Any London commuters about?

[GingerDoodle]

Hi ladies

Just wondering if there way anyone else here who commutes into London and how you were finding it?

GD

Hi GingerDoodle, I commute every day on the tube and so far it's been ok. I'm 29+4 and now have an unmistakeable bump so I'm usually offered a seat by some kindly soul, otherwise I just pick on the person in the prority seat and shove my bump in their face until they move!! Most people are kind and spring out of their seats but you do get some total wankers - usually women I have to sadly report - who look at you, your bump then away into the distance, probably thinking 'well it's her problem she's pregnant and knackered, not mine'.

Earlier in my pregnancy, when I actually felt more sh*tty and really needed a seat in case I threw up everywhere I couldn't have been without my 'baby on board' badge. Have you got one too?

How are you finding things?

I commute in London but am still cycle commuting so don't have to worry about getting a seat! I don't know how you coped with the smells and the crowds on the tube though - I had to get the train one day as bike being repaired and nearly hurled with the smell. UGH. You're brave women! I plan to cycle as long as I can.

36, 10, #1

I've had my baby on board badge since about 8 weeks - been a god send on the tube - almost always get offered a seat.

The mainline, although I almost always get a seat anyway (get an early or slow train in and get to the station in enough time to get one going home) has been the worst - people eating smelly food has seen me repeaidly dodge to the loo. I was, at one point, picking trains based on how nice they were to throw up on. Gatwick Express better than Southern by a mile!

I'm 13 + 6 so the Olympics are gonna be fun.

Oh god, isn't it funny how everything becomes based around the puking facilities?! Well, I can laugh about it now but at the time it was enough to make me cry almost every day.

Thank god this bab is due just when the Olympics start so I don't have to get involved in all that. I hope it's not to bad for you GD...fingers, toes and everything else crossed it's not going to be a total nightmare.

londonlivvy you are superhero cycling around, I gave that up as soon as found out I was preggers, didn't want to risk it. That and feeling like total death for four months! And the smells? I had blocked that out. Oh god....human stenches have to be the absolute worst of all. I couldn't even take the smell of my DP at one point and he's as fresh as a daisy!

Oh ladies I feel for you. Did it 6 years ago now and it still send shivers down my spine - I honestly don't know how I did it and the summer of 2006 was really hot too. I eventually started avoiding the tube all together as I suddenly developed claustrophobia and fainted several times. I still get a bit nervous to this day getting on a busy tube. Good luck and I hope the summer is not too hot for you all.

Have been catching the bus in every day - normally do get a seat now - am 8 months, but a couple of months ago weaing winter coats and not with massive bump was touch and go. Trickiest thing in the morning is getting to where the seats start, and I agree young women least likely to get up. Have been tempted to ask on a couple of occasions "Is there any reason why you need a seat?" But being all english and middle class instead just stick stomach out and give death stares - not a tactic that has ever worked on the person I'm aiming them at!
My other problem is living in a bit of nappy valley area, quite often there are other pregnant woman on the bus and only limited amount of seats.

Up to about 7.5 months found it preferable to go upstairs as you didn't get pushed around as much, but now am just too breathless.

This is my 3rd pregnancy and I'm now a stay at home mum so I'm only travelling in socially so I'm normally fine getting a seat although it's difficult as I normally have a pram so have to stand anyway.

With my first pregnancy I had to do rush hour commute though, during my first trimester I had to carry a measuring jug I my handbag and I would throw up on the tube every morning without fail! This alway cleared plenty of seats around me!!!

I agree with you though Lordy, it has always been women in my experience that haven't given up they're seats for me when I had a very visible bump.

You have my deepest sympathies Ginger, I remember it with dread!

I must look really pregnant at 11 weeks

It must be bloat because it can't possibly be an actual bump but for the last week I have been consistently offered a seat on the tube. Once by a woman who was the first - when I said she was brave because maybe I just looked really fat, she said "Oh no, I could tell from the shape". Then it's been a mixture of young, older men and women around my own age.

The bloat is bump shaped - definitely in my middle and my friends assured me my face hasn't begun to match it so maybe people are just taking the chance?

How do you get the badge? I wondered if TFL would ask for that card you get from your MW but I guess not?

I've also been practicing my "gracious pregnant lady thanks" thing

So much for the sisterhood eh RetroMum1?!

lordylady I feel like cycling is an acceptable risk at the moment though DF and I have agreed to review every month as things go forward to see how we both feel about it. It may be that in time I start taking quieter, more circuitous routes to work.

Goodness - all you ladies on public transport have my biggest respect. It sounds horrid! Retromum that sounds like my sister who carried around a stash of ziplock bags into which she'd vomit every day (apparently great for guaranteeing space).

bettybat well that's lovely to be offered a seat. I once got offered a seat when I wasn't pregnant but I decided just to accept gracefully and say "thanks, I must have looked tired" rather than discourage them from offering to someone else again!

