Journal Live - Blog Central

Mum-to-Be Jitters

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:48:09 +0000

37 Weeks

The nursery is ready, the baby grows are washed and the hospital bag is packed. I've ticked almost everything off the least glamorous shopping list of all time: big knickers? Check. Nipple cream? Check. Breast pump? Check. In fact everything is about as ready as it could be for the arrival of Baby Smiles. I, however, really am not.

Prenatal Depression...

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 18:28:22 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

34 Weeks (Maternity Leave Week Two)

My transformation from career girl to stay-at-home-Jeremy-Kyle-esque slob is officially complete.

"I don't know how you can watch those awful people," I'd say in a superior tone to anyone who happened to confess a penchant for Mr Kyle.

Oh how the tables have now turned...

Here to Maternity

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:42:07 +0000

32 Weeks

It's official. I'm a lazy slob. Maternity leave is rapidly turning me into an unemployed student type. My low point so far (or high point depending on how you look at things) was finding myself on my bottom stair, eating cold custard from a mug, whilst listening to Bruce Springsteen.

The 30 Week Wall

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:41:00 +0000

30 weeks

Oh dear. How smug I've been telling anyone who will listen how great I feel. Unfortunately things have now changed somewhat and I seem to have hit a 30-week-
wall. I'm knackered beyond belief.

Pushing It

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 15:05:24 +0000

29 Weeks

Is it weird not to be worried about labour?
I'm sure I'll be singing from a different hymn sheet once I've actually had to go though it, but to be honest it's not something I've given much thought to yet.
Perhaps I've used up all of my worrying quota on an alternative list of neurotic thoughts...

* Can you deafen an unborn baby by setting off the house alarm?
* Can you bake an unborn baby by getting too hot?
* Can you hurt an unborn baby by throwing a tantrum at your husband?

You get the picture...

A Bumpy Business

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 08:52:04 +0000

28 Weeks

At seven months pregnant the 'is she, isn't she' type looks have all but dried up. You can tell just by glancing I'm most certainly 'with child'. But, I have to say, there's none of this camouflaging the tummy business going on. In fact I'm very proud of my bump. Ever since I developed a bit of a bulge I've been sticking it out loud and proud.

Pregnancy Preparation

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 16:52:51 +0000

27 Weeks

This week I've been mostly obsessed with what our baby is and isn't doing. Those lovely little kicks have now started to rule my life (and therefore also my poor husband's) and I get into a right panic/strop if the baby has a bit of a lull. The poor thing is already getting pressured to perform - and it's not even left the womb.

Pregnant Paranoia

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:35:40 +0000

26 Weeks

How many more things do I have to give up? No booze, no pÃ¢tÃ©, no caffine. No smoking, no sushi, no soft cheeses. Arghhh! The list goes on and on. And on. I hope this little bub of ours is one day thankful that I tried to give him or her the best possible start in life.

The Name Game

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:42:00 +0000

25 Weeks

Eee well this pregnancy feels like it's flying by. It seems like only yesterday that we made the shocking discovery that a baby was on its way after a week or two of (somewhat alarmingly) boozing and eating copious amounts of pÃ¢tÃ© and soft cheeses...Things seem to change now on a daily basis - bump size included. But one topic that has been on our minds right from the very beginning is baby names.

Getting Our Kicks

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:11:37 +0000

24 weeks

I'm six months pregnant today - and God don't I know it. Just a week ago I was smug in the extreme, telling anyone who asked how 'normal' I feel. And then - within the space of a few days - bam.

Under Wraps

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:13:33 +0000

Although we were still getting to grips with the news, we told our parents pretty much as soon as we picked our jaws up from the floor. What a lovely feeling, I thought. I could get used to this...Perhaps this pregnancy malarkey isn't so bad after all.

Finding Out

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 10:53:03 +0000

After the seventh negative cheapo pregnancy test from Costcutter I was starting to doubt my so-called 'sixth sense' certainty that I was pregnant. However, after a nap, I happened to re-examine one of the Â£1 wonders. And guess what...there was a second blue line. It was so faint it could have easily have been nothing. But the fact remained - there was something there and I ran downstairs to Chris, the hubby, to show him.

Baby Blogging...

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 10:26:14 +0000

22 Weeks:

After finally starting to believe that there is the vague possibility of a baby actually being 'in there' I think now's a good time to start a pregnancy blog. Over the next 16 weeks I'll be detailing the ups and downs of pregnancy and how it feels to be expecting for the first time. To get you up to date, over the next week I'll be blogging about the significant events up to this point...Enjoy!

Jeanius...

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:48:42 +0000

Left to his own devices for the weekend, this is how my husband decided he'd hang out his jeans to dry...

Friend or Foe?

Tue, 11 May 2010 10:15:56 +0000

How long should you hold a grudge for? A week? A month? A lifetime? When is the time to just let it go?

As previously confessed, I'm a bit of a Facebook junkie.

For those more sane people out there - who still believe in the virtues of actually speaking to someone face to face or picking up the phone - Facebook is a website that allows you to connect with acquaintances past and present by becoming 'friends' with them at the click of a button.

The other day Facebook suggested that I 'make friends' with a girl from my old school.

Facebook often gets it wrong ... but ahh how wrong they'd got it this time.

You see the moment I saw her face on the screen I was transported back to one of the single most heartbreaking episodes of my entire life (yes, I have led a bit of a sheltered one).

I can still remember proudly stepping off our school bus - the first day back after the summer hols - sporting a pair of Kickers, the only shoe to be seen in circa 1994.

After years of being tortured for wearing the wrong ones (i.e. those resembling a corrective nature) I finally felt I could hold my head up high ... I felt like I was walking on air, blissfully unaware of the disappointment that was just moments away.

"New shoes are they?"

I had no time to splutter a response before the awful girl had dipped her own shoe in mud and stomped it on the front of mine - making sure to grind it in good and proper, before skipping off arm in arm with one of her cronies.

As a shy 12-year-old I didn't have it in me to stick up for myself, but my God I've often wondered what I'd do if I was magically transported back to that moment.

Kick her? Punch her? Come up with some witty remark? I don't know. But I wouldn't have just stood there like a complete lemon and taken it - which is, of course, what I did do.

And there she was. Staring out at me from my computer screen. Almost two decades on. Most probably blissfully unaware of the psychological scar she'd inflicted.

After all she was only 12 too - surely people change? She's probably - ugh, dare I say it - quite a nice person now.

I wanted to send her a message on behalf of my 12-year-old self. Ask her if she remembered. Was she bothered? Was she sorry? But then I realised that I actually have her to thank.

It's people like that who make you the way you are. And that's something to be grateful for.

* Find Mieka's column For Better For Worse in The Journal every second Tuesday