The PESH in a manger

[LadyGoneGaga]

No booze for our heads,
No clubbing, no Class A's,
No more pants of red

The midwives in the hossie,
Looked down where we lay,
A bunch of old, evil hags,
Fucked on Gas and A.

Ho, ho, ho you bunch of Hoes.

BESH BAYBEES
dontrythisathome, girl born March 25.
Cheggers, twinz girlz, born April.
FannyPriceless, boy, born June 8.
CurlyCasper, girl, born June 24.
CUNextTuesday, boy, born June 29.
AlpinePony, boy, born 1 July.
Carrots, boy, born July.
IggyPiggy, girl, born July.
Cosmosis, boy, born Sept 5.
Backinthebox, boy, born Sept 7.
Skatergrrrl, girl, born Sept 10.
VAG, boy, born Oct 2.
Silversky, boy, born Nov 1
SomethingSuitablyWitty, girl born Nov 2
okiecokie, girl, born Nov 12
Honeymoo, boy, born Nov 11
ReginaMonologue, boy, born Nov 13

UPDIFFED

maswera, can't possibly be having a baybee next week, due December 11
PollyPoo, wants to name her baybee after the dog, The New Messiah is due December 25
MrsFC, joining whether she wants to or not, due 22 Jan
ChoChoSan, "and Lo! The lord did resurrect her petrified womb", due 31 Jan
CluckyKate, hatching an egg, due February 2
Perfect Dromedary, defied medical science, due February 24
Muser, blooming at last, due February 27
Ginhag, reckless cake-carrier, due 28th Feb
Medee, finally over the Haribo craving, due March 12
Casserole, completely out of witty things to add, due April 8
Scorpette, now carrying a RL baby in addition to Clothilda and the squid, due 18th May.
Laurielou, the unmarried hussy with the "surprise" diff, due 31 May (ish)
Rocketleaf, no longer jealous of morning sickness, due 1 June.
Twinkle Toes, supergluing her fanjo shut, due 23 June.
LadyGoneGaga, Compulsive Stick pisser, due 28 July

Orchid I agree - our ultrasound department requests only one companion, so that the sonographer can concentrate. I would have thought it would be more special just the two of you, and provided you can take a photo away that should be OK for the MIL.

very cute, Mas!

Orchid, I presume you're going to the 'Royal' hossie in our fair city, as I went to t'other one and they have lots of signs up v sternly saying ONE person to accompany the person having the scan. There were a few people in the waiting room with their little toddlers and the kids were naturally getting very bored and ended up crying, screaming, running about, grizzling, etc. and I heard at least one of the mums say 'we should never have brought him'. We were there for over 3 hours and we were on the verge of screaming and running amok ourselves (despite being so, so happy)!

Here's an idea to get MIL and Mini O involved - if she babysits O whilst you're there, when you've had the scan and all is fab, lovely pics in your hand, etc., you'll have to wait for other stuff too, so why not ring/text her to tell her all is well (am refusing to think otherwise for ya) and she could get O to make a lovely card or make a cake or something? That might also make DP feel like it's more of a family affair

Mas, that is beyond cute! Am emailing the link to my Mum now! What colour did you knit it in?

PS Am I the only person who can't find any baby bedding I like? Everything seems ridiculously gender-specific or in neutral shades like beige, camel, etc. and me and TYF hate those colours. Or in waffle fabric, which I loathe. And does everything have to have cloying cuddly toy motifs? Bah, humbug!

Scorps you've started looking at baby bedding?

I don't know if I'm a product of growing up with a great-gran & Nana's around with all their old wives tales etc, but I'm not allowed nor would I let myself start looking at anything yet. I must admit it feels odd as Mr Loz & I thrive on planning & organising.

However I did stand in the spare room / nursery last night & find myself hoping Mini Loz likes the Stone Roses as we have a massive album cover print on the wall

Loz, am only looking at stuff when bored. I am determined not to get anything or do anything seriously until after 24 wks. I too love planning plus am v into decor, so it's one area I'm drawn to (am also looking at baby clothes, but seeing as I've done that for years, I tell myself it's just a habit and not anything 'tempting fate').

