KateW

Sally81, this sounds perfectly normal. My boobs stopped being really sore around 12 weeks too and apart from a slight bulge around my tum, I didn't 'feel' pregnant at all. Don't worry, the scan will reassure you that everything is ok and when you see your little bean, it will make all the difference. There'll be plently of time in the coming months to experience the aches and twinges of pregnancy! Hope all goes well tomorrow.

Does anyone use a Summer baby monitor? If so, has it been worth the money and what would you say were the advantages of the screen compared to a regular sound-only monitor? Thanks in advance, Kate

H&M do lots of long, loose vests in their non-maternity ranges too. I've been twice to the big store on Regent St and found the maternity section to be full of large sizes and quite bland, dull colours. So instead, I had a look in their vintage cotton section and picked up 4 lovely vests (various colours) for ?2.99 each! I'll be going again this week to stock up on more.

The NCT course I'm booked on is ?170 for both of us. I'd check that they haven't made a mistake; ?325 is a crazy amount of money.

I agree, the Pacapods look fantastic! For those Mum's that have them, are they as good as they look?

You're not odd! There is some science behind it... apparantly citrus helps the body absorb iron so if you are slightly lacking in iron, your body will crave oranges (more tempting than other citrus fruits like lemons or limes) to help with iron absorbtion. I'm still craving liqorice allsorts!

Thank you ladies, that has made me put things into perspective a bit. Great tip Franster; I'm going to ditch looking up things on the internet, it's way too scary!

Hi all. I'm nearly 14 weeks pregnant and have just found out that I have low PAPP A results (from the blood tests they did at the dating scan). My risk of Downs is low, but these results suggest increased risk of low birth weight, premature baby and pre-eclampsia. I have to have an extra scan at 23 weeks and 32 weeks so they can monitor the blood flow to the baby etc. Has anyone else had low PAPP A? If so, how was your pregnancy and birth? I'm just trying to reassure myself... (Edited to remove over zealous use of 'pre' in pre-eclampsia)

It's absolutely fine. Just make sure you re-heat them again thoroughly.

Thanks guys! Yes, with the organisation I work for, I'll be entitled to 18 weeks full pay then 21 weeks SMP. I can't see anything in our maternity policy that states I will have to repay anything to them but I just wondered if this was normal.

I'm trying to establish what would happen with regards to paying back maternity pay if I decide not to go back to work after a year off. I work for a big charity and in our maternity policy, it mentions nothing about having to repay anything from them; all it says is 'The date of your termination of employment may affect the level of payment due to you from the Department of Work and Pensions'. But then in the pregnancy book given to me by my midwife, it says that 'you do not have to repay any of the SMP you received'. My friend works for a local authority and had to return to work for 3 months after her 12 month maternity leave or she would have had to have repaid some of the money she'd received. So, I'm just wondering what other people's experiences have been? Is it always the case that you have to return to work or repay some payments? (NB. I haven't discussed this with work yet as I don't know what I'll decide to do). Thanks in advance, Kate.

Tinkle. (emc - I've never come across anyone who called it a tinkle too; yay!)

I once overheard a bloke reading Hairy McClarey to his little son on a morning rush hour train into London Bridge. I was hooked and can honestly say that was the nicest journey into work ever. Great thread BTW.

Miele all the way! They consistently top the tables for relability, performance etc and if you can afford the extra, it's well worth it.

As a former thumb-sucker (I'm now 33!) I would try anything to stop my children sucking their thumbs or fingers (my sister sucked her fingers), including giving them dummies because at least you can take a dummy away. I ended up having major orthodontic work at 16, which was the only thing that stopped me sucking my thumb as it wouldn't fit in my mouth in the same way (ironic really as it was the thumb sucking that meant I had to have the brace!). I was more distraught about not being able to suck my thumb than I was about the pain of the brace!. The nail varnish didn't work because I just scratched it off and neither did putting gloves on etc. That said, my sister just stopped sucking her fingers in her late teens as she realised it wasn't very cool and she had no problems stopping. Good luck with this; I wish my parents had tried to make me stop at the age of 4 as it was so much harder as I got older.

Great idea pinkdolly. I work with churches in London and know a few that have let circus skills people run workshops from their buildings (the high ceilings being great for trapezes!). Maybe try some local churches and see if they'd be up for it?

*Bob* your post made me laugh out loud. Thank you!

Hi Amydown. I did a lot of research about orthodontists about a year and a half ago (locally, Harley St etc). I ended up going to West London Centre of Orthodontics in Hammersmith. Now I now it isn't near L.Bridge or ED, but I was delighted with their service and would highly recommend them to anyone considering orthodontics; it's well worth the extra travel. Feel free to pm me if you want any further info. Good luck!

Believe me, there is a lot of dead wood floating around.

Steve T is right, many of the guys do have to buy their own kit as the standard issue stuff is such poor quality. For example, my husband is issued with boots that retail at around ?15. Bearing in mind they spend 99% of their time in these boots, tabbing, on exercise etc. If he wore what was issued he'd have endless foot, ankle, problems etc which would require costly medical treatment and physio. Rather than cut TA spending, in my view the MOD should slash the amount of civil service staff they employ, many of whom can't do the job they were employed to do. A few weeks ago I found myself whole heartedly agreeing with Liam Fox who said that we have an army of around 99,000 who are 'supported' by approx 85,000 civil servants. In Nelson's day, he had an army of far greater numbers, with a handful of staff at Horseguards.

Louisa is one of my favourites too. This forum would be a goddamn dull place without the likes of her. Keep up the good work gal!

Louisa is one of my favourites too. This forum would be a goddamn dull place without the likes of her. Keep up the good work gal!

Heehee, I realised my error Michael but couldn't be bothered editing my post again!

The three crimes I've exerienced in ED (witnessing a bloke with a pistol, a bloke running away from a burglary and a burglarly from the flat below us) were all committed by guys in their late 20's, early 30's. And not a hood in sight. It's too easy to point the finger at young people. Just to throw something else into the pot, a lot of street crime (mugging, burglaries) is drug related and by that I mean serious drugs, like crack. You don't find many young people with serious crack habits, much more likely to find people it in their late 20's, 30's. (And yes, I've worked in the drug field in Lambeth, running a service for young people). Not sure what point I'm making really, just putting my twopence worth in.

Hi Anna. I think your mixture might be a bit too runny. I'm not a baking expert by any means, but I recently made choc chip muffins and used chopped up chocolate (rather than buttons) and they came out fine (i.e. evenly distributed). Or maybe you're using too much baking powder and they're raising too quickly? Hope that helps.