The Nappy Lady

Hi there I used the birth pool in a box & it was great. I wouldnt have used a seat myself as I knelt in the water and then leant forward onto the side of the pool during contractions. The sides supported me really well whilst also being soft & comfortable. It's worth having a little step to use outside the pool for easy getting in & out - one of those plastic ones they sell for children to use at the sink will do. We put an old folded blanket & shower curtains under & around the pool and had lots of old towels to hand too. The Brierley were fabulous in every way & even dried me off when I got out (I felt like Cleopatra with hand maidens!!). Buy a baby bath thermometer to check the temperature of the water & then use it afterwards when you run baths for your baby! I got mine from Lloyds on Northcross Rd. Good luck & enjoy - water births are just wonderful!

As far as I know no wait list. Annual membership is ?27 - got the bill tonight & it covers insurance etc too. Sorry more thn I remembered but still well worth it I reckon.

Good luck, hope all goes well. There was a girl on 'Embarrassing Bodies' the other day who needed surgery for this & it was very interesting, did you see it? I've been thinking of you & hoping you were doing Ok.

Beavers at Rye Hill Tennants Hall is fab, just come along if you are interested & your son can try it out - trial session is free then ?1 a week plus the once a year membership (around 8 or 10 quid iirc). My daughters been going since she turned 6 & will go up to Cubs in July. She loves it, goes away for nights camping, various trips, gang show etc. Very good value & good fun in my opinion & I like that it's for boys & girls - my friend was gutted her girls went to Brownies & it was much less pro-active.

Awight Duchess (sorry couldn't resist)! Hmmm, it might be worth phoning the Brierley Midwives and asking if you can pop along for a chat with them. Even if you sign up for a home birth you CAN change you mind later and go to hospital after all - BUT if you don't book a Home birth early on you may well miss out on getting one due to lack of midwives. So if I were you, whilst you ponder, I'd book in with the Brierley (assuming you are within the catchment) and go for a chat with them. Their office number is: 020 3299 6163 Good luck - I had 2 home births and they were wonderful. I did Pregnancy Yoga first time around and I think that helped with breathing and pain management, but must admit I was also very lucky to have quite short labours, and babies under 8lbs!!

Hi there, I have sent you a PM. xx

Hi, Remembered seeing your thread before and thought I'd post this as not only do you get the cakes, but it is also a way of supporting a local school/initiative, and a couple of very good charities. http://www.suzannejames.co.uk/news/hopeforharrisgirls.asp Molly

Snowboarder I have a fab braised red cabbage recipe if you want it & you can freeze it. Lovely with a roast or sausages. Sell by dates are only a guide remember & even use by dates can have a degree of common sense applied to them. Have to say I hate throwing stuff out, will freeze or cook & put up for another night if need be. Still at least we have food waste recycling now. Oh, family of 4, but feeding an extra child 4 nights a week. Shopping at Morrisons plus sometimes Sainsburys or Ocado I'd estimate about ?100 a week but maybe more when needing lots of cleaning products etc.

Did a roast chuck as advised - OMG it was amazing - fell apart getting it out of the slow cooker, really delicious! Anna - I say you need to cook for 6-8 hours as per most slow cooker recipes. Try something like a chicken - easy to tell when done - to build up confidence. Don't use stuff from the freezer unless you've left it to defrost naturally overnight or whatever, so it's at a normal core temp to start with.

Did a roast chuck as advised - OMG it was amazing - fell apart getting it out of the slow cooker, really delicious!

Morrisons in Peckham also stock it. In Holland & Barret it's kept behind the counter so you have to ask for it.

Strawbs, these sound great will try roasting my chicken this way tomorrow. I think breast down helps to keep it moist too. Thank you.

Thank you, all good. F - good point, it's mostly 'white carbs' that I'm told are evil - rice, pasta, bread, potato etc. Some pulses inked moderation ok I hope.

