Due Sept 08: The one where we pack our bags and write our birth plan.

[mamamufin]

I thought I would be brave

It's Monday already - I'm so tired today (big yawn) but had a lovely weekend. 5 weeks left at work...

The tennis was brilliant yesterday! I could only watch the hightlights show at 10pm and also wanted Nadal to win and that was stressful enough hopefully so goodness knows how you manged to sit through it all!

yess!!! i have finally got my matb1 back and my smp1 form!! and can sendoff for ma

the only thing is i am getting paid on the 16th which is weds next week and think i am going to get some sort of cash back on my wage as they have been overpaying us. Sooo will wait until next week as will get more cash on ma if i send in higher wage slips iykwim plus my wage has gone up since may so would be better to send this months slip (watch i won;t get paid this month now or something)

am really worried that i won;t get ma as i have been off sick but that shouldn;t affect it should it? god i hope not!

finally, Mustsleep Suppose it can't hurt to wait for this week's wage slips - do you just need to send off any wage slips, or does it have to be within a certain period? I only ask because for some maternity benefits I know they take the salary between something like 18 and 25 weeks (it's probably not that, but it's something like it). You can always put another post on employment issues if you're not sure what applies.

Urgh, the weather here is absolutely miserable. it is not helping the monday blues.

Thats fab Mustsleep. I sent off my MA claim form nearly 4 weeks ago and rang to chase it last week. I was told it had been sent on somewhere and that they would ring me in 2-3 weeks!! Apparently they have a backlog at the moment. the standard rate for MA is the same as SMP £117.18 pw. or 90% of your weekly wage if you earn less than this.

thanks mel hope that the backlog clears a bit or that mine doesn;t take as long only have about 5 weeks before i need to claim it!!bloody work

not sure about which wage slips you can send. i thought it was any but will double check now thanks

my baby sister came (she's 1/2 of the twins) and because she's a tennis star at school we had to watch nadal vs federer yesterday too. i cried for an hour when nadal won and climbied up the bleachers to hug his mom and dad. i want a son who loves me just like that. i was hoping for nadal to win because he has a nicer butt...but when i saw him hugging his mom i thought the better man had won.

jenbot, what part of north london are you in?

yep my test period is from june 07 till 09/09/2008 sojuky's wage slipis fine {grin]

willbe going into work the day before payday to find it!!

ma gets back dated doesn;t it if they are delayed sorting it out doesn'tit?

i think if it is delayed i should be ok for a month cos will get augusts wage as normal so that gives them thisnext 4 weeks plus 4 more to sort it!! i hope that's enough!!

Mustsleep, it does get backdated, so don't worry too much about it.

EANDZ Did you noticed after going to his mum and dad Nadal went to the Royal box and kissed and hugged the next king and queen of Spain?
That is a great story you might not know. Felipe the prince, very handsome and tall, married a TV newscaster some years ago and the whole country just loved the story of their romance. They are sooooo approachable.

Sassafrass Thank you I will give SITTERS a ring. It does say it is only for evenings though. We will see.

29 weeks tomorrow, beginning to feel a bit nervous now. 8 weeks of work left and then 3 weeks (or more) of wondering how on earth I'm going to squeeze a big fat baby out!

thanks starlight for the advice. I think what scares me the most is being in labour with no one being around to encourage me (except DH who I worry will find the whole thing very stressful) and then scary horrible midwives turning up at the last minute to do all sorts of nasty things to try hurry me along.

We finally got rid of the last of my sister's stuff (bar one carrier bag) and steam cleaned the carpet in what will be the baby's room. Very cathartic. DH still has LOADS of little jobs to do round the house.

I'm getting tired of sleeping on my left side. I still end up rolling onto my back various points throughout the night and morning to ease the pain in my left leg and hip. Am worried I won't be able to encourage the baby into the right position.

ponymum hope you're feeling better. sometimes a good old cry gets it all out and you feel able to get on the next day.

eandz 6 weeks! Wow, that is soon. Do you have your bag packed?

potxola,
i DID nottice that. and ofcourse i know the story...love stories are all my parents ever talk about.

digital girl,
no, but i start shopping for my hospital bag soon.

digitalgirl I end up sleeping on my back a bit too, I have to otherwise my hips get sore from being on my side.

we got quite excited by the tennis too, I wanted Nadal to won too as I thought someone else deserved a chance and also I said at the start of the comp that he'd win and dh said Federer would so I wanted to be right!! Think ds may have seen too much tennis though as he was playing with a tennis racket this morning and pretending to be 'Roger Feather'

Happy Monday everyone! Athough I think it's raining everywhere and i am in a big grump.

I am very pleased Mothercare didn't mess up our delivery and the Phil & Teds double buggy & the new cot were delivered a few minutes ago. . Am going to open it all up in a minute and make sure we have all the bits we ordered.

Will pop back later.x

Ooh, I'm jealous meglet. I want my cot and pushchair to arrive.

