HGG

The two of you are dreadful! Just be grateful for being in the same house as your other halves and having the option! It's not the term. It's the availability... and potentially the energy levels with a young baby in the house!

A word of warning... your baby hasn't read those!

Deary me, what are you two playing at? Time with no wee one isn't to be wasted! Plenty of time not to talk to each other any night you're in and Ruairidh's in bed. You should be busy just now!

Thing is, I turned the laptop off and turned over to find another "baby" lying on the other side of me. Children! You've loads of time before then. That's my understanding of it too.

My two youngest appear to have made a joint effort in ever-so-carefully wrapping one of their dolls in a sheet and lieing it on my bed right beside my favourite spot. I reckon I'm supposed to "look after the baby" now until one of them returns to take charge of it again. Real ones I can deal with... plastic ones with soft bodies, which I'm not supposed to let fall off my bed during the night... I'm not so sure on these! Trouble is, it's been so lovingly done I can't bear to let them down now!

Not yet, but I bid you RIP for tomorrow. Sleep well.

See, now there's the bit that scares the shit out of me! The pain at the time I can deal with. The thought of surgery is terrifying. While I was in labour with Elise and Scott I muted the pain by getting high on entonox, which I quite enjoyed. Ridiculously, most people feel cheated if they have a labour and birth with little pain - how mad are we? I'm sure I've posted this before... a friend of mine had an emergency CS and a few months later we visited another friend shortly after her twins were born by emergency CS - the two of them sat there talking about the feeling of someone washing up in their stomachs during the surgery. I was reasonably pregnant with Elise at the time and actually had to leave - it knocked me sideways. I'm too damn soft! What actually happened was that she asked two friends to let the forum know when she'd had a baby. You then suggested they were gossips and that Reina was accusing her friends of that. Good luck when they all log back on tomorrow.

Bon appetit. That won't be far off for my little one now either. It'll be the first time I've had no nappies to change seven and a half years! Edit: Morning Debs. Try not to think too much about it - it's pain with a point to it, I'm sure with that in mind (and the fact that like you've said on this thread yourself you have little choice now - it has to come out!) you'll be absolutely fine. My first baby is learning to touch-type just now. Seven! How did that happen?!

That made me lol for some reason. Maybe it's the wine.

She looks absolutely gorgeous and so peaceful. Congratulations! Whilst I really shouldn't... My theory, Debs, is that the bigger they are (to a point - after which I'd just cry) the more the weight should help them come out. My understanding is that the baby puts pressure in the right places at the right time, making everything to go into place and move/contract/open when it needs to. Surely this is harder with a smaller baby with less weight behind them!? Maybe my experience is more than a little skewed in that I had more difficulty with my 6lb 3oz baby than I did with my 7lb 13oz baby, but it's certainly a thought. Size isn't everything! Fantastic!

Indeed I am. Been ill this week so had more spare time to spend on here. Matthew looks like a happy wee chap. Hope all's going well there.

Best get cracking if you're not to be beaten by a baby. Any of that going spare for a deprived Phoenix C.J?

I'm not. Leave him another month or two to see how he goes? He might just do the giving it up himself thing in the meantime. If not then you could have a rethink at that point? You still have time before it comes to this... More than a slightly judgemental attitude there. Parenting is about choice - individual choice of what's right for each family. You can't assume that because they do it differently from your ideals they're "gonna struggle". Also, babies have personalities and every last one of them needs things done slightly differently. You might want to do it a certain way. Your baby might find things easier another way. That's incredibly sad. Why not? Why can't a younger person be a responsible parent? It might not be what you'd plan or want but it doesn't make them a bad parent. Young, yes. Irresponsible or incompetent, no. I've seen younger parents do (what I personally consider to be) a far better job of things than some parents in their 30s. I hate seeing people put into boxes like that, particularly when it comes to their children. And what sort of milk is in that bottle that you're assuming the baby needs? Is the fridge empty of fresh food? Some people do use those methods as standard. Some use a mixture of methods. I'd like to point out that it's not to be assumed that that's the norm. Neither Scott or Elise ever used a bottle (Sam had my milk from a bottle sometimes but with the other two I just waited until they were four months old and used a cup if anything) and not one of my children has touched pre-packaged baby foods. Depending on what sort it is, slings sell pretty well on eBay. Might be worth a look at completed items to see what ones like yours are going for. I was too worried to use sleeping bags with Sam and Elise as babies, but with Scott I gave it a go and they were fantastic. He decided he was fed up with them at about 18 months, just a week after I'd bought him a new In The Night Garden sleeping bag! Typical. It's amazing how many parents say that they don't co-sleep with their babies but will then say that their baby sleeps for an extra hour after the first morning feed if they snuggle up in their parents' bed. As you say, any sleep is good sleep! B) I also fall asleep on Scott's bed at night sometimes, even just after reading him a story whilst giving him a goodnight cuddle. Used to go round to some friends' when their daughter was tiny (before I had children of my own) and quite often the baby's dad would take her to bed and never reappear because he'd nodded off. If I had any more I can't say I'd buy a cot. Never used mine for Scott at all. "Extraordinary Breastfeeding" - the clue was in the title right from the start. It was never going to be about the things society accepts as "ordinary". That wouldn't make good viewing and wouldn't keep the ratings up. C.J's already said the world average for breastfeeding a child is up to four years. That isn't the average here. Much comes down to culture, social expectations and what's "accepted" in your environment. *Puts soapbox down*

