Dec 08: but that doesn't mean you can touch my bump!

[rosmerta]

New thread with bisou's title suggestion

Good luck in your theory test today LT i only did mine 6 years ago (i had to do it twice because by the time i got to the point i would be able to pass driving test my original theory had ran out) but i remember that all the questions were identical to the ones in the revision material, so im sure you will do well

mybumpsaboy im 31 and this is my fourth! I have dd who is 8, ds1 who is 3 1/2 and ds2 who is 2 1/2 so its very busy in my house!

I am biting the bullet this morning and attempting potty training with ds2. Have abandoned nappies for pants, but he seems particulary reluctant to sit on potty and we have one pair of wet pants already could be a long day.

xx

Hi all

I've had a bit of time off as cold was, I think, flu. Felt so rotten so just spent Thursday pm (after unsuccessful morning at work) and Friday just sleeping. Am now back on form and still have a bit of a cough - but it's great because people at work KNOW I was ill, IYKWIM!

Anyway, had a bit of a read back and thought I'd just mention a couple of things. Re nurseries.... Erm, I'm not even sure if I'm going back to work or not yet, so not sure whether to register or not bother! And not sure if I'll know til the baby's about 6 months old either - eek!

Re booze - I haven't had a full glass of anything since I found out I was pregnant - quite weird. I've had the odd sip, but find it tastes grim! Quite strange. I am usually a total lush and always more pissed than DH, but am really enjoying not drinking and am even considering giving up for quite a long time - bet it doesn't last once I get the taste back!

I removed my rings about 2 weeks ago and popped them in a safe - much better to take them off a bit early than have to have them cut off, which I was threatened with! Re the odema - since a week off with feet up, my ankles and fingers have really gone down - it's brilliant! I'm delighted about it. Although sure they'll be back to chubby before too long, now I'm back at work - only 8 weeks left at work now - bloody brilliant! I can't wait for maternity leave - just to be able to stay in bed for a while in the mornings!

Saw my parents at the weekend, which while lovely, was kind of frustrating. Mum actually said to me that I look quite normal now - like I'm expecting a baby rather than a gorilla. Erm... Hello? I think that's meant to be a compliment, but sounds more like an insult!

don't talk to me about mothers Beans

Mum at the weekend (over the phone thank goodness): any news on the flat sale? I just want to see you settled... you don't want the stress of renting... blah blah b;ah]

as if we didn't realise that 2 children in a small flat is not going to work

Mums do mean well, but they just talk a load of b*llocks and don't really think about how it's going to make you feel! Oh well. we'll probably be the same with our children one of these days!!!

Hi All,

Welcome mybumpsaboy and congratulations!

Haven't had any alcohol during my pregnancy. Prior to getting pregnant I was known for enjoying the odd (bottle) of vino. That is how everyone guessed I was pg. Decided not to drink so that I didn't have to worry about units etc. Actually gone off the booze since being pg which still feels strange.

Would love to meet up with the girls in London later this but sadly don't think I will be able to afford it this side of pay day. Will def be up for the next one though!!

Sat 27th perfect - dh taking dd camping! so will just have baby ds.

Effie, so are you trying to sell at the mo? We are too - want to stay in Stokey but we have no garden. Think we will be looking into some sort of roof terrace... we have had no interest at all - market is dead.

LT thanks for the info - I read Chutney's story and am a bit worried about that but just hoping baby turns... Have you had the test yet ? Good luck !

Verso of course you are worried about the results of wee test, how ridiculous - hope you get an answer from GP

Beans glad you are feeling better and less swollen - did your mum mean you were big before or hairy ??!! I think we go on mat leave at the same time - we'll have to take full advantage of the long lies as they could be the last in a long time !

Umlellala: don't say that! We are planning to put the flat on the market and see, but if no joy we'll rent it out and rent somewhere until the market eases up a bit.

What time is good to meet on the 27th?

mibbes - probably a bit of both on the hairy and big front! I'm a bit of a gorilla anyway, but have found that it's stopped being so bad now I'm pg. It's great - less plucking all round. Mortified to say I had hairy nipples before and now they just don't seem to grow - brilliant!!!

mibbes I was told my DS was transverse at about this stage of pregnancy, but he was cephalic by the time I had a scan at 37 weeks.

Verso hope everything gets sorted re your wee!

I watched 'Tess' last night not sure I'll be about to cope with all the tragedy to come in the coming episodes-will end up crying I bet.

Hope all well. I have ballooned over this weekend. DH has been away for his brother's stag do in Barcelona all weekend so cannot wait for him to come back tonight. I am very lucky in that he works from home most of the time, so I get loads of help with the childcare-not used to doing the bedtime routine alone. DD is a bridesmaid at the wedding next weekend-on Sat she fell into a gate on her way to ballet and now has a huge blue bruise on her face-here's hoping it fades in time.

