Due June 2013

krankykitty

Blueskye - Don't want to be "That Person" but have you any news for us Hoping you are well and enjoying your babies right now. Keep thinking of you all day!

Paperclip - I think you should ignore the eye rolls, No-one will know that there's not an exotic connection somewhere! People always want something to bitch about anyway. Understand though, it feels like a real minefield the whole naming thing.

MurdyWurdy

paperclipgrad wrote: »

I do think it's a shame that we can't really use more 'international' names without making the baby appear weird. The name Giovanni sounds so much cooler than John and Pierre better than Peter...but if we were to use those, we'd get the raised eyebrow! At least you've the excuse of having a 'hybrid' baby that is perfectly valid to use names from either culture! Lucky you!

I used to dream of being married to an italian or french guy just for that reason. Northern Ireland isn't quite as exotic...

That's true - I could get away with something crazy! I think we'll just give him an Indian middle name instead though, we're discussing that at the moment:)

Inspired by our conversation a few days ago I just had a day of serious baking. Made strawberry muffins and then white chocolate and crunchie muffins. Doubled the recipe on both so there's muffins everywhere. Some of them got nommed already (pregnant lady privilege), some are destined for the freezer and some are destined for my Dad's belly Hardly sat down all day. I made some other freezer meals too so feeling very organised. Think I'll be feeling it later on though! My bump is aching so bad. I had to bring a stool into the kitchen to sit down and take breaks every so often.

paperclipgrad

You sound so organized, murdy....wish I didn't have to do all this programming stuff and could do more fun things like that in the kitchen!

Plz to be sending me muffins, kthxbai.

MurdyWurdy

paperclipgrad wrote: »

You sound so organized, murdy....wish I didn't have to do all this programming stuff and could do more fun things like that in the kitchen!

Plz to be sending me muffins, kthxbai.

I would send some if I could! You'll be done soon with the programming and then you can get into nesting mode Mine has definitely kicked in, I rearranged all the cupboards today too and cleaned them out. I could have been lying down watching TV instead!

I'm seriously knackered now

sunshiner

hadnt given it much thought about what to be called. Growing up in the U.K my mother was called mum. We called my irish grandad, Da. I quite like grandpa for the irish grandad, nan for grandmother. And my dad will be granddad.

oh how exciting hope blueskye is doing good and her babies

paperclipgrad

I'm pretty grumpy today as my script isn't going the way I want to- think I'm going to have to get husband to have a look at it! (He did computer science first, then a masters and a phd in electronic engineering so he's well qualified to help me out with my programming!). Funnily enough I started this course even before we first met- it was just a coincidence that he's good at this!

Thank God for the coincidence is all I can say. Going to try and cheer up a bit now by looking at cute baby photography tutorials...

also I want chocolate...

I'll just go and lie on the bed and cry now.

Blueskye

Hey ladies,

Sorry, just trying to catch up on all the posts :-)

I've no exciting news I'm afraid...I was discharged from hospital yesterday evening. The neo natal unit was still full...so if I had given birth, it was likely babies would be transferred to Cork or Dublin. And it wasn't urgent as my BP was back to normal, babies heart rates all seemed fine so managed to persuade my doc to let me go home. We're going back to original due date next Tuesday but I just have to go into hospital once a day for a trace, bp check etc. It also means babies will be 37 weeks next week and much less likely to need neo natal care whereas if born this week there's a strong possibility they'll need up to 48 hours assistance which I would prefer to avoid, especially since I want to breast feed. It was soo nice to get home, sleep in my own bed.

Sunshiner well done on the exams :-)
Lainycool, that sounds like a real pain with the GD but glad to hear you've got a handle on it.
paperclipgrad, hope you get past that difficulty with your work. You're doing great to still be working away on it.

Blueskye

Murdy, your muffins sound delicious If you have a recipe, would you be able to share it?

Oh and thanks so much for all the positive thoughts girls really nice of you.

aknitter

Blueskye thats good to hear - glad ye are all ok.

I'm called Mam by the oldest (second has yet to talk), but when husband is talking about me its always Mom or Mommy he uses. He is then Dad or Daddy. They call our parents Nana X or Nana Y (actually the mother in law doesn't talk to us anymore - since our wedding so it doesn't matter) and same with the Grandads - its what we did when we were small. I think my father prefers to be called by his first name but I'm too in the habit of calling him Grandad to my kids (does that even make sense?) so they call him Grandad.

