40+ mums-to-be and those who've 'popped' - come say hi, pull up a chair and have some cake!

[jeanjeannie]

Hello everyone - yet another thread. I'm expecting a call anyday soon from ITV - as I imagine we'll be prime candidates for taking over the Loose Women slot when they need a break

So, for anyone interested in joining in with us - just jump in and say Hi - we don't bite - unless you're disguised as a chocolate sponge cake

Ladies..................Take it away

morning all

tee what a bloody interfering mare that woman is. Have you ever considered just telling her? I know on one level it is none of her business but on another level we all know that clinical depression is just another illness like apendidcitis or something you can see. I have a coworker who sffers badl from depression and no one would ever dream of questioining it. Maybe she's the sort of person who would go "depression? - pull yourself together!" or maybe she needs a bit of educating? Nice to hear your boss is so supportive though.

I tried to avoid my mother for the birth - she is in a different country - it didn't fully work - she kept ringing me when I was in the throes of labour to find out what was going on and when I wouldn't talk to her she rag the flipping nurses!

jj you can spend a nice weekend with the girls perusing lots of brochures for spa weekends - as it will be your turn next!

/note to self: Floria's for next NYE and don't eat for 3 days beforehand!

ahh ahem that last post is me name changed last night when posting on a thread involving some bitching about a family member on one of the other boards!

silly me

haha mrsb, I thought the tone sounded terribly familiar but couldn't work out who Heffi was! .

This is why I never name change!!!

Actually, this coworker has experienced what she claims is depression herself. But since she's such a f*cking martyr, she, and I quote, 'has never let it take over my life'. Sorry, but I don't think what you call depression and what I call depression are the same thing.

Tee like cowworker ! But surely you must have extracted some joy from the fact that she was sent away with a flea in her ear by your boss telling her to mind her own! If she reads your blog, why not communicate with her through it - she will recognise herself!

Ermintrude yes, my mum is a lovely person but she drives me quite nuts. And she drives DP absolutely insane, especially when she tries to 'help' him. Also, she makes old starchy knickers Gina Ford look positively modern in her parenting techniques...I would quite like to have MIL over because she's very sweet, not at all pushy but fear the fall-out could run and run if I do that.

hedgepig I think whatever books I read in the end it will come down to us doing whatever we can to get through the day (and night)

I have a question to all who are or have been more preggers than me, when did you feel the first proper kick? I very often feel the little tickle, bubble-popping feeling as LO scrambles around in there, and have done for about two weeks now, but I haven't felt anything approaching a kick and am dying to. I'm 17 weeks today!

OMG, I just realised I'm 18 weeks today. Woo hoo!

peachy that won't work because I was told what she said in confidence. But I have considered it!!

As for movements, I think I felt what I would call a proper kick around 21ish weeks. Now I feel a combination of proper ones and little bubbles all the time!

JJ get your OH to drop you and the girls off by the M6 in Warrington. I'll pick you up and you can stay with us for the weekend

peachy if it's your first you may not feel proper kicks until around 21 weeks. Also if your placenta is anterior, it'll act as a cushion and you might not feel them until a lot later. I hardly felt any of K's before she was born unless she was kicking down on my fanjo - and she did this a lot

peachy First-time mums tend to feel babies kicking a bit later than those whose apparatus has already been used once or more. I felt DC1 around the 16-17 wk mark but it was just those little fluttery feelings which felt a bit like wind but then never turned into a trump . For 2nd DC and this one I started feeling that around 14 wks. They don't build up into what you'd call a kick for a few more weeks, and now at 28 wks it feels like there's a dolphin in there and I can feel it under my ribs, in my groin, squeezing my bladder, bouncing on my cervix from the inside, and we can see bits of it moving under the skin or kicking so hard my belly jiggles about.

But my sister didn't feel her 2nd DC till 20 weeks, so it does vary, and things like having an anterior placenta - on the outside wall of the uterus so forming an additional layer between baby and the outside - can make you feel less at first. Just wait till you wake up in the wee small hours because it's started its own Tumbletots.

it'll be a while before you feel actual kicks peachy they come after the flipping and squirming (that used to make me imagine there was a little fish in there)

MrsB yes! It's exactly like a fish!

I have to go to a German doctor now and try and arrange my antenatal care clutching my NHS 106 form in my sweaty mitts. Gulp. My German is a bit ropey (used to be good about 20 years ago...) but hopefully my condition is self-explanatory in view of my big old bump.

Thanks for all your advice on kicks - guess I have a little longer to wait, but the fishy squirming is good to keep me going in the meantime.

nice pseudonym MrsB .

I'm sure your weekend will be fine JJ I have just stopped DH from going off on a mad capped mission this weekend with his mate while his mates wife is away AND leaving me with my children and our friends DD!

hedgepig you go girl! Put your foot down with a firm hand. The cheek of these men folk! Hope my DH doesn't see any of these posts. He'll be wanting to bugger off for the weekend playing bridge

Tee Glad to see that your boss stepped in with the coworker (love that!)- hopefully she will realise she overstepped her bounds. If not, I agree that a brief stint in the HR hat and a stern talking to may go a long way, possibly in the presence of the 3rd boss as a mediator/witness (?) You're obviously much more restrained than me, I'd have gone off at her ages ago!!

peachy not long to go though, I'll bet, before you start feeling those little popcorn kicks if you're already feeling the fish stuff!

