DEC 08 - Welcome to the house of ill - We're riding a poonami

[MomOrMum]

This was the only thing I could remember some saying should be the next title!

It's interview city for you, Effie!

Rubes, DD wouldn't eat ANY lunch. Nada. Not even fruit puree. Just kept saying no in a louder and louder voice. I reckon she'd have gone for toast but I was out of bread. I think some of it isn't lack of hunger or not wanting the food, it's learning to exercise a little control over us bossy parents, dictating when they eat and so on.

Oh jeepers, the work to the lad's car that DP forced off the road is going to cost over a grand. DP thinks claiming on the insurance will be more expensive in the long run (higher premiums, loss of no claims) but I'm not sure. I suppose money doesn't matter in the light of this, the main thing is obviously no casualties (I am presuming DC2 is ok, I don't seem to have had any symptoms of anything)...but it's a lot of cash.

Ding dong the rat is dead, as they almost say in The Wizard of Oz. Let's drink to him being a lone operator.

Long chat with agent, implication of which he is far too busy with important clients to be dealing with a pipsqueak like me But I do understand his difficulties. I am clearer now on what he wants me to do. I think it's probably a week's work so I must press on.

Beans, it said on the front of one of the more exciting papers (I have just been to the shop to buy aforementioned bread) that Mark Owen had 10 affairs! Hmm, to admit that means that the papers must have had some pretty heavy duty stuff on him. Usually people try to brazen it out for a while.

Right, other preggos, how big am I going to be at 22 weeks? I ask because that's when the wedding in Sweden is and I really do want to look pregnant and not just like I have eaten all the pies. I can't remember how big I was at that stage last time. Is it s proper bump by then?

X-posted with you, Invis. City vs country...
wouldn't it be nice to have a city pad, a country home, and a place by the sea? That's my aim. If ever I am rich, once I have got the loft conversion in my flat in London done, I would buy a place by the sea in Spain. Cliched but true.

LadyT - personally, I have a soft spot for cities by the sea. See, I am very reasonable, then you only need two places

oh, and LadyT, however big you were last time at 22 weeks, figure on being much bigger this time round. Sorry for the horrid analogy, but its like a balloon that's been iflated, deflated and then inflated again - it all stretches out more quickly second time round.

Well, one of my old clients (whom I dare not name) had a place in Mayfair, a place in Guernsey and a place in California. Apart from the mews in Mayfair, of which I thoroughly approve, I was always very disappointed in his other choices. He spent most of the time in Guernsey as well, which I would find a bit...anodyne.

Ooh, you are much more reasonable than me, Invis! I'd always want a place in London town although I do agree that cities by the sea absolutely rock.

Have just got your other message about how big I will be at 22 weeks. Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrgh! I find that simultaneously horrifying and hilarious. I don't really know how I got so big last time or when it was. I remember being quite far on and thinking "Oh blimey, my thighs are very fat now" but I vaguely thought it would all melt away once DD was born. I don't mind a bump, it's all the rest of the associated blubber. Ah well. I am encouraged by WG's hugely impressive running feat last night, maybe I too will do something drastic like that once I have had the baby...

You are right, I'm not that reasonable, couldn't give up a spot in London. (Mayfair pad would do, although I'm not sure that would be top of my fantasy London picks. Entirely agree that the others and especially Guernsey sound lke thoroughly meh choices).

Oh and didn't mean to alarm you too much about getting bigger - its mostly the bump that grows like gangbusters.

I think I'd go for (money no object) Marylebone, Fitzrovia, or Lancaster Gate/Kensington Gardens. Sigh...Or one of those grand crescents with Nash terraces near Regents Pk/Harley Street. Mmmmm. So, come on - anyone else? Fantasy lottery win new home locations? Doesn't have to be in London...

I have a fear of London. I'd like a beatiful place round here or in North Yorkshire. Don't really want the city/country/sea thing although I wouldn't say no to a place in France Either in Bordeaux or on the coast round there and maybe another in the countryside around Cahors. My great, great grandad was the clogmaker in a village around there and his wife ran a cafe above the workshop. We spent all our holidays in the house as a child although it was all horribly "modernised" by my great granparents who took out all the original sinks, blocked up the traditional cupboards in the walls above the sinks, blocked up the old curved shop doors and rendered They even broke up the absinthe fountain which would be worth a fortune now although we still have some of the original glasses and bottles.

