Due May 2009 - There's a bun in my oven and it's making me HOT! HOT! HOT!

[FiKelly]

Shiny new thread already!

Afternoon everyone... Was totally shattered today and thought i'd try and persuade DS to have a nap after lunch with me. I shut the dog in the kitchen on his sheepskin & us in the bedroom with DS's fav programs on the telly and snuggled in the bed. After a bit of grumbling from DS the next thing i knew it was 2.30pm! Wow i feel so much better for just getting an extra hour & a halfs sleep. I'm hoping the extra nap will help DS sleep better too. He's been getting up in the night over the last few nights and think he'd got to the overtired stage. Fingers crossed for tonight it was worth a shot....

grumpy LOL at the sponge... it's a new one on me but what's making mw smile even more is that it has a name and articles on it shame you got cornered into your ML but i'm sure your dd's and you will really appreciate it... and the dog!

pulapula cut fruit gets that weird fizz when it's starting to go off and ferment... sounds like because the packet was not v well sealed the air got to it and it started to turn early. As far as potty training goes DS is not showing pretty much any of the 'signs' yet at 2.5yrs. When asked if he's done a poo he'll say yes/no... but is always wrong. But he is correct when he says he's just weed in his nappy. He'll play with the potty... sit his teddy on it etc and will sit on it fully clothed. Get his nappy off and you can get him to go near it! I'm waiting until the summer... hopefully we'll be moved by then and he can run around without a nappy in the new garden like Belgian suggests. He'll be 3 in August & from what my other friends boys did he should be showing ready.

belgian re your potassium/banana... i found these pages which list other high potassium foods... and scanning the lists many of them have been my foods of choice too... this one and this one

matthewandbumpsmummy How has your day been today? Thinking of you and sending you hugs

pula

Thank you for the link - glad I'm not the only one craving sponge, it's quite popular according to that article.

Me: "hello DD2, did you have a nice day at school? What did you get up to?"

DD2: "dunno"

Classic conversation, I remember having the same conversation with DD1 EVERY DAY.

We're just watching Boogie Beebies - the man on it is looking uber-camp in a pilot uniform. Couldn't explain to DD2 what I was laughing at, but it set off Braxton Hicks!

Meant to say, went to see MW for 28 week appt t'other week and discovered that I had a new midwife. She is LOVELY. She actually listened to what I had to say and she is very pro-homebirth, told me about the ones she has attended, etc. Fabulous lady!!

typo meant Get his nappy off and you can't get him to go near it!

grumpy IKWYM about the boogie beebies man . Great news about your MW what a relief for you! I had my 28wk bloods taken last mon... i phoned the doctors this morning like my MW told me to only to get a narky receptionist telling me they don't give out results and to phone after 3.30pm. Didn't get a chance to say MW told me to phone am (so i could speak to her if the receptionists didn't understand the results) grr. Just phoned the doctors again... guess what.. results are not back! Couldn't they have told me that this am?! double GRRR.

fi like the first link: it's got chocolate on it! Hurray, another good reason to eat chocolate. I tell myself I need the calcium from milk chocolate too As for bananas, luckily they're not the only good food. I'm trying to have more dried apricot, because I read somewhere they're good too, but for some reason I'm really into yoghurt coated dried apricots at the moment, maybe it's a potassium/calcium combo that's just what I need.

grumpy good to hear you've got a nice new mw.

haven't got much time today but matthewandbumpsmum I didn't want to not acknowledge your post. As other have said you have some excellent suggestions and advice here and I don't really have much to add except to say that you are definitely not alone in feeling overwhelmed/scared/apprehensive/etc. Big hugs from me xx

Got to dash, marking exam papers and then off to yoga. Hope everyone is good.

thank you all so much for your support and advise regarding my post yesterday.

am feeling slightly better having read them and do feel maybe just talking about it will be enough to help me through it.

i also to my own shock had a really good long chat with dh last night after id posted and he now seems to understand how i feel a little better and said that he now knows i need more support and help from him around the house and with ds. i think just having spoke about it and admitted to my feelings it has made me feel much better. ds has also been at pre-school today so i have had a nice break from him which also seems to have helped. although i have been feeling really quite ill today i have coped with it much better so far. am still thinking a may speak to gp or mw about it but am hoping the extra support from dh will be enough to help me over it.

thanx again for all your posts, really appriciate it.

sorry still not really in the right frame of mind to read everyones posts and make comments hope you dont mind. think i may just have to go back to skim reading and just post occansionally until i feel up to it.

