Calling all pregnant ladies in Blackheath/Manor Park/Lew

[MrsEJO]

Hello! I'm new to mumsnet AND being a mum ? this is my first!! Am only 15+3 weeks. I live in Blackheath / Lew and was wondering if there are any pregnancy groups that I can join / attend other than the NCT classes (I might be too early for those classes?). Just a gossip coffee on a saturday morning with people in the same boat would be nice!

I often catch the train from Blackheath St and wonder if there are any other 15 weekers on the platfrom just getting over morning sickness!!

Im very accessible to Manor Park too.

Would love to hear from anyone

Em

I actually read the book 'The New Active Birth' - sounds like the book is quite a bit less 'hippy' and probably provides the same info. So, if reading works for you, you might want to give it a read. There are some good yoga-based exercises in it, which help prepare for the birth.
Has anyone tried hypnobirthing?

Can I register myself as an envious Greenwich resident who wishes she could join in an ante-natal thread! How sad I know

Will be walking past Buenos Aires at 11.30 on weds as I have a reflexology appt on Royal Hill so I'll peer in!

hi all,

tupperwife the union is great - i actually prefer it too!

you are so welcome on wed morning - meet up is for everyone!!

clarerose re: swimming tomorrow, we'll be in the "leisure lane" of course, and have bumps of varying sizes, so it'll be easy to spot each other and introduce ourselves. looking forward to meeting you!

OK! Here is the very small beginnings of a local events calendar - it is definitely in need of everyone's contributions!!

Over to you guys....

Greenwich / Blackheath Calendar of Events for Mums & Bubs!

Monday

11.15am Mummy and baby yoga, Brandram Rd Community Centre
www.practiceyoga.co.uk/classes.html

2.30pm Boppin bunnies musical group, St Mark's Community Centre, Greenwich South St
www.boppinbunnies.co.uk

Tuesday

10.30am Postnatal yoga for mums and bubs, Deptford Albany
www.peacefulpractice.co.uk/mum-and-baby.htm#no3

2pm Baby rhyme time, Blackheath Library

Wednesday

11.30amThe Big Scream, Greenwich Picturehouse

1pm Mums & Bubs lunch, Cafe Rouge Greenwich -NEED MORE INFO!!

Thursday

2pm Baby rhyme time, Blackheath Library

Friday

9:30am Boppin bunnies musical group, St Mark's Community Centre, Greenwich South St
www.boppinbunnies.co.uk

11.30am The Big Scream, Greenwich Picturehouse

1.50pm Boppin bunnies musical group, St Mark's Community Centre, Greenwich South St
www.boppinbunnies.co.uk

Saturday

Sunday

...ooh I like the list already, Rosa.

I quite fancy trying baby massage, anyone heard of any local courses?

For the losing of baby-related muffin tops, there's this at 10.15am on Tues and Thurs in Greenwich Park.

And I've also heard these baby swimming courses are good.

Looking forward to seeing everyone tnight for a progress report and a good catch up - and especially looking forward to meeting Samuel!

Yes, looking forward to catching up with everyone tonight and meeting little Tupperbaby! See you at The Union, I will be there by 7pm. Blackheathers are welcome to a lift home....

xx

hi!
just stopped in at the union and reserved the 1st table inside tbe door - the biggest! so we have as much seating as poss.
rosa x

Thanks, feb80 - DH has volunteered for lift duty, too, but if yours is out and about then I'd love to take up the offer. I said I'd call him later to confirm, anyway, so we can always get them both out if there are others wanting lifts.

Really looking forward to seeing you all later.

Hi Norky - love the name! I'm sure I've 'seen' you around before - I'm guessing this group will be around for some time, so join us when you're ready!

x

daisyj - I certainly will! Hopefully it won't be too long

I used to live 3 doors along from the Union and practically spent an entire summer in the beer garden (pre-DS days obviously!) - have fun tonight!

Fab to see you all yesterday - excuse my slightly manic and distracted state. I blame the hormones...

Tupperwife - I've emailed you. DH and I had a really good chat last night about the HB option, and he's made me feel a lot more confident about going for it. Email me back and I will come and take the pool off your hands.

xx to all.

Samuel is gorgeous, by the way, but you knew that already! Lovely to see you looking so relaxed and seeming like a duck to water (even if it is a front!)

Hi all

I just wanted to say it was lovely to meet you all last night and thank you for making me feel so welcome. I feel so much better about everything knowing there are other 'Mums to be' in the area.

Feb80 - thanks again for telling me about this thread - see you at yoga tomorrow

Tupperwife - thank you too for all the advice, Samuel is so cute, I couldn't stop talking about him when I got home!

See you all again soon.

Clare x

Hi all,

Sorry I couldn't make last night or this morning, but good to see a couple of you at our unofficial antenatal water workout on Tuesday - more of the same next week? Good to meet Clare, too!

SE8mum - thanks for the info on active birth classes. I was looking into them, but I think I might be better off with the book - DH is definitely not of the hippy tendency, and I can imagine his reaction already! I think he's worried already that homebirth is a bit bohemian. The only thing that swayed him was reading in one of my books that in a homebirth, you can distract yourself in early labour by baking a cake. He honestly thinks homebirth=freshly baked cake now and is totally up for it...

