Smiler

Hee hee! That's what I thought too, til got caught out (apparently non-gravity-defying boobs can still be attractive to sleep/s**-deprived new Dads)! (Kristymac1 makes a good point!)

That's great news Michelle -hope bubs behaves and stays head-down now!

Thanks gwod!

A doctor at Kings said to me recently that there was a 1 in 370 chance of the C-section scar tearing, which seems quite small. At my 28 week appointment with my midwife recently she gave me a Kings fact-sheet about VBAC, which mentioned continuous monitoring, monitoring of progression of labour etc. for VBAC. We didn't discuss HBAC in detail as have always planned a hospital birth, but have got the impression that if homebirth is strongly preferred that they will discuss / consider it. We may be moving before the birth and jhave been looking into services in the new area. Was miffed to discover that at the hospital near where we'll be moving, where they have a swanky new birthing centre (midwife-led) in the actual hospital but comfy, homely, with nice lighting, sofas and birthing pools etc. no-one who has previously had a C-section is eligible to go there, only to the standard (and not as nice) labour ward! So think ED / Kings are relatively open to things compared to some NHS trusts!

I didn't think that being registered with DMC meant automatic registration with the Lanes midwives, though am not sure. Fuschia has just posted some useful info. Agree with PR darling, pestering is sometimes needed for all health services (sadly)! As others have said, the first thing is normally the letter from Kings about the 11-13 week scan and tests, ante-natal appointments with the midwife don't start til much later (16 weeks or 18 weeks I think) and are infrequent til the third trimester.

I found it fine, had been intending to do it gradually when Miss Smiler was 7-8 months, but my milk supply actually dried up really fast and it only took about a week or so and didn't have much pain(I had been struggling anyway, one of the reasons I gave up). Did some minimal expressing or a mini-feed which then topped up with a bottle when had pain, but only a little so as not to continue the supply. Watch out re. contraception, unless you're keen for another, any natural contraception from breastfeeding diminishes really fast!

My little girl is two and has been at nursery three days a week since she was one. Settling her in at the first one was really horrible for a month or so, but the second one when she was older was much easier. Like you, we needed her to start rightaway so she only had a couple of short induction sessions. In addition to the settling in sessions, it might be a good idea to collect him a bit early for his first few full days, e.g. 3pm instead of 5pm. I have sometimes had the impression that the nursery staff are not always honest when a child has been upset at nursery during the day, saying they've been fine etc. when they don't seem to be. For example, I have sometimes seen a child really upset or looking distraught and lost, then later heard the carer telling the parent that the child was fine that day. This kind of stuff upset me quite a lot during both settling in periods, and still does occasionally. But overall think they adjust quite quickly.

I had lots of piriton when breast-feeding (weird, severe postnatal all-over rash in the first few weeks after the birth) -the doctor said that the "classic" piriton is an old drug so there's been lots of time to establish that doesn't cause a problem in pregnancy/breastfeeding.

Hope it goes OK for you ryedalema. Stiff upper lip and some nice outfits / lipstick (budget permitting of course!)

Are you seriously saying, kacekna76, that women who return to work and organise childcare for their young children other than a one-to-one, "loving" nanny who somehow "supplements" the mother's (part-time and inadequate?) love, are abandoning them / only want their kids for weekends / are responsible if their kids turn out f****ed up? If so, grrrrr! kacenka76 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- I just would like to point out that from my > own experience by observing nannies, childminders, > there is a handful of them who actually do care > and find the love whithin themselves to supplement > for the mother's love. It is not enough to make > sure the child is safe and fed. That is not a > proper childcare, I think we should really wake up > and aknowledge the fact that we carry the > responsibility of what is my child going to grow > into, happy, self loving, confident human being or > is he going to struggle, go through psychotherapy > and will be trying to find that love, which was > denied to him for the rest of life {Im talking out > of expereince, have been in therapy for last two > years}. Im just very sad and kind of bewildered at > how many women and how easily abandon their > precious children for whatever reason there might > be. And a question arises, why to have children at > all if we dont really want them. Or do we? For > weekends?

Would've thought that most general self-defence courses would cover knives etc.

