Due Sept '08: Bring on the babies!

[LittleConnie]

Well that was cutting it a bit fine...

morning everyone

had an awful nights sleep last night

dd decided that she would sleep in our bed so there was no room not enough cover as both my children are incapable of keeoing their legs in

have ben potty training dd this week she's 3 at the end of sept and it's not looking good she just refuses to even sit on the potty or toilet - we have tried everything rewards, chocolate, stickers etc and she's just does not care

she won;t even try though and i will only realise she has been for a wee if i notice a wet patch on her pants or step ina puddle

am supposed to be going out this afternoon but not sure what to do with regards to a nappy as she is not shy about peeing in shops either

Hello all! I can't keep up with this thread in my five mins online a day at the moment! I hope all are well.

Just to say things must be imminent as all I feel like doing is reading baby knitting patterns and cake recipe books. I'm half way through a fruit cake now and if my m wasn't here to stop me I'd be up at the knitting shop buying inappropriate hideously expensive wool for an unnecessary project! I"m not even a great knitter!

As my m says I haven't done my birth plan and the house is still in relative chaos, she's here to help me sort it out but we get SO little done because I get so shattered!

Why did I waste my glorious 2nd trimester? It was all so easy then!

Off to spring clean.......

Ipanemagirl I have also developed a minor knitting obsession (I am crap), and am trying to finish the baby jumper I started so I have an excuse to buy more wool and knit something else!

Mustsleep I pity you having to combine potty training with soon-to-be-newborn! I am not looking forward to potentially juggling that one. Have you posted on the nappies/potty training board? there seem to be lots of sensible people on there who have had (and solved) every problem under the sun.

i know i'm going to give that a try later - just sort of hoping that it will all just click into place

honestly ds was so easy to potty train he just did it straight away without any hassle really and few accidents

Am officially a hormonal pregnant lady. I just sobbed down the phone to the man at 2 Left Feet, about a pram. I think I may need to get out more.

Hello all. Had a crap night's sleep last night - good job DP is away. Woke up every couple of hours but at 3am could not get back to sleep and ended up watching the olympics until 4.30am.....

Then DP had me in tears this morning, as he had arranged for a surprise delivery of muffins along with a lovely note saying he hoped I had a lovely final day in work, and that he is looking forward to 2 becoming 3. I just dissolved.... I am so lucky to have him

Have a good day all.

Looks like last night was generally a crap night had by lots then! I only have 13 nights left (I hope)!!

Some advice please... birth / care plan. I am booked for a c-section on 9 Sept, but everyone agrees my case is a bit unusual due to the very serious SPD problems. So far nobody seems entirely sure what arrangements to make, and I want to make sure all the right people are properly briefed before hand. (One of my NCT buddies was stuck the night after her c-s ringing the bell for 2 hours before someone came to help...). My thinking is, as I am in a wheel chair I need to know that there will be proper equipment and help on hand for me to get into / out of bed, to the loo, to a disabled shower, to pick up baby, get my breakfast, etc. Especially during the night when DH is not allowed to be there. The best advice I have had is from the hospital OT who scratched her head and said I really must make an appointment with the head of the postnatal ward to agree what arrangements they can make for my stay, e.g. mobility handles, electric bed, etc.

In the mean time my community midwife has made an appointment to help me write my birth plan next week, but I have since thought this might be a waste of time. She has never been to the hospital where I am booked so can't provide any insight into their c-s procedures or ward care. I am now thinking that it might be better to have the birth plan discussion with one of the hospital midwives (they have offered) and/or the postnatal ward staff. In fact, I think I have to do this anyway so I can't see that the meeting with the community MW would add anything useful. Should I cancel this appt and just focus on the hospital arrangements? Or would it still be useful?

Also any advice to assist with my planning appreciated. I have read up on Starlight's plan and others, but any specific advice from disabled / incapacitated / previous c-section mums would be useful, e.g. anything extra I should take with me? I'll be in for 3-4 days I think.

Sorry for the long post! It is just so hard for a control freak conscientious planner like me to know that I am going to enter a situation which seems so unknown.

Ponymum can't offer any advice specific to your c-section but your plan to agree things beforehand with the people actually taking care of you (ie hospital staff) sounds like a sensible one.

