Due in June - Creme eggs are long gone and our own eggs have started to hatch. Who will be next?

[Upsidedowncake]

We are two down and have another 30-40 to go. Makecakes and Gemma have probably popped by now, then G43! It's all happening!!!!!

Lorettah, met someone at ante-natal class on Tuesday who's moving house and her completion date is the same as her due date - how's that for bad planning!!

Totally agree with you on the work on the house though - learnt our lesson the hard way too!

UDC, we are of course all very intelligent and charming! There are alot of strange superstitions about LHs and also lots of daft comments made - if I had a pound for every time someone has said to me "you have very neat hand writing for a left hander" I'd be a v rich woman!

Dh is my first LH partner, and we're intrigued by whether we will have LH children.

If you need anything for your DS, highly recommend this website:

www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/

morning all

My birthday today and am having period like pains - would be just my luck if jnr turned up today - I have a date with Indiana Jones on the w/end as part of my birthday treat and so am telling babe sternly that he has to hang on in there till at least Sunday .

Am just off to get my nails done - feet and hands as a pressie from DH - can't wait.

sympathies to all those with builder/FIL issues.

Happy birthday, Mellymel!

Just quickly popping in not had a chance to read through everything.
I spend most of yesterday in bed feeling sorry for myself hugging a hot water bottle and taking paracetamol. Ive got major bump pain and can hardly move MW thinks its just were lo is resting something..Its just not funny anymore though.
I also got a row from the other no nice MW for assuming I was going into labour B**ch!
Anyway trying to switch off to baby not being due till around the 9th see if that helps.

Mellymell Happy birthday.

AH, this is the belt I have:

www.appliedbiomechanics.co.uk/

Mellymell, happy birthday!

Happy Birthday Mellymell.

Right I am leaving DH in charge and taking DD to do Pirates with friends for the morning.

Morning all. Sunny here for the first time in days so, despite saying town centre was now out of bounds am going to meet a friend for lunch and get DH sour boiled sweets from the old fashioned sweet shop.

ernest you can get the mesh bags on ebay and from here

udc I am miranda crossed with charlotte, if you can imagine that! May go and see the film by myself tomorrow morning as a special treat. Will take mobile in case waters breah when big proposes...

josey sorry you are feeling so low. Am trying not to fixate on due date too but it's so hard!

mellymell happy bday!

Picking up moses basket this afternoon.

Hi everyone, can't keep up with you all after being away for a couple of days!

We had a lovely time at the hydro/spa place - v relaxing. Back to earth today though, I'm having my dreaded wisdom tooth extraction this afternoon, assuming I don't flee from the dentist's surgery....

Alipalli, bad luck about the oven, did you pay with it by credit card by any chance, because then your contract is also with the card company?

Happy Birthday Mellymell.

Neenz, nice to see you back on here, I'm still dumbfoundedly impressed with how well you're doing!

Spongebrain - yes, of course we left handers are intelligent and charming! I am hoping monster inherits my left handedness.

Everyone is telling me these last few weeks will drag, but I woke up this morning with a huge to do list in my head, and my first week of mat leave has flown by. I s'pose if I actually did the stuff on the list that might help.

And am I the only one who feels that this isn't really happening???

josey - you and I are equally suffering! What are you up to tomorrow? I could drive 1/2 way and meet you somewhere...

Happy birthday Mellymell!

allipali and Lorettah sorry about the oven and tiling nightmare.

I was feeling very yesterday. Had a big argument with DH on Tuesday evening because of MIL from hell. He left for work really early. Now that we can't have MIL staying with us whilst waiting for LO, I thought I would ask my mum to come a few days early. When I spoke to her not only did it become apparent that she doesn't really want to but on top of that she kind of thinks that she is spending her holidays at ours rather than being in the frame of mind of helping.
She said to me "oh well if I come your sister will come and stay too at the same time I suppose". I had to really put my foot down as when I was pregnant with DD they both came for two weeks and I had to wait on them and felt like a hotel for two weeks. And when they are together they are an absolute nightmare with drama arguments etc. So I said no you and my sister are not coming to spend your holidays here. I thought you were coming to help but it doesn't look like it and there is no way I will do all that either heavily pregnant or with a newborn fresh from the oven.

So now it is back to square one with trying to find someone to look after DD. I sooo want this baby to come out early too so that I can have a few days of enjoying him without all the interruptions/annoyance caused by family. Families hey!

