**August 2010** Part 6!! Starting to show with gusto now ladies.

[CherryPie3]

Thread 6.

You lot talk too much.....

Happy chatting

The Grobag Egg thermometer looks so perfect, but I googled some reviews recently and most people slated it/said it gave the wrong temp all the time. Do you have no probs with yours Blueberries? (PS hope you're feeling better after yesterday).

Pample I am in a rage, firstly, about how you're being bandied around and then, secondly, about the extreme crapness of you MW. Unbelievable. I honestly love the NHS, but when they let you down, they REALLY let you down.

Am also insanely paranoid about losing out on the HIP grant after the election, but DH reckons I'm being totally paranoid. It'll take whoever gets in a while to pull together an emergency budget, let alone if there's a hung parliament. Reassuring, I think! So now I can go back to fretting about losing my public sector job instead... Doh!

Yeah I would be surprised if the HIP went straight away. The Tories' budget is within 50 days, which is two months from now. So we should all be safe, even if it does go in the first round of cuts! Labour/Lib Dem are not even planning immediate cuts afaik.

My MW appt was as always an anti climax. BP/urine/hb fine and she thinks the baby is lying across atm which apparently is not a problem at this stage. She gave me the HIP form but didn't sign it as I am only 24+3. How annoying! Hopefully GP can sign it next week for me.

I can see how the egg thermometer is good for at-a-glance checking, but I found usually you can just tell whether the room is an OK temp anyway. Lots of monitors have the temp on now as well.

Hiya

Midwife appointment went well, she says hips is probably my joints/ligements beginning to loosen and if its become persistant or pain really bad then to let her know and she would refer to physiotherapy. LOVED hearing baby's heartbeat on a proper doppler, so much clearer and louder than on our home monitor, beautiful! Gutted DH missed it! Midwife also chased up my 28 week consultant appointment, so a letter should actually arrive with a date now.

HIP form given and will be posting this evening. I said to DH about hoping it would be processed quickly incase another government got in before it was done and he has said as others have said that they would'nt be able to change bugdets and scrap things that quickly - so hopefully it will be ok for us all! Can't wait to get mine, we're going to use it to go towards babys car seat! (Weirdly excited about buying her car seat!!)

Officially handed in my notice today that I won't be returning to my 2 day job after maternity leave! Its a great feeling! I can't wait to be part time. (Work in two schools at the moment, 2 days in one 3 days the other!)

pample I'm shocked about your midwife, and the hostpital and GP! I would expect much better care too. Ring the maternity ward - being in pain is now fun and they should be taking it far more seriously. Also chase up your HIP grant, you can defo have it from 25 weeks.

Cherry - the dress itself is lovely, if I wasn't pregnant I would've bought the normal version of the dress as it would be fine with a strapless bra. However it didn't look at all flattering with my maternity bra and looked a bit "stretched" around my bust with a non wired bra, I just didn't feel like I had a nice bust shape in it.... I would try it on and see how you feel in it, I'm quite fussy is all...

also [whispering] with bouncing - we bought one of those groweggs in the sale. (£10 off), of course I don't know how good they are with an actual baby in the room, but it seems pretty ok when we tested it out.

Thanks for reminding me about monitors. I've told DH to start researching and find out which one he wants to get - gadgets is definately his area!! He knows I'll want one with lots of features so he'll choose a good one. I think I want a video one, I know that sounds really over the top, but if baby is going into her own room when she is tiny tiny I will feel more reassured about the whole thing if I can see her.

Just about to eat spagbol tea and then as DH is going back to the garage again to check the model number of the discs and pads we need (why didnt they do that yesterday?!) I'm going to go up my parents for a while!

that face pample was supposed to be a shocked face! I got confused with MSN abbrevs!

Cardboard thermometers come free with grobag sleeping bags.

I agree - get one or two of things and see what your baby likes, don't go overboard but do make sure you have 3 changes (one dirty, one drying, one in use) of the essentials (even if they're different styles to see what baby prefers). Oh and subsequent children apparently don't always suit the same as previous ones.

Also, your baby might be really clean or very sicky or leaky. Mine was quite leaky till we found the best combination of nappies for his shape and wetness and since then it's been one outfit a day (except for incompetence on the part of the parents and grandparents, or illness) and no need for bibs till weaning. A friend's was very very sicky, all day, all night and she went through dozens of bibs and tshirts a day and a couple of sheets changes a night for months and months.

For sleeping bags, there are light and warmer ones and you can't necessarily use them immediately (there's a minimum weight). I have 3 per weight per size, but could get away with 2 these days.

The other thing you'll find you can't predict is sizes. Don't get too much now in advance as you can't tell when your baby will be in which size clothes. By age my DS should have been in 9-12 months clothes last Autumn, well he's been in them half the winter and is still wearing them at nearly 18 months. (He didn't grow into 0-3 months clothes till he was 3.5 months) On the other hand, that sicky baby I mentioned above is 5 days older than my DS and has always been in at least two sizes bigger than mine, now three. (And was in 0-3 months clothes for the first month or so.)

