h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm Mist, and I have 2 boys, aged 5 years and 9 months. I also have 2 stepkids, girl of 14 and boy of 12.

Yes, I am very busy

I'm Anna and I have one son, Dominic, who is now seven months old and has only just cut his first two teeth. I am very sleepy!

Hi I'm Annie and I have 4 kids and one grandson.
The older 3 have all left home so I've been through the teenage years & come out the other side with good friends.
I'm still their mum though, it's important to be the parent even when they're all grown.
My youngest, Andrew, is 9 next month and he has Asperger Syndrom which is a neurobiological disorder affecting his social relationships and he has learning difficulties so he attends a special school.
He attends two after-school clubs and I take him to Cubs once a week, I've become a parent/helper there as I can't leave him.
My grandson is 5 and he goes to the Infants school that I used to attend.
I do the school run with him 3 times a week.

Yes, I'm busy!

A new recruit! Welcome AGB

Pics of my munchkins here

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/mrs_willo/lst?&.dir=/My+Photos&.src=ph&.view=t&.last=1

I already saw them, in your journal.
They're gorgeous!

My boy will be 1 in March!
7 teeth, (No 8 is just atarting to show)
Crawling everywhere and walking if held by the hands.
Likes: The first 10 minutes of 'Bear in the Big Blue House', vegemite sandwiches and the pop band 'No Doubt'.
Dislikes: The way we organise our book cases (pulls books out ALL the time)


Cheers

I'm Bernadette and I have three children; Alexander A127261, Charlotte, who is two and four months, and Isobel, who is just eight months.

Hi Bernadette. Your children are beautiful.

So we all have children or grandchildren very close in age!

I can feel a real time meetup coming on. One day How chaotic would that be?!

Chaos?! Oh yeah!!! Then again, not too bad if there was a Wacky Warehouse type place nearby!!

There's an idea. I can see the regular real time meetups taking place at one of those too

Hi everybody!

Anna said come here, so here I am:

I'm Cloviscat, sometimes called Kirsty, and I'll be thirty weeks pregnant on Saturday.

My current obsessions are: getting plaster on the walls of the nursery, coping with a deluge of antenatal advice and putting my feet up whenever possible.

Positive, simple, constructive advice form those who have been here before would be most welcome - negative dictatorial stuff I can do without!

Hi Cloviscat

Apologies for my tardiness! Logging in is a bit hit and miss at the moment

Congrats Best bit of advice I have is this....listen to everyone, smile and thank them, then ignore anything that doesn't suit you It stops people trying to convince you that their way is the best way. Everyone is different, every baby is different, and what works for one may not work for another.

Anything you want to know, just ask. I'll tell you what works for me, and you can decide if you like it!

I finished painting my baby's room 2 days before I went into labour!

It sounds contradictory, but the best bit of advice I can give is: DON'T listen to the multitude of people about to give you advice.
Most advice you'll be given will be irrelevant and most likely contradictory to the last person who gave you advice. The best child doctors books and whatnot all disagree with each other.

Don't be angry with them because the ALL mean well. Just nod, say thank you, walk away and do whatever YOU think is best.

It really seems there is no correct answer on about 95% of child rearing, so just relax and do what's comfortable to YOU and your child.

That's my take on the whole thing.
*jumps off soapbox*

Wowbagger

I agree. My trouble was, that for the first couple of months, I *did* listen and caused myself unnecessary worry. I put great pressure on myself to 'do the right thing' - making my own organic hand-mashed baby food, stuff like that. I don't know why, the jars are just as good, and the time I save on not cooking I get to spend with Dom! I think the most important thing is to really enjoy the time you have with your baby.

But ignore me too!

Thank you everybody! It's all very reassuring

It seems far too easy to get into the 'guilty parent' thing from the moment that little white spot turns pink ("Oh my god, I should have been taking folic acid!") And nobody has a good time feeling guilty, do they?

I might do the homemade babyfood thing though, if only because I have a vegetable garden: saves a trip to the shops!

It seems hard at the moment, not only to get my head round there being a baby, but to get over that big hurdle of childbirth: it's difficult to see past that point... There also seems to be a lot of pressure to have "the perfect and fulfilling childbirth experience" Does all the preparation really make that much difference please?

My guilt was that I am a smoker, and had been smoking without knowing I was pregnant. But then I thought, oh well, I didn't know, as long as I do something about it now, that's all I can do.

Baby food. I used shop bought most of the time when he was younger, but now he likes anything we're having. Baked beans are a particular fave, as are chips! Oh, and his dad's weetabix! Mind you, he was eating rusks with milk at 6 weeks old!

Being prepared does help somewhat. Find out your options before you go in, regarding your hospital's policies on things like pain relief, mobility in labour, whether they will let you eat during labour, etc. Some hospitals do tours of the delivery suite and wards so you can see where you'll be.

Have your bags packed at least 2 weeks in advance! You never know!

I didn't have the "ideal" birth experience with either of mine, and occasionally I look back and wish I'd done things a bit differently. But in the end, I have 2 wonderful kids, and it doesn't really matter that things didn't go quite as planned. There's always the next time

Above all, don't panic!


I want a veggie garden too

Does all the preparation make much difference?

Well, I did months and months of yoga thinking that it would somehow make things easier, and magically protect me from nastiness. The teacher also told us to lie on our left hand side at night because it apparently helps with getting the baby into a good position in the birth canal. I ended up having an emergency Caesarian after about 16 hours, because Dom had a face presentation (he had his head to one side) and any amount of breathing and meditation wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference. However, I have heard very positive things from people who tried to remain healthy - doing things like going for walks and swimming. And one friend believes that she should have been weight training before giving birth - her baby's so big

I'd love a veggie garden too. I'd grow my own carrots, courgettes, potatoes, raspberries, beans, herbs...

I blithely took daily anti-histamines, including for the first week or so once I found out I was pregnant, till I found lots on the internet about increased riisk of palate defects

At the antenatal group last night, we spent the first half of the class on positions to help in labour, and the second half on how if you are induced it will all be useless - and my hospital has a 23% induction rate! I don't know whether I'm coming or going....

I'm looking forward to making more use of the veggies this year - I spent all last spring and summer nurturing them lovingly, only for them to ripen at the same take that baaad morning sickness hit - I couldn't keep them down

Those labour positions won't be useless if you're induced. I was, with my first. The only real difference is that most hospitals won't allow a water birth if you're induced. Oh, and it feels like it's twice as painful! It isn't, but you don't get the gradual build-up of endorphins from the early contractions. Induced births have a higher incidence of pain relief.

Don't get worked up about what you did before you knew. I was happily stuffing my face with liver pate on toast, little knowing that liver is a BIG no-no in pregnancy! Too much vitamin A harms the baby, and liver's full of it! Oops


my garden is so soggy, I could grow rice!