I feel some fantasty rightmoving and linking coming on.

bit big perhaps

sorted I'm having this one! I used to live at the bottom of the hill this one is on and often used to walk down the road gazing into the windows of all these houses with their perfect rooms and look all as I pounded the streets with ds to get him to sleep and returned to my little flat above the hairdressers! We did have rather good castle and cathedral views though.

this makes me smile I'm pretty sure it was being done up last time I was there, it is in the village of our old house! I last went when pg with ds as we sold the main house but still have a little one up one down thing. No space for the dcs though

Oooh, I like the one you reckon might be a bit big, Indith. Still - if you were a lottery winner you could have a nice cleaner.

If I was buying in France it would have to be Lille, I love it - just something about it.

I would like a riverside flat in Wapping/st katherine dock's area. A villa with lots of rolling hills just outside of Rosia in Tuscany & a sunshine coast hinterland house & some land in Australia. I like there to be lots of land so a few friends could build houses on it and we could have a little commune.

LadyT I meant to say earlier I'm not surprised O has turned her nose up at crawling, for a girl about town like her it must seem so uncivilised to get abouton ones hands & knees.

Thanks Invis, you seem a normal well adjusted person so I'm sure my DS's will be ok.

Speaking of which DH was Reading the very hungry caterpillar to the boys tonight and as he often does he got DS1 to count the food with him and to our surprise he counted it all in Dutch!!!! We were so shocked, he has been slipping the odd word into sentences buyer didn't realise he could count. Two weeks ago he & I said we should learn together to count in Dutch buy he has gone ahead and learnt at school.

Well done AK, that's fantastic! Probably in a couple of months you'll be using him as your own personal interpreter...

LadyT - you read my mind - we're on the same track in the fantasy stakes. The perfect place needs to be properly central and of the city to keep me happy, with a proper garden to satisfy DH's suburban soul. Grew up nearish Regent's Park, always wondered who lived in those Nash terraces - they really are the stuff of a mad imagination. My brother went to a kids birthday party in one once - they actually had a lift in the house, which seemed terribly decadent to my 10 year old mind.

Hello everyone!
DH gone to the pub, i pretended to be "oh must you, oh OK then" secretly thinking "hurrah, peace"!

We had a massive argument today as I locked myself out of the house...I called DH to come and let me in (he works 5-10 mins away). He said he would call me back in 2 mins but didn't - 15 mins later i am still waiting. Eventually he turns up 25 mins later and lets me in, in a bit mood with me. Massive argument ensues. Later discover there is something wrong with my phone and though I was staring at it waiting for it to ring for 15 mins it wasn't working. Stupid bloody thing - iphones, they are great for everything except phone calls. I will have to send it back if it keeps doing it as there was no way of knowing it wasn't working, it had full reception according to it, and only started working again after I restarted it. Our massive argument upset poor little DS too, he was not impressed.

veggie very impressed with AK's counting.

LadyT I think at 22 weeks you probably will look obviously pg, especially if you dress right to show it off. I am 19 weeks and don't really look obviously pregnant yet, but don't seem to show very early. Though someone I didn't know asked if I was pregnant the other day so it must show a bit. I think it was brave of her to ask though as I think I could definitely just be a bit chubby! I have to say I don't feel as fat and unattractive as last time though (but maybe my standards are just lower, haha). Actually I feel quite good, enjoying the cleavage at least.

Hmmm...houses...i think I would have an old beautiful property in the Alps perfectly located for summer mountain biking and winter snowboarding. Maybe in Morzine or somewhere like that. Or Alpe d'Huez. It would be right by the slopes/lifts and have a large workshop for my dozens of bikes. I would also have a pad in London for coming back and seeing friends. One of those properties round Regents Park that LadyT was talking about would be nice. Hi Indith! You should definitely go for the first property. Obviously you would have full-time staff so the size would not be an issue. You would be Lady Indith and maybe you would invite us peasants to visit now and again (though LadyT would be welcome any time as she is already a Lady).

I had more to say but going to post this now as my computer is about to run out of batteries and don't want to lose it.

Indith - I love the idea of a French house with "arborous land"! Acually we temporarily had visiting rights to a couple of allotments a while ago, one of which had been turned into an orchard - it was when DD was tiny and popping her under the dappled shade of a tree while mooching around there was pretty special.

oh hi invisible!

I meant to say ages ago thanks very much for the offer to give me advice about VBAC. Have to go to hospital to talk about in next week, so I will be mulling it over properly after then. Am now heading towards the VBAC route....feeling a bit queasy about the idea of a c-section when planned and not already a bit out of it! (that sounds silly I know!!) Also I do think the recovery should be faster after a VBAC, I remember getting from lying to sitting being a pain for ages after c-section.
Oh only thing I could ask you now is - is there anything I should ask the at the hospital?? I want to know if they will let me have intermittent monitoring or at least mobile monitoring (though apparently they can never find the mobile monitor , was certainly the case when I was there first time), whether they will let me labour in the pool (if free) and what their success rates with VBACs are and how many end in interventions such as forceps (have heard this is more likely).

