Nov 2011 - Feathering our nests and buying baby vests

[PamSco]

Taking liberties again as there are only 5 posts to go on old thread. Hope everyone is well this morning!

That meant to say stays strong bloody phone!

poppet sorry to hear about your scares! Glad that Willow's x-rays were fine, hope she gets better quickly. Hope the spinal tap shows no signs of infection (assumming that's what they were checking for). Do they expect the hole to cause problems or will it close up? Sending you both lots of positive energy.

H007 I am going on maternity leave at the end of the week and I'm torn about it as well. but excited as I'm not that comfortable.

I cannot believe those of you who are working for 5 more weeks!! Good for you! We definitely need the money but I am too uncomfy (and had to hire someone and give them a start date back in June). I don't get mat leave pay so it doesn't cut into anything.
I am going back to work in May. How long is everyone else taking off?

cali poor you with such a house guest! I am very irritable and would probably have snapped.

smiling had a good laugh over your DH having to assist the poodle!!

Goldmaple We lent her our last money (the train this morning) for this week on the premise that I got it back today as I have a fitting to do with a client tomorrow - guess who didn't get the money back today? Me. Luckily the client is a friend, and could move the dates around.
I'm on very best good girl behaviour now. Before I snap.

Poppet you've had a horrible couple of days, hope things improve.

Bump I've also had the 'baby talk' with my DD (age 5). Its tricky because, like you, I want to be honest and give an honest answer, but I don't want to go into too much detail at that age, because I think its just too much for her to take on board. I managed to explain it to her in the end, truthfully, but sort of innocently (well, I thought so!). She thinks it is hilarious that 'dads pants have a sticky out bit in them!' so in the end I went with 'dad touches mum with the sticky out bit of his body', and she was like 'oh, ok!'. And it was a good chance for me to talk to her as well about how she must never let anyone touch her body there, and to always tell mum or dad if anyone tries to touch her anywhere that she isn't comfortable with. It all seemed to work out ok, as it answered her questions and she moved on to something else.....like why are the colours of the rainbow always in the same order, which frankly I found a lot harder to explain!

Who was talking about swearing? I'm another who hates swearing in front of children. Thankfully, DH and I were both raised in households where swearing, or even 'oh God' or anything like that were totally forbidden, and most of our friends were raised the same, so we don't generally have to worry about anyone losing control of their tongue in front of DD. Not saying that we never swear, or that none of our friends swear, just that it would be an 'extreme circumstances' type of thing, rather than part of our regular speech pattern, so its not too hard to reign it in a bit further when children are around.

Poppet how is Willow?

Cornered nice doctor today to ask about the eyes, he seemed to think the oph was recording normal vascularisation of the eyes in which case I have been a right eejit but when I mentioned the the oph had written "pre plus disease" which is another possible complication, he went off to get the chart and never came back! In fairness the reg's do get called to emergencies left right and centre in the hospital and I did go to get lunch so may have missed him.

She had an ultrasound on her head today which was normal so am very happy about that.

I had to buy more babygros today and still had to get the tiniest size. Am a bit of you all being able to buy normal sized clothes for your babies.

Washed the cover of the carseat as well. Would love to be able to buy a new one but can't justify it when the one we have is perfectly serviceable. At least I got my pink Moses basket!

funny enough, today I was in H+M and was admiring a cute outfit when I realised I was admiring a little boy's outfit purely out of habit! And I kind of felt a pang of sadness as I missed the baby boy I usually have IYKWIM.

Poppet my love, what a hard trek this is being - stay strong she'll fight and get strong.

I am a right sweary mary - always have been. I don't swear in front of kiddies or older people, I try to let someone swear first as a kind of permission to me. I am going to find it a struggle every day though.

All itchy itch here, very annoying.

poppet sending lots of vibes to you and Willow. xx

chip glad on re-reading the report you felt a little bit better. hope you get to chat with the right people about it soon.

Well Xander is 2/5s engaged today, lots of BH, constant for the last two days they've been. but not painful contraction type like when I was admitted to hospital , just aware of them. And I'm sure I lost a some (all?) of mucus plug earlier today - felt a little gush and was glad I was able to get straight to the toilet! Won't gross anyone out with anymore TMI! I'm assuming these are all good signs progressing towards delivery.... 2 weeks tomorrow. I can't believe we've got to 34 weeks now, I never believed I'd be able to say I was 34 weeks pregnant.

I'm signed off for this week, but my mat leave officially starts next Wednesday. Feels like its already started though as I haven't been in for 2 weeks anyway.

Itching to get in and finish the nursery. All the furniture has been built and walls painted, but waiting on skirting board being finished before I can put things away and do finishing touches. Seeing it go blue from pink was such a mixed up feeling, like lots of things have been this pregnancy, grieving one thing, celebrating another, (I guess that will be a bit part of lots of things in our lives watching one child grow up without the other) but now it is blue and looking really lovely and I just want to get it ready for my boy.

Oh, Caz, I'm sure changing from pink to blue must have caused such a mix of emotions in you. But you are not saying goodbye to Annabelle, you have kept her memory so alive with your blog and fundraising, and I'm sure she will be right there in that lovely blue room with Xander, watching over him.

