Due Fab Feb 2009: crossed fingers (and legs) we'll get through another thread without welcoming any early arrivals!

[MarkStretch]

Welcome.

Please feel free to add yourself to the list.

TinkerBellesMum - DC3 (girl), due: 01.02.09 (not expected to get far into December) (age 27, Birmingham)
Laidbackinengland - DC4, due: 23.01.09 (age 34, North Devon)
Nkweto - DC2, due: 30.01.09 (age 35, West London)
Mamagoose - DC3, due: 31.01.09 (age 32, Spain)
Questionkid - DC1, due: 03.02.09 (age 33, Wallington, Surrey)
PinkTulips - DC3, due; 04.02.09 (age 24, Roscommon, Ireland)
MsLucy - DC2 (a boy), due: 4/2/09 (CS a few days early)(age 38, North London)
Swampster - DC3, (a boy), due: 06.02.09 (age 40 , London)
Rosieposey - DC4, (a boy) due: 06.02.09 (age 36,Swindon,Wiltshire)
MarkStretch - DC2, (a boy) due: 07.02.09 (age 29, Norwich)
onwardandoutward - DC2, due: 07.02.09 (age 35 South West)
LittleMissNorty - DC2, due: 08.02.09 (age 40 in a couple of weeks, Kent).
KT1983 - DC1, due: 09.02.09 (age 25, London)
KazzaL - DC2 (suprise flavour), due 10.02.09 (age 35, Cirencester, Gloucs)
herbgarden - DC2, due: 11.02.09 (CS 02.02.09) (age 38, Berkshire)
TheHouseofMirth - DC2, (a boy) due: 12.02.09 (age 38, Wimbledon)
Littlesez ? DC1 (a girl) due: 15.02.09 (age 28, Manchester)
America - DC2, (a boy) due: 16.02.09 (age 32, London)
Rachrox - DC4, (a boy) due: 18.02.09 (age 28, Cheltenham)
Catstar - DC2, (a boy) due: 18.02.09 (age 36, Chessington)
Dinkystinky - DC2, (a boy) due: 19.02.09 (age 32, London)
Pluto DC2 (gender unknown), due 19.02.09 (Age 38, Kent)
DizzyBrummie - DC2, due: 20.02.09 (age 36, Berkshire)
Calico1 - DC2 due: 21.02.09 (age 40, West Herts)
mrsy - DC1, (a girl) due: 22.02.09 (age 24, Maidstone, Kent
Scubagroover - DC1 (a boy), due: 22.02.09 (age 31, London/ Kent)
Winemakesmummyclever - DC2 (a boy), due: 23.02.09. (age 35, Manchester) expecting cs @ 39 weeks.
Spottyshoes - DC2, due: 24.02.09 (age 28)
Lardybump - DC2, due: 24.02.09 (age 34)
Chilledmama - DC2 (a girl), due: 25.02.09 (age 32, Southsea)
Cocodrillo - DC3, due 26.02.09 (age 34 at the mo, London) expecting a CS at 38-39 weeks.
mumoverseas - DC4 (a boy), due: 28.02.09 (CS 2 to 3 weeks early) (age almost 41 Arabia/Crawley West Sussex)

Oh no Swampster - hopefully will get to meet you for a curry another time! Hope your back/rest of you are feeling better.

dinky, there is a very simple way to get teenagers to help. Its called money! I gave him ten pounds for that and some other little jobs he is doing around the house. works wonders. Am going to be mean now and get him out of bed, just because he is missing the last few weeks of school (in KSA the schools finish 3rd December) doesn't mean he is not doing school work and studies! He has his mock exams in January!
I know what you mean about giving legal advice. I didn't used to but sometimes you can tell these poor women can't afford to get advice and surely my (hopefully correct advice) is better than these daft cows who watch Jeremy Kyle and therefore know it all?
You sound like just the person to give my DS advice about his career. He is adamant he wants to be a lawyer (probably a barrister) but is having trouble deciding which area. I've talked him out of crime and hopefully family but don't really know much about other areas. Any recommendations?
BTW, I'm thinking about trying to get up to London for the curry if 15 year old will babysit!

swampster, just found my way back into facebook and saw your message. Are you ok?

MoS - wouldnt go for crime or anything legal aid related as all of my friends working in those areas are getting royally screwed at the moment. If he wants to move into law the area he'll probably find easiest is something where he can bring skills and knowledge from existing job - eg. if an accountant, tax law may be an in; if property developer, property or construction law; if in business, contract or commercial law. There is ALOT of competition to get into the bar so really would advise he joins an inn of court when you guys get back here before he decides what he wants to do and talks to some real live barristers about viability of retraining/work life balance etc.

