Spring is sprung, the grass is ris, I wonder where my toenails is - Due June 2010

[greensnail]

Ok, here it is ladies. Nice new thread for us all to enjoy

Minimoon - sounds like a good excuse to get one or a good excuse to go for coffee all the time!
Greensnail - my itching is about the same although it gets better when I go swimming strangely. I had itchy soles but not palms and apart from that its itchy all over really. I have mentioned this to midwife today and she sent me for liver function blood tests (which they only just managed to get out of my crappy veins). Had a growth scan today and 34 week check up. Everythings looking good baby is just about exactly on the middle line of the graph for size and has his head down and his back on my left hand side. Feeling quite chuffed. Didn't get a picture tho cos apparently we had to ask beforehand if we wanted one (why does noone ever tell you these things and who wouldn't want a photo anyway?!).
Annoyingly I have to go back to the hospital for my first antenatal class tonight. Cannot be bothered but DH is keen to go.
Mampam I know what you mean about not wanting to make a fuss, I always find myself saying "great, fine" to the midwive whenever she asks how i am regardless of how I feel. I have a compulsion to be a good patient.
Cannot actually believe I am going to have a tiny baby here in 6 weeks or so. It still feels like ages and no time at all at the same time.

Hello all -

Minimoo - hope you do manage to get on!

I've been holding tiny babies all day today. It's incredible that they all seem to have a slightly different 'feel' to them, even when they're so small. They're all just sleeping and stretching, essentially, but each one has it's own distinct 'personality'. I do feel that DD had been DD and no one else fromt eh day she was born, IYSWIM, but this was lovely to think of their characters waiting to be unfolded.

On the downside, DD has now decided that she doesn't want a baby to come and live with us (although she still says she loves the baby in my tummy). Apparently, they're for outside. One of that babies today came to our house, and she hasn't seen one in here before. Seems to have freaked her a little.

Very understandable really.

Those of you with boys, is it REALLY useful to have two colours of muslin - one for holding down willies / catching pee and the other for using for burping. My firend says it's essential. On the one hand I can see her point. On the other, is it actually an expense that can be spared? I have dozens of white ones.

Evening all,just checking in after quite some time posting,mainly because brain cannot decipher who said what when why,in fact brain is generally struggling to comprehend anything these days!

Filly sounds like your hol was fab,glad your back,sorry to hear spd is bad again

minimoo you NEED an iphone

Hello everyone else I also cannot believe that within a month we will be having some birth stories on here yay bring it on i can't wait to read them all

LaTrucha I don't see that it really matters, so long as you chuck the weed on muslin's in the wash when they've been used I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm not getting any new ones and am pretty certain they've all been used to mop up wee at some point.

mampam Did you get through to the hospital in the end? If not I would try the main switchboard tomorrow to make sure you've got the right number. Please don't worry about making a nuisance of yourself. The hospital are there to provide a service for you, which they seem to be doing pretty miserably at so far. Also, it will be far more of a nuisance if they need to fit you in at the last minute for an appointment than if you get it sorted now. I feel really bad that I'm moaning all the time about how much time I'm spending at the hospital, when you're in so much pain and not getting seen at all. Would DH ring up for you if you can't face it?

goodname fingers crossed your liver function comes back ok. I've tended to get a phone call the next day when mine has been off in both pregnancies so if you don't hear anything tomorrow then its probably good news I would have thought. Great news that scan is all ok. Hope the itch isn't driving you too crazy!

minimoo oh no! I wouldn't be able to cope without my internet connection for 3 months - you're much braver than me

meggy we say "front bottom" for girl's bits in this house. I'm not mad about the term, but prefer it to the alternatives.

I went in for my iron infusion today. Was fine, took about an hour to do and I have to go back for 2 more doses. Felt quite sick afterwards though, but not sure whether that was related to it or not. Was admitted to the observation ward to have it done and was in a bay with 2 ladies with their newborns. It really made me remember how little brand new babies actually do - they both just slept the whole time I was there apart from when one was being weighed. Such a contrast to a lively toddler!

