Due April 2009 - Sod the thread title, we will need a new one in a week.

[PuzzleRocks]

Welcome new joiners, lurkers, occasional updaters, prolific posters, and Nutty and Springy .
I say this one wont last a full 10 days.

Springy I would but I am not sure I trust his taste (I know that sounds mean but I want it to be perfect!)

Blue I think it will work really well with the white tree design on the wall

Brett- funny.. I know a mother in the exact same position. Baby born in May and not ever left the baby with anyone else for any length of time...She looked at me like I was crazy when at one point when she was over visiting I suggested she could leave her little one with me because she was complaining she just wanted to do a fast shop but knew she wouldn't be able to because the little one would be up and fussing before long and crying babies and grocery shopping didn't mix... I convinced her that I was alright changing diapers and doing a bottle feed if she wasn't back in 4 minutes... She was back in 20 with the most rushed panicked look on her face.

I had to untie the baby from the bungee cord I had tied around his waste so he could bungee jump from the balcony...

My cousin is 8 and still so clingy she cries for her mum at night if she is not there! I am determined to make sure that within the first few weeks I leave my baby for a few hours to break that fear and then am going to be very sure she or he is comfortable with different people so that I don't have a teary child permanently attached to me!

BB have you seen this site?

My aunt and I had babies at the same time and she very much took this approach..the nasty part of me thinks that this is why her DD is shy and whispers boring (and mine is a lunatic social butterfly..but probably more genetic than that!

Thanks Bleu x

Oh BB that friend of yours that has the book coming out, is she doing any signings? I ask because I happen to know hat Borders LOVES to have authors in for signings...if she doesn't have an agent she can call and ask to talk with the Sales supervisor or events cordinator herself and talk to them about setting up a date.

I think her publishers are handling all of that for her but will ask her! - she is off for a glamorous weekend in Paris - oh for the life on a non-pregnant woman!

Oh the life indeed... heck, for that matter I'd like to just get a book finished and published... it will be the third happiest moment in my life...

hey hey, well john is back in glasgow . He tried to ring me lunchtime (must have been when he got back into phone signal range) but i ignored his call. And he hasn't tried again. and i haven't called him back. A friend of ours from London came up for the party and the original plan was that I'd go over to glasgow this afternoon and see her for an hour or so before her plane and then stay over at john's. However I texted her to apologise and say i didn't feel up to it. He'll have taken her to the airport by now. I feel I'm acting a little childishishly really. Am I being childish? I think I am aren't I? Still don't feel inclined to call him

Mathsmummy - thanks for the reassurance. I have been pretty bad with my water intake so that's something I am changing.

BB - I only have my ears pierced currently but have had navel and nose in the past. Nipples, ouch!!!!!
Mamas and Papas sell some lovely blankets.
Bath crayons rock but they really stain the grouting.

Bleu - you must post pictures of the finished nursery so we can admire.

Brettgirl - Happy birthday to DH. What are you cooking? I think beng able to take some time for yourself and go for a ride will be invaluable after your baby arrives. Sod what others say.

Springy - that banana thread was hilarious.

Frekkles - not childish if you don't actually want to go over.

thank nutty. grr and meh and hmph and blah. feel like a teenage girl rather than a grown woman with a baby in her belly.

and in other news! hey blue! I've been fantasing about a green nursery also, with lots of plants and flowers in it. If the room is a big bright one, I reckon it'll take a darker green pretty well. Just go for it and enjoy it x

glad you sympathise with me on the mentalness front too, and thanks too to bret girl. I feel like phoning the media and blowing the lid on this whole "pregnancy is rubbish" story. People need to know! I can't believe I didn't actually know how rubbish it is!

bolly, i picked up a bag of baby bedding from some folk who were giving it away on freecycle earlier today. Tis all very simple stuff, just white cotton sheets and such, but i'm going to get a sewing machine and some fabric dye and make it lovely. but mind you i'm not working crazy hours like you are!

ooh and hello too to puzzle and maths mum xx

and also thanks so much to blue for saying lovely stuff a few pages back about raising a creative thoughtful child!

My sister is of the clingy mummy variety. She refuses to leave them with anyone atall, and then is always moaning about how clingy they are, in almost a matyrish proud kinda way. It's very strange. She gets jealous when they want to spand time with me when I go and visit, goes in a strop if one of them ask for their aunty to read them a bed time story. I hope I'm not like her. She also stick religiously to an unbreakable routine, will never break it even for special occassions. But hey, each to their own, she's happy, he kids are happy so I just leave her to get on with it. I just hope I don't feel like she does. Her every thought is based onher daughters and she does nothing else but stuff for them

frekkles, if you're already aware of some of the things you want and don't want to be when it comes to being a mother, then you'll be fine. You're not going to wake up and be someone completely different have no fear.
Some people have nothing in themselves to be; they are defined only by their relationship with others.

