*Due in Jan 2008* - Get those bags packed!!!!

[Amani]

Sorry can't think of a better title and my PC is so slow.........

Morning ladies...

Amani - had to laugh at you dropping your card, I am actual;ly far dippier and forgot my whole handbag this morning.... lucky my pass, travelcard, phone and keys were in my pocket. And, lucky we have a chef so that I can just put down an IOU and pay tomorrow. Who the hell forgets their handbag????

Sabinar - that sounds about right for BH. I get a sharpe period like pain that spreads over my bump.

Angel sounds good to me and med food is (obviously) one of my faves.

Morning all,

Sabinar, mine don't exactly hurt but my soft bump goes rock hard - exactly as Battymama says - almost like chronic wind after eating something bad.

I DID do the toilet roll test last night! coincidence. We've changed brand and now I'm smaller in toilet roll terms than before! I'm beginning to suspect the toilet roll test isn't completely scientific... !

Beller and Amani - congrats on sleep! I did ok last night too. A couple of nights ago it was every 20 minutes I was up I swear. I told my best friend who's 7 weeks pregnant and she wasn't impressed. I think I've got to stop telling her things now she's up the duff.

Pink elephant - I'm taking 9 months on the surface of things, but in reality I'm changing career and working freelance from home. Anyone else sceptical that this is going to happen with a tiny baby? . I was blithely optimistic about it until I just wrote it down there!

Frankawenstein - I don't like the new board thing either. Why have they done it?

MrsMc - We're having the babe christened in Spain. We want my stepmother to be Godmother but that leaves the Godfather really hard because we want Spanish but DH has four sisters and no male cousins. Spanish men don't really take on being a stepfather outside of the family as they take it really seriously. Big problema.

Has anyone had any really weird staring? I was out after the Docs yesterday with DH having a coffee and the bloke opposite me stared without stopping for a good ten minutes. I mean, I can understand him being overwhelmed by my natural charm in normaL circumstances, but 7 months pregnant and sitting with my husband and our retired male friend. That's weird, no? It was not nice.

MM - I feel so awful, I had to get the caretaker to lift up the caging, then lie down on the ground and fish the cards out of the dirty water. Bless him, he even cleaned them up and dried then for me. At least I've never forgotton my handbag at home....

Admitly I'd feel lost without mobile phone (what has the world come too??? )

Bump measured 31 cm today, last time I done the loo roll test I measured 8 sheets.
Sabinar - I don't think I've had any B-H contractions yet either.

I still havent done the loo roll test... goign to def do it tonight.

SusieMJ - I hear you with the staring. And it's almost always blokes who just stare straight at the bump. Really off putting.

thanks everyone for feedback re: B-H contractions. Now I don't feel like I'm missing out so much

Eh. This cold is making me so brain dead I think I need to go back to bed.

oooh, I know. or WORK from bed.
how I love working from home.
(not sure how much work would get done there though.... and I do have a lot to do today).

Sabinar - i get them at the gym or walking up hill, dont actually hurt, just a tightening and slightly uncomfortable

Battymamma - Liked you idea of take that names for boy Might miss Gary out though as that XP name ! Where in Surrey do you live?

Susiemj - I have had a bit of staring too...a few men in the office had admitted that they find pregant women "lovely"

Amani - my bump was 31 cm last week at midwife too! 31 wks...cant believe 32 weeks this week

Everyone seems to have loads of MW appointments.... I dont have my next one until 34 weeks and last one was at 28 weeks.

have you spoken to her Mixedmamma? i have them every 2 weeks now?
Also anyone who dosnt like the new set up, i think you can change it back using the "customise talk board" bit at the top xx

I've had it written in my notes that m/w appointments were 28wks, 31 wks, 34 weeks, then every 2 weeks after that, until 40 wks

They are bloody useless... not even sure how to contact her... i just have a number for the hospital that always takes me through to the wrong team... i am very low risk and she is awful anyway so amybe it is a good thing.

I'm onto fortnightly MW appointments now too... i think they kicked in at 28 weeks.

clearly there is a problem then since so many of you seem to be on fortnightly. might give them a call to check it out then.

Hi Mixed Mama, it is only a good thing if you are happy to be seen so infrequently! So far I am low risk, but that does not stop me from worrying myself sick on a regular basis over nothing .
There must be more midwives around than this one who is awful. You can write to the Supervisor of Midwives at the hospital where they are based and ask for another one (with contact details!).