Oh no, your poor DD majormoo - sure a spot of powder will cover it up if it hasn't faded entirely (I trained as a make up artist once upon a time and it does work!) .

What is cephalic? Sounds vaguely rude... Lucky it's only got one "l"!!

Verso you poor thing, how frustrating - good luck with the tests today.

LadyT how'd you get on with the theory test?

Mibbes how many weeks are you now? My twins were breech and transverse at about 26 weeks and the hospital said there was still time for them to move. They scheduled an appointment for when I was about 34 weeks to discuss birth options in case the positions hadn't changed, but stressed that there was still plenty of time for them to shift around - and that was with half the space in there that a singleton has. In the end the section wasn't booked in until I was 36 weeks and they scanned me on the day just to make sure they hadn't shifted. So the point of my long ramble is that in my experience, there's still a while to go before you need to worry.

Am not feeling too chipper today. DH's new clinic (he's a physio) has fallen through so our finances are on pretty shaky ground . He's been planning to get involved in it for the last few months so has only 2.5 days work at his other place.

His dad has also had an operation on his eye and they think he might have permanently lost the sight in it. So they are fairly stranded as they live very rurally and MIL can't drive since she had an accident. They also think he might have prostate cancer .

Woke up at 4.30 to settle one of DD's and had one of those horrible middle of the night doom moments where everything seems awful and you can't get back to sleep for worrying.

Feeling a bit better now for a large Mars bar DH has bought me and trying to be positive and look into what tax credits/benefits we might get if DH is only working p/t during my maternity leave.

Pressure feels on to take on extra work just when I need to least (am so so tired) and start back really early on .

Okay, doom and gloom over. Thank you for letting me vent into cyberspace!

Sorry to recap, but what's the average time everyone is going on maternity leave? I was planning to stop at 37 weeks but people keep looking at me in horror and saying that's really late - is it?

I stopped at 34 weeks with my twins but I couldn't fit behind the car steering wheel by then!

hatty - so sorry things look difficult for you. I know its easy to say don't worry, but things don't usually turn out as bad as you fear.

Re stopping work, it really depends how you feel - last time round I stopped at 37 weeks and to be honest felt I could have carried on another week without any trouble, even with commute on the tube. This time round am definitely feeling the pregnancy is a bit tougher, so I'll just see how I go and decide nearer the time. Anyway, I don't think anyone can really be the judge of what works for you.

ladyT - hope you got on OK with the test in the end. Ridiculously, I am slightly in awe of all you people who drive - it is the one thing I am genuinely useless at. Did pass my driving test years ago after 6 attempts out of sheer bloody mindedness, but managed to drive into a kerb and get a flat tyre on my first time out on my own and haven't really psyched myself up to do much driving since.

verso - your GP faffing about sounds outrageous, but kind of typical. I really resent the fact that we keep having to chase health professionals to make sure that what needs to be done is done.

Oh hatty - that sounds hellish for you and your DH - I'm so sorry about the inlaws etc. It sounds like you get on pretty well with them, so it must be a terrible blow for you both. And re the physio business, that does sound so horrid, but would he be able to up his hours at his other place again?

Re maternity leave, I'm heading off at 36 weeks, which is a month before, which I thought was quite normal. 37 doesn't sound that late to me. Possibly a bit later than some, but not too much so.

hatty you poor thing, you sound to have recieved a lot of bad news all in one go there, which isn't good for anyone. Rather puts into perspective my hormonal and irrational worries in the middle of the night, when other people are awake with something much worse on their mind. I'll be thinking of you.

And on maternity leave, I booked mine last week and am leaving at 36 weeks (with 2 weeks holiday before the maternity leave kicks in). I've also got a lot of annual leave to take, so as of next week I'm reducing my hours to 4 days a week, allowing me nesting/resting time. As this is my first I don't have a clue how I'll feel in a couple of months and if I've done it right or not ...

ladyt good luck with the test

mybumpsaboy welcome

arti sicily sounds lovely, a colleague has just ocme back from there today and is so brown and healthy looking and ate so much lovely food, v of you and her!

We had a good weekend working on the nursery, and have got the wallpaper up now and furntiture partially in place. It looks gorgeous and we can't wait for the little one to come along and live in there! I think some nesting must have kicked in yesterday, as I was hanging pictures and curtains at 9pm last night, even though they've got to come down again yet - just to see what they looked like

hatty that's a lot of worrying news all at once. I know exactly what you mean about middle-of-the-night-doom moments, as I get those too. It always seems worse at night. However, I'm not meaning to downplay your worries at all - it sounds like you have an awful lot to deal with at the moment.

I'm going on maternity leave at 35 weeks this time round - which is ironic, as I am having a much easier pregnancy this time than I did with DD! I remember how difficult the last few weeks of commuting were though - I worked til about 39 weeks last time - so this time I wanted to get some SLEEP before the baby comes!

