Alocinturner

I haven't added any salt to my chicken broth so it's a little bland - would adding soy sauce be a healthier alternative to salt or are they pretty much the same?

xxx

A bit of the background first:

I gave birth to my son in December, I was already overweight when I fell pregnant and when I went into the hospital I weighed 15st 3lb (213lb) and somehow came out 3 days later weighing EXACTLY the same - i'm not sure how that works but hey ho that's how it is.

Admittedly, for the next few months after Jake's birth I had mild post natal depression and really let myself go, I ate what I wanted, didn't bother making an effort with myself when it came to personal hygiene either, it became an effort to even put a brush through my hair or even brush my teeth! now I have managed to shake the depression, I want to get myself sorted so I have got my hair cut, resumed my personal hygiene duties, and went to the nurse at my GP practice to ask for help with my weight loss.

The nurse put me on Orlistat Tablets (prescription version of Alli but stronger) so I now have to follow a low fat diet unless I want to risk having some 'unsavoury' side effects.

So I am sticking to a 1600cal diet with less than 15g fat per meal limit (according the alli guidelines i'm allowed 1800cal and 19g fat per meal as i'm over 13st 7lb).

As for fitness I have started going to Zumba once a week and going for vibration plate training (like flabeloss) 3 times a week, although I must stress that the vibration plate training is supervised by a qualified instructor who makes me work hard on the plate, I don't just stand on it for 10 mins I have to do actual exercises on there (like step ups, core training) and I come home exhausted and achy! In addistion to this, I also walk 1 mile to the training and 1 mile back again.

How long do you think it should take to see some noticeable results from the above? I go back to work in 6 weeks and I would love to be at least one dress size smaller by the time I go back.

I had a baby 17 weeks ago and ever since I haven't felt myself - as i'm sure most new mums can appreciate this, between the nappy changes and disturbed sleep it's i'm lucky if I have the energy to even tie my hair back, let alone put a bit of make-up on!

So I decided to get my **** in gear and go on a low cal diet to lose the baby weight, do more exercise and book an appointment to have my hair cut and have my nails done.

I also want to get a bit of a tan, everyone feels better when they have a bit of a tan, so here's the question - do I use a sunbed or use fake tan? can anyone recommend a brand of fake tan that is easy to apply without patches/streaks?

Thanks

I had a baby 17 weeks ago and ever since I haven't felt myself - as i'm sure most new mums can appreciate this, between the nappy changes and disturbed sleep it's i'm lucky if I have the energy to even tie my hair back, let alone put a bit of make-up on!

So I decided to get my **** in gear and go on a low cal diet to lose the baby weight, do more exercise and book an appointment to have my hair cut and have my nails done.

I also want to get a bit of a tan, everyone feels better when they have a bit of a tan, so here's the question - do I use a sunbed or use fake tan? can anyone recommend a brand of fake tan that is easy to apply without patches/streaks?

Thanks

I booked my Son's christening when he was 6 weeks old for 17th July this year because i'd like it to have been done before I go back to work in August. I have confirmed the godparents, booked the venue for drinks afterwards and even booked the cake!

I told everyone that I will be sending out invitations within the next few weeks and my sister-in-law called me for the number for the church we have booked as she wanted to get my neice christened (she is over a year old now) and then got a text message - she'e booked the christening for 2 weeks before my son's!

Now I know it may seem really petty but I booked his first and there are already some people saying they can't come to my son't because they are going to my neice's - my mum has even asked me to change the date to another month! - I booked my son's first!

this whole situation has taken the wind out of my sails and it's really upset me because some people will be travelling a long way for my neice but don't wat to make a 2nd trip 2 weeks later.

what should I do?

most cow and gate jars and heinz baby foods say they are from 4 months, rusk and baby rice is the same but all the literature including cow and gate's website say you should only give your baby milk after 6 months.

why is this?

Here's the history:

I gave birth to my Son 14 weeks ago. I had an epidural and had a lovely pain free labour up until the last couple of hours. I started to experience extreme sharp pain in my tummy that spread to my back after the doctors and the anaesthetist stood around trying to figure out why I was in so much pain and increased my pain meds it turned out that My son's head had blocked my urethra and my midwife hadn't noticed that my catheter wasn't draining my bladder - They had pumped 4 litres of fluid into me over the course of the day (I had the epidural at 8:00am and they noticed my catheter bag only had 300ml in at 8:30pm).

By the time they had figured this out they tried changing my catheter 7 times but each one didn't help as my son's head was crushing them, so they tried to flush my bladder by squeezing the bag with fluids in and forcing them into my system, during this process the pain was unbearable and I was inconsolable, everyone was so concerned the only option was to deliver the baby so they put me on the oxytocin drip to speed me through the last cm and after 15 mins of pushing my son was born.

