Dec 08 - the one where we wonder what are our bodies going to do next?

[rosmerta]

Sorry for rubbish title, best I could do

Ladies, you have been busy over the weekend

I have been away in the Lake District and the place was packed with preggy ladies ! Does everyone take a wee holiday there when PG ?! Had a lovely time and my hotel did PG treatments so had a wonderful facial and massage . DP was teasing my for being on constant 'pram watch' ! We have ordered the iCandy Apple - had a good play with it in the shop and it seems great - it faces both directions and carry cot part can be used as a travel cot with a safety mattress - but time will tell, it may end up being heavy and irritating ! It can be converted to a double too like the P&T if I ever do this again - you buy the pip converter and it becomes the iCandy Pear ! Also looked at the Chameleon but read quite a lot of negative reviews on MN so decided against (having said that some people seem to love it so I guess it depends on what you are looking for). I fancied the sporty look of the P&T but thought the bit for the baby was like a hammock and very near the ground prob just being a paranoid first timer !

Beans I aso have RH under bump jeans and they're great - I also fit my usual size.

waiting am so glad you are feeling movement now - it is so reassuring isn't it !

I am also getting lots of very low down kicks/punches inwardly as well as outwardly (I hate the inward ones !) first baby so I can't blame a dodgy pelvic floor. Once in a while I'll get higher up kicks - I reckon my baby is spinning around in there !

Oh and Olipop my hypnotherapy CDs arrived - have listened to the PG one and the birth one - feel alseep both times so have no idea if they have helped 'prepare' me ! At least I was relaxed

Minnie looks fab !

ditto everyone else, labour care good, and they are excellent with the emergency stuff, but if it's the low-level being nice to new mum stuff they aren;t that great. Get yor partner to stay with you as long as is humanly possible and get home as soon as you can

I typed out a long post about the DM (boo, hiss) article and then decided it was too much like the voice of doom so deleted it!

Hi all thankfully my scan went well today but they have decided to continue monitoring baby's growth. Basically i am on or just under the right growth line for my dates however at my 20 week scan i was quite well under for head measurements so they have to make sure that issue isnt going to return. However the doctor did point out my first baby dd now 8 was 6lb 5oz at 40+5 so would be considered small by todays standards and even though my two boys were 7lb 13 and 8lb 1 i could just be reverting to having a slightly smaller baby again. At this point my dp and i looked at each other knowingly .. we decided not to find out the sex but we are both pretty convinced its a girl
Re low down kicks sonographer said it must be baby punching rather than kicking as legs are facing up .. so have boxer rather than dancer
Getting another scan (the 9th of this pregnancy!) at 28 weeks to check babys growth so fingers crossed again x

On the pram debate, and sorry Mibbes, but having just spent a week with my SIL in France who has an iCandy apple, I would say that they are not the most practical. It is quite large when folded down and quite fiddly to put up and down. But that's just my opinion, and it does look good, but I won't be getting one.

Lady T - hm. Sorry to hear about your bad experience at the Royal Free. Had my first there and am booked to go back - I think as with all these places its a mixed bag. Antenatal and post-natal care were pretty rubbish, but they were great for the birth itself (an emergency section which didn't feel like an emergency at all) and particularly great on the neonatal unit when DD had to be readmitted having lost 20% of her body weight and failing kidneys for not feeding properly (plenty to say about the community midwives missing that one until so late!) BTW - DD absolutely fine now, but for the first timers, don't hesitate for a second to get help if LO doesn't seem to take to breast feeding!

Having bolshy back-up helps - my sister is a doc, so like your sis, hugely helpful. Although I remember first time round the junior doc trying to put a cannula (for antibiotics) in my hand got performance anxiety as she knew my sister and it took her about 3 tries to manage it...

Oh and totally agree that Minnie Driver looks fantastic - and she has no stretch marks!?

