due Dec 08-the one were we are so brain dead we can't think of a thread title.

[Veggiemummy]

hey there will this be the last one do you think

hatty I am so pleased for you , I was thinking of you on Fri. Am so glad you are on course for a natural birth - get reading those labour chapters !

Beans so sorry to hear about your MIL, {{big hugs}} to you all xx

Flumpy Niamh is a gorgeous name as is Lily

On the subject of names, we finally agreed on a boy's name this weekend thank goodness

pixsix glad you made it safely to mw.

Oooh LT good luck with driving test, how many more lessons do you have ?

Jam so glad you are feeling more positive about the birth.

We got some new carpets a few weeks ago and now we have a leak in the upstairs bathroom which is dripping into the downstairs showerrrom and starting to make the hall carpet wet , am dreading the upheaval when this all gets fixed - very bad timing.

Nearly ML for me - 4 days to work - wooohoooo ! I have a load of hospital bag stuff ready, just need to get my wee trolley case down from the loft and get it packed. Less than 5 weeks to go - yikes !

Oh and someone mentioned thermometers and that it was worth paying for a decent one - any advice as to which are good and why ?

Mibbes The Grobag Egg thermometer is brilliant. It changes colour with the temp as well as showing you how warm it is. Also if you want to it makes a wonderful night light.

My Sling arrived today. Still not worked it out yet so I'll have to watch the dvd tomorrow.

Also I found my knitting so I have about 5 weeks to get it finished. I'm still a learner so when it comes to the sleeves I might have to go and see my mum.

I have a bad pregnancy brain tonight and have just thought you might mean thermometers that do baby's or your own body temp. So ignore me if you want!

morning all! hope all the poorlies are starting to feel better today

mibbes - how rubbish about your leak - bad timing or what? these things are sent to try us! Hope it all gets sorted without too much inconvenience xxx

The Braun ear thermometer is really good. Expensive, but I got mine partly with Boots points. You have to buy cover things for the 'probe', which is a bit of a rip-off, but it's really fast and accurate. (Well... maybe not that accurate if you're used to fertility temping to two decimal places... but everything's relative! ;-))

How's everyone doing on this glorious, grey, wet, drizzly Autumn morning then?!

Hello verso!
York is delightfully dreary this morning - I feel like I'm living in black and white world! Have got to drag my butt into town this morning for my eye test... if only I could hibernate until d-day! (but then actually I'd miss the exciting getting-everything-ready things which I'm loving!!! - am having to stop myself putting the sheets on the Moses basket - it really is too early!!)

Morning everyone! Off work today on my 'winding down' phase and all seems fairly ok about the windows [thank God icon] so we should have a nursery that doesn't let the wind and rain in by the end of the week

SP had hiccups this morning while I was lying in bed, it was sooo cute! My whole tum was jiggling and they seemed about twice as fast as grown-up hiccups.

Dilemma for tomorrow - it's the big city fireworks, which are always fab. BUT it's also yoga night. Do I skive yoga and go to the last fireworks without a littlun attached? Will the bangs do him/her any harm? (you know the ones where you really feel your whole torso go "kaboom") Or should I stick to yoga because it's relaxing and proper baby preparation? A couple of years ago we went with friends who brought their 6 monther and the dad said "If he sleeps through this I'll eat my shorts" so what did the little darling do - slept through the whole lot and only woke up as we were walking home never did find out about the shorts...

Mibbes sorry to hear about your domestic troubles - these things do seem to come at the wrong time don't they?

Donny and others with indigestion - I swear by the chewable rennies, the normal tablet ones are sooooo salty and they leave horrid bits in your teeth whereas the chewy ones are a bit more like a minty sweet, and they still work. Gaviscon liquid horrible stuff

kayz - I read some good reviews about the grobag egg but then others that said it's not really very accurate (always displays as a few degrees too low), so I was a bit torn - dad gave me an alarm clock years ago with a thermometer incorporated but it's woefully inaccurate as well, if you close the door too fast and there's a sudden gust of air it decides that the room has gone down to minus 17 so I don't really think we can trust that!

trace good luck with your eye test - do you get the bit where they say "which is clearer, number one... or number two... number one.... or number two?" I can never tell A lady at work got new specs and said she thought they might be a bit out of date - her prescription had gone from -1 to about -3 so goodness knows how she wasn't walking into walls!