Re: Stone Roses print - how will I keep a toddler's mitts off my Tintin memorabilia?

Milano come in! Help yourself to some cake.

I had some nice Winnie the poo stuff but sadly MiniG ended up a co-sleeper and spent about 5 nights sum in his cot. Hmmm, wonder what this one will do. Going to be a crowded bed.

Cheers, Milano - those are much more my thang!

Hello Milano!!!

I forgot to say too that Mas, that is very cute indeed

Scorps yes am going to the Regal one. It's funny how they all have different rules isn't it? MIL, as it happens, has decided to do her Christmas visit starting next Wed, so will be around luckily for Thurs morning. Another thing I've thought of is that given it's at 8.30, trying to get 4 of us up, showered, breakfasted, there and parked for 8.30 is going to be nigh on impossible. MIL won't mind a jot, she's not the type to get funny about things like that. Hopefully Mr O will see sense and I can sell it to him that it will be nice if MIL has some quality time with O by herself anyway.

LGG you can sing "there were 4 in a bed and the little one said, roll over" if this one is a co-sleeper too . I admire you for doing that, I tried but never got much sleep. The only way I ever slept properly was to put O in his own room - his baby snores and endless fidgetting meant I never dropped off fully. It did mean at points though I was in and out of his room more times than I care to think about in a night.

Well tbh, MiniG is now technically in his own bed. Until he wakes up around 3 and I have to go and sleep in his bed with him! Have no idea how I will manage our routine with a baby too. Really going to have to knock the breastfeeding on the head at some point. Maybe over Christmas - he's going to be going to his Dad's for a few days so maybe make up some guff about big boys etc. He says that Little Big Boys (what he calls himself need their Mummy's boobies still.

Anyway, we only co-slept because he was a terrible sleeper as a baby and wouldn't go in his moses basket AT ALL. Screamed every time we put him in it. Same with cot. You just don't know til they get there.

I wish I could knit. But sadly I have no patience and time for craft when Primani is so cheap, I work full time and my house is such a bloody tip (and I'm inherently crap at such things). I do love Mas baby bag though. I loved MiniG 's little baby sleeping bags. They are ace. He had a gorgeous stripy turquise and green one and looked like a little caterpillar.

Orchid, he could have a cuddly pyjama morning with Granny and be rightfully fussed over - as a little 'un, he'd no doubt prefer that to having to be still and quiet and bored witless around a load of boring old adults in a hospital. :)

LGG, I couldn't co-sleep cos I've read far too many of my Gran's trashy Take A Break style mags over the years with sensationalised worst-case-scenario articles on stuff like that. Mind you, if I paid attention to all the scaremongering in those mags, I wouldn't dare clean my teeth or wipe my bum, so...

I want to get one of those cots with the drop-down sides that go up to the bed.

As long as you are breastfeeding and not drunk or on drugs co-sleeping is perfectly safe, Scorps. Ignore Take a Break - is like taking parenting advice from the Jeremy Kyle show. As a breastfeeding mother you wil instinctively curl around the baby to protect it and come up with ingenious bedding solutions. There is lots of reseach to prove it is actually safer and instance of cot death is actually unknown in cultures such as Japan where they traditionally co-sleep. Being close to Mothers helps little babies regulate their breathing and heart rate etc.

Read Three in a Bed by Deborah Jackson if you ant to know more. And this article

Co-sleeping isn't for everyone but the media are just frigging wrong and scare mongering to make desperate mothers feel bad on this one am afraid. Rage

How does co-sleeping work with duvets out of interest? Can you still use a duvet? I don't really understand all the rules around babies and bedding.

I know, LGG - my parents co-slept on and off with us and we're still here! I think for us, the semi-co-sleeping cot up to the bed option will work best. I can't sleep unless my upper body and neck are completely covered (even in summer!), so I think that my habit of pulling covers up high whilst I sleep would be the danger factor, if there was one.

