Waddling Zombies and Dancing Babies - Due Feb 2008

[Pk616]

Hiya ladies,
Thought I'd start the new thread, hope you like the title! Best I could come up with I'm afraid!

We had laminate flooring downstairs when DS was little. A godsend for a pukey boy. Even more of a godsend as you say when weaning began.

dreams of laminate floors and an upstairs toilet

Hello Ladies,

Well I've had quite an eventful day today, for me anyway!

My sciatic nerve decided to flare up when I was trying to get out of the bath this morning so I had to sit in the bath for a good 5 or 10 minutes and wait for it to calm down before I could do anything

I saw my midwife at the GP's(yay, I got to leave the house!)and got publicly reprimanded by the receptionist for being 8 minutes late (I didn't mind, I told the woman that the screen said the midwife was running 30 minutes late and so what did it matter and she blushed so red and so hot that my I felt my public humiliation had been nullified! he he)Everything is fine and I have a trumendous iron count (bloods taken when I wasn't on iron tablets)of 15.5 which is apparently the upper limit. I can therefore heartily recommend scrambled egg and marmite on toast for breakfast, sliced egg, ham and lettuce sandwiches with salad cream for lunch and mountains of chocolate for those of you who are a tad anaemic! I might have another water infection though but she's sent the piddle off for testing and will let me know. And my parentcraft classes start on 9th Jan and end 2 days before I'm due, (cutting it fine!) so that's sorted.

When I got home i found out that a freecycler had put up a post for some baby clothes, and she let me have them so off I went to collect them (I got to go out of the house again. It's shaping up to be a good day!)

Having found the freecyclers house I realised that she lives round the corner from my mom so I popped in to see her (I love visiting my mom!) Mom had fished all of my baby clothes out of the loft, most of which my mom and grandma made for me, so after a quick wizz around the inside of my washing machine they'll be ready for my LO to wear. I'm sooooooooo unbelievably chuffed to be able to put my bairn in 28 year old clothes that kept me cosy and warm!

And now I'm back home (having gone via the supermarket for fajita making supplies) and I'm still buzzing from my lovely day, so much so I'm thinking of inviting DP's band member friend round for tea!

Wow PK a fab day! It is quite rare for us lot to come on here and say what a great day we had, rather than a crappy one, although yours did start a bit badly with the sciatic nerve! Glad all is well with you and baby. I had marmite sandwiches for lunch. Don't hardly eat any eggs though (despite my name) so better up the intake. Have only had DS's advent calendar choc today (he doesn't know he has a choc one, he is WAY TOO BLOODY YOUNG).

Blimey Saskia,

You are one domestic goddess - is your surname Van Der Kamp by any chance?

Was amused to hear about your white home - reminds me of when my DS was born (now 6) and we had a TOTALLY white apartment - furniture, carpets, walls, THE WORKS. Unless you have an army of domestic servants I would urge you to move as soon as your LO is mobile. I spent the best part of 6 months chasing DS around with a constant supply of wet wipes on my person. You can imagine what life was like organising real estate viewings .... Was very relieved to move into a space that was very tatty and needed work so that potty training could begin in earnest without too much fuss if there was an accident .... and there were many of them. Good luck!!

Oh and the visitors dilemma - I'm afraid I will be keeping the outside world out barring immediate family. First time round people were calling morning noon and night, flowers being delivered and the phone ringing constantly and it was absolutely exhausting, you know I was about the first person in my group of friends to have a baby so the concept of keeping the visit short just wasn't understood by anyone and we couldn't get rid of people. Love my friends as I do, I'm afraid they're going to have to be patient. The first two weeks are strictly off limits and DH will be taking all the phone calls.

Bean - How sweet is your DS!!!!!!!

Hmm Visitors.... I'm actually hoping noone will come [guilty emoticon] in my defence DP's family are smothering me and it's very unfamiliar territory for me as I was raised loved yet independant. They are just so over the moon that LO is coming (SIL can't have kids - ovarian cancer @ 28 to coincide with failed engagement - and DP is 42 and they'd given up on him ever having any kids - his last relationship, a six year marathon, was with a post menopaursal woman and then he met me and I suffer from PCOS and am supposed to be subfertile!) They're dead impatient to see the new member of the family, so much so that MIL is actually praying that I go into labour early
I have visions of the entire bunch pushing past midwives etc when I'm in the pushing phase and all of them straining to get a good view of the birth (they are banned but can't be too sure that'll stop them!)
MIL keeps trying to press me to come out of hospital as soon as possible and go and stay at her house for a fortnight so she can "help me with the baby" (Bloody take over more like!) I don't mind if friends want to come and have a munch of the LO as I know they wouldn't take the piss (and the first sign of a nappy needing changing and they'll be out of the door before I can get the poppers undone on the bairn's sleep suit!) And I don't mind my family coming because they don't travel in a pack (and my stepmom really dislikes babies so my dad won't be able to stay long!) So it's just the inlaws really! I think I'm gonna need an electric fence erecting and a guard at the gate with a cattle prod so I can keep 'em out!