Ah, good old P&B post stalking. Why on earth would anyone ever tire of that?

Ours provided them for baths and stuff I think. It was a dark coloured towel for after the birth I remember needing. I have no idea whether that was just for the home births, but something's telling me it was hospital. Somehow things merge when I try to think back these days and it's not really been all that long! As for the nipple cream - I wouldn't buy it in advance. Using your own milk is just as effective. I'm not sure there's any sound evidence the creams work, although some people swear by them so who am I to comment if it's worked for them?! Lovely attractive disposable knickers? Tesco and Boots both do decent ones. Well worth it IMO. Camera! That was the one thing I forgot to take to hospital with me, so couldn't take any photos of Sam until later in the day. Sounds like everyone's doing well. There'll be a whole batch of little P&Bers shortly.

Hessian. All mine are in hessian sacks. I've got about 30 of them out there - planted two or three (chitted) seed potatoes in each sack on top of about four inches of compost then covered them with another layer of it (I rolled down the sides of the sacks so they had more light). When the plants reach about 6 inches tall you put more compost in the bag, covering most of the plant so that there are just two inches showing above the soil level (obviously need to unroll bag sides slightly). Repeat this part until the plant reaches the top of the sack. If you see flowers appearing on your potato plants then pinching them off will stop your plants from seeding and they'll put more energy into growing bigger potatoes instead. Harvest them when the leaves start to turn yellow. For baby new potatoes you can harvest earlies a little before this - reach through the soil with your hand to judge the size of potatoes and gently twist a potato off the plant. Maincrop can stay in the soil for another couple of weeks after the leaves start to go yellow. Mine seem to be growing nicely. Got some Charlottes in as earlies for some salad potatoes and then some King Edwards in as maincrop. Only trouble is they're all together now and there are four sacks where I'm not entirely certain what's in them. I'm hoping as they grow there might be obvious differences between the plants! Everything else seems to be doing fine. Spinach, parsnips, carrots - all great. Slugs ate all the little gem lettuces so my eldest son will be planting more of those this week while he's off school as they're his charge. Youngest will be helping me to sow swedes as well as they're his domain. Fruit trees are really doing well this year - third summer I've had them and there are a fair number of flowers out there. I'm keen to see some fruit from them at some point! Ooh - lots of flowers on the strawberry plants which appear to be taking over the place. I've just discovered how easy it is to make jam too so if we have too many at any given time they'll just get cooked. This is fab. What I want to know is why GC isn't in here posting away this year? I want photos so I can return last year's piss-take. Oh, and I do believe we had a secret butternut squash grower amongst the masses... anyone like to own up? : Flowering? I'm guessing you got them in particularly early then. Are you for real? Is it just me or is there a big alias alert here? Ron?