Oh no - something happened to Swampy?? Must get access to facebook somehow. Hope you're ok Swampster.

dinky she said something about a bad scan yesterday? I do hope all is ok?
Am really sad for TBM too as just looking through some other threads (yes I'm bored!) and clearly she was very upset by a message someone sent her on facebook. Now I understand a bit better why she has had enough of all this. Hope she is ok. Lots of hugs and positive vibes for Swampy and TBM
ref DS, he is only 15 so no existing job. He is however good at maths (I hope as he did his law GCSE early a couple of weeks ago) so maybe tax law may be a good one. He has already been told by me not to do crime or family as no money in it!. He has promised if I send him to the sixth form he wants (8k a term!) then he will look after me in my old age and make sure I'm not stuck in an old persons home and not fed! Hence my NEED for him to go where the money is!

I cant get into FB either. Hope everything is ok Swampy

Sorry Mos - misread your message; thought it was your DH who wanted to become a barrister! Definitely a case of pregnancy brain.

For your DS, would advise in getting some work experience (prob best around Alevel time) in both a law firm (high street, commercial one if you can and following a barrister about) and that will help him decide. Commercial, construction, tax and banking barristers are always in demand and paid v well. Criminal and family ones (basically anything depending on legal aid) not so much...

Definitely no need for him to decide now. He could do a law degree or another degree then do a law conversion course if he wants to become a solicitor - if he wants to become a barrister, perceived wisdom is that a law degree from a good university is a must.

Freecycle is great - you can indeed get things for free and also save on trips to the dump as other people do indeed want anything.

www.uk.freecycle.org/ once on the home page you look up UK groups, find your local group(s) sign up and then get posting.

All groups have ettiquette policies - usually things like can't offer animals (or children!!) and can't do a "wanted" post more than once a month or similar.

I've given away all sorts of crap wonderfully useful items and also collected lots of camping gear for my guides and also lots of baby stuff.

missed loads! only missed a day i thought i posted too but not there? was nothing interesting anyway. All good here just usual heartburn and feel a bit squashed under ribs like cant breathe properly anyone else?

mumoverseas dont agree with your post being removed? did you say anything bad! amusing whole thing Jeremy Kyle!!!!

Still very jealous of the curry meet i want to come [big kids paddy emotion]

I'm falling asleep at my desk today DS has just had 2 horrendous nights which I think are down to teething, he even had his "sleep" medicine last night which seemed to have no effect.

It's DH's birthday today and we were opening his pressies and cards at 2.30 this morning - I'd even arrnaged for a friend to babysit tonight so we could go out for a meal - I think we'll be opting for the takeaway option followed by an early night (for sleeping (till DS wakes up at least)

MOS - surely one of the points of a forum is being able to express your opinion and get debate going, feel a bit that MN is policed in this way.

Thank you all for your comments; it?s nice to come back to.

What a week, Monday I felt really down because of what happened with Tink and the baby, Tuesday I had that message (I posted my status message because all the stuff on Monday it had all wound me up on Facebook) and although I was feeling a bit better than Monday it just left me feeling down again. Yesterday I had Tink for the day (Wednesday has always been our day) and it seems the more time she spends here the less she wants to go back to my parents. We couldn?t get her to bed last night because she didn?t want to leave us. Another reason I wish the baby would just hurry up and come! I know it sounds selfish wishing prematurity onto her but we know it?s going to happen, just not when so it?s very stressful hanging around waiting for it to happen, plus not being able to have Tink here, they can?t do anything about my back until I?m not pregnant, concerns about the baby?s health which pregnancy could be making worse? I spent last night making an advent calendar for Tink (my fingers feel weird because they?re covered in superglue) and I had a lie in this morning and nothing bad has happened so so far I?m feeling a lot better today. I had planned on moving away for longer, but I?m feeling better and couldn?t resist coming back in.

KT, it?s probably PGP pain. That area loosens during pregnancy to allow it to move out the way during the birth so it can move around a little a feel painful. Catstar, it can get worse with each pregnancy. Tink?s godmother has been told not to have anymore children or she could end up in a wheelchair for life. I suggest if you?re in pain sitting down that you try to locate your sitting bones (which most people don?t sit on) and make sure you?re always sitting on those. It will ease the pressure on your coccyx and is good posture for encouraging baby to get into a good position. Put your hands under your bum while sitting and feel for the bone, take the weight of your sitting through those bones onto your hands then take your hands out. It might feel weird at first but it is more comfortable when you get used to it than sitting without them.

QK, to make you feel better about your tummy? my dad is a radiographer and was once sent a rather large woman with abdominal pains. He couldn?t see anything on the X-ray (literally, all he could see was fat) so had to turn it up a couple of times. He took the X-ray to the doctor and said ?this is the best I can get and I?m not prepared to turn it up anymore? angry doctor ?Why not???? ?Well, there?s the head, I?d say that?s engaged, the shoulders there?.? Basically she was so fat that she hadn?t known she was pregnant and it wasn?t the first thing the doctor thought her pain was when she came in.

