40 + Mums and Mums to be - Bellies, Tellis, Vomit and Poo

[Tee2072]

Here's another one!

Come on by if your 40 + and are pregnant, almost pregnant, just pregnant or even just want some virtual cake!!!

Wow. Lots going on here today. Hippo birdy two ewes to Duchesses DD! I was saying to DS#1 on his (20th ...gulp) B'day last week 'this time 20 years ago I was...blah blah blah'...and he wasn't the slightest bit impressed. Ungrateful gits!!

You've just reminded me that we've got a croquet set that needs to come out. Can only play it tho when the lawn has been cut and DH cut it today. Cue the fanfare

JJ I like the sound of the tractor wheelbarrow! Fabalishious. Great to hear old Pa in Law is around bellowing at all and sundry while the LO's hide from grandpa behind the sofa (has he gone yet mummy?)

mrsb love the scented candles expedition. Have you looked online or in H&M for sun hats for D? Vertbaudet isn't bad but can't say for sure they have boy's hats.

I'm feeling the love today. Sun, washing on line, smaller pants, DD#1 & DD#2 together in the living room All full from lunch. That's it. My work here is done. I'm off to Florida.

tee you're gonna have to think about getting a car once baby is born unless you have a HUGE basket underneath your Quinny - which I'm not sure they have???

Gwynny is a nutter. And I reckon Chris aint no better. Mr & Mrs Crank. I bet sex is 'something else' with those two

JW we have 99% of our groceries delivered, so not really an issue! I don't actually have a driver's license and neither does DH!!

Also, I have lots of reusable shopping bags that can hang off me and the handles of the buggy!!

Sounds like a lovely day JW.

Oh I don't think I will be returning to H and M for a while after The Incident the other week...

But I have ordered a nice one from mini Boden online - so we will have to wait for that.

I have clothes on the line too - first time this year.

I love mini boden and they keep sending me catalogues...I keep flicking through and wishing. It's quite expensive even with the codes I find and free delivery. Hedgepig had a 20% off and free delivery over £20 last week. I'm tempted by some of their stuff too

Hey tee mebbe that can be something you could do once baby is born - driving lessons? Do you fancy them or are you happy with the current arrangements? I passed my test rather late at the age of 28 and never looked back. It certainly gives you a bit more independence.

I'm having lunch with one of the sisters from Bury SCBU on Tuesday. Think I won't be seeing her for a while as she's found a new beau and is moving to Southampton to be with him. So it's a catch up and a farewell all rolled into one. Still, I'll speak to her on FB no doubt. And I'm going to see floria on Weds if she's free. Might have 2 kids in tow with me as well as DSS is off school. I've just issued you with fair warning floria

Ok, must dash. Antiques Roadshow is about to start. Huzzah for my favourite programme

I can't drive either, and we have a car now (didn't need one until D appeared, sorry tee)so there's no excuse except I can't afford lessons and I'd rather not fall out with his nibs over my inability to feel the clutch bite

Evening all. Managed dinner for FIL, also managed to burn my hand picking up a saucepan that was DAMM hot, plus went to the park with DP and the girls....all tres nice....except for the burning incident, obviously

duchese awww....how fab - Happy B'day to her, sounds like you had a lovely day

jw good to hear your smalls are flapping about on the line And boy...they're getting smaller

MrsB & tee gosh, I think I'd go spare if I couldn't drive....however, having said that I didn't have a car till I was 38 and, like jw, I only passed my test at 28...snap! Living in Zone 2 in London for years...hardly any point in having a car. But now my Berlingo is a life saver!

LOL@ clutch bite quip - aye mrsB no point spliting up with DP over an inability to get a hill start spot on !!!

I'm still hungry...and I've eaten loads

I actually have had a US driver's license from the time I was 17, but it expired this year on my birthday. In the US it is very unusual to not have one the second you are able. I never got it switched over to UK because we didn't own a car anyway and lived in City Centre so no car necessary!

No car for us until we move out of City Centre, since a parking space is about £100 a month above our rent!

Also, with my diabetes, I won't be allowed to have one until a doctor writes a letter saying that I am no longer having hypos, which won't be until after the baby is born anyway.

DH has never had his license and never wanted one, although he has mentioned once or twice that he might get it now. He even picked up a license app, although has done nothing with it!

I, surprisingly, don't miss driving. Plenty of people have children and don't drive!

