sillywoman

I know an excellent maternity nurse. She's bright and bubbly, and has been a qualified midwife at a local hospital for about 6 years I think (so qualified in newborn and adult life support, as well as breastfeeding support etc.etc.). Her name is Sophie. Please PM me if you'd like her details.

Her titles cover a lot! ;)

I misread your post edanna - with a hilarious spin!!

Hi everyone, I've just seen this lovely scheme on the Southwark council website, I hope that at least some ED babies can benefit :) http://www.southwark.gov.uk/news/article/2083/southwark_newborns_to_receive_free_books_thanks_to_dolly_parton Love SWx

Though it is worth remembering that the NCT/ private antenatal classes cover a lot more than just managing the labour. Their remit should cover ALL the common birth scenarios (Induction, Assisted birth, and Caesareans) as well as breast-feeding and practical baby care along with other early-days-baby-life stuff. In the interests of disclosure I should add that I am an East Dulwich NCT/ Bump and Baby teacher, but I really do think that hypnobirthing is money well spent. I just think that it's ideally done as a complement to antenatal classes, as these cover a much broader remit than just managing the labour (which HynoB is brilliant at). Sorry to hear that your group didn't gel MarianaTrench, a great shame for you and the others within it, I would second Convex's recommendation for the EDF baby clubs. Being a new Mum for the first time can be a lonely old place to be.

I would say that the two types of antenatal education are complementary. Convex is right - NCT is great for meeting other people at the same stage of pregnancy as you, and also understanding the bigger picture of what happens and when. Hypnobirthing would give you a very effective tool to manage the intensity of the contractions - a tool that can be used in all sorts of stressful circumstances, not just for labour (e.g. a baby that won't stop crying, painful breastfeeding, or even at the dentist - my favourite use for it). It's pricey, but if you can afford both I would strongly encourage you to consider it.

Thankyou ladies, I will check out 999 and glamorous nails. I feel a bit silly for feeling so nervous about something so relatively insignificant, but it'll be a new experience so your recommendations are all gratefully received. x

So, to my embarrassment I have reached my late 40's without ever getting my nails done - not once, I have decided that this Christmas I will remedy this, but I need some advice about where to go. I would like someone who will be gentle with a beginner and am happy to have someone to come to me, or me to go to them. The nail bars that I see on P'ham Rye for example look a wee bit intimidating to me. Can anyone recommend a lovely local place or person to make me finally look like a grown-up woman?

Eeeewww, that's gross and really creepy. Nasty nasty advert. Ugh.

Well done Belle, that's wonderful news. I've popped it in my Christmas hopeful Amazon basket.

meal out with friends at a place of her choice (within reason)?

azurh, is this right? You've had your booking appointment, the midwife asked to keep your notes until the next appointment so that she could book you into the system. You will get your notes back at the next midwife appointment. My understanding of the system is that you don't need your notes for your 12 week saran (just keep the documentation they give you safe until it can be placed in your notes), however you do need to make another appointment to see a midwife, if you don't already have one. The midwife who booked you should have told you when to book that appointment for - usually around 16 weeks. Once you get your notes back you'll be able to see what the schedule of appointments through your pregnancy is. I would guess that the reason you didn't get a call back yesterday is due to the community midwives being utterly snowed under. I'm sure they'll get back to you when they can, or you could persevere with trying to contact them if you want. When dealing with big systems like the NHS sometimes a bit of perseverance is necessary for non-emergency situations.

A good friends son does dance (street and other boy friendly stuff) at the Laban Centre - I think it's in New Cross? He seems to love it and has been going for several years now (he's now 11 or so, but I think he started when he was 9).

Because idealism must be balanced with realism.

