Expecting in Oxford in 2011 anyone?

[Jer79]

Wondering if anyone else is having a baby in Oxford this year (2011)? I am due in the summer and would love to meet other mothers-to-be who live around.

Lovely to meet you today ladies - seeing you all looking so beautiful and relaxed, and your babies sooo cute, made the next phase feel less intimidating. :)
Hope to see you again in a couple of weeks, if I can still waddle there :)

What a gorgeous group of babies :) Was lovely to see everyone looking so well - can't wait for MiniOwl to arrive now!

Hey cakes yes some really odd stubby abdomen sensations, almost but not quite like cramps, plus lots of nausea already (boo!)

How about you, any news? I'm a few miles north west of Oxford. How about you?

Still no more news... Going to re-test tomorrow morning. I'm South, South-East of Oxford - nearish Wallingford. I had nausea over Easter Weekend, but since then - none. Just eating like a pig.

Hello!

Would any one be interested in receiving FREE one on one baby massage classes in the Bicester area?? Each class is worth £30 and I need a Mummy and/or Daddy with a baby less than 4 months old to do 3 classes with me :)

I'm a student teacher and need this to complete my assesment. Classes can be held in your home or mine-which ever you'd feel more comfortable with.

Classes will need to begin asap though as my assesment date is looming and I have a holiday booked before then :)

The benefits of baby massage are mind blowing and so good for babies. Baby massage stimulates the human growth hormone as well as other amazing benefits so one on one classes would be especially beneficial for premature babies, or Mummy's suffering from Post Natal depression.

Feel free to contact me on 01869 357 145 or write to me at [email protected]

Look forward to hearing from you :) xxx

Hi me again!

Just been through your thread and wondered if I can join? I have one son Born 6/8/10 and one due 5/11/11! Would be nice to meet up with mums and babes and bumps in the area :) xx

OK. BFP. Just in case anyone was interested. Wonder if I should wander off and start a 2012 thread?!

oh cakes that's fab - you must be delighted after all of the uncertainty! When's your EDD then? Will you be thinking about the JR/Spires for the birth or is there somewhere nearer to home for you?

I'll join a 2012 thread if you like as I feel a bit like we're hijacking this one!

nikkiL I can't help I'm afraid but I'm sure you're more than welcome to join the thread as a new mum

Nice one cakes :)

I think at present I'm the least far along person who's been going to the meet ups (I'm 27 weeks) but there's never been any restrictions on people turning up whatever stage they're at, after all, we've all been through the earlier bit ourselves :)

It might be good to start a 2012 thread in addition to this one, though as it's been nice seeing all the people with delivery dates near to mine actually having the babies and turning up with them, most of the people who came to the last meet up had new babies and there were only 3 of us left waiting for ours to arrive!

Hi everyone,
Off to the JR for my 12 week scan next Wednesday (18th). Anyone else got one around then?

Hi Cakes, Ghost and Nikki, and a really big welcome. Come and join us for sure - you could always start a 2012 too, or do one later, but we'd love to have you here.

The last one was pretty fun - all these people who'd been bumps at the previous two get-togethers, and who'd had some of the most practical questions to ask Toomuchteaching (who was our sole actual mother then), were now the ones sitting with their babies, answering all our questions. And such cute babies! The whole transition from early pregnancy to nearly labour has been made so much easier for me through being able to chat to everyone at the different stages. New mums at the meet-ups are so generous and kind about telling you anything you want to know.

I think Oxford more than due dates is the unifier in the group - a big part of the thread is just getting to know other mothers/mothers-to-be in Oxfordshire so we can get together with our babies when they come, whenever that might be. So I'd say absolutely join in and hang out.

Nikki I'd love to take you up on the massage offer but am not due for a bit so will be too late for your assessment. I'll definitely be adding it to the list of activities though after your endorsement of how good it is for the munchkin. Maybe we could organise a meet-up for the babies one day over the summer where you have a baby massage session, and we pay the going rate for your lovely baby massage skills?

The Next Meet-Up is on Friday May 18th at 11.30am, in the Summertown Wine Cafe. We'll see if we can book the Summerhouse ahead of time and maybe even use their back gate for the buggies, but hopefully see you all there too. As Owl says, there's three of us yet to have our babies, and it'd be so great to keep the whole bump part of bump and babies going throughout the year.

I just wanted to say too what a thrill last week's meet-up was, meeting Zara and Belinda and Archie and Lalia (sp?), and Sam and watching Jemima's face light up as she took in all these new babies. And it was so great to meet Eva and Kittubb for the first time, and just sit hanging out in the sunshine together.

See you soon!

EDD is 10th jan - the GP chose the earliest of the possibilities, because she said then the dating scan will get done sooner which is a good thing, but when I made the booking appt she just asked me the date of my LMP and, I presume, estimated the EDD herself!

I have to say - I would like it if a couple of people due at the end of this year popped by the 2012 thread too - I'm not sure I want to be the most far ahead person on it! Now I know I definitely am upduffed I'll probably come along to the next meeting though, won't feel such a fraud :-) When is it likely to be?

