alexist

I've been up since 7:15. My own fault: I didn't do the cooking last night that I meant to do, so in order to get lunch on the table by 1, I needed to get up early. Anyway, it's all progressing according to plan. Neil's already had about half a bottle of Cava ;) (mainly as bucks fizz/mimosa, then he just drank it straight...)

I now have not one, not two, but THREE copies of The Simpsons Series Eight. This is partly my fault, and partly Neil's. :) I impulse bought it last month, and didn't mention it to him, just stuck it on the shelf (he was out at the time, and I never thought to point it out). He then told his family I wanted it for Chanukah. Fine. Except he then got it for me, not realising that his parents had already! (He says he forgot he told them.) He's got the receipt for his, but that still leaves 2 copies...

I quite stupidly believed Neil when he said "I don't want anything this year". Not "surprise me" or anything either. And he repeated it, even after I said "well, it's your birthday and the holidays, I have to get you something". So, like an idiot, I thought he meant it!

Ah well, time to stick the bird in the oven and peel some veg...

The label says "approximate roasting time: 2h15". I know that's wrong. Julia Child says 1h20. Actual cooking time: just under an hour (to slightly pink). Good thing I checked the progress with a thermometer--when it said 160F I knew there wouldn't be much longer. Luckily, I had the rest of the stuff ready to go in and the only thing I need to do now is steam the carrots (water already on the stove), heat up the cabbage, and make the gravy. I'm not doing too badly with the organisation. :) So we'll be eating half an hour early, no big deal.

Neil's just finished off the Cava and opened a bottle of red wine for lunch... I married a drunkard... ;)

I got everything to the table on time, despite the duck being done earlier than expected. I'm proud of myself :) I know, it was only for 2--but it's not so much the quantity of food as the number of things being cooked. It was all very nice too! Another good thing about having it here--I could pick at the food over an hour's time, which suited my stomach much better.

Neil says I made too much, but most of it got eaten. We're both now very full and bloated, even hours later! No Boxing Day leftovers, though. That's the good and bad side of duck. Neil reckons he'll be ready for Xmas tea around 21:00!

I skipped the Queen and Monsters Inc (which I have on DVD anyway...) in favour of a nice nap. Then I stole a piece of Neil's giant Toblerone. ;) Now it's time for Misery-Never-Enders. My goodness, they're really going OTT with Pauline! I did laugh at Garry as an elf, though. Next up is the Doctor Who special (if I can stand 50 minutes of Catherine Tate!)

Can you tell I've got nothing better to do than post to LJ??

Oh... should mention that I did do a bit better than just multiple Simpsons DVDs--Kathryn must have noticed my stuffed animals, because she got me a lemur to go with them :)

My parents appear to be having the traditional Jewish Christmas: my mother just IMed me to say they were off to the cinema to see Dreamgirls. I notice they're now doing early shows on Christmas Day then--I'm sure I remember them starting late on Christmas before.

I've complained before about the strict criteria for midwife-led care. Today I found the official list:
http://www.bcf.nhs.uk/what_we_do/maternity/midwifery_led_acceptance_criteria.pdf

Some of them I understand; some seem really very broad! You could interpret "thyroid disease" to include many women with a mildly underactive thyroid, which is super easy to treat--all you need to do is have a couple of TFTs to check your Synthroid dose. All fat women are excluded. Interestingly, PCOS is not mentioned even though it increases the risk of pregnancy complications--I wonder if they include that under "other serious endocrine disease". "Severe and enduring mental health problems" is rather vague as well.

Under this list I'm unsuitable for a huge list of reasons: weight, thyroid, PCOS, hypertension (unexpected, this: been consistently slightly high since 21 weeks, and I think that may be partly stress based on what happened last week--I had a lovely normal reading when I laid down), mental illness.

It really irritates me when they talk about choice in pregnancy and how wonderful MLUs/birth centres are, when their own criteria force a very large number of women into consultant units. I'd love the choice one to one midwife care and a comfortable private room, but I'm not allowed to have them!