I think you?ll find that the reason a lot of us are having sizes is that they?re putting details from our previous children together with certain readings they take and getting a chart based on that. They can then track where the baby is on that chart and if they?re following the same line (like mine is at just under 10th %ile) they get a rough idea of what the weight will be at term. By tracking it over time they can see if it?s just one persons readings over another.

Chilledmama, SPD stands for Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction the SP is the join in the middle of your pubic bone. If you are suffering from pelvic pain have a gentle prod of your pubic bone and you will find right where I?m talking about! It doesn?t cover pain in the other 4 joints (inside each hip socket and where the pelvis joins the spine, the Sacro Iliac Joint or your back dimples) or in the coccyx or the sciatic which is why they?ve changed the name to PGP. I?m quite glad because I used to feel the need to qualify it ?I have SPD but it?s not in my Symphysis Pubis? which feels like I?m saying I don?t have what I have. The Pelvic Girdle is the proper name for the pelvis.

Oh MOS you terror! I have noticed that a lot of people on MN tend to think it?s ?just? mums behind the other side of the computer screen so what they know is just as good as what anyone else knows. I got picked up for my first aid advice once (until I pointed out that I became a cadet aged 12 and started ambulance training at 15). I love it on the breastfeeding threads when someone starts spouting rubbish at one of the BFCs. I rub my hands and think ?this will be fun!?

MS, sitting on a birthing ball will be much better for you just don?t fall asleep

LBB I feel exactly the same, I?ve thought about changing my name but I am this name now I think and it will feel odd changing it.

Spotty have a look here, it?s an international site that will direct you to your nearest. It?s normally a Yahoo Group and you just email the group with what you have or want and then reply to a post when you see something you like.

I have done Christmas shopping for most of the children that aren?t ours, adults are getting a home made calendar (well printed and compiled by TBD at work and good quality really) like we did last year. I?m going to Boots next week for their open day to get presents for our three four children, I got £25 of points last week so hopefully will have more this week and going to buy something from my wishlist with it! This is the earliest I?ve ever been this ready but I didn?t think it was safe to wait till December as we could be very busy.

Thanks for the info guys. Nice to see you back TBM!

I have had my xmas shopping done for a while now and have decided to wrap them this afternoon with a little help from DS! Have now given up on the idea!!! He has however written all my Xmas cards for me

I'm jealous of the curry club too! Us outsiders'northerners' will have to go for a curry individually on the night to show collective Fab Feb spirit

I've just logged on to Facebook and read a message that mrsy sent me yesterday evening. She wanted to let everyone know that she's not been on this week as she didn't get great news in her scan. She didn't say anymore than that so I don't know any details, but she said she needed a bit of time to deal with it before coming on here and explaining all. I've told her we'll all be thinking of her and keeping fingers crossed that all is well, whatever it is that's come up.

QK do you definitely mean mrsy?

Yes, definitely mrsy. Looks like swampy and mrsy have both had scans that haven't brought great news this week. Swampy's message is on FB for those of you are members of the group, I won't put any details on here in case she doesn't want them on MN for any reason.

oh blimey....

{{{hugs}}} to you both

OMG Bug hugs to both of them.

big

I think we should all go out for curry next Thursday just so we're all together in spirit (and as most of us crave curry I think it's a good excuse!)

I can't believe we've got too bad scan results I hope it's just a scare and that everything comes out well from it.

oh no i thought it was just swampy . Thinking of you both.

Misery, total misery for you ? I am so sorry and thinking of you both.

Welcome back TBM.

Big hugs being sent to Swampy and MrsY - hope everything will be ok guys.

MS, the friend recommendation is for adding to the group, only mrsy, swampy and you can add.

oh no, just got back from a hospital appointment and so sad to see two of 'our bunch' have problems. Thinking of you both and big hugs.
On the brightside, so glad to see you are back TBM. I saw your other thread this morning from a few days ago and it made me so mad. There are some really nasty cows out there. Ignore the bitches (go on MNHQ, just bloody dare to delete me!)
I know what you mean about that 'this will be fun' thought TBM, shouldn't enjoy it but I do sometimes when people clearly have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.
dinky, you really had me giggling at the thought of my DH being a barrister! not his cup of tea at all! I'm still in touch with a few old barrister/solicitor friends so will sort out work experience for him but its really only in the family area so would be nice to try to sort him out something in the 'big city' area.
Curry - think I might come along next Thursday even though I'm not a Londoner! My DH is from sarf London so does that qualify me? My DS said he'd babysit so it might be nice to escape for a few hours.