Murdy - those muffins look yummy and I am so jealous of the mixer! The recipe would be great!

Paperclip, some people will eye roll no matter what name you pick, we are looking at a very Irish boys name that I would eye roll to but I think its growing on me!

paperclipgrad

That's a bummer, Blue- but at least your babies are safe and sound inside you!

You should get an outfit like this for them in the meanwhile.

krankykitty

Blueskye - that must have been disappointing but silver lining the babies mightn't need the same level of special care afterwards. So it's next Tues?

The name we picked while not a "made-up" name is quite unusual and we don't know anyone called it. So I'm sure eyes will be rolled on the day but hopefully they'll be too polite once the baby is named to say it

I think I will probably be Mammy when baby is little... Mother in law wants to be called Grandma and my own mam has some step-grandchildren who call her Nanny so that might work out well.

paperclipgrad

C'mon Helen- what's the first letter of the name? I HAVE to try and guess this. Yes, I'm one of those cats that die from curiosity!

krankykitty

Ah but I still won't say even if you get it right

paperclipgrad

Doesn't matter- at least I'll have tried and will feel good if it turns out to be the one you pick after all!
Go on....first letter...

MurdyWurdy

Thanks for the update Blueskye! We were all wondering I guess as long as your BP etc is fine it's better for them to stay put. It must be a bit nerve wracking for you though. How are you feeling yourself? Tired?

I'll post up the muffin recipes shortly. They're both actually quite nice - once I got out of my head that they are muffins and not cupcakes and therefore have different textures!

MurdyWurdy

ok, recipes for muffins are as follows: (sorry to say they are in cups, ounces etc, the book is from NZ and they use cups for baking there a lot)

Strawberry Muffins:

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 1/4 cup chopped strawberries (you can use tinned if you want)
1 cup strawberry youghurt (not a fat-free variety)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder (I just used self-raising flour instead of these two)
1/2 tsp salt

Beat sugar and in a large bowl until creamy. Add egg and beat well until combined. Add strawberries, yoghurt and vanilla. Add the flour and salt to the strawberry mixture until just moistened. Grease 12 muffin tins with cooking spray and fill the cups 2/3 full (I did not bother doing this - I used cupcakes cases instead!). Bake at 205C for about 20 minutes until wooden pick inserted in the muffin comes out clean. Allow to cool in cases for 5 minutes and then put on wire rack. Makes 12

White Chocolate Muffins

2 Cups All-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/3 cup granulated sugar
4 tsp baking powder (again, I used self-raising flour)
2 x 44g Crunchie bars
1 cup Buttermilk (I used normal milk with a squeeze of lemon juice in it but I think they would have been much nicer with real buttermilk)
1 large egg
1/4 cup cooking oil
3 tbsp liquid honey

Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Best remaining 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Add to well. Stir until just moistened. Grease 12 muffin cups with cooking spray and fill 3/4 full (again I used cupcake cases). Bake at 190C for about 20 minutes until a wooden pick inserted in the centre of the muffin comes out clean. Let stand in pan for 5 minutes and then remove to wire rack to cool. Makes 12

Enjoy ladies - I hope they freeze well now! I made them to bring to hospital as well as for visitors after baby is born so they think I'm housewife/mother of the year!

MurdyWurdy

Oh, should have said, obviously the crunchie bars are finely chopped

paperclipgrad

I'm thrilled you use cups- I have some for the US recipes that I make (again, mother...) and find it so much easier than faffing about with scales the whole time!

MurdyWurdy

paperclipgrad wrote: »

I'm thrilled you use cups- I have some for the US recipes that I make (again, mother...) and find it so much easier than faffing about with scales the whole time!

Yeah, I have measuring cups to use so as long as you have those it does make things easier! Except for butter of course, fecking hate when recipes ask you for 1/2 cup of butter or something like that (like those ones do). I always have to convert it to grams!

I have recipes from Germany that ask you to use 3/8 litre of water. Isn't that the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard? and those Germans are supposed to be logical

paperclipgrad

MurdyWurdy wrote: »

Yeah, I have measuring cups to use so as long as you have those it does make things easier! Except for butter of course, fecking hate when recipes ask you for 1/2 cup of butter or something like that (like those ones do). I always have to convert it to grams!

