**Calling all Northern Ireland Pregnant and due 2012 ladies **8 girls born 15 boys**

[NuKe]

cute debs!!! i love that wee top too!

 

[EmyDra]

Ethan looking fluffy and gorgeous!!!

 

[Eshka]

Those legwarmers are class! I love anything stripy, Gary (OH) thinks I'm mental but I can't help it. I'd have stripes everywhere and on everything if I could.

Another day of 'Ooh..' pains happening every ten minutes here, but they seem to have tailed off now. My body is really, really enjoying playing games with me during this pregnancy; to think I've potentially got another 6 weeks of it, eurgh! I insisted on ignoring the bloody things, went for a wee walk and then to Asda trying not to pay them much attention.

Time to get the shopping put away, get the kids settled for the evening then we've got a DVD to watch later - Orange County with Jack Black. Never heard of it, but we'll see what it's like. Was only £3 in Asda, and it's either watch that or the pair of us will sit scouring eBay for hours...and that means spending money.

 

[MajellaG]

Hi girls, just rounding up all the pregnant Northern Ireland girls due in2012 for a Natter and moan.
I found out im pregnant and due 20th may 2012
Hope to get chatting to use soon
(Dont leave me all alone for to long)

DUE DATES​

January​

spellfairy: 8/12/11 Oliver & will​

Miss Duke: 3/1/2012 cara 5lb 1oz
​

February​

LunaBean: 26/1/2012 Noah Matthew Robert Oliver 6lb 7oz ​

Mummy_to_be87:6/2/2012 Elliane Louise 6lb 13oz​

tiggertea: 18/2/2012 Ethan 8lb 2oz
​

MARCH​

MamaDoo: Baby Boy Born
​

MajellaG: 4/2/2012 Ellen Rose 6lb 6oz​

Megananna: 17/03/2012 Dominic 6lb 12oz
​

Wyntir: 26/03/2012 Jax Raylan 8lb 7oz
​

It's been a year for boys so far, hasn't it!

Funny I looked at the front page this morning & thought the same thing, Holywoodmum!
There was about 7 girls in the village where I live all expecting & so far I'm the only one who's had a girl!!!

 

[holywoodmum]

Courtney, add me on draw something! i'm lucy1w
tigger, lovely legwarmers!
Eshka, hope the dvd is good

I'm on the countdown now, one day left at work, and 2 weeks til we move - eek!
House is a tip, but I can't be arsed. My dad has taken the bins out for us, and mum is doing most of the laundry, but I'm just so shattered still

 

[YoungNImum]

Yea true nuke but still abit odd as I pretty much answered the door once he'd knocked he could ov asked lol

Obj I'll add you hwm I'm pretty crap bit it's gd fun guessing others drawings

He's so cute, how's he doing tigger?

X

 

[tiggertea]

I was in Asda car park today too Eshka. Dodgy dealing. Ok, so it wasn't exactly dodgy... buying a baby swing I saw on Gumtree. £30. Bargain!

Ethan is thriving, thanks! He loves his milk so is getting to be quite the wee chubber!

 

[NuKe]

Yea true nuke but still abit odd as I pretty much answered the door once he'd knocked he could ov asked lol

Obj I'll add you hwm I'm pretty crap bit it's gd fun guessing others drawings

He's so cute, how's he doing tigger?

X

that is very strange then...

 

[YoungNImum]

What dose he weigh now tigger, is Abbie enjoying the big sister role?
X

 

[tiggertea]

Haven't a clue. I just know he's growing quickly!

Abbie's loving it. She's "mummy's best helper". Does have her wee moments where she's obv craving more attention, but that's to be expected I suppose!

 

[EmyDra]

I want Draw Something!!! But then also a mouse. I used to be pretty good at drawing with a mouse

 

[Wyntir]

Jax Raylan for anyone yet to see him





Once we get more settled, and i'm not feeding continously, I will hopefully get around to a birth story.

 

[EmyDra]

Just congrats again Wyntir, he's a gorgeous little chunky man!

 

[tiggertea]

He's a wee cutie! Congrats!

 

[MajellaG]

Hes beautiful wyntir!!

 

[Eshka]

He's gorgeous! Congrats again Wyntir!

My God girls. It's April. I'm officially due this month. It's now my month. Holy crap.