Your hospital, like all public buildings must provide suitable facilities for disabled/wheelchair bound people. It's irrelevant why you're in the wheelchair (lots of women who are disabled from birth have children - I even read about a woman with no arms becoming a mum), they have to provide the facilities for you. What policy do they have for disabled mums in general?

Jearund The Spanish mums from the other thread buy DVD's from this website I send you, mee too. They are on a sale now and they deliver in 3 days. It is the best.
For a little girl I would buy POCOYO (I am sure you have seen it, but Do you know it is a Spanish series, but has been translated into English?) and ESPECIALLY LA ABEJA MAYA (It is about a bee and her friends the animals). My favourite when I was little and kids still love it. My ds has both and since watching them his Spanish has really improved.HEIDI is another one.

www.dvdgo.com/product.asp?typeproduct=1&from=ajax&prodid=120242&dvd=Pocoyo+Vol.+1

imoscarsmum - yes, I thought at the start it would be no problem as of all places, a hospital would have disabled facilities, no? But it seems to have confused them greatly. I thought they would just wheel out lots of nice procedures and equipment that they have in place for other disabled mums, but they are scratching their heads as though I am the first one they have come across . Maybe I just haven't spoken to the right people yet.

hiya all!

been to the hossy but not the breech clinic as i thought it was today that they be turning the baby around!!....(damn!!). Today was just to check the babys position and heartbeat and my BP and urine. Booked in for the breech clinic on 1st Sept at my main hospital (as we have one hosp which is the Antental clinic and the other hosp to give birth!).

Yes as i was wiping myself after i had a wee on the loo and i noticed my clitoris and private parts (around my vagina) are bulging. i cant feel the wall of my vagina wall either as all soft and bloated. my c-section scar looks abit red too.

oh and the baby is not engaged either way (bum or head). Also the consultant (I saw a different one today) said that the baby is not a big baby (he doesnt know the weight of my DD's birth weight) so if it was a big baby i wouldnt be able to go to the breech clinic.

great have just checked my bank account online and i am over my overdraft not that they've thought to inform me of this

just phoned and tried to up theoverdrat explaining that i won;t be getting paid for at least anoher 8 weeks and wastoldi couldn;t i was like well i am already over the agreed overdraft and iknow i am not going to be getting paid and i have bills coming out!!

she suggested a personal loan i said i had already tried to up it bck to what it originally was but had been refused due to the fact probably that i am overdrawn and my loan was in arrears last month (although it really was not and i had to have a payment refunded to me as they had taken too much!!)
my loan has actually disappeared off their systems so i cant aply for a topup only for a new loan!!

so great thanks leeds city pissing council and thanks maternity allowance place after i'm bankrupt and my credit rating is completely blown to pieces the back pay should come in realy handy

sorry for the long rant butr have been in tears for much of the morning now - i knew there was a reason i did not check my balance usually!!

Poor you, mustsleep, you can join me sobbing in the corner, although your reason is a bit better than mine (pram trauma). Not quite sure what you can do, except possibly threaten your employers with small claims court action over their inability to process your MA claim, leading to bank charges - they might pay the charges to make you go away!

ponymum I think going through birth plan with hospital MWs is a good idea, but perhaps worth keeping in contact with community MW so she knows what your situation is in case of any occupational therapy needs at home post birth (she may have some ideas for things to ease your transition coming home after the c-section). Am amazed at hospital being so surprised at the presence of a person in a wheelchair!

Jearund I have just bought a pack of The Mickey Mouse house in Spanish from that web.I remember ds loved it when he watched with my parents in January in their house.

hopefully i don;t think thatthat would work unfortunately they finally gave me the matb1 form back and the smp1 form back and i sent it off 4 weeks ago but due to the huge backlogg at the mo it will be another 8 weeks before it is processed

but had work got my forms back to me after a couple of weeks instead of the 10 weeks they had them then maybe i would have the ma sorted out sooner

anyway there's no point if i can't do anything about it but it's just put a huge downer on everything for me - i wasreally looking forward to being pregnant hilst working somewhere as i missed that with dd but they have been so horrible to me and made everything so difficult

i do however know for definate that i will be doing everything in my power not to return to work there though!!

