Yay! Jr. 2 - we made it.

[Sickboy]

Hello. I must be the least frequent poster round these parts, but I still drop in regularly.

We just had our second little boy - two weeks after our first-born's fourth birthday.

His name is Josh, he was 8lbs 1oz and, naturally, he's the most wonderful, beautiful, gorgeous, etc. ;)

Best of all, because our first was Caesarian (and a nasty, dramatic one at that), we were booked in for C-Section 2 this coming Wednesday. Happily, labour began at midnight on the 21st and he was born via TENS and Gas & Air at about 3:10AM.

Dunno how many men post on here (I always feel a bit of an outsider, given the site-name ;)). But, y'know. Just sayin'. I'm ecstatic. My wife is suffering a bit due to post-natal patch-up, but we'll get there.

Now, where do I get the advice on convincing a lively, acting-up four-year-old that he's still just as important to us as he ever was?...

SB

Congratulations to you and Mrs Sickboy. Welcome to little Josh.

Congratulations! You've got a good age gap there Have you bought your four year old a present from his new brother yet? That sometimes works.

Bravo and congratulations

Hug your four year old from all us MNl - that should make him feeling very important!

awww, lovely news. Congratulations

Congrats to Sickboy and Girl and welcome to wee Josh!

Reading the birth announcements is my favourite part of mn
Congratulations, and I'm sure that ds1 will be fine, lots of cuddles always help.

Lovely news - congratulations to all of you

Brilliant news - congratulations to all!

Congratulations sickboy to you and yours and welcome little Josh.
Now about acting up 4 year olds - hmmm - that may get a little worse before it gets better until things settle down and he gets used to having his little brother around. Our dd was 3.5 when ds2 arrived early this year. Things are fine now - it just took her some time to adjust. One of the best ways we found was to engage her and ds1 (6) into as many helping jobs as they can manage to do with baby. Just continue to make him feel as special as you always have and things will settle down after a few months I'm sure. Good luck!

Fabulous news. Lovely.

TELL your lovely big boy how lovely he is. Let him say if he's feeling cross and jealous. Let him lead on whether he wants to be a big helpful brother or a little boy still. You'll all get there.

faboulous news congrats to you all

Congratulations Sickboy & Girl on your newest arrival.

My dd was 3.5 when ds arrived and I just made sure she was around as much as possible helping me, just me and ellie time etc, also she did form a particularly good bond with her daddy around this time and completely adores her brother (sometimes) x

Thanks for the kind words, everyone.

Things are rough at the moment, because my wife suffered a third-degree tear during labour and she's suffering for probably as many reasons as you can imagine.

Feeling sad that I'm not able to enjoy my new son as much for worrying about her, but I'm keeping on top of it by thinking about how it'll all cool off in a week or two.

There's also that thing of feeling a bit 'spare'. She wants to exclusively breast-feed him and I know that's the right thing to do, but with our first son, I used to give him a bottle later on at 10:30ish. It was a nice bonding moment and I'm already pining for it.

Thanks again.

can you find other things to do with him? let him sleep on you maybe, wash and dress him?
Hope your wife feels better soon, has the MW suggested anything to help?

As many painkillers as poss, I'd recommend.

And believe me, you are sooooo not spare. Pour her a glass of red wine at 10.30 instead!

Congratulations!! I exclusively breastfed my ds, but dh was in charge of baths - could you do that? Also dh was great at taking ds downstairs if ever he woke too early and they'd doze together skin-to-skin while I slept on. You're definately not spare!!

Congratulations and welcome to Josh

Congratulations Sickboy on your lovely son. Sorry your poor wife has suffered a third degree tear though - must be pretty horrible for her right now, but as you say it will all improve in the next week or so.

Much better day today. Wife much better, and after a day of feeding frenzy yesterday, Josh actually had a two-three hour sleep in his cot this morning.

Small steps...

Once again, thanks for the words of support.

Are there actually any other dads around here? ;)

Congratulations Sickboy and family+
Welcome to Josh+

Congratulations on Josh's arrival

Third degree tears are rough but DW'll get more comfortable very soon.

Could you make her a hot chocolate instead of giving the baby a bottle? She'll appreciate it more

DH used to take DS swimming and leave me and the baby to sleep. DS loved him for it and then I felt displaced... Oh, the first weeks are tricky alright but you sneeze and it's 8 months later...

There are sickboy, but I don't know if reading the birth announcements is top of their list (come on lads...)
MI as usual has top tips on keeping a slightly older than usual child happy after the birth of a young sibling. Been there too with feeling atrocious after my second delivery, too ill to pay attention to anything except the distance to the loo, big hugs to Sickgirl on that front.
Trying to find some time for mum to spend with your ds1 is well worth the effort (our ds was four when dd was born). PRESENTS from the baby also always welcome!
Many congratulations to you all on Josh's safe arrival