Quick one....any cramp cures? I'm getting horrid cramp in my ankle, leg and foot at night (and my nap times!) and it hurts!

Hi,

Just back from the MW - had my 28 week bloods. I had been thinking that my bump hadnt grown (it did seem to but then seems back to where it was 2 weeks ago). Measuring 26cm at 28weeks (was 25cm at 26 weeks) and MW wasn't concerned as it was within the normal range but i guess i should keep an eye on growth and contact her if i think i'm not growing. She said i didn't need to go back til 34 weeks but thats Easter Mon so i booked to see her at 33 weeks instead.

hi all. re: bananas - i had two this afternoon... ahem. mixed in with choc milk shake ().

just got back from dd2's mmr jab. couldn't find a sitter for dd1 so she'd come along with us. i was so worried dd1 would cry when dd2 did, but she just watched fascinated. dd2 was a star: cried at the jab part then settled straight away (biscuits helped).

hope matthew&bumpsmummy is ok today.

last night/this morning i was feeling so anxious, felt like an anxiety attack coming, racing heart, breathing, in a tunnel. it was like i was last year before i sought help for PND. also have been a bit of hypochondriac and that fear returned last night. i don't know what brought it on. i'm embarrassed to tell you as my problems don't seem as bad as others' problems. anyway, feel bit more settled now but luckily seeing counsellor Wed and will mention.

do you think it's about new baby arriving? anyone getting anxiety attacks or similar? i just don't know how to handle it sometimes.

momino now you mention it, I've had it happen twice in this pregnancy and once with DS1 in the early days. I do get more anxious in pregnancy, so have always put it down to that.

llareggub - potassium! And more calcium. Magnesium. Clearly you need to eat more milk chocolate. Epsom salts in the bathwater. I find baths generally help my legs a lot, esp before bed. My pg book (er tome) says to stretch calves out a lot during the day. I had it bad one night but since we got the memory foam topper its been ok - not sure how much of a connection there is there though. Could it be related to the pgp? If your sciatic nerve is out of sorts then you'd be feeling it all the way down the backs of your legs and achilles at times. Acupuncture is brilliant for sciatica and cramps, for muscle damage and nerve pain. I wonder if acupuncture would help with pgp and spd for those who have it?

Waitrose dried apricots are really good. I'm not always so keen on dried apricots but since the second trimester I want to eat them all the time. The waitrose ones are just really really good - they taste quite different to the normal ones. After all this chat about them I'm in awe of the humble dried apricot. Keeps you regular if nothing else! Brilliant!

polony

Another groupie for dried apricots here - I bloody love 'em! DD1 is devoted too

llareggub (and polony), DD1 invented a chocolate bar for a school project called (this is genius ) "Aprichoc". Basically, it was chocolate with chopped apricots and I seem to remember a small amount of flapjack crumbly bits because we had it left over. Cadbury appear to have nicked her idea - they do a similar thing now in LARGE bars. Surely this is the answer you are looking for?!?!?! Espcially if banana chips were added at some point?

Does banana Nesquik count? Developed an unexplainable devotion to it over the past few weeks (I usually can't stomach milk...)

Thanks polony and grumpy how I wish I could munch on some milk chocolate this evening to test your theory, however I fear it might cure my cramp but mess up my diabetes. Hmm. Might send DH out for the Sainsburys no added sugar chocolate. It is rather tasty.

Funny you should say that about the memory foam. I had terrible leg cramps in my last pregnancy but we had a really uncomfortable bed too. I've avoided cramp until the last week or so, and it has arrived with the worst of my SPD/back problems. I might well give acupuncture a go...

Oooh I get cramps in my calves too! Clearly need some banana cake!

My parents get crampy legs at night (apparently it happens when you're a bit older), and they swear by having corks in a little bag in the bed. You know, the little string bag that hold washing tablets for washing machines. Yes, you read correctly. I am trying to convince them that they are barking mad, but they won't listen. (probably hasn't helped that they have guzzled the booze for the said corks in the first place...)

Tonic water also helps cramps, cos of the quinine. Shame we can't add a generous splash of gin to it. Ho hum...

I've been getting quite regular leg cramps (at least once a night) but have got these in both previous pg too. I think banana does help- haven't had any in the house for a while but will have one tonight and see how i get on.

At the docs today there was a mum with 2 boys and a younger girl, and she said to me she thought she was being brave having 3 under 5 and a half but could see i would be having 3 younger ones (3 under 4.6). Her boys were 2 or 3 years apart and doing the usual play fighting thing- this is the main reason why i didnt want 2 boys (after being outnumbered by males in the household)....oh well- should be interesting...