34 weeks is fab! Have to say, all the 34 weekers in SCBU with Sylvie-Rose look like massively chunky babies to me! It's funny, in some ways, when I see their parents looking a bit stressed about what they consider to be a very premature baby, I do feel "Pshaw, 34 weeks, that ain't prem!" but then I remember when ds3 was born at 32 weeks and how anxious and stressed dh and I were about him. He was heavier when he was born than Sylvie-Rose is now and she is 34 weeks but we thought he was teeny-weeny!

Cali how rude of your house guest! And sorry about the car move :(

H007 yay! Maternity Leave! I have 4 days, including today left before becoming a SAHM. Scary thought

MrsA Glad that this pregnancy is easier on you

just sorry you are having a rough time. Hope you feel better and that the headache goes

Poppet I?m so sad for all the scares you?ve been getting. Hope the results are back soon all clear

gold I was going to finish work at the end of August, but did my company a favour and stayed a month longer, as they have not replaced me. Not that they have replaced me still! I must say the last month has been incredibly exhausting and I couldn?t work longer than this. I am already searching for energy every morning to drag myself into the study in our flat to log on to work!

chip Glad that the ultrasound was good. I think it is normal to be in the habbit of looking at boys? things rather than girls after having a couple ;) Hope your little girl will be home on Friday. It will be so nice to be a family unit all under one roof

Caz I admire your strength! Congratulations on reaching 34 weeks! And I am really pleased that Xander is getting ready to meet you. 2 weeks that I hope will fly by. Hopefully Xander engaging means that you will not have to wait around too long after induction.

Well, I completely freaked myself out yesterday when I noticed that I leaked a couple of drops of clear ish liquid from my nipple. I am so not ready to have this baby. I was fine for the most part of the pregnancy, because I have been in deep denial, but this ripped me into reality that this baby is coming at some point! So far I have not been able to sink back into denial and subsequently had the worst night I could possibly imagine :(

Could someone please tell me that this is normal and that all will be well and I will slip back into denial?
It?s such a comfy space to be with the benefit of kitting out a nursery for a future baby

I hope everyone has a better day today

Merlioness! Don't freak out, back to the land of oblivion with you!
Seriously, you will be a great Mum. No one is ever really ready for a baby but we do get through it. If we all waited till we felt ready, the world would be seriously underpopulated.

Sorry, Cali, also meant to say, what a rude person! Maybe this evening hand them the washing up liquid and a scrubber as they clearly need telling!

Hello all
I am savage with lack of sleep at the moment. DD was up and down since 3.30 in the morning. The whole rapid return is not working for us! Any advice?

In other moans, I feel like my stomach is not emptying at all and constantly feel full and nauseous and acidic. Its hideous. I just got gaviscon and magnesium tablets from the pharmacy - hope they help.

merlioness Its a huge concept to get your head around! I think I am in a bit of denial too and its not even my first time. I mean, the fact that I am on mumsnet again must mean I do get it, but the idea of another baby girl seems a bit abstract for the most part.

chip - I hope you Sylvia gets out of this worry period quickly. Also poppet - I am on tenterhooks so can just imagine how you must be feeling. Chip Its funny you mentioned the pang for the boy you usually have - I keep having pangs for the boy I won't have now!

cali - outraged at your house guest - is it a favour to someone else that you are putting her up? or is it a friend of your own? Really not on - I bend over backwards when I stay with people to help out, make dinner, get groceries etc. I just think its the height of bad manners if you don't. (God, I sound like my mum sometimes!). I'm not that into the salty liquorice but have contemplated it recently because it's supposed to help acid reflux as well as be a laxative. I like the sweet soft finnish stuff though....

smiling - good to see you! I feel like we are working on the same cocked-up launch or something! I have been wracked with insecurity about it all but when I look around, I know that I am not really to blame. Sometimes I think of all the cocky guys in advertising who would never entertain the underconfident thoughts I get - I need to cultivate some of that if I am going to continue in this field. Cracked up about the constipated poodle! Sounds like a Youtube classic.

tjuice how old is your DD?

She turned 3 in June. I wish we could co-sleep but it doesn't work for us! So we try and pop her back in bed, as silently as possible but she just keeps appearing in our room!

Hi there,

Quick post today - to say 4 days left until holiday/mat leave!

So many plans about what to do with my time.
Speaking of which...what meals freeze well? All my ideas seem to be mince related!
Huzzah!
Hope you all had a great weekend.

Do you put her in her own room at first and then she comes into your room? My DD is only 17 months so haven't got to this stage yet but a friend of mine bought a night light that showed a moon and sun and that helped her ds to know when it was still nighttime. Think it was this.

Is she coming into your room for a purpose? Would putting a stair gate on her bedroom door help?

Well, last night I contemplated a stairgate but somehow its seems a bit mean. I guess she just wants us to help her go back to sleep because now she just waits for someone to take her back to bed and tuck her in. But then she pops up again and again.

