Rats Successfully Smacked, the 'No Brookers' uneventful pregnancy and pain free birth thread :)

[MeconiumHappens]

Hello :)

Awesome Scream, glad you have a mum who's happy to help you. I've also started to worry about childcare (even though I'm only 6+6) and really not sure what we'll do. I don't think we could actually afford childcare - I'm not sure if my wage would cover it or if it did it would be only just, so would kind of seem pointless. I'm not sure if we could afford all expenses if we're not both working. I don't think either mum could necessarily help us with a day a week. We may have to alternate, with me doing childcare and work in the evenings, him his regular hours and then looking after the lo whilst I'm out at night. Will see how it works out, but hopefully we can find an arrangement that's a bit better.

We have also started talking about child care arrangements as I have to complete my degree whlle I am on ML so need to attend lectures one morning a week! DH may be able to cover this by rejigging his working week but I will need a local childminder when I return to work. The lady I want is currently full but I know some of her charges are going to school soon so I need to get in there before she refills! It will be strange as I was a sahm when my boys were babies!

Hooray scream its so lovely knowing they're with someone who loves them. That's great of your mum. Good job you're on the ball to get the lady you want wants

Still trying to get dd to sleep. Come on child, its Saturday night, give your parents a break! Lit some little fireworks for her- Roman candles etc, just the plume- type ones, and she was fascinated. Kept trying to leg it round inbetween though, and I've got a standard tummy ache plus some cramps so we stopped early as i had a tantrum like a child I don't think I'm very easy to live with at the min...

at Dream's tantrum. I had a minor tantrum this morning because DH was trying to back out of visiting a friend of ours. I won, so the lesson is that stomping around the bedroom while getting dressed, swearing and sulking works well!

I felt Bean from the outside for the first time this evening! A nice long squirm.

Dream, take it easy and stop legging it around! Your body is trying to tell you something. Hope you feel better now.

On the childcare front, Mum did volunteer to do one day a week, but I'm not sure how practical that will be because she lives an hour and 40 minutes away, so it would be a very long drive. I don't want to hold her to a promise she might regret. I did think that perhaps she could stay the night and do what amounted to two half-days, afternoon and then morning - will suggest that if she offers again closer to the time. I have worked out that I will have March-Nov off on SMP, followed by a month of annual leave, so I shall be off until next Christmas, hurray! I don't think we can afford for me to take the full year, sadly.

Hi ladies,

Im just moving up as finally after 11 mth got my BFP, it is still very early days and im panicking about every crampy feeling i have so i come for the new pregnancy support :) :)

woooooooooo it feels good to be here :)

Welcome Jazzy and congratulations again

Make yourself comfy xx

Welcome Jazzy! :)

Panicking about every crampy feeling is normal- I'm still doing it constantly at 12 weeks.

Scan first thing tomorrow - yay! Both excited and slightly nervous.. had a nightmare last night about missing it or being told I couldn't have it or something bizarre, so hoping it all goes smoothly.

I've had a constant stomach ache/crampiness since about week 4 now. I'm 12 weeks tomorrow sharing a scan date with musicalmrs Not sure how much is due to my constant vomming though, that has to be having an effect!

Hello Jazzy, welcome and congratulations!

Good luck for the scans tomorrow, Musical and Jen. Wasn't there someone else as well?

Congratulations and welcome to Jazzy
And the other person scanning tomorrow is me, think I'm the last at 4.15.

Good luck Dizzy!

Welcome to Jazzy! I can second the comments on cramps. I had loads of cramps for the week after my BFP, and they started up again a few days ago (I'm 15 weeks now) and it's still nerve-wracking every time!

Plus lots of luck to all the scanathon participants tomorrow!! I shall be glued to this space waiting for happy updates!

On a separate note, I will be attempting pre-natal yoga tomorrow evening after work for the first time! I've been meaning to start for ages, to help strengthen my back, but up until now I've been too tired in the evenings to even consider it. I'm now a bit worried that a) all the properly pregnant women there will look at me (still no proper round "bump" just generally looking very fat!) and think why the hell am I there?! Secondly I'll then be hopeless at it and all those 8 months pg women will wipe the floor with me! ARGH!!

Jazzy - Yay, huge congratulations. Have a glittery bucket and a pork pie... fingers crossed you won't need the bucket too much though (just enough to reassure but not enough to be distressing is perfect)!

Too, I would LOVE to not run around after DD so much....she just doesn't get it- she's 14 months on Thursday, and I reckon ages before she'll do anything I say with even iffy reliability... We did abandon the fireworks though- she sat beautifully while they were going, but ran around like a maniac in the dark in betwwen hence the tantrum due to my stomach ache/cramps hormones .

congratulations jazzy!!! I feak out almost daily still, 16+2...

scream, I look so pg that when I say I'm only 16 weeks people (random strangers here) are amazed so I have to say it's twins and then get many 'helpful' comments....

Congratulations Jazzy and welcome. Lovely to see you over here.

Talking of fat, I seem to have sprouted a huge bump almost overnight. Never mind looking 16 weeks pg, I look 60 weeks pg! I've been trying on my old maternity clothes and things I was wearing at term with DS are already feeling a little tight . One of the perils of being a SAHM, too much temptation from the kitchen. Have been laying off the Quality Street and now get my fix from opening the lid of the tin and having a jolly good sniff.