 

[EmyDra]

You betcha Eshka!

And full term tomorrow, so after all that scary early stuff with the little man he's now free to come out whenever he wants.

I'm SUPER broody. I swear, I'm cooing over every baby I see. OHs ex just had her little boy last week and I am so jealous! Hoping it won't effect him seeing the girls, when her last one was born she kept putting him off for access.
On his last visit Amber had asked if 'Granny in Ireland' could come too, and initially we had thought this wouldn't be possible - but it looks like it's going to happen! It'll be expensive with the accommidation and all but the most heart warming thing in the world. It'll be for her 50th birthday. The first time she'll have met her 4-year-old granddaughter and she'll be seeing Amber again after 4 years too.

I've had on/off cramps today and yesterday, going to test again if I make it to CD53(!!)

 

[YoungNImum]

He's beautiful wyntir! How are you feeling?

Eshka: exciting! Have you everything sorted for baby arriving? X

 

[Eshka]

He's beautiful wyntir! How are you feeling?

Eshka: exciting! Have you everything sorted for baby arriving? X

We're all good to go except for the fact that we have a gorgeous moses basket, but no stand, lol! It's fine though, not too difficult to pick one up.

Gah, I'm so excited!

You betcha Eshka!

And full term tomorrow, so after all that scary early stuff with the little man he's now free to come out whenever he wants.

I'm SUPER broody. I swear, I'm cooing over every baby I see. OHs ex just had her little boy last week and I am so jealous! Hoping it won't effect him seeing the girls, when her last one was born she kept putting him off for access.
On his last visit Amber had asked if 'Granny in Ireland' could come too, and initially we had thought this wouldn't be possible - but it looks like it's going to happen! It'll be expensive with the accommidation and all but the most heart warming thing in the world. It'll be for her 50th birthday. The first time she'll have met her 4-year-old granddaughter and she'll be seeing Amber again after 4 years too.

I've had on/off cramps today and yesterday, going to test again if I make it to CD53(!!)

Emy that's too cool - I do hope his ex is good about access this time. Makes things so much easier when separated couples work together; I'm always thankful that the girls' dad and I get on so well with each other, it'd be a nightmare if we didn't! Tons and TONS of luck for testing, I know what it's like to be so broody but stuck in the waiting game.

Well girls, this might turn into a long post but I've got to get it off my chest - tomorrow, I am going to tear my daughter's health visitor a new arsehole and I cannot wait.

Basically, bit of context in a nutshell; I've had social services on my back since November. I'm not even hiding it anymore, cos I'm not embarrassed - they've got it all wrong, have bullied me, pressganged me and even had me put under extra pressure while in hospital with pre-term labour. I missed an appointment for my daughter to see her hip consultant last year, and because her hips have deteriorated, they said it was my fault and put her on a child in need plan while investigating me for negligence. Sounds bad, I know. I even spent right up until recently having allowed them to convince me that I was a failure as a mother, but not anymore.

Anyway, they couldn't find anything (naturally!!) with the hip thing. Her consultant turned around and said that actually, her hips were going to deteriorate anyway and me re-arranging (not missing) the appt had nothing to do with it, cos she can't perform hip surgery until Aoife has had spinal surgery. Her condition means that skeletal deterioration is inevitable; she's got Morquio which is a progressive disease that affects ALL of her body's organs, primarily the skeleton. She's got two dislocated hips and severe spinal curvature. The condition also means that she has severely restricted growth (some consider it a form of dwarfism, others consider dwarfism a side effect of the disease) and she will probably have an average of 25-30 major surgeries in her lifetime.

So, they couldn't come up with anything on that front; good stuff, I thought. They'll leave me alone now. How wrong I was.

They put this health visitor in place for the duration of the child in need plan. This health visitor arranged an impromptu audiology appointment for Aoife (nothing wrong with her ears, no reason for the appt) and rang me WHILE I was in hospital with pre-term labour, telling me that I'd better not miss it or I'd be in ''big trouble''. So, I had my mum and dad take her. When they got there, the department had never heard of her and there was no trace of any such appointment. Lovely. Wasted 50 mile round trip, unnecessary distress caused to my daughter (she gets very nervous about appts) and extra pressure put on me while I was desperately trying not to give birth at 33 weeks.