Never mind hell and handcarts, my mum went to hospital in a wheelbarrow tonight. Ok, that's not exactly true, but it sounded good . She did, however get carted from the road where she fell, back to the house, in said wheelbarrow, before the ambulance arrived to take her to hospital. Which leads me to my second point, more petty, point... My dad just phoned:- Dad: "I've got a Ginsters pie here. How do I cook it? The microwave's variable temperature but it's set at quarter past." Me: "I don't know your microwave well enough dad, no idea what that means." Dad: "Hm. 800W it says. How long do I cook the pie for?" Me: "What do the instructions say?" Dad: "Oven bake. Shit. No. Wait... Ah... To microwave... Cook for 1 min 20 secs. Well, do I take it out of the wrapper or what?" Me: "Does it say? What sort of wrapping is it in?" Dad: "No. The wrapper's just sort of green and black. It doesn't say anything about the packaging." Me: "Right. Dad. Just take it out the wrapper, put it on a plate... yes, any plate so long as it isn't metal... no, it doesn't have to be pyrex..., put it in the microwave and set the dial for 1 min 20." *Clattering of pots and plates, bit of a crash* Dad: "Shit. I'm dead!" *Quiet resumes* Dad: *Utterly confused* "Stand for one minute. But why do I need to..." Me: *Big sigh*. "It doesn't mean you! Just cook it, leave it a minute and then eat it." Dad: "But I don't want it yet. I want to eat it later for my supper." I give in... and I really hope my mum gets home tomorrow!!!!!

What's all this not listening to the heartbeat all about??? All three of my babies' heartbeats were checked at every one of my appointments from the point at which they were first detectable. I thought that was standard everywhere!

A friend of mine used to drink the stuff from the bottle while she was pregnant! Enjoying some extra time off sounds great! And really, you should ask them about hearing the heartbeat, it's great. I was lucky in that I knew my midwife anyway so she just used to call at mine for a brew and to do my appointments at home when she was passing.

I was about to give you pelters then for wasting taxpayers' money posting from work. Realised just in time that your Easter holidays have started already up there. Our schools finish this Friday for two weeks. Just as well I remembered that. I mean, look how stupid I'd have looked if I'd thought of contacting your employers to let them know how you were wasting the time they pay you for... Anyway, did you say you had an appointment with the midwife today? I used to love hearing the heartbeat when my midwife came round. Edit to add: Kilt, to the best of my knowledge the Moray branch is actually Highlands and Moray and covers such places as the Western Isles. I'm reckoning the classes in that branch could be a sight further than the others Debbie found! (and no, there are no classes run on the islands currently, I'm using it as an example to take the piss .)

That's the point at which you join Which Online for a month very cheaply and do all the research on which seat is safest before heading off to Halfords to get them to try the best models out in your car so you can see if they fit properly. Hours of your life gone! Never did them myself. From experience now I'd say it should be beneficial for Ryan to go along too. Did any of you pregnant/new parents do the NCT classes mentioned at the start of this thread? Not every new baby girl gets it though. SD - I think you'd struggle to find someone who does the whole puffing and panting practice in antenatal classes now. Too many parents feel freaked out by it - it's one reason a lot of parents don't do them and was certainly a big factor in me avoiding classes like the plague whilst pregnant with my first.

Perhaps, but they were using my phone line (which WAS in my name) to provide the service and I'd been telling them for 18 months that they weren't to do that. It was a BT Manager (friend of my mum's and neighbour of mine) who advised me to get OFCOM involved. Either way, it worked. I haemorrhaged (can't be arsed checking the spelling, it may be wrong!) after having mine taken out and returning home. Ended up back in hospital for several days. That makes me giggle thinking of Magical Trevor and also Kenya. Mr HGG kind of indicated he was in it for the long haul when he didn't ditch me after finding out that I'd told him the full-time score wrong when I'd been at Broadwood for the entire game. (He couldn't make the match himself!) My wee one sat in the back of the car one day and after I finished a mock-rant suddenly piped up in the following quiet moment with "piss about, piss about, piss about" repeatedly! Fantastic!

I'm not convinced there's much to choose between any of them to be honest. I had terrible trouble trying to get Orange to give me a PAC code to change to another provider after my ex moved out - the thing was in his name and so they couldn't deal with me because I wasn't the account holder. I finally lost my rag good and proper, uttered the words OFTEL in the right direction and got my PAC code - 18 months after first requesting it!

If there was an agreement drawn up then surely she'd be expected to stick to it legally or else get a new agreement drawn up if she thinks the original one isn't working for whatever reason. Citizens' Advice? Solicitor? Not fabulous to have to go to those lengths, but if you're not being given the option then (and I don't mean to be harsh here Kilt, but it seems pretty obvious) posting here won't solve it. A rant can help you get it out of your system but doesn't stop it from happening again. Sounds like you need to find a way that does.

Ah, I'd missed out on that bit of the story. I don't know if that would make it better or worse!