Wow, that was a novel, sorry!!

Tee you don't need a car you need one of THESE!!! just push the buggy with one hand and pull this with the other.

hedgepig I actually have one of those, only in blue!!

There are some fantastic ones on this website, although the cow print one is my favorite. I'm thinking it may be useful in our local Tesco for tripping up all the rude people (and there are a lot)!

OH WOW! hedgepig that is very cool

this is the one I have. Only I bought it at Argos about 5 years ago, when I first moved here!

Actually when my older 3 were little I couldn't drive and had a big pram with all the shopping (and various sized babies on top) underneath in the basket.

If I lived in the city centre then I wouldn't bother with a car either. It's just convenient living in the 'burbs'.

mrsb I never got lessons from my ex H (when he wasn't my ex) either. Thought it might cause friction. Avoided at that stage only to bugger off with someone else a few years later anyway I did feel very liberated when I passed though.

JJ why have you been juggling hot pans?

Also, why is the fat indian man who is currently in residence at Dev's corner shop, also appearing in South Africa in the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency? He must have a fast bike to get around that fast!

Morning ladies
JJ ouch! try some aloe vera on that burn it works wonders...hope it recovers soon

I passed my test when I was 17 and must admit don't know how I'd cope without a car ..I'd probably be a lot slimmer and fitter if I tried to do without but we're semi rural out here and the 30 min trip to my Mums would take over 2 hrs by public transport.

Weds fine by me JW and would just love to meet your DSS and Special K

Well the run of one fantastic nights sleep followed by 2 good nights with only 1 brief wake up was ruined by one of As' dreadful nights last night so I'm bog eyed again ...ho hum...it was good while it lasted

Morning all. Floria we're bog eyed here too...Verity up twice and second time she bit my nipple... WHAH! It's soooo annoying and you've been enduring it longer than me

jw well, I was juggling the pans - showing off to the girls - and it was when I added the griddle pan and ring-of-fire in mid-air that the whole thing collapsed and I came a cropper

NOwt much on the horizon....may pop to the park if it stays nice. There's a playgroup but it's for older kids in the holidays so we'll put our head round the door and see how lively it is. See you all later

Morning all, glad you're all getting some sunshine over there - I've been refraining from mentioning the high temps for fear of inciting a jealous rage...
We went out for the day yesterday but DP managed to engineer a trip to the computer shop to buy a printer .
We have a rubbish old van that DP bought for the move here, but I don't drive it on the basis that people who can't remember their passports can't consistently drive on the other side of the road... Neither of us likes driving in the UK - but we had that Streetcar thing where you can pick one up nearby for however many hours you need.
We're back in the UK on Wednesday - flying glamorous Ryanair so will arrive disheveled and disgruntled. We've hired a house with 10 friends and are taking DP's nephew.

And I've bought a doppler - is that very wrong? I know lots of people say it just makes you more neurotic...

JJ no idea how you can get through nipple biting That sounds very painful. Is there nothing you can do to deter her efforts on eating you?

Sounds like a great party trick you've got going there. Far too dangerous to me. I'll stick to pushing dominoes over.

No plans here either but K isn't that fussy really. Might take her to the shops before the rain comes to stay.

K gave me a lovely present this morning of poo all up her back. Lovely, wet, sloppy, brown stuff. Even DSS is impressed by the size of her poos, exclaiming last week 'Katherine's poos are the same size as mine' (his that is). I'm going to make her a badge!

I'm handing over the SATS machine tomorrow to the sister from SCBU I'm meeting up with. That's it. All gone. All the machinery and jiggery pokery has now left the building. We're on our own now. I did try and convince my MW we 'needed' it for next winter but she was having none of it. All comfort blankets removed I'm sure we'll be fine.

Might go and visit SiL today. We called around on Friday to see how she was doing now she's flying solo. Yes, we'll still never be best friends but I can't find it in myself to kick her while she's down. She told me the full SP of what had happened and I do feel for her. It's awful when your marriage ends and these were not particularly pleasant circumstances. Anyway, that's my good deed done for the month.