LaT - fuck me - life is too short to worry about what colour your muslins are! I just have a pile of creamy ones that are full of holes by now and grab the top one off the pile for whatever it's needed for.

LaT - Re. holding willies down with muslins...we never did. (He only fountained on his own face a handful of times!!) What we normally did was just undo his nappy but not remove it immediately but hold it loosly over the offending area- let him feel a bit 'free' for a minute which normally brought on the wee - with the 'old' nappy there to catch it. Then do the change when we knew we were out of the danger zone! Oh dear...never would have guessed I would be discussing such things in so much detail!

Mampam - 'Tuppence' is a good, non-twee name for girl 'bits'. I like the money link with spending a penny I think my folks always avoided any reference to it except possibly 'bits' or 'privates'. Neither of which I like much.
Sending good sleep vibes your way~~~~~~~~~~

Georgee - I'm still taking pregnacare...haven't heard about it being bad to take folic acid in the last few weeks but I'll google it right away and let you know if I find out.

It looks like there's no problem with continuing to take folic acid (as long as not more than 1,000 mcg/day. Apparently, unless taken to excess, it doesn't accumulate or cause any adverse effects and your body is able to get rid of any excess if you have more than you need.

Also, I read that the body's requirements for folic acid can actually go up towards the end of pregnancy. "...having too little folic acid available causes impaired development of areas of the brain important for memory and for thinking," Zeisel said. "The take-home message is that it is extremely important that women not stop taking folic acid after the first weeks but continue until they give birth. Taking a supplement is wise since half of the women in this country are deficient in folic acid in their regular diet."

In short, I'll keep taking my pregnacare. Yuk.

Oh, dur, it's not even pregnacare I take but pregaday - still, it has folic acid in it.

Ladies,

I haven't been around for ages as there has been a whole host of illness in this house since the begining of March and I haven't been at work.

I haven't had chance to read through and catch up with whats been going on so this is going to be a really selfish post, but I will try and keep it brief.

On the 18th March my Fiance announced that we were having problems, I hadn't noticed this I just thought things were a bit rubbish due to illnesses pregnancy and young family. Thought we were both going to put our all into making things better. We talked lots and he told me he doesn't love me anymore. Since then he has gone to stay at a friends but I have been catching him out with lies.
On Tuesday it got to much with all the lies, he finally admitted to that he has been lying for the last 5 weeks. He has been out with another woman, there was an attraction there to start but now its just friendship as she doesn't want to get involved with someone with so much baggage.
I dont believe its just friendship. he has been staying with her and it makes me wonder if she knows about me (she works at his company)
So I am sat here typing this thinking fuck I am 30 weeks pregnant and have no partner- this is not what I planned or want! And I have to face the fact I am going to be a single mum raising 3 children under 3.5!
F*ck!

Can't decide if I'm more amused by Rylee (yuk, yuk, barf-tastic!) or the idea of having 2 sets of colour co-ordinated muslins to deal with wee mess!

If it helps LaT, we have about 30 greyish muslins that were white once, a very long time ago, that have been used to wipe up just about every type of mess going along the way. Just make sure they get washed at 60 or 90 and it really doesn't matter what you use them for next. Your friend sounds a little OCD - or is this her PFB? I don't think we ever used a muslin to covers ds' willy during a nappy change (although almost certainly did use one to wipe up the results of 'fountaining' activity! ) - generally I'd use a small piece of cotton wool, the clean nappy or the (if not too dirty) old nappy, loosely, until he was ready for the new one. To be completely honest, I didn't find the fountaining too bad...in fact, dd's propensity to wee downwards (ie underneath herself) without me noticing, during a change, so I only found out when her clothes and back were totally soaking, was a hell of a lot more annoying

I've got 4 or 5 weeks to go Gizmo and still no response on whether they're even going to both finding mat cover for my role. I'm trying really hard not to get too cross about it, even though it feels like I'm being bullied to come back sooner, because I shan't. And, as dh points out, I've written a proper job spec outlining my role for the business case, so I can point to that when I come back and demand a similar management role etc regardless of what happens over the next 12 months. Irritating though....