Ugh, not the CPZ thing again? :( However it does seem short sighted in the extreme to plan a health centre and a secondary school with only 10 or so parking places for the whole site. Realistically teachers will drive, visitors to the site will drive, admin staff, cleaners, ill people, doctors, nurses, physio's and on and on. If there's no parking then they will park in our already crowded local streets forcing a CPZ - something the majority of local residents were clear they didn't want. I am really positive about these proposals on the whole and it will be a delight to see the site finally serving it's intended purpose, but the parking issue MUST be addressed for the proposals to be palatable to local residents.To ignore it will be to create a whole heap of misery for us.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3159193/Just-safe-HPV-jab-Health-experts-launch-review-amid-concerns-cervical-cancer-vaccine-s-effects.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/thousands-of-teenage-girls-report-feeling-seriously-ill-after-routine-school-cancer-vaccination-10286876.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-33504211 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardasil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervarix My daughter (also 19) and I decided against vaccination at the time it was offered (when she was 12). She wasn't sexually active at that point (!!) and we researched as fully as we could the implications. We decided that when she was considering becoming sexually active we would revisit the decision - which we did. I think our girls were the first ones to be offered this in school? I felt uncomfortable at the time about the 'guinea-pig' nature of this, all the more so as there was the possibility of choice between two vaccines. This was only offered for a short while then the NHS decided it would only fund Gardasil, despite Cervarix showing better results. Cervarix is now only available privately. There have been deaths linked with both vaccines, but I take the view that death is a risk of life. On the whole I am pro-vaccination, but I delayed with this one as I felt 12 or 13 was too early for my daughter to have it, and that she was sensible enough to make the decision for herself when she felt the time was right.

littlethistle, Sailor asked first so it would be polite to aster her question. I'm intrigued too - what is it you think Clapham offers that ED doesn't?I don't see it myself. And by 'nappy central' do you mean Clapham or ED - both have been known as 'nappy valley' for many years now - so it's hard to distinguish?

I'm in Trossachs Rd (off Glengarry road, opposite ED hospital) and for the last few weeks have noticed several times a day some kind of crazy dog-barking. It sounds like multiple dogs (kind of like a dog rescue centre at diner time). I'm not normally bothered by dog-barking kind of things, and I get that I live in a crowded city so need a high noise tolerance level, but I must admit to curiosity about this as it's happening every day, several times a day and I've not noticed it before. Can anyone shed some light? The gardens here are pretty tiny so I can't imagine that anyone has a dog-rescue concern going on, or any other kind of dog sitting thing? So what is this repetitive, mad-dog barking from multiple dogs?

I heard it from the comfort of my kitchen!!! :D

Thanks Susan, I wondered about them, but wasn't sure if anyone had ever used them for such a thing? They couldn't repair my leather belt a few years ago, when I took it in (didn't have the right needles for their machines or something) so I wondered whether there was anywhere else anyone knew of?

Each to their own then Otta :D

Both Kings and Tommies are in Lambeth so in theory all babies born in those hospitals should be registered there. In reality it means that Lambeth registry office is inundated and waiting times can be lengthy. Due to this Lambeth have done a deal with neighbouring boroughs so that if you live in Southwark or Lewisham (for example) you can register at your own (quieter) register office (plus Southwark RO is prettier ;) ).

I know it's not strictly family oriented (though it could be considered that the amount of crap I have to keep in my handbag due to kids and a husband who doesn't carry one is a 'family' issue!), but I have two handbags which I love but have had to stop using because they need repairing. One needs a replacement zip, and the other needs handle repairs. Can anyone recommend somewhere that can perform this kind of repair on my handbags? Thx

Sorry - was at work and so couldn't reply. Yes, Simonetheb has it - that's the plan I heard. I also heard a rumour that the caseload teams will be caring for women on a priority basis i.e social or medical need - in which case you won't be able to just ask for a referral because that's the gold standard of care and it's what you'd like to have (a reasonable request I think!), but it is a rumour, so I can't confirm how much truth there is in it?

Yup, September I think (though everything is a moveable feast in the NHS? KCH is moving all the community teams around to offer a more 'equitable' service. I should think the Lanes midwives feel very sad - the Lanes has been such an amazing and integral part of the ED community for so many years now - I know that I feel sad just thinking about it :(