Not dissing your choice, Invisible, and do hope you don't think I was. I just had a bad time. There was a lady there same time as me who'd had a gynae op, but had had three kids there and was happy with it - not this time, she wasn't, but previously she had been so I think it's the luck of the draw, perhaps, of which staff are on when you're in. (It was an odd ward I was on - some hysterectomies and such like, and some ladies who had just had babies). I was caught between three different lots of consultants - Obs, Gynae and Surgeons - and it was all a bit of a mess, and the nurses, barring one fab one, weren't great...I will say though, it was AMAZINGLY clean. Cleanest hospital I've ever been in. Obviously I hope it goes brilliantly for you! I just wish maternity care wasn't such a lottery.

Not dissing your choice, Invisible, and do hope you don't think I was. I just had a bad time. There was a lady there same time as me who'd had a gynae op, but had had three kids there and was happy with it - not this time, she wasn't, but previously she had been so I think it's the luck of the draw, perhaps, of which staff are on when you're in. (It was an odd ward I was on - some hysterectomies and such like, and some ladies who had just had babies). I was caught between three different lots of consultants - Obs, Gynae and Surgeons - and it was all a bit of a mess, and the nurses, barring one fab one, weren't great...I will say though, it was AMAZINGLY clean. Cleanest hospital I've ever been in. Obviously I hope it goes brilliantly for you! I just wish maternity care wasn't such a lottery.

Not dissing your choice, Invisible, and do hope you don't think I was. I just had a bad time. There was a lady there same time as me who'd had a gynae op, but had had three kids there and was happy with it - not this time, she wasn't, but previously she had been so I think it's the luck of the draw, perhaps, of which staff are on when you're in. (It was an odd ward I was on - some hysterectomies and such like, and some ladies who had just had babies). I was caught between three different lots of consultants - Obs, Gynae and Surgeons - and it was all a bit of a mess, and the nurses, barring one fab one, weren't great...I will say though, it was AMAZINGLY clean. Cleanest hospital I've ever been in. Obviously I hope it goes brilliantly for you! I just wish maternity care wasn't such a lottery.

Sorry. How DOES that happen??? Only pressed the button once...

wow you girls have been busy.

lt don't apologise for going private i have worked for the NHS for 10 years (mostly community) and the last 4 year before moving up here at the Royal Free, your story is unfort not unique for obs & gynea care it was prob due to R.F. that i had DS privately, and as you know i have tried to have this one on NHS but have been so frustrated that am going private again.

Rosemerta i'm not a fan of the Bugaboo either but i've never heard anyone who had one not like them and most i know have never had to buy another pram and a good resale value. However, i love my maclaren i got the Techno XT classic the one which is from birth and will use it for this one a great pushchair, esp if you travel on public transport. If i was having 2 kids close together though i would love a phil & teds they are great. I had a friend who had a Quinny buzz and had trouble with maneuverability.

Waiting i have been thinking about you and wondering how you were going re:kicks as you were so worried about it so i'm glad you can now.

hatty i have been having the sore calves and feet i am going to buy some good shoes and have bought some insoles i was putting it down to that and massive weight the poor things are having to carry as i have been walking a lot lately.

Verso i wish i could take my pamper weekend back and give it to you.

LT they have just had the entire royal free deep cleaned all hospitals have to do it and to give them there due they were one of the 1st. They are going for foundation status though so have to be good so if you want good care and your not getting it complain your butt off because they so don't want any bad press at the mo.

i havent read the DM article but i can imagine what it says. Is it written by a man? one who maybe thinks our bodies are soley for him to ogle at so how dare we go and get up the duff and not look perfect!!!!

or maybe someone should tell him about pregnancy porn and that some boys like it

Awww, thanks, Veggie. You've made me all misty-eyed.

Today was much better: good to be back at work where I feel useful and appreciated! Also fab to come home to DD bouncing up and down on the sofa excitedly going "Mummmeeee!!! Mummmeeee!!!" because I was home. Bless. Also feel guilty for my whingelet as DH had prepared spag bol so I didn't have to cook tonight either! Feel much happier all round today!

