Due Fab Feb 2009: the Curry and Cake Club

[onwardandupward]

Here is our new thread!

I think my baby is dancing! It feels like an irregular pulse on my pelvic floor, coming quite often but not at the right rate to be a pulse. She's been doing it since last night

What's a maternity support band for then, oh swampy one?

All I know about bump support is that we have a tendon which goes round the bottom of our tummies and, given the right posture, supports our bumps. Isn't that amazing? That our bodies have tendons which just sit there going tra la la until we get pregnant and then they jump to attention.

As for pre-school don't ask me! I'm the token home educator on this thread

It holds the bump in the right place to relieve pressure on the back. This is what I need as I've got to have a medical one.

My physio gave me one.

swampy has stolen it I've lost it

My hospital doesn't give them out anymore and you have to ask your GP nicely to prescribe it, mine won't. £25 is a lot of money when you're on benefits

Onward - mine is just of the non-medical cheap variety as I appear to be missing that tendon - I think MarkStretch nicked it when I wasn't looking.

They also make BIG knickers and I'm off to order some online.

Your poor friend, chilledmama .

Wow.. this thread is so active ! I am so impressed.. all I am managing is to complete a days work.. eat/bedtime hour and fall asleep in front of the telly ! .. feel exhausted..what happened to the super energetic 2nd trimester LOL!

Chilledmama, would like to echo what the others have said.. let your friend that you are there, will listen, provide a shoulder to cry on (if required) and will not be judging.. and you will be a very good friend to her..

.. to all those with gum problems.. i struggle with this when i am not even pregnant and now they have really gone mad! Floss twice a day, and use an antibacterial mouthwash (or corsydyl) and see the hygenist every 3 months.. you dont want receeding gums to be one of your pregnancy legacies....

right must continue with work..

Oh dear - I'm supposed to be taking ds to his 2 year "check up" - no idea why someone else needs to tell me that my child is pretty much as average as the rest - presumably if I was worried I'd have asked someone....ah well....but ds has just promptly fallen asleep next to me. He's not been himself this morning so wondering whether to forget it.

Swampster - have been getting lots of aches (abdominal) and lower back so have ordered one of your recommendations to see if it helps. Walked up the hill by our road the other night off the bus and ended up holding my bump from underneath !! ....it just eased it slightly.

I don't know much about pre-schools either dinky given that ds is a similar age to your ds - he'll be three in July '09. I put him down for one just round the corner at 10 weeks old and he was,at that stage, 10th on the waiting list - who are those people who go around filling up waiting lists when they don't yet even have a child??!!. It's a bit like that round here. Anyway the mums are a gossipy bunch and know what's what so I just took advice from a few people I'd met during maternity and also my jobsharer has two kids slightly older than mine who both went there and she really liked it (that's not helpful on reasons but I suspect it's a bit like choosing a nursery - you just a get a gut feel - the lady who runs the pre-school is excellent and is definitely a great advert for them). The local primary is also a bit of a lottery - fantastic school and we're in catchment but no guarantees.

Right, off to see if ds feels like waking up and showing off his 2 year old talents to the HV !

I did all the weighing, baby clinics, HVs, two-year checks etc. with DS1. DS2 has seen the HV and been weighed once - when she came round the house after he was born ! Naturally both are brilliant .

Never got round to doing our 2 year check for DS (moved house to another area in London just before he turned 2) - have now been sent a form to fill in instead, so they cant be that worried about it!

hey all - just back from my scan, baby jumping around all over the place even though I haven't felt a thing yet - so huge relief! Had to have 4 goes at the scan as the little blighter wouldn't shift off it's bum for the sonographer to see the spine, but all looks well. Resisted the temptation to find out the sex though measurements are significantly smaller than with DS (who had a huge head) so maybe it's a girl?

Saw consultant about whether or not I have to have a C- section due to back problems, though he thinks I should aim for a normal birth....which is what I wanted to hear but now a bit terrified! DH is petrified too as I really think he was traumatised by it all last time around. Anyway I have agreed to wait and see if back pain recurs later in pregnancy. Maybe one of those support belt thingys will be a good idea for me too...