I have recipes from Germany that ask you to use 3/8 litre of water. Isn't that the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard? and those Germans are supposed to be logical

There's an easier way of doing that in America- they print it along the side of the butter package so you know where to cut!

3/8ths of a litre is....random. Can't they just use millilitres?? It works out to be about 375ml. Well, that's much easier to measure...

Just thought- maybe they actually have eighth measures on their litre measuring jugs?

MurdyWurdy

paperclipgrad wrote: »

There's an easier way of doing that in America- they print it along the side of the butter package so you know where to cut!

3/8ths of a litre is....random. Can't they just use millilitres?? It works out to be about 375ml. Well, that's much easier to measure...

Just thought- maybe they actually have eighth measures on their litre measuring jugs?

It's so random - my Dad worked out that is was 375ml, so we always use that but it just seems a silly way to do it when the point of litres is that they're decimal! Grr

What a random turn this discussion has taken!

paperclipgrad

the joys of baby brain, eh?

Blueskye

Thanks for the recipes Murdy. I'd love to give them a try if I can find the energy.

I'm grand, really just enjoying being at home. 5 days in hospital is not fun, even with being allowed out for hours. I must say, the staff were so so lovely and were all really supportive about helping me breastfeed. I was quite worried about that so it's good to know the support is there.

I'm pretty tired and can't really do very much but otherwise I'm fine. I was so fed up last week, finding the pregnancy overwhelming whereas now I'm grateful for the calm. And grateful babies still ok at this stage. Each day is a bonus for them. And looking forward to their arrival next Tues

Blueskye

Oh I have those measuring cups too so that'll make it handy to follow the recipes

DoubleB

Morning everyone, I haven't caught up on all your posts yet. I hope you are all well. What an eventful day yesterday... Last day in work and I fell quite badly and twisted my ankle cut my knees etc but landed quite hard on my bump. Thought I was fine but then came the cramps!! Straight to hospital- baby got a fright but is doing well thankfully. Feel like I've been hit by a bus this morning. Hope I will be allowed home this at though.

Just for those of you who haven't had a stay in a maternity ward a few tips- Bring a pair of ear plugs.(crying babies, night staff etc) Also a foot cooling spray(the heat is unbelievable) bring lots of water and snacks and a packet of wipes to clean lockers etc
I'm fed up here waiting for Dr to arrive. Hope I get home.

Jennii.

Oh my god, doubleb I hope all's okay. sounds terrifying. Thanks for the advice, I really need to start packing this stuff.

Blueskye

Oh DoubleB, you must have gotten an awful fright. On your last day too!! Glad to hear all is ok and hopefully u get home soon.

Yes earplugs saved me in hospital. I found those eye covers from when on a plane really helpful too as it was never really fully dark.

MurdyWurdy

Oh god DoubleB, you must have had a terrible fright. I'm really worried about falling because I'm so clumsy. How's your ankle today? Do you need to keep off it for a while? At least you've finished work and baby is ok.

Thanks for tip on hospital. I've got earplugs and an eyemask on my list to put in my ward bag. Must get them and put them in!

Having really weird pains today, like strained muscles in my bump. Just going to take it easy - no marathon baking for me today!

paperclipgrad

BB, that sounds scary! Weirdly enough the ward where I was last week was pretty chilly (the window was open) so I was glad that I brought my thick purple cardie!

Blue, good tips! I heard somewhere to bring along socks as your feet get really cold during labour. Weird, I know, but my feet get cold easily so I'm rarely seen barefoot anyway.

Had a follow up appt today after last week's debacle. HR still up and my thyroid levels were high so they took some MORE blood to double check it. The same thing happened as last week- they found it difficult to take blood! I joked that it's all gone after years of blood donation....(I used to donate quite frequently). I hate getting needled jabbed into my arms though, ouchie! I just remind myself that enduring pain like that is a good way to prepare for childbirth now...

...AND I have to go back next thursday, with an exam next friday. Hooray.


Murdy, strained muscles might not be far off- have you seen how much your stomach muscles separate during pregnancy??

MurdyWurdy

That pic is freaky! The pain is on either side of my bump so sleep last night was quite disturbed. Still, I have nothing much to do today apart from a few things around the house. I have friends coming over for a film later so that'll be relaxing enough