Oh your job opportunity sounds very exciting!! Keep us updated!

Hi summer - sounds like you're on the right lines, although I have to say I got terribly frustrated with my doctor chats before having DS. I'd get all psyched up for it and then get some v junior doc who knew nothing. So don't be too surprised if it turns out to be a bit of a damp squib. If you want to know the stats, I think there was a maternity services report a couple of years ago that had VBAC stats from all the NHS hospitals. The place I gave birth actually had pretty poor stats and I was trying to figure out why (their excuse was the demographic, which I think just means Hampstead types too posh to puch ). If I get a chance, I'll try and find you the link and you can see how your hospital stacks up. The main thing is trying to figure out your personal chances of a VBAC, which mostly turns on the original reasons for your CS, so that's worth asking about. IME, if all goes to plan, VBAC is much easier and less time in hospital, which mattered to me for DD. So with us, I went in to hospital at midnight was was back home by 4pm the next day, so she had a nice day with my sister and we were back for teatime/bedtime etc. Def better if you can avoid continual monitoring (although I can understand why they want to do it). I think the policy in my hospital was to have it, but the midwife who looked after me basically ignored the policy and sent me wandering round the ward, into the bath etc etc. I think the bath especially helped for me. The other thing they do routinely for VBACs is put a cannula in (thing in your hand for a drip to plug into) so they can act quickly if things go wrong. Personally that was the most unpleasant part for me. Again, I can see why they do it, but you might want to check if its policy and whether you want to/have to have it.

Links tomaternity services reports

Actually, looking again, the report had c-section stats rather than vbac stats, but you get the idea.

Ooh yes, cannula, I have the crappest veins ever, they put the cannula in my arm last time rather than my hand, as didn't think they would get it in my hand. Somehow they managed to do it first time in my arm though. I was in such a strop that they were going to induce me that I didn't even flinch though if I remember correctly it wasn't very pleasant!! I remember them trying to put one in my hand for the CS (I think they wanted to move the canula there) and they couldn't do it. So basically I won't be keen on having that...argh! Or they can at least wait until I'm having proper contractions, then they can put it in so I won't notice.

I got the impression that the chat is with the hospital midwives, but I am guessing I got the wrong end of the stick, and it will be with a doctor.

Thanks, I might have a look for those statistics briefly.

x-posts there. Will have a look thanks. Though I already know Addenbrookes has a high c-section rate in general. But I think that is partly because it is the most specialized maternity hospital in the area so it gets all the complicated cases that are likely to go wrong!

Good luck with the hosp summer: you sound v well prepared. One thing I'd ask is the circs in which they'd go straight for a cs - if you are overdue? Also do try and keepmobile and upright, I was on my back with continual monitoring with DS1 and it more or less stopped me pushing.

Sinusitis seems to be getting worse - it's not bad, just not ideal. Apparently it's very common in preggo people which explains repeat episodes of it last time too...

Eek VBAC - go Summer, my worst nightmare but I admire your attitude. There is this website dr, foster which I always look at, but might not be what you are talking about.

Fantasy houses - gotta be somewhere in Aust. Aaaah Veggie, SSC - thats my home! Massive palace in Noosa would suit me and a harbourside pad in Sydney a la Nicole Kidman. Um and Somewhere palacial in the Hunter Valley Oh and Greece too (though i've never been it looks nice!)

I find myself strangely interested in the talk about VBACs. It's not for me, but I like to hear about the technicalities. Good luck Summer, very much hope you get the outcome you want! I do take your point about recovery after cs. However, DP is taking three weeks off (he gets a refund on chambers rent as 'paternity leave' and the minimum you can take is three weeks) so I'm hoping that that will be enough time for me to be in good shape. I've got my 12 week scan a week on Tues. He can't make it, so I am hoping all is well.

Speaking of DP he says I can't have a Nash terrace near Regents Pk if we win the lottery - only if we win the Euromillions I looked them up and a whole house (4 bedrooms, not excessive) costs 12.5million. They had quite small flats for 1.5 and 4.5 million...hmmm. Might have to have a rethink!

Off to Oxford for lunch with FIL today (as in DH's father) and then out to a 40th tonight. Actually, I can't be bothered - sorting out a babysitter for DD has been such a hassle that it tends to leech the joy out of such events (sounds churlish I know). Well, the bumshuffling is wearing thin already! I have just stopped her pulling a giant candle in a thick glass pot (about 20cm diameter!) onto her head. Re: what Trace said yesterday, I think there will be more of these heartstopping moments to come...