Calico what sort of back problems do you have? If lumber region, be careful with a 'normal' delivery if long. I had back problems when I had my DS 15 years ago (god that makes me feel old!) I had a 19 hour labour and afterwards I was told I shouldn't have had a normal labour as it put so much pressure on my spine. 3 years later I had DD1 and had a c-section.
8 years ago I had a spinal fusion and assured the surgeon that I had no intention of anymore children. I then met my DH2 (having got rid of arse of notDH1) and had DD2 2 years ago. Every specialist I saw said I had to have a c section as my back couldn't cope with the strain. (the last 2 months I could barely walk) I'm now expecting DC4 (when will I learn!) and know now I have to have a section, probably by 37 weeks again. Don't want to scare you but please be careful and maybe speak to a specialist who deals in backs before making a decision.

By the way, I know the topic of currys still comes up but have we as a whole gone off cake? I'm sick of it! DD2 was 2 last week and made her 2 cakes (one for nursery and one for at home) and now its her birthday party tomorrow (our Sunday where I live) and have planned to make her a rabbit cake (bunny, not a vibrator!) and have been practicing all week and we are all sick of eating the bunnys mark 1 and 2!)

calico, i've had a bad back since well before my first preg and natural birth is possible and even a positive experiance so try not to worry too much. in fact, i think it's why i didn't find posterior labour as excrusiating as it's supposed to be, i was so used to the constant back ache i didn't really notice it being much worse in labour lol

dinky, my number one way of judging is to see how the stafff are with your ds. do they talk to him, does he take to them well, how are they with any other kids that are there, etc. we had dd in a very nice looking well equiped playschool before and she's now in a run down community run playschool but the staff in her current one outshine the staff in the posh place 20000000 to 1 and it's made it a completely differant experiance for her.

Entertained everyone at lunch today. Baby kicked me so hard it actually made me cry out; that was a first for me. Then everyone wanted to feel the bump of course.

I tried to join the facebook group last night. Do I just need to click on join group? Nothing seemed to happen.

Sick of cake but loving curry, cookies and Werthers Originals. Probably why babe's tum was off the scale in the scan yesterday.

Dinky - I agree with the others about pre school. When I was looking for DS1 I was naively taken in by how swish the interior of the nursery was.Retrospectively, the nursery was a bit crap and was staffed by lots of youngsters who moved on quickly. DS2 went to a scruffyish montessori nursery, but it had a fantastic 'feel' to it. The staff had mostly been there some time and they were fantastic with the kids. When they showed me round they were more interested in showing DS2 what they had there (rather than selling it to me.) It was fab.

I had a hard day at work today. Many of my clients were in meltdown. I came home and ate half a tray of rocky road refrigerator cake and now I feel sick.

I've had lower back pain too and might invest in a support band (and a couple of backing singers ?)

Onward - we home educated when we lived in Sri Lanka and DS1 goes to a Human Scale Education School. HomeEd was for me ...the ultimate test of patience. I failed miserably !

Am completely sick of cake. Gave in to the buy two for £3.50 offer in Sainsburys today and ate far too many of them. So yes, I will not be eating cake for at least another 12 hours.

Evening all. Don't know what is more mortifying, my experience at the doctor's or spending the last 3 years thinking that it happens to everyone, only to put it on here and find out it obviously doesn't!

Had my scan today and all is well though I don't imagine that will stop me worrying for more than 5 minutes. Another member for the Blue Team here. Love boys and and glad but as I know this wil be my last baby there is a little bit of me that is sad I won't have a daughter but then again there's also a bit of me that is very glad I'll never go through the apalling teenage girl years that my parents had to suffer!

SWAMPY I FOUND IT!

Sorry for accusing you...

I just did my normal furious march to Rainbows with dd and then furious march round the shops before furiously marching to pick her up and then limping home, stopping only for a Snickers on the way home. Purely medicinal you understand.