As we are all in the cooking mood with the slow cooker thread, and post baby weight is often mentioned on here too... Now I'm finally getting my life back(ha!), and bum into gear properly about regaining the pre-baby me (sort of!) I have given up carbs (hard) and am trying to stick to low fat meals, am doing really well on chicken, fish, tonnes of veggies, salads and fruit, but would love to hear from anyone who has any really good recipes for more unusual salads using pulses etc. or any other suggestions, or recommendations for good recipes - books or websites or iphone Apps please feel free to share. Thanks,

I have one we inherited when my best friends went off to live in Sitges. I do like it & use it sporadically mostly in the winter months. I find having to cook everything off in a pan in the morning first a bit of a hassle but it seems to suggest the ingredients should go in hot - others dont do this judging by this thread, maybe I'm over cautious about temperature & being sure stuff cooks. A friend of mine puts a raw chicken in breast down & cooks it in hers!! There is a great website "A year of slow cooking" where it's all they used for their dinners for 12 months, try googling for it - if no joy let me know & I will post a link. Any hassle in the morning is totally outweighed by coming home to a really yummy meal, almost like having a meal cooked for you! Pickle, I think you would like it if you got one too.

I got some of the Seven Seas Vitamin C tonic which has always worked wonders for me after bad winter colds etc. and fed it to my 2 as per box dosage instructions over about 4-5 days. They seemed to pick up incredibly quickly, whether it was down to that or not I don't know, but it is a really concentrated liquid dose of lots of vitamins and minerals. Hope everyone's poor little mites feel better soon. It's such a nasty bug. :'(

It was hooked on the railings of the play area as I ran past this morning. Dark blue, padded jacked with a black panel across the shoulders. I'd guess it is around age 5 or so, but didn't have time to stop and look. If it's yours hope you manage to retrieve it.

I think that after this initial phase of grieving she may well get to a point where she will be glad to have her friends around her, and you are right to let her know you will be there. If you can somehow, in your own way express the sentiments that "if you want to just talk I will listen, if you want to sit quietly I will be there to hold your hand, if you want to be distracted I'll do my best to help"...I'm sure you get my point. Grieving goes through so many stages, and I cannot begin to imagine the pain she must be in, but I'm sure that just knowing you (and your friends) are there will be a massive support in the back of her mind. I wondered if a few of you should get together to sign one card, as a way of re-inforcing your solidarity in terms of supporting her? xx

I would recommend theses swim nappies to prevent leaks http://www.thenappylady.co.uk/productDetail.asp?productid=87&item=Splash%20About%20Happy%20Nappy

Gina I have a cheeky 3 year old (going on 15) who would love to play on a Friday morning. Maybe soft play together? I can transport us. Pm me, Molly P.S. Well done on such a brave post, we all feel like this at some point I suspect. Xx

I was told keep giving water as even though you think they are bringing it all back some stays down. Also dioralyte is good & once they are keeping water down flat coke is good for getting some sugar back into the system fast - if feeling weak & wobbly from lack of food. If you only have fizzy coke pour some out & then tip back & forth between 2 glasses about ten times and hey presto it will have gone flat!

Here's a big one I don't think we've mentioned yet; Don't take too much notice (want to say 'any' but there may be 1 good one out there somewhere!) of health visitors or proxy centile charts. You don't need to go and wait 2 hours during baby's nap time to get them weighed, follow your gut instinct, and if you're worried get on the scales alone (scary, post baby weigh in!) then holding baby, work out the difference & that's what they weigh.... So much easier & stress free! Find out where breast feeding cafe sessions are before baby arrives & go there for help ASAP if you are struggling. Learn it's better to let baby cry for an extra few minutes while you make sure you are sorted - tv remotes, phone, book, cushions etc etc before you sit down for those marathon feeding sessions! Go to thenappylady.co.uk for cloth nappy advise & go for it.....I had to say that didn't I...but it's what I did first time round & it worked for me! ;-)))

Relax and enjoy every moment when they are tiny, it goes so fast & I think with our first most of us don't realise how easy they are when newborn & also we worry far too much. Book Brierley Midwives for my first home birth (didn't find out about them til later), still got my home birth but not the same amazing continuity of care I enjoyed with them when having my second.

Hmm the vomiting we only had once with our 3 year old & she's ok now. With my 7 year old it's the temperature coming & going, lack of appetite & listlessness. Hate seeing her like this it is so out of character. We are on day 5 with her so maybe by Tuesday she will be on the mend, fingers crossed. :-( Thank you all, reassuring to hear it has lingered with others too.

Hmm the vomiting we only had once with our 3 year old & she's ok now. With my 7 year old it's the temperature coming & going, lack of appetite & listlessness. Hate seeing her like this it is so out of character. We are on day 5 with her so maybe by Tuesday she will be on the mend, fingers crossed. :-(