Minster's 9th Side Car - who runs the world? Girls! (Where are all the boys?!)

[larrythelizard]

Babies Due: 👶👶👶

@feliznavidad2 5 July 💗(induction towards the end of June)
@paintfairy 24 July 💗
@Vil10 1 August 💛
@Juno231 11 August 💗
@kaylsd 15 August 💛
@larrythelizard 18 August 💛
@Inkypaper 28 October 💛
@BellatrixK 15 November 💙
@Somatronic 2 Jan ish (I think!) 💛

Babies who are earth side:

Kirky658 11 August 2021 💗
Kate105 14 October 2021 💙
Justanothercyster 10 November 2021 💗
2020Mission 27 December 2021 💙
blackcurrantqueen 17 January 2022 💗
Crazydoglady123 29 January 2022 💗
Haiyaa 1 February 2022 💙
becarefuloutthere 26 February 2022 💗
Lexber 14 April 2022 💗💙
Minster2012 29 April 💗
bez91 8 May 💙
DKDK123 10 May 💗
whatwonder 7 June 💗
2under2 10 June 💗

Argh fat fingers @Juno231 not sure if it's because I'm older or because baby is not actually a boy!

Ah hadn't considered babies position @paintfairy - stupid really!

Holiday is lovely on first proper day, yesterday was hard work with a delayed flight, turbulence, an aborted landing, very little sleep and just being very uncomfortable!

DS decided he wanted a nap so back in our room with a sleeping boy for a bit, means he should stay up past normal time tonight which will be nice!

@InkyPaper just seen the maiden name thing and my god surely any of those granddaughters can keep their maiden name to pass it on?

@larrythelizard jealous of majorca!! I'm finding it hard to digest that I won't have any holidays for the rest of the year most likely - not just because of the baby but also from being poor due to house reno.

@paintfairy think I'll be a terrible mum if I can happily sleep through baby going bananas in my tummy?😅Wish I lived nearer you so I could share my maternity wardrobe with you ahead of shower #2! Oh and good point about not being able to see the shape of the womb once pregnant - I forgot about that!

Started slowly packing my hospital bag just to feel productive seeing as I don't have a nursery to decorate. Got ear plugs, bluetooth earphones and clary sage oil for it last week and popped into m&s at lunch today to pick up some big black pants lol.

Thanks for the insights re my uncle's mad wife asking my Dad was I pregnant. Maybe she was just guessing - I know she's obsessed with her own daughter having a baby and she's older than me so it could just be that it's always on her mind. And I definitely agree re never asking about a pregnancy unless someone bloody tells you. FFS!

I had my booking appointment today. Nothing to report. I am going to be under a consultant for the next while because of my endocrine issues so I'm happy with that. I have my 12 week scan on Thursday but I can't wait for Wednesday when I can stop taking the progesterone pessaries. Hallelujah!

@InkyPaper Pay them no heed - you're having a gorgeous girl so how could anyone not be thrilled about that! My DH plays that card about his name dying out too (which it actually will, unless I play ball). It hasn't come up in the context of girls v. boys, more in that I'm threatening to give our kids my surname. I kept my own name when I married and I don't agree with the practice of automatically giving children their father's surname. We'll see how it goes - his surname is short and easy whereas mine is a bit mad (it's also Irish language, where surnames are gendered and change depending on relationships so it can get really messy really fast. For example, my Dad and brother have one name, I have a second slightly different surname that shows I'm a woman and my mother has a third slightly different surname that indicates she's a woman who married into the family).

@larrythelizard Have a lovely holiday! @Juno231 I'm with you on the jealousy I don't think I've been abroad since 2018 because we were saving for an amazing honeymoon in 2020 which never happened. Then we renovated and a single round of IVF cost us €8000 so that's that.

@paintfairy I’m sorry to hear about your sleep issues – you poor thing I hope it improves for you. And one baby shower down, one to go! Hope the confusion gets ironed out and you can enjoy the second one too.

@larrythelizard you better not be sorry about the loss of that sorry excuse of a human being, I am listening to my extravagantly happy music, nearly dancing on the bus, I made that play list to stop me from crying on the bus when bestie got the terminal diagnosis in November, but today has a new truly happy meaning
@InkyPaper we actually used my mil maiden name so after giving up long ago, the dying name has a new family branch, strange Spanish laws mixed with British law by serendipity made it possible, I can give the long explanation if anybody cares but that's the gits of it, now wanna bet da will choose to not have kids, so much pinning on him

@InkyPaper no naps here, oh or coffee @kaylsd - some of you will remember from my birth story I'm off caffeine for the foreseeable future following a potential heart issue (palpitations) following my surgery after birth - bloody great timing when I need it most! And obviously more or less avoided bar one a day the whole of pregnancy 🤦🏼‍♀️ I've got a normal ECG Friday then still waiting a date for my 24hour ECG then hopefully can resume caffeine 😂

@InkyPaper daft about the family name. Might be an unpopular opinion but I just have never got the whole gender disappointment thing, I read posts on here about them and it makes me really sad/angry especially when having a baby comes so easily to some!

