March 2008 babies: Why aren't humans born with teeth and other important topics!

[MarchNowFebMum]

new thread - old one getting too big for some...

Difference: me =surrey doula, them =surreyoulaS

doulas, even. prob is that they are each v experienced and they know that i wil need their cast-offs for a while.

turtle, you are a surreydoula,you've designed your site, all they've done is bought a similar one and haven't got off their arses to actually do anything about yet. Are they just trying to scare you off, cos I don't think it's the sort of thing they can legally force you to change.

ps - surreydoula.com still available, web friend suggests you buy that too in case they try to snaffle. You're not cybersquatting as you've used it legitimately for your business.

They are not interested in surreydoula...they each have their own sites, are looking at a group effort. Was hinted by someone else that they will ask me to be on it, but am feeling a bit bruised. The problem is that it is a small community and if you start treading on toes, it will only hurt you. I have bowed out graciously, but nobody has offered to reimburse me for original domain. I shouldn't really be discussing this here as there are other doulas on here, but who else can I chat to day or night online?
Will drop it now...am waiting to hear on birth client 2!!!

turtle you're right, you have more to gain by acceding to their demands than keeping your domain.

HQ and Dontpanic are also right, but fighting that battle won't do you any favours.

Given that you've built a site and publicised your URI and all they've done is registered a domain and then sat on it for two years, it's pretty shitty of them to ask you to change when it would be so much easier and cheaper for them to just come up with another name

I would definitely follow up on the "hint" that you'll be asked to join. Play nice but firm on that - you'll go to the (not inconsiderable) hassle and expense and inconvenience and damage to your brand of changing your name on the understanding that you will now be a part of surreydoulas, with all that entails.

I know you may not have time for this, but it might make sense to also offer to get the group site up and running, because being linked from that site is going to be important for you.

Are you talking to anyone about search engine optimisation? For the group site it would be worth pooling your money to hire someone good to at least get you started with that. Then each of you is linked off, so you should all benefit from the google juice.

In the meantime you need to come up with a new name. Do you want us to help you? I'm not really offering my services as I S. U. C. K. at coming up with names for websites/projects/business ideas but I'm sure the collective MarchMums heads could maybe help with inspiration. I will add suggestions, but I recommend now that you ignore them

merryberry that picture of GG is just gorgeous

evie congratulations I'm delighted to hear your news.

HQ good news about the yoghurt.

Does anyone else have a baby that barely eats anything? At Christmas my SIL was telling me what her DS (same age) has for breakfast - 1 weetabix, 1 round of toast, 1 plum, .5 banana.

DD has: 1 mini shredded wheat, 1 grape!

I know babies are all different but if it weren't for merryberry's apple suggestion from months ago she could barely be said to be weaned

Also turtle as hilarious as JFly's www.breathinbreathoutstopcrushingmyhand.com idea was, I think approaching your new brand with that kind of lighthearted humour could be a very good way to go.

The web likes human and personal. Obviously nothing too flippant, but something that comes across as warm and relaxed will probably work well. Someone looking for a doula is looking for reassurance from someone who they can really trust and also someone they can be relaxed with at one of the least dignified times of their life.

I know I would go with www.breathinbreathoutstopcrushingmyhand.com a million times over www.labourisbrilliantandnotatallscary.com

Thanks, skidoodle.
Have decided to go with the truly unoriginal sarahhopewell dot co dot uk.
(but am now going to give serious consideration to using those as taglines!!!)

turtle - if they are willing to let you join in surreydoulas then i would say ignore everything i said. skidoodle as ever has very sound advice. you have a lot to gain from joining their group so not worth getting trenchant. so i would give up surreydoula.co.uk on the understanding that you get to be part of their gang. it could be a great thing for your business

baddish night here last night - at least, first where i've had to get up with him this week. putting that down to rubbish naps yesterday though and hence too tired to take his bedtime feed well rather than him missing his afternon feed. that's the line i'm sticking to anyway

Turtle, thirded (or whatever) if you get to join the gang, but don't give it up if you get no benefit in return or I'll go round and sort them out....I completely see where you're coming from on the effect it will have on you getting work, but they really need a kick up their collective backsides for slacking over their own site for so long.

Been swimming this morning, LO was great considering we hadn't been for weeks, temperature's unfortunately not as warm as a hydrotherapy pool, but the wetsuit keeps him ok for a little while.

Actually sarahhopewell is probably the best option all around. It IS original, because it is just your name.

It will tie your business and online identities very much together, which can have a lot of advantages, not least of which is that if you branch out to other related areas (e.g. hypnotherapy etc.) you won't have to rebrand your site, just update it to reflect your progression in your field of expertise.

There are drawbacks though, so be aware of that when you're posting on MN - your RL, and now professional, identity is quite easily tied to turtle23, so consider that before posting anything you would want to keep private from clients. You could easily namechange to a profile you never associated with sarahhopewell so that you can continue to let it all hang out on MN when you need to

Right back to cleaning the whole house from top to bottom. We have a viewing tomorrow and the place is a tip.

skidoodle-I have four names on MN.

