Due March 2009? Grab your duvet & sick bucket!!

[auntyspan]

Brand new thread ladies!

Emma I bought some baby grows when I was 6w pg and everything ok so far >touching wood

I haven't bought anything for this baby yet, but I have a ton of stuff on hold at work. I have most of what I'll need, but I just like to add a few pieces (especially if it's a girl) If it's a boy I won't need to buy anything, except for a special going home outfit.

You'll all be pleased to know I finished cleaning the house this morning after 5 hours yesterday and it is GLEAMING.

My husband thinks I have entered the blooming stage as I hadn't cleaned for about 6 weeks. I also got up and volunteered to take the dog this morning in the pouring rain so now he's got his fingers crossed that sex will be back in the menu soon - ha.

Huzzah, I got a job yesterday and feel much better (although I must still be tired because I only just woke up!! oh dear, new job starts really early in the morning!)

I have bought a few baby grows but only because it was a massive in joke with me and my DP. I'm trying to resist though, because I know I have tonnes of hand-me-down's including lots of big equipment from friend's.

Hello everyone

I feel like crap today. I have mega sinus pain and a massive headache. I went to town this morning to do my banking and pay my bills and I kept having to sit down. I felt like I was going to faint!
I had a bout of m/s this morning. I doubt its connected. No chance of a rest/nap this afternoon, my mother is unwell again with pneumonia.

Oh SMM, what a terrible start to the bank holiday weekend (it starts now, everyone, btw ) and very sorry to hear about your mum. I hope she's getting good care, and please don't you over do it.

LAWeasel, congrats on getting job, hopefully you'll be OK once you're in a routine (Don't know who I'm trying to kid, I'm really struggling in the mornings!)

Is it wrong to be counting down the days to the scan? I'm so worried that there will be a problem (with absolutely no good reason, btw) that I'm really looking to the scan for reassurance. 12 days to go.

Boobz, hope I'm quick to catch up with you - my house is a bomb site and I already have help from cleaners !

MKG your pasta dish sounds lovely (have never heard of Ziti either) and sounds a bit like something we had at school (I had good school dinners btw [smile). Have been browsing slow-cookers too .

OMG - how many times can one post contain the abbreviation 'btw'

Boobz I hate to say it but you were right about that shitty Ivory team at St.G's I live 5 minutes drive from them but they said they don't do home visits or homebirths! How can they just take the choice away like that? Especially when the other teams offer it. I'm so pissed off. I can't transfer to Kingston, it's just too far if something goes wrong. I don't understand it at all. My faith in that bloody hospital has already gone downhill. Shame we're not still living in Fulham, they would've done it at Chelsea and Westminster
I'm so pissed off I don't even have a choice. It's not right. I'm going to write a letter of complaint. They can't do this.

Forgive me for being the dumb american, but what are these teams you are talking about? Here we pick a practice, and make sure we see each midwife at least once, and an OB in the group one time during pregnancy. We don't have teams or anything.

And how can 1 team have different services than another team?

We have teams of midwives at the hospital of our choice. I don't know how many teams there are at St.G's but my team (Ivory) has 7 midwives. I'm aware there is also a Lavender team but I have no idea what the others are called. I seem to remember being assigned to a team of midwives at Chelsea and Westminster too (while pg with DS) I've been given shared care between the midwives, a consultant and my GP.
I've obviously pulled the short straw with St.G's
Apparently, women who live out of the borough (it's in Tooting which is in the borough of Wandsworth. I live in the next borough which is Merton) get assigned to the Ivory team. This means, as these women are out of the borough, they don't offer home visits or home births . Makes no sense to me when Wandsworth is such a huge borough and someone who lives in Wandsworth could live a lot further away from the hospital than I do.
I only live a 5 minute drive away, even though I'm in the next borough.
It doesn't make sense at all

So you don't have a choice in your care giver? That's insane. You register at the hospital and then they just assign you to people.

Now are they just your team only for pre-natal care or are they also there for the delivery?

It's for delivery too. That's The NHS for you. Unfortunately Midwives are very limited in this country. If you want to choose then you have to go privately. You can choose the hospital though. If I win the lottery between now and the birth then I'll hire a private midwife

Fascinating.

Because all of our care is considered private (even though some are on government provided healthcare) We choose our hospital and our caregiver. We have the choice to interview the different doctors and midwives, and decide which practice we want. There are very few independent OB's here anymore. So generally there will be a practice of 3-10 doctors in one group. We can get the group philosophy and decide which group we like the best. There is only 1 group at my hospital that has the midwives (the one I go to). There are 3 midwives and 4 doctors there. I will see each midwife at least once and one of the OB/GYN's one time during pregnancy. Here midwives can't have rights at a hospital and not be associated with an OB/GYN practice.

So at the delivery I will have one of the midwives present, and if there is an emergency (forceps, vacuum, C-section) a doctor would take over.

I find the differences in the systems very interesting.