Of course, tragic accidents can happen with anything and I too agree that the media love to scaremonger about bed-sharing. I can't help suspecting that part of it comes from a weird feeling that the bed should be saved for sex. I'd like to try full co-sleeping, as do believe in the school of thought that a baby should be held as often as possible (ie sling-wearing and so on).

I think I'm just going to take things as they come and do whatever is best for baby when the time comes. I try not to insist to myself that I AM going to do things this way or that way because that's the quickest way to frustration or wrongly feeling like a failure. Same as with labour plans - mine basically extend to 'whatever is safest for me and baby and if that can include it being as painless as poss for me, then it's all good'.

That's a good question, Muser - we only use duvets.

I used a duvet round me pulled only up to my waist (wore thick fleecy pj's - sexy! - you get used to it) Then a baby blanket over baby - he more then likely slept in crook of my arm anyway with face full of boob so covers not that important. You don't sleep the same Scorps anyway - if he made the slightest snuffle or wriggle I'd hear him, readjust and snuggle back to sleep. I never had to do the pacing around trying to settle a crying baby in middle of night thing - just popped him back on boob and went to sleep.

Seems bizarre but your insticts do completely take over.

Does breed its own set of probs but you do what you have to do to survive! And is pretty lovely sleeping with a snuffly baby. like i say I did allsorts to get him into a moses basket but he was having none of it! All babies are different though.

We co-slept from birth to two. Wouldn't have wanted to do it any other way :) We got one of these duvets when he was about 6 months old.: www.serenitysilk.co.uk/duvets.html before that we used to loop the duvet round him and he had his own covers.

More co sleeping linkies for your perusal: www.naturalchild.org/articles/sleeping.html

But what about Mr GG? Do you sleep in the same bed, cos the postioning of the duvet and then the baby under the blanket sounds like it'd just be you and the tot. Or am I being dense?!

I'll have to stop wearing earplugs as well, won't I? I'm basically getting no sleep until I'm in my 50s...

Lady GG - our small child calls himself a little big boy too!

You sleep in same bed - he has to wear sexy fleecy pj's too. Or more often baby would be on other side of me so I could better manage the covers. I got a bed rail too on one side to stop him falling out when he could roll etc.

Wherever you sleep, Scorps you will have to give up your earplugs! Unless you become a rabid, get them sleep through the night at age of two weeks type. In which case earplugs are the way forward.

T'is lovely, in't it Boo!

But if I give up the earplugs TYF might wake me up when he's tending to the baby in the night! I can't be having that.

[totally serious face]

I had the boy child in a cot next to me score, I liked knowing he was close and being able to hear him, but I am like you and need the duvet over my ears. I also wanted him to not feed to sleep. So I woud take him to the other room and feed him whilst listening to a talking book (this time I shall be MNing!) and then give him to the exH to change his nappy before putting him back down. It took a couple of weeks, but he soon got the hang of it. it also meant that exH was involved in the night feeds so I didn't get resentful but that it was only for ten mins or so, as he was able to sleep while II was feeding for 45 mins. It also meant he has never wanted to co sleep - which is fine by me, I love him n all, but my bed is, well you know, MINE!

I used to occasionally feed him lying down in the daytime if I was shattered, but would never have covers on me at all, and it was an anxious affair really...

However, as others have said, all babies are different, so who knows what will happen this time!! You just need to go with what works for you. X

The Baby Whisperer book talks about the EASY routine, Eat, Activity, Sleep, You, which basically means after every feed to do something that isn't immediate sleep, (like a nappy change) so they learn to self soothe.

Also, my childminder (who has been looking after babies for about 25 years, including 4 of her own!) reckons that the best thing to do after a feed is totally wind them, keeping then upright for about 5 mins at least, then they get less colic. I'm gonna try that this time too.

I thought I had lost my anti-vom pills but have finally found them in the glove compartment of the car. Here's hoping they do the trick tomorrow.

Oh, Zippedy Doo Dah muse, that IS excellent news! Let us know how it goes won't you?