Due June 2005, Thread 4

[Scraggyaggy]

Happy New Year everyone!

Following Katzguk's suggestion I've started up the new thread - hope no-one minds.

Well, I did absolutely nothing for New Year. I have the cold from hell so I was in bed by 9pm. I was very disappointed as we were supposed to be going to a party but I decided not to go as I wouldn't have enjoyed myself and then I'd have made dp miserable too. So, I celebrated by having a lemsip topup at 12 o'clock! (One for the books!) Hope you all had a nice time.

Have been reading your threads about what to buy and what not to buy. I started buying after Christmas as I want to start really enjoying this pregnancy now. Dp is incredibly worried that something will go wrong and we are tempting fate but I don't want to be walking on egg shells for the next 5 months .... yup 5 months already!!! Scary stuff!

Anyway, we have bought a Graco travel system as I have spent hours in the shops clipping and unclipping and puttin them up and down and I found Graco to be lightweight and really simple to use. Then I trawled the internet on boxing day and found that Toys'r'Us was doing some good deals.

Cot is going to be an Ikea special. They are so cheap, I just don't think you can argue and we are big fans of Ikea. However, if anyone has any experiences of this then let me know. We aren't bothering with the moses basket.

I've got a 2-way baby carrier from e-bay, which is still new apparently, although I haven't received it yet so I'll hold bck on judgement.

And then the mumsnet wanted and for sale boards are fantastic. I've got a bottle warmer and a travel cot through mumsnet. I'd reommend that anyone here use them.

There are three things which I need help with though:

• steriliser; microwave or electric??? Any opinions?
• breast pump; is there one which is comfortable and easy to use? I don't want to spend a fortune and then not be able to use it.
• baby monitor; I definitely want one. Am planning on sitting in the garden over the summer, and baby might not want to be moved. Should I get a normal one? A digital one? Has anyone used an under mattress sensor type one? Need big help with this one.

Have bought myself some books on motherhood and new babies too. Am such a planner, I need to be having a good read now so I can put all the theory to practice in 5 months time!

Hope you are all well and not being sick any more! x

KAtz, my DD has been fully trained for a couple of months now. We went through a period where she was great at home, but would have one accident after another at nursery. It was amazing. The day we change nurseries, she never had an accident anymore!
The problem at her nursery was that they keep asking her evry 10 min. and she is very strong minded and got annoyed by it. So, by the time she was really needing to go it was too late. I think they also made a big deal of it, which didn't help at all....

On a different front.... Does anyone have experience with bedtime crisis recently?
We decided last week that my perfectly sleeping DD needed to go to bed on her own. We were worried that when #2 came along we might not be able to lay down with her. It has been a disaster since. Now, she says she does not want to go to sleep and have been waking in the middle of the night.
I am usually a tough mom, and persevere despite her complains... But this time I am unsure, should I back track? Did I change things too fast, or is this toddler whinning (which seems to be comming in full force...)
Any thought would be very wellcomed!

I'm impressed you've all been potty-training. Have to confess, I haven't tackled it yet. What are the signs that they are ready?

Can't help you on the bedtime thing Lua as I haven't moved my DS from his cot yet (I'm so lazy at the minute!). A friend of mine has just done it with her DS though and is having the same problems you've had. There was a thread on here about something similar, I'll see if I can find it.

Back from midwife's and all is fine . Baby was wriggling around so the heartbeat was difficult to hear but eventually the midwife managed to get a good listen. No more appointments until 28 weeks (apart from the scan on 1st Feb).

here it is

Ooh Lua, little ones and not sleeping - I'm the expert

We've had a mare with ds from the moment he was born, along with a few ok moments inbetween...we've got an ok moment going right now so I'm probably jinxing that as I type

We've definitely found that consistency works best and once we start on something be it controlled crying etc you must follow it through or else the clever little so and so's pick up on it! A while ago ds would only go to sleep if one of us was in his room, not necessarily with him on the bed but just so that he was aware of our presence - not great for abit of couple time (and I don't just mean bed dancing!). We decided to be firm and put him to bed, read his story, then turned off the lights and left the room. Each time he got up again we put him back in his bed, kissed him goodnight and left the room. At first he would be up and screaming at least 5 times during the course of the evening before he'd drop off. This lasted about 3 or 4 nights, during which time we found that if we both read him his story, dh first then me (Mr Men so thankfully short!) and then put him to bed he gradually got up less frequently. By the end of the week he didn't get up after the 'second reading', and now when we ask who's going to read him his story first he grabs dh's hand and takes him up the stairs to bed!! In our experience perseverance goes along way, and regular routines, I hate to say my mother was right, but children do seem to like routines and boundaries to feel safe & settled

Hello everyone,

Had a very busy weekend clearing out the spare room - or nursery as it is now known!!!!!

