Due May '09 - wave your bum in the air, like you just don't care !

[Tummum]

Here we go !

Blotted sorry to hear you are in so much pain - take some painkillers won't you? Don't just suffer it, but do enjoy your day in bed.

Febes - why finger puppets??? Are your fingers cold???!!!!!

Oh and Blotted I found the best way to deal with the 'but why????' questioins is to ask 'why do you think?' back - that gets them to come up wiith their own idea that usually satifies their curiousity!!!

Febes row your boat is a fav of ds too and v envious of your lie in. Did too much sorting/carrying of toys from one room to another and packing yesterday and was shattered when i woke up this morning!

Momino & divedaisy you night owls! i'm struggling to stay awake past 11pm to relax and watch telly...

Ds was slow to walk and talk in comparison to my friends girls... about 14months when he started to walk all the time. He was a lightening quick roller then crawler so i think he just couldn't be bothered. When he got round to talking he seemed to go straight from pointing at things and making 'uhhh uhhh' noises to saying 2 words together?! now at 32months he's on to 4 word sentences and it's scary how many words he's picked up... even ones i'd wish he'd not heard somewhere

cote sorry to hear you now have spd... and the carpal tunnel is v annoying too. I too wore the splints overnight last time with ds and they really helped my claw/tingly pins and needles/numb hands... try to keep your wrists straight in line with your hands as much as possible rather than bend your hands over at angles (if you can) as this helps not compress the carpal tunnel inside your wrists so much.

frazzle sorry to hear you might not have your HB... but if my DH was so against it i'd not have the strength to fight it either. Nothing worse than having a 'on your head be it' comment hanging over you. My DH was ok with the idea of a HB last time... mainly as there was v little difference facilities wise between our local MW birthing centre and staying at home but we both liked the idea that we'd have a MW to ourselves for the duration of the birth at home. The nearest full blown hospital with all options of delivery/emcs/epidurals etc is in bristol 20miles away... so if i'd had any difficulties with my HB or delivery in the local MW led unit i'd have been transferred by ambulance to there from where ever i was here anyway. This time we have to go to hospital in bristol as i didn't get my HB due to PE at 38.5wks and complications with DS.

Loving the sprightly grandparents unfortunately mine are all gone since my 20's... neither DH's mum or my parents are really that fit... and def wouldn't manage on a quad bike and they're 60's/70's!

daisydoo you had a fair trek to ikea then even before you arrived. I found the 20 miles from weston and back tiring enough and have to admit we didn't linger in ikea at all... went in.. got the drawers we needed and left. With the other shops we had to go to it was more than enough for me and i was dozing on the sofa shortly after ds went to bed... as DH was building the chest of drawers in our bedroom. As soon as he finished i was off to bed... even too tired to listen to the natal hypnotherapy!

The merino swaddling wraps look gorgeous... but ds hated being swaddled. No matter how we wrapped him up he always managed to wriggle out one arm and hand! I still have one of the cotton ones we had for him so i'm going to try it again with our girl. Who knows she may like it?! I love the look of the bags though and NB to 2yrs is great size and v good value too. so might get one of those as i'd given some of ds's grobags away and need another bag.

My family is scottish so we always did egg rolling but growing up in england my friends always did easter egg hunts. So i got to do both growing up this year i'm too shattered to do much at home but one of my non pregnant friends has invited ds to a sugar fest egg hunt this afternoon in her garden... weather so far is lovely and sunny so we're off to that later on today.

divedaisy Suzannah Grace is my fav of your name choices... and the fitted moses sheets are yours if you want them. I don't want anything for them as I was given them.. just send me your address via facebook message and i'll drop them in the post. I just didn't want them to go to waste How annoying for you with the easter bunny story thing... i would be irritated with the teacher too.

blotted my pal has a 33m old who screams/shouts a lot... frustration seems to be the trigger for the main part. DS has never been one for loud shouting but has his moments of tantrums and tears when v tired...

just looked at spangles pictures... harvey is gorgeous. I can't wait to see all the pictures of all of our LO's when the time comes. I think looby will next too

I think i've just about caught up now... so off to let the dog out for a wee and then make myself a cup of green tea with pomegranate...