Turtle, that all sounds a bit mean, just like little girls in the playground. Totally agree that while my first reaction is that you should use surreydoula and boo hiss to them, but in the long run it is probably more sensible to change. And using your name is a good idea.

Skidoodle they are all different. Ff is an eating machine, but still absolutely tiny. As long as your LO seems happy, then I would just carry on pushing different foods, and you might find something that she likes, and will eat more of.

Congratulations, Evie, that's fab news!

Went out this afternoon, and told Bloke before I left 'I should be back by half three, but if I'm not, give her 6oz of expressed milk out of a bottle when you get her up from her sleep.' He waved me off, as if annoyed that I felt I needed to tell him how to look after his daughter. So, he calls me up at 4 (I was on glass of wine number 3 by then, bad FfreckleFface...) and asks if he should wake her up now. I said yes, because she'll definitely want some milk...he sounds surprised and tells me that he gave her milk before her sleep, and she drank 9oz. Now, I'm not especially fanatical about the routine, but it made me laugh that he was surprised she was still asleep. 9oz probably put her into a little milky coma!

congrats Evie!!!

congrats evie, although does this mean you'll have to cheat on us and go to the spet 2009 (yes, it's there!) thread?

all my nct group is ttc but i am squarely in the 'let's wait a few years' camp, and my husband on some says is in the only child camp! however, lately I have been amusing myself by spending a lot of time on the baby names threads, is v fun to comment on stranger's name pics :.)

thanks all for your kind words. I'm still at the I can't believe it stage and although I popped by the 2009 I quickly popped off as I can't imagine getting to know that new group! ANyway - I'm such a lurker and not hugely involved so I don't suppose they will miss me! Feels quite strange thinking back to the same stage last time around with number one - this time around is much more matter of fact but still a lovely thought!
good luck to all with feeding, weaning etc. I'll pop by again some time soon but just wanted to thank you for support....oh and thanks for thoughts on the cot debacle - last night first night in 2 weeks I haven't been woken - I feel like a new woman!

good - as you need your sleep now! :.)

am still here and reading but cant post properly so a big wave so not lurking!

just done ds1' school application for jan 2010. wow where did that time go?

trouble is, he wants to go now. think he's getting a bit bored at nursery type school with endless play and littlies around. so they are gong to work on his letters with him, as he is mad fascinated with trying to read. can do 'stop' from road signs, 'zoo', 'zone' and 'Disney DVD' from the electronic babysitter...

having a rubbish start to the day as DS has just been referred to a paed orthopaedic consultant i fell on the bottom step last friday while carrying him on my hip and i think his leg got trapped between me and the step. anyway, all weekend he has not put any weight on it. he had just finally got the hang of standing really well, and was just looking like he might crawl, and then all weekend he has refused to stand and is also doing a pathetic bum shuffle thing where he gets his left leg in crawling position but can't move his right around so slides backwards i was hoping doc would say he was fine but she thinks he might need physio or something

what with burglary, and DH having to go to consultant on friday as he has buggered his back, and now this, i'm wishing 2009 had never started!

the only good news this morning is that DS has finally doubled his birthweight. he now weighs 18lbs and still only 9th centile after starting so high at 9lb, but i'm really pleased we have reached that milestone.

Oh, HQ how awful.
When DS was about 15 months old he fell down our stairs and badly bruised his hip. He refused to bear any weight on it at all for about 2 weeks and then the consultant said keep him completely calpolled for a couple of days so that he is reassured that it didn't hurt to put weight on it and see how he gets on and that seemed to work. Maybe if it has been sore he's a bit scared to use it?
That was of course ofter numerous x-rays etc so they were fairly sure nothing else was wrong.
It was a horrible, horrible couple of weeks.

DD has her first tooth! and about 4 queued up. She is frantically gnawing anything she can get her hands on- which is how I found out when she gnawed my hand . And I can't remember who was worrying about food intake but I've only just persuaded DD that breakfast is worth doing at all, AND she's dropped her 2o'clock bottle as well as she cut it right down to 4 oz and started to go off her bedtime bottle as well. She doesn't get her appetite from me I know that much.

sorry to hear that hq, what a worry, i hope things go well with quick referral and a happy outcome. good news on the doubling front!

Have appt on Thurs at hosp. GP was very keen for me to go private if we had cover as she didn't want a delay in his treatment of even a few weeks given he is at the stage of learning to stand etc. and fortunately somewhere in the frantic early days I do seem to have registered him with work's health provider. Not normally a huge private obsessive (love the NHS for all its faults actually) but very glad we have it at the moment.

Oh HQ, that is horrible. I'm sure it will all be ok, they are reilient little things. Best of luck for the appointment and a big hug for you.

effing teething. i could curl up on a pin head and sleep through a lot of noise right now. up so often last night. inconsolable chap on our hands. going to large loud playgroup as i know it will distract him from the pain. may kill me and overwhelm ds1, but hey...