We pointed this out to social services; their excuse? Oh, there must have been some mixup. No apology. We had a meeting to discuss everything last week, attended by my glorious social worker (sarcasm...), myself and my OH, Aoife's dad and his partner, and my parents. I'd kept a diary of every single one of Aoife's appointments, who with, the outcome etc. I'd also taken a copy of their report, annotated with my own notes and a letter requesting corrections to be made as it was FULL of errors, including a statement that Aoife is wheelchair bound when in fact, she's never even sat in a wheelchair, let alone had one. She's actually walking in spite of doctors telling me she never would, which her hip consultant is amazed at and says it's fantastic for her to keep mobile. I handed everything in, requesting signed copies of it all to be sent to me, and their attitude totally changed. I'd noted the fact that since Aoife's diagnosis, I've self-referred to their disability team requesting help twice, but never received a thing, not even a carer's assessment. I noted, with back-up from all of my daughter's consultants, that contrary to SS claims of ''negligence'' (based on her hips, nothing else), that Aoife has thrived in spite of the odds and even quoted SS' own words that she is a 'happy, bubbly and extremely bright and independent little girl'.

Since that meeting, the social worker has told me they'll be closing the case, but they clearly haven't communicated this to their health visitor as the woman is coming to see my daughter tomorrow to take her height and weight due to ''concerns about her size''. I was disgusted after that phone call; her condition is a form of fucking dwarfism, for crying out loud. I called my support worker from the MPS Society (amazing lady who's worked with me since Aoife's diagnosis) and told her, and she laughed herself silly as it's just so ludicrous. So tomorrow, I'm ready - poised with literature about the condition to give to this health visitor. I'll be asking her if she's got access to the Morquio growth chart rather than using one with non-Morquio growth parameters, how much research she's done into the condition, whether she's been in touch with Aoife's geneticist for information and exactly how, as an NHS health visitor, she is qualified to assess my daughter's rate of growth. Considering that this country only has one Morquio specialist - namely my daughter's geneticist - I'd love to see her answer that one.

And the best part? This is my third baby, and this woman told me she'd ''sit me down and discuss infant feeding options'' with me.

Now I'll understand if some of you read this and think, 'That can't be the whole story, surely.' Trust me, even Aoife's dad's partner thought the same as she comes from a family of social workers and quite fairly assumed that I must have been hiding something. She's since realised - having attended meetings at my request - that I am genuinely not. She asked two people from her family - both qualified practising social workers - their opinion and they said that actually, I have grounds for court.

I've worked with social services before as I fostered a 16 year old for a little while, my ex's little sister, due to her family circumstances disintegrating. She went off the rails, messed up her GCSEs etc, and rather than have her go into care/assisted living I offered to take her in. I got her back into school, and I'm very proud to say that she's now living in Newry and studying to be a social worker herself. At the time, I had every faith in them; now, I can't believe the levels of misconduct they get away with. They have tarred me with the worst brush possible with this investigation. I may be unconventional/unconservative; I'm heavily tattooed, certainly don't dress/present myself to please these people or tick their boxes and anytime they've come to my home, they can take me as they find me. I've had two failed relationships and am now having a child with a man who isn't the father of my two daughters. I've spent considerable time on benefits due to circumstances, and fought battles with NIHE for frankly disgraceful treatment (being housed somewhere that had absolutely no means of heating with two small children).

But, I am educated - I had a career in accounts before I became a carer for my daughter - intelligent, extremely well versed in social services procedures and particularly well versed when it comes to disability, benefits and social housing. I've even won other people's appeals when they've been turned down DLA for their severely autistic children. I've managed to cope with a devastating diagnosis for my child with very little support, no counselling and a pretty frightening diagnosis of my own in the interim period. My children are extremely well adjusted, bright little girls; a pleasure to mother, to be quite honest. So am I going to sit here, heavily pregnant, facing a lifetime of major surgery for my daughter and let some stranger on her social work degree high horse make me feel like I'm a bad mother?

Am I hell. I'm going to make this entirely public and I'm going to fight it to the bitter end so that I have this nonsense stricken from the record. And to think of the families and children that have gone without much needed assistance from social services in the time they've wasted with me just makes me feel so, so sick.

 

[holywoodmum]

Oh Eshka. That's horrendous! Have "fun" with the health visitor tomorrow...