I'm so tired this morning! I'm really not sleeping well at all, with loo trips every couple of hours or so. DH has taken DS out for a couple of hours and I am supposed to be preparing our Sunday lunch but I really cannot be bothered. I need a couple of fireworks to get me going.

It doesn't help that my mother's leaving gift was a horrid cold. Thanks, mother. Would you have visited a heavily pregnant daughter and grandson with a filthy cold? I wouldn't!

Morning all,

Sorry to hear you're not well llare lots

I'm not sleeping well either, 2 hourly loo trips but annoyingly feeling v thirsty all the time too!

Since yesterday pm the lo doesn't seem to be moving as much. I have felt movements but not so many kicks in ribs so wondering if he's beginning to drop? Am not sure how much reduced movement is too much and worth calling someone over?? Any suggestions?

Pelvis was v painful yesterday too but I put that down to sitting around for too long over a pub lunch with friends.

How cute are those merino wraps and bags? Don't think I can afford them but my dad and his gf have asked if they can buy something for the baby so am thinking I might cheekily ask for a contribution towards the go go bag set, will be good for camping I think.

cote lol at 'the claw' as that's exactly how I feel some mornings. Its not pleasant tho. My yoga teacher showed us some stretches in class including thiswww.eatonhand.com/hw/ctexercise.htm which has helped me a bit. Might be worht a go.

frazz sorry dh isn't being supportive of your HB. Do you know anyone who's had a really positive HB experience you could get around (with their partner) to talk to you both about it? My Dr friend is probably the most negative person about childbirth that I know as well so just having the opinions of people who like to medicalise things is prob not getting the most balanced view of things.

divedaisy I love susannah grace too, also like Charis (but personally prefer the welsh spelling Carys) I also like Rose for a middle name.

Can't remember if I posted this or not yet, we are struggling for a middle name for our lo. We have a 2 syllable first name beginning with E, single syllable surname and thinking that it needs to be something long. Dh likes Alexander but not convinced. Any suggestions?

Hope I haven't missed out on anything else, had a quick scan back. am going to cook my lovely DH a nice Easter sunday lunch. Be back later.
xx

Happy Easter everyone!

Will catch up later...but need a moan

I was so sad yesterday and I don't know why. I felt like I was going to cry all day and DH was working and when he got home I had a frown the whole time and was probably a right cow. I spoke to my mom yesterday which probably didn't help. We are not religious but Easter was an excuss to get the family together and so my mom and I would be cooking all day and laughing and dancing in the kitchen and just being with my family. So maybe I am upset that I am missing that and don't have anybody here.

So I went to bed at 9pm cause I could not stand it anymore, and today I woke up and I am dying. I feel so sick! My throat, ears head body...you name it. I have been sick twice and I cannot even keep my eyes open and guess what...DH got a call to do overtime so he is at work...again! Ok, so he will be home at 2:30 but still. I am in so much pain and feeling so crappy I just want to curl in a ball and cry. My calves are killing me cause I keep getting cramps in my sleep causing me to cry and have to get up and walk them out...

We are taking DD to Frankie and Benny's for dinner tonight as I don't feel like cooking and kids eat free today so maybe that will cheer me up...

Sorry to have a rant but I just needed to tell someone...DH says I am moaning a lot more in this pg than with DD...so I feel bad and maybe he does not want to hear it anymore...

I just want to be done...and now I am crying again! Oh grrrr...

soory got distracted and didn't finish first sentence!!

Meant to say llare lots of honey and lemon did the trick for me last week when feeling rough.

Emmabemma big hugs, I am barely managing to look after myself at the moment so can't imagine doing it with another lo to look after and feeling sick too. to be honest your DH's comment wasn't all that helpful, can he take your DD out for a bit this afternoon to give you a bit of time to yourself? You could have a soak in the bath (might help the leg cramps) and get yourself ready to go out - I find its amazing what a bit of lippy and mascara can do when I'm feeling like poo.