mustsleep huge hugs and sympathy to you. Not sure what I can say to help but I do know what it's like to have no money coming in.
As you are pregnant, can you apply to your local social services for an emergency grant to help with bills? Perhaps ask experts of mumsnet?
Thinking of you - be brave.

imoscarsmum that is adorable of him!
hopefully can relate to the wanting to sob about everything... me too, only under control because my adorable m is here and no one makes me feel more secure than her! dh and ds on holiday having a ball in the heat (booked b4 I knew I was pg) and i'm so glad they're there and I'm here not having to look after them!

mustsleep I have no idea how hard that must be potty training at such a time. my ds is 7 now and I remember potty training as a major trauma of my life, it was SO hard, and then when ds was ready it was a piece of cake! Mind bendingly hard to know the 'readiness' though isn't it despite everyone on the planet giving you advice.

One thing my mil said which worked for me was to do nights at same time as nappies off in day, that really worked for us once ds was 'ready'! good luck!

slinkie I thought that was real too for a minute! I thought wow she's laid back!

Mustsleep...aww cheer up as its crap having no money coming in as we are in the same boat as ive been borrowing money off my mum and throwing abit of money off the credit cards just to pay for the bills CC is not a good idea but we had no option left!!) but i try and not let it get to me. The only thing i can think of to get help which is "Sure start Maternity grant" but i think youre prob already aware of that.

Mustsleep I saw the local citizen's advice who told me to put a complaint in writing headed something like' complaint about service'. They said that this was likely to get a very quick response. Also ask them to pay the bank charges you will now get because of their incompetance. Think you can do this online, try www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/Aboutus/Contactus/Yourcomments/contactus.aspxhere.

You may be able to get something from the social fund too, here. Its all worth a try. If all else fails, I would go and sit in the local Jobcentre Plus and cause a fuss until they sort you something out!!

Mustsleep when you feel up to it it might be worth either asking for advice on the pregnancy board for any grants that might help you in this instance, or phoning whoever deals with the MA/SMP and begging them to rush through your application due to the crapness of your work. I know it's all fairly regimented, but you might get a nice person who can bump your claim to the top of the pile. Perhaps don't follow my method of sobbing down the phone though...

DP and I have temporarily solved pram drama by arranging to borrow his sister's rather swanky Stokke Xplory in case bugaboo doesn't arrive, and getting ready to cancel entire bugaboo order from evil 2 Left Feet.

Oh mustsleep and ponymum and hopefully I really feel for you with your different but distressing situations. Small claims could well be the way forward if you are incurring charges as a result of having not been paid. But what an unnecessary hassle for you at a time when you really really don't need it.

Dh worked out a budget for us last week, with allowances for food, petrol, entertainment etc; it left us with...27p a week! I've just spent this week's cash on a pork and apple roll from the bakery!

Good news here is that I saw the mw this morning and all is well. Baby is right size, heartbeat good, head down although not engaged (could have told her that, the thing is a blimmin' olympic gymnast!). She took more blood because my 28wk iron result was 0.1 away from me qualifying as anaemic. I suspect they'll tell me I need iron supplements, but having had a tummy upset at the start of the week, I'd expect my iron levels to be low at the moment anyway, so for as long as I feel well I'm not gonna take the constipation-inducing pills. I've got spatone in the cupboard anyway which I'll use first.

I've got a very exciting weekend ahead...my first time EVER away without dd (I've had one night apart from her but I put her to bed first and was back in the morning so it didn't really count!) I'm going down to Surrey to visit my best friend from school who has a 4 week old. In her words we're going to talk "labour, babies, breastfeeding, parenthood etc" while stationed permanently in starbucks. Hooray! But oh my goodness I'm gonna miss dd and dh...and dh has to miss a stag do tomorrow coz he's got dd . What a lovely boy.

So, back Sunday night. Please not too more babies before then!!

ps, mamamuffin I think its a brilliant idea if your parents have ds. Means you don't have to worry about him...or about them! I would def take up such an offer if it was presented! I know I'll be in labour thinking 'where is dd, does the person she's with know she likes to eat her weatabix with a fork?'

A fork?