On the thermometers point - having access to proper calibrated ones, I did a quick comparison and none of the ones I tried are that good (and that includes so called weather station thermometer/hygrometers). But if you stick to the same one, you get an idea of trends and at what temperature your baby likes how much bedding.

Sleeping bags - we have 2 per age range and no tumble driers ... yes save your pennies and people are bound to give you things

I am getting some really uncomfortable braxton hicks at the moment. My bump is soooo big and tight, i am sure i am having a big baby i am only 5ft3!

Just perusing through the thread & thinking i need to start making lists! i am a list person but at this rate i'll need to be writing a list of all the lists i need to be making! Feeling very disorganised since being back at work aftr the Easter hols as have so much to do at work. Am feeling like a man not being able to multi-task home organising and work organising!

Also, I think because we're not getting the nursery sorted til July i havent let myself really look too much at cots etc. My lovely parents are giving us a certain amount of money to help us get baby stuff (wont say how much but should be about enough to kit out the nursery if we dont go too over the top! )

Popping round to see them tomorrow so may start having a look at some websites with mum & planning a shopping trip in the near future, if only to see some things properly & start getting an idea

Anyone else watch Holby City? Woman was in an accident & had baby delivered during an op. (Baby seemed to be doing okay). She was supposed to be 24 weeks pregnant but barely looked to have a bump, mine looks huge compared to that! lol Speaking of which, am a few days off that nice 24 week mark , although have hit another exhaustion wall - hope it doesnt last too long

Night all x

alice i know the feeling. Im only 5ft 2 and i think there is no more room for babies to grow. I am so uncomfortable all the time.

Weird, it's suddenly hit me tonight that I'm totally in denial about where exactly I'm going to house this baby. His room is going to be our room after we move into the loft conversion (assuming we get planning permission...). But until the loft is done (can't seen it being finished until at least October), the baby will have no room of his own. Which is fine for sleeping at night, because he'll be in with us, but I'd sort of forgotten about all the other stuff - where the cot, changing table, all his clothes etc will go, where I'll feed him at night (I used to change and feed DS in his nursery so that I wouldn't wake up DH) and so on and so on.

Oh well. I'm getting all my baby stuff back from my sister at the weekend, so at least I can go through it and make an inventory of what I've got and what I need. It's so unlike me - I'm usually totally over-organised - but I think because I've done this once before I seem to have forgotten that I do actually need to give these things some thought before August .

Off to bed, I think. Though I actually slept in until 6.15 this morning, miracle of miracles, so I'm still feeling vaguely awake at 9.30!!

hello ladies,

It would seem that there is no going back for me and my friend after her daughters teenage strop, hey ho. I am now too angry to be upset and have been consoling myself by looking at new changing bags on here

WRT room thermometers, we had a groegg with dd and binned it after a month, we have a BT 150 monitor which has a built in thermometer, it might not be 100% accurate but it is consistent.

I am also making lists, spreadsheets are my friends!

Sorry about your friend, coffeelady. FWIW, it sounds like you're well rid, but I can see that that's probably not much consolation right now.

I've been having a laugh at this thread, about how your preconceptions of parenthood change after you have children. Worth a look if you're bored!

Hello everyone - sorry to have been quiet for a few days, I've been here, there and everywhere and am now knackered!

Pample hope you're ok and that you're being taken seriously and looked after now. How worrying

Coffeelady sorry to hear about your friend and her brat of a daughter. She shouldn't have gotten involved full stop as the situation is between you and your employee. Is she going to wade in every time her DD has trouble at work - she won't be doing her any favours. Horrible for you though being made out to be the bad guy, especially when you'd cancelled your holiday!

Cherry and everyone else - don't forget to pack a coming home outfit for you as well to take to hospital. I forgot and ended up coming home in a very strange mix of clothes that DH grabbed from the wardrobe in his sleep-addled state. I was not v impressed (poor sod).

YummyMummy don't worry about not having the nursery painted yet. We did DD's four months after she arrived She was in with us until six months so I was relaxed about getting her room ready before that. Her cot didn't even go up until a month afterwards as she started off in a moses basket and then she slept in the basinette section of her travel cot next to our bed.

Hope you all have a lovely day ladies and that the sun shines for us all.

CazEm, have you seen the monitors with the breathing sensors? Baby sleeps on a mat and if the mat doesn't sense movement (ie breathing) for 20secs or so an alarm goes off. They are expensive I think (over £100 and not even digital) so we didn't get them x 2, and I personally think they are OTT, but only as OTT as the ones with monitors . So if you are going to go OTT I'd go with the sensor mat - I have a couple of friends with them and they really liked them (absolutely shit themselves on the odd occasion the alarm went off tho!).