I know what you mean about missing out on family stuff, altho my family are only on the other side of this country, they are all having a get together at my brothers in n wales but i couldn't face the 4 hour car journey to get there so am feeling all left out today.

emmabemmasmom oh hunnie have a good cry if you want too. I normally feel better after a really good bawling session!! I'm sure the tiredness isn't helping either. Sorry you and llare are feeling poorly. Both of you try and get some rest and def hot honey and lemon (with ginger for your nausea emma)

I too am now up for the loo now.. thankfully not all night thought... just at 4am/5am. But i am doing multiple trips to the loo all evening before i head off to bed!

ooo awful typos! need more tea. can't type properly

Happy Easter all.

Sorry to hear you are feeling down emmab. I second runningmonkeys advice. Lippy and mascara are brilliant pick me ups! Failing that...mini eggs?? Hope you feel better soon. Same to you llare!

Am embarrassed to admit that I have only JUST found my invite to the facebook group. It was cunningly hidden in the bottom of my page and I only just found it. Duh.

jennster thanks for the Wagamama tip. Am already on the mailing list, as I am for Pizza Express, but completely forgot about it till I read your post last night. Still we had a really lovely meal and DS surprised us by eating his noodles. I think the kiddie chop sticks helped as he loved them.

re the swaddling. Hve bought a cheapie swaddling thing from mothercare but those merino ones look gorgeous. Its in my hosptial bag now along with a couple of other baby things which I have finally got round to buying. I did a big shop earlier this week and also managed to persuade a nice lady at the Clarins counter in Boots to give me a load of samples for my bag ( I did have to buy some moisturiser too) but still, 5 samples was good going I thought!

Hi - sorry this is a fast post but am only on page 3 of the 5 and haven't time to read to the end. Am off to work in half an hour and have stuff to do first.....just wanted to say to Febes I love Caitlin Nora (one of my DD's has Caitlin as one of her names and I just love Nora - very pretty and unusual). You have excellent taste! Would you not consider Nora for a first name? Gorgeous.
and divedaisy I like all your names. Gabriella is particuarly pretty.

Thanks everyone for the support re: homebirth. Much appreciated as I was really looking forward to giving it a go and now am trying to make myself feel that a hosp birth will be ok......but not doing very well

• (if I manage to get there in time, hmmmm)

Anyway must fly will try to catch up later on properly if I'm not too exhausted. x x

Frazz I meant to say that my MW said to me 'Oh, well you probably wouldn't get to the hospital on time anyway, you'll be best off with a HB'.

Bear in mind the hospital is only about 10/15 mins away in traffic.

Afternoon all emmab, llare and blotted hope you get better/feel better soon.

Off to finish making my strawberry ice-cream. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. The sun is out, 'tis a gorgeous day.

Morning! I am having a relaxing day trying to knit on the sofa, watching dp trying to kill zombies. Hmmf.

Thanks everyone for the get well wishes...

I thought some retail therapy would help as I couldn't sleep during DD's nap time.

I found this bag on Ebay:

What do you all think? I am oddly attracted to this as I can use it myself too...hmmmm

Oh well, DH is home now so going to take a bath and try to make myself look better and therefor maybe feel better.

Thanks again everyone...hope I turn around soon!

Divedaisy- I was busy trying to MN while DD kept bring me finger puppets so I had to keep putting them on I ended up with 8 of them!! They were very warm though .

Frazzle- Thanks I love the name too. I just hope I get another daughter to use it on. Nora was my nana's name so I love it very much cause she was a very special lady.

Anyone thinking of the Merino go go baby I can highly recommend. They don't really need washing as they are natural fibres and better to air them out but I have put mine through a wool wash a few times. I have the oatmeal colour. They are very good value for money. I have a cheapy from mothercare as well to use when the other is in the wash.