I'm still experiencing back pain in the same place where I felt it during the delivery, I thought it was just from the delivery and that eventually it would settle down, but it just doesn't seem to be getting better. I've tried to make an appointment with my GP but they can't fit me in for 2 weeks!

is there a chance that the problems I experienced during labour could have damaged my kidneys???

I gave birth to my Son 14 weeks ago. I was already overweight when I fell pregnant but now I am really obese. I'm 15 Stone 5lb and i'm 5ft 3"

before giving birth I never had a huge appetite but I ate all the wrong things (chocolate is my vice) but since giving birth i've found I am hungry all the time, I can eat a meal and feel really hungry straight after, not just peckish, but stomach rumbling uncomfortable hunger.

Money is a little tight at the moment so I can't really afford to join clubs like weight watchers or slimming world.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can control this hunger and lose the weight?

Thanks

xXx

I downgraded my tank from a 220 litre tank to a 48 litre tank this weekend as it will be easier to maintain.

The internal filter I got with the tank isn't any good so I was wondering whether I could use my Fluval 305 external filter in this tank or would it be far too powerful? I don't really want to buy another filter if I can get away with it but I will do if I have to

xXx

I gave birth to my Son 4 weeks ago and I wasn't expecting to get straight back into my pre-pregnancy clothes but it seems my hips are A LOT wider than when I fell pregnant.

I was overweight to start with but I actually lost weight during my pregnancy and I am now over a stone lighter than when I fell pregnant yet my trouser size seems to have gone up by 2 sizes whereas My top size has shrunk a size so i'm now a UK 16 on top but a UK 22 on bottom!!!! My legs are slim so I can't wear Jeans at the moment as they are far to baggy on my legs if I buy a 22 - it's purely my hips!

I don't look out of proportion luckily but I was wondering if my hips will stay like this or will they go back to normal?

Since giving birth to my Son on 10th December, I have felt that my vagina feels 'different' - I didn't expect things to go back to normal but I don't think what I am experiencing is right.

When I have been stood for a while or am walking around it feels like something is falling out (a bit like when a tampon is full and needs changing and it starts to drop down) so last night I decided to have a feel and it feels like something is blocking the entrance to my vagina - Could this be a prolapse?

I currently have a water infection and have an appointment with the Nurse at my GP's office at 3:00pm to get this treated and when I mentioned this to her she said a water infection can cause swelling down below and that is what I could be feeling.

If it is a prolapse - how could it be treated?

My little boy has a stuffy nose which is made worse when he is lay flat on his back - when he's in his bouncer he seems to be elevated enough to help with the stuffyness, do you think it would be ok for him to sleep in his bouncer overnight until his blocked nose clears?

I finally gave birth to my baby boy on Friday - he was only 11 days late! lol

During my labour, baby's head blocked my urethra so they put in a catheter to drain my bladder but it didn't work, they tried 7 different catheters and none of them worked, by the time my little boy was born they had pumped over 4 litres of fluid into me and had only drained 300ml out of me - I was in absolute agony! My midwife could feel my bladder and said it was extremely swollen.

Shortly 10 mins after the birth my bladder began to drain through the catheter and the pain was gone within half an hour! I stayed on the catheter until 4:00am on Sunday morning and I had to prove to the doctors I could produce a good quantity of urine and pass it myself which I did.

I still have control of my bladder, I don't wet myself or anything, I just can't feel it when I need to go I suddenly get a sharp pain in my side and I remember I haven't been to the toilet.

Is this normal after giving birth? How long should it last?

xxx

Hi

I was due 29th November and baby has shown no signs of coming at all, even the braxton hicks stopped! :-(

My midwife came to do a sweep yesterday and to book an induction should the sweep be unsuccessful.

When she started the sweep, she was really shocked to find that I am already 3cm dialated and I didn't even know! so she continued with the sweep and said that she had managed to get a really good one done - I was actually surprised that it didn't hurt at all.

However, she said it could take up to 24 hours to trigger anything and warned me I could have some spotting and period type pains followed by irregular contractions that would progress into stronger ones.

I had the spotting and the cramps, and then later in the day I started with some very strong braxton hicks - I spent all day staying active and upright, we even went to the local shops to keep me walking and I spent most of the day sat on a stool or on my gym ball (aka birthing ball).

By the time we got to bed last night the braxton hicks had stopped and so had the spotting - my partner and I decided to try sex to encourage things a little further and sure enough straight after I had a bit more spotting but no contractions.