Nice to see you georgee and littlerobbo, been wondering where you had got to...

My weight is also doing scary things...I'm not even carrying twins and have now hit the 3 stone mark. Can't believe there is still so long to go..wish I had more self control but I guess my hopes of sticking at 2.5 stone are utterly doomed, dashed and out of the window. Sigh. And I hate hate hate dieting....not much choice with sister's wedding in December sadly...!

Very uninspired to do my work at the moment. Not sleeping well, feeling under-appreciated (see mat cover issues) and a bit irritated that my boss is still giving me loads of new stuff to deal with when I should be winding down and handing over.

Feels like ages until my next scan...its not until Friday 7th May - so more of a 35 week than a 34 week appointment

Shit, x-post with wheredidmyfeetgo and suddenly feeling very [guilt] emoticon about my long ramble.

Can we do anything to help???

Thanks Filly its actually quite nice to hear about normal worries.

I'm not even sure why I posted to be honest.

I am numb and can't believe this is happening to me. I can't get my head round the fact that he doesn't love me any more- thats a big enough shock.

But what shocks me even more that he doesn't want to stick at the relationship and try and work things out because we are due to have another baby in 10 weeks. I have never come across anyone in this situation before and everyone I speak to thinks he should stick around and try and make it work as that what you do when you have children- let alone a baby on the way.

Anyone got a magic wand?

wheredidmyfeetgo so sorry to hear that. I am and for you.

Wheredidmyfeetgo - can only think of really bad words I dont want to write down to describe how awful your fiance sounds. Sounds like the most selfish, self absorbed prat to leave you in the lurch like that. Personally I would look into hiring a hit man to deal with him

Had my first antenatal class last night and it was surprisingly interesting and not full of really young mums like I thought it would be. In fact most people seemed to be my age (31) or older and all on their first babies too. We did babies and parenting last night and will move onto labour next week. Am very glad I went although the seats were so uncomfortable I was in agony all the way home in the car!

Filly I have a similar problem with maternity cover but for very different reasons. I work in the family business (well actually I am officially a partner) and we cant quite seem to agree on what should be done with maternity cover so at present I have none and everyone is supposed to just cover for me. This is all fine and well but I have a bad feeling I will be dragged back into the office on several occasions throughout my maternity leave. The other worrying thing is people might realise how little work I actually do

Oh wheredidmyfeetgo I'm so sorry, what a terrible situation. It will never cease to amaze me how selfish and cruel some men can be. I hope you've got some great friends/family in RL who are helping you through this awful time. If I had a magic wand I would use it on him to get him to grow some balls! I'm so for you x

at goodname worrying about people find out how little you do, I sometimes feel like that then reassure myself that I'm just actually super-efficient due to having tonnes of experience and being good at my job (she says whilst posting on MN!!)

Oh, wheredidmyfeetgo that's just shit Hope you're getting lots of support in RL. Whereabouts in Wiltshire are you? I'm in south oxfordshire so possibly not too far away - if there's anything I can do to help please let me know.

All this talk of little boys and wee fountains has just reminded me that DD used to do this too - she once managed to hit the door with an arc of wee from lying on the changing table accross the room . Luckily she seems to have grown out of that skill though.

Think I'm just about ready for the baby now. The only thing left to get is a present for DD from the baby. Is everyone else with older children doing this too? Trying to decide whether to get her a tricycle, a slide or one of those sand and water play tables. Anyone got any thoughts on which we should go with?

Sandpit, sandpit, sandpit greensnail. Best garden entertainment there is for kids! I need to sort out something for my two from the baby, but actually don't have any ideas at the moment as they are spoiled rotten already. Ds bought dd a fancy schmancy dolls house when he was born, clever thing that he is .

wheredidmyfeetgo - I'm very sorry to hear your news. Life is not going to be easy for a while . Do you have a lot of family and friends around you? Don't know if you realised, but ChairmumMiaow, who is also theoretically on this thread, though hasn't posted for a very long time, has also split up with her dh/dp during this pregnancy. I know that she posts on a support thread, in lone parents I think, so you may find it helpful to pop over there, or ask her to pop over here and offer any advice that she has found helpful so far. I'll see if I can find the thread for you in a mo.

