JUNE 2008- tantrums, shrieking and lashings of Gin (and that's just the mums!)

[pureeandpearls]

Thread number 123 or something like that

I'm words, not images too, Essie - dp gets extremely embarrassed trying to take me somewhere like Tate Modern, I just get bemused and / or cross!

Oh Puree, so sorry to hear about your m/c, sending you a great big hug, we're all here for you when you feel like "talking"

Essie - my friend was offered a machine from her hospital to help with pelvic floor - it was a vibrator!

Systems - your dp sounds poorly, hope he begins to feel better soon.

Puree really sorry to hear about your mc

systems Your dp does sound really unwell. Could he have some night nurse to knock him out?

going he's on high-dose codeine, paracetamol, ibuprofen and penicillin, so can't add much more to the mix! though I did seriously consider Amber's Medised suggestion the other night ...

Systems - what is wrong with DP - sounds awful!

I was going to buy a pelvic floor machine when I was preggers ready for afterwards but seeing as I didn't have a vaginal birth I think it seems to be OK. It's like slendertone for your nethers! Must feel very odd as I have a slendertone and I can't imagine that feeling in my you know what !

Luke slept last night from 7pm to 5.10am without a sound. He has never done that in his life. I did nothing. No calpol, no feed, no nothing. Babies are strange creatures. Not getting excited as it's bound to not happen again for another 9 months but I certainly feel better after having a sleep last night.

That's great Amber. Go Luke! Did you sleep well or did you wake with a start every hour, look at the clock and think 'is he STILL asleep?!' It takes me about three nights of them sleeping through to actually sleep through myself.

amber I'm so pleased for you!!!! It probably wont happen again tomorrow night, but it will start happening more regularly eventually.

systems your poor DP!

amber you give me hope! Same thing happened to the baby of a friend of mine at the same age - he went from terrible sleeper to 12 hour stretches literally overnight, and hasn't looked back. I do think there's a developmental element in the sleep thing.

He has tonsillitis - 'only' tonsillitis I kept thinking till last night, when he was in more pain than I was giving birth ... He's doing so much better now though, let's have a huge shout-out for the opiate painkillers again

Why thank you viva! I actually forgot you'd met BDQ in RL and was thinking you were talking about her FB photo!!

Another lover of poetry here - and it's very good for children to learn poetry by heart, not something we do much in schools nowadays which is a real shame.

Amber, great news about the sleeping!

Shit, just read back and realised I'd missed p&p's news. I'm so so sorry to hear that hun, how awful. Thinking of you .

I stayed asleep. I think I was so completely knackered that wild horses couldn't have woken me. That makes me wonder whether Luke did wake but I was so out of it I didn't hear. Don't think so though.

Tonsillitis is rotten but I don't think it's more painful than labour!

I would have completely agreed with you till last night Amber, honestly it was like a horror film if it wasn't for the kids I would have whipped him down to A&E, I was worried about quinsy because he was in so much pain. I just hope the kids don't get it - although I have the same and just a normal sore throat so perhaps even if they did get it it would be different.

SA, your poor hubby - I had no idea that tonsillitis could be that bad. No wonder he just wants to be on an IV drip .

Poor thing - my sis and I always got tonsillitis when we were kids. My sis had hers whipped out in the end. We were always on antibiotics. Hope he feels better soon. Looked on netdoctor and the worst part is over in 48 hours they say.

So very sorry P&P. We're all here for you, and on FB too.

SA sorry about your dp.

S still being a bit teary at nursery - please all remind me it just takes a few weeks for them to settle?

Re the intellectual discussions of the day - love traditional (aka OLD) art, architecture etc, never really got poetry but wish I did, could wax lyrical about politics till the cows come home (although actually, with so many constraints on my time I'm nowhere near as well informed as I used to be), love to read for fun rather than intellectual weightiness (I suspect that's not a word) and would probably quite liked to have been an academic type but boys, fags and booze diverted me away from my early promise . Spent many years kicking myself for failing to fulfill my potential but oddly since having S other achievements pale in comparison and dont seem so important. I was going to do a Masters after finishing this course, but not sure that wild horses could drag me to the books away from my boys any longer than I have to.