I don't know... I think we need to get stronger and consistent on the bedtime routine in general (we have got relaxed about dinner time, bath time etc so its crept up to 8.30 or sometimes 9, and we each do different things - I tend to cuddle and caress her and sometimes put on lullabies but DH just kisses her and goes out). Then we need to have a plan for how to handle the night waking too so its exactly the same and we have a united front.
She must have been wrecked today too, poor little thing...

I am an evil mummy when it comes to sleep . I can't function properly without 9hours sleep. Was one of the main things I was worried about with a newborn.

We don't really have a set bedtime routine but we always put her to bed at 7.30 pm. If she has not settled by 8pm then we put the monitor lullabies on. DD is only 17 months tho so maybe someone with an older toddler will have some better suggestions.

My DD is almost 3 and we've had ups and downs with bedtimes. We now have a set routine that we both use (slight variation for bath vs non bath night) which is basically pjs on, hands, face, teeth, stories in bedroom, final wee, sun to bed (we have a gro-clock), light off, chat about day or couple of songs, final kiss and cuddle and we leave saying we'll come back in 10 mins to check on her. Sometimes she makes a fuss but we ignore her and she is asleep before 10 mins is up 99 times out of 100. We do have gate on her room mainly because we don't on the stairs so I was worried she might fall down stairs if only half awake. We always return her to her own bed (as we did/do 4yr old DS) but have sometimes resorted to one of us sleeping on a mattress in with them so they are used to being in their own bed at night - also means 1 of you gets an ok night's sleep.

Just some ideas but I'm certainly no expert - we'd love our 2 to be sharing but when we tried it went completely wrong - something we have to sort by time baby leaves our room!

tjuice i'm sorry but you really need this sorted before baby gets here otherwise you are going to be a zombie you poor thing. we had exactly the same problem with ds the only thing that worked was a stairgate on the door. We bought the groclock like moosey and alicat mentioned which was a god send. we picked a likely time such as 6:30, explained to him that when the sun comes up in the morning then and only then is it time to get up. then when he cried during the night i went in to make sure he was ok, then left and let him cry. The groclock comes with it's own storybook which introduces the clock and when he pressed the button the sun winked and went to bed. in the morning we asked him if his sun had come up, when he said no we told him not until it comes up. The crying got better each night over a week, by the end of a week and half (at most) he was sleeping through. Now if he wakes up during the night, he does wee on the toilet back into bed if he wants to read he has his torch light and reads to himself till he falls asleep again. If he wakes up just a little early we'll ask him if his sun has come up and if it hasn't tell him to stay there until it does, and he goes back to his room till it comes up. The morning call of "mummy, my suns come up" became a regular sound in the morning. Don't get me wrong it is horrible ignoring him especially as he sounded so hysterical at times and the calls of mummy come here. mummy please come here, cut my heart in two but i had to stay strong and i'm glad to say it worked, we had a worse time getting my 9 yr ols dss to bed than ds. (sorry if that sounded a bit lecturey it's just that before we took this measure my gp was worried i'd have a breakdown i was so exhausted.)

caz glad everything seems to be gearing up well for you. how are the daily apptments going?

i know there was something else i was supposed to respond to but my brain isn't working today.

Hope everyone is ok.

i meant to say ds has been in a room without the stairgate since aug bank holiday and still no problems. Will still go back to his bed until his sun comes up.

Ziggi meant to say saucy stuff works best
Chicken fajitas
Lamb / Beef / Chicken / Pork / Sausage casserole
Fish pie - though I tend to do the saucy bit separately and freeze to make defrosting easy as mash is a v good insulator

No, you're right cep - I do have to sort this. She has been the best sleeper, all through the night since 6 months, because we basically got rid of all external sleep associations aside from her frog blanket thing and had a solid routine every night. But recently we got slack about it.

Okay, just to make sure - with the stairgate/clock thing then:

Do the routine (hair, toothbrush, stories)
Kiss and tuck her in.
Shut door and stairgate. (was it on his door or yours?)
If she gets up, opens the door but stairgate is there and cries, I go in to her room, and put her back to bed? Explain that only when groclock goes off its time to get up.
Then close stairgate and leave her.
And keep going back?

I realise i'm rapidly taking mental notes on how to get a toddler back to sleep...then think... hmm... probably another couple of years before worying about that! I best get the newborn bit out of the way yet! lol!

Had my first little boobie leak today too...making things feel very real all of a sudden!

Best wishes to Willow and Sylvie Rose

Finally feel like i'm starting to wind down on work now, as my jobs are finishing and I'm not starting on any new clients! Even got home by 2pm today (though technically working from home!)

Nice and local the rest of the week to, except for Friday when I have a training course in Bristol :-( Just hope I get offered a seat on the train for that one!

Nothing new to report! Off for my bath now... DH has run it for me just in time for me to get in while his football starts! I don't mind it too much, when I get out gonna crack on with getting my peter rabbit rug finished so he can watch it all in peace!

Hi all!
Well today's lap on the rollercoaster has seen Willow's chest infection ease, lumbar puncture results so far come back clear (but I'm sure I was told 48 horus for that so am confused and trepidatious to be honest) and her heart murmur is quieter. She's also up to 3 lbs 13 ozs. Gosh I'd like to go on a more boring ride after this please.