By the way when I said dh measured my bump, that was my waist measurement not the bump size as per midwife. God help me if it was

I am going to check out my schedule of appointments tonight that I got given at the beginning. Think I might have a look round the birthing unit at the weekend as well. If i am not happy with any of this stuff then i might just change hospitals altogether.

MM - my midwife appointments have been at 20, 26,31 and the next ones at 33 weeks, and she hasn't really said what the frequency will be after that. I think it depends on what their policy is in your area.

I saw mine last week, and she had to do a blood test - and was utterly useless. Stuck me with a needle, fiddled around (quite painful), and then announced that I would have to have my blood taken at another clinic because she couldn't get any, and she 'only tries once' (and thank god for that because it HURT!). Wasn't impressed.

My bump is now 29 cm (according to my MW's notes). Wow!

My bump was measured once at 17 weeks. Beginning to think I am getting a raw deal here.

Hi everyone!

I'm so of everyone who's sleeping - last night was pretty spectacular: 5 loo trips in about 4 hours, and in between I was lying in bed feeling totally dog tired but unable to actually get to sleep. Horrid... Worst thing is that I'm then completely shattered in the mornings, so don't have the energy to play with ds (now 2, who is really excited to see me in the morning!) and I'm then grumpy at work all day...

Ok, moan over.

Mem & Laz is just off Upper Street, about 5/10 mins walk from Angel towards Highbury & Islington station. I'd probably jump on a bus from the H&I end (there's loads!) altho the shops are fab, as Sabinar says.

I can't do 7-14th, sorry MM - our nanny is in hospital next week and I can't assume DH will be able to get home in time to let me get away (ah, the joys of being married to a city solicitor!) and the week after I'm in Glasgow for most of the week, so really want to spend the Monday night at home. Could we do the following week (starting 19th)? I can do any night except Friday...so maybe we could make it a Monday or Tuesday and then Beller can come too?

Sabinar, hope you feel better soon

any of those dates are pretty fine with me...i will flick through the posts to check what dates have been suggested by everyone else and we can make arrangments from there.

Re: the next meet up - I will definitely be in London on the 29th and 30th Nov (and poss on 1st Dec as well), and am happy to meet anyone who's there / free then, even if the 'official' Nov meet up is for another time.

Mixedmama - If it helps I'm like you with the appointments don't worry - next one is next week at 33 weeks - my last one was at 28 weeks (which was a nightmare because my 2yr old was climbing up the book case being a nightmare so I didn't concentrate on anything!). I think its because its our 2nd baby and we had (well I know i had so i'm guessing your the same) easy 1st pregnancies/births. I'd contact them though if there was a prob.

oh - and I've NEVER had the bump measured but i know with dd1 it followed how many weeks i was so 31 weeks - 31 cm. How odd!

Can someone a bit more organised (and who's online more frequently than me!) co-ordinate the next London meetup?!

I'm happy to book restaurant and send out directions and stuff but I'm going to be the worst person to try and keep track of dates and who's coming... Tbh, I can barely keep track of my immediate family at the moment and between nanny in hospital, builders in house, us camping out at various family members on a regular basis due to noise/dust/lack of stable floors and regular trips to Scotland, it's all getting a bit much

Sorry!!!!

the measurements on your notes are the 'fundal height' so should co-ordinate with how many weeks you are. I measured large for dates with ds1.

Re my midwife, I got a letter from direcotr of midwifes saying that will have a different midwife due to the fact that midwife is ex-p girlfriend.

Awen - Did you request that (sorry may have missed something - remember the first part of the story)? I hope it makes MW visits easier.

BTW - there is a tip I've been meaning to put on hee for all you achy-hipped ladies. I don't know if you're the same but I get really bad aches in my buttocks, sort of in the middle. If you are too, try this. I got it from an osteopath before I was pregnant but it's working pretty well now too.

All you do is to get a tennis ball or similar and roll it hard on the hurty area and around it as much as you can. It does kill but the osteopath told me that that was how it should feel. Try and get right in there where it hurts as hard as you can. Anyway, as I said it kills at the time but itusually makes the aching a lot better for a couple of days. It only takes a couple of minutes.

When bump was smaller I used to do this myself with the tennis ball between me and the wall - in a sort of crouching position (close the curtains!). Now I lie on my side on the bed and DH does it. It's better anyway because he can - sorry for how this is going to sound - do it harder than I can.

Hope that might bring some relief to some of you.

No i didnt request it, but to be honest glad decision made as was going to suggest similar at next AN. Could get complicated otherwise