GF glad you are holding on and taking some well deserve time to yourself. I think I will take the plunge today and list a few items on freecycle. I have never done it before but all these talks about it makes me think it is a good idea. And I need to clear some space! (yep still nesting)

Whinegums, yes, I'm feeling quite unreal about the whole thing too - I've changed from being excited and worried to sort of denial, like this is what it's going to be like now (me pregnant!). Finding it quite hard to imagine actually having a baby!! Ah well, will have to get used to it very quickly!

UDC Welsh is fairly low on the superstitions etc about lefties - or maybe my family hid them from us because of the three of us siblings, I'm the only right handed one!
There is a turn of speech, though - if you're not very good at something or not very comfortable with it (or it feels wrong), you say you're 'chwithig' - 'leftish', and if you're good, you're 'deheuig', 'rightish'. My favourite left/right thing is the words for north and south in Welsh. North is gogledd, but south is De, like right-handed, on your right. So clearly when it was decided where everything was, someone stood (probably near Aberystwyth) with their back to the sea, and so south Wales was on their right hand side!

needahand - my mother-in-law is coming on Sunday and I feel the same way. I had hoped this LO would have arrived by then so we could have had some family time first, instead I'm going to be entertaining MIL while heavily pregnant! We don't really know each other as she never phones and we've never lived close so it feels like having a guest rather than a family member. I know it'll make things easier for DS (except that he doesn't know her either) but I had everything lined up with friends and I was pretty happy with that arrangement!

I've just spend at least an hour & a half on the tesco website ording food - if I'd known it was going to take that long I probably would have just gone & done it myself!!

Interesting chat about left handers - I'm left handed as is my DH, my parents are both lefties too, but other sisters are right handed!! I just to get called cack-handed at school especially if we had sports - rounders was the worse where they would shout cackhander around the field!!! Kids can be so cruel!

Lorettah - good to hear that you have found a new tiler. A colleague of mine had a new bathroom and new windows fitted the week she was due. She refused to leave hospital until DH promised her that all was clear.

Called up AEG about the oven. Good customer experience! Managed to register it for the guarantee (6 months after purchase), and arranged for service man to come out on Tuesday morning. Warned them I could be having a baby about then, the lady was really nice and said that I would still be waiting. Feeling much better about the oven.

Whinegums - yes I go through phases of unreality too. 30 weeks was the worst: it suddenly occurred to me that I wasn't going to be ever more pregnant for the rest of my life, and that at some point I would stop being pregnant, and would have a small personal to take care of. That frightened me somewhat (infact it still does). In the last week or two my head seems to know that a baby is imminent, but sometimes if I manage to find a position where I can't feel my bump I forget about it and it can still seem a bit unreal.

I am a left hander, and one the writes in an especially cack-handed way too!

I identify most with Miranda in SATC: i.e. opinionated, doesn't suffer fools. Infact "Miranda" isn't currently on the girls' name shortlist, but am wondering if it should be.

Forgot to say Mellymell have a very happy birthday.

Is it me or are there a lot of us on this thread who are all having birthdays just before LOs are due? What happens when geminis mother geminis I wonder?

Thanks for all the support/advice re esther's weight gain/bf. I have the Birth to 5 book so will get in touch with bf counsellor, although since yesterday esther has done so much better, she has fed for 10 or more mins at each feed.

Putting Theo on first seems to do the trick, and now I just keep swapping them: when E gets fed up I put T back on and when he comes off I try Esther again.

I am doing Gina Ford's routine with them now in the hope of getting more sleep at night - last night went quite well. They fed at 11pm until midnight, it took an hour to settle them but then I had an hour's sleep before they woke again at 2am. I fed and settled them by 3.15am that time which was great, but then T woke at 4am for another feed. I fed him lying down then so at least I could snooze. Then they both slept until 6.30am - the perfect time to start the Gina routine again.

They are napping now upstairs in their room - I really want them to get used to sleeping up there cos they seem to prefer the lounge at the moment!

Also thank you very much for the advice re dry pailing the nappies. It is SO much easier and I have just taken a load out of the machine and they are pristine!!

And another thing... they are both being sick much more now after feeds - but the HV said something interesting.. she said they are only sick when they have had too much so it is kind of a good thing when they are sick - it means they have had plenty to eat!

Just found this thread that some of us on here might appreciate!www.mumsnet.com/Talk/49/538521

Just realised it is midday and I am still in my pjs. Must go and (ad)dress the situation .

Just read that thread you attached alipali made me feel better!!

