Due December 08 - time to start blooming and glowing.

[JamInMyWellies]

New thread lovely ladies

Cheerio everyone! Best get off to Covent Garden. Have a lovely weekend all.

we're a blind lot, aren't we?

yup - minus 8.5 here!

Eeeek minus 6 and minus 7 here and I ALWAYS wear my contacts outside the house. Is it the rules that you have to wear glasses in labour?? Hate wearing my glasses, have a flat nose and they slip down all the time and irritate me....

it's entirely up to you pix. I'm the same Turnip i can't have conversations or interact with people (one exception obviously) if i'm not wearing glasses or contacts. I esp can't order drinks at a bar if they're not on.

i understand, turnip, i, too, can't hear properly without my glasss - it's the whole joining up the movement of the mouth with the sounds i'm hearing thing.

glad it's not everything you were your glasses for.

at -3.5 i'm also feeling quite a wussy, eagle-eyed one.

Bloody Nora you lot got back and have had to catch up 6pages worth.

Scan all good got some great really clear views and a fab pic of mini smudge.

Lady T hilarious can just imagine the star jumps were they proper P.E. teacher style.

Verso super news.

God cant remember what else was goign on other than poo, choc chip cookies, blind as a bat, and mice.

Our bloody furniture didnt turn up am so cross have my fam coming for dinner on Sunday and we were hoping to sit outside, grrrr

Have a fab wkend all oh and we need a new thread again soon am passing the buck on to someone else this time.

just to reassure people - I didn't poo myself in labour (although I did pee on a birthing ball - nice!)

I think you often get diaorrhea (sp?) as part of the pre-labour - at least I did - so I think that can help prevent it!

OMG you ladies can natter ! Congrats to all who had scans today - fabulous news
Veggie well done for doing the Erin dvd - just need to keep it up now ! We can encourage each other What was the post-natal yoga dvd you mentioned ?
Beans PMSL at the pee story ! and all of the pooing stories - that is one of my biggest worries too, maybe I should concetrate on the important bits of labour !
Ooh and non-alcoholic Bit-berger (sp?) and san miguel are also ok. I was quite a p!ss head before getting PG and have completely stopped and not missed it one bit - my body is welcoming the break !

It was lovely to meet some of you yesterday - sorry chutneymary couldn't make it after all her sterling efforts to organise us all . Great evening. Could have done without a) the lock jamming meaning I had to get a grumoy DH out of bed at midnight to let me in and b) DS waking up at 5am.

We were thinking of another meetup maybe in September? Poss weekend and children welcome? Any thoughts?

Another meet up sounds fab to me! I really enjoyed last night too. If it's any consolation, DD woke up at 5:30am and has been full of beans since (though she did dutifully go back to bed to wait for her rabbit clock to wake up - then treated us to renditions of "No WAN'S lazeee in LAZ-EEE TOWN!" for the next half hour )

I'm so sorry to have missed it....bloody babysitter....how dare her kids be ILL?

I'd love to meet - only trouble with weekends and children is that my DD1 is rather active and will run amok for the duration most likely, leaving me to waddle after her. Not really conducive to good chatting. I'd prefer another evening for this reason, but am of course happy to go with the flow.

We are off to a kids' party shortly, then I am going to the paint shop to pick my paint up. It's all glamour and excitement here.

mibbles its called pregnancy health yoga with Tara Lee. I haven't done all of it yet just one of the yoga sessions and had a look at the pregnancy ailments section. DH & I are gonna have a go at the partner work yoga session too.

Have you done the partner session on the Erin O'brien DVD, a review i read from a women said she loved the DVD esp the partner session cos Erin's husband is hot, is that true, i will have to have a look for myself.

On the low alcohol theme Tesco do a nice own brand cider which is 0.5, is nice as well you can taste the fact that it has some alcohol in rather than just being a soft drink.

I?m about about 10 pages behind. Lots of lovely chat to catch up on!

Thanks for the advice on having people to stay post birth. Will definitely be making alternate arrangements for my nephew and girlfriend ? for happy relations all round.

My French doctor never mentioned food dos and don?ts, but I was already well versed on it from all the times before. When I mentioned Listeria to him, he just shrugged and said if you don't want to eat that food that?s fine ? as you want! He wasn?t bothered! Even though French food can be a Listeria minefield. However he was very precious about other things, for example ? he has pretty much forbidden me to travel in a car?! Luckily we live centrally and everything is in walking distance.

I hope to BF, these enormous jugs have to be good for something! BF is gaining popularity in France, but it still has a long way to go. When I registered at the clinque where I?m having the baby, they had vintage Nestle posters on the wall and every pen, mouse matt, pen holder, notepad and stress ball was sponsored by a formula company. So on first glance they don?t scream pro-BF. A very international French friend of my husband who has kids has told us to absolutely insist that we want to BF and to wake me for feeds, otherwise they just automatically give them a bottle without asking. That happened to them for their DC#1 and they were livid. The baby refused BF after that.

As for G&A ? my choices will be all or nothing. I think you only get nothing if you have a very speedy delivery. I will have an epidural needle stuck in me quicker than I can say ?pain au chocolat?. My given due date is actually week 42, but if the baby hasn?t arrived by then, it will arrive on that date. I think tears or being cut are a bit of a given too. If I really want to make the maternity staff fall about in hysterics I could always hand over a birth plan. Booking in an induction is very popular here as are caesareans.