beans any news on your MIL? really hope she's doing ok. If she's in Addenbrookes they're really fantastic docs so she'll be getting the best care [hugs]

TYV if it makes you feel any better we're not getting new carpet so much as any carpet - the two rooms have had chipboard floor (= splinters in your feet ) since we moved in and took out the grotty old stuff that had 10 years of HMO wear and tear.

ladyt & verso sorry for pipping you to the csection post. I can't quite believe that 2 weeks tomorrow I will be a Mother of 3. I am so desperate for this baby to come out, my hips are agony and sleeping is wishful thinking.

turnip how spooky, I wonder is she will match any of the weights when she is born too. Look out for the birth announcement and let me know.

MW on Thursday then blood test next week and hey presto baby arrives, it's getting quite exciting now

• must get hospital bag out of loft, just scared myself how close this baby is

Morning,

Feeling really tired this morning. DS woke up at half 5, he went back to sleep and so did I but I feel worse now than I did at half 5.

JJ Ours is great, we have one of those cheap card thermometers that comes free with grobags which is useless but the Egg always has the right temperture(sp) on it.

Beans I hope your MIL is getting better, will keep fingers crossed.

I'm quite worried about my MW appointment on Thursday. I'm worried I do have gestational diabetes. Especially with the raised blood sugar and ketones. So I have got everything crossed that nothing is wrong.

Hi All

Thanks so so much for all your good wishes. Sounds like they may have been answered. I'm not counting my chickens, but she seemed to be a lot perkier last night and even got out of bed to walk down the corridor and ring DH, which is such a relief. Unfortunately he had his phone on silent and we were making our bugaboo up, so he missed the call, but he was so relieved to have a message from her and she sounded much better - if a bit old. If you know what I mean. But I'm feeling much perkier today and less apt to burst into tears. I was vile and grumpy yesterday at work, but only because I was so worried.

kayzie - good luck with the MW on Thursday - I do hope all is ok. Will be thinking of you. I have mine in the afternoon as well. I don't really like my MW, unfortunately. She's not any help - I was asking her about my birth plan etc and she told me that NCT would help and point blank refused to discuss it with me. And told me that NCT would tell me about when to ring hospital and when to go in etc. She really acted like she didn't have time to tell me about it and it was really frustrating because I was asking her. I don't feel like I can ask her about anything now!

LT - keep going with the driving! Are you doing manual or automatic? I am so impressed with you - learning to drive is exhausting, let alone when you're 8 months pregnant or thereabouts. Thinking of you.

Loads of love to all of you and thanks again for all thoughts being beamed to me. I really do appreciate it.

kayz sounds as if the people with bad reviews may have had a dodgy batch of eggs then! Hope everything's ok on Thursday, if it is GD then at least they've spotted it and can help treat is asap.

beans that's wonderful news. Keep up the good work MILBeans! Sorry to hear your widwife's being a bit of an arse though - when do you see her next? It's all very well offloading the responsibility onto the NCT but they're not the ones who will be delivering your baby...

flumpy how exciting! We need an updated list with these new dates on so we can start being soppy over new babies

Just read a really interesting thread on pushing in the childbirth topic, all about how some women need direction and others not. Something to discuss with the ante-natal lady tonight I think... On the one hand I love to think it will all be natural and my body will take over and do the pushing, but on the other I simply have no idea what it will feel like and if I'll need someone telling me when to push and when not to.

Morning all

Hatty - am so so pleased to hear about your moving placenta, that's fabulous news!

Beans - hope there is better news about your MIL today - wishing all of you the best.

LadyT - its perfectly reasonable to find driving hard, especially at this point in pregnancy. It was the hardest thing I ever did (having done all sorts of exams etc which were a breeze by comparison). BUT - even I managed to pass - amazing what you can do out of sheer pig headedness!

kay - hope all goes well with your MW appointment on Thurs - if it is GD, at least they will be able to manage it.

JJ - building works are a pain! But glad its all going smoothly now. We're supposed to be having new windows fitted in a couple of weeks and am hoping there are no surprises...

Flumpy - love the name Niamh and Lily is my mum's name so have a soft spot for it too.(Note to self - must figure out what we're going to call this baby!)

poison - loved your before and after pics!

