Due in June 10! Longer than the Lord of the Rings!

[katzguk]

new thread 604 posts is far too many for one little thread, time to start again!!

So glad to hear that - was a bit worried about you for a minute there

I have a carrier (tomy) if anyone is interested. MIL is buying me a Baby Bjorn.

Families: Don't have one. Was brought up in various children's and foster homes and only speak to Dad's Mum. his other daughter has just had a boy so great excitement. Doesn't he realise he has 2 grandkids already!! Next generation being pushed out already. Inlaws are good but I find it hard to suddenly have parents. I am very independant but very needy too.

Lua: Did you read my longish post on other thread for polyhy?

well done U

they don't have kids schedules to worry about or an avalanche of equipment to take with them so let them visit and do stuff for you!

Perhaps we should all pretend to faint or similar when awkward visitors arrive to either force them into making own cups of tea or leave early......

Pretend to faint? Ne need. If they show up, I will faint for real.

I'm not doing anything I don't want to this time around (she said grimly)

I just had a nice leisurely bath. But then I rubbed some of that Palmer's Stretch mark cream in my bump and it STINKS, I smell like a rotting car that's just been dragged from a canal or something

Hi Lippy - ha ha - shame I wasn't around when you posted your first informative reply to my epi q So you didn't have a walking epi yourself then? I've been thinking of starting a thread for real experiences of these. I think I did ask here about them before, but don't think anyone responded - probably one of those really chatty, impossible to keep up days! They sound really good. I wonder how common they are? At the moment I'm wanting a waterbirth, but when someone mentioned these to me, it sounds like it would be good plan B (if they have time to do one). Poor you with your on-going loft conversion I still haven't finished the tiling in the bathroom and we've hardly touched the kitchen (apart from to dismantle it of course). Thanks for the Wilkinet tip - I'll have a look.

Hi All,

I am laughing at all the nightmare in-laws we have between us. Mine are basically okay ? hearts in the right place and leave us alone etc. EXCEPT when we told FIL our choice of boys and girls names at the weekend. His response was, ?Well, lets hope it?s a girl, because I don?t like XXX at all for a boy?. I was so restrained. I just smiled sweetly and let it all ride over my head.

Uwila, my sympathies are with you. Don?t let your post-delivery fragility be mistaken for a moment of weakness. My tip is unfortunately not much use this far down the line. My FIL/MIL, although they think I?ve done the world of good for their DS, know better than to mess with me as I have little time or patience to pander to whims. I sound like a menace, don?t I? .

My cousin called me last night to pass on some advice, which I loved: don?t tell anybody when you?ve had the baby. No one will call you at the end, as they won?t want to hassle you, so you wont need to lie to anyone. Just don?t call ANYONE for the first week, until you can face seeing visitors . I like that. Seems like sound advice to me?..

Changing the subject, I?ve just bought the Bruin electric breast pump and microwave steriliser. Anyone else tried these ones?

Anyone know how to see more of classifieds for sale when clicked onto alphabetical order? I only get up to G

I got the microwave steriliser, thought it was quite good and better than having to boil everything BUT I didn't use it much as had real trouble expressing, so just ended up feeding Dd anyway.

Names: we just didn't bother mooting possibles as family were already giving opinions - conflicting with ours! we just presented baby and name in one package. I think this worked v well as they were distracted by the cute bundle and presented with a fait accompli on name.

I'm with you WM! Want to be more relaxed and do my own thing this time....and ASK for help!

I've already advertised the name and outright rejected the objections (which weren't many).

There are a few things in the realm of parenting that I consider my turf and don't budge on. Naming is one of them. I let DH pick the surname. The first name was actually the only name we both liked, but then he decided it was "girly". How Alexander can be contsrued as girly I know not. But, I finally said right, then you come up with another name we both like, and forget all the ones we have previously vetoed. Finally, he said okay to Alexander. The two middle names were my choosing.

Ah, so I guess I do get some things my way. I usually declare my rights to certain priviledges when I get fed up with doing most of the work around the house. Let;s see, in my current little tantrum, what priviledge shall I claim as mine??? Think maybe I'll take up running on Saturday mornings when he can look after both kids. Wonder how he'll be at breastfeeding?

how about giving Dh 'quality time' with his offspring as he doesn't get to see them in the week (poor thing)

the good thing about a toddler is that they will express this quite forcefully themselves and he could take them swimming with the other in tow....whilst you run/paint your nails/watch crap telly

I'm thinking of trying this one...! I've noticed that my friend schedules lunches on weekends so that her Dh has the kids.....

Oh yes. Sterilisers. I went with the electric one because I didn't want it to be in the microwave when I wanted to use the microwave for cooking.

We have the Avent one. I never got round to doing the bottles, so DH had to take on this job. Now that we have a nanny it may be her job. But, then with all of my desperation to queeze more than 8 weeks of maternity leave, I'm not sure if we'll still have a nanny... There's always those wonderful disposable jobies.

For any of you first timers, you can buy disposable pre-sterilised bottles. Great for travel!