InvisibleH I passed my test 21 years ago which is a very very scary statistic and makes me feel OLD (in capitals, like that) - but then didn't really drive much for ages. Then took a very nervous boyfriend out and clipped a verge - literally - no marks on the car or anything - and he freaked out so much I couldn't bring myself to drive for years after that! I ended up doing a couple of refreshers last autumn and only got my first car this year!

LadyT I hope the test went ok. An advantage (?) of having done it ages ago was that we didn't have to do a theory test (it probably shows ).

majormoo I've recorded Tess... will be weird watching it as I can't really remember the plot properly, despite having 'done' it for O-level

Hatty poor you and family. Hope it all works out, I am sure it will.

First pg and going on maternity leave at 36 wks. Still have 11 wks to go not that I'm counting

Hatty: sorry to hear your news . Has your DH got any other prospects lined up? There's still quite a bit of time before you're on maternity leave so no need to plan on taking on lots of work yet. I'm going on mat leave at 27 weeks, partly financial, partly lots to finish off at work. I prefer to save my (paid) leave for after I've had the baby, plus my due dates mean I potentially get an extra week on top of my leave thanks to the Xmas break.

YY to nighttime worrying: I've been lying there at 2am fretting over why we're bringing another child into a violent and unstable world (needless to say these thoughts don't occur to me during the day). Maybe it's part of our bodies preparing for the babies and getting some of the extra stress out of the way early?

VERSO - that's unbelievable that you didn't have an infection at all. Dear GOD! these people! all that worry for nothing. Grrr. Arseholes. Sorry potty mouth at the fore today!

We start our nesting this weekend - oh yay! I can't wait! Think on thursday we might be taking our double bed in spare room (nursery - eek) down to storage at my parent's and then bring up a single for the baby's room from there - love a freebie!

AND on Sunday, we're off to JOHN LEWIS! So excited! Splash some cash (well, free tokens) on baby-type stuff. Hurray! I can't wait! Loving the tokens too, as it feels like free stuff. I get tokens at work when I've done a good job on something and can choose which shop from a large selection, so for last year have gone for John Lewis and we've got a grand's worth now - marvellous!!! Hurray!!! Can't wait to get shopping!

PS Am also having the odd moment of blind panic when I think about labour, plus what comes afterwards - ie. responsible for a whole new life etc. Consequently have turned ostrich and am keeping my head firmly buried in the sand.

I have tried reading the labour part of my various books on the the subject and just find I dissolve into tears at the very thought of it. Feel very silly, but just scares me! God, I sound like such a wetty, but sometimes think I'd rather not know all the gory details!

and I'm not sure I'm responsible enough to look after myself, let alone a tiny bod. Although then occasionally I feel like I'll be a supermum. then feel all sheepish, because I have no idea what I'll be like and am more likely to be rubbish!!!

Beans: you end up being the best parent for your baby . I don;t know anyone who confidently predicted they would be an uber-mother (and if they did they would be in for a shock!)

Toot toooot! I passed my theory test. Unbelievable. PD, you were right: all the online hazard perception tests that I'd been failing all weekend were rubbish - the real thing was far more straightforward. And now I only have to learn to DRIVE...

Hatty, what a rough time you are having. Money worries are the last thing you need at at time like this, and your poor DH's family...I wish I could think of some practical advice (re: the former anyway). Any chance of him stepping up his hours at the other place? As for the those ghastly small hours thoughts, I truly sympathise...Discount any thought between the hours of 1 and 6. It is bound to be bent out of all sensible shape by gloom.

Verso...I am starting to think most GPs are muppets.

Beans - I can barely look after myself so I do know what you mean about being in charge of an infant...

Thank you so much everyone. Sorry to whinge on. I am so tired and hormonal today am in tears at your kind words! Night time panics aren't great are they? DH's work have got another physio covering the other days now so he'll need to look for something else...he does seem determined to find something, just so sad that this place hasn't worked out for him.

And Zoe am in tears at how sweet it is that you are hanging the things in your baby's room even though you have to take them down again..that's just so lovely.

Oh dear, really must pull myself together! Dh is picking girls up from nursery and I finish work at 6.30 so he has promised to feed me and usher me straight into bed for an early night. Things always seem worse when you're tired don't they?

Verso great news about the test!

Beans you will be a great mum. I think, certainly for me, parenthood made me finally feel like a grown up and act a little more like one! It will all kick in naturally.

Majormoo heartbroken that I missed Tess. Will have to try and catch up. I remember when we did it at school fancying Alec like mad because he was a cad and thinking Angel was really boring - typical 17 year old girl mentality!

Congrats LadyT!! That's great news and great advice on the 1-6am thoughts - will try to follow!

Thanks all for maternity leave dates as well - it's really useful to get an average.