Also got all my dd's old baby stuff out the loft and had a good old reminissing session!!!!!! I found a whole load of old maternity gear in the loft too which will come in handy.

Also another very exciting development this weekend!!! I got my sex drive back - yeah

Re TV programmes - I'm into all the usual soaps plus dd and I always sit down to watch Holby City together - she loves it.

I watched ER on E4 the other day - will probably watch it every now and again AND I really wanted to watch that desperate housewives hting as it's supposed to be fab but 11pm is proving too late for me at the moment. Maybe I'll catch it when I'm feeling less tired.

Mrs W - fab that all's ok with bubba. Signs for potty training are supposed things like lo being aware of or telling you when they wee/poo. Asking you to change their nappy when it's dirty, understanding what you mean when you say wee/poo. Our ds understood, and knew what we were asking him to do when we talked about the potty or toilet, but seemed quite happy to wallow in his dirty nappies not mentioning the fact until you were actually changing it! We decided to do it now coz we were both off work for 10 days and could devote time to him and stay in, usually I work 3 days so ds goes to nursery 1 day, is at his nanna's for 2 days and then with us for the rest of the week, and I wanted to try when there weren't 'too many cooks' IYSWIM . Good luck for when you try with your ds.

I might have a look in the attic and see if I can find my sex drive up there cos it's definitely gone missing somewhere.

I taped Desperate Housewives and watched it the day after Sweetheart, it's on too late for me too.

Sounds like he might be ready then...bugger! Thanks for the info Teabelly.

I'm spending far too much time on here today considering I've got so much work to do.

we don't have a vcr any more - just a dvd player!!!

See, it's times like this I need sky plus!!!

Oh no!!!

Perhaps you could get a DVD that records from the telly? Have to say I fancy one of those as when I use the video I get a crap picture.

Sweetheart you have no VCR??!! I don't know how I would cope without mine. I know they are meant to be obselete, but we use ours constantly to record from the tv. We don't have any films etc. on video so that's one less reason to keep it I suppose and get a recordable dvd thingy.

Mrs W, We emptied our loft on Saturday in readiness for the builders today who are converting it into a room. Alas, I didn't find my sex drive up there I'm hoping we didn't accidentally put it in the front garden along with the rest of the stuff we didn't want and a sign saying 'All free to a good home'

Lua, I had a thought about your dd's going to bed routine. I don't know how old she is, or how 'involved' her going to bed routine with you is, so, I'm just basing my response on a gut feeling. ~takes deep breath~ I don't see why she needs to miss out on being put to bed my Mummy or Daddy simply because there is a new baby in the house? Surely one of you can be there to read a story or play a quiet game before she goes down? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it won't be hard dealing with the 2, I'll be in the same boat as you, but I hope I will still be able to spare 10 minutes to put dd to bed, and I'm sure you will too. Unless your dd is over 5, in which case I would say that you're probably right, and there is a good case for her getting ready for bed on her own. Anyway, I hope I don't sound judgemental when I said that? I truly was saying it in the kindest voice!! Honest! Especially if it had such major repercussions on her sleeping.

Anyway, I'll shut up now

Hello there. MrsW - so glad everything is fine. Same here - had 20 week scan this afternoon and he is wriggling away, perfect and beautiful .
Katz - congrats on the graduation. I'm in a similar position - submitted my PhD in June 03 and passed the oral 3 months later but still haven't got round to graduating yet. I somehow always wanted to do it pg, but it won't be happening - this time!
Maternity clothes - my main issue is with 'bottoms', as I'm just letting my 'tops' swell and bulge. I've bought 2 skirts (one with a panel, one with a stretchy waist) and a kind of little red pinafore dress and am beginning to have to wear them, as almost all of my normal clothes no longer fit. I've also a pair of non-maternity trousers which I bought 2 sizes too big and which have an elastic waist and drawstring. I've still got a pair of pre-pregnancy trousers I'm getting into, but they're sliding below my bump. By the way, I don't know whether I'm alone or silly in being really excited when I looked at my tummy a couple of days ago and noticed my belly button is beginning to flatten and ascend!