Afternoon everyone,

I'm joining the league of tired people yet again today. I'm alone with the dcs, but luckily they're well behaved. I should go out to get some bread, but really haven't got the energy to pack the 3 of us into the car just to go to the little shop at the bottom of the street. I would be a nice walk today if it wasn't for my SPD. I was contemplating sending ds, but I suppose these days it's not really acceptable to send a 7yo out shopping on my own. And to think that I was 5 when my mum sent me to the corner shop with my list and money!

I did the Belgian thing of the easter bunny coming overnight and leaving chocolate eggs all over the house, I suppose it's a bit like an easter egg hunt. The dcs were very excited when they woke up finding eater eggs next to their beds and all over the house. It's just a bit difficult to do it the Belgian way here in the UK as we don't have the big themed eggs in boxes. They tend to be more like goose egg size or maybe a bit bigger and are sold in plastic bags of 4 or 5 with just easter bunnies on them, IYKWIM. It's a lot cheaper and less commercialised with us really.

emmab Hope you feel better soon. Have a nap when you dh comes home. You sound like you need it and hopefully you'll feel better afterwards.

I'm still stressed out about baby's position. I just can't work it out and I want a scan now! I feel movements everywhere, top and bottom and so I'm really confused.

I've also started worrying about going into labour while dh is away at work (he works in Gravesend, we live in the midlands), especially if it turns out that this lo is breech and I'd have to go to the hospital rather than stay at home. He has taken leave from the 29th of april onwards and I'm due on the 6th of May, so I'm hoping that this lo doesn't decide to come before then.

Happy Easter everyone .

Dd's slept till 8/830 as well which was nice. We had american pancakes for breakfast, long walk by the river with the dog, now all resting.

emmabemmasmom, llare, blotted - hope you're all feeling better.

divedaisy, I'm into pink grapefruit as well: just bought 2 bottles of p/grapefruit hi juice which is the main way to get fluids into me. love the stuff but only discovered it a month ago.

belgian, i'm worried about when my DH is at work as well (he works an hour and half drive away) somehow it will work out though, we'll figure a way. about baby's position - when is your scan - wed? try not to worry (sorry, that's easy to say) and carry on with your bum in the air!

everyone else, hope you're well and having a good day.

runningmonkey - according to me baby name book 'Charis' and 'Cerys' are different names! Charis is Hebrew and means 'Grace', and 'Cerys' is Welsh and means 'to love'!! I too thought they were just different spellings of the same name... hmm!! I love Alexander - very strong and masculine!

ladyhelen - good on the Clarins freebies!! When I was at my Day Spa a few weeks ago, the girl there gave me one free sample - mean cow!! But... then I went to their loo and guess what!! THere was a wicker basket full of samples - so I kinda helped myself!!!!! Now I too have nice stuff for my hosp bag! THough don't know if I'll have the time or energy to use them!

emma.. that bag looks great - looks like it has plenty of room on it too! Hope you feel well soon. I had very bad tummy cramps this afternoon so wasn't feeling up to much. THe sun is out and all I want to do is lie down... Thankfully ds is happy enough building his new Lego set up, and I'm trying to keep the house quiet so dh can sleep - night shifts are such a pain...

Belgian - it is a worry about going into labour when dh are not about - my dh is on night shifts at the moment and I dread the thought of 'popping' in the middle of the night cos I'd have to get ds up and ready by myself (even into his dressing gown) and my mum is going to Scotland on Wed for 8 days too, so she won't be around to take ds (although I do have back up in place - but they are about 45 miles away..) Oh well things'll work out no matter what happens!!! This has just reminded me to bring all the bags (my hosp and ds nan's bag) down stairs and put my maternity notes into my bag, so everything is on hand. And to put the phone nos of the hosp/delivery ward etc onto my mobile phone!! Those few jobs I've been meaning to do for ages!

momino - I haven't tried p/Grapefruit Hi Juice - I have to have the 'not from concentrate' pure juice which at the moment is 2 x1L cartons for £2 in Tesco! I usually buy 2 or 4 to do me a week!

I'll have to wait until dh wakes up before getting my bags downstairs and putting the numbers onto my phone!

Away to put the leg of lamb into the oven... Yum Yum Lamb and minty sauce!

