March 2010 - Our Terrific Terrible Twos will be big siblings

[PacificDogwood]

I hope nobody minds, but I went and started a new thread .

Sorry, headgirls!

How was the GTT, manda? Hope it cam back clear. And what about your surfeit of visitors, MissP? At least it should mean help with DD, which can only be a good thing where MS is involved.

Nearly there, hey, Flip! Very exciting! Are you taking bets on whether DC 2 is a boy or a girl?

Happy birthday to all the "babies" who have already celebrated their second birthdays. My DD's is next week. She is cat obsessed right now so her presents from us consist of the Happy Land vet set (includes a cat), a cat jumper and hat and, if I can bring myself to buy it, this. No doubt she'd like a real cat but, well, we'll see.

As those of on FB may have seen, we had an eventful night last week when DD went to hospital (blue lights and everything ) after a regular upper RTI got a bit carried away. Her temperature was sky high, and we couldn't bring it down, her breathing was really funny (fast and shallow) and she was half-conscious (not sleep because we couldn't rouse her properly). It was pretty worrying but the hospital sorted her out quite quickly. She was admitted to the children's ward - and, relatively quickly, was singing and dancing her way around the (thankfully) empty bay.

Hope everyone is well. Are we going to try to have a MMM sometime this year?

Oh, link didn't work. It did in preview . Well, anyway, it was to a slightly bizarre cuddly cat called, for some reason, "Laying cat".

sariska the link works fine! I see a slightly creepy (kinda taxidermy creepy) looking beige cat... I don't know why you'd do that to DD!

flip Your post made me realise that I have not bought or done a single thing for this baby. I really don't need much, if any 'stuff' but at the very least I will have to dig out James 0-3 vests/babygros/clothes so they can be rewashed (obviously washed before put away so why do I feel they need washing again? I don't know but I DO!). I think I have realised that I don't actually see a baby at the end of this pregnancy yet. Isn't that odd? Especially how anxious I was that he should 'make it' and had extra scans and the like - is that just not wanting to lose again rather than really feeling bonded to him? Hmm. Kinda thinking out loud (or typing out loud!) here - these thoughts are kinda just forming now. Maybe a 3d scan might help with my denial feelings?

I missed my consultant appt yesterday as I feel like I'm dying with yet another cold/flu thing, but did call for my GTT results and after the woman covered the mouthpiece with her hand and I heard muffled whispers she says 'yes, it's 'normal'' Had I been myself I'd have asked for numbers but as I was feeling so ill I just weakly said 'thank you' and put the phone down. So, woe is me! I was kinda hoping it'd be positive so that I had a 'reason' for growing whoppers and that if I just altered my diet (which isn't even bad!) I could look forward to something less than ten pound this time. Not hoping for a tiddler or anything just... not something toddler sized

In other (AWFUL) news... going to Butlins tomorrow. THe teens like it and I suspect James is gonna love it - the pool, the kiddie rides, the way he jumps around every time the advert comes on tv... Me, I frickkin hate the place. Ah, well, it's for the kids.

DD's birthday next wednesday (she'll be SEVENTEEN!) and James the sunday after.

Taxidermy, Hee Hee, yes, you're right, manda. That is why I'm a little reluctant to buy it. Thing is, the tasteless child DD will love it: one of her cousins has something similar and DD abducts it whenever she can. But, no, I think I'll stand firm and try to inculcate some good taste into her .

Good news about your GTT although sorry you are feeling poorly. And Butlins, well, umm, umm , I know! the kids will enjoy it so much you won't need to entertain them at all and can sit and read or sleep.

Yoohoooo!!!
I think it has been almost a year since i have been on here. RL has been quite hectic and intense. With second birthdays looming I though about all of you and wondered how you all were.
I can't believe they are 2! I still think of Yasper as 'the baby'.. Maybe it's time to think about a third.
Congratulations to all the ladies expecting. Are you addicted to obem again?
As i still need to catch up on the event from the last years, i am marking my place and wil be back soon.

Morning ladies

Well...I am officially on maternity leave [sigh of relief]. Well, technically I'm on holidays as using up annual leave until ML starts on 19 March. We're keeping DS at the childminders for a few days a week so Mon-Wed should (hopefully) be reasonably relaxing until baby arrives (now that I've made a start on packing hospital bag/decluttering - amazing what I can achieve in one day at home with neither DH nor DS!). Last week was comedy hectic, but I managed to leave things in a reasonably OK state. The same woman is doing my cover as last time, though she's just been offered a permanent contract with our company so I imagine they'll be recruiting someone new. The good news is...I don't care! I've now properly switched off from work.

