buggie

On the whole with ingestions, drinking water/milk is ok but never try to induce vomiting (aspiration risk ++). As Darlin' has said NHS direct are a fountain of reassurance on this as they use the same toxicology database that is used in A&E, v good if darling child isn't showing any signs of distress/upset from the ?ingestion. One time I would want to whizz them straight in would be if the ?ingestion was of anti-depressive/cardiac or similar medication. Most common ingestions A&E see are household cleaners/washing liquids which kids are unlikely to have had a huge amount of (realise it's pretty foul as soon as it touches the tongue and they spit it out!). Even tablets are usually v low doses as they normally realise once the sugar coatings gone their pretty horrid (had a v worried dad and toddler + a bag of 10 v well sucked ibuprofen once - each had been spat out once the sweetness had gone!).

So glad to hear all's ok - fingers crossed all these scares now mean the baby will be good as gold once born! x

Very clever... if only there was a similar one to remind peeps about child restraints, still amazes me how many unrestrained children (often in front seats and/or on parents laps) I see.

Never known chicken pox to appear on soles of hands/feet - def sounds more like HFM - chickenpox normally start on limbs/trunk and start as red spots becoming blisters. Hope he feels better soon! x

expat - bit confused with your statement - why would getting there few minutes earlier have any bearing on the situation Timster describes?? It seems that the issue is length of time the exchange of passengers getting off/passengers getting on takes and the guards recognising that, not with people running in at the last moment. It's all well and good blowing their whistles and bellowing, but there's a limit how quickly you can board when there are passengers needing to get off first - or are you suggesting those boarding should just barge on and s*d anyone trying to get off?

If parents are wanting advice for their teenagers, it could be worth contacting the Safer Neighbourhood team (The Lanes one now has a thread running in the general section to see if they could offer advice/help.

while prob bit early at 6mths, one of the most common preventable accidents I see are children getting fingers trapped in doors (normally the hinge end) - there was a thread I mentioned this on a few mths back which IIRC covered similar themes. The foam "C" shaped things for doors would help stop this (and can be put up high on the door so impossible for lil'uns to remove!

I know it's a typo Ruth - but the idea of being together for 8 yrs and LOVING together for 5 is v funny!! x

That's ok - sounds like things are on the up if she's asking for drinks (even if it is water!) hopefully won't meet you in coming days! x

....hopefully as long as needed!! Don't think the GP will have iv antibiotics to use so doubt they'll be able to do that - if she was to need a drip would req hospital stay as worry would be about how well she was drinking and whether she'd need extra fluids via drip, also drip sites need to be watched carefully - can count on one hand number of children I've known go home with drips and these were all after stays in hospital.

It's not just being told you're too big that can be a problem.... I saw my family for the first time in ages last w/e and had my brother tell me that I was much smaller than he was expecting me to be by this stage (26/40). Having been feeling bit worried about how little I seem to be at the moment (and measuring only 20cm at 25/40 when the midwife measured me hoping to reassure me about my size paranoia!) I'd started feeling a bit more positive (lots of big, high feeling kicks from bubs over the week), but this put me right back! Still, seeing midwife again Monday and got 28/40 scan the following week so hopefully all will be heading in the right direction.

... forgot to add earlier - if putting it in fluids no more than about 5-15 mls otherwise you have the stress of having to try and get them to take the whole drink before knowing they've got the dose x

As far as I know it isn't available as suppository (otherwise we'd give it). Guessing it's a severe tonsillitis she has rather than a quincy (which requires admission and draining asap and typically affects adults rather than children). It can be very difficult getting children to take medicine - guessing you were given a syringe to use (makes it far easier to control how much is given/minimising how much they can spit out in any one go!! Would suggest attempting to give the antibiotic approx 1/2hr after the paracetamol as this would help stop her throat from hurt first. The other option would be to get some Difflam spray (think you should be able to buy it over the counter) which can help relieve pain in the throat (and then give the medicine). Otherwise, try mixing it in with small amounts of yogurt/adding a bit of neat blackcurrant squash (has quite strong flavour that can cut through bitterness of medicine), or if worse came to worse bribery - ?choc button for each dose taken! Even taking the antibiotic, it will take about 48hrs to really kick in and start improving how she feels, if she seems to worsen - especially if she takes less than half normal amount of fluid, then don't hesitate to seek further help from either GP or return to ED. Hope this helps x

Sounds like he was trying to get a rise out of you - well done on not completely biting his head off! Maybe we should have and ED mum's to be mafia - a few discrete text msg's sent while on the way home and a group of us could have met you at your drop-off (and maybe between us we'd have had a few comebacks to throw at him sorted out!!) xx

Arrgghhh I'll be on a night shift - hopefully one of the meet up dates won't clash with my rota!