Saskia - at the moment, because our house is very small (it's actually more of a rabbit hutch!) and we're paupers I'm not able to have my desired amount of qwerky around me but I do have a (to scale) 4 foot tall smartie tube made out of fabric (and a bit of hidden chicken wire to keep it up), complete with smartie cushions that fill the tube (also to scale) and the letter is there on the underside of the lid! (I made it!) and we also have a 6 foot tall, semi 3D cardboard cutout of thunderbird 3 suspended from our bedroom celing as if flying over the bed! (we have a space themed bedroom - with glow in the dark stars - so I thought it was appropriate!) There are also a few mahussive scale paintings that I've done hung on the walls but that is where I have had to stop! Nothing by any fancy designers, I can't afford to stroke their ego by paying their prices!

Flooring ....
.... I have no fitted carpets couldn't afford it when we moved in and now we don't know how long we'll be here so we're not bothering! All we have is the nasty permanent floor covered my a complete mishmash of rugs. Back to my dream house though... I would like real wood flooring, not that laminate rubbish (convienient though it is, I just don't like the stuff), and I'd like it too be preused, even if that means salveging floorboards from a reclaimers! I don't care if each board matches, all I want is the character you can only get when something has been well used and lived in. I would also have rugs down, but traditional hand knotted ones from as many different places in the world as I can source them. (they wouldn't be down when LO is being weaned/potty trained, I'd have them kept in textile friendly storage) If I had to have fitted carpets I would never ever ever choose a cream one as I detest 'beige' rooms (I'm a colour lover, the more colour the better!) and I know that before it had been down for half a day DP would spill tea on it!

Egg - I just couldn't help but boast about my great day! A lot of folk would think it was a really lame day and rather pathetic of me to get such a buzz out of it but when you compare it to the endless monotony of being stuck within the four walls of your house on your own every day with only 2 cats and your bump to keep you company, it was a hoot!
I'm going to see my mom again tomorrow (I see her every wednesday) and we're going to make some christmas decorations together (I'm playing creative director and teacher!) so tomorrow is going to be yet another brilliant day!! You defo need MORE CHOCOLATE

I decided to speak to my midwife about my hip and she's told me to rest up. Bit difficult when I'm on my own with DD all day and my family live 3 hours away! I'm going there for xmas this weekend and she asked if I could go any sooner for a rest but sadly that's a no.
Even if I could my Dad has just had an op so I'd be running round after him.
DP is off playing football this evening whilst I hobble round the house getting DD's tea ready and putting her to bed. All I can do is take paracetemol, a physio is impossible as I have no transport.

At least my Dad has said I can borrow his crutches

Saskia - Will your kitchen be warm enough to bathe the baby in? We have granite worktops which can get cold and so even though the sink is the right height for a baby bath, I'm (probably) buying the Brevi changing station which lifts off to reveal a baby bath.

Tyaca - have your brother and SIL said when this "no visitors" policy may end and why no visitors? They may want time alone but not even to allow grandparents - who may be able to help look after their child? My brother-in-law was the same when his daughter was born and even said to my parents, "You can only come when we need a babysitter"!! Things got a bit worse after that and then my mother had a go at him cos he went back to work after a few days at home and refused to allow (!!) anyone in to help my sister with her firstborn child - my sister has a history of depression!

lucy - sorry your hips hurt so much. You'll be glad of the crutches btw. Either put both forward and take 2 steps between them or move right crutch forward with left leg and left with right. (or if your hips hurt mainly on one side use one crutch on the opposite arm to the pain - added bonus of a free hand!) As resting isn't really an option for you I'd advise that you only do what you need to do, plan it carefully and as far in advance as possible and take it slowly and easily. If you've got a big task that you have to do, try and break it down into smaller tasks and pace yourself.
Take care chick, and I hope the paracetamol helps somewhat (take 2 four times a day regularly and it should work more efficiently than when taken at random intervals)

PK - I can understand that you don't want to be invaded by family. My in-laws are lovely but i still don't want their children around a new born (in case they are harbouring a cold etc). I have told DH that no-one is to come unless they telephone first. I must remember to tell them myself!

You may find that you want one or two of the women around to keep you company during the day or just to hold the baby so you can sleep or get on with the washing.

I'm keeping an open mind about everything and not being too rigid about after the birth, cos i don't know how i will be feeling. Mind you, i've told my mum i'm locking her in the house with me .

