Anyone due October 2004 - number 2

[eyelash]

Well here goes in date order:

Eyelash (age 36) - 30 September (but always very late). DS1 4 and ds2 21 months
Piglit (age ?) - 6th October First pregnancy
geoteach (age ?) - 7th October 2 children
Toots (age 37)- 8th October dd1 2
Beansprout (age ?) - 12 October first pregnancy
florenceuk (age ?) - due 15 October
Debra64 (age ?) - 20th October dd 7 ds1 6 ds2 4
Miffy2 - 20th October dd 5 ds2 2
Harman (age 34) - 22nd October dd1 6 ds2 3 dd2 2
neuman - due 26 October
Nueman (age ?) - 26 October

I don't have much information on scruff so hope she sees this to let us know how she is getting on. Also hope I haven't missed anybody off. If so let me know so I can rectify it. If any of you want to add further information such as age, children, etc also let me know.

I'm all for staying in the 2nd trimester too Bean - it's not great, but a darn sight better than the first, and simply HAS to be better than the threat of piles and sleepless nights in the 3rd!
Am off to check I'm not fast approaching the 3rd T as well! Anyone else know what the vernix actually is? Put me right off my yoghurt when I read it! Bleurgh! Babies are rotten!

beansprout,
I think the trimester thing varies a lot. One third of 40 weeks is about right, so that would put the third trimester starting at 26-27 weeks. Stay in the 'blooming' period as long as you can!

Glad to hear you had a nice holiday. We are not going away this year, except for the odd weekend away, but I took last week off to spend with the kids and the lovely weather was delicious!

Toots, went for a hair chop like yourself. Nothing too radical but my 'tresses' were long and in dire need of a trim. New highlights, new flicky ends, new me????

Miffy - I am so pleased you got highlights, I have been wanting to but am acting usual paranoid self.

Bubster has been kicking me all day today, not sure what's going on there but it's so funny sometimes I feel like laughing out loud at work and then I would get some very strange looks and people would think I should be institutionalised.

Is anyone walking into doorways and walls etc? I keep forgetting how big I am getting and forget to judge distances properly. I also keep stubbing toes and breaking finger nails. My brain is official mush

I currently have 3 cuts on my feet, an array of bent-back fingernails, 3 burns/scar from the iron etc etc. I have to hold onto anything around when I go up or down stairs etc etc.

Also, have already drunk 2.5l of water and am caught in a terrible toilet/drinking but can't stop feeling thirsty type loop.

All the above was soothed though by a colleague kindly saying "my god, you look huge!". Humph!

Afternoon laydeez. I am glad to hear that I'm not the only one feeling like rubbish (IYKWIM). I've been feeling sick all weekend. That blooming phase sure went quickly, didn't it?

Does anyone else talk to their bump when it kicks? I do when I'm at home but found myself doing it at work on Friday. I really am cracking up.....

Turtle,

I too am a walking accident-zone. Two cut knees and ruined pair of trousers from falling down last weekend, various scratches along arms and legs from crashing into things around the house, a bruised cheek from, quite literally, walking into DH's head! No, this is not a disguised case of battered wife syndrome; he was bending down in garden and I trotted over and leant in to kiss back of his neck ... as he was getting up - ouch! I also trip up a lot now, and underestimate the size of me and my bump combined and get stuck in small spaces. I'm like a child learning spacial awareness all over again

Oh, and I stood on "something" sharp at an Anne Summers party on Friday ... I can't explain why I was there either, but I sure as hell aren't interested in getting jiggy with it at this moment in time!

Talk to bump a lot, and dp does too, including in Sainsbury's - he just just right bent down and had a little natter. These chats are always punctuated by lots of little kisses too. He loves the idea that Bean knows his voice already (as do I). Aw, I think I'm having a leedle mushy moment here!

My spacial awareness at the moment seems to amount to - I am taking up loads of it.....

Bibiboo - you made me laugh out loud again at work! which seems to happen quite a bit these days for no reason, getting stuck in small spaces is hillarious!! You really are a walking disaster sorry to say. I was being an over anxious little pig on Friday night with a cheese slicer and broke my nail so low down in the finger that it started bleeding quite profusely. I usually find myself in these accident situations when it involves food and I am really hungry. I seem to lose my concentration all together.

You should see me trying to roll out of bed these days

Ann Summers!!! You saucy sort

I am hopeless at getting out of bed - I sort of grunt as I try to get up and then lean over to the side and then usually fall on the floor with a thump. Of course, I have to pretend that I meant to do it that way and that I haven't hurt myself at all....

Talking about taking up spcae reminds me of a time close to the end of my second pregnancy, when I was out shopping and parked in a public car park. I must have been about 8+ months pregnant and had an enormous bump (she of the generous uterus!). When I came back to my car I discovered whoever had parked beside me had done so SO closely I was not sure if I could get in the door - the other side was closed in too)! I managed in the end, but was close to tears at the time (no squeezing THAT tummy in!) and could see myself running off looking for skinny security guards!

I'm only ever using extra wide Mums-to-Be car park spaces at Asda from now on after miffy's story! Already found myself to be quite possessive of them and getting irate with burly van drivers who seem to think having a beer belly bigger than a full-term mum entitles them to park there too

Talking of spacial awareness, we've got an under-stairs cupboard - it's new, and pre-pregnancy I could have got in and out of it without too much of a problem. Now I can get in ... and that's it. Found that out the hard way

Bean your DH is SO sweet, can we swap? Mine's sweet but never in the supermarket!

Getting out of bed? What's that? Do we even have to do that anymore? Work-life balance and all that malarkey the personnell dept keeps sending me leaflets aboutme about, surely menas we get to work from home (bed) and never go into the office again..?