Crikey, books, art and self-analysis.

Anyway, wrote 1000 words last night, am nearly on the home stretch...

BDQ, you sound like me in terms of feeling like I've never really fulfilled my early potential. I was very bright at school and my teachers (and me!) had high hopes for my future. Not really sure where I went wrong , although I think I can trace most of it back to leaving London to follow my heart and my dh to York. My career went into a nosedive then from which it never really recovered .

I am/was also very political and worked in Westminster when I was in London.

bdq and sponge don't worry about "reaching your potential" - I did (PhD, research position etc.) and then decided to step way back and have kids. I'm still working in my field but no where near the level where my peers are. I don't regret it at all! Sometimes I wish I hadn't worked so hard in my 20s since I've changed priorities so much. I could have relaxed wayyy more and ended up in pretty much the same spot... but who can see the future?

Not much to report here

Except that Fleur is sleeping through from 7pm til about 5 ish! she dropped dreamfeed herself while ill.

Scary night on Mon though when temp went up to 41.3 with a rash. Hospital said strep throat and poss Scarlatina so she is on antibs and much better now

Me i have strep throat too and ear injection soooo painful sythampies to your DH, SA

And pp echo what others have said big hugs and take care xxx

Good news on the sleeping Paro, but sorry you are all so unwell.

I've never really understood the lure of a career tbh. Obviously if you need it to earn money and support a family that's one thing, but it's not important to me as something I must do with my life. I really enjoy my job but have always preferred to be at home even before kids. Maybe I am just lazy! The best thing I ever did career-wise was meet DH as he earns enough for me not to have to work . Good on anyone who does care and works hard at their career though! Saying that, I am looking forward to going back now - they have told me they want me to do wed and thurs which is great. 10.30 till 6, I'll get home at 7pm after tea and bathtime is over .

Oh, now, I love my career - but I think that's one of the problems/side-effects of doing something you absolutely adore and live and breathe for. I still don't think Iestyn is my greatest achievement.
But then, potential schmotential, Sponge and BDQ. I didn't start earning until I was 26, and I would be earning more now if I'd actually started properly. Plus, at the age of 33, I have never had a permanent job, and don't have career security but have plenty of stress about not being quite where I want to be. So it really depends on where you put the emphasis - outside of academia my work history thing looks like a car crash: thousands spent training, work for no money (I get nothing financial for my books), regular moves around departments and institutions, no permanence...In fact don't I sound like a bit of a waster?

BDQ lol at the boys and booze. When I went to Oxford after Bangor, I was quite, er, popular because I would, um, put out from time to time... Bear in mind that everyone who does a first degree there is the chess club member from school and that's not where the action is... (I'm joking, everyone, and especiall Oxbridge types on here. Oh, is that a chip on my shoulder? )

BDQ nursery will get better it just takes a few weeks!

career oohhh intellectual chat, get us! I spent forever at university and feel like I've been doing exams non-stop for my whole life, if I had my time again I would study something different. I have career security, but it means I can't decide to take time out for a family break, as you really can't get back in after more than a year away. I have another 7 exams to do in the next 4 years, starting in Sept. I'd rather be at home with my feet up, but it doesn't pay the mortgage!

SA your husband sounds really poorly, hope he gets better soon.

paro sorry you're all feeling rough but yay for the sleeping!

What do you do Viva?

It would never have occurred to me not to have a career tbh, but I was very obviously headed into academia from an early age ... I do enjoy it and feel lucky to do what I do, but I don't love it in the way Essie does. I wish I did though, as I often feel like a bit of a fraud.

My big regrets are all about having done the straight academic route - BA, MA, PhD, research work, research fellowship. On paper I've been very successful but I wish I'd taken time out to travel or even just do some non-academic work! Guess we all have 'what ifs'.

LOL @ Oxbridge Essie - my school sent me on many open days to Cambridge and I could never bear the thought of spending several years there, the people who showed me round put me right off! but then I was going to be studying Maths at that point ...

dp much better by last night thanks everyone.