November Locals Chat - to replace West London Thread in Meet-ups

[Paddlechick666]

erm, not sure if this will work but have started a thread in the interests of currying favour with MNHQ!

I still have money for 2Cutes Kew membership perhaps someone could use it as an excuse to ring her about?

I have an indesit in the old flat that has been fabulous for 4.5yrs but I've had Candy before too. Guess it'll come down to price.

Kew, ta for offer. I have decided to take my cable with me and add broadband and phone which comes in at £43 pcm for the month. At the mo I pay £35 for cable and £45 for BT broadband/phone so I'll save 50% and keep my ability to record live TV. I just need a telly! Will price some up and keep you posted.

SFX, have I missed something?

feel very as haven't been in touch with 2cute as often as I should've. have emailed a couple of times but no response.

OMG I have been outed!

serves me right for posting about it on other threads before telling the west London posse

well I an only 5wks and very very nervous about it as successful pregnancies are not my forte, was sitting on my hands until the early scan but hey

am actually quite happy too btw

sushi was not kidding about hanging around mothercare you know...

Wow, lots of babies next year. Fantastic!!!

Congratulations sfx! A summer baby, how lovely...

hi everyone
how you all diddling?

SFX - fantastic news i'm so happy for you. congratulations! take care of yourself. what's your due date?

foxie - you're loving this landlady gig, eh? here's hoping that nice man slpits up with his partner then and gives you the lodger you want

kew - nice to see you yesterday. dd is on a 'long day' today so CM will certianly have her hands full! as well as more time to hector/cuddle/pick up your ds, she likes being there when the 'big boys" come home. just like her mother..

paddle - happy shopping. talking of TV (clunky GMTV-style link). did anyone watch i'm a celeb....last night. i'm so disappointed malcolm mclaren's pulled out. but think lynne franks and janice dickinson will be good value.
better do some work
toodlepip

oh and happy birthday for yesterday, sushi

OH GOD!!!! BT are the bloody rottweilers of phone and broadband services.

I have spent the last 2 hours organising switching of my phone/broadband/tv package to Virgin.

BT undercut them but their TV package isn't comparable then Virgin gave me free international calls too. So I went back to BT and have spent a further 20 minutes with this woman telling me how bloody marvelous they are and how utterly crap Virgin are.

I tried to appeal to her better nature and explain I didn't want the added stress of justifying my decision but she just kept blathering on and on.

I had to resort to telling her about all the awful tech support I have had over the years from BT India who seemed to think an unconnected line equalled static in my modem and how setting a password on my BT Digital Vault had reset my entire BT Account password and dropped the line etc.

Jeeeezuz!

Am sure Virgin will be equally crap but honestly I feel like I've just been a punchbag for BT to harangue.

Hounslow still haven't refunded me my single person discount either

now I have to tackle Powergen!

many thanks for congratulations must say love your optimism I am quite terrified and want an early scan asap.

any info on that gratefully received, have GP appoint next monday.

steppie was going to email you regarding integrated test but my email is playing up will try again - due mid July so ages to go and it can all go very wrong indeed

I can recommend the Fetal Medicine Centre if you end up wanting a private scan.

Fantastic news sfx . Have spent the morning baking my xmas cake. Now have to feed it brandy every week. It would actually be cheaper to buy one rather than make it. Buying all the ingredients cost a small fortune.

sfx ,it's only natural to feel scared and apprehensive, isn't It? those early months particularly.

i had the integrated test - which as i';m sure you know - is the most accurate non-invasive test you can have although it doesn't give as cast iron 'yes" or "No."

i had it at the fetal medical centre at queen charlottes. at the time (2004) it was being 'piloted." you have the nuchal fold scan as usual along with blood tests at around 12 weeks and 16 weeks. (off the top of my head. i think there is a 2-3 week margin but i'm sure you've been on the net!)

so you don't get the results until around 16 weeks.
i was 42 at the time and think my "odds" (after a nuchal fold) were about 1 in 150. I was happy with that as much "better" than whatever the figure was for my age. (from 42 you can't get a figure below whatever the 'safe' figure is anyway)

but i knew wouldn't be able to resist the integrated test as it was the latest, most accurate, non-invasive one. and you're always looking for reassurance, aren't you?
the results came back as something like 1 in 668,000!!!!!!!! I actually rang to complain thinking it was a typo with too many noughts in it. but, apparently, it was correct.

oh, don't know how widely available it is. would think you'd deffo have to pay for it. think i paid £140

Wow, congratulations SFX!!! Great news, I'm happy for you. Wishing you a good pregnancy!

