Due May 2009 Hairy Mary!... We're on the final stretch!

[Belgianchocolates]

Thought I'd better start the new thread before it was too late. Here we go!

Hello everyone

Just a quick one to say that the phone call went as expected. Had a lot of tears last night, and then a BIG glass of wine from my Mum. Was half way through my 4th year of this doctorate in health care, and they said I can appeal but they didn't sound very encouraging. Apparently I can come away with an MSc in Professional Healthcare Research, which I guess is better than nothing, but it sounds a bit wanky, and I've already got an MSc so am a bit as its not like I can put 2 MSc's after my name, IYSWIM. Still, I've got some academic friends who are going to go through all the paperwork with me and see if I can appeal - one of my tutors had actually made a very snide comment about my being pregnant, so my friend reckons we might be able to pull some discriminatory card. Who knows. Funny that there were about 10 of us to start, and now there's only one chap left. Also, I was the youngest by about 15 years, and the only one still working in clinical nursing (everyone else was in management or academia) so maybe I was just trying a bit too much too soon. Also not sure how I'm going to face everyone saying I've failed. Hmm. Might fib and say I've quit.

Anyway, am at the piercing conversation!! I nearly did naughty ones, but I chickened out!

Right, I'm off to Devon now for a few days - will be back on Sunday for more chats. Thank you SO much for all your kind words of support - they really do mean a lot to me xx

sausage i'd appeal... you've nothing to lose have a lovely break and sending big hugs. x

Ok I've been brave (inspired by belgian) and taken some naked bump pics & uploaded them to my pics. I think they look make the bump look smaller than when it's clothed

I'm so sorry sausage. It is definitely worth appealing. Good luck and have a wonderful time in Devon. x

i'm sorry too sausage, and agree with the others about worthi it to appeal.
take care in Devon.

llareggub, have noted the iron tabs advice and might have a go.

hope all are well today.

Ooooh, maybe speak to your midwife first Momimo I've no idea if it is just coincidence or not! Not sure if you should take them without needing them!

Morning everyone,

Sorry Sausage, I agree with everyone else about appealing, don' worry about telling people, people can think what they like,I doubt anyone is going to say anything to upset you further, especially when pregnant, that would be too cruel!

Your coming to my neck of the woods, where abouts in Devon??

Im havin a rather odd day today, at 8.30 I felt really ill, my ribs were hurtin and I was really short of breath, was really worried and started to freak out, by 9.30 I was fine and ad a sudden burst of energy and did loads of housework and have just sat down with a cup of tea! Rang DP to tell him, he's in shock! Im normally really slack with housework, usually only do one task a day, I just don't have the motivation to do anything anymore, so god knows what happened today!

Fi Your bump is lovely! The face on pic is really good, bump looks like a football!

Sorry sausage - another MSC still sounds impressive to me though! I would definitely look into appealing. Try not to worry about what people think - tell them you've quit like you say.

Jael, hope you are OK - let us know how it goes.

I'm full of cold - it's at the coughing stage now. At least I'm no longer blowing my nose every 5 minutes. x

Sausage sorry to hear your news. Do you have a deadline for an appeal? Just wondering if the stress and hassle of the appeal is right at the moment, I guess it depends on your motivation and other factors in your life right now.

chocbunnies are you nesting?

Here I am for my sporadic posting session.

sausage I agree an MSc sounds bloody impressive to me but I take your point and am sorry it didn't turn out like you wanted. Do enjoy your break in Devon though.

I have an ante natal appointment at hospital this afternoon. Quite relieved that I have one as am feeling nervous my blood pressure is on its way up. (I had to be induced with DS because of this). My fingers have really swollen up in the last two hours. At 9am I could esily slide my rings on and off and now its much more difficult. So, just in case, I have half packed a bag with stuff in for a potential overnight stay! Hoping I am being overly pessimistic about this.

Its horribly gusty and rainy here at the moment which isn't helping my mood!

Hope the rest of you are OK!

Oh Crap! Could well be 1stMrsF ! Uh oh!

I just keep finding more little bits to do, honestly I dont do the amount I've done today in a week normally!

ladyhelen Try not to worry, hope everything goes ok, good idea taking a bag just in case though, rather exciting!

Sausage I'm so sorry to hear that. How frustrating and heartbreaking.

Iron Don't take it unless you have been told you need it. It's highly toxic and very easy to overdose.....If the side effects don't limit it's use.

Ladyhelen good luck with the appointment.

I was just about to type how I've wasted most of the morning watching the birds in my new garden. I got some bird feeding stuff for my birthday and seen so many birds this moring I'm struggling to drag myself away. Anyway I decided to go to my knitting chest and get some wool to hang up in bundles of strands around the garden for nesting, and found all my newborn nappy wraps and muslins so not a completely wasted morning. I've also made soup, bread and sandwiches for dh and am about to go swimming before I get my hair cut. Still no idea what to cook for dinner tonight though. I love not working, but am really not looking forward to going back next week.

thanks about the Iron warning Jennster. I'm thinking, then, about uptaking my leafy greens and meat. can't hurt anyway, can it?

our work email is down so happy to be taking a little break. still have so much to do. and just today, bits of tomorrow and Sun to wrap up. can't wait to be on mat leave!

chocolatebunnies, please could you send some of your nesting vibes this way? i need to get some cleaning done in this house.

Good luck with your appointment ladyhelen Fingers crossed they won't keep you in.

