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.

Oooh I DO LOVE carrot cake. It's been ages since I've had any...maybe I should go to Waitrose this aft and see if they have any at the bakery... mmmm

Thanks Nutty. I hope it doesn't come to that though, we certainly can't afford it.

at Bleu.

Kitty, thanks for the offer to help. Basically we're considering two options at the moment - one is renting a cottage in Devon - easy and relatively cheap but then you have to shop and cook yourself. The other option is the lazy one - all inclusive in a hotel in the alps, with a bit of walking, sauna, swimming etc. This particular hotel I fell in love with is part of the Kinderhotel chain which means it's all geared up for babies and toddlers, with free creche / childcare / babysitting, adventure playground, soft play area, toddler's pool, ponies, kid's meals... the lot. I guess for what it is the price is okay...but maybe wanting to stay in a hotel is just madness with two LOs!?

Bump size... don't worry, in my NCT class we were all different sizes! Swimming... I was advised to avoid breaststroke as that's bad for your hips.

yup you are right nutty - dont remember anything like as many spd and other pain related problems in my due in august thread last time - must have been something in the water in late July/early August.

Puzzlerocks - what has the mw done, and can the hopsital not assign you a new one if you ask?

Schulte - if the price includes all that, it's prob not a bad deal... esp the free childcare! I guess it depends on what you want to do - be waited on hand & foot or do your own cooking & cleaning... up to you.

Thanks all for bump reassurance - it's so scary when you're a first-timer who's not quite sure what she's doing!!

This is just me offering my story to help confuse things all the more, but...

Early on in my pregancy I was having a lot of pain and symptoms which suggested SPD also. I was miserable with it for about 3 /4 weeks (at about week 8 of the pg) and the GP and MW just told me the keep the knees together and don't stand on one foot at a time if you can help it stuff... Then one day about 12 weeks into the pregnancy I had a bit of a scare with horrible horrible pain and then I spotted a bit too. (I thought I was having a miscarriage because I was nervous about having one because I had 2 earlier in the previous year). So I called the GP in a right panic and they had me come in. Heard the baby's heart beat and found things were fine, but when they tested my pee it had traces of high white blood counts (so perhaps a beginning of an infection of some sort), so they put me on antibiotics. Within a week all the SPD symptoms disappeared...
Maybe coincidence. I guess your pee tests would be giving clues to the MW if there was high white blood counts...
But I thought I'd just muddy the waters all the more...

Conker - I only put an informal complaint in this morning through Patient Liaison so I will wait to hear back from them first.
I hope this doesn't sound pathetic and trivial what with the issues everyone else is having.
I saw her for my bookng in appointment for which she was late. Other than that, all well and good and she made my next two appointments then and there. The day before my 18 week appointment she rang me to say she had to cancel, she had more urgent matters to attend to, fair enough but I was a bit surprised she didn't want to reschedule but simply cancelled.

So I finally see my gp in the New Year at 25 weeks having not had my bp or urine checked
since 12 weeks.
Next week I am due to have my 28 week check with the midwife and I was wondering if I needed a glucose tolerance test as this was done at 28 weeks with DD. I rang first thing to check so she would not be in appointments. She had no idea who I was, couldn't get my name right and told me she didn't have my appointment booked in. Good thing I rang up and didn't just turn up as I would have had a wasted journey. She makes a big thing of how busy she is that day and very reluctantly squeezes me in when I explain I haven't seen her since I was 12 weeks pregnant and believe I am DUE an appointment. She then tries to hang up before I can ask about glucose. She says "Can you hurry up, I have appointmentss" which really pisses me off as I want ust two miniutes of her time after being gnored for so long. She tells me she has "no idea" about the test. Great, thanks.

She is abrupt bordering on rude, utterly disinterested and totally disorganised and I have no faith in her. Coupled with the fact I would like a homebirth, I am terrifed at the prospect of her being the only "professional" in attendance.

Am I overreacting?

Kitty... after the initial shock I have nearly convinced myself now that it's an okay price BUT do tell me what else you can get for that money as a family of four... 2 weeks in Thailand? Just to put it into context

Puzzle - you are NOT overreacting!! What a horrible cow! Is she paid to do her job or not? Cos it sounds to me as if she's not doing it properly!
If you were a first timer who didn't know how things were supposed to go, you would have been left TOTALLY in the dark for weeks and that is so wrong!
I think you're totally right to complain...

Puzzle - your midwife sounds cr@p! Can you ask to be looked after by a different one?

By the way have a pack of Belgian waffles on offer, anyone?Where does all this rubbish about needing 200 extra calories a day come from, I am certain I need at least 2000 extra calories at the moment!

oh Puzzle; does not sound good at all. You are NOT over reacting. One has the right to be seen and heard. If she didn't have the time to take your call she should not have taken it in the first place and should have then taken a mesage to call you back AND called you back. If she is so busy she cannot see you then she should refer you to someone else herself.

Eating I'm having a terrible time with the eating again Hungry all the time but when I do eat anything other than grains I get an upset stomach and an agitated feeling which takes HOURS to get rid of... I love little Sprite, but hate pregnancy.

Schulte - the holiday company I worked for doesn't specialise in family travel unfortunately, so I wouldn't be able to do an exact like-for-like in terms of childcare costs etc. However I do know that for that sort of price you COULD get two weeks in Thailand or South Africa or even Florida for a family of four - on a fully incl or half-board basis. Try these operators for cheap deals -

www.thomsonworldwide.co.uk
www.hayesandjarvis.co.uk
www.flyglobespan.co.uk
www.takethefamily. com

Good luck! Pack the sunscreen...

yup puzzlerocks - think thats an overwhelming yanbu vibe from this thread. agree with all thats been said - she could have phoned you back if she was that busy, but given her track record i could totally see why you wouldnt want to rely on that - sounds like she is a miserable old so and so, and i would definitely want a different one for a hb.

totally agree that the 200 extra calorie thing cant be right - woke up starving again last night but ds was in bed with me so didnt want to wake him. hungry practically all the time just now.

bleuravin - thats interesting about the infection cause i did wonder at one point if i might have a uti but nothing has shown up so far - have an appointment on Tuesday so guess it will all get checked again then.

vezzie - i havent got anything washed dried etc yet for the new lo - but most stuff i have from ds so not much to buy thank goodness. will be on mat leave at 32 weeks though so reckon that will be plenty of time.

I like it Nutty

Kitty thanks so much for the links, will check them out!