We had a stair gate on the nursery, which is a fairly safe area, useful for occasionally dumping Miss Smiler when she was smaller and needed a few minutes to do stuff without her under-foot! As someone else has said, we taught her to use the stairs early on (split-level, first-floor flat). She was a cupboard / drawer ransacker, so had to put the odd lock on for a while for our own sanity! Mr Smiler's CD/DVD collection has been damaged, but took no action to protect it as he has bad taste in films, hee hee! Worst accident we have had so far was with hot water - hot tea spillage when out (carrying tea and trying to push the pushchair, slipped, tea splashed over Miss Smiler in her pushchair). Trip to Kings, pain / screaming, burns dressings, follow-up trips to check on burns / replace dressings, mild scarring etc. Awful, though the children's A&E at Kings were really good, especially the specialist burns nurses. Am now much more careful about anything hot, especially hot kettle / pans in the kitchen. Kings said that the worst burns apart from kettles/hot pans are from herbal tea, as no milk to reduce heat of the drink. The knife drawer is also now a hazard 'cos Miss Smiler likes to bring in her step from the bathroom and use it to look in the kitchen drawers, is also interested in the cooker, when previously would listen to "no, hot" etc. Going to move the knives to a knife block / container on a worktop out of reach somewhere.

40 bus a good alternative, or any of the buses from the City to Camberwell then change. Or train from London Bridge to Denmark Hill, then bus down. Is horrible not being able to get home on time to collect kids.

My father-in-law is dyslexic and a bit absent-minded (he always blames the former) and persistently refers to the spouses/partners of his three sons by the sons' exes' names! Normally at big family events / gatherings.

I get annoyed when there're loads of people waiting at a pedestrian crossing, but no-one has pressed the button to light up the "wait" sign, thus delaying the traffic stopping and the green man.

Moos, if you had a valid ticket for the date but just forgot it and still have the travelcard, wherever it was purchased, you can often get the fine money back by writing off to the address on the ticket. Worth a try!

Welcome to the forum!

Mexican Mike, are you the person who posted the original thread? If so, assume you have changed your forum name! Admin was going to resurrect the thread, sanitised etc. Don't see any point in further debate.

Sounds like HR might be best avoided for now (if your nasty boss is the head of HR). But there is lots of support available from outside, this forum for example!

Yes, borrow it, don't go buying it and giving him cash!

That is a lovely mantra!

Some v.funny posts on this thread, but sad things too. People are so rude sometimes! Is pretty bad not being pregnant and people thinking you are / asking when you will be! Buggie - hope all goes well at the midwife/scan.

How awful, that must be stressful - hard enough returning to work, sorting childcare etc. without all this stuff. Are you currently on maternity leave, and do the issues relate to your performance prior to your maternity leave? If so - and especially if the issues are only now being brought to your attention -then they are treading on dodgy ground in terms of sex discrimination. I used to work in HR in performance management. It is not good practice for managers to bring up old incidences of "poor performance" - these things should be dealt with in a timely way, not a long time afterwards. Your manager shouldn't be telling you stuff about the performance of the person covering your role. Also, appraisals etc. should really be done early when women are going on maternity leave, not delayed until the return to work, otherwise it is difficult for everyone concerned to recall the relevant time period and assess performance properly. Perhaps it'd be useful to think back to your time at work or look through old emails etc. (or anything else that'll remind you of that time) and make notes of your main achievements, positive things about your performance, your key skills etc. For your own benefit (confidence-boosting!) and the appraisal interview. If when it comes to your formal appraisal you don't feel that her assessment of your performance is fair, your organisation should have a process to resolve this. It might be worth speaking to ACAS and / or CAB for advice and keeping notes on the various conversations you have had with the manager, just in case things get ugly (really hope they don't).

Agree with Cora too!

Have been for blood tests at Dulwich hospital a number of times in the last year, always fairly early in the morning morning. Have never waited less than an hour (even when arriving before they open at 7.30am), longest was three hours. Only two phlebotomists on shift each time and massive queues. Maybe late afternoons is better. Some blood tests (e.g. thrombophilia) have to be done up at Kings - once waited for ages in a queue at Dulwich to be told this when finally got to the front, grrr. Information on opening times and which tests have to be done at Kings is here: http://www.kch.nhs.uk/Services/csds/phlebotomy/