@kaylsd it is frustrating people passing comment on size! They can only base it on their own experience though. I had people tell me I was massive and also tiny 🤦🏼‍♀️

Poor DS @feliznavidad2 hope you got it sorted and acupuncture went well and starts to get things moving

@Franklydear great news about boss boy 🥳

@Minster2012 lack of changing facilities pisses me off, that and that they choose for them to be in the female toilets so you end up doing more of the nappy changes when out!

@paintfairy they probably have forgot. They seemed to forget why I was consultant lead initially when they found the excess amniotic fluid 🤦🏼‍♀️ glad you enjoyed the baby shower with work. Bonus when you were expecting to not like it

@larrythelizard lovely hope it's sunny! Get those naps in with DS on holiday whilst you can ☀️

It's been lovely here today and had a relatively stress free day with 2 kids. I've just put DD to bed. I couldn't get up off the floor and said "oooh mummy is getting old" she asked me "if when I get older will I be her grandma" 😂

Talking of age... love island - no spoilers as I'm behind too but I don't get the obsession with Luca? He looks like most of the boys in my secondary school at 15. Again might be my age as I'm older than everyone in there 🙈

Hellllooooo right will attempt a check in and overarching thang!!

Surname changing /name dying chat...@Somatronic someone has tried (& failed) to explain the Irish system to me before& it still totally baffles me 😂, I do actually think it's kinda cool though, but if it's a massive tongue twista maybe it's better with his?!! @InkyPaper the ppl in your life who were rude enough to be rude need to jog on. I have mentioned before though that X's middle name is my maiden name in Welsh as I wanted to retain "a bit of me" in there

Holidays. Ahhhh yes I vaguely remember them, abroad?! 2019 here, we went to Greece to an amazing all inclusive place when X was nearly 1. We vowed then that we'd do one really nice holiday per year. We all know how that's gone 😂🤦🏼‍♀️since then we've been to center parcs in nov & the seaside near here. We are desperately trying to go away in Sep & rent a villa with my folks & my bro & SIL & nephew join us too (they emigrated to Canada in feb)

Changing facilities in female toilets always annoys me. No facilities annoys me more mind you.

Is there an obsession with Luca @bez91? He does look 15 but I too am old (older than you of course!) but i think he's fit when the sun isn't glaring off his pearly whites 🤦🏼‍♀️it's the tatts that do it for me (total opposite to my actual DH who hates tatts) my DH said the other day "is it bad I think the guys are fitter than the girls, they are just so fake & caked in make up" 🙌🏻

@Somatronic yesssssss roll on stopping shoving bullets up you! I mean of course yes for scan too but the nuggets can do one ☝🏼

@larrythelizard nap 🙌🏻you won't be disappointed and you know it. Bundle of squidgy joy and all

@paintfairy so how come next week is more of a shambles then? The how (not to) dress nicely cos of (not meaning to) know is a really weird one!! I'm sure you look fab all the time mind you though 😬I'm not really sure on the whole point of a baby shower anyway, btw if you are going to cloth bum then do you have wet bags? Also you may want to get your bag packed after what @Juno231 says bout the wombs 😂

@Franklydear HALLELUJAH 🥳🎉surely the next boss can't be as bad 🙌🏻

@Juno231 when she woke B up she kinda looked round & went "whoops" and put hood back up & sat down. I was a fair few tables down so I'm not sure she saw me at that point but luckily the guy doing my nails (I've been going there years & im pretty recognisable cos of my vitiligo on my hands /arms) said to me "do you need to do something bout that?" I said yeah but I kinda need to walk her around for a bit & my nails are half done & you e got ppl waiting. He very kindly said he'd go eat his sandwich & I could walk for 10 & not lose my place. I gave her mega daggers but didn't say anything. Should have. How is the build? Any gaping labia sized holes??? In the party wall maybe???

@Soph0105 let's call it a blip. And have all extremities crossed. He just wants to see his mummy more! Any news on bestie baby?

@Somatronic more RUDE AS F ppl asking if you are pregnant?!! Like @Juno231 says, it's one of those questions you NEVER ask. Never. You wait to be told. Always. What is with people?!!!

