Dear Mumsnet please could we have a 'Larger Families' section?

OMG Psychomum, that sounds absolutely dreadful!

How can they say such things?

erm all of it I suppose, do you opt for home births because you won't get to the hospital on time?

Juuule.......I 'died' during the first op after #5 to take the placenta away as they didn;t believe me for 2wks that I was in that much pain....and then during the op I had an allergic reaction to ones of the drugs sending me into anaphalactic[sp?], and they had to give me many drugs to bring me back. DH remembers it all being hell, and he and DS2 was made to stay with me for the first 48hrs after the op to keep me with it (ie, hearing the baby kept me going!).

problem was, cos they ignored me for so ong, the placenta broke down and to get all of it out took a further two ops.

took until DS2 was 7wks before I could function on my own again, and thencos of all I had gone thro, and all the drugs, and the fact that I kept breastfeeding throughout, all the drugs went into DS2 and into his liver causing him to stop growing and go yellow from 8wks to 20wks.

he also now has a bowel condition which altho we have no proof, I am sure is connnected.

was also the reason we don;t have more, as DH was so scared by it all (it was like a seen from ER apparently), he insisted on no more. I was gutted for a long long time, but then, I feel I would never have been able to carry another so it is the right choice. not fair, but still the right thing for us all as a family,

I still had jellybelly for weeks after my births and usually didn't all baby weight until stopped bfing.

my afterpains with no5 were worse than the labour,but the labour was quick and pretty painless once it got going(induced).2nd stage lasted 2 minutes

psychomum-i am very of you leaving hospital in a size 10.i lost my pregnancy weight within 3 months with no3+4 but no5 is one now and i still weigh the same as i did 2 weeks after i had her(which is the same as i weighed at 6 months pregnant)

4th and 5th births were the same length as 1st and 2nd....but.....with #4 I had had a car accident at 30wks and broken my ribs and then gone into prem labour (which thankfully they stopped), but they had to induce me at 36wks as my ribs were being pushed apart by the pregnancy so weren;t healing, so it all went slightly to pot anyhow.

pushing stage with #2-5 was 5cms to birth in 10mins!!!!

was only with #5 I went thro hell with the placenta!

and excluding #5, I bounced back and healed from the births really quickly....even given the broken ribs etc!

Which bit? 1st stage, 2nd stage or all of it?

Psychomum - sounds like you had a rough time midwives being so dismissive is no help either

psychomum, it's the only saving grace that i too have a flat stomach, i'm sure due to the severity and speed with which i shrunk back from b'fing.

god it hurt tho

Yes that makes sense as I b'fed loads for first 2/3 days, thanks juule.
bizarre what worries you isn't it?

can i ask another ? ten, do your deliveries become faster with subsequent births?

BUT....for me......the stronge afterpains did mean that I could leave hospital wearing sz10 clothes, so there was an upside....pulled my tummy very flat!

well.....I won't tell you that for #4 and #5 I was almost passing out then.

and not that I needed stronger pain mads than they gave the caeserean mums then!!!!

oh no.....not me!!!!!

(I did tho have retained placenta with #5 tho which had a LOT to do with the pain, altho the MW didn't notice and all they could say was ..... "oh, well what do you expect???.....It IS your fifth??

(in fact, I ended up being really really ill because of that comment so I can only be honest for #4.....and that was painful!!)

Sorky, afterpains didn't get worse each time with me. They were usually quite strong for the first 24/48hrs and then mild. Uterus was always contracted back down behind pelvis by day7. Due, I think, to bf and drank lots of rrl tea.

Oh god they get feckin worse don't they?

I didn't take any pain killers at all, so might ask for co-codamol then, does that cross into b'milk?

sorky-erm,what psychomum5 said

sorky....I won't lie, so I won't tell....

ok.....school run

I get as much possible done the night before.

I have a huge american style fridge so all lunchboxes are done as soon as we get home from school the previous day and put in ready.

school bags packed before they go to bed.

uniforms are on the banister as soon as they get out of them from school, so of course ready for the morning. unless it is thurs as that is clean uniform day, altho even then, weds they ut the dirty on the wash and put out the clean.

shoes, coats, bags in the hall ready.

breakfast bowls and cereal put on the table the night before, and who ever is first down gets all the milks (normal and soya) out from the fridge......and does the apple/orange juice.

I have 5 in 3 different schools and we need to be ready to leave the house at 8am. We rise at 6.45am, I put on the shower and get in followed by each of them in turn, then dress and straight downstairs for brekkie.....oh, including in the dressing time hair doing for the girls.

luckily I normally have a friend help with the elder two, but if not then se get to go a 8am, first drop at 8.15 and then the others at 8.40 and 8.50 altho their school are next to each other.

last year was hell as I had 4 schools to get to, all at least 3 miles apart from each other!!!!

only prob now that we have are that DD3 has a blood condition so has blood tests twice a week at 8.30am so we have to figure those into the equation too.......[eek]. got another 3wks to go as yet (we are in a 6wk course of them), so got hols to juggle.....altho they not so bad, DD3 has a phobia of people watching her have the blood taken which proves hell for the hols and childcare!

can I ask about after pains please?

Psychomum has worried me a tad. The pains after my 3rd child were quite simply horrific, I cried with the pain and would have honestly rather have given birth again.

Do they get worse with each child or stay about the same for 4 or more?

Mind my uterus was back to it's normal position in 9 days which the m/w seemed surprised at so maybe it was painful because it was fast iyswim.

I go do dinner for 15, and many many more turn up......

psychomum - me
paulayatesbiggestfan - who started this fab idea
peachy is very soon to join if bubba hurries up
LTH
neversaynever
padilia
tortoise
liaghen
evenhope
cargirl
suedonim
tickle
tiggywinkle
jes74
cupsoftea
marslady
snorris
cazbody
magnolia74
idobelieveinfairies
kitty
waggledancer
swedes
conniedescending
oliviaelanasmum
sorky (by the fact that she is trying for #4)
ceolas
slacker
ggglimp
lisalisa
tiredmumof4
lucewheel
pollyanna
stopfighting
duchy
har man
diva
bythesea
tooticky
maoui

and to add

Spidermama
137wallis
lljkk
zephrycat
heronsfly
PPH
morespamthanglam
bigcar
aGalchangedhername

anymore more anymore ???

i'm the only slapper than with 5 kids by 3 different men

hopefully dh will officially be ds2's dad soon though.

i would be concerned if people assumed he was ds1 and dd1's father though as it would have meant i slept with a 14 year old when i was 20

kitty-my mornings seem to have calmed down the more children ive had.when it was just 2 i always ended up shouting at them.i think its just because i walk out and leave them to it if they arent ready now.

Heronsfly i have had the same lol. My ds1 is a very very old/mature 16.6 year old and often has dd2 or dd1 in his arms or holding a hand and we get funny looks. Or if he's alone with them outside he gets dirty looks as folk think he's the dad

Im late too but can I join please
dd1 27
ds1 26
ds2 24
ds3 22
dd2 11
dd3 8
all have same father,but did get some funny looks in doctors once when with ds1 and dd3 someone obviously thought I had a toy boy

for the sake of completeness you can add me to the list
dd1 10 last week
ds1 7
ds2 4
dd2 2
same dad!!!