Sausage sorry to hear your disappointing news. You should definitely appeal, if that's not too stressful a process. It might be better to wait until after the birth of your LO if you can.

I second what Jennster says about iron supplements. Be careful. Whenever I've taken them in the past terrible constipation is almost guaranteed!

I'm at home today with a poorly DD. She has picked up a cold from her Grandad. It's amazing what a bowl of ice-cream can do for a sickly toddler though - I have let her eat it in front of Cbeebies and she is chuffed to bits! DH also has cold but as I've had one for the last 6 months I probably wouldn't even notice if I came down with this one...

chocolatebunnies hee hee could be nesting i'm going through a shattered all the time phase so struggling to motivate myself to do any housework.. still getting it done albeit slower.. but need to strip and change our kingsize bed. just don't have the oomph for it.. think i'll get dh to help tonight.

msg fingers crossed your cold clears up quick.

ladyhelen really hoping your swelling is just swelling and not pe. i also had that last time and i'm keeping everything crossed it doesn't arrive at end of this pregnancy. hope to see your all clear post later today.

yes in the front bump pic i do look like i've eaten a football.. in real life i think it looks more like i've swallowed an inflateable beach ball.. esp at the end of the day when i'm stuffed full of food too

Momino- green leafy veg with a citrus drink will enhance uptake of the iron, and as mentioned somewhere in the dim and distant past, dried apricots. Sesame seeds, boiled eggs, baked beans, fortified breakfast cereals and dried figs are all good sources too.

emmalina I get the paradoxical opposite, so have only just got my iron levels up to spec.

Bit of an aside her - some of you might remember a couple of months ago I posted about my best friend who was due at the end of April but suffering from placenta previa. She was admitted to hospital at 28 weeks and has spent 8 (yes EIGHT!) weeks on the maternity ward - her c-section was booked for last Monday which would have been 36 weeks. BUT she started having contractions on Saturday and so had an emergency cs early Sunday morning. She now has a beautiful healthy baby girl. Such a happy ending. I am so chuffed I thought I would share with you all!

Jennster, thanks for the advice, am going to tuck into a bag of apricots right now.

emmalinaC, happy news about your friend. hope your dd feels better, by the way.

ladyhelen, hope you're feeling better and don't need that hosp bag (good idea anyway).

emmalina great news about your friend

Good afternoon everyone,

I was amazed at the piecsing confessions, especially you divedaisy! It shouldn't really be in the way for the birth, so I don't think you'll have to remove it, but you might want to warn your mw so she's not too surprised when your lo is on it's way! Personally I'm a piercing free zone. I've only got ear piercings from when I was little, but I never wear earings, because they always end up getting infected or irritated. I think it's a sensitive skin thing.

re: iron. Diet is definitely a good idea: red meat and leafy green veg. I also generally advise women to take 'spatone'. It's a mineral water from a source somewhere in Wales, which has a hight iron content. It's sold in health stores and boots and comes in a white and orange box of 14 or 28 sachets. You dilute 1 or 2 sachets a day in some orange juice. I've been taking it throughout my pregnancy and even though I ended up anaemic, I think it prevented my hb from tumbling down dramatically. (It went from 11.9 at booking to 11.6 at 28 weeks, which isn't too bad a drop). The spatone iron is much kinder to the digestive system too and it didn't affect me at all, as opposed to the tablets I am taking.

sausagen yes, definitely appeal. You don't really have anything to loose by it and I also think 2 MSc's is pretty impressive anyway.

chocbunnies Sounds like you're nesting to me

ladyhelen Hope your hospital appointment went OK.

I'm tired today after my night out last night. It was nice to see all the colleagues again, but they were talking about work half the time and I had no idea what they were on about, because I haven't been there in 5 weeks now. I got another present from them, this time for me and not baby. They're such a nice bunch.
I haven't actually accomplished much today yet. I decided to have a warm bath this morning because of my back, then I modified my support belt, because it had become too short again and I didn't want to go all the way to hospital again to get a longer one, so I sewed a bit from my old one to my current one and it feels so much better. After that I had some lunch and before you know it, it's already 1 o'clock again. I'm putting off going through my journals to look up some stuff for my presentation, because they're on the bottom shelf in the cupboard and it's almost impossible to reach that low due to bump being in the way and the SPD keeping me from getting up from kneeling, but I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and go for it.

Iron again - this one is ok too but tastes very sweet.

jennster making a note of that one too.. when i'm off the iron tablets it's good to know of a few non constipated options

Hi all,

Jael hope you are feeling better now and LadyHelen - hope all goes well with you today. Sausagenmash - sorry to hear about your course - hope you're able to appeal.

Momino - a word of warning about the apricots - don't eat too many they can have a laxative effect - as I found out at the weekend I noted that Lidl were selling bottled water with added iron not long ago - not sure if it'll make a difference!

Interesting discussion on CS v natural birth. I agree it is a personal decision for each individual. I have a growth scan in a couple of weeks and then I'll make a decision whether I have a cs or not. On the one hand ds climbs over me and I can see the cs recovery being a nightmare, but on the other hand I can't afford to spend a week in hospital and have another child in SCBU due to birth trauma. DS was 10lb with a big head!! I was also a bit that people who had 8lbers last time referred to them as big babies - I thought that was normal weight nowadays!

I too am exhausted - don't know how I'll manage another month at work but needs must! Took some equipment onto the ward the other day and a patient said to me - don't drop anything here - you're on the wrong ward!!! It took me awhile to work out what he was on about