@feliznavidad2 how was acupuncture? And that's rubbish on the ear infection 😫

Is this warm weather gonna last?!!!

@Minster2012 @blackcurrantqueen @feliznavidad2 @Soph0105 @Juno231 @paintfairy @larrythelizard @Somatronic @Franklydear @bez91 thanks ladies, feeling much better about it all. They can go shove their opinions up their arse. Honestly though, still can't believe they said it, I get having a preference but you don't tell the new parents you're disappointed, you just nod, smile, give an enthusiastic congratulations and be disappointed in private!! She's gonna be fab whether or not she keeps that surname and it's their loss if they won't see it

@Somatronic OK your surname sounds AMAZING! So would your baby have the same surname as you (if you went that way) or would it be slightly different again?

@kaylsd I do not for the life of me understand why people cannot keep their mouths shut about the size of someone's bump. Unless it's a medical professional who has a medical reason to make a comment, everyone else should just shut it with the unsolicited opinions! I can't believe people were actually asking how much weight you've gained!

@feliznavidad2 your poor DS! Were you able to get a doctor's appointment? How did the acupuncture go?

@Juno231 oooh so exciting!! The dates are supposed to help with labour or something, right? What's the Clary sage oil for?

@Franklydear yaaaaaaay!! Glad you're finally rid of bossboy!!

@paintfairy aww that's horrible, I hope you manage to get some more sleep tonight. Oh, no presents at the baby shower? I honestly thought that's what they were for 😂

@larrythelizard glad you've had a good first day, despite the horrible flight!

I'm also running on very little sleep today. Horrible bout of heartburn/indigestion kicked off in the early hours of the morning and of course, of course I'd just run out of Gaviscon 🙃 took ages for it to ease off and then one of the cats decided to throw up at 5am. I was ready to cry 😂 Heading to the supermarket to get some more soon because I am not going through that again tonight!!

@kaylsd I missed MORE rude ppl??? God we need a HUGE patio for all these ppl & partners 🤦🏼‍♀️

@Franklydear I missed the news about bossboy. Congratulations! He sounded like a major prick!

@InkyPaper I guess it will depend on if it's a girl or a boy. If it's a boy he will have the male version, if it's a girl it'll be the same as mine. However I have never met a single person with an Irish language name who has gone with the mother's surname so I have no precedent. I'll ask my parents. Our name has an English translation of course (thanks, British former overlords) which would be simple and easy but I could never bring myself to use it.

@Minster2012 that story about waking the baby is bananas! Wtf!

@Somatronic thats an understatement , he was, I can say was now, the most disgusting egocentric idiot, and my fighting back was limited
new boss is not really new is his assistant, who we were all using as a manager as he was so inaccessible and unapproachable, so the only change is the removal of the irritations really, and I can fully do my job which he wasn’t really letting me before, we are all very happy, definitely the mark of a good manager that everybody is happy to see the back of you

Ooooh watching the surname chat with interest @Somatronic I'm a languages teacher and stuff like this fascinates me! Please keep us posted! Plus I am Irish myself (although of the northern persuasion so very much anglicised in terms of surnames, Irish speaking etc) and I'm really gutted I never had the chance to learn any irish! It's too damn hard to learn by yourself 😂

Same again tonight @Minster2012 so keep everything crossed for me that we will never repeat those shenanigans (or at least not make them a regular thing) 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

Bestie's baby has not made an appearance because they got too busy and bumped her off the list for surgery 🙄 so she's on the list for tomorrow instead... argh! I'm so impatient about this, never mind her 😂

@Soph0105 ah, nice to meet another one of us!

Ladies I tried my best to watch Love Island for the first time this year because I feel left out every other year but I give up. I've watched every episode, waiting for it to get good and I threw in the towel last night. Is it that this year is shit or am I missing something?

@Soph0105 def a blip. I can't believe how much headspace I'm dedicating to "what should B be wearing tonight/how baby layers/ is she too hot/too cold?" 🤦🏼‍♀️and it makes FUCK all difference to her sleep 🤦🏼‍♀️😆in fact I'm spending too much time during the day thinking about that too. Must. Get. Out. More. Come on bestie baby!!

@Franklydear I think we get the feeling from months/years?? Gone by that anyone else would be better than him

@Somatronic no I'm afraid love island is just shit. But my brain needs shit right now 😂it's how it turns off. Not that it's actually turned in atm either

@InkyPaper glad you realise they are just twats

Talking of irritations...ladies I'm officially really old. Might need to get tips from @larrythelizard on the old eye brow tinting cos...... I found 2 white hairs in my eye brows 😆nooooooo what's that about???