The good thing about where I?m having my baby is on the French forum for maternity hospitals, no one has mentioned the actually delivery experience, but everyone says the food is magnifique!!

On the BF/FF front ? I believe the choice is your own and nobody else business. My sister went to buy formula from a pharmacy with the idea weaning her DD off BF for her to return to work. The cow in the shop berated her, gave her the 3rd degree and then refused to sell it to her ? saying she?ll thank her for it as she was saving her from being a bad mother!!! Outrageous!! Still gets me fired up ? why have it in the shop if you refuse to sell it?!

I laughed at the mouse story? that is precisely why you?ll never find chocolate lying about my house ? it never even makes it to the cupboard.

I can join the Mr Magoos with my dodgy -6 eyesight!

I?m so tired, if I close my eyes I feel I could fall into a coma. Nonetheless, off now to play petanque in Jardin du Luxembourg now. Not exactly taxing as everyone will be playing with a glass of pastis in their hand. Eekk, nasty aniseed flavoured brain killer. I like think our friends like to drink it knowing I hate it so won?t feel left out.

Not sure if I?ve caught up on everything, but that?s probably enough for now.

OOh thanks for that veggie will get myself that dvd too , no I haven't tried the partner workout, DP would wet himself laughing ! Her hubby is on some US TV show - I don't watch it so not sure which.

Doozie you are so French playing Petanque ! LOL at French ladies not mentioning birth experience when discussing hospital but praising the food !

And to those worrying about lack of movement, a friend of mine told me on Fri that she didn't feel a thing until 28 weeks with both of her DCs.

We went pram shopping today - great fun ! DP loves the iCandy Apple too so going to get it ordered tomorrow - we have a voucher for the baby shop that expires end July so that is why we are ordering so soon

Congrats to everyone who has had scans, great news!

Was at a BBQ yesterday when friend came with her 3 day old DS - suddenly realised how tiny they are and he was 9lb 2. I normally am quite scared of newborns, they seem so fragile ....He was beautiful though. She had a very quick birth too. Her waters went in shower at 7.30am (only bache ache till then) and he was out by noon!!!!

I also need to join the bad eyesight posse! I remember when I had my section them telling me I had to remove my contact lenses, had forgotten glasses were in my bag and had a semi-rant at the Dr that it was ridiculous I wouldn't be able to see my own child, DH wandered over sheepishly mid rant and handed them to me. i would have been embarassed but I was past caring by then.

BTW I did go out on Friday night and my 'friend' has apologised to me for her recent behaviour. She is 40 this year, never been married after meeting Mr Right about a year ago he has ended their relationship. She is desperate for a family and she has said that my passing comment on a night out about me and my family/pregnancy tipped her over the edge and I bore the brunt of her saddness/frustration etc. 'Tis all sorted now though, I do feel for her she is very lonely....

well good on you Daisy for going out, (and staying awake) and good on her for coming out with that. Men!!!

Doozie i have heard that about french maternity care, but also know some hospitals in London that aren't much better. LOL at the nestle thing that is actually illegal over here. but the attitude of that chemist lady should be.

I have had one experience of French health care it's not very patient led and not much into dignity for the patient either. I had to to have an emergency knee x-ray, they made me strip to my underwear!?!? i tried to explain that x-rays can make it through clothing and my knee is just a small part of my body, the nurse kind of snarled at me and then wander off mumbling something about waiting for the radiographer and left me lying on a cold bench thing with the door open in full view of the people coming through to the waiting area, i asked to have at least a gown or a blanket or to close the door, she said why are you being so difficult.

Also when i asked her to tell my friend to go and i would meet her later as i didnt want her having to wait too long the nurse said no one was waiting for me 2hrs later i went out to the waiting area to find my poor friend sat alone not knowing what the hell had happened to me. Feeling very unhappy and ready to write a stern letter i informed them as i left that i was ashamed to be part of th esame profession as them. needless to say i never wrote the stern letter.

Morning all

If anyone in my office tries to turn off the air conditioning (there are some freakily chilly people here) I will KILL them

Goodmorning all it's a lovely day here in the Costa Del Derbyshire. Hope you all got seats on the tube this morning and it wasn't too stuffy.

Effie if they turn it off don't say anything just wait a couple of minutes then fake a fainting spell, freaks people out if pregnant women get all woozie, they'll soon turn it back on.

What a lovely weekend, we had the huge paddling pool out, and some friends over that we haven't seen for ages, luckily they don't have children so no idea whether i am particularly large or not so no 'wow your huge' comments, all they said was 'oh my you are pregnant' i actually think maybe DH banned them from any large style words. DH left for London this morning will be away til thursday evening, back for fridays scan though...yay can't wait.

Veggie - I should of said the chemist formula incident happened in Australia where my sister lives - very opposite views here in France.

My dignity is long gone, I strip automatically now! I have a French friend who lived in London for a while and would strip off when she went to the doctor only for the doctor to be panicked by what the hell she was doing. She thought it bizarre and very funny the British attitude to nudity.

I've got very low expectations for the delivery experience, but I must say, my French doctors (I have two) have been superb.

Another hot and muggy day - I'm not moving from the fan!

Morning all.

Am very miserable today as my cold has now turned into sinusitis and so I'm off to the Dr's at 11.30. At least the children are at nursery so I don't have to exert myself too much.

Will catch up properly shortly.