We don't get an OB/GYN here in England. Only if you go privately.
In fact I remember one of the mums at my nanny kid's school asking me who my OB was at Chelsea and Westminster when I was pg with DS, I had no idea what she was talking about She was a typical rich parent who was obviously going privately and assumed that everyone was in the same position as her
Ah well, I suppose as long as my baby is born healthily then I can't complain really. Just have to move closer to another hospital next time round
I'm happy to stick with St.G's because they have the best neo-natal care in Europe so I'm reassured if anything was to go wrong
Still about my dream HB though

Here there aren't too many midwives. Nationally midwives do about 8% of births. Normal and C-sections deliveries are done by OB/GYNs.

Why can't you complain and have your team switched? If they are all at the same hospital then why would that be so difficult to do? Your level of care shouldn't be determined by your address. Especially if midwives at the same hospital are doing homebirths. I could understand if none of them do, but one group is not acceptable. It leads to further questioning because if they aren't supportive of this, than what else won't the support throughout your care.

Raise hell till you get what you want.

I'm going to write them a letter. I can't believe that someone who lives a 5 minute walk from me gets a HB and I don't.
I don't mind whether I actually have a HB in the end or not really, its just that the choice has been taken away from me.

Good for you. Hopefully they'll realize how silly their decision is.

It didn't even occur to me to complain Fruity -- I just thought that was the way they did things on the NHS and there was no argument. I have transferred to Tommies and hope to be on the Valley team, which has all sorts of good things said about it in terms of natural home births.

I'm also holding out for a place with the Albany Midwives team at Kings.... they are pretty specialist in HBs and openly say that home water births are their preferred birth for a delivery. Because again I am not in their catchment area (but close enough to go to Kings, the hospital they are attached to) I can't go on their list automatically, but I am on their waiting list for March... I find out at about 22 weeks whether they think there is a "free spot" so hopefully I will get to go with them.

Did you say anything to the Ivory midwife at the time Fruity, about not being happy?

Well I just said, well how do I go about having a HB then? Change Team? She just said that because of my postcode I will be with Ivory but I can go to my GP so he can refer me to a different hospital. TBH she was so nice I didn't want to argue but I did my I'm so disappointed face . It's not her fault, it's the rules so I'll complain to management instead
I was thinking actually, If I transfer to Kingston and have a HB, then, if there was an emergency, surely I'll be taken straight to my nearest hospital - St G's. Maybe I can sort out my appointments to be at my surgery so I don't have to go all the way to Kingston - except for the scans obviously.
That's if St.G's won't back down. I just feel secure there because of the neo-natal unit in case there's anything wrong.

You don't have a choice as such to which midwives you see in this country. In Luton where i am it is a community team of midwives which are attached to the doctors surgery.

Which on one hand is good as you see the same midwife all the way through and if you are lucky they will be on duty in the labour ward when you go into labour and will do the delivery if available.

But things are changing when i had dd1 in Jan 04 the midwife did 10 days of home visits then passed you to the health visitor. But when i had dd2 last september i had a home visit from the male midwife the day after i came home then i had to take dd2 to the clinic on day 5 and day 10 to be checked and passed to health visitors.

Unfortunley not all midwives do home/water births so it does realy depend on where you live as to whether you get your 'choice'. In the last year one of the Hospitals near me has cancelled all homebirths on 3 occasions as they haven't had the midwives to cover them.

Consultants only attend difficult pregnancies/births and midwives do all deliveries.

I only saw a consultant last time as dd2 was breach.

Hi, can you add me to the list too? My EDD is the 18th March, and this will be DC2. DD is almost 2. Had an early m/c in May so it's taken me a while to believe that it's really happening this time! The constant nausea is pretty convincing though... I think DH thinks I'm actually glued to the toilet

Hey everyone! I had my 12 week scan and feeling very lucky because not only was everything looking fantastic, there is only ONE!!! HURRRRAAAAYYYYYYYY . DH was so excited when bambino came up on the screen that he lept up and was breathing over the sonographers shoulder - she had to kindly ask him to sit down until she had done her checks then she would turn the screen!! It was very sweet, cos even tho' it's our third, it was just as exciting as the first and just as amazing! Am so happy. She said that the baby was lying in a perfect, text book position for scanning and kept taking lots of pictures. Am so relieved. I think I had at the back of my head, can we really be so lucky third time round? I know it is still early days, but so far so good!

Oh, meant to say, she put me at 12wks+6 but I'm not convinced - she said that me EDD would be Feb 28th, but I think it will still be March 5th as I know exactly when my LMP was and when I ovulated AND when I conceived so I'm sure it's still March - so please don't kick me out of the March club!!!

Calsworld - I am definitely counting down to my scan because I want reassuring. I have no reason to worry, but I just want to be told that there is nothing wrong. My scan is 11 days off, so I'll be 12+6 weeks. Really wish it could have been next week, but we're going away for the week to see friends and go into London so hopefully this will take my mind off things.

Slickbird - nobody will make you leave, even if your EDD is officially Feb. How often are these things right anyway? My DD was born on day the scan suggested but most people don't manage that. Most people I know have gone overdue.

I talked to my midwife and she has said I can put on my notes that I want a 6 hour discharge from hospital. Has anyone done this with previous babies, or is anyone else planning to do it this time? I really don't like staying in hospital.