Hello everyone just tried to catch up with thread as have been away for our honeymoon Fortunately we did not go abroad as we wouldn't have got there with the flights being cancelled!

Start ante-natal classes in two weeks time and have also joined local NCT social group so hoping to meet a few other local mums to be. Agree on the surreal feeling - doesn't quite feel like there is actually going to be a baby in two months..despite the fact that DH and I are massively organised and have most things we think we need for the baby (mosty hand me downs from friends) and have decorated the nursery. We are not going down the co-ordinated muslins route (seriously people do that? I know I am a first timer but still )

wheredidmyfeetgo sorry to hear about your situation, can't imagine what it must be like

Oh bugger wheredid - have found the thread but no-one has posted on it for a month. CM's dh left about 6 weeks ago though, so it's still worth looking out for her.

Ooh, hope you had a fab time imkeepingmum!

Thanks CSWS, I'm dreaming of a lovely long warm summer with me sat in the shade feeding the baby while DD plays contentedly with her sand pit now

Wheredidmyfeetgo - I'm very sorry to hear your news. Please come on here and vent as much as you like./ Have you got friends and family around you?

I've been hoping Chairmum would come back on this thread. We shared a long thread about non-sleeping babies in 2008 and I really felt for her when I heard DH had left.

I am honestly staggered that people can do these things, though sadly they do.

I'm really glad I don't have to buy more muslins!

Greensnail - me too! I found this and think it looks good for a small garden. I can't remember if you are the one with the massive garden though. (We have a postage stamp!) They have offers on at ELC, BTW.

wheredidmyfeetgo i just wantto offer my support to you at this trying time,and i am sorry,but your fiance is a selfish bag of shit. Please try and focus energy on the gorgeous baby you are carrying,and yes,it is going to be difficult for you and your children,but think long term,your children will love you,respect you,and bring you much happiness for ever,something that your fiance will not have if he persists on acting like an insane idiot. You are a strong amazing woman,dont let him break you.

Hello. I'm due 9th June. Can I join your thread please?

oh blimey wheredidmyfeetgo. That really sucks. I truly hope you have good family support around you. You sound incredibly strong, and you deserve better. What a shite situation to be in. You will get through this!

filly is your employer not obliged to keep the same grade of role open for you?

My muslins have been used for all sorts too and are no longer pristine white. But they do get softer with age!

Hope you had a very happy honeymoon imkeepingmum. Congratulations!!!

Nowt to report here. DH getting on my nerves at the moment. Back aches. Carpal tunnel is just rubbish. Moan, moan, moan......

I have just baked a delicious apple, apricot and pecan loaf. yum yum. It's not as healthy as it sounds BTW.....!

Welcome Petifilou

Madamef thank you for sending me good sleep vibes last night......I slept like a baby (apart from the needing the loo 3 times and only just making it )

Haven't tried the hospital again today as I haven't been in all day, been drinking cups of tea at my Nan's

wheredidmyfeetgo I'm so sorry you are going through all this. You know I've been through a similar situation, although not when pregnant (just had to fetch him in the middle of the night after he'd been sh*gging some woman whilst I was pregnant), so if I can be of any help. Going to get my CAT sorted so you can contact me anytime, feel free, not sure if I'll be of any use but I know it's good to talk to someone who has had similar experiences.

I was a single parent to only 2 children not 3 and I won't deny it's bloody hard work but one thing that I can look back on and say to myself is that 'I did it'. Somehow the inner strength comes to you and you cope. I'm proud of myself for raising 2 kids on my own for a period of time.

Unfortunately with some men when the going gets tough, the man gets going.

I've only got 7 muslins at the moment. My mother bought me some burp cloths and tbh they look about as much use as a chocolate teapot but she did try I suppose!

How's everyone getting on with their name choosing??? I'm rapidly going off the names we've chosen . I'm fearful that we'll end up calling the baby something that I'm not 100% happy with just because we can't think of anything else.