Due November 2009 - Remember, remember we're due in November, but not yet quite ready to pop!

[Fruitpastels]

Hope everyone can find us!

mummy2be are you keeping hydrated? Mine get worse when I haven't been drinking enough/keeping snacked up. Rest up and feed that bump!

Mummy2be - not much helps ease them I don't think, it's a good sign to have them, shows your body is working well ready for labour. I do find that if i a stressed i get them more.

pavlov, so sorry to hear about your ongoing troubles. I really hope you find some time for yourself and the baby where you can just forget about it at least for a while.
mummy2be, I think, there is not much you can do about them but I've read somewhere that you could take them as a sign to slow down a bit and take a rest. And I get them more often when I'm for example walking to fast.
kyte, interesting that different colours would mean different thickness. So I'll stick with a blue model when reordering a long one.

scarlotti the good thing about the electrician - he put in a junction box for us which was seperate to the work and we owe him for that. No part-p cert, no money from us! He said he will send it in the post, as we had to go out for hosp appt. His work is tip top though, so I am hoping at least he is reliable. I think the builder is evading the tax man too. It has, in fact, got worse, since my last post . Its just all gone wrong. And it is unlikely to be done before the baby arrives. God knows where the baby is going to sleep now .

My heart is pounding hard and it will not stop. My throat has a lump in it. Poor baby has almost constant hiccups and is moving rather a lot, your right however said it, I need to find a way to relax. DH has promised he will sort it somehow. But it is now going to cost us thousands.

pavlov sorry you're having such a hard time with this, the builders sound like a complete nightmare and it's making me very cross for you.
Maybe you need to take a step back from it: if it's not likely to be done before the baby arrives, that's just the way it is. The baby won't be bothered either way if it has its own bedroom or not; it's you who is affected. The baby does need you to relax though. Why don't you go for a walk or something - get out of the house - and just take some time out for yourself. There's nothing you can do at 8pm.

(Sorry if that sounded bossy!)

laugs not bossy! DH is out so I can't go out. Baby won't have his own room, nor will DD. We are all going to be in one room . How is that good for any of us? .

I am going to watch the second of Waking the Dead and then I shall go to bed with my scary Book - its called Faeries, and its a dark and spooky book! That will sort it out.

It's probably not ideal, but the baby would be with you anyway for 6 months and perhaps it will help DD feel less jealous because it's not like everyone except her is having a sleepover every night in mummy and daddy's room. In fact, I can see our DD joining us in bed quite often for precisely that reason (...still in a panic about how she is going to cope with the whole new baby thing)

Oh, and in my family we all slept in one room until we moved house when I was 5! And we had another room, my DB and I just didn't want to sleep in it . I'm not sure how my parents survived that for 5 years without going completely insane, but us kids had a great time

laugs my BIL has his children in with him and his wife even now - one is 8 and one is 3. They too have their own room, but they prefer to sleep in their bedroom - but they do live in a HUGE american apartment, and the bedroom is the size of our entire flat!!!

Kyte - DH is a night owl and I am an early bird. He generally comes to bed at about middnight/1am. He has tried really hard to change that over the years, but this is the earliest he can make it! I, on the other hand have been known to be in bed by 8pm especially with a newborn! I can stay up til 11pm sometimes, but rarely these days! But if we have to do something like that, we do, and it is an option.

Ah Pav sorry to hear it's all gone tits up. What are your options now? Do you have someone that can finish the work?
The only route we had was DD's dad who came and did the work for us (he does jobs in lieu of maintenance, long story) and I had the details of the sparky/plumber etc. if we needed them.
All I can suggest is that you let the anger towards the builder go, or at least box it up in the back of your brain until the loft is finished and the baby is here - then unleash it!
Try now to focus on what needs doing, with the help of the building inspector. Use the fact you're pregnant when dealing with potential new contractors as it might just get them in a little earlier.
The dc's will be fine, children are very adaptable and only know life as they experience, until they're old enough to compare their own life with others.
When dd was born, her dad decided that he needed to cut a new kitchen door in the kitchen - I had to go upstairs with her as there was so much brick dust flying around that we could barely see. We also lived in a house that was a building site pretty much the whole time we lived there - honestly, even students would turn up their noses!

