Vickster

Congratulations Emma on the birth of Lily May, fantastic news. Looks like we have enough people for Saturday. I can do 10.30 or 3, so happy to go with the majority. If there are toddlers coming, shall we stick with Green & Blue? Victoria

Sorry, I missed you all as well, same reason as Penny! I am around this Saturday if anyone is free?

Thanks everyone for the advice. Having done a bit more research, it appears that it takes 4 - 6 weeks to become fully effective, by which time, fingers crossed, I won't be pregnant anymore! Having said that, the idea of a bad bout of flu and a new baby fills me with horror, particularly as I have currently got underlying respiratory issues, so I think I am going to get it done. There is also some suggestion that it gives your baby a degree of immunity, which if true, can be no bad thing.

I understand that this year they are offering the seasonal flu jab to all pregnant women even if you are not in an 'at risk' category. I am slightly reluctant to have this as the advice has always been not to have the seasonal flu jab if you are pregnant. I do recall though that last year pregnant women were advised to get the swine flu jab (which is now included in the seasonal flu jab) as the complications from swine flu in pregnancy e.g. pneumonia, were considered quite dangerous. This makes me think I probably should have it. Any thoughts?

Good for me, see you all then x

Congratulations, fantastic news. 11th good for me too x

On a related note, any thoughts on which days, all together or with a gap?

thank you all so much for all the excellent advice. I think we will definitely go for 3 on this basis, and maybe review a few months down the line when the initial new baby craziness has died down. Thanks again x

I am due to have number 2 end of Jan, and number 1 is currently in nursery 4 days a week as I am still working. I am thinking of reducing the number of days he is there once I go on maternity leave, both to keep costs down and also because I obviously want to spend more time with him now that I am able to. On the other hand, I think he thrives on the routine and social interaction of nursery, and keeping him in will enable me to have some time alone with number 2. Does anybody have any advice on the optimum number of days? I was initially thinking of reducing him to two, but wonder if three might be better as he likes it so much, but don't want him to feel like he is being excluded from time with me when new one arrives. Does anybody have any thoughts on this?

This is such a great idea, would be happy to get involved and help out in any way.

Great news Fuschia. I am seeing Dr Arya next week, so hoping he is a bit more relaxed now about my birth plans!

We took our bugaboo cameleon on Easyjet in the travel case, so it was stowed in the hold. Provided you can manage without it after check in, this is a very good option. The travel bag is really roomy so you can stow loads of other bits and bobs in it!

I think downstairs at Le Chandelier will be tricky, as it gets pretty busy. Perhaps we should switch back to Green & Blue? I am happy either way though.

I am free this Saturday (13th) as well, would be lovely to catch up.

This is news to me, and very welcome! Emma, I also work at a law firm, and have just checked our maternity policy which is silent on this point, so I too will be having an interesting conversation with HR!

I can now do both 6th and 13th. so happy to go with the majority.

The symptoms you describe sound exactly like how my little boy was from birth to about 2 months, when we started using Colief, which absolutely saved my life. It is a bit faffy with breastfeeding, as the instructions are pretty rigid about how you give it, in that you are supposed to express and feed them a little bit of the milk (as mentioned above) before the feed every time you feed which is hardly practical. I got round this by expressing a load of milk the night before which gave me enough to make up little bottles of about 1oz mixed with the Colief to give before each feed throughout the next day. Good luck, colic is a horrible time.

I think there are a few of us that can make it this Saturday (23rd) so let's go ahead with that - 10.30am upstairs at Le Chadelier as I don't think we have any toddlers. I can't make 6th, but a roughly fortnightly meet up sounds like a good way to proceed.

We usually meet at 10.30, if that suits everyone still.

We seem to be on for 23rd then. Any toddlers coming? shall we say Green & Blue if they are, and Le Chandelier if not? December 6th - Uptime (first) - Surpise December 11th - cazbee - Blue! December 15th GP - don't know what flavour ! December 20th - Vanessa3 (no 2) - Surprise January 15th Candj (no.3!) - Blue January 15th - Lou (no 2) - Surprise January 17th - Littlebelka (no 2) - pink January 24th Penny - Don't know. January 25th sylviamaria - don't know January 26th Vickster (no. 2) - Pink January 26th CLH (no. 2!) - Pink February 5th - Kirsten - Blue February 18th KathG - Blue January 22nd Fmay (no.2) - Pink

No, I should have asked but will find out next time I see her.

How does a week tomorrow suit everyone? Saturday 23rd October?

I spoke to my midwife (Oakwood) at length yesterday about my post-natal care concerns at Kings, as issues with the simplest post-natal care last time have left me terrrified about how I would be looked after when required to stay in for a medical reason. My experiences were over 2 1/2 years ago now, and apparently things have much improved. Obviously noise, visitor traffic and heat will always be an issue, but in terms of the care that is being received, I understand that a new ward manager has dramatically turned things around and much more focus is being given to e.g. breat feeding support. Historically a lot of agency staff were used on this ward, particularly at night, which seems to account for the general lack of care and compassion and desire to do a good job (hope I am not doing down agency staff there, but that was her view and it seems to make sense). So fingers crossed everyone's experiences should be better next time around if you do require a stint on the post-natal ward.

How scary, glad all turned out ok and hope you manage to get some rest today. Good to see another thumbs up for NHS Direct and the NHS generally.

Ditto Belle and Kes. Everything about my dealings with the NHS first time around were excellent, except for the post-natal care which fell only slightly short of negligent. Due to a recently diagnosed medical condition I will need to be in hospital for number 2 certainly for delivery and a few days post delivery, and there is a high chance of needing to stay in to be induced as well. I was so desperate to avoid a stint on the post-natal ward this time around that this has been one of the most upsetting things about my diagnosis. Having just spent almost a week in a different Kings ward, I have experienced first hand the care and compassion with which nurses care for their patients. I am so disappointed that the experiences on the post-natal ward are so different when arguably their 'patients' are equally as vulnerable. Like Belle, I am seriously considering taking out a loan to fund private care.