Due March 2008 - for our early arrivals and the loooooong 3rd trimesters

[merryberry]

Hello all.

re reflux, ah is that what it is, thought just heartburn makingme a bit sicky. oh well, my patent cure is to not eat dinner. i have large, large b'fasta dn substantial lunch and if i can tolerate it a few mouthfuls of ds1 tea with him at 5pm. then nothing except rennies til morning

Found (what I think is) a useful thing this morning. kaboodle.com allows you to make up a wish/gift list with things from whatever websites you want. That way you can give your list to all well-meaning friends and family to avoid duplicates and horrors. My list is growing by the second though...

Oh and this is a very good deal on gym ball. Same size and strength as expensive birthing balls but soo much cheaper!!

Hello!

Trying to keep up with this thread is impossible at the moment. All the hospital bag tips have been fab- very, very helpful!

Marchmum- sounds like you've had a horrible time! Glad you're feeling a bit better

I've had a horrible cold this week and feeling fairly sorry for myself , combined with quite a lot of pain in my pelvis . Thought it might have been signs of spd, but it's not really sore when moving my leg sideways (like getting out of the car etc) more in the middle when walking around. Anyway, it's been much better today so am hoping to try and do some exercise later on, as Ive spent most of the last few days on the sofa...

DH and I are going away tomorrow night to a lovely hotel, and we're treating ourselves to some spa treatments (pg friendly ones for me!). We thought we should make the most of being child-free before LO is here!

Hope the meet up goes well and everyone has a good weekend!

ah that sounds lovely! will be with you in spirit monthlymayhem...

Right this is it, decision made. I am officially bottling my NHS booking. I may still go to the hospital for the birth, as home birth still not top of our wish list. But i don't trust them one little bit anymore.

I can't even think about what to say on the phone to the hospital before trying to track down my next effing appt without crying, I can't sleep for worrying about it all.

merryberry-sending you an enormous hug. Hope it all comes together soon, I think the way you've been treated is shocking.

Top and tail bowls? Pah! What a rip-off! I just use one tupperware, wash DD's face first, then wash her bum. So the cloth is clean when it goes on her face, then it goes back in the water (which only gets face yuk on it) and then I wash her bum and throw the cloth in the nappy bucket. No problem. We've done that since day 1! And if I were using cottom wool instead, each piece of cotton wool would be new as it went into the bowl, so no problem there either.

merry - big hugs, no wonder you're in tears most of the time. It's so frustrating when you want to be calm and rational (aka having a right go) at people but you end up not being able to get a word out without crying...

Have had words with the lodger!
Last night he mentioned he'd be away at his parents for a long weekend around 1st march (my edd is 2nd march)
So tonight I asked if he'd sorted out alternative accommodation since the solicitor still hasn't got a contract from the people he's buying from...."should i have?" was the response.
So, have repeated that he needs to be out by the time i go on mat leave in 2 1/2 weeks time as I'll need the space (apart from the bed he's using as it's the only one I can roll out of with ease now i'm so rotund!). Final straw was when i got home from work to find that he was using the bloody washing machine again for the umpteenth time in the last few weeks...

Think he now has taken the hint

fitnforty at your lodger. how extraordinary to think he'd need to be out by the time the baby was close to arriving. I just can't imagine a woman would ever be so oblivious to the many, many, many reasons that would not be a good plan. Well done for handling it so well. It's hard to know what to say when someone's being so obtuse.

Thanks for all the help on mats and topping and tailing. derah, your method sounds great, so I'm going to adopt it I think. I just have to remember head first, bottom last

I've started eating huge quantities of paper I've always eaten paper, but since Christmas it has got out of control. DH is always giving out to me if he catches me at it, especially if there is print on it (which mostly there isn't).

I hope you all have fun tomorrow meeting up. Post pictures when you come back. It was fun to see you all together the last time.

hands skidoodle a sheaf of A4 and a non-paper napkin<
hands fitnforty a human sized leaf blower

Morning ladies!

A couple of things.....

Firstly, someone asked a few pages back about fit-all portable black out blinds. It just so happens that I received an NCT catalogue the next day and they do them in there!

Next.....piles! I know some of you were talking about them recently. I get them in pg but don't really "suffer" as such. However, ds came into our bed on Thurs night about 2am and as soon as he woke me up I thought "ouch!". I had been fine when I went to bed but from that point on I have been rather uncomfortable. I am not constipated so can only assume they are pressure related, but what can I do? Anyone got any magic tricks? Or at least suggestions for a remedy that works???

And Merry, just wanted to say that your treatment on the NHS absolutely sucks! I can't believe they can be that crap and get away with it

feedmenow - i'm one of the happy piles sufferers They're not so bad at the moment so I haven't really been bothering to try anything, but I was just reading about treating them this morning in case they get worse (which they probably will!)