It's now 24 hours since my sweep and I still have period type pains but no contractions. I'm also producing a lot of discharge (a lot more than usual), some of it slightly pink but the rest is a pale yellowish colour.

Does this mean that the sweep has failed or does it mean that I could just be in slow labour?

This is my first baby and i'm the only person I know to go this far over her due date so I don't really know what's normal and what's not!

I'm booked for induction on Friday but the midwife said that as I am already so far dialated and my cervix is so soft, they will probably just break my waters and see how I go because the pessaries are there to soften and open the cervix which isn't needed in my case.

xXx

Up until today, I have been very calm about my pregnancy and haven't worried about the labour much at all. I'm booked in to have a sweep on Tuesday where they will be booking my induction should the sweep be unsuccessful.

Today it hit me - I WILL be having this baby in less than 2 weeks! up until now, I had my due date and spent my time saying 'ohh only X amount of weeks left, assuming he's on time or not early' and laughed about it and not really thought too much about it, so it didn't seem to be such a long wait and I wasn't disappointed when I reached my due date which was on Monday.

Did anyone else just have a sudden rush of panic when they realised they will have to give birth and that their baby WILL be here very very soon., and he may be forced to come by induction if he doesn't come naturally?

Don't get me wrong, I haven't been living in lala land thinking I wouldn't need to give birth or anything, but I haven't really thought about it either, especially as I couldn't attend ante natal classes (the hospital didn't process my forms and everytime I asked I was told that I would get a letter in the post to tell me when I was starting and then by the time I reached 32 weeks they said the class was full and they couldn't squeeze me in) and my midwife hasn't discussed labour or birth with me at all, My appointments have consisted of BP Check, Urine Test and baby's heart rate - 5 mins in total - all I know is what friends have told me about their experiences.

xXx

I'm 40 weeks +1 and I know I am probably worrying about nothing but my midwife has booked to come and do a sweep on Monday (assuming baby hasn't arrived yet) and book me in to be induced, however, we had a heavy snowfall last night and they expect it to get worse here and last for a couple of weeks at least.

Cars are already struggling to get up our street as it is and i'm worried that if the snow gets worse, then she won't be able to make it to do my sweep which in turn means I won't get booked in for my induction!

I'm already worried that we're not going to be able to get to the hospital if the weather does get worse here!

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? It's just my luck that I go overdue and we get heavy snow! :-(

thanks

xXx

My little brother is off school today because we had snow overnight, (we're in Greater Manchester).

I find it really strange because when I was at school and it snowed heavily, our teachers seemed to always be there open up the school - we never had a snow day! In fact, I remember one teacher walking for 3 hours in knee deep snow to get into school, and because we live in the pennines, we always had very heavy snow until about 1998 when the winters seemed to become milder by the year.

It just seems that they close schools at the drop of a hat these days.

So, does anyone else (in the UK) remeber having 'Snow Days' off school when they were younger?

I'm 39 weeks pregnant today.

I just feel like all I want to do is sleep at the moment - I went to the midwife last week and she said everything was ok.

Is it normal to be so tired at this stage?

I currently have pet insurance for my Rottweiler which is due for renewal in the new year (i'm due to give birth anytime so i'm trying to get my quotes and things sorted now before i'm too busy to look for and take out the best policy).

I have her insured as a Rottweiler but we don't actually know that she is a full Rottweiler.

Even though she looks like one, we don't know anything about her history, we didn't get any paperwork to say she is a full rottweiler and she was given to us so we didn't pay a penny to get her as her owner couldn't afford to keep her (she was skin and bones when we got her) and the owner before that traded her for a cat (seriously...I have my own opinion on that and I'm glad she's with us now being cared for properly).

Anyway - do you think it would be OK for me to insure her as a Rottweiler Crossbreed rather than a full Pedigree Rottweiler? We don't know she is a full pedigree due to lack of certification and the fact that her original owner swapped her for a cat (the cat wasn't even a special breed) when she was a puppy (when he could have easily sold her for around £300) should we keep her insurance the same?

It is a lot cheaper to insure her as a rottweiler crossbreed then it is as a pedigree.

Thanks

I'm 38 weeks + 4 days and I have really bad cold.

My nose is all stuffy and I feel a bit feverish, my whole body is aching and all I want to do is sleep but as soon as I lie down my hips start to hurt (pregnancy thing since his head engaged) and then baby wakes up and does what can only be described as a bit of breakdancing in there - I just feel absolutely rotten! I hope I don't go into labour feeling like this!

Does anyone have any ideas how I can ease the symptoms and start to feel a little more human again?

xXx