I sometimes worry that I will say all these things like for example, not allowing my kids to be clingy or responding to tears at the drop of a hat but wonder if when the baby is actually here, I will look like a complete hypocrite as will do anything for a tear-free hour!!

Have finally finished all my work for the weekend and about to sit down with DH for dinner and tea (yay!)

Can't believe it is Monday again tomorrow (my official countdown starts 10 weeks tomorrow!!!!) the weekends just seem to be going so fast!!!

ooooh, Dh, who has been gone all day cycling has come home baring gifts... Lindor chocolates and dolly mixture... I asked what elso he's going to do to make it up to me... so if I'm gone for a couple hours

is that right bleu?

People keep saying to me that you never know how you are going to react to being a mother. and the way this pregnancy has effected my personality and emotions has really shocked me. So I'm pretty scared about what's going to happen to me next to be honest.

Like at the moment I'm hoping that a month after the baby is born that I'll be able to go to a little festival about 2 hours away (all being well with me and the baby ofcourse). Planning on going in a camper van and initially thinking of it as a day trip, with the ability to stay overnight if i feel like it. But everyone I ask about it just laughs at me and says, once you've had the baby it'll be the last thing you want to do. I really really hope not. fair enough if practically it's not possible health wise,but hopefully it will be ok.

a friend i really respect had her little one four months ago and wrote to me this week "is quite amazing how something can change your whole life and make you not only not miss your old life but wonder what it was really all about in the first place." This freaks me out. It like something's going to steal my brain. I liked my life. I had lots of friends, I made lots of art, I took risks, travelled lots, was widly respected and admired. Why should I not care about any of that and not miss it anymore?

ponderings, ponderings

Frosty, from what I can gather (and what the lovely people on MN say) you do change but not completely you maintain the best parts of the old you and develop new parts! So fingers crossed you will be an even better person than before!!

Have fun bleu!

Will be back in to update more later but I've been to the day unit today for monitoring because of tummy pains! Thankfully DH came home early so was here. A bit scary but everything is OK. Absolutely exhausted now and am off to cook dinner.

Well things ARE going to change. BUT they person you are at heart will be who you still are. I really believe that; I've seen that with my sisters.
In a similar sort of thing DH and I are planning a 2 week-month roadtrip in the States. Tons of people over here (who have just had babies) are saying you won't be able to do that, you can't take a baby to the SouthWest in a car... And taking a baby on the plane... that's just too much- an 8 hour flight. But one of my sister's shrugged and said 'why not?' She took her month old baby down to Florida on a plane and said it really wasn't that bad.
The thing is giving such things a try. Seeing what you and the baby are capable of doing.If it doesn't work out, or if you find it does end up being too much trouble, then you'll be creative and figure out something different to try the next time until you manage to get it to work.

does it worry you?

i can never get enough of the kind of honesty that i can reach when talking anonmynously like this! it's powerful

Just checking in again - have read everything (glad everything's okay Swaliswan! Must've been worrying...) & will post properly later.

Have been doing my rubbish assignment (almost finished!) & am going out for dinner with DP now. Yay

Hope you all have a nice evening x

Hello people. Things have looked up a bit today. I rediscovered my appetite and was actually having a roast lunch (pork, crackling, roast potatoes, 4 veg, apple strudl and whipped cream) cooked by DH when you enquired after me. (Discovering pre-chopped vegetables in Tesco has revolutionised his Sunday mornings!)

I then spent most of the afternoon working on a timeline of the whole NHS debacle to send to BB, to get her opinion.

I then was very brave indeed, took a load of drugs, and went into Cambridge with DH and the boys for an airing. It was great! There weren't too many people there, I bought a couple of books in Waterstones with my Xmas gift voucher, then had coffee on the way back to the car in Pret a Manger, which had lots of seats and hardly any queue. We had parked in the disabled spaces by the University Senate House, and returned at twilight, when surprise, surprise, there was a brilliant Son et Lumiere projected onto the buildings, giving the 800 year history of Cambridge in pictures and animation with a soundtrack of King's College Choir playing in the background. It was lovely to see and I was very proud I had studied and worked there, and been part of something so big. It's reported here, although sadly there are no pictures.

www.800.cam.ac.uk/events/26/

I was in pain coming home but I am a lot happier now than I have been all weekend. I am so pleased to have a good supportive family and good friends on MN to help me through all this. Special thanks to BB. xx