Dizzi hello! Hope all good with you and DD and DS . No OBEM watching here - for some reason being pregnant makes me totally not want to watch it! Though in fairness, I didn't watch it last year when I wasn't pregnant either [am practically the only person I know in RL who's not addicted to it btw - I was addicted to Call the Midwife instead - top show!]

Manda Great news on the GTT front and hope you're having fun at Butlins! And don't worry about getting things done for this baby - you have heaps of time still. I'm with you on the washing, though ours have been stored in the cellar so perhaps more of a mould risk (my mould paranoia is a definite nesting sign!).

MissP hope the MS is easing and that you're enjoying all your visitors.

Fliss hope things good with you - you must be getting closer to full term too methinks? My memory is rubbish, but I think you're only a couple of weeks behind me? I'd forgotten about this stage of pregnancy - am 37+4, so realistically, have weeks to go, but can't stop wondering "oh, was that a twinge?". Have planned lots over the next few weeks to try and keep myself distracted (didn't really do that first time around).

Sariska gosh, that sounds stressful with DD . Glad she recovered quickly, but must have been horrible. I'd be up for a London/south east meet up if anyone fancies volunteering to organise!

And happy birthday to all the littlies whose birthdays are around now!

yay to ml- flip! very exciting x enjoy the rest when u can x

Happy birthday to all our two year olds! temper tantrums galore here! OMG! especially at 2 am! not fun at all

Greetings from Berlin! Afribaby has moved continents. BerlinBaby from now perhaps. Looking forward to posting more regularly - as I will be part-time work from home mom and main carer for DD - for the first time since she was born. Am nervous!

Would it be wrong to run on here after so long, dance round and round and shout 'there's a big picture of me on the MN homepage'?!

Afri how exciting about your move! I've only been to Berlin once but loved it - such a great city! Must be a big change though.

Sarah the tantrums are here too - diva-tastic carryon at times!

Well done Squiggly! You look very foxy indeed in the photo and the article is thought provoking too,

Bloody hell. The arms trade and babies . Well I never. Great article though.

squiggly totally missed your post earlier - great article. Well done

Well done Squiggly! Interesting article - the baby and bullets combo is quite terrifying.

Go squig

Waves to Afribaby good to 'see you'

Flip yay for maternity leave! I'm 36+1 now, still 3.5cm ahead and seemed to leave the MW yesterday when she recommended I have another growth scan and I asked her what new thing it would tell us. She said it would help them to inform me better, but didn't seem clear as to what about - baby is predicted to be big, she said scans are inaccurate at this late stage and I've already had discussions with the supervisor about the risk of shoulder dystocia. GTT was normal - there's nothing new a scan would tell us. She seemed a bit and told me to chat with my man about it and then see the other MW at 38w.

DHs only comment was 'well, what would it tell us that we don't already know' when I told him about the conversation, and (unusually for DH) he seemed to fully agree with me declining the scan, rather than thinking I was being obtuse for the sake of it.

Chat to my man, seemingly being heavily pregnant had rendered me incapable of making an informed decision by myself...

Fliss talk to your man . Erm, because you're incapable of making a decision? Crikey, that would have wound me right up! Well done on refusing the scan - won't tell you anything you don't already know! I had a midwife app today and it wasn't my usual midwife, which was actually quite nice (she was more relaxed reading through my notes that my usual midwife). She managed to change my hospital app next week to one with my nice consultant on my due date the week after (the nice consultant isn't obsessed with the baby's size the way the other consultant is - the other consultant is equally nice, bar her obsession with the size of the baby!). I'd actually like no more hospital appointments, but I can't get another midwife appointment until I'd be 43 weeks + and actually do want my BP and urine checked before then. The midwife booking system seems mad to me (was tempted to say couldn't they rearrange some of the 16/28 week appointments to fit me in in the next couple of weeks but wasn't brave enough!). Baby is still head down (relief), head free but appears to be OP. I think baby is more to the left, but will do a bit more positioning stuff.

Right, off to have a quick snooze while DS naps!

Thanks all! I now realise how often I go on MN due to the shock of seeing my beady eyes staring out.

Trying to catch up a bit. Afri Berline sounds amazing. I always wanted to go there and we're thinking of a weekend later in the year.

Tantrums: check. Though went on an amazing course (www.babiesknow.com) which has totally changed how I deal with them and really, really helped. I'd have never paid for it but they wanted me to write about it. We're now going back on their longer course (and paying for DH to come) as it was soooo worthwhile.

Fliss is it wrong that you MW wanting you to have a scan but not even knowing herself why kind of makes me giggle? Must be so frustrating though when you are totally informed and comfortable with your decision. And AS IF you need to chat with your man. FFS!

Flip yay for mat leave. Are you enjoying it? Can we meet up perhaps with Missp. How are you feeling MissP?

Sariska that sounds scary - glad DD is ok now.