Oh not got boss boy @Franklydear I meant for the BFN, I'm just on a lag!

Holiday definitely harder with a 3 year old than just us @Juno231 - we're wondering why people with no kids are at our hotel as it's overrun with kids but is lovely, we did have very low expectations of this week! Reno will be so worth it! Make sure you have a super long charging wire in your bag!

I'm finding the Irish surname chat fascinating, I'm welsh and no such exoticness there @Somatronic!

Hopefully there's caffeine in your near future @bez91!

Honestly @InkyPaper omerzerprole (and @Lexber changed my life) so I would very much recommend it if the heartburn becomes a regular occurrence. In great news I only brought 6 and we're away for 7 days though 😫😫😫

PTSD is smashing it @Soph0105 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

It's easy @Minster2012 but then
I do mine dark brown so don't really worry about colour - you're much lighter than me. Salon is very

Ffs again! Salon is a very quick job @Minster2012.

Beach day today, I'm waiting to pay the man for loungers, an umbrella, and most excitingly, a little locker to leave valuables in so we can all go swimming in the sea together! DS is likely to just want to dig in the sand all day though

@blackcurrantqueen throw the men in the recycle bin and hope it changes their attitude ;) I hope your girls feel better soon sweetpea!
@feliznavidad2 hope your okay darling and enjoyed your acupuncture, am I right in saying that this week induction week 😍? Time is going to fast it’s absolutely crazy :o I actually feel like this year has been one of the quickest ever but it may be because last two we’ve been in lockdown? 🧐
@minster2012 that’s the exact vision I was thinking good ol dot cotton 🤣🤣🤣 I’m with you there that Luca looks barely out of puberty and I don’t see the attraction at all, in fairness I don’t like any of them in particular! Quite a few people where I live locally know him from rugby and says he’s a knob & also been released as a free agent by going on love island so technically doesn’t play for them anymore 🙈
@soph0105 I think I’m going to take the plunge when autumn starts kicking in, I love the way it looks 😍 thanks hunny!
@paintfairy aww it sounds lovely your low key baby shower and useful bits and bobs what you got off your work colleagues! I hope your sleeping habits get abit better for you darling cause It’s getting harder each time to get comfy in bed 🙈
@larrythelizard enjoy your holiday sweetheart :)
@somatronic good luck for your scan on Thursday! I also have my placenta check scan on Thursday too to see if bubs has moved away from the birth canal as it was a touch bit close on my 20 week scan :) as in love island it’s shit, I don’t like any particular couples & I don’t particular like ekin su or gemma 🤣 wish they’d both ek off
@bez91 ah yeah darling I remember now, I have the decaff Azera which I cannot tell the taste difference if that helps for an alternative? Fingers and toes crossed your 24 hour isn’t too far away, if you was nearby to me and I had a ECG machine I’d do it for you as it only takes 2 mins to Bob stickers on 🙈 I’ve also come to the conclusion if anyone asks about my weight gain again I will eat them 🐷
@inkypaper & @minster2012 it’s just a scary society that we live in how some people are very conscious about their body image / weight issues and not afraid to try place their opinions on others! Especially in pregnancy there’s a stigma about it with bump size / weight gain, it’s already enough what our bodies go through never mind the mental stress of being body conscious from others! I also had heartburn this morning for about 2 hour so was chomping on rennies to get me through the night 🤣🙈

The heat is beautiful, however the boob sweat is not! Going to crack ironing this morning and then off to the hairdressers for a blonde top up ❤️ have a lovely day everyone

@Minster2012 ah that's quite lovely of your nail guy then!

@Somatronic love the surname chat - I had no idea Irish surnames worked like that. Could you maybe use a random surname to demonstrate the different variations for us? I'm half Polish so most Polish surnames are different depending on if you're a woman or a man but no extra variations for marrying into a family like yours!

@InkyPaper so dates are meant to make you more likely to have a spontaneous birth (by a significant amount) and reduce the length of the stages of birth as well. Midwife recommended! As for clary sage - the smell of it during the first stage of labour is supposed to help make your contractions ramp up. Midwife at the antenatal class said it's so potent that if she was a pregnant midwife she wouldn't be able to use a hospital room where even the previous labouring mother had used clary sage oil, for fear of it starting her contractions! Anyway - every little helps!

@Franklydear yay for getting rid of bossboy but also bittersweet he got promoted lol

@larrythelizard eek - is it a hotel with a kids club by any chance?