Oooh - my Mamas & Papas catalogue came today - with a free £5 gift card valid for one month. I'll have to order something little for baby!! Yay!

peachy you were saying in an earlier post about scans, I had a 3D scan with DT's and it was amazing, I would recommend it

Floria that fillet steak sounds delicious, DH gets very dissapointed that many of the local restaurants no longer have fillet on the menu due to rising costs and lack of demand.

Thank god DT's settled in their cot, we have a kingsize bed at the moment but I'm sure would have to have gotten a queen size if they had come to bed with us

A little question for you ladies weaning LO at the moment, at what stage did you or will you no longer sterilize weaning utensils, bowls, spoons etc?

mum41 I think the powers that be say that after 6 months, sterilising is no longer needed (as a rule of thumb). I, however, will probably sterilise until 12 months as K was so premature. I'm waiting until MW next appears to check with her though

Thanks jw I feel the same so have also still been sterilizing but then I think they are crawling or rather rolling and shuffling around in the babyden which must be so much more unhygenic
I know that K has regular visits with MW and HV but DT's are around 8 months, would I right in thinking they should be due an appointment with the HV at this stage?

Afternoon all. Well, it appears we're the only people whose LOs don't have chickenpox!

mum41 hello! I've not bothered....[bad, bad mother] I did with Iris because she was prem - but that lasted for a few months. Not even thought about it with Verity.

JW marvellous - we'll be over on Friday....we make excellent house guests! I'll leave the cat here though....don't want to worry the dog!

hedgepig I may have to take tips from you at least I've not got anyone elses DC to look after.

peachy I felt kicks/wiggles really late with both my DDs - around 22 weeks with Iris and 18 weeks with Verity. Neither of them were prolific kickers even in the third trimester. I used to hear people talking as though there was a kick boxing match going on - but not for me.

mrsB Nice name change for a bit of a bitch session! Hahah - thing was - I knew it was you

Right - another cuppa is needed - and I'm going to have another check for spots. Whoah - this wind is bonkers - things flying past the window......

weaning how exciting onlt 11 days to go until O is 6 months and we can start (sorry I'm a bit anal about guidelines ). Mum41 my HV says after 6 month you don't need to sterilise as they are stuffing things in their mouth anyway. I am now freaking a bit about weaning as Ollie reacted to calpol (but not Tescos version so it is probably a colour of flavouring) at the weekend, I was thinking he wasn't as allergicy as B but now I'm a bit concerned.

JJ get those girls around to the infected children's houses, best to get it now rather than as an adult (it is horrid as an adult)

JJ just to let you know, the incubation period for chickenpox can be up to 14 days. It's most infectious just before the blisters form (great. you can't see them) Mine all had them (apart from K) and all started with one big blister; first to come, last to go. DD#1 still has the scar just above her left eyebrow They can start on their bum too so don't confuse it with nappy rash (large red spot, forms into a blister in the middle filled with clear liquid).

Get some info from here. Seems like they know what they're on about. I just had calpol and calomine lotion back ye olden days.

Just rung for my test results. She said that I need to see my GP within 4 weeks (I already have an appointment booked for 3 weeks time). But it came back as non urgent.

Not sure if it's good or bad that I still have to see the doc.

CHICKENPOX DD3 got them for the second time, yes second time! around 2 weeks before christmas, we had christmas day dinner booked at the local hotel/restaurant which is a lovely Manor house as we live on the edge of town/beginning of countryside and thought it would be a lovely walk for fresh air on christmas day so were happy to know she wouldn't be contagious by then.... but low and behold within a couple of days of christmas we had 2 very grumbly little boys breaking out in spots all over and what we didn't know was that because DD had caught them from school (as they say in the community) she suffered slightly less than the boys who had caught them from their sister (direct contact) and they were absolutly peppered. We had no Turkey for christmas dinner but seeing as we are relatively regular customers and local they offered to plate it up for us to collect very strange state of affairs but we will always look back on our first christmas with the boys as a different one to say the least

Like jw says it usually starts with one large (as they call queen bee) spot and we too managed with calpol and calamine but thanks to a friend we got calamine cream as opposed to lotion which I never knew exsisted but is much less messy and easier to apply than lotion.

jw 4 weeks...non urgent...sounds good to me

Sounds like really good news to me JW!!

I have never had chicken pox. Or Mumps. Or measles. And I have never been vaccinated. I had an egg/milk allergy when I was a baby and back then in the dark ages there was no alternative vaccine like there is now. But every time I have come in contact with any of them, I haven't gotten them, so the assumption is that I am immune.

For some reason vaccines came up while we were at lunch today. I still lunch with the coworker, cuz its her and her posse or eat alone. Anyway, I mentioned I'd never been vaccinated as above and she freaked about how I would catch it now that I was pregnant and hurt the baby and OMG OMG OMG OMG! I very calmly told her the only one that is dangerous is rubella (and German Measles, which is practically non-existent these days anyway) and that I test immune to that.

The look on her face said 'you're a big fat liar, since I have never heard of such a thing.'

I must say it is fun to come on here and bitch about her!