Nice idea, redhead. But I'm afraid of the child neglect that will takeplace. He will put them in their cot/bed, or leave them crying or feed them cookies/cake/junk food while he tends to his hobbies (website, reading book, listening to music, etc.)

So, I can't really do that to the kids. Not fair to them. Even now sits in the living room with DD while he reads and she watches telly, and then claims what a hard morning he has had of looking after her. Oh jeez, now I'm mad again.

oh Jonah - i learned the hard way not to ask for people's opinions of your choice of baby names. People just love giving you their opinion, even before thinking about it properly first. With our (well my) first choice people were just horrified and told me so. So eventually I decided against it. We have come up with a fairly acceptable name for the time being that the (few) people we've told seem to like. Of course the in-laws don't, but I actually enjoy the fact they don't

I like redhead's approach!

eek! did not mean to invoke the wrath again ;)

I do think men think looking after kids means them taking them somewhere (park/cafe etc) and reading the paper whilst said kids run riot, throw themselves off dangerously high places and investigate sharp objects.

I have always been the one to play more with Dd. Can't remember who but was told once that the men wait for kids to get more 'interesting' (read easy) before they get v involved. Hmm.....don't want to start on this one myself either.

On a positive note I've just had a bar of Dairy Milk brought to my desk by a colleague. Ah, the joys of being a pregnant woman.

Just a quickie to say that I have the Bruin microwave steriliser and used it as a cold water steriliser more often than not with Milton. Always forgot to put it on in the microwave and then the breast pump was too hot to handle when I really needed it. Smell of Milton made me sick to begin with but now I love it. Reminds me of dd's real baby phase when I was staying at my Mums before moving over here. Ahhh.

I didn't tell ANYONE our names until dd was born. It is so hard and a little comment would put me off........

aaah baby names, never tell anyone what you're thinking of in advance, particularly the grandparents as they will have some reason why you can't use it ('well, auntie x has a brother in law whose second cousin has that name and he was in prison etc etc') -best time to reveal names is just after birth when the baby is more of a novelty than the name. Immediately post-birth is also a good time to put your foot down with dh over any naming disagreements, ime!

DH is very good with ds too, but he does get fed up quicker than me. He is totally knackered by mid-afternoon on Sundays when he gets up with ds and they do 'jobs' together (this is brilliant, ds' new favourite place is B&Q and our house has never had so much work done on it as recently!) and play superhero games. MrsW - Spiderman kicked in about 6 months ago when ds was 3.5, think it coincided with the start of nursery. It's compounded by dh thinking it's quite cool too . We do a lot of dragon slaying too - spend hours at weekends traipsing round castles looking for them. I have told dh that if we have a girl then he has to show just as much interest in Disney princesses in 4 years time.

Well, KVG, the name I have always loved for a boy was Podrick. I kind of made it up, but It's from the Irish for Patrick, which is usually spelt Padraig, but pronounced a variety of ways including Pad-rayg, Pawd-rayg, Parrig, Parrick, Porrig and even Pod - rick. I liked the last pronuniciation, and just spelt it phonetically. I couldn't bear to have him having to spell out his first name as well as his surname all the time. He's going to be half Irish (from dad) and I thought that it would be a nice way to celebrate his mixedness. I liked Pod for short too. He is Pod until he's born and will probably have it as a middle name. A couple of rude people have even said that if he was at school with them with a name like that they'd beat him up, that's how offended some people were by it .

What names have you got for your girlie? I've got LOADS of fab girls names

I agree with various people about names. Uwila is absolutely right; it's the parent's decision and theirs alone. I also go along with Coop and Mrs F's feelings about not sharing until it's born. We're choosing the name, keeping it a secret, I don't care what anyone else thinks about it and I certainly don't want to hear their moaning before the lil one is born if they hate it

Charley, have you started a thread on walking epi's? I'd be interested to see what ppls exp.'s are. I haven't given the birth of this baby a moments thought tbh The last birth was so completely different to what I had planned for I just decided this time, I would have a vague idea and 'go with the flow'. Not very constructive, I'm sure nearer the time I'll get all greeny again and ask for a water birth and lavender oil, with an epidural in brackets Oh, I will definitely make sure dp is stipulated to deliver if all is going well. It was great last time, he was chuffed to deliver his own baby and not someone elses for a change!

Yeah this loft is taking a while. They're working very hard doing 2 jobs at once (us and next door), but after 2 months...! I guess all I can think about is when I can get in and decorate and feel like I am twiddling my thumbs at the moment, decorating is a long way off! Plus, by that time I'll be so encumbered I wont have the energy or physical capabilty to do as much as I would like.

Right, I'll post a walking epi thread now - give me a few mins...

Ooooh Charley, what are your fab girls names???? Me and dp were going to sit down tonight and go through some anyway. I quite like your real name, but am prety sure I put it to dp last time and it got the distinct 'thumbs down' from him. Not from me

Awwww poor Pod. I think you got a silence from us at the last London Lunch too didn't you ?? I think it's cute, unusual definitely, which I like. I like the choice of spelling too, I can never get my pen around gaelic names !! Sorry to offend anyone, but they can be tricky... Ruaridh (?) for example. Gorgeous name.