Suggestions include

1. either sit in a few cm of hot water (hotter than a normal bath) or try cooling pads - apparently some people find heat relieving, others prefer cold
2. don't sit or stand for too long at any one time, i.e. move around
3. sleep on your left side rather than your back, and also lie down on your left side when reading, watching tv etc, rather than sitting up to avoid putting pressure on them
4. try witch hazel-soaked cotton wool pads on the little buggers

Do let me know if any of these work!!!

Thanks HQ. Went into town today and bought some ointment with a delightful nozzle for insertion! Was v. difficult to manage on my own!!

I am too lazy to put up new pages so have stuck my 4d scan photos on my old flickr page that has my wedding photos!
If anybody wants to look at pix of my son sucking his own foot...
here

BTW...lovely to see those who came to meet up today...is there time still for another before we all pop?

Found an independent midwife with a spare booking. Phew. Got it by skin of teeth, as I am closer to her than the other woman after booking.

Start seeing her Monday. Then every week til delivery. Then up to a month afterwards. May go for home birth, will maintain booking at Birth Centre anyway.

PHEW.

turtle! that freaked me right out. Was merrily minding my own business ahhing and ohhing over your lovely pics when this massive blubber lipped pics suddenly turned up of your wedding guests! Larf my arse off! I actually jumped in my seat!

Your young one really does have foot in mouth, wow, no wonder we get such strange stomach churnings.

Do you see either of you in his looks already? The profile pics look particularly like hinself, if you get what I mean?

MB-he looks exactly like my DH but with my mouth. The lips, I mean, rather than the foot in bit!! I purposely didn't warn anyone about the wax lips bit just to see if anyone giggled. We made everyone have their photo taken (including my 95 year old Grandma) with wax lips because it made me smile. I'm odd, I know.

hi people, sorry to hear about the piles feedmenow, hope they are ok, i too am one of those people with them my doctor prescribed me something which is stronger than the usual remedies i believe it seems to help quite a lot.

We have been looking at prams today and seem to have found quite a good one at toys r us it is the Graco Quattro Tour Duo Twin Pushchair, we can also get the car seats for it, it is one of the prams where they are in front of you not side by side type, without spending about £600 this seems to be the best. Does anyone have any comments etc on twin pushchairs, finding it really hard to find a decent one without spending a fortune which we dont have, also did not win the lotter tonight which i was hoping on lol.

Any advice is welcome.

Have been holed up in my room most of this evening as i couldn't face being sociable. Went to Asda with DH to stock up on some food, but either looked at things which didn't appeal to me in the slightest (cream cakes, come on, how can i not like them now???) or they were out of stock or just don't stock stuff i want.
Was getting really frustrated and swearing to use internet food shopping in future, then boiled over when i realised we didn't have any room in the freezer to get convenience food...yes, the lodger did his food shopping today and used up all the spare space in the freezer too. So i burst into tears in the checkout queue . DH was very bless and kept hugging me, which of course just made me worse, but i'm now wondering how the hell i survive another 2-3 wks with lodger if i can get so worked up about the small things now .

It's not a big issue in the grand scheme of things, and i thank my lucky stars i don't live in london any more with the lovely antenatal care you all seem to not have!

ok, whinge over till next time, thank you for listening to my rantings

oh and Turtle, so impressed with your scan photos, much clearer than mine!

And love the wedding pix - where was the location, looked wonderful?

FnF- How have you been so patient with him? I'd have asked him not so nicely to leave ages ago. Thanks for the kind words...I got married at the Nutfield Priory in Surrey, it was lovely!

Di someone want a set of window blinds for the car? I have a brand-new set from kiddiecare, but we don't have a car!! I can bring them to next meet up, or post.
So sorry to have missed the meet up. Could probably handle a daytime one once I go an mat leave (in 3 weeks!!) if anyone else is interested.

Hello ladies

Lovely to see some of you at the meet-up yesterday. I guess it will be easier to arrange them once we're all on maternity leave so we should try to get another one in before any more babies arrive.

DH built DD's new 'big girl' bed this morning, and so now the cot is in bits and going under our bed for a few months. We want DD to get used to her new bed before we tell her the baby is going in her old one! She loves her new bed though and is napping in it now. We've also got a new giant chest of drawers for the girls' room... new colour scheme is cream furiture instead of natural wood so it's all looking different but very nice. Guess I'm finally getting some stuff organised. DH got paid this weekend too so no more excuses about being broke after Christmas, and I did a spot of online shopping last night.

I can't wait for maternity leave to start so I can get things organised properly!