Momino I haven't had any panic attacks while pg but I wouldn't be surprised if anybody did. I think a lot of us are just that bit more anxious/on edge/obsessive than usual and clearly having babies has everything to do with it.

If being pregnant makes people want to chew on a bath sponge, nothing at all should surprise us. For every strange idea/emotion first port of enquiry ought to be pregnancy.

Momino the PND must be a frightening and painful memory and make it esp scary to be having similar symptoms now.

Oh crap llareggub sorry - and I was writing that thinking, jeez, GD and PGP what a hassle. Can I put that down to placenta brain? Please?

LOL at the munching sponge cravings - at least your mouth will be clean and if you need to fart you'll maybe produce bubbles!!!

Matthewsandbumpsmummy - you have done the right thing acknowledging how you feel. I understand sometimes it is hard to find the words to describe it all - it's all so overwhelming and BIG. As for having so much to do and not knowing how to think it all through - try to make a step-by-step list of what you need to do to complete a task; ask someone to help you; or ask yourself if it really needs done, or can wait. Please speak to your GP or MW too. Leaning on you DH is good and it is advisble to let him know how you're feeling, but it is also a good idea to get help externally too so you dh doesn't have it all to deal with single handed. Maybe he could go to the GP/MW with you and speak about this together - both of your fears??? Big hug, babe, and come back as and when you need to - we're all here for you.

Who was it that was saying her DH asked her to work for him doing the accounts, orders etc- I couldnt recommend doing this highly enough! Its what I do! I'm medically retired (neck probs) and dh & I started a company - we now employ staff and I do what I need to do - ie the accounts, stock ordering, staff paying - etc all the office stuff that I can do from home! I work while ds is at school and if necessary when he goes to bed. I hope to be able to fit things in when this one is born.

Puffed out here too - very breathless. Baby too making things uncomfortable!! Looking forward to a good night's sleep - stayed up last night to 11pm to watch Ross Kemp in Afganistan - too late....zzzz all day.

Do you have to watch it with fruit as well because of its sugar content? Does that mean the illustrious apricot is out? And tonic water - although is there a sugar free variety (but then it would have aspartame or what have you, wouldn't it...)? The tonic water has to be schweppes btw because the others don't contain the quinine. Go the acupuncture.

polony sorry, I didn't mean to sound miserable! I doesn't really bother me now, to be honest. I've got my head around what I can and can't eat and now that I'm pregnant I seem to have lost my sweet tooth anyway. I have to check the sugar content of foods, so anything with a total carb per 100g that sugars over 15g is out. I can eat as much bacon as I want but have to go easy on the bread, so I've been making my own and leaving out the sugar.

Bananas are pretty high as a fruit with natural sugars, but I'm sure a small one as a snack would be OK. I've had to watch things like dried fruit as it sent my blood sugar rocketing, although lately it hasn't been too bad. Maybe I'm getting better!

I've got work people coming over tomorrow to pick my brains on something. I really don;t know how I feel about it. I invited them to lunch but now it has turned into a working lunch when all I wanted was a gossip and a natter. I guess I don't mind answering questions but I've really got out of work mode so I'm not sure how productive I will be, particularly with a very boisterous toddler around! To make matters worse, I've turned off my blackberry and not checked it since I left, so they well have been bombarding me with urgent stuff for a week since I left....

pulapula I meant to say this earlier, but got distracted. Your employer can claim back the full cost of the statutory maternity pay, so don't feel too guilty.

polony, i agree this is an anxious time and, along with hormones, am not surprised at panic attacks, AND, PND, etc.

I am scared about relapsing to where I was last year but am very aware of it so hope to get the support necessary.

llareggub, that true about employer claiming back smp?

Llareggub, thanks for trying to make me feel less guilty but I work for the civil service, so its not really the money thats the issue - its the fact they can't backfill so the staff left at work have to take on my workload. So i get a lot of comments (light-hearted) about 9 month "holidays" etc. Really i think maternity leave should be funded out of a central departmental budget so that teams aren't penalised just because they contain pg women.

Yes, it is. Small businesses can claim back more than 100% of it, although it was a quite a while ago that I was told that. I've no idea how it works though, but I'd imagine that is why SMP is dependent upon production of a MATB1.

Have just googled: this is from the workingfamilies.gov.uk website

Reclaiming SMP

Although the majority of employers can recover 92% of the SMP from the Government through the NI/PAYE system, small businesses (defined as those whose annual National Insurance contributions are less than £45,000) are reimbursed 100% of the SMP plus an extra 4.5 % ?compensation?.