There was a piece in The Times magazine on Saturday by Carol Midgley (As if...) about how having 4 children is perfectly acceptable but 5 is just chavdom (see Karen matthews). It's not yet online but when it is I'll post the link. It's very funny. No idea where they thought this one up!

peachy I also hired a Dopplier. It was very reassuring as everytime she went quiet, I'd just lie on the bed, put the cold jelly on the belly and ahhhhh there's her little heartbeat going like a racehorse on the final furlong

You enjoy it peachy Sod everyone else!

peachy- has your infant gone quiet again as well? Been poking mine to try and get a reaction but it seems as laid back as my husband... Am rather hoping it's not going to turn out to be as energetic as my first child- one is a little older this time around, and by god the boy was hard to keep up with... Looking good so far though. And it seemed to be active on the scan, just not on a vendetta against my insides- gentle movements (so far) rather than the seriously well-aimed booting that child 1 did.

Morning all.

Seems to be the day for quiet babies! I've gotten a few pokes very early this morning, but not much since! I figure it wore itself out, it was so active over the weekend.

JJ very impressive! Too bad it all went pear shaped! I second the use of aloe.

JW I am sure giving all of that back was very nerve racking! But just look at how far she's come.

peachy I don't have a doppler. But my baby seems to be a bit psychic, because whenever I think, hmm, no motion for a bit, it moves! I do think it would make me very neurotic!

floria bummer on the sleep or lack thereof. Have you tried drugs? For A, not you.

Duchesse well it's weird because they are still very light, scrabbling movements then some sort of dainty beating feeling which might just be my pulse . There's definitely a lot more activity in the evenings than mornings although a couple of hours ago I felt a sort of tiny stinging poke which I was quite excited about. I don't really know what's what, being my first and all. Is your DH very laid-back mine is the opposite.. Are you having your scan soon? Mine's not for a couple of weeks.

JW glad you don't think I'm crazy to get a doppler. I just think it's a lovely thing to do, like you describe, also DP can put his white coat on and play doctors - he loved helping with the IVF injections.

Loving the shoppers but I want leopardskin-effect! Berlin has not discovered online shopping yet and the supermarkets round my way are dreadful - Aldi or nothing. The other day there was a man asleep in one of the aisles

Found you! Been away this weekend - to the wedding of a friend who's remarrying someone 20 yrs younger. At no stage did anyone refer to his previous 20 yr marriage, even though his 3 kids were there. Bad show, I thought - it would have made it all a bit more relaxed but instead they made veiled allusions some of the time and webt 'lalala let's pretend this is the first time for both us' the rest. Humph. I liked his ex-wife a lot.

Then got together with 3 of my sisters and their families and ate chickens and hams and salads and CAKES a-bongo, which was lovely.

Must tidy house, have good days.

ermintrude I suspect that it was at the behest of the 'new' wife that no mention was made of his previous life. New wives can tend to get territorial and threatened by ex's for no apparent reason. When I married DH his ex (and they weren't even married) got on the phone to him when she found out and had a hysterical hissy fit at him. I thought it was very funny Good job she only found out after we'd married. I took great care not to let her know before otherwise we'd have had weeks of it

Sounds like you had fun with lots of food. I'm very jealous

peachy do whatever feels right to you and bugger everyone else! Doppler can help too if your OH wants to have a listen. I think it's hard for men as they really have no idea what's going on.

I'm off to clean some floors now. Oh! Living la vida loca....

mornin all

Dreadful night last night as D coughed and coughed and coughed and couldn't settle. Am exhausted at work which is not very good cos I have a lot on.

jw can I have semi skimmed milk in my tea? have no access to fb here and can't remember what you said.

peachy I had a doppler. D was a bugger for going quiet for days on end - the whole way through! I only used it a few times - when I was worried. The problem arises if you can't find the hb - you then panic and have to keep searching. The medical profession disapprove of them as you would imagine. The other thing is there is some suggestion that babies don't like them - hence their moving away from the source when they are used. So probably best not to use it too much. I found mine very reassuring though.

Semi skimmed should be ok. Afterall, it's only a splash isn't it?

Yes, K used to move away from the Doppler too. Although I always found the heartbeat as she was a lazy madam and was always in the same place.

Sorry to hear that D has, what sounds like, a terrible cough. When K was really bad in February with the mild dose of bronchiolitis, I put heavy books under the top end legs of her cot to prop her up so that she wasn't lying flat. Also, I got a humidifier going in the room so that the air wasn't dry.

Poor you having to get through the day knackered and having a heavy workload Hope that 5pm comes around quickly for you.