MichelleT

Hi, I'm expecting my first in July, and would love to come along on the 9th. Its in the diary. Michelle

My sister was heavily involved with the Steiner movement and I met a few of her son's friends who attended Steiner Schools. I found them peculiarly nervy and neurotic (I'm not saying the school was to blame, but the kids were... odd). Steiner sells itself as a charming alternative to conventional schools, all arts and crafts, but Steiner himself had some very peculiar ideas which inform the teaching. I found it very strange that my nephew, who was super bright and had pretty much taught himself to read at 5, was then NOT ALLOWED TO READ because it was too soon. Fine if he wasn't ready, but he was and had proved it. On the other hand, a German friend of mine went to a Steiner primary and loved it; didn't stop her getting heavily into drugs and alcohol in her teens though! There are a few interesting discussions on mumsnet - might be worth having a read.

Hi all, I'm due July 14th with first baby, and would love to meet up. Still working fulltime, so might not be able to make Monday, but hopefully next time! Hope you have fun, Michelle

Oxford Street have completely sold out of the older Bee - apparently they went in about a day!

I use a couple of different ones - Burts Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter for stretch marks, Boots Naked Coco de Mer body butter, and Jergens Naturals (http://www.jergens.com/breakthroughs/Naturals.asp) when I go swimming. Burts Bees is quite expensive but I hardly need any, I think the pot will see me through to the birthday; the Coco de Mer is very sweet smelling so it might be a bit sickly for you. Have to say, I hadn't even thought about safety in pregnancy! Might have to do some research.

Congratulations! We had the scan a bit early at 11 weeks so had to go back at 13 weeks. The waiting room is usually hot and crowded, but the second time we weren't in there too long. We paid for the scan pictures the first, but noone asked for the tokens, they just gave us the pics...

I just wanted to add that I had my booking in appointment today. Seems that short staff numbers have been exacerbated by sickness. The midwife I saw was lovely and I'm feeling a lot better. Its a shame about the dreaded answerphone! Even the receptionist at the surgery was rolling her eyes as she tried to let them know I'd arrived. So I'm glad I stuck with Oakwood, and just hope they can soon get their numbers back up - for their sakes if nothing else! Michelle

Hi all, I've just come back to the forum and slightly surprised by some of the responses! I really appreciate we are lucky to have these midwife services. I've just been disappointed with the care to date - 2 cancelled appointments and then the letter saying that home visits were no longer possible. There were issues raised at my scans that I wanted to discuss with someone and I haven't been able to so far - not an emergency, just wanting a bit of reassurance. I totally understand how busy the midwives are, but when I met Emily - who was, as I said, lovely - I was given a statement of the care I would recieve, including home visits. It's not surprising that I - and others - are sad this can't happen - how much more pleasant to sit on the sofa with a cup of tea and chat to the midwife! Anyway, I have my booking in appointment on Monday and hopefully all will be well. Thank you to everyone who came back with positive feedback and good suggestions - it has been very helpful and reassuring. Michelle

Thank you everyone for all the advice; everything you're saying makes sense! If I hadn't thought that I was going to have my booking in appointment in December I'd be a lot less hassled - it's appointments being made and then cancelled that I've found frustrating. I don't want to knock the midwife services; I'm grateful to have them! xx

I hope so! xx

Ps - interestingly NICE recommend that all pregnant women should have had their booking in appointment by 10 weeks...

I guess I should take the offered appointment, as if I don't who knows how long I'll have to wait. My feeling so far has been that these people who are supposed to help and reassure me have actually been the cause of most of my stress, and that feels wrong somehow. I know about folic acid and iron supplements - what I don't know about is the protocol of having a baby. Plus being what they kindly call a 'geriatric' mum, and having been told at Kings that I might need a bit of extra monitoring because of fibroids, I just wanted to see a midwife as soon as possible. But I will stick with Oakwood and see how the appointment goes, and hopefully everything will be ok. Thanks everyone for your helpful comments and kind advice. xx

Thanks Molly - I've had my three month scan and everything is fine with the baby; I'm nearly 15 weeks now, so I'm keen to get all the paperwork sorted out so I can tell work and make it all 'official'. Also we're going to Kenya in a couple of weeks so I wanted to ask about malaria tablets and generally get some advice on flying etc. EDMummy, I wouldn't take a day off to go to the doctors normally, but because the appointment is right in the middle of the day it wouldn't be worth me going in and I know my boss won't take kindly to it. He doesn't know I'm pregnant and would expect me to make an appointment which has minimal impact on the rest of the team - we are a very small company and I can't keep having time off to go the doctors, they'll think I have a terminal illness! Thanks for all the kind words and advice!

Oh dear; after a horridly stressful day at work I came home to find a letter from Oakwood like jayd5's; they've given me an appointment at 12.30 (very difficult to get time off work, so will have to take a day's holiday), can no longer see me at home so I have to go to the surgery (that's fine, and understandable if they are understaffed) and if I can't make the set time may have to wait another month for a new appointment. None of this would bother me much if I hadn't been sent home by the surgery receptionist from my original appointment! At the time, on the phone, one of the midwives said 'well you know you can take time off for ante-natal appointments'. That's fine, but I haven't told work I'm pregnant yet, partly because I still don't have any paperwork from my midwife! So its a vicious circle. The GP I saw at FHS was totally disinterested in my pregnancy and said I'd be looked after by the midwives and Kings for any scans. I'm also concerned about any knock on effects the lack of staff might have on continuing care... What to do?

Thank you everyone; I just managed to speak to Linda who reassured me that Sarah-Ann will be calling. It might seem a bit neurotic (hormones aren't helping!) but I was very excited to be so lucky - one of my friends is hiring an independent midwife to get this level of care - and then felt let down and disappointed. I know that all is well with Gherkin - the scan results are fine - so I now want to get on with things and was a bit stuck. Thanks again for all your responses! Michelle

Thanks jayd5 - its this inconsistency bordering on flakiness that concerns me... I want to feel that I can rely on them utterly and at the moment I don't (though Emily has been great).

Hi there, New to the forun but wondering if anyone could offer some advice. I'm fourteen weeks pregnant at 42 and tending to be a bit nervous - first baby and all that. My partner and I were delighted when we found out that through Forest Hill Surgery we would have access to the much praised Oakwood Midwives. Unfortunately so far our experience has been pretty disappointing and I guess I'm looking for reassurance that everything will be ok, otherwise I may have to consider changing. I had an appointment in early December; we were told by the receptionist at the surgery that there was noone to see us even though Emily the coordinator was there. After this I spoke to Emily who suggested that I went for my dating/nuchal scan and then arranged a booking in appointment after that. Unfortunately my booking in appointment had to be cancelled due to the snow, though we did manage to see Emily for blood tests. She promised that a midwife would be in touch. That was over a week ago and though I have left numerous messages on their answerphone no-one has come back to me - I haven't been given any paperwork so I'm in a weird sort of limbo. I appreciate that their workload is heavy and unpredictable but even some reassurance on the phone would help - its the silence and lack of responsiveness that alarms me. Can anyone share their experiences/give any advice? At the moment I am thinking about trying to switch to the Lanes as we are in the catchment area for their practice too.

Do you get SE23 magazine? It had a page of activities for mums and children, some in FH and some in East Dulwich. It plops onto our doormat once a month and I kept that one as I'm pregnant - thought it might come in useful later!