Ideally I'd like to go to the Wallingford MWL Unit - it's about 5 minutes away (good if we get more snow like last Jan - ick) and I've heard such good things about it from everyone. Very friendly, personal, high quality care, very un-interventionist... like a home birth, without being so scary or raising all those eyebrows, you know? :-)

How about you, ghost? EDD? Chosen place of delivery?

Also - to skip straight from symptom spotting to good old-fashioned hypochondria - getting quite worried about the abdominal pains now, esp as keep getting very sharp ones intermittently. I mean - no blood or anything else, so I'm probably just being a big old fuss pot, but this is my first time and it's a bit concerning...

hey cakes , my EDD is 15 Jan, but both DH and I were early (in fact I'm a January bday too). I really hope for a Jan not Dec date though as it's much better for sport at school (and if the little one isn't sporty we may have to send him or her back! )

I'm still far from decided but have always thought a waterbirth would be great, possibly even home birth. Having said that a good friend of mine is a consultant obstetrician at the JR so that might be a good bet too. I hear that either Chipping Norton or the JR would be my main options. Any thoughts from the other ladies on the list?

I've had a very different sort of abdominal aches and pains (from AF pain) and just assumed it was normal for early pg - it's in a different sort of place to AF pain actually, not in my back as much. I'm sure it's fine, really.

also does anyone here do pregnancy yoga? I've done a lot of yoga so would like to carry on - when does one switch over to pg yoga? At maybe 5 months or so?

I heard one should switch over fairly early on because of being more likely to injure yourself when pregnant and it being harder to heal... Not sure though.

I am also looking to do it, though I haven't done a lot - seemed like a good way to meet other mums.

ps- new list is started :-)

I started antenatal pilates at 12 weeks after the scan - but yes, I'd make the switch sooner rather than later as there are some abdominal exercises that you DEFINITELY do not want to be attempting right now! Best to talk to your teacher and see what they recommend, they may be able to keep you in the class but give you slightly amended exercises to do.

Btw, weird random twinges, aches and general feeling like it's period pain is par for the course :)

Huh. I'll add that to the list of stuff they never tell you! Oh well, it hurts less than period pain mostly, so I can deal.

thanks cakes and owlbooty - I'm already doing pilates too and have been for years, but I remember that my joining form advised that I either don't do pilates from weeks 5 - 14 or I at least tell my instructor. Am a bit about that but I'm sure she can be discreet.

I think the point is not to start doing new stuff to be all healthy and then not know the normal limits of our bodies - with yoga you have to be especially careful as one of the pg hormones encourages ligaments and tendons to relax so it's very easy to overstretch. I'm already somewhat hypermobile so I'm not looking forward to that bit, it's so easy to do damage!

ps - will join you in a mo' cakes

Hello all, I've been meaning to post for the last few days to say how much fun it is now meeting up with everyone and the growing number of babies and growing bumps.

Hopefully we'll be able to use the summer house again next week, otherwise we can just scare whoever is there off by talking about pregnancy, childbirth and babies...it's worked before!

Welcome to the recent additions to the thread, hope to see you in RL soon.

Nikki if you are still looking for someone for baby massage I'd love to volunteer (and volunteer Sam!).

For those who are interested, I read a very useful account of the things to avoid in pilates while pg here . It's all about not putting the abdominal muscles under the kind of stress that might make them separate early - which totally makes sense.

Still doesn't explain why my joining form recommends not doing pilates from 5-14 weeks or at least telling the instructor. Any ideas? I went to class last night but didn't mention anything and was fine doing my usual exercises, but I'll be five weeks next week so may tell her. I'll just have to tell the rest of the (nosy!) class that I have a back injury or something.

Yoga tonight! I know my instructor does pregnancy yoga because she told me last week (before I had the BFP) - maybe she knew something I didn't! It's quite a hardcore class so I may have to gracefully bow out of some of the harder inversions.

oh wait! actually my joining form said it's inadvisable to do pilates from 8 to 14 weeks - so I can wait a few more weeks before saying anything. Yeys!

Hi all,

Sounds like you've had lots of fun at the meet-ups. I look forward to joining you all once I'm on maternity leave after 27th May.

I'm 32 weeks now and starting to slow down and waddle a bit more! Also being kicked/elbowed/knee-ed lots.

Nxxx

Hi there I'm just popping in for the first time to say hi! I'm on the 2012 thread (waves at cakes and ghost) but actually due on Boxing Day 2011 with my second (DD is four).

I'm in East Oxford, and would love to meet up with people locally - marthamay my DD was conceived at Wolfson but I decided against doing a Victoria Beckham and naming her after the college...

Hi everyone,

The Next Meet-Up is on Friday May 20th at 11.30am, in the Summertown Wine Cafe (on South Parade off the Banbury Road).

OK. Am definitely coming along this time :-)
Unless I get lost...