Due April 2009: Episode 18 - Mumble gets married and we have triplets and twins here!!

[PuzzleRocks]

Let the ramblings commence.

I keep meaning to buy the stuff to go into my hospital bag, but I just haven't yet got round to it. I may do this tomorrow....

I also keep staring at all the gorgeous baby stuff I have . Four weeks and six days until my due date - I bet anything I will go over. Looking on the bright side only one week and six days till 'full term'.

Trista - have you tried asking the nursery if there is any help available? Is it a private or state one?

It's a state one. I'm going to ask them today, fingers crossed

Morning all

Officially full term today - 3 weeks til DD!! yay! (although sure I will be over too , I still haven't packed my hospital bag tho - have done the baby's one but not mine!!

LuLu, it's really interesting to see how your DD is doing with languages, our LO will need to be bi-lingual from very early on as DH's family speak very little english (particularly his mum) so there will be a necessity for the baby to be able to communicate. My biggest worry is that it will lag behind in the early stages trying to pick up two different languages.

Trista - am not sure but don't think you will have much luck to be fair - do you know any other parents that could help you out?

I'm trying to adjust my mind to going past my due date so that I'm not really disappointed and impatient if it does happen.
I'll probably still be really grumpy though!

re the bilingualism thing: English is very much DS's minority language, as DH and I speak French together, the environment is solely French-speaking and his CM and school are too.
His input in English comes from me, my family/friends when visits happen and DVDs.
He mixed things up a bit for a while and it was only really after our Christmas holiday in Scotland this year that he started speaking solely English to me. He now does so even when he's in a French-speaking context, and he switches between the two languages when he's with DH and me.
He'll be 4 in 10 days' time.
There are still words that he uses wrongly in English (at night he asks if I'll "rest" with him for a minute, instead of "stay", and he makes lots of verbs reflexive that aren't) but he also makes classic English-speakers' errors in French, especially with prepositions (attendre pour quelqu'un, regarder à quelque chose, etc.).
But his English is really good, and his French is streets ahead of that spoken by kids his age here. It's worth sticking at if you can...

No parents I would trust BB, I've seen the way some of them don't even hold their LO's hand to cross the road, they let them walk way behind etc. I just wouldn't settle.

Anyway it's time to get ready for nursery, wish me luck I'll be back this evening

BB: it's not necessarily true that bilingual contexts make kids slow to speak. They compartmentalise well if you stick to the OPOL approach, and they associate one person with one language which helps them get things clear in their minds.
DS spoke very well from an early age (albeit mostly in French), and his language skills are well above average. I really got the impression, watching him, that the dual language thing made him more alert and sensitive to language and that he became more interested in speech and language than other kids.
I have to say that we also, without consciously deciding to do so, both spoke to him in a fairly adult way right from the start, without any baby words or things like that, which I think helped him to grasp proper syntax, etc.
Then again, maybe it's just that he's a right old blether like his mother...!

Auld - Good to hear from you. Boy have you had a lot on your plate. And poor little DS too, the school situation really is a joke. That's awful about his CM.
I hope you find some time to rest amongst all your plans.

Trista - I hope you are feeling a bit better today?

Brettgirl - I have witnessed window snobbery on here before. It made me laugh too. Some people really don't have enough to worry about do they?

B52's - You need to conceal a water pistol about your person for the next time DH tries a spot of wife baiting.

one week to go at work!!!

Checked out the hospital yesterday as they have had a new birthing unit built since I had DD. It looks pretty impressive. Had a scan last week and baby's head is down. DD was breech and I had her turned a week before she was born - didn't fancy going through that again. Extra scan was due to low lying placenta early on - apparently this is fine now so all looks good to go!

MIL has offered to come up Easter week to help out - not sure how helpful she will be - has been pretty useless with DD who will be 4 in June - at Christmas DD didn't even hug or kiss her when she came to visit (she is pretty much a stranger). Have said to DH as diplomatically as possible that I'm not sure about taking her up on her offer.

My parents who live in a different country see more of us. Unfortunately they are not in a position to travel as next door neighbour has cancer and may only have weeks to live - they have been neighbours all my life

Anyway enough about me - but I find it hard to keep up with conversations here so find it easier just to give the odd update...

Congrats to the newly weds and to all have already welcomed their new arrivals

Purlease understand where you are coming from - DH's parents wanted to come for a month to help out post baby and I was petrified as to be honest entertaining them is equally hard work - this was all before PIL died which obviously changed things but I was really struggling on how to tell DH that I didn't think it was a good idea and while i loved them and wanted to see them, it wasn't actually going to help me at all!!