Had a peek at the DM article (and now feel slightly shop-soiled) and well... what can I say? I'm off out to buy a baggy tent for the rest of the pregnancy in case a glimpse of my bump gets someone upset. Do you think Blacks or Millets do pregnancy yurts?

lol verso @ pregnancy yurts, maybe we should stay inside & never venture out?! Btw, glad you're feeling better.

Anyway, can someone reassure me? Am slightly worrying that I haven't felt junior kick today, usually he's v active but can't remember feeling him today. Last time was about 4am. I can't remember back from ds but I'm sure that they can stop being so active for a while, is that right? Have a mw appt next week so really don't want to have to go to the hospital this week, especially if I'm panicking over nothing!

I think my obs said she wouldn't necessarily expect movement every day for quite some weeks (this was when I last saw her, at 24 weeks). So I think it's fine, Rosmerta, but I know how worrying these things can be. Treat yourself to an ice lolly - cold and sweet things are meant to get them going.

Yep, a really cold glass of water and lie down on the sofa usually gets them going if you're worried.

i haven't felt anything today either until just before i reading your post when i had one random punch in the groin and thats it. I do find he is more active after about 8 or 9 though as he seems to sleep during the day, apparently the motion f us moving about during the day settles them to sleep and then us not moving during the night keeps them awake. it was complete opposite with DS but this one seems to be a bit more stereotypical baby.

I just remembered an article in the Metro a couple of weeks ago about a Lingerie shop in some little town that sold maternity lingerie as part of it's range and had put a pregnant manikin (sp) in their window to model some of the mat stuff. they ot so many complaints from letters to hostile old ladies coming in and giving them an earful that they had to take her off display. how bizarre. Some of the local younger mums stood up for them but the council said they had to take her down because it offended some people.

I hate to sound like and annoying Australian harping on about things back home but we don't seem to have a problem with it back there maybe because it's hot but it's quite normal or pregnant women to go to the beach in a bikini. Although in my mothers 'day' they didnt flaunt themselves but things seem to have come along way since her 'day'.

mmmmm.....cold sweet things i want an iced lolly now i wonder if we have any in the freezer.

Yes, Veggie, it's very odd how uptight people get about it. It reminds me of Victorians putting skirts around tables to hide the legs, it defies logic. Not sure whether it's just the Brits though - a lot of the comments on the DM site were from Yanks! I don't know why a pregnant tummy is so shocking...beats me. And anyway, that poor girl was on the beach, no doubt papped by a long angle lens. She was hardly walking down Sunset Boulevard. It's all projection, though, isn't it: issues these people have about themselves.

I am still at the office - it's gonna be a lot of late nights for me until I jack work in on 12th Sept.

Your starting ML on Sept 12th LadyT ? You lucky, lucky thing. I am meant to be working to November 28th and I am due 12 days later!

Rosmerta - hope your little one gets moving soon. They are still very small at the moment so if they move into a tucked away place it might be hard to feel them. Lie on your left hand side and suck on some ice (this used to work when lazy DD refused to kick).

oh thats not good about the late nights. why do you have to work so late.

yeah actually true my mum was always quite uncomfortable with her body didn't like being seen in a swimming costume so no wonder she has issues with preggars bellies being out there.

I do feel sorry for celebs with critisism they get when pregnant or post pregnancy. It's no wonder they all go on drastic diets or have liposuction just post baby they are under so much scrutiny.

oh & LT the covered table and piano legs thing by victorians is an urban myth, they said so on QI and they're always right...aren't they.

I know Arti, it's really indulgent. But I will only have 6 weeks on 90% pay, then months of the statutory £117 a week, so I am really only punishing myself DD will probably be delivered in week of 24th Nov and as well as my day job I do other work, and I need very much to work on some overdue projects...and learn to drive...and have a last babyfree holiday...and help to sort out DP's flat which is messier and more cluttered with stuff than Steptoe's junkyard, and it has to accommodate three of us from December onwards and not just him

Gosh Veggie, a myth about skirts round tables? Wow!

I have to work so late because my clients need to feel everything is ship shape before I disappear until next July, and there are a lot of things I need to tie up and set up so they're all happy...