EllBee

Hi, I live in the UK where we have the NHS. I admit I don't know too much about the Health Care reforms in America, but just seeing it on the news the other night I was wondering, how much does it cost to have a baby in the US, if you don't mind me asking? Does the insurance company cover the full cost of ante- and post-natal care, scans, delivery, hospital stay etc? What happens if you don't have medical insurance, surely you aren't just left to go through pregnancy without seeing a doctor?

Please no anti-Obama rants, I'm just interested in knowing how much a pregnancy costs. Thanks.

Hi, Im currently 8 weeks pregnant with my 3rd baby (my other kids are 13 and 9). As time isn't really on my side, I would like to get pregnant again quite quickly after this baby is born, and complete my family, as tiring as that sounds! I was just wondering if anyone here had very short intervals between their pregnancies, and whether or not they found it easier to conceive the subsequent baby? Was it too exhausting? If you could do it again would you have waited? Thanks for any comments X

Hi, this is just for fun. What are, in your opinion, some of the worse/tackiest baby names you've heard (not celebrity baby names). I was on a train last year, sat opposite two kids called Chanel and Armarni... hmmn..!!!

I'm pregnant with my third baby and want to make sure the name I've picked isn't on your list!

I have been listening non-stop to the free Blues CD given away with Uncut Magazine this month, my favourites on the disc being Slim Harpo, Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, and Howlin' Wolf especially. I want more!!! Can you recommend good places to start for any of the above artists - or can you recommend anyone you think I should listen to?

VERY IMPORTANT - NOT "BEST OF"s!!!! Proper albums ONLY!!!

Thanks a lot!

Hi, I am planning to write my English Lit essay on cross-class masquarades in the Victorian East End of London. I'm trying to draw parrallels with Robert Louis Stevenson's novella "Dr. Jekyll", and the real-life Jack the Ripper murders. I could use some secondary material to back up my ideas, so could you recommend any works of fiction situated in Victorian London, where the perpetrator is from the upper classes and the victim is lower class - or anything that involves body-snatching or resurrection men, or the murder of prostitutes - something along those lines??? I am already using RLS's "The Bodysnatchers", and I know there's a resurrection man in "A Tale of Two Cities" - can you think of anything else?

Thanks in advance X

PS - I'm not a morbid weirdo, this is for legitimate scholarly purpose!

A few years ago they showed a couple of French cartoons on BBC2, I'd love to know what they were called because they were brilliant! I'd like to try and get them on DVD.

Does any of this ring any bells for you???

The first one was feature-length, and it was about this old lady who had a son/nephew? who had gone to America... I can't remember why but she went out there to bring him back home again, and she sailed across the Atlantic in a raft with her dog. When she found him he was involved in some sort of betting ring where he had to pedal on a stationary bicycle in front of a screen showing footage of a Tour de France race... I haven't made this up, I know it sounds bizarre but that's what happened! The animation was beautiful, it was a very funny film.

The second one we watched was a short, about a woman who fed pigeons on her balcony. There was a homeless man who was so hungry he dressed up as a pigeon so he could eat the crumbs she left for the birds. In the end he got fatter and fatter, and then you found out she was fattening him up so she could eat him herself. He escaped from her flat by flying out of the window but I think he crashed to the floor...?

I just want to make it clear that I haven't been drinking, I know they sound crazy plots but these are actual films the BBC showed!

If you could tell me the names of either I'd be very grateful, thank you!

I would be very grateful if anyone can translate this sentence into Spanish for me:

"the girl who loves wild horses" (in the first person, ie "I am the girl who loves wild horses").

Please only answer if you actually speak Spanish! Many thanks X

Can you recommend a good film I (30, F) might enjoy? My favourite films are Harold and Maude, and Amelie, so looking for something similar-ish -(ie not Apocalypse Now!). I don't mind black and white or English subtitles. Tell me why you've recommended it as well.

Thank you! X

WARNING - GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF SPOTS COMING UP!!!

I'm 30, and while I never had spots in my teens I have had problems with my skin since I was about 22. I have dry cheeks and an oily T zone, but the problem is around my jaw up near my ears. They're not really spots as they don't get a head, they're more like red lumps under the skin, and they can be quite painful. They last for around a week and I get them at any time of the month. I was using Ultra-Bland cleanser and Imperialis moisturiser (from Lush Cosmetics) and that did help reduce breakouts but lately it doesn't seem to be having much of an effect. I haven't worn any make-up on my face for ages, and Clearasil or witch-hazel doesn't work either. Has anyone got any idea what might be causing these spots and how I could treat them?

Please don't say "go on the Pill" because you read that somewhere - please only recommend the Pill if you yourself have done this and it helped, because I'm a little reluctant to do it, but I will if it works (what brand did you use?).

Thanks so much!

If you were in a steady relationship with a man who knew that you were a traditional sort of girl who one day wanted to get married how long, in your opinion, is it reasonable to wait for him to propose, and at what point (months, years) would you accept that if he was going to ask you he would have done so by now? Thanks XX

I prefer Victorian novels! Thank you!

Can anybody translate "restless and rootless" into Latin for me? As in I, first person singular present tense, am restless and rootless. Thank you very much!

I had a dream last night that I was interviewing Katie Price (AKA Jordan), who was telling me about how she was recording a duet with Bob Dylan (she called him Bobby), and I swear, I woke myself up laughing. Have you ever had a really surreal dream about a celeb? Bonus points for obscure celebs, like people who were in Brookside or something. BTW, I'm not interested in the mucky stuff okay, keep that to yourself.

Can you recommend a really good novel set in New York, something that really evokes a sense of the city (any era) for me to indulge in while I save up for my plane ticket? Thank you!

I just watched Annie Hall and really enjoyed it, can you recommend any other Woody Allen films - I've heard lately he produces stinkers?

I had a book when I was a kid about an old lady who was so lonely, all she had to talk to were the pigeons in the park. The illustrations were a collage of real pigeon feathers. I would love to find a copy of this book, but for the life of me I can't recall what the book was called, despite Google-ing every combination of "old lady pigeon feather book". Can you help? Thanks XX