Sorry to hear about your neighbours but yay that scan all showed good things!!

Afternoon!

Auld - glad to see you on here. I was a little worried as you had gone so quiet.

Thanks everyone for comments on bilingualism. Glad to hear how others are getting on. Think I was just having a little wobble about her ability to make herself understood which might be a particular issue if she needs to be more independent from me when the new baby comes.

BB - same here... my Mum was all for getting on a plane two weeks BEFORE the due date, to "help" before, during and after the birth. DH and I had to be very firm in saying "we'd like you to come 2 weeks after to give us time to be a family" - she was REALLY pissed off at first but has got used to the idea now. Thank goodness - I've already had a few disturbing conversations with her regarding sleeping positions (on the side???), bottles of water in between BF, weaning etc - and she's not even born yet...

I reckon the two weeks she's here are going to be FUN, what do you say??

Brettgirl - if your DH wants to read more about pregnancy and babies this book is quite good fatherhood: the truth - it's quite funny (I read it too) as well as having lots of info in. My DH occasionally still quotes from it!

That said, I really wouldn't know how to answer the question 'what's a cervix for'.

purlease - lucky you getting to do a hospital tour. Mine don't do them!

Ha ha - I think you are in for a fun time!! It's really hard isn't it to say no - I am just going to be fairly relaxed about it all I think and just let them get on with it and if I feel like their advice is worthwhile I'll take it on board, if not I won't bother!

How can a baby support themselves on their side?

To be fair my mum has bee surprisingly good (I was very shocked) and the most DH's mum said is to persevere with the BFing even if it feels to hard because 'it will happen' (to be fair her other DIL opted for elective CS, and FF straight away which although is fine - not the traditional thing to to do over there so think she is hoping I will be a bit more like a good turkish mother!!)

LuLu - mine did nothing but freak me out - was all far too real!! wish I hadn't gone to be honest!

I'm back. So much for packing a minimalist bag then... two packs of maternity pads and a dressing gown and the darn thing is pretty much full!

Not sure if this has been mentioned before but for those still wondering what to pack, definitely include a couple of plastic bags to take dirty clothes home in.

Maybe I shouldn't bother with the dressing gown and take a cardi instead - also useful for wearing on the way home

And on window snobbery - luckily have just replaced all our metal shattel windows with timber shashes. Phew - that was a close shave. Was at serious risk of being drummed off MN there . Not to mention the psychological scarring that my children would have endured from growing up in a house with the wrong windows.

Schulte - I usually find that hospital wards are quite overheated anyway so would leave the dressing gown. As you say, a cardi can be dual purpose.

Well remembered about bags for dirties! I have piled up all my hospital bag stuff but haven't actually tried to pack it yet. Remembered lots of cartons of juice but DD has discovered where the stash is and is working her way through them.

LuLu, my LO is in for it, we have (wait for it) PVC double glazing!!!

Shultes, I am not taking a DG, my PJs are trousers and top so can't be doing that - am also hoping to god that I am not in overnight!!!

My MIL arrived here a couple of days after DD was born armed with lots of salami, parma ham, pate, unpasteurized cheeses, homemade cake and a bottle of champagne. That's what they are supposed to do as far as I am concerned! Now she likes to quote from Dr. Spock's childcare bible, bless her, but I choose to ignore most of the advice

Kitty I think you have done the right thing about your mother. Of course she will be a bit annoyed but in the grand scheme of things she will forget and you will appreciate the time as a family. It's quite a major upheaval and a bit of privacy helps you get through it.

Oh BB you may well end up staying in overnight especially as a first time mum. They want you to have worked out how to bf, and the pediatrician needs to check LO over, and I had to stay in for 2 nights because DD hadn't done a poo yet. (She did during the birth but apparently that didn't count.)

Yes sod it, I'll take the DG out again, it takes up far too much space.

LOL LuLu at DD drinking your juice! Mine will only have freshly squeezed OJ. The girl's got taste {grin]

Oh dear BB - your poor children. PVC double glazing. The shame.

And BB - do prepare yourself to have to spend at least one night in. I was desperate to get straight out too. I had a really 'good' birth and DD was born by 9.25am so I was very optimistic that they would let me out by that evening. I kept asking everybody who went past if I could go home . but they wouldn't as it was my first baby.

Schulte - can you send your MIL over my way please? I'm prepared to listen to Dr Spock's top baby tips if there is champagne and plentiful yummy food in return .