If you keep baby cool, lie them to sleep on their backs and don't smoke then cot death is very unlikely. I think the complanies that peddle these OTT monitors are playing too much on parents' fears for profit's sake, but I know lots of people feel much happier with these monitors and if it makes you more relaxed than who cared of it is OTT

I'm still off sick with a cold - I always feel bad taking time off for a cold but I do feel grotty and normally Beechams Powders Capsules would perk me up, but of course I can't take them! Plus another colleague is off with the same cold so I don't feel too bad about it.

I keep feeling like I should be doing the washing or something since it's such a lovely day and is forecast to rain at the weekend, but simply can't summon up the energy! I took the car to the garage for its service and MOT and that was quite enough for me.

Neenz i agree wrt the sensor mats. It is tempting because you feel that if you don't get these things you are a bad parent, don't care enough etc. But TBh, like you say with cot death, if you follow the 'rules' then it is very unlikely, and sadly there is often a medical cause that cannot be detected anyhow.

Feeling fat and fed up today. I want to spend the day in the bedroom sobbing "I am huge, i am having a huge baby, there is no way i can go another 15weeks" but life must go on and DD has ballet this afternoon.

Sorry if my post makes no sense, i keep forgetting what i am typing/saying half way through.

Alice I'm 5' 3 too and panicking - am in agony with my ribs, so last night thought I'd put on my sports bra to see if it would be more comfortable - I'm not joking there was at least a 5" gap between the clasps - my ribs have stretched out!!! I hope they go back together again!!

I have no idea where I'm going to find any more room for this baby!

Coffeelady your (ex) pal sounds like a total unreasonable arse! Easy for me to say - but with a friend like that I think you're better off without!

coffeelady I would still e-mail your friend in a few days - at least you won't then feel that you haven't been able to give your side of the story...if you give your side of the story and she's still miserable moo then you can hold your head up high.

If you can tell her that your policy is holiday has to be booked far enough in advance and this was not followed - you were within your rights to decline - however you have actually accomodated this when you didn't have to at the expense of a very nice holiday!

I think whoever said her daughter has been stirring as cover for quitting her job is probably right - I employ a few 16/17 year olds and when it is their first job they don't necessarily understand the pressures and restrictions of the world of work and so see things differently and try to get away with stuff!

Good luck anyhow!

Had fat clinic at hopsital on Monday where they informed me that my blood pressure was too high (when I say high it was 160/80 - which is not too bad?) - I will have to take tablets and I may have harmed the baby....... and then shooed me out of the door. Then thought it slightly strange I was crying in the waiting room!

They have booked me in for another scan for sunday to check it is growing properly so I may still find out the sex yet!

Hi! Had my 20-week scan this morning. Everything looks fine. My hospital don't disclose the sex of the baby, but I'm sure the sonographer said at one point, 'And now I can see HIS feet'. My husband isn't so sure!
So I'm still in team SURPRISE - although I really will be if it's a girl!

Oh Sparkle, that sucks. You don't have to take any medication you don't want, can you get a second opinion if you think the bp was not that high?

Emster, I have a terrible cold too and have been taking paracetemol which is safe in pregnancy. I didn't take anything at all in my first pregnancy but I have stuffed my twins so full of Calpol in their short lives I really don't think paracetemol in pregnancy is going to make much difference . It is said to be safe in pregnancy so I am taking it instead of suffering.

Another thing about those breathing sensor monitors, afaik there's no proof they reduce cotdeath, as Alice says sometimes nothing can be done to stop it , but it does reassure you that the baby is fine at that moment. I wouldn't buy one though

In relation to all the baby monitor messages i decided to get the lindam video 1. Looks really good and shoulf be here in a few days so i can test it out. Just back from the mw cos of the pain im getting in my back and am being refered to physio so hopefully that will make life a little bit easier

pample how did you get on yesterday? Hope you're ok.

Nothing exciting to report today. Routine midwife appointment, all fine.

Starting to get a bit uncomfortable at work though - think my seat is a bit too low and I'm conscious my knees are above my hips when I sit down (yoga teacher has drummed it in to me that I need to keep hips above knees - something to do with baby position I think). Anyway, it's a lot of effort to stand up from sitting, so I'm thinking about getting a gym ball to sit on at work.

Can't get motivated this afternoon at all. Meant to be working at home but the house is a tip and I want to tidy it - weirdo alert!

Ronx, great news about the scan!

Star. hope you get that pain sorted.

So should your knees be above the hips then or below? I would have thought below? It'll be something to do with getting the baby into a head down position - slouching encourages a breech baby apparently! But you don't have to worry about that for a while as there is lots of time for the baby to move my MW told me yesterday. Maybe the last month or so is more important.

sparkle how mean of them! Hope you get a second opinion soon!

Neenz I have been taking paracetamol, but I haven't really been in pain or feverish so it hasn't helped much. I'm a sucker for those cold and flu remedies which have a decongestant and caffeine in them - they seem to work much better! Maybe it's a placebo. Anyway, am happily eating lots of junk food and MNing, interspersed with naps, so it could be worse. I'm reminding myself that this is probably the last time for some years I will be able to just think of myself when I have a cold - from here on I will have a baby to take care of!