Am a bit of those of you about to go on maternity leave. Still 6 weeks to go for me. Mostly OK about it but a bit grumpy about it at the mo as last night my usual tube line was suspended and this morning was was the first time in ages I didn't manage to get a seat on the tube. So much harder!

Only other events in the Invisible household is that DD seems to have hit the terrible twos in earnest in the last week or two. (She has just turned 18 months). Its pretty unpredictable what she will throw a wobbly about. This morning it was the fact that stripy socks offended her. Spotty ones turned out to be OK though. However she did manage to very sweetly say "I love you" yesterday (admittedly to her toy sheep), so can't complain too much...

Morning all

Hatty - Huge congrats on your fantastic moving placenta . Now you can look forward to all the glories of a natural labour and birth...

Beans - Glad to hear your MiL was up and about last night, that must be a good sign. Your MW sounds crap, what if you could not afford NCT? Its her job to give you answers to the questions you asked

Kay - Don't worry to much about diabetes. You are pretty late in your pregnancy so even if you do have it you should hopefully avoid needing to inject etc. They might just make you watch your diet. However, ketones can also be a sign of someone who is starving - are you eating enough?

LadyT - I have been a driver since I was 16 (lived in the US). I have driven all over the world and am pretty good (if I do say so myself), however during both my pregnancies I have lost all spatial awareness and co-ordination. I am only driving now if I have no other choice, otherwise DH does it all (and I never usually let him near the wheel). What I am saying is that don't get too down if you are struggling now - you may well find you are much improved in the New Year.

JumpJ - We took DD to our local fireworks when she was 7 weeks old. She was all nestled into DH's chest in her baby bjorn and she did not stir once despite the bangs, shouts, crowds and music. It was incredible. Go to whichever event you would look forward to more (I think I would choose yoga over large cold crowds at the moment).

To those who have mentioned missing their mums - I know how you feel. My lovely mum died 4.5 years ago and I miss her soooo much right now. I'd give anything for her to be around and able to look after DD while I labour etc. She would have been the worlds' most fun grandma.

My MiL is fine but her and FiL have gone to Southern Patagonia until the end of November so if I go into labour early we have no tried-and-tested childcare for DD (lots of our friends have volunteered, and we will use them if needs must, but DD will not be happy about it). MiL also upsets me as she dotes on her daughter's kids more than her son's. I think that might be natural but it hurts when she is DD's only grandma and I have nobody else I can turn to.

Morning All,

Kayz i had ketones yesterday too and the MW said they can be a sign of dehydration. She thought i had them because I'd been sick but she didn't seem worried at all and just said to make sure I drink enough fluids. Sorry you are so worried and hopefully you will have your mind put at rest on Thursday.

JJ I know what you mean about dilemmas about whether to do things, we really wanted to go to some election parties tonight but have decided that it will probably be too crowded and boisterous for the bump. Will def be watching the results on tv though.

My plan for today is to start seriously cracking on with cleaning the flat ahead of the move on Monday. Can't wait until we are settled back in to our own house.

Hope everyone has good days.

PS Beans, lovely news about your MIL. x

WG - I have the bugaboo DVD but we haven't watched it yet - have you got the instruction manual? we put ours together with that, not the DVD. Was really easy, which is great!

JJ and arti - MW is rubbish. She just really isn't interested, it's v frustrating. Never mind. The doctor really is, so that's a relief!!! And she definitely won't be at my birth, so am quite relaxed about that side of things!

Hmm, is it sad of me to be quite excited to find out the results of the election? I think it's going to be great. I'm pretty sure Obama will win - I hope so.

PS Thanks pixsix!!! x

beans - your midwife sounds crap - is she your only one or might you see someone else next time? FWIW I did both NCT and hospital classes last time and the NCT were very careful not to override the hospital guidelines because as they said, they covered a wide area and every hospital had different protocols about when to turn up.