I frequently find I roll over onto my back at night DG. Most of the research I do suggests that the main problem with lying on your back is that it might make you dizzy, which scarcely seems a problem when asleep!

aarrghh still haven't sorted the cot out!!

am watching a stokke sleepi one on ebay and if that goes up to too much or i don;t win, we will have to get a cheap one or find some screws that fit the old one

ponymum positive thoughts being sent to you - stay strong.

eandz thinking of you. Hope your LO stays put for as long as possible, but you're in the best place if it is in 6 weeks.

V of organised people. We haven't even orderd our iCandy pram yet. Was going to this weekend but I officially slipped my disc on Thursday night and I spent whole weekend in bed. I'm still in a bit of pain but OKish. Off to Wakefield tomorrow for work all week. I'm in professional meetings (OK, I confess, I'm an accountant!) all week, and look like some old woman, all bent over in my ill-fitting suit.....

Reading your thoughts and stories keeps me sane and makes me smile/feel close to you all/feel honoured to share your feelings

Like some of you, I too get sore hips if I sleep too long on my side but now I have to wake up to turn over, so I'm geeting sleep in bursts of 2 hours or so, so I'm feeling quite tired.

But - labour holds no more fears for me!!! The pain I had since Thursday was quite unbelieveable and I could only take paracetamol. It did not let up (I asked DP to call me an ambulance at 3am on Saturday, it was that bad - he didn't as I was just panicking and it did ease a little with a hot water bottle), at least contractions give a short respite and there is a wonderful new human being at the end. My back pain has been constant for almost 4 days now and I'm coping, so I'm now saying - labour - bring it on!!!!!

(small voice - yes I know I'm inexperienced, but it's keeping me positive.....)

Re: sleeping on back - I know at some point in third trimester most women start sleeping on left hand side.

I thought this was because the weight of the baby pressed on some big vein and women got uncomfortable. That's right isn't it? I have no discomfort yet and hate sleeping on my side so am still on my back.

That's OK isn't it - not bad for baby?

charitygirl - I think that's right - the baby can apparently press on the vena cava so many women prefer sleeping on the left to the right or back, but whatever works.

Currently I'm sleeping with a flattish pillow between my knees/thighs, altering sides from left to right as needed, with another pillow holding me in place. I've just ordered one of those huge maternity pillows from John Lewis which may help but mostly because a 2-metre-long pillow sounded so cool! It's my first pregnancy splurge, but one advantage to being stuck at home is I've hardly spent anything this month... and SIL2's family have given us yet more stuff from a deceased hoarding relative, so have another Moses basket, pushchair, etc, etc...

Builders worried me a couple hours ago by shouting expletives, calling Mr NC and "Where's the stopcock! Water!!" However it's now sorted apparently. And apart from that couple minutes, I slept through it all today. Must have needed it - I didn't go to bed until 5 on Saturday night as I think all the additives in some squash kept me buzzing.

Becaroo - I'm a home birth "second timer"! I had my dd1 in hospital, dd2 at home in a birth pool, and having done it both ways I sincerely hope this one is going to be arriving via the home birth route too! I feel a mixture of eager anticipation and nervousness about the labour at the moment, depending on my mood.

I found the pool fantastic last time - as kiskidee says, it helps you be upright and also the warmth of the water relaxes you and helps you ride out the contractions. It was so great I didn't want to get out, so dd2 arrived in the pool, which I hadn't been intent on before the labour, but was absolutely magical. It also meant the midwives were more hands off than they might have been had I been on dry land, I felt I was just left to follow my own instincts.

potxola - loved the story about your son pouring water over your tummy to give baby a drink! My dd2 today lifted her t-shirt and tried to breastfeed our baby through the bump!!!!

We spent the weekend in a tent in the torrential rain in Wales, so am feeling a bit bedraggled to be honest. I must say having a very large bump and being unable to bend over, not to mention needing to wee in the middle of the night aren't hugely compatible with tents and rain! But there you go. I just had to take a ton of muddy clothes to the laundrette as our building works mean we have no washing machine as well as no kitchen!

Mustsleep i think the delay will depend on the area. I was told it would be backdated, as I said I need it NOW cuz Ive been redundant and you wont give me money from anywhere else. Grrrr

Ouch! There seem to be a lot of you suffering with major SPD or back problems. Makes my sore bottom pale into insignificance. Hope you're all taking care of yourselves.

Pidge sorry your camping wasn't all it was cracked up to be. At least you couldn't complain there wasn't running water! (from the skies... geddit?)

Argh, even my mother is annoying me with her wiser than thou attitude. She is normally incredibly supportive and wonderful, but over the weekend any time I made any lighthearted/joking comment about labour (e.g. 'oh, delivering the placenta will be fine, a jab in the thigh and I'll be shot of it), she felt the need to tell me that it wouldn't be like that and would be painful etc etc. I KNOW THIS! It's like she thinks I think my labour will be pain free and blissful. I don't think that for a minute, but for now I'd much rather focus on the positive than the negative. Is annoying as she is normally so good.

hah hopefully! As she's normally good, I wonder if she is getting nervy/protective about her little girl having to go through pain and is talking more to herself than you!