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

[mamamufin]

I thought I would be brave

splishsplosh & mamamuffin the coca cola is mainly for moisture. makes the choc muffin / cake mix really light. its from Nigellas domestic godess, the only cook book that I enjoy and I can be bothered to follow, none of that sensible Delia stuff in this house .

sunshine your GP should be happy to prescibe a big bottle of Gaviscon Advance. It's quite expensive stuff I think. Mine is on repeat prescription.

Well, we have got all the old baby stuff out the loft - and all 4 bin bags of clothes . i am going to have to sort them out into sizes so i can figure out what on earth we have accumlated. DP said he was going to buy some formula just in case, I have asked him not to (in case it tempts me when I start to crack) but if he does to not tell me and keep it hidden at all costs and only to be bought out in a middle of the night emergency when I lose the plot. Althought I have decided that the baby can have formula in the night in hospital so I can recover. I discovered last time that cs recovery and 48 hours without sleep were not much fun - to put it mildy.

potxola, I am seeing an anesthetist in week wrt pain relief as I can't have codeine, pethidine, or diamorphine. I will also request that i don't have fentanyl as an epidural because like those above, it is an opiate. I has been cited in research as inhibiting the sucking reflex in some newborns therefore problems with initiating bfing and the duration of breastfeeding as a whole.

I can update you on the discussion if you like.

Thanks kiskidee YES PLEASE. Tell me what you know about it. I wonder what they can give me in the epidural that won't harm my chances of BF. I did not know about that.

Have a graet weekend girls xx

Hello all, sorry I haven't been around for a while. Work is really getting me down at the moment, and keeping me super-busy!

My manager is just piling on far too much stuff for me to cope with- IMO...
Two people have left and haven't been replaced. I'm supposed to carry their work until I go as well as do my own, and I'm trying to do the tying up all loose ends thing at the same time.

I just know I'm not going to cope well with the hours needed and I feel a bit like I'm being set up to fail. I can't sleep I'm so stressed about it, and stressed about stressing my baby! Been working from home so far today since I woke up in a panic this morning at 6am.

Blah, I'm just feeling all sorry for myself, sorry for the long moan! I think I need to go have a cup of tea and a biscuit and watch some crap TV or something!!

Hope all of you are doing well, I'll catch up properly later with the thread and see how everyone is.

Oh and I am getting Braxton Hicks - I did just see that mentioned above. They really hurt! This worries me!

Jenbot- they can't expect you to do all that extra work- that's just not fair- can you talk to HR/Occupational health or ratitonally to them and say how it's affecting you? Good luck.

Oh and jenbot- crap tv always helps !

jenbot sorry to hear you're having a shit time at work- could you get signed off sick with stress then they will really appreciate howmuch you've been doing!!

have just been to the next sale and it's manic, as is sod's law they hardly had anything in any of the sizes i needed for the kids but have still managed to spend loads!!

changing the bedrooms over and knocking walls down later on this afternoon when dh and ds get back from birthday party so that should be fun. does anyone else's dh turn into a complete prick when they have todo any work in the house?

you know what makes me feel better? frozen fruit. frozen strawberries/frozen grapes, if theyre too cold too eat, they're never too cold to throw at someone who really deserves a good cold mush to the head.

the Gaviscon Advance says on it that it can be bought in parmacies only. I get it on prescription, there's no way I'm paying £7 a bottle for it (saying that, I might have to as I only ordered my repeat prescription on Friday (sunshine reminded me I needed to do it) and I don't think what I've got left will last till Tuesday when prescription will be ready)

My dh deserves an award today. DS woke up at 6.30 shouting 'daddy, daddy, daddy get me up and change my nappy' so dh got up and let me sleep. They then made scones together and when dh heard me having a big coughing fit that really really hurts he left me in bed and took ds to Asda to get clotted cream for the scones and flowers for me. I then got up when they came back at about 11.30 and now I've just finished eating a big fry up that dh made for me. I sat out in the garden watching the Red Arrows while I ate it. Now ds is in bed and dh is sleeping on the sofa but I think he deserves a snooze!

I'm back!! And remarkably you're still on the same thread I left you on 8 days ago. Any more births or significant announcements?
We had a lovely holiday, BIL's wedding was great, dd was a complete superstar and in many people's words, totally stole the show by being generally cute and adorable. The holiday was perfect - beautiful cottage in lovely setting. Safe courtyard for dd to play in, and horses/ducks/sheep/goats/cow over the wall so she was farmyard heaven. She mostly slept past 6am and its all catching up with her today - she's gone to bed early which gives me a chance to catch up with emails and mumsnet, hooray!
Hope everyone's doing well

Debi - your dh sounds lovely

Mustsleep - yes, p does. He gets stressed and takes it out on me

Carrieon - sounds like a lovely holiday

Eandz - was thinking you were going to be next with the birth announcement, you've been so quiet