PK: Rather than staying at MIL's house, can she come to you. I know you might not want to, but she is offering you help which may be much appreciated, cos you may need looking after too. Newborns feed every three to four hours. (Sorry, lecture over - i just know that my sister had an awful time on her own till my mother went to look after her and the baby.)

Love - I don't mind the lecture! I actually want my mom around as much as I can get her! We understand each others ways, temperaments etc so she really would be a help and a comfort. I just don't want MIL within a hundred yards of me or my baby for the first few weeks (although I will have to let her visit, it is going to be her grandchild after all!). She is an absolutely lovely woman but she definately doesn't know me, although she thinks she does, and I just can't trust that she won't do or say something that'll either be damaging to the child or, more likely, piss me off and I'll be left unable to actually tell her in words her tiny little brain can comprehend (she's thick as 7 short planks!)that I don't like what she's doing/saying and I don't want any more cheap, tacky, baby things from her that will fall apart, are by no means safe, or I just plain don't like. I don't want to hurt the womans feelings, she has a heart of gold, but I just know she's gonna really test me and I'm gonna snap! It will not be pretty!

I totally agree with you about your mum understanding you and vice-versa. My MIL and I don't speak the same language (no, really, she speaks Arabic and i can't). She doesn't like short hair on girls and so 3 of her granddaughters have hair down to their waists and one of them wanted to cut it. I was tempted to get a pair of scissors and cut it for her (but didn't). Poor little girl really wants it shorter. Have told DH that if MIL wants our child to have long hair, she will have to blow-dry it for her!

Complete change of subject, hope that's okay! - just hired a tens machine from these people:
www.newroadclinic.co.uk/default.htm
Seems to be a pretty good deal - you get it for 6 weeks for about £18 (3 wks before due date and 3 wks after) - so better than Mothercare, etc.

Just wanted to pass on the info in case anyone is interested.

Love - lol at "she will have to blow-dry it for her!" I guess sometimes you just have to brace yourself and do what you want to do and what you feel is right no matter how much parents and inlaws disagree with you. long hair on girls is pretty but not always practical with the washing and the drying and the brushing (I always hated having my hair brushed and mine was down to my knees!) not to mention the nit treatment! It's got to be easier and kinder to the child to comb nits out of short hair!

VIoleta - no worries about the change of subject! Infact, Thank You for the info! I don't think I'm going to go for a tens machine, I don't think I'd actually get around to getting out of the old labour bag to use on the day! But I'm sure that a few peeps on here will find the info useful (I also might change my mind yet!)

thanks for all the birthday greetings. it really cheered me up. yesterday was one of my less good birthdays i think-spent the day in bed apart from staggering upstairs to help look after lo with my mum occasionally. went to bed early but kept waking coughing and having to go into lo who got the bug and had a temp of 102 in the night-we didn't get much sleep. still, mum came down specially from norfolk to help for the day and dh gave me a beautiful ring before he left for work trip for 4 nights.
on the letting people come round- i was a real dragon first time round, didn't want all family coming to the hospital the day lo was born. caused a massive massive family upset and they made us feel so bad we had to let them come anyway. mil was so over excited she stayed for an hour holding lo constantly, i was a mess by the time she left, just wanted to hold lo again. also was bad as dh has 2 sets of parents, so first day involved 6 grandparents visiting hospital .
this time round will try and be much more chilled with all of them. especially as mil works her socks off helping out. i'll know how to say can i have the baby back now please too. and we've got a maternity nurse for 3 weeks so that will prevent any of in laws staying til she's gone

its flooringtastic round this part of mumsnet

sorry your b-day a bit rubbish princess - tho' hurrah to the DH for buying you jewellery... mine would never think to buy anything like that.

lucy - ggrrr -- poor you.

ty all for your responses to my whole brother and SIL thing. i've gotten over it a bit, yesterday i was really uspet. but today i spoke to both my mum and dad and they were cool, so i'm not feeling defensive on their behalf

i DO however feel my bro and SIL are being a bit prescious. they knew my parents were coming, they'd left it til two days after birth and my parents are the least likely people to push themselves on anyone in the world and five min would have been enough.... PLUS bro and SIL are in Portland, rather than having to host visitors at home

rant over. i'll shut up now.

For me, the deal with visitors is "are they going to help?" Basically, everyone who I made a cup of tea for when ds was born can FECK OFF this time!! If you want to coo and hoover, come on in, otherwise, bog off!!!

GP has just told me that baby is now 3/5 engaged, so am freaking out a bit. I thought 2nd babies engaged closer to the due date....? Had basically decided on an elective so am also now terrified I am going to go into labour in the not too distant future. Eek!!
A friend at work had her 2nd baby 3 weeks early yesterday so was already a bit jittery!