Hang in there hon

scarlotti - I really don't know. We have the building inspector coming tomorrow and it will all depend on what he says. If it is structural, if there is a major problem, he will have to rectify it, as we will not be able to afford the thousands it will cost to fix, so we will have to let the scumbag back in.

But, I just do not know what is going to happen right now. I would prefer he never ever shows his face here again. So for his sake, as well as mine I am hoping the structural thing is not as bad as we are fearing.

Tricky situation. try to forget about it for tonight and see what tomorrow brings. If it is structural, then ask the building inspector what he thinks your options are, then you could also give trading standards a call too as they might be able to help.
If you do have to have him back, I'd suggest trying to have someone else mediate between you if you can - just so you don't have to be the one speaking to him and sorting it out.
If he's on any kind of building registers too (federation of master builders etc.) you might have a case to get him struck off.

Hope tomorrow brings good news.

If he does come back to fix his mistakes, again, I will not be dealing with him. The architect will have to deal with him. I cannot deal with him any more.

Pavlov, my sister had a major problem with a wet wall in their bedroom, just a couple of weeks before the second baby arrived (the first one had just moved to his own room), as they couldn't find the reason for ages and then needed ages to get everything fixed they ended up sleeping all four on matrasses in the childrens bedroom for, I think, 6 months. I guess it wasn't great but they all got used to it and found it normal. I'm sure your family will get used to the situation as well. Just try to make a cosy little nest for your family.

Anyway, sorry for hijacking this thread all, this talk of that word I shall not mention is not baby talk, I shall stop it forthwith for fear of killing the thread, that would be bad wouldn't it, after all the posts we have had!

I will keep you all posted with update, but only with 2 lines max ok?!!!

So, now I have for my baby:
muslin clothes x 8
cot
sleepsuits
bibs
teddy bear
mei tai!

usi we have started to tidy up, we have moved DD into our bedroom properly, with all her things, only thing in there now is our bed, rest is hers. So we are starting to get some control back where we can. And we are doing our light fittings in the front room tomorrow and then will fix the damage done by the builder there and start to decorate while waiting, so that the front room at least is finished. I shall concentrate on that!

DD is happy in our room though, its just me who needs the space! She is happy now its hers anyway

Yes Pavlov how very dare you complain, none of us ever do, especially not me Chin up hun (I just typed "jim" for some reason...) - know its not the same but after some really harsh stuff had happened to me and I was in hospital, a friend came to visit me, and her words have always stuck: "Well you're at shit centeral now. Can only be improved from here!" x

This is what I still need to get -

1 x GroBag (at least)
3 x stair gates
1 x cot (Someone please convince me that not being able really to afford the one I really like is a good enough reason not to buy it My mum keeps justifying it to me!!!)
1 x Travel cot for DPs - though no rush, as Bryn can be in Moses Basket there at first.
First packs of nappies (Asda sale, whoop!)
1 x sling (maybe?)
2 x Baby monitors
Bath themometer
Wash bag for socks
Laundary basket

Think that's about it...

Tonight I'm a bit fed up with being pregnant. The feeling disappears eveytime he kicks, of course, just frustrated with the size of me, the aches and pains, the uncountable toilet visits..!! Mum picked up on it though, bless her, and gave me a mini pedicure because the guys were out Struck me today how much closer we've become. Still drives me bonkers at times, but its nice. I don't know whether that's because I'm functioning better now I have something (someone!) to stay positive for, but I just really appriciate it.

DP is coming home tomorrow Its stupid, I don't see him during the week anyway normally, but him being so far away - I've missed him I'm not normally this much of a sap!!