I threw up my dinner yesterday - how come I have no trouble keeping down crisps and chocolate, but even the thought of real food is yucky

Dd has gone to her grandma's for the weekend so we can get on with pcking up the house so the re-wiring and hopefully the kitchen can be done while dd and I escape to Wales for a couple of weeks. But slept this morning, went to the pub for lunch, then discovered the Next sale was on and went to that - utter madness. Nothing neutral for baby, lots of blue things for some reason, but did get a few things for dd for now and next summer. Then visited Pumpkin Patch sale - such gorgeous baby things, but not much neutral, though got a couple of wrapover vests which I think are great as no baby likes things over the head, and a dress for me - my boobs bust out a bit, but it'll do. Then Starbucks to recover, then chopped the front garden for a bit and needed another lie down. So absolutely no packing done at all yet Will have to do better tomorrow

That sounds like my perfect day splishsplosh!

Better get to bed, tomorrow is my last day of getting up with dd in the mornings before normal service resumes and dh gets up with the lark.

Carrieon - well lunch, shopping and frappuccinos are my idea of perfect day too usually, but I couldn't enjoy it quite so much as I knew all the time I should be getting on with something else which is quite urgent.

Next sale is so crazy - it's amazing to think people queue all night for the 4am start

splish,
No birth announcement yet! (thank goodness) i am soo not ready for a baby. every time i see one (a newborn) i start to get very panicky.

everyone, i've been quiet lately because i have the worst cold ever! and because one of my baby twin sisters has come to visit while the other one at home is going blatantly disgustingly boy crazy (totally/shamelessly flirting/flaunting her new breasts and hitting on boys left and right) so we've been a little bit apprehensive being so far from her and her having not much parental supervision (my dad has to watch our brother 24 hrs a day) and our mother works most of the time. since my sister has been visiting we've noticed how our other sister has put up seductive pictures of herself up on her facebook/flirting with mutual friends and getting very drunk at parties and letting her friends leave the parties without her. (she's only 16, but we feel soo unsafe!)...

i very much dislike teenagers.

ok everyone, it's a slow day! my cold isn't going away and now i've got an ear ache. my baby sister and husband have the same symptoms. i think a doctors visit is in order!!!

so my husband and i were having a discussion about what to do about my massive hair problem before i give birth and the topic of how much pain i'll be going through for the sake of our brand new family...i felt like it was going to be a tad bit unfair for me to just 'get over it' and that perhaps the pain women go through gets taken for granted? so i suggested that when i go to get my brazillian wax that he gets a full body wax as well to show solidarity (inclusive of all his butt hair)... thing is, now that he's agreed to it i feel like i should back down and not make him go through it. he's a great guy, i shouldn't make him live through something that horrible, should i?

You can ease your guilt by suggesting he gets waxed for charity. All monies raised can be donated to your favourite cause.

how would i raise money by him getting a full body wax?

yeah, your right starlight....i will need the nappy changes and the house cleaned.

i'll tell him now, that no butt wax is needed.

Oh boy am i tired today...we went to bed a leeeetle late last night, dd woke up 3 hours later and cried for two hours (despite calpol). Then she fell asleep at 5:30...and woke up at 6:30. So I had a staggering 4 hours sleep. Dh has been wonderful and let me go back to bed for 3 hours when he got up at 8, and again at lunch time but I'm tired beyond belief and crying at absolutely everything. Dd has also barely eaten all day. She's perfectly cheerful, just doesn't want to eat.
Thankfully we're getting take away tonight

eandz i agree with starlight, also you don't want him complaining about ingrown hairs and itching etc, whilst you're dealing with post-birth ailments.

Right now I'm on the sofa with a hot chocolate while DH is DIY-ing, we're finally getting the bathroom floor tiled next week so junior can splash about as much as they like. I did a very WI thing earlier, I actually sewed a button back onto my jacket - I have never done that before. I think the nesting instinct has well and truly kicked in. Then I got the bug and repaired a little rip in a snowsuit that evil ex-step-mother gave us (funny how all the baby clothes she gave us were either ripped, stained or threadbare). So ha! Turned a tatty bit of clothing into something perfectly acceptable.

We did more baby-prep shopping today, turned up at Brent Cross before the shops had opened which was a first! Got the changing mats and some more essential clothes from Mothercare. Have gone up a cup size so decided to get nursing bras from M&S. Wasn't offered any help and the ladies manning the fitting rooms looked so grumpy I couldn't bring myself to ask and normally I don't have any qualms about that sort of thing. But I actually found today quite stressful, far too many people out - I thought there was supposed to be credit crunch? Anyway, I bought some Lanisoh, and was going to buy Arnica as I'd heard it was good for something...but couldn't remember what, and thought it might be something you rub on your stitches. But the packaging said not to use on broken skin.

Can somebody please tell me what Arnica is for?

oh, and 'Vanish' works wonders on 4 year old stains