I just wish my house was finished I had NO builders / workmen in my house (that includes my dad who is a painter & doing a fab job but keeps asking me questions I can't answer) and I could sit down & relax without feeling guilty that I should be doing things like cleanin when all I really want to do is sit on the sofa & eat choc biscuits - does anyone else feel like that?

Nursery carpet arrives tomorrow so I've got to get my lazy arse upstairs & sweep up (once the paint drys). Oh god I wish someone would pay for me to go to a hotel for the next 1.5 weeks - just so I dont have to be here with all the mess. Sorry everyone I still moaning!

AH completly understand how you feel, but at least you have cover for DS. My problem is that all my friends are in London (we moved here 9 mhts ago, but because of the commute I haven't had a chance to socialise here) and they have families so it is tricky. Two of them don't have kids and have offered to come and look after DD at night (which is what we need really as she goes to nursery) but it would take them two hours to get here. So we are trying to get several numbers of carer from DD nursery (they are lovely and at least know DD). So I hope that will work. I hope I won't be in labour too long either so that DH can come back asap....a HB would have been so much easier!

Lorretah the shopping online only takes long first time round. Next time you can just order the recurrent things on your shopping list (washing powder etc) in no time. It really is worth it in the long run.

allipali good news re oven and such an unusual thing nowadays to have good customer experience/helpful people! I was thinking too that a lot of you are born in June (my birthday is not till december)!

Neen glad the bf is getting better. Like others have said I porbably wouldn't worry too much about what the HV says. As long as Esther puts on weight then she must be doing ok.

Alipalli- thanks for the link, that made me feel better normal.

Needahand & Aberdeen- I think a few people in our parents' generation have forgotten that they had 2 weeks in bed in hospital as standard. And that was for a simple delivery. They forget that lots of us are home within 24 hours and haven't had round-the-clock care.

Not my problem- I've lost both my parents and my PIL live the other side of the world. Not that I'm complaining about the latter but losing my parents was/ still is devastating.

Whinegums, I'm with you on the 'Oh yes, there'll be a baby at the end of this, I had completely forgotten that for a moment' feelings! glad you had a nice time at the spa two more days at work....

I'm also left handed - a complete pain in the medical world as everything is set up for right handed people (instruments, examination rooms, everything!) as a consequence I am now fairly ambidextrous!

have spent all morning eating sweeties while working and slightly high on e numbers now... baby is getting a hit too!

went to see Indiana Jones last night, think baby is a fan, got very active every time the theme tune started! thoroughly enjoyed it btw, after reservations for the first 20 minutes!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELLYMEL!

Good news = LO is not breech. Bad news = LO is not engaged, at all. 38 weeks today and he's not making any kind of commitment at all (typical bloke!).

Went to hosp this morning to see cervical consultant - they rang me 6 months ago to make this appointment presumably because I've previously had pre cancerous cells in my cervix. I rang this week to check but weren't able to tell me who'd I see or why the appointment had been made, "just turn up at 9am", they said, so I did. And I waited until 10am, until a consultant called me in and said "so why are you here?" Err, I don't know, you called me!

I then got a bit of abuse from her because smears/biopsies/colonoscopies that were done previously were done privately (NHS told me I had cancerous cells, then were unable to read my unconclusive test results, so would need to be re-done and the next appointment was in 6 months time. Therefore I went private via work's healthcare policy). She said if I had gone private before it wasn't their problem and I should sort it out myself. I can kinda see her point a bit, but she was so dismissive. I was also told I had protein in my wee and to drink more water. I said that this was a bit worrying, because I drink about 4-5 litres of water a day and she just said, well drink 6 then...

Anyway, there's more, but I genuinely do not want to waste anymore of my day on her. As she's a cervical consultant, I hopefully won't see her again anyway. I had my 38 week GP appointment afterwards and everyone there was so lovely and made me feel so much better. My GP surgery has wonder receptionists (really!), friendly nurses and GPs that actually care. After the hospital it was a breath of fresh air - and there was no protein in my wee the second time, so I'm not worried. And they said they'll just do a smear at my 8 week checkout and take it from there, no problems. [smile}

Re: bump sizes, mine is 127cm! (Or to make it sound worse, 50 inches)

Just been measured for nursing bra in M&S. Does anyone recommend any particular brands? Otherwise I may just go for Mothercare as they have some reasonably pretty ones. Also would 4 be enough?

Phew...! Was meant to be meeting someone from antenatal class for coffee at 3pm, but she's cancelled on me. What a relief, I can go and have a nap now....