Due April 2009 - Farewell nausea and all things ghastly, our boobs and bumps are growing vastly.

[PuzzleRocks]

I'd not even thought about loud noises. I've not exposed my bump to any though, really. I guess that's one good thing about never going out

WhatFreshHell I have no upper body strength at all. You'd feel so much better if you saw me - my arms are like big white sausages. I'll have to have an electric wheelchair if I hurt myself because there's no way I could manage crutches. Plus I reckon it'd be really fun - & there'd be no worrying about getting seats anywhere! I may consider ways to feign injury now

FreshHell, I too am shameless about asking for seats everywhere. I just smile and say "Excuse me, can I have your seat, because I am pregnant". In the psychology literature it says that if you ask for something and give a reason straight afterwards, any reason, people are highly likely to do what you want. Being pregnant is a particularly good reason so we are onto a winner here. If someone failed to do as I asked I would just ask the next person.

We are all too English sometimes!

Not me, I am Bolshevik through and through!

Anyone else having a hard time with names? I have a list of about 20, DH has - wait for it - 3, none of which correspond.

I can't really keep calling her prawn now she's no longer prawn-like!

Good evening. I have finally got to sit down, today has been hectic. DH is away working for 3 days and DD is teething dreadfully, poor scrap.

Babypringle - how frustrating for you. Will you consider a private scan?

Snoozy, DD went to see The Cult in utero. I also listened to a lot of AFI and Metallica on my ipod when pregnant. She loves heavy guitar music now and dances along. I used itunes to settle her when she was tiny. People were amazed at what she would fall asleep to.

Mathsmummy, we have had first and middle names for a boy and a girl from week 5.
Has anyone else settled on names yet? Will anyone reveal before the birth?

no we have lists of about 20 names each for both boys and girls, so quite a lot of cutting down to do. Think we can rule out a few purely on not going with surname, or ds's name though - which is a shame as some i like best dont go with our surname. Think I'd rather change that as am not a big fan.

Sympathy to all those with difficult commutes. i do a mix of car and bus to work depending on the day but the buses are never ever full and the only problem i have is when ds is with me, and then its a nightmare as hardly any are buggy accessable - its one of my main gripes these days - trying to get around on public transport with young children.

did someone mention eclairs?

I am going to use the names DH wouldn't let me use last time. He has to be nice to me as I am really having this baby for him!

we have slight family politics issues about middle names- chose my Dad's name for ds' middle name, so I suppose if we have a boy, we should probably use dh's dad's name. However, I hate it. And dh doesnt like it much. dont even know if fil likes it.

but knowing dh's family - if we didnt use some family name of his their would be trouble.

my argument is the baby will get his fmaily name anyway, so its nice to have a connection to my family too

OOh Mathsmummy, congrats on winning the Chatsworth comp. How exciting.

We know what Bean's first name will be ever since we named DD as we had a spare girl's name when we named her and haven't used our favourite boy's name yet. As for middle names, we have no idea and found choosing DD's middle name really difficult. MIL has told us that she has decided that Bean is a boy and he will be called Noah This was after she said that she had been thinking about us and the word 'Noah' kept springing to mind. This clearly had nothing to do with us decorating DD's room with a Noah's Ark theme! I don't know what will disappoint MIL more, if Bean is a girl or when Bean isn't called Noah.

I wonder if I can ask everybody their opinion on something? Would you consider having your MIL at the birth to deliver your baby? My MIL is a midwife with over 30 years experience and I trust her but don't know if she would take over a bit. Also, my mum was there when DD was born and I know that MIL would have loved to have been there. I don't know that she will make it from Derby to Southampton in time but I wonder if we should try?

We only really started thinking about names in any serious way a few days ago. We're finding out the sex on Monday, so that'll help narrow it down a fair bit, but I have no idea what we'll end up with. We tend to agree on far more boys' names than those for girls. There's still plenty of time, though

& Swaliswan, I barely know my MIL at all, so can't really help. It does mostly depend on your relationship with her, I suppose. & you'd have to agree guidelines beforehand - & make sure she won't bear a grudge if you're swearing at her & telling her to go away in the midst of it

Good Morning Ladies!

I hope everyone enjoyed the chocolate eclairs... should I get more in??

Names - very difficult. We have managed to agree on boys' names very easily but really struggling with girls' names. I tend to like classic (some might say old fashioned) names which DH doesn't. Also, many names we liked have been used by friends/family. Have looked at baby name books but still only one possibility so far.... and what if it's three girls?? That's SIX girls' names!!