Sorry for the delay - manic presentation manking at work.

bettybat you get the badges for any Tfl tube counter. You might have to try a couple tho as apparently Tfl are not making any more!! They are a brilliant idea so I think its a real shame - they don't ask you for any proof at all. Russell Square had run out but I got mine from Picadilly Circus.
Don't be so sure its not the start of a bump lol, I have a mini one coming on at 13 + 6 which I am really happy about lol.

One of the ladies I worked with cycled every day in central London until she was (to my knowledge) 6/7 months. No way I would - def not in London!!

Massive props to those ladies managing MS on the tube - you all deserve a medal!

I was sick in Primark the other day. Fair enough, it was all on the floor, but since they seem to be run by teenagers, all the managers just stared at me aghast.

Mostly got a seat on mainline, on tube I had to demand it a few times, but had no problems in turfing 20 year old spoiled brats out of the priority seats :)

Seriously, I dont knwo why people dont ask on the tube - not everyone notices and its crazy to complain if you havent asked.

With DD I had really bad morning sickness from 5 weeks to 28 weeks and didnt show particularly for most of that. Felt so ill that by about 12 weeks i lost the shame and I just used to say " excuse me, I am pregnant and feeling a little unwell, would someone please let me have a seat" and always, always got one.

When I was more obviously pregnant, particularly if I was stuck by the doors rather than the seats, it seemed to me that it was fellow women passengers (also standing) who used to ask for a seat for me and shame someone into giving it to me.

Gosh pregnancy seems ages ago now (DD2 is almost 6... my baby...) but I never found that the icey stare worked, so I started being very brazen and outspoken about it both on tubes and buses - waddle walk over to the priority seats (or actually any seats really) and just announce to the carriage at large "MAY I PLEASE SIT DOWN"

I am a large woman at the best of times so you can imagine all six foot + baby weight of me bellowing at the top of my voice.

Worked almost every time!

*icy stare not icey stare

I didn't do it (was sweating in 35plus degrees and intense humidity in the tropics instead, with my first, but that's a whole other story of woe!) but I imagine the hardest bit must be before you are showing. For me that's when I felt worst anyway, tired and sick, but people don't realise you are pregnant. I was in London the other day and saw one of those baby on board badges and thought it was a good idea. Having said that, I do wonder if some people take the piss a bit - I felt fine in the middle of both my pregnancies and wouldn't have needed a seat at all.
However, now travelling with two young children on the tube I noted people were in no rush to give up their seats (with a couple of notable exceptions).

I lived in London for part of 1 of my pregnancies and the Tube was hell so I got the bus. It was May/June so just hellish

londonl No problem cycling with no 1, but gave up after people started telling me they were worried, sigh. People do start treating you like public property when you're pregnant eh. Having said that, I now think maybe I was a leetle bit nuts and sadly haven't been on a bike since DD was born (nearly TWO years ago).

Tho I certainly wld never have dreamt of wearing a baby on board badge! Before 4-5 mths I didn't expect a seat (was biking!) and after 5 mths I had a massive bump anyway. But I'm hard as nails. And I didn't want to make a fuss. Double sigh.

BTW, it's true about other women being the worst. But I wonder if they tend to be child-free women, so they may be upset about your bump (say if they have issues and in fact want/ed children), or simply dislike bumps (which is why they have chosen to be child-free). That's their business. Here's to you being treated well by most people, but don't stress about those who don't. Tho I really do think you sd say something if your back/legs/bump hurts and you'd like to sit down. What's the worst that can happen? [cue puke ;)]
Good luck everyone.

Without trying to be controversial, I think that there?s a lot of feelings of entitlement by pregnant women. I?m 21 weeks. I feel fine. I don?t NEED a seat purely because I?m pregnant. I appreciate that I?m lucky that physically I feel fine (the early days of constant sickness however was a different matter). Yes, it would be lovely to be offered but I don?t feel that I deserve a seat just because I happen to be pregnant, hence why I couldn?t bring myself to wear the badge because I know that for most of the 9 months I?ll feel perfectly fine. People with back problems, joint issues etc definitely trump me on the entitlement to the seat but they don?t have the benefit of the physical proof that a bump provides.

Pickle, is this DC1?

I commuted in Bracknell to Clapham until 8.5 months with DS, about 30-35 mn. Because I was getting on at Clapham in the evening, all the seats were taken by people who got on at Waterloo. I would seriously bloody have appreciated a seat in a packed train when I was 6,7,8 months pregnant but was only offered one once. Even with my stomach practically brushing their faces they just pretended they hadn't seen. That's why I gave up working at 37 weeks. Physically I could have carried on for another 3 or so (I went to 40+8 before going into labour) but the commuting back was too much of a killer.

If you don't need a seat, then don't wear the badge or ask - and if anyone offers you can politely say 'no thanks' if you're happy standing. Other pregnant women might be feeling more uncomfortable though, or have difficulty standing, and make different choices. Not everyone has to do the same.

Meant to add it was May when I gave up, quite a warm one at that and was very uncomfortable. I did nearly faint several times.