DH announced at dinner time he bought me the new boots I wanted as he didn't like seeing me in pain. Just imagine the gifts I could get out of childbirth!

OH NO! WHOSE BIG ELASTIC BAND HAVE I GOT ROUND MY MIDDLE THEN???

Backache! Oh, it hurts. And anyone else getting full on Braxton Hicks? I don't remember them being this bad last time, or this flippin early (now 24wks). Never mind a bit of tensing across the bump, they hurt and are v uncomfortable. Wonder if they come earlier and quicker when you're on subsequent babies?

I'm getting the tensing round the bump Mama....

Took DS to his check - all they did was weigh him (he's always popping on and off the scales at home as it's fun) and took his height (he looks pretty much the same height as his little mates to me) and then asked me the questions they'd put in the leaflet they sent me....so all in all A WASTE OF TIME !.....DS screamed his way through it still grumpy from his sleep. I did though then have time to drop in on my friend and her 5 day old baby girl (her 2nd) - who was like a tiny sleeping doll. She was Gooorgeous. DS was having none of Mummy cuddling the baby so I'll have to have a sneaky go another day, although he was quite happy to give her little gentle strokes on her head and tickle her toes (he adores babies as long as I'm not holding them ).

On a very alternative and random issue I have a question for you ladies out there.....we've just moved into a funny old 60's house which in time we'll renovate but anyone ever tried to remove an artex ceiling (p'raps not personally !) ???? DH and I have just been discussing this (it's exciting times in this house can't you tell) and as the stuff is absolutely everywhere (who thought it was trendy eh) and I think contains asbestos - it could be a big job. I hate to say it but I've got used to it pretty quickly but dh says its driving him nuts. I on the other hand have to get rid of the brown swirly carpet which smells of old ladies.....it's going and soon ! I might have to post a piccie of the carpet. It is something else.

Artex is REALLY hard to get off. Shouldn't think it contains asbestos though. It's often easier to skim a layer of plaster over the top of it. Or learn to love it and live with it.

DS1 got really arsey comments for his two-year check. He was pissed off at being woken up and didn't feel like cooperating and doing things like building simple towers with bricks. So they decided he couldn't. This is a child who was doing jigsaw puzzles aimed at three- and four-year-olds shortly after his second birthday ffs. Which is mainly why I never bothered taking DS2 along.

If the ceilings are high enough, putting a layer of plasterboard over and skimming that is probably the easiest solution.

I need to start thinking about schools soon, but it's not going to be that hard, I live in the middle of a private school areas (there's about 4 within 1/4 mile from here!) so I don't have much choice of state school.

Calico1 I was told that my back problems were made worse by have a CS. They couldn't do an epidural either because they didn't know if it was safe (it wouldn't have been) so I had to have her under GA. Ask to speak to an obstetric physio for advice during your pregnancy and positioning in labour (on back is a real no-no).

pluto you have to be approved, so give it time.

MamaGoose, I'm getting them pretty strong at the moment - just had about ten in an hour. TBD has popped out to his parents and we've decided if they're still going when he gets back we're going to get them checked out - purely because I'm under instructions from my doctor, not because I'm worried.

Other news, we may have a car! It belongs to his parents neighbour, V reg Mondeo and they want £400 for it. His step-dad said they'll talk about it when he goes over, not sure what that means we'll have the cash next Friday (although he gets paid into Mum's account and obviously she's out of the country) so we could have it before we go to London next weekend.

ref bad backs, I suppose it depends on exactly what the problem is. I couldn't have an epidural however the last two occasions (one before spinal fusion and one after)I had a spinal block (really not sure what the difference is?) but it worked thank god as I was very worried about being sawn in half if it didn't work! Last time however (in Saudi Arabia) I was really worried as they kept trying to make me have a GA and even whilst they were trying to put the spinal block in the anaestatist (can never spell that!) was hovering with a gas mask over my face!) Am thinking I might just opt for the GA this time round as it really was quite scary last time! Hope you manage to get a second opinion from a 'back' specilist calico.
TBM are you still getting BH? Hope all ok