ToastnHoney - the lady who usually does the Arches pre-natal yoga classes, Bernadette, also does baby massage instruction courses. Her website is here: www.peacefulpractice.co.uk/
but if you want to speak to her yourself, you could always turn up at the end of the antenatal yoga class tomorrow morning (12-1) as she has 30 minutes or so before the next class, and always has a bundle of leaflets as well.

Talking of Bernadette, I have just phoned the Arches, and all the yoga-ites will be very pleased to hear that Bernadette is scheduled to take tomorrow's class, and there's no current suggestion of her not being able to make it this week. Hurrah! Am looking forward to NOT being told to lie on my back for 10 minutes to relax!! Or having to listen to all that crap about different coloured vegetables, when all I want is lunch...

Bump I can confirm that even intending to have a homebirth leads to cake making ; my personal choice was Nigella's damp lemon loaf. I found standing and walking around very helpful with those pesky early contractions. Plus we got to eat it when post birth munchies hit; result!

Homebirth definately isn't just for the knit your own lentil nappies brigade; have a look at the reduced incidence of instrumental births for homebirthers who transfer into hospital. I'm the only person I know who was offered 6 hour discharge after birth, and I'm sure this was because they wanted me to have a good hospital experience, I didn't even see the ward, went straight from delivery suite to discharge. The only significant disadvantage we could see for homebirth was options for hardcore pain relief, but TBH we're 10 mins from the hospital so it wasn't really an issue.

Baby massage is fab, sends them off into raptures and a brilliant excuse for admiring their little feet. Good photo opportunity too if you get little cousins to help...

Oh, we're definitely going for homebirth assuming all is well - as I pointed out to DH, he's not the one doing it, so he doesn't get a choice! And after he spent 6 hours with me in QEH's A&E after a sudden heavy bleed at 14w, only for us to be discharged with 'I can't tell if the baby's alive or dead, sorry, come back tomorrow if you haven't miscarried by then' , and saw for himself the blood and faeces (not mine!)all over the loo and examination cubicle floor, not to mention the lack of latex gloves, sterile speculum (specula? speculae?) and paper sheets for the couch, he too went off the hospital birth idea...

Personally, I don't see the lack of hardcore pain relief as a disadvantage. A few years ago I was given prescribed painkilling drugs for a disorder of the central nervous system, I had a really bad reaction and I'd much prefer the pain. I haven't even taken a paracetamol since, I am absolutely terrified of potential side-effects now. The thought of pethidine or an epidural scares me much more than the pain. Better the devil you know!

It's good to know you got discharged immediately. Makes me hope that if, for whatever reason, I do need to go into the hospital, I'll get out quickly. Whereabouts are you and which hospital did you go to in the end?

I don't mind cake-baking (I make a good banana cake ) but if I'm making it in early labour, I'm going to be very annoyed if I don't get to eat it myself!

Sorry I missed you ladies last night. Having spent 4 hours at QEH on Mon night I was a bit shattered. Turns out to be no more than a bit of anemia but it had sent my pulse high and my bp went up to join it - lovely. After 4 hour wait both had gone down - double

Hope you all had a lovely time xxx

Heverhoney1, you poor thing, how unpleasant. Glad things are ok.

Also sorry I missed you guys last night. My work leaving do was great though - posh curry at the Cinnamon Club in Westminster, yummmm.

Bump, thanks for that info, are the classes at the arches good? I might try it next week with my newfound leisure time!!

Hi all,

It was really great meeting all of you Tues. night! So good to know there are people around that are in the same boat .

We should really get together again in a couple weeks. What do you think?

heverhoney1, hope you're doing better now. sorry for you long wait, it can be quite stressful...

heverhoney1 - hope you're feeling better. Amazing your blood pressure came down after a 4-hr wait at QEH!

ToastnHoney - I enjoy them... They're very gentle, so not much like other yoga classes I've done (more a kind of 'stretch and relax' class), but you do feel you're doing something. She's not too hippy either - no 'ommming' - and is very good at checking your posture and suggesting alternatives/checking everyone's ok. I do think the classes are better the earlier you can start, just because it's easier when you still have some flexibility.

What do others think?

bump at your hospital experience. Ugh. If I hadn't been convinced about opting for a homebirth after speaking to Tupperwife (I just wrote Tupperwise then )I certainly would be now! Am hoping to be able to finalise this at my 36-week midwife appointment next Tuesday, but I'm now prepared to fight for it if any objections are raised!

Can't wait for my two weeks on maternity leave, when I can join you all for yoga, etc. (unless Bo makes an early appearance).

Some lovely new hormones kicked in yesterday, and I've spent the last two (busy at work) days floating around, forgetting things (yet still somehow managing to get a surprising amount done, although I dread to think what terrible mistakes I've set in train for my maternity cover to have to untangle!)

ToastnHoney - what a lovely send-off. I might have to drop some hints to my colleagues...

heverhoney - glad you're OK. We were wondering about you on Tuesday...