Hi gals. Glad to see you're back (and your front) Bean.

I find this thread sooooooo reassuring. Always. Thank you, thank you all of you for being honest and normal and making me feel I'm the same. I've felt a bit sick too. And tired - Oh. My. Gosh. I've been tired for days. Yes, it is probably the weather. Bricking myself about August, although don't remember it being too revolting last time (dd was an Oct baby too), despite moving house!!! Doing my full range of tired noises. Lots of making the best of it exhaling and assorted other huffs and puffs.

Had a wobble about the haircut after first wash, tears, ranting, scrabbling at head with deranged, scratching fingers, you know, that sort of normal behaviour. But when the static died down, it didn't look too bad. Be warned though my darlings, NOTHING TOO RADICAL. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO LOATHE YOUR HAIR. Have good days. I'm off to midwife at hosp shortly, and to potential accountant at three, leaving small window for a day's work and probable nap. I can feel the guilt surging up already.

Toots - guilt/schmilt. Enjoy time away from your desk. Talking of desks, has anyone noticed that theirs seems to be getting further away as their bump gets bigger? I'm going to need arm extensions soon.

My lovely sec came back from her hols today and told me that I look wonderful and that I'm really blooming. Crikey - I must have looked rough before she went away..

lol Piglit - I'm sitting with my work chair reclined back to try to ease the discomfort of baby kicking my ribs and headbutting my bladder! And bump still reaches the edge of the desk, I'm getting a line across my tummy where it presses! The safety dept. would have a fit if they saw how I'm sitting!!

Not only is me desk moving further away from me, so are my kitchen windows, the steering wheel in my car, and alarmingly, the kettle! I'm only a shorty, so soon nothing over a certain height will be within my reach! As long as I cang et Penguins out of the fridge I guess I'll survive

Piglit, we've got a H&S inspection this morning, perhaps I should make a big deal of sitting weirdly to accommodate my bump and they'll give me a sofa or even a laptop to work from home! Got to be worth a go!

Bibiboo - what a wonderful idea! And struggle to your feet groaning when they come round. You'll be sitting at home by lunchtime.

My employers have said and done nothing about my pg. I had thought they were supposed to come and check out your desk and stuff and check things over from a health and safety point of view but I've had absolutely nothing. The office manager even asked me take a load of paper (4 of those big heavy packets of it) up to the photocopier outside my office the other day as she was busy and I was going that way anyway.

That's not good Piglit. We are entitled to risk assessments as soon as we announce our conditions. In an office this normally amounts to someone checking our desks/seating etc. Shame on the person asking you to carry paper though!!

It got to 95 degrees in this office yesterday, and more of the same today.... and boy am I tetchy this morning!!!

I demanded my own fan for my desk ... well, it was more like politely requested, but was prepared to stamp feet and demand if it came to that. No A/C so it's roasting here too.
No risk assessment for me either, although office manager has asked me if I'm okay/need anything etc and is aware of my inability to lift/bend down/or run...the only thing that worries me is the spiral staircase we've got. It's steep and there's no other way down, so being v v careful about leaving the building.
Anyone else getting scared of stairs? I fell last week (only down a few small garden steps) and now I'm convinced I'm going head over heels down all steps. Sensible shoes all round I think.

I got my risk assessment at 6mths pregnant. The Safety Dept were horrified that I hadn't been given one right away. As a result I was given a laptop port, with monitor and separate keyboard to stop me stooping over my laptop.(sorry piglit - Laptops are a big NO NO). I got a footstool and ...... wait for it...... they actually had to build me a PATH! Yes, I work on a building site and the portacabin just sat on rough cast stones, the safety dept insisted if I was to work there they would have to build a proper accessway, otherwise it was unsafe for me to work.

If they can't provide you with a safe working environment then they have to suspend you on FULL PAY! Get down to that Safety Dept girls.... get what you are entitled to! They rather risk assess you than have you sue them if you hurt yourself.

I'm not even allowed to put paper in the photocopier never mind carry the packet sof them!

That's good to hear Toothache. I think the building industry can be pretty damn good at h&s, whereas offices tend to assume there is no risk/problem (apart from the myth that we shouldn't stand near photocopiers).

I have always been a bit scared of stairs (broke my leg as a child, falling down a flight) but now even more so. Can we seen going down one by one (both feet on the step, before moving to the next) on a regular basis, like the big girl that I am!

Beansprout - I normally work in the head office, but I had medical problems which meant I couldn't do the 1.5 hrs commute each way. THis local office was the alternative to me stopping work entirely.
I was given a copy of a booklet called "A Guide FOr New & Expectant Mothers Who Work". It explains the laws in place to protect us delicate souls.

Apparently they even have to provide a separate room (not toilets) where I can express milk if I still want to BF after I return! LOL.... can you imagine??

It's produced by HSE Dept of the Government - Here's the link if you want to have a wee look.

HSE Website

That's exactly how I go downstairs too! I used to run up and down stairs in ridiculous shoes but now I even take my mule type things off to go downstairs - even the 3 steps from the back door into the back garden. I look like a 2 year old going downstairs!

I agree about the construction industry being better at H&S. I am a solicitor in a firm of lawyers and the H&S here is appalling - non-existent in fact!

Made a rather nice discovery just now - the rest of me feels/seems smaller now that my belly's getting bigger. And my bump is nice and round, which I am v glad about. I thought I was going to spread all round (there's still time of course!) but I'm all out front so far - phew!
LOL at taking stairs one at a time, may well try that myself today. I never cared a jot about teetering about in heels up and down stairs either until Boo put in an appearance.
Anyone else sick of football and using their pregnant/hormonal status to get the TV channel changed? I am SO guilty of that, but strangely, don't feel all that bad about it