Grrrr.My turn for a teary moan......
My brother lives in Canada and I've not seen him for 18 months ( thanks to Zoom going bust). He is coming to the UK for a visit on the 3rd May. My due date so am feeling a bit of pressure to get this baby out maybe a couple of days early. However my dad has just gone to SOuth Africa for work and has decided to book my bro flights for 10th May, and "its not worth going to SA unless you go for 10 days at least". So that now takes up a majority of my bro's visit time as he has to be back in Canada for work by the 24th May. He's a popular boy as well so there will be a lot of demands on his time whilst in the UK so am thinking at this rate I'll get to see him for about an hour! Am furious at my dad as he seems to think that the whole world revolves around his bloody move to SA. So am feeling a bit teary now that I'll prob hardly see my bro. SOds law says I'll be in bloody hospital the whole of his UK visit. SO am and right now.

Sorry about that. Had to get off my chest. DH is snoring on the sofa whilst DS upstairs with my mum and I don't want to upset DS or my mum with me crying about this. Must be the hormones today......

ladyhelen Lets hope you will have had your lo while your bro is around, maybe he'll try his best to cut some visits short, because after all he must be looking forward to see your new addition too. I know I'd organise my visits differently if my bro had had a new baby.
I must say that I know how your bro must feel. Even though I go home more often, it's always a hectic time because my whole family insists on seeing me at their house and I want to see my friends too, so I always end up not spending half as much time with the people I really want to see as I would like too. Our solution has been to be at my mums and tell everyone they can come down to hers to see me, as I can receive several uncles and aunts at a time, but can only visit 1 at the time. It used to work OK, but lately they've started to insist on me going to their house again, belgians being a hospitable bunch, who love to receive visitors and all that. But, how do they think I can fit a visit to 6 uncles and aunts, my grandma (who always takes priority), my brother and his dc, a couple of my cousins and my friends in 3-4 days I do not know.

I've started back on cranberry juice, because when the mw came I had some leucocytes in my urine, nothing else, but it could be a sign that I'm brewing a UTI. I've had 1 once and I tell you, I would rather go through labour again than have one of those ever again. So I'm drinking plenty of cranberry juice now.

I'd love to have this baby a bit earlier, because I'm fed up, but at the same time I'm afraid it would come before dh is back. Ideally it wont come before the 1st of May, because my mum, dad and DH will be here and so then we'll be all sorted if I go in labour: everyone will be there to look after the dcs or fetch them from school.

Ds was asking me if he could see the baby being born. I know there are plenty of children who have been present at a home birth, so I haven't said no. We've read a few stories about babies being born and seen drawings, so he's as prepared as he can be. I think I'll let him decided on the day and see how he feels when he sees me in labour. Anyone else of the homebirthers have had their dcs asking them if they could see the birth?

I've just emptied my labour bag and washed it, because I suddenly noticed it looked a bit grubby. I've packed all the baby stuff in the changing bag, so that's sorted and the other bag is washed I'll repack that and see what's missing, because there seems to be so little left to pack, I must have forgotten something

divedaisy in Wales we have Cerys and Carys, both very different names.

ladyhelen lots of sympathy your way. It is so hard living so far from relatives.

Thanks belgian and llare. It is hard living so far away and its much more difficult now that there are LO's around. My folks lived in the middle east for 10 years till 2001 and that was no where near as bad for missing family as having one in Canada and one in SOuth Africa now that DS is here. I think what upsets me is that before there was only me to get to wherever they were but now there are 3 and soon to be 4.I know my dad wants us to visit him in SA, but he just cannot seem to understand that a) its too pricey for us at the moment and b) its too far for me to contemplate with new baby and c) if we did go I would want much better accomodation than he is living in - a rather small flat - that adds expense and so on and so forth. Plus we will have the added complication of school come January...I could go on and on. In fact I have already.
I have just missed my brother so much in the last 18 months, I can't wait to see him. Lets hope the hormones have settled so he doesn't have a weeping mess of a sister to deal with!!! Right. More chocolate I think.........