My carpets are just knackered and exhausted. I should steam clean but actually, at this stage, a broom might be a good idea!

Hope the leg tying is hoping those that need it. Another friend swore by this when she had SPD. Her advice is to keep legs together at all times. "Get in and out of the car like royalty" were her exact words!!

Hi Pk616 am with you on the flooring. MIL is trying to persuade us to get some nice modern flooring that will be warmer and safer for the baby. But we've just moved in and I've never lived anywhere with real floorboards so was trying to explain that I want them uneven, draughty from the cellar, and creaky. To me those narrow 'click' floorboards look too much like laminate and I've lived in so many characterless cardboard wall and laminate floor flats in the last few years I never want to see the stuff again!

hear hear beansprout on the visitors - couldn't put it better myself! !

I definitely agree about the visitors, although when it comes to it, I'll find it very hard to say 'no'.

Lucy - I think you said the pain is in your hip. Has anyone (DR etc) confirmed that they think it's SPD? It's just that I had excruciating pain last time that felt like it was deep inside my hip joint. It was my sacro-iliac joint (sp?). I saw a physio & got a (useles, uncofortable) support belt, but then saw a chiropractor, who completely 'fixed' the problem. I just thought it was worth a mention, in case it's not SPD you're suffering from.

Still haven't touched a hoover or a duster but will have to pull my finger out as we have various visitors dropping in over the next week or so. If it wasn't for visitors, I can't imagine what state my house would be in! It's pretty awful as it is!

Ladle & mimi - looking forward to an update from both of you. Hope all is well.

Argh! Someone has a birthday today and I can't for the life of me remember who it is....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYSTERY MUMSNETTER! sorry I can't remember which one of us feb lot you are!!

Princess - sorry to hear you had such a pants birthday. Your mum sounds like a real star! Your DH doesn't sound half bad either! I can't even remember the last time DP bought me anything let alone jewellery (mind you I am "Commander of all things financial" so he doesn't have access to any funds anyway!!) Hope your LO is feeling better.

I think I second JO in her support of beansprouts visitors policy! I certainly don't want to be making anybody any cups of tea! Selfish as I am, I want people to make me cups of tea!!

Gill - Characterless, definately! The same as an awful lot of furniture available these days! It's all 'fashion furniture' nothing seems to be designed to stand the test of time or to do anything other than it's base function. I like things to perform their job well but I think they should be hard wearing, full of 'character' and beautiful, one way or another, whilst they are carrying out their tasks. Because of this IKEA is not the ideal shop for me! I respect the affordability, their use of eco friendly materials, the design for function is top notch in most cases but a house full of beach effect IKEA furniture lacks that certain something which I can only put down to character!
Having said this we are buying some IKEA stuff to help us accommodate the bairn and ALL of her 'belongings' because we can't fit any more character filled, oldfashioned, used furniture into this rabbit hutch and IKEA's stuff is stackable! You can't win them all!!

I've put housework on the backburner for the day as I've volunteered to repair my mom's frount door mat! It is made out of platted straw wound and stitched into a design and it belonged to my grandad who has passed away and she is very attached to it. Unfortunately the mat has all but completely fallen apart so I'm stitching it back together for her! It's a bloody good job I like sewing!!!!

Well, I've been out of the house again today so I am very happy, I hope you lot are all having a good day too!

WWWaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!
My nappies have just been delivered!!!!!!!!!
They are so tiny, cute and fluffy!
So excited, but no one here to shriek at, so, sorry ladies!!

Hope everyone is o.k. x

PK - It's my birthday today. Ds's have been very cute and did lots of pictures for me yesterday which they hid (not very discreetly in the bathroom and the bottom of one of their cupboards but I pretended I hadn't seen them). Got some vouchers which is great but I'll probably spend the M & S ones on nursing bras in Jan - needs must! Also got some lovely toiletry sets which I unfortunately can't use at the mo due to my itchy skin but will treat myself to some relaxing baths once the little one's here.

Beansprout - I agree with you on the visiting - I'd be a bit hacked off if people came and sat and did nothing but family and friends always play with the boys when they visit so that will be the best help anyway.

Lucy - when I was pregnant with ds1 I had muscular pain in my hip. The physio gave me a really good stretching exercise which really helped. Basically you lie on your back with your knees bent and put your right foot on your left leg just above the knee. Then reach under your left knee and lift it up until you feel the stretch in your hip. I remember DH had to help me with this as I got bigger. It did help but it wasn't severe pain for me so may not help for you. I agree with you on the slimming powers of the tubi grip. I got quite a few comments after I had ds2 saying I didn't look like I'd just had a baby and I'm sure that was down to the tubi grip holding the loose skin in. It's nice to know I'm not the only one whose stomach domes when you sit up!!

Have a great day everyone!