Evening All,

Mrs W/Beroline, glad the midwife/scan visits went well and you saw your little wrigglers. How exciting!!
Sweetheart - I am so jealous re sex drive. It is so unlike me to go off it (sorry, too much detail) , but I am totally uninterested at the moment. I think its because I do get constant aches and twinges from my stomach, and it doesn't incline me in that direction at all.
I'm not in mat clothes yet, but that's mainly because I'm having real problems finding anything that doesn't drown me. I'm only 5" and normally wear petite ranges or else search long and hard for sleeves which don't reach my knees. I've been everywhere (mothercare, H&M, Topshop, BM) and am having no luck. Just ordered a few bits from Next though. Anyone else have this problem?

Berolina, sorry, can't spell. Tired, pregnant, and have been awake since 5:30am!!!

Hi, me again, sorry.
Charleypops, I've just tried to CAT you and I'm getting an error message saying that you are not set up to accept incoming messages. I think you need to change something on "your member profile" for it to work.

Have been sniggering at the thought of someone else turning up at your house Lipstickmum, ready to molest your DP because they've found your sex drive! My DH would say it's not a laughing matter though. Bless him, he's in a bit of sulk about it but the next time he complains I'm going to tell him that I've given up drinking for this baby and it's not fair that he gets to carry on as normal - so he's giving up sex for the duration (whether he likes it or not!). I'm so pleased I'm not the only one though.

Berolina, great news about your scan!!! Have you got any more scans planned or is that it until the baby arrives?

JonahB, sorry I can't help about the maternity stuff, as I'm just about tall enough for standard size (only just though).

Hello everyone!

I've missed so many days it has taken me 2 hours to catch up with all the reading.

Katz - Have an excellent day on Thurs!

Congrats to everyone who's recently had scans. I've been feeling a bit paranoid this week, for no reason whatsoever, but I have my scan on Mon so fingers and toes crossed it'll all be great.

Sex drives - I would suggest having a suggle BEFORE dinner.... when the tummy isn't rumbling too much....

Welshmum - did you find any info on the non-sterilisation method? Dp is now convinced, having read something in Pregnancy & birth along similar lines!

Take care all,

Scraggy x

Meant snuggle not suggle!!! LOL

Hi, JonahB you can email me at oo(underscore)i(underscore)say(at)hotmail.com

I've still got no sex drive, been off it since conception. Can't imagine doing it for the duration either.....

JonahB, I'm a shortie too and found a few bits and bobs in TK Max, do you have one near you? I have about half a dozen pairs of stretchy flared jogging/exercise tie waist bottoms. I reckon I'll be out of my last pair of jeans by the end of this week and I am also drowned by maternity stuff

Hope you are all alright.

I have a mountain of study to do. This pregnancy is prooving non compatible with using my brain and feeling vastly too ill to get down to significant study However I am doing it slowly. Though my marks have gone down significantly as everything takes that much more effort. I find it is mainly unrewarding - excessively tiring and I can barely stay awake. They are piling the work on now as we have exams in May. I don't know how the hell I am going to negotiate that - I think I am going to get on to the college here and ask if I can have my exam papers sent here. I simply won't travel so close to the birth. Specially as I don't actually have anyone to stay with me. I will need a medical letter, even then the board may refuse. I have to do these exams or the bleakness for the future will mount and become overwhelming. They can be taken again in January if the worst comes to the worst. However I wanted to be studying part time at the uni by then and it will put things back another year.

Honestly I hate being pregnant and can't wait for it to be over. I am collecting obscene amounts of fluid. I can't sleep. Honestly I don't mind having the kid but the pregnancy is not amusing. They should find a better way to do this. God men are lucky bastards.

Pink, you're right, men are lucky bastards. I'lll agree with you wholeheartedly. If it was left to the male of the species to procreate, the human race would have died out centuries ago . How much do they winge when they get the slightest sniffle (or man flu as all my girlfriends refer to it as).

Thanks Charleypops for the TKMax advice, i'll try that e-mail address later today.

..and i'm so glad that its not just me re the sex thing. Bless dh, he's very understanding...

I think I'll have to get in touch with UCH neo natal on the sterilisation question as I can't find anything I trust on the net. So if you're still interested Scraggy and Lipstick I'll write to them.
On the sex front I'm a 'spirit is willing but the flesh is weak' kind of girl. Sort of want to but no energy by the end of the day. Any other time of the day is difficult and the thought of waking up early to fit it in (fnar fnar) is so not going to happen.
Occasionally I do see DH's lovely bottom and think mmmm and then I have to pretend to be a possum/a pink dragon/Goldilocks (delete as applicable) All of the above to amuse dd I hasten to add - not dh - although I think some of them would appeal to him too.