@Minster2012 same camp as you sister 🙋🏼‍♀️ Z seemed to sleep better initially when he was toasty (but not too toasty obvs) now, I could wrap him in a bin bag and it wouldn't make any difference (probably improve things) the fussy git 😆🥱

@larrythelizard oooh talking of valuables on holiday, I saw a hack yesterday about wrapping keys, money in a nappy - no one will steal it!

@kaylsd you should threaten them with eating them if they do ask 😂 the sun is lovely, ironing in this heat however is not!

Need to get out for a walk to enjoy the sun but power napping on the sofa is much more required! HV coming later to weigh Z. He's seems massive. Absolute contrast to DD who was such a dot and dropped off the centile chart 🤦🏼‍♀️

Charlotte crosbys gender reveal party outfit looks like me trying to squeeze into pre pregnancy leggings and one leg rips off, is this fashion these days 👀👀👀🫠

@Juno231 those little tricks are great! Will you use a diffuser or an oil burner for the clary sage?

@kaylsd who is commenting about your weight?! Jesus Christ.

I came back to work today after sick leave to find my phone and computer aren't working. I got on the bus with my shirt inside out this morning and changed it back which is bad luck so this was bound to happen! So I have time to bore you with my Irish name examples!

I'll use a well known person as an example-
Dara Ó Briain (O'Brien).
His daughter would be Mary Ní Bhriain. Ní is short for iníon which means daughter. The extra h is there for grammatical reasons and changes the pronunciation of B to V, so her surname is pronounced Nee Vreean.
His wife would be Maria Bean Uí Bhriain.* *Bean Uí means wife of, though nowadays a lot of women drop the "bean". So that's pronounced Bann Ee Vreean.

My surname starts with a vowel so it is slightly different. An example would be Ó hÉalaí (Healy). The h is alwayd small because it's only there for grammatical reasons.
Mr Ó hÉalaí, Daughter Ní Éalaí, Wife Bean Uí Éalaí. Men's version pronounced like Hayley, women's version pronounced Ayley.

@kaylsd of course they are all knobs, they are in love island ffs 😂but do you mean Jacques? Or does Luca play rugby too?

@bez91 yes xander loves to be warm & I def think B does too. I might just try the bin bag approach & save the headspace for trying to do the boring life admin shit I need to do like home insurance 🤦🏼‍♀️ how much did Z weigh last time? He does look pretty solid, that's the charming term my friend used when she held B yesterday, she was like "Jesus she feels totally solid now!" She's gonna go up to size 3 nappies too wtf?! I'm not gonna tell you this coffee ☕️ tastes amazing. Nope

@larrythelizard ahhhh a beach 🏖 sounds so good!!! Yeah weirdly my brows have always actually been darker than the rest of my hair. Same with my leg hair (& yep pubes too!) but it doesn't look too weird (I think!). Last holiday we went on had a great kids club. X loved it. That's def what we told ourselves as we left him all day 😂

@Juno231 that's so interesting on the dates & clary, totally never heard of either!! Are you still feeling good despite the sudden growth spurt? It's getting to the pointy end!! Have you come up with a name you agree on yet which works for your heritage too? (Obviously not asking you to say it)

@Somatronic see mindblown!! Why is it that they actually do the name thing? So what would "son of" be? And please tell me your fella has a name like "smith"😂

Wrapping valuables in a nappy??? You just KNOW what would happen...Someone, DH or I would throw it in the bin!! 😆

And wait, wtf is that @kaylsd is she pregnant? Is she dressing like that pregnant? Can ppl who are made of so much plastic get pregnant?? What??????

@Minster2012 DH has a lovely short easy surname. This is why I anticipate losing the battle re giving the kids mine, which is fair enough I suppose. "Son of" is either Ó or Mac. Daughter of is Ní (goes with Ó surnames) or Nic (goes with Mac surnames). When the English came and Anglicised the names they just used the male versions and changed them to O' and Mc.

@kaylsd I don't know who that woman is other than I know that she came from one of the reality TV shows but yikes. Pass the eye bleach.

So a "daughter of a Mac" would be "XYZ Nic MacSomatronic" is that right @Somatronic probs just being really thick 😂 I think you should go totally rogue and hyphenate the lot of your Irish names then his. It'll def stand out. 😃 how's your day (off) since your tech won't work? Maybe should put your top on inside out more often!!

@Minster2012 I think it would just be Nic Somatronic? I'm shocked you haven't heard of the dates though, I thought that one was pretty common

@Somatronic absolutely fascinating! thank you for explaining that, I've learnt something new today :D

@bez91 I saw that nappy hack too the other day and think about how genius it is still!

Got my final antenatal class today, looking forward to seeing the couples again!