BarbarellaXX

Barbarella I feel for you! It;s hard enough with just one and I know the sex

I am so excited that I finally won something...and it's a really good prize too! Although I found out whilst I was in my pyjamas (alright, just PJ bottoms and nothing else) and the leaping up in the air was not a good look. It took at least half an hour for the residual wobbling to subside.

sorry mathsmummy - am ignorant - what is it? Although I could just google it and find out. Well done anyway.

barbarella - in one way that would be great though as oyu'd get to use loads of names that you like - as I said our list is 40 for each sex so cutting down to 3 as opposed to 1 might be easier.

swaliswan - if you get on well with your mil then go for it - i cant imagine anything worse than having my mil there (although she's not a midwife anyway). I think though that I'd rather my mil hadnt seen my ladybits - but I guess she's seen plenty before.

Entered a mn comp for three-day break at Chatworth House - all Christmassy hurrah!

ah - that makes sense - all I could find on google was stuff about the horticultural show and their County Fayre - nothing to do with maths at all. But as it turns out, it still doesnt have anything to do with maths .

Congrats - sounds fantastic.

Conkertree - my MIL has had my norks in her hands several times whilst trying to help me BF DD. She has also given me acupuncture for some of the more embarrassing side effects of giving birth so I'm not nervous about her seeing my fanjo. I'm more nervous about her snatching the baby off of me!

Why-oh-why did I ever start this thread??? I'm now even more scared about having an unplanned HB and don't think that MIL would make it here for the birth of DC2 even if she flew in a private helicopter.

I've just eaten my second packet of smoky bacon flavour crisps and am wondering if there is a third packet lurking somewhere in the flat

lol swaliswan about your mil - fair enough sounds like she's had plenty of hands on experience with you already.

was quite at that thread and how short most peoples (even first) labours had been - my first was about 21 hours from waters breaking to baby in arms - so was hoping for a bit shorter - but all these people going from 6 hours to 1.5 etc - bit speedy.

you could always say to your mil that she was welcome to be there if she could make it on time, but given that it could be quick, you have to make a plan B as well - and you'll go with Plan B unless and until she arrives?

Hi Swaliswan - I'm the same. 6 hours first labour and am planning a homebirth too with this one. Handily, the chief midwife from the hospital lives next door and I have 2 supportive community midwives who can come on the run. Part of me thinks it would be nice to have a really quick homebirth, no problems at all and just a shocked hubby to catch the sprout. We were going to get PIL to come and collect DS1 as they're only half an hour away, if they can't make it we'll foist him on one of the other neighbours.

I've also been feeling faint and dizzy, mostly when I stand up. I've been told I have low blood pressure which could account for that. Also - I'm still really, really thirsty all the time and no matter how much I drink, I wee orange juice. Isn't pregnancy fun?

B52's and Swaliswan, i'm planning a homebirth too. Wouldn't it be funny if we were all online in labour together.
Have you seen contractionmaster.com? Might be useful.

Swalisan - wow I cannot imagine even contemplating allowing my MIL to be at the birth - maybe you should just mention it in conversation and see what she says - she may not want to (although I doubt it)as a bit like another day at the office - with the added bonus of gaining a granchild at the end of course!

B52 - am also having some problem with low blood pressure and I asked the doc the best way to deal with it when it came on - he told me to lie down - not sure how the other commuters would react on the northern line - or he said to walk around to increase the blood pumping! Was a little confused but not been too bad recently - I did suggest to the doc maybe I should do all the things your not supposed to do when you have high blood pressure - lots of fast food etc etc - he was not amused!

Swaliswan

I had a fast first birth too - 7 hours.
I am opting for a hospital birth though as I am a none-risk-taker kinda girl! Like to know that I have equipment and hospital staff there if I need them!

I am so paranoid!

ooh, I'm possibly planning homebirth too.. shall we add a mini list to the big list?

Swalismum, my MIL is also a midwife but I couldn't stand having her there. if you have a good relationship with MIL and feel happy about it, then it sounds fine though.

For the record I had 36 hours labour, 24 established (pre labour was bad enough!), but hoping for quicker this time. Most friends I know had similar very long labours for the first one..

only contemplating homebirth because 1) it's the norm here in Holland and 2) I read a lot of statistics (not very good ones admittedly) and for a second birth with low risk it is marginally safer than hospital..