She may have a point about the birth plan though - there are so many variables that perhaps a class is a better place to chat about it - unless you have a specific question you want her to answer in which case she should absolutely be prepared to answer.

arti your post bought a lump to my throat - I too miss my mum sooooo much. MIL is wonderful and even volunteered to come and stay when DS was born to help me out - but I said no, as there is no way I could let her scrub my kitchen floor etc, and sometimes only your own mum will do. In a funny way it's nice to hear about other people going through this without their mums - all my RL friends mums are very much around and they take their support for granted - which does make me feel a bit sad and lonely sometimes.

beans I'm soo tempted to stay up late and watch the election results then call a 'pregnancy related' sickie tomorrow - though I think everyone would be a bit suspicious! DH has a last days of GWB countdown calendar on his desktop

arti and tyv - another one here missing her mum. She's been gone over 25 years so has never met H, never seen me grow up or anything. I've been thinking about her a lot more now that the baby's on the way - and I know what you mean about the nipper missing out on having a fab gran. The ILs are at the other end of the country and MIL's very much an old school type, she had 4 kids in the 60s/70s without much help from her mum so why should we be different? I grew up with no grandparents (mum's both died before I was born, dad's mum when I was very small) and I do feel sad at not having that sense of history and connection, especially since my lovely aunty mum's sister died 2 years ago and was the last direct link to her and all the family history. And as the family is now so spread out (brother in Canadia, ILs in scotland, cousins in the far east) there's no sense of baby arriving into a big comforting family. It's one of those things that we can't do anything about, but TYV I know exactly what you mean about feeling a bit sad and lonely. [big hugs]

beans - hurrah for your MIL - here's hoping for continued improvement

art and yv - me, too on the mum front.

btw i won't be posting the blog in which the crazy fantasist wildly misquoted and misportrayed me, but i did just want to let you know that in today's posting she compares herself to obama himself. hmmmm... note to self: don't read the sodding thing.

any advice on where to find some glam maternity clothes? my dh has been nominated for a (very small, but i am bursting with pride nevertheless) award and we have tickets for the ceremony and the dress code is "fabuolous" - i will be about 36 weeks by then. i won't be wanting a ballgown, don't worry, but i really do want to make a special fuss, as i've only been wearing tracky bottoms, trainers and boring tops for the last 3 months. isabella oliver looks cool, but is a)ridiculously expensive and b) i am suspicious about catalogue buying - how do i know it will fit/turn up in time?

advice gratefully received

Hello everyone,
beans glad MIL sounds on the mend. will be thinking of you.

jj I agree with the others, do whichever you fancy re the fireworks - I think yoga will be quiet tomorrow cos one of the girls I was talking to last week said she was going to the fireworks as well. I am going to see what the weather is like, I'm not the worlds biggest fan of fireworks so will see if anyone we know is going and whether it's raining. I usually like going to drink some beer afterwards, so one of my main motivators is missing!!

waitinggirl if you are in London have you tried seraphine? I think there is a shop in Hampstead, my friend has some lovely stuff from there. It is not cheap but not as pricey as Isabella Oliver I don't think.

I have the day off tomorrow!! Hurrah! REally feels like I am on countdown now, even though I have 4-5 weeks to go til ML.

kay good luck with midwife

beans you midwife sounds rubbish. I would have thought that she should at least look through your birth plan, if anything to check that you aren't asking for something that's not possible or likely. But I don't know!! Not been to my 34 week appointment yet so i don't know what you talk about.

WG, I found a good website with nice eveningy stuff, will try and find a link.

Families: grr is all I can say. We're very lucky in our immediate family, though my parents are on the unpredictable side, but there have been massive isshoes with DH's extended family since DS's arrival. A new baby does throw these things into relief.

LadyT: any news on the test? I am a pathetic non-driver so can't offer any advice!

We have the first viewing of our flat today and it's not even on the market yet. Fingers crossed...

Arti I think I'm probably eating too much if anything. The nurse helping the consultant said it could be because I had just eaten, but I hadn't just eaten. I am so sorry about your mum.

Pixsix I don't know if I am dehydrated. I am constantly thirsty though. Some nights I have to
get up to have a drink as I'm so thirsty.

Wg Isabella Oliver is really good but is as you say stupidly expensive. Blooming Marvellous have some really nice stuff in it.

My MW luckily is lovely. She is different from the one I had with DS as she retired. I was a bit worried we wouldn't get on as well. I have made her promise not to break her ankle though as my MW with DS did that 4 days before he was born and I saw 6 MW's in the 10 days after he was born all with different advice and techniques.

I'm now writing my birth plan but my brain is just blank. I have no idea what to write. I really need to find the one I wrote with DS.

ah here it is

WG will rack my brains but if you google maternity dress hire there is a great company where you can hire dresses and they look nice not the usual tents. Also crave maternity have a lovely red column dress which would do a posh event.

Beans great news I hope she continues to improve.