Hope you're all well this evening Running out of weeks now

erica you won't need a cot for ages. We only have one from DD. You can use the moses basket, and if you want/enjoy/bryn enjoys/it is possible you can co-sleep.

And last night - baby wriggled and moved and figited so so so much, that I actually became fed up with being pregnant. He did not stop moving for hours and it almost got to the point where I called the midwife unit for advice as I was worried something was wrong! Thats bad isn't it?!

DD wants to paint her room pink, she has decided she does not like the colour on the walls, I don't blame her, i have never liked it (mustard, already there when we moved in) so we promised her (in that 5am you can have whatever you like darling just go to sleep) that she can paint it pink

Erika - try putting a notice out on your local freecycle for stairgates, cot, travel cot etc. Often people have these in their garages / lofts and are wanting rid, I got a spare travel cot off their for my parents awhile ago. Also, depending on how big your house is, you may find that you don't need monitors -they can be pretty loud on their own!! The other thing on your list you could save money on - bath thermometer - your elbow is a pretty good substitute! We're onto our third and never used a bath thermometer (tho thinking bout it may have one somewhere - will have a look andif i can find it i'll send you it). (we got our second cot off ebay and then just bought a new mattress for it).

DH is really annoying me!! (shock horror!) i'm struggling to sleep at the moment, just uncomfortable and cramp etc. But DD comes into our bedroom if she wakes up, if i see her i pick her up and take her back to bed, where she goes bak to sleep quite happily in her own bed, however DH, out of laziness (his admission) picks her up and puts her in our bed, she then spends rest of night kicking me and shoving me, whilst DH sleeps through it. I know I could (and often do) get out of bed and take her back, but it just annoys me that DH isn't just doing this to start with - aaah! I know it's not much but when sleeps a struggle anyway, it's really annoying.

erika it will be at least 8/9 months before you need any stair gates and even then you might only need one, depending then on where Bryn spends most of his time.
Definitely look on freecycle - a woman was giving away loads of baby bits this week (sadly now all gone!)

pav with you on the moving thing. He wriggles like mad just as I lie down to sleep and it does get a little irritating tbh. Don't think it helps that my patience is diminishing - think it's the hormones but am getting quite fed up with life.

Anyone else feeling low? Am feeling really quite insignificant and can't seem to shake it. Think it's the hormones and being off work but the rational part of my brain goes away when the feelings take over.
As I'm home, all the house stuff now falls to me (fair enough) but there doesn't seem to be much appreciation for that. DD has even stopped doing her jobs as I'm home. DH comes in from work and just vegs in front of the tv - I feel like nobody is interested in me as a person anymore. Friends are all caught up in their lives and my family are rubbish at calling to see if I'm ok.

For those of you who are sahm - how do you do it? What do you do to keep feeling good about yourself as a person as opposed to someone's mum or wife?

Morning all - Pav - so sorry to hear of your builder troubles. Hope that you manage to keep as calm as poss in the face of it all. And pink for DD's room sounds fine -we promised oursleves we wouldn;t go mad with the pink as we didn;t want too much of it in teh house, but little girls seem magnetically attracted to it - DD has nice violet walls but a hideously bright pink bed from Ikea - she loves it tho!
Kyte - your DH sounds fab - glad you're being spoilt a bit.

I have a bit of a medical query - not sure quite what to do. Baby is feet down and have a low placenta, both of which are being scanned for next week. But last night the baby has been kicking so hard it feels as though she might come out. My bump is v sore and I can feel her feet right at the bottom - it literally feels as though she is just an inch or so from the - ahem - exit. Is this right? I don't want to panic unnecessarily if this is just her trying to turn, but it's REALLY painful. My midwife only works 2 afternoons a week, not today, so don't know what to do. Anyone had this? - bit worried she might kick so hard she bursts the waters! Any advice much appreciated! x