In DD world life is all about her 'big girl's bed' and carrying her teddy round in the doll-sized ergo (sweeeeeet). She's got a nasty cough that's really been set in for weeks now and I think may have progressed to chest infection so off to the docs we go. Her chest keeps getting so tight she speaks strangely, her breathing sounded laboured last night and this morning she has a raging temperature

All well with me though mad mad mad busy. We may also be moving to the kent coast though we are keeping our London flat and renting it out in case we need to come back and also for financial security purposes feels grown up, sees she's covered in marmite and realises she might not be . We put a very low offer in on a house and are waiting to hear back...

Right off to harass the GP on the phone. DD make squeaking noises as she breathes out...

When I first checked the homepage, I thought: Blimey, squiggley is actually Goldie Hawn!!! Hehe, no, I didn't, but her picture was a little way under yours and was a fun thought for a moment.

To my mind, I think the organisers of the fair aren't really the 'bad' guys, per se. I mean, as the organisers, they just want to sell as many booths as possible/negotiate the cheapest venue/advertising costs - they're making money. Even organising a baby fair alone regardless of their other interests doesn't automatically make them some kind of virtuous company unless they ONLY sell their spots/booths to natural/organic/breastfeeding/reusuable nappy/little bit wooo companies, y'know? A lot of coporate baby big business is pretty ugly - as you say looking to sell us crap we really don't need by laying on The Guilt or holding back on recalls or using ingredients that aren't 'the best' for our little ones but are cheaper and, hey, we won't notice anyway if their advertising is worded just so, and The Want is created.

In that sense, as a fair organising company then isn't the baby business just the lesser of two evils? The corporate baby stuff isn't funding the arms stuff and vice versa. I find it hard to be offended that the fair organisers deal with both because ultimately they don't give a fig about my baby or my life with them whether they deal with the arms trade or not...

Gawd, I sound cynical.

I would like that the arms fairs didn't exist at all, obviously, but they do, and are perfectly legal, and as I say the perps of what is wrong with them aren't the orgnaisers of the fairs but the attendees.

I suppose it's that I find the bloody baby fairs abhorrent in and of themselves that the 'added bonus' of the organisers having an (even less savory) different branch doesn't either a) surprise me or b) seem unusual.

Am I even making sense? I haven't even finished my first coffee and could be waffling a load of crap here!

ALso, face for fliss! I am hoping she meant talk to your partner in the sense that it's his baby too and you make joint decisions regarding care rather than the patronising, run along silly woman and consult the person with the brain in your relationship... difficult to know though!

Hi all, popping in to say that I had a scan today. I was quite anxious about it, without any good reason, but it was all very positive and reassuring. Saw the teeny heartbeat :) I'm 9+6 (which ties in with my own estimation, even though by LMP I should be 11w), so I've got another scan booked in 3 weeks.

Busy baking/decorating a cake tonight for Izzy's birthday lunch tomorrow. Did presents and (M&S) cake on Wednesday but we've got more relatives coming tomorrow so we'll do another small celebration.

Very impressed by your article squiggley, I had no idea of the Baby Show/arms trade link. Would love to meet up sometime btw, my run of visitors end after this weekend so let me know.

And a big to your MW Fliss, "chat with your man" indeed. Those pesky uteruses (uterii?) of ours do interfere with our decision-making at the best of times, so imagine how incapable of logical thought a pregnant woman with an enlarged uterus must be.

Off to do Izzy's tea.. hope everyone else is well :)

Hooray for your scan MissP :)

Having 'chatted with my man' this evening he has said that he is happy for me to stay at home if I go past 38 weeks. This is despite our Trust dishing out the HB packs at - and the classification of full term as being - 37 weeks. If they're happy that it's safe to give birth in the MLU or at home at that point, then I'm not going to go 'ooh, I don't know', especially after all the i-dotting and t-crossing that's been done up to this point.

I'd like to see him getting me to agree to getting in the car at anything past Wednesday .

This is exactly why it is not advisable to chat to your man.

Lovely news on the scan, missP - is the ms easing now or still struggling? It'd be a crying shame to miss out on so much celebration cake for Izzy's birthday!

The ms is better now than it was Manda, although that could be because I've been eating more while we've had visitors (meals out, coffee and biscuits, and cake, of course). Happy birthday to J today, and to Siamese's DD and also Pacific's DS yesterday :)

squiggley how is DD doing? Did you get anywhere with the GP?

hope all the birthday boys and girls are having a fab time x

37 weeks today

Pick up home birth pack tomorrow

DD had a lovely day yesterday, thanks for all the birthday wishes. She was most put out this morning. She came into our room and requested presents and was appalled when we told her there weren't any today

2 year olds...how have we managed this? Well done us