Steppie - I did watch Celebrity last night. Hadn't meant to as I didn't even know it was on but somehow stumbled upon it, anyway I thought Janice was hilarious, without her and Lynne that group would be so dull.

PC- good luck with Powergen hopefully that will be a bit more straightforward (famous last words...)

thanks lemonaid and steppie had a look at fetal medicine centre prices but what price for peace of mind? still hope to have a viability one on NHS followed by the other test.

last time I did the triple test and my odds improved considerably
I have worked in SN all my working life so all the issues are ever pr4esent in my mind.

COV - but a home made super boozy cake is something special!

I think Janice is the female equivalent of Keith Richards ever so pickled and mad

I don't generally watch reality TV but occasionally have stumbled on Top Model it is very scary and I feel mean watching those silly girls self destruct never mind the utter campness of everyone else involved

I'd never heard of Janice before , don't watch much tv either.

SFX - It's good that you have the choice about the scans, I never knew there were so many alternatives, Swedish system is totally different. At least as say you can have some piece of mind as your pregnancy develops

SFX - confusingly, there are two different places with similar names:

The Fetal Medicine Centre - Kypros Nicolaides mob - he is the world leader in fetal medicine research and he invented the fetal scan. He also invented the CVS test and the nasal bone test.

It is £150 for an integrated scan at 12 weeks. You get the results immediately and its 95% accurate. All the staff are trained by Nicolaides and all profits go to the research charity.

There is also the Queen Charlottes mob who, confusingly, have called their relatively new private unit the "Centre for Fetal Medicine" They are much less experienced, but are also a private clinic. When I asked them what their miscarriage rate was for CVS's they said they hadn't done enough of them to be able to give me a figure (I suspect their figure was quite high and they just didn't want to say so) .

On the other hand, if you go to the Fetal Medicine Centre, Proff Nicolaides personally does all CVS's himself and the risk of miscarriage is much lower than the national average 1% risk. I realise you want an intergrated test (nuchal scan/blood tests)not a CVS, but a poor test result might lead you to want a CVS IYKWIM. Nicolaides has all the cutting edge technology there as well and his scanners can also do 3d imagering. The scan is extremely detailed and included the new nasal bone test (QC centre were completely ignorant of the nasal test when I asked them about it)plus about a 40-50 minute long cardiac examination.

I would strongly recommend you use Nicolaide's FMC if you want the most accurate result, as he is the world expert so to speak and has better technology. As well as getting the results on the spot, they can offer you the best possible service if you do get a poor result, as they are at the cutting edge.

Its worth every penny of the £150

Here is the link

www.fetalmedicine.com/fmc-home.htm

www.fetalmedicine.com/

Oh sh1t. So you hadn't told anyone here and I just spilled the beans. sorry.

No word from 2cute. Is there any surplus in the Kew Gardens fund? Could we dig in a bit and send some flowers to her door just to say we are thinking of her.

Oh, and Fetal Medicine Centre is indisputably the best there is. Deffo worth the money.

I had a nuchal on the NHS for DS and I also had one at FMC just because I wanted to compare quality of NHS vs. FMC. And FMC was above and by far superior. You will see a real doctor and he/she will not rush you out the door in an assembly line fashion.

thanks foxie I knew about Nicolaides and CVS very much on my mind but the risk of mc worries me I need to discuss it with dh.

on the site it only mentions nuchal plus blood test not tests which I though was needed for an accurate result - will email them later

that fine Ele thanks