Hello, clare7rose is in my NCT group and told me about netmums so I thought I'd drop in and say hello.

I am now a week overdue (dd was on 20 Feb)but trying to keep myself busy!

xx

Hello all,
Lovely to see some of you on Tuesday and lovely to meet little Samuel - he's gorgeous!
Heverhoney - poor thing about the grim hospital experience - I don't think you should be though, I think you do just want to check everything out when you're pregnant - it not your fault you had to wait 4 hours!!
Clarerose - thanks so much for the lift, really appreciated.
Diasyj - have you really only been forgetful this week?? I've been wandering about in a daze for months now - just lost my work pass for the second time in 2 weeks...
Bump - I've been going to some of Bernadette's preg yoga classes at Deptford Albany, and I totally agree with you - deinately low on "hippyisms" and she seems to know what she's doing and be pretty knowledgeable about other stuff to do with labour and birth as well. I think she's running some birth preparation workshops that are based a bit on the active birth stuff - I would have gone, but already booked on those days ( I think the details are all on the peaceful practice website).
I'm also going for the HB option if poss - not able to have most of the hardcore pain relief options for medical reasons anyway [there is no smiley to express terror], don't have to fight with other people for the birthing pool, and never really liked hospitals anyway. Also, I don't think they'd hesitate to whisk you off to hospital if you really needed it.
On the "stuff to do with babies" theme, www.netmums.com (confusing, huh?)have a list of local mum and baby/toddler groups - I think you have to register with them to access the info, but its free- they also have local area reps, who are supposed to organise get togethers - although I think the age range does include a few older kids. Lewisham Librbary also has a "baby bounce" session, which is apparently really popular (ie: crowded?) on thus at 11.15 - 11.45 and 2.15 - 2.45.

Hi, finally got on here to find the thread DaisyJ mentioned at antenatal class weeks ago...but better late than never!

I will definitely come to next gathering and am going to add myself to the old list (hope I haven't left anyone off):

Clare7rose/march 16/Queen Elizabeth
Rosa7/march 23/Kings
Daisyj/March 29/Lewisham (or home)
Tara373/April 3/Queen Elizabeth
ToastnHoney/April 4/Home (or Lewisham)
Elk4baby/april 11/Portland
ellie732/april 22/ Home (or Lewisham)
Se8mum/april 23/Lewisham
Heverhoney1/May 2nd/ Queen Elizabeth
Helpivegottogivebirth/june 6th/Queen Elizabeth
feb80/june 30/Lewisham
BumpMakesTwoAndABit/July 13/home, I hope
jas28/july 17/Lewisham
cazinski/august 13/Queen Elizabeth
amytotty/july 8/Queen Elizabeth

Hello ladies, it's been a while since Ive joined this thread as all I seem to do is work and sleep! You all put me to shame with so much activity - it must be my age!

helpivegottogivebirth I also start Bump to Bubba classes on 3rd March so I will look out for you. I'm the loud Irish one with the man with lots of curly hair and facial hair. It would appear that my son will be born with a head of thick curly hair like his dad based on the horrendous 24 hour heartburn Im experiencing - apparently a sign of a hairy baby!It would be lovely to say hi.

Sorry I missed both your gatherings, but I really would like to meet up & will keep an eye out for the next date.

Ive read with interest your tales of woe about your commutes. Im sure that some morning before I start maternity leave I'll throw a wobbly! I am amazed that the ignorance of fellow passengers. Ive plucked up the courage to ask for a seat a couple of times recently (as now obviously pregnant) and both times was given a seat; although one young couple refused to open the window and when I explained I was pregnant and needed fresh air if I had to stand, they told me it was tough and I should take my coat off! My consultant told me I should explain that standing can often cause me to throw up over my seated fellow passgengers - maybe that would give them the encouragement to give up their seats!

I'm also interested in hearing about home birth - it's not something I had considered really.

Anyway, I start maternity leave in 5 weeks - yahoo! I'll try to keep an eye on what's going on with you all. Ive also added myself below. Have a great week.

Paula

Clare7rose/march 16/Queen Elizabeth
Rosa7/march 23/Kings
Daisyj/March 29/Lewisham (or home)
Tara373/April 3/Queen Elizabeth
ToastnHoney/April 4/Home (or Lewisham)
Elk4baby/april 11/Portland
ellie732/april 22/ Home (or Lewisham)
Se8mum/april 23/Lewisham
Heverhoney1/May 2nd/ Queen Elizabeth
paulawilkie/May 15/Lewisham
Helpivegottogivebirth/june 6th/Queen Elizabeth
feb80/june 30/Lewisham
BumpMakesTwoAndABit/July 13/home, I hope
jas28/july 17/Lewisham
cazinski/august 13/Queen Elizabeth
amytotty/july 8/Queen Elizabeth

Hey girls

Beano7 - nice to see you on here

Rosa7 - it's Beano7 who lives next door to you!!

I'd be up for meeting again soon, am not around much this week but am around week commencing 9th March for anyone who fanices it??

x