Might be worth contacting Yvonne Menka (0207 346 3528 is the number in my notes but it may be 0203 299 3528 as they changed the main hospital number a while back). In my mat notes it talks about contacting her if you want to change your care - may help get over problem of the Lanes having booked your inital NT scan. x

to be fair to the surgery - would be very surprised if they would have called to check all was ok, if you imagine how many patients they ref to hospital/specialities every day it would be nearly a full time job to call them all back and check how things went - plus (knowing from asking my family members how appts have gone!) non-medical people very often don't give as much information as would be needed to make sense/have very poor recollection of consultations (I read up lots on this last year when doing a nurse practitioner course - the cohort of one study typically remembered correctly less than 50% of everything discussed within a 10 min consultation - and know I'm as bad - after a knee inj I forgot to ask my consultant if it was ok to return to work!) Thus GP letters are generated from all A&E attendances detailing diagnosis/tests and results/follow up arrangements and sent on to the surgery and I know EPU/MAU do similar, as well as clinic letters written by the Dr's when seen in out pt's which then give the GP all the information they would need/follow up with.

Glad all is ok with bubs. I was told from the off with my midwives (oakwood) that anything like this should be immediately ref up to hospital (makes sense in a way - if your concern is that there is a potential you could lose the baby then nothing they tell you on the phone will reassure as much as taking direct action and attending EPU and having a scan - first trimester can be v difficult even for mw to listen with doppler - which could then cause more stress). I was finally given my midwives pager number last week as having hit 25/40 bubs is now seen as viable - they deliberately don't give the number before then as they want anything before then to attend hosptial for full check up asap. While not liking hospitals/dr's, it can be worth biting the bullet (and leaving you feeling bit more in control) than the stress of trying to get hold of midwive/gp for help and still being told to go in. Fingers crossed though this'll be a one off and you'll glide through now (hope car feels better soon too!) x For anyone else in similar situation would def advice going straight to EPU mon-sat rather than A&E - you'd get as far as the triage nurse and then sent to EPU as there's all the specialists there. Out of hours, you'd be seen to check nil signs of anything needing emergency treatment (ie eptopic pregnancy - which EPU check for with the scan) but would still need to attend EPU for full follow up.

Would be interested in seeing this be taken up and if it has an affect especially if combined with stopping/reducing offers on alcohol. Really don't think "sensible" drinkers will be affected, but, may reduce the amount of people I see at work hours after accidents as they were too drunk to act upon it at the time. While there isn't a perfect way to reduce binge/alcohol problems, think this could be a good start - not completely outpricing but could test the waters. Don't think most local pub/G&B prices would be affected as would be v surprised to find out they were selling drinks at less than 50p a unit.

BNL's were the first concert I ever went to (was late starter for concerts!). Am loving this thread - will definitely be re-reading it when I start trying to work out my baby playlist! :))

Just got my off duty today and I'm working on 11th July:'( fingers crossed I'll make it if there's a subsequent meet up

Could it be worth meeting minus children?? That way we could chat without having to keep eyes out for children - especially as come the autumn time out alone will be even rarer. Understand this could be controversial as I seem to be the only one posting here who doesn't have kids already!

You don't mention if your son has had the MMR = in which case it would be unlikely. It is a much milder illness than measles so doesn't cause as many problems, as you have expressed is more worrying in pregnancy. Your friends booking bloods will have included screening for rubella immunity.

Am sure location wouldn't be a problem! What time of day would we be looking at meeting? (not that I know if I could make it yet!!) Just wondering as Sundays are especially busy in most pubs/cafes around lunchtimes - maybe (soft) drinks mid/late afternoon could be good - or in the morning.

Am sure upper circle would be fine - big shows are designed so that you're not at a huge disadvantage sitting further back and unlike in a panto there's no chance of him missing out on audience participation. If anything being higher up could be more exciting as you get a better idea of the grandness of the show/how big the audience is.