nylonmeals

Rani is a wonderful babysitter. Works during the day as a mothers help to a 10 year old but available for evenings. She is local (Oval/Stockwell) and has her own car. Really sweet and caring girl (24 year old) 07702 567 298

As far as I am aware it's still just Stella at The Gardens. They do have additional midwives to fill in for her but they are substitutes only. I was with The Gardens throughout last Autumn.

my husband said that he didn't want to watch - but then was on the sofa with me when it was on this week and was fairly transfixed by Joy and Fabio and their story/birth (the bit with Fabio and the chair had him laughing out loud) btw - this has been a great discussion. I especially liked NunheadMum's view: "I guess what I'm saying is to remember that not all c-sections are bad and not all natural births are good. Both can be a positive experience and that rite of passage may not be all that we build it up to be in our heads. We shouldn't beat ourselves up for not having acheived what we think of as being the 'perfect' birth experience or build it up into something it might not be in reality."

We got our house just in 2006 and just had it valued last week. I had expected that it had probably stayed about the price given all the media hype about falling house prices etc. Totally not the case in ED. Someone earlier posted that they thought prices had gone back to 2007 peak prices - from our personal experience I would totally agree. According to Winkworth's, a nicely done up 3 bed (with potential to do loft/side return etc) will go for just under 600k I think that's a lot but apparently that is the going rate at the moment.

Totally agree - Joy and Fabio were great. Also made you realise that people who worry about bonding with babies after c-sections (or that c-sections are in some way second best to natural birth) should just watch this episode to see the enormous love and emotion that they had for baby Ellie from the moment she was born.

I started with this combination but was really very under-whelmed by the midwivery care at The Gardens. In the end I moved after having talked with my NCT class leader about the "care" that I was getting at The Gardens. I will PM you about the details but bottom line is from my experience of this I would consider a different midwife solution. Dulwich Medical Centre which is aligned with The Lanes has openings and is close to The Gardens if you're looking for a local GP surgery and is excellent.

Wish that I'd known about this earlier in my pregnancy. Therapy on Melbourne Grove have a trained pregnancy masseuse and a special pregnancy massage table, complete with holes for bump and boobs! If you're a member of NCT it's 50 quid for 70 minute session (weekday only, 1pm-4pm) 020 8693 3773 Heavenly massage, managed to work out so much tension and muscle ache - just brilliant. (tu) Floated home...

Her mum was just brilliant. She should consider a job in a maternity unit, I thought she was great!

I'm due in 2 weeks (first baby) and I've found this show to be brilliantly compelling and actually reassuring in an odd kind of way. It feels a really non-judgemental view of the birth process and the characters involved, even the 20 year old girl who annoyed me so much in the second episode moved me to tears when she and her partner cuddled their tiny daughter. Great telly!

I'm 3 weeks away and still being sick though now once a week not 3-4 times a day so it does get better. Echos of what everyone else has said - just make sure you get enough fluid and have your pregnancy multi-vit daily as well as un-fussy foods (I remember things like dried oat cakes, plain toast were helpful) Good luck!

As a first time pregnant women I echo a lot of the thoughts here. Change from The Gardens. I moved to DMC and The Lanes and it was a major improvement. Really happy I did. Best of luck! (oh and book your NCT if you haven't already)

i managed to move midwifes away from The Gardens to The Lanes Midwives and the difference has been incredible. Wish I had done it AGES ago.

Not sure if you're still looking but I am trying to move away from The Gardens. I found Stella to be constantly stressed and rushed and actually gave me wrong advice about Kings where I am scheduled to give birth. It's also little things like having to wait over an hour for appointments at times.

Thank you all - really appreciated the suggestions!

A couple of friends have mentioned that they and partners did baby first aid courses before the arrival of their first child. Just wondered if anyone had done any or knew of any course round ED area? Thank you!

excellent one at JAGS on a Monday night - Legs, Bums and Pregnant Tums Good work out and friendly class

While I appreciate that vandalism is an issue in London parks, I find it hard to believe that the majority of these crimes happen between 7am-8am. It just annoys me that on one hand we are all being told to "Change4Life" and become fit and active and then the places where you could actually go for a safe run or bike ride before work are locked.

Realise that this thread is an old one, but important for mums-to-be to know the vaccine options that are out there as there seems to be a lot of misinformation out there. Pandemerix is the most commonly used vaccine in this country - it does however contain mercury and adjuvant (neither of which are great for pregnant women) In Europe and Canada they are not recommending this type of vaccine for pregnant women. Their recommendation is for the adjuvant-free, mercury-free version which in the UK is called Celvapan. It is more expensive (as it requires 2 shots) and less has been ordered in the UK. But according to medical friends this is their recommendation. However you either have to have an egg-allergy (or tell them that you do...)

We've been on Tyrrell since 2006 and love it! Great location as you say, being close to Peckham Rye for buses to the train station is really convenient. You're also a short distance away from great pad thai and burgers at The Rye pub on the other side of the park. Welcome to the neighbourhood.

Thank you, I'll try and have a hunt back for that thread!

Wondered if anyone could share any tips on pre-natal exercise classes? Maybe these are a waste of money and I should just go to "regular" exercise classes and tell them that I am pregnant? Would welcome any thoughts. I am quite early on in pregnancy, 13 weeks, but it is the first one so am a bit clueless. Thanks!

@LegalBeagal I'm impressed that G&B are on the site and listening, I think that's great. This is an interesting post as I shop in both Nicholas and G&B and I guess that I tend to think that G&B will be more pricey, for more special occasions and Nicholas for a quick and cheaper bottle of wine. I don't think of G&B as offy at all. But I do think that you could make some of your take-out wine promotion prices more prominent in the window or on the street. For anyone who is worried about feeling like a wine dunce, I can tell you that the staff there have always been really friendly and really helpful.

Didn't Denmark Hill used to be the hunting ground for the King of Denmark when he was in England? Hence, Dog Kennel Hill which was where all the hunting dogs were kept. I assumed that this is what the sculptures were all about.

Now on the Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1152020/Murder-hunt-launched-man-shot-dead-broad-daylight.html Still can't really believe that this happened at the end of our road! Awful.

Weird - I had a guy come up to our house (which is on the street mentioned in the post) early evening a few nights back. He tapped at the glass of the front door and rattled the letter-box. I got a strange feeling, so went up to the door and said "Who is it" loudly. He said nothing. In fact didn't seem to move. I switched on all the lights upstairs and when I looked out of the window he was gone. Didn't phone police - what could I have said. Someone tapped on my door and wouldn't answer me. But I was very spooked and happy when husband got home!