanks to the twins I look like I'm 5 months pregnant already!

Good to catch up with you all and get well soon all of you with colds.

xx

oh yardette, your boss is daft! maybe he envisages you being in meetings before them. and not standing up til they've left

you could also pretend to be in a meeting while in labour, but of course be available to clients via email (between contractions...)

That's rubbish about your boss Yardette, surely it's up to you when you tell people. My client's were among the first people to know as they knew the minute I turned down a glass of wine on a business therefore free lunch that something was up!

I had to have a word with our HR department about my managers attitude. It's horrible that they can make us feel bad about things!

yardette- hello fellow twin-maker!!

i'm starting to feel quite big now! its good though i get the pregnancy excuse for longer than those who don't have noticable bumps

(on the twin pram front i am going for a city twin for home/weekends etc, and an icandy pear for using at work etc!)

yardette - I don't think you've been naughty - I think I have done all of those things so far! Everybody's reaction to risk is very different to another's, and I think the guidelines naturally err on the side of caution, as most of these govt things tend to do. There was an interesting article in the Guardian which set out to question some of the myths - apparently the last documented case of listeria in the UK wasn't from unpasteurised cheese, or cold meat but from lettuce! There were of course some letters in response which argued with it - here are both in case you didn't see them: here's the article and here are the letters in response

I think I've ended up inventing my own rules based on my own balance of risk. For example, I avoid blue, rinded goats cheese and try only to buy pasteurised for home, but don't worry when in a restaurant or at a friend's about whether the cheese is pasteurised or not. I am avoiding steak because I don't actually like it unless it's rare (that is going to be my first meal post baby!). I'm not worrying about ham or salami despite several people telling me I shouldn't be eating it. I'm avoiding raw egg things like mousse but eating scrambled egg. I've not really fancied alcohol so am just not drinking it. And finally I'm not doing any gardening or clearing cat poo or decorating because people say it's a bad idea (or at least that is the reason I give DH - I'm actually just taking advantage of it because I'm really lazy!)

The main thing is that I am trying to be really comfortable with what I do - and also ran through it all with DH too as it is his baby as well! So for example I was at a barbecue on Sat and only realised part way through my burger that it was quite underdone, so I just left it and forgot about it rather than worrying about things I couldn't undo.

I don't know what anyone else thinks. I'd be interested to hear whether I seem to be about normal or fairly lax as I'm really not sure, and I guess I'd just like to know that I am more or less average. My pregnant friend was getting very uptight about parmesan the last time we spoke about it, so I don't really feel I can have an honest conversation with her about it as she is clearly very very strict with herself and we are being quite different, and of course with real life friends it's sometimes much harder to be honest than with cyber friends!

Sorry for the long post - it's something I'm quite interested in!

HolidaysQueen- I had an interesting conversation with a friend yesterday about this very topic!

I think part of the issue is making sure we aren't stressed out by worrying all the time! (Happy pregnant women have happy babies, I've been told.) I like your approach. Personally, I have been avoiding what I know is unpasturized. I don't really like hams and sandwich meats, so I don't eat them, but if I sit and stress about it too much, I'm not going to be eating anything! I have ended up eating things that I thought twice about in the middle of, but like you, just left it there and forgot about it.

Also, it seems to me that the guidelines for everything (from what to eat to how to give birth to how to put your newborn down to sleep) are adjusted so often (like just recently being told that no amount of alcohol is safe!) but most people have had healthy babies in the past, haven't they? My SIL has a teenager and now a little baby and says that so much changed in the 12 years between her 2 that she felt like she had to learn it all again! And her son turned out just fine IMHO.

So, I guess I too have my own risk-balanced rules when it comes to food.

I'm also going to go out on a limb and say that I'm not buying a doppler for similar reasons- I know I'd panic if I couldn't find the heartbeat and would rather just tick along and trust that everything's ok!

Oooops - I seem to have stopped the conversation stone dead! feel free to ignore my ramblings about food (it's my favourite hobby so i get quite interested in it!) and carry on about prams - on that subject I'm lucky enough to be acquiring a pram free of charge from a friend who needs to get a double buggy. It's a 3 wheel Mothercare one. She says it's been great for walking which I plan to do lots of, so hopefully it will suit. If it doesn't work out then I can always get another - but anyone got any comments about Mothercare prams?

ooops - crosspost with you, e14mum. Sounds like we are basically bumbling along in th pretty much the same way (i'm not buying a doppler either for the same reasons as you!)

Apparently chocolate in pregnancy is on the banned list in the US (although I'm hoping for American women's sake that this is just a vicious rumour!) - I think we can all agree that none of us would cope if that was the case here!

Oh, and thanks for the article!

Thanks for the link to the great article. I have been having the odd cup of coffee and the odd cup of tea. I have been eating salami, ham and various deli products. I have been avoiding brie and camembert but I'm not going to worry if I accidentally ingest some. I have drunk no alcohol (I'm not really a big drinker) , I stopped smoking and will not start again, I am walking lots and I'm taking my pro-natal vits. So I have been taking quite a relaxed attitude to food. Some complete stranger in the supermarket told me and DP that I can't eat shellfish or most fish. I knew it was nonsense but this is DP's first and he is extra cautious. As long as prawns, say are properly cooked there are no worries. I'm not eating too much of the mercury fish though and I avoid food which may come on the dodgy list if I have not prepared it myself. Women have been having babies in all sorts of conditions since the beginning of time, I think as long as we maintain some self control and scrupulous hygiens we'll be just fine.

Re buggies, I think I'm getting the Maclaren XLR as I live on the 1st floor and we don't drive, I think it's ace

and because I love you all, turn the speakers on

glammama - my midwife told me I couldn't eat shellfish - I looked a bit sheepish as DH (who loathes shellfish) was there and I had been merrily telling him that shellfish was fine as long as I had it cooked and hot rather than cold! But I don't think shellfish is actually on any list of banned things. I haven't cut back on tea as I only have 2-3 cups per day and don't drink coffee so I figured that was probably okay.

I love your brown/pink pram! Although I really appreciate being given a free pram as they are so expensive, I kind of wish I could buy my own as I think it would be fun to go and try them all out and choose my favourite colour. I might just go pram window shopping anyway and just make a mental purchase!