Sending good vibes to all having scans tomorrow

Yes, good luck and happy scans to the Scanathon trio tomorrow!!!

Now all mums, I am at the end of my tether with this going to sleep business. No change in the routine, a quiet bath, teeth, dress, story and milk, cuddle, cot, same time every night. Used to work. Now, again, I am one hour and 16 minutes into the go-to-bloody-sleep battle with no sign of winning. She's very tired- woke up from her nap 12:30pm, been to zoo so new and exciting, why isn't she asleep?!? I left her crying on and off and whinging for 50 min til I couldn't take it any more. Now I'm sitting on the floor near her door surrupticiously mn-ing and praying she'll go to sleep while shush-shushing as required. Help? (I know this should be in behaviour and development but I'm worried they'll just think I'm wierd and say leave her to cry for as long as it takes). I hope that's not what i need to do but I'll trust you lot :-)

Don't have any answers, Dream, but am Brooking for sleep to come soon!

dream sorry to hear you're still struggling with getting DD to sleep.

I don't know if I can help, I've not had this with DS and his bedtime routine has always been more or less the same as you've described. I have always put him to bed awake, right from when tiny. Is your DD used to this or is it something quite recent?

How much sleep does she usually have in total over 24 hours? Once she eventually falls asleep tonight, what time will she sleep until? And how long is her nap during the day and is it only once or does she also drop off while out and about in the car/sling/buggy etc?

Sorry if all the questions sound like an interrogation, I can imagine how desperate you're feeling and am just trying to find out if there's anything I can suggest that could help.

1 hour 50 minutes til that Bad Baby ( ) went to sleep.... This is not a long term option, there is no evening and no time for me and dh to relax together... Times like this I wish I could do leave to cry for as long as it takes....sigh. It's not me though, I found the 50 min of on/off crying and whinging hard enough to bear without leaving her once she got properly worked up. Never mind... This too shall pass (and hopefully quickly).

too, my mum and dad both drive for over an hour to come and do childcare for me- my mum is about 1 hour 20 min away, my dad just over an hour, or he ight make it in an hour on a good run. They have to be at mine for before 8am, so with rush hour traffic on the M6, they leave at 6:30am to beat it... They offered. They both chose not to stay the night. i'm sure your mum will only be offering nearer the time if she's happy to do it. Mine did both use the caveat that it was short-term, so it works because it's finite, and they know I'm off on mat leave again soon. They will both still come up one day a week then, to help me, but not get here so early!!!!!!

Thanks scarlet. She fell asleep on the boob at night til about 8- 9 months old. She naturally progressed to going down awake, and she's always found it a bit hard to drop off, so may lie there awake for up to an hour (but always quietly, never crying). I only know she's not asleep for that long sometimes as if i'm tidying in the bathroom and realised her toothbrush is still in her bedroom I've gone to get it and been horrified to find her awake, then upset as Ive come in then gone again! But for the last 4 or 5 months she's gone down awake and lain there til she's fallen asleep, so no recent changes. Except stopping bf at night about 5 weeks ago, but that made no difference I thought. Ahe usually sleeps til between 6 and 7am. In the day, if we go out, like today, she may nap in the pushchair or car- today she slept for an hour 45 (her max anyway) in the car. Usually at home it's anything from 40 min to an hour and a half, and that's the only nap, around 11:30- 12ish. So not that much daytime sleep. I'm so tired, I'm dreading the evenings now, where I used to look forward to them for some rest and relaxation!!!! She does still have a cough and cold, poor button, 3 1/2 weeks in she's still not 'well', but she's not so bunged up she can't breathe properly, or coughing to stop her getting to sleep (she is waking up coughing, I don't begrudge her that, and getting up earlier coughing)

Maybe it's just the cold then dream. I can't think of anything else from what you've described of her routine.

Have you tried propping up the head end of her cot? We found that made a massive difference with DS whenever he was bunged up. Just stick something (not too big) under the feet of the cot at the head end so she's not lying quite so flat. We usually stick a slimmish book under each foot. Also the Carvol plug ins are good.

Failing that if he's still bunged up and grizzly at bedtime 1 dose of Calpol before bed works wonders. Obviously not something you want to do on an indefinite basis, but as you know yourself, when you have a cold it can sometimes make you just feel rotten, cause headaches and can worsen at bedtime.

Completely spinning it around the other way though, is there any chance that she might not be getting enough sleep and that she's overtired by the time she gets to bed? I know they're all different so it's hard to say. My DS still sleeps for 1-1.5 hours in the afternoon, is asleep usually by 8.30pm and wakes up at 7am and he's nearly 3. If we go out somewhere for the day and he misses his nap, he gets overtired which for him is either hyper or whingy at bedtime and often takes a lot longer than usual to get to sleep.

I really hope you can come up with a solution soon, it sounds like you're having a really rough time.

Hi, Dream when DD is like this it is usually linked to her being ill or recently ill. I take her to my bed or a darkened room and cuddle until she has relaxed then pop her down, sometimes I need to pick her up to cuddle and reassure a few times but eventually she goes to sleep.

Now this works better ime than leaving to cry, as if she gets really worked up and miserable then she won't settle at all. Also, I hated the idea that she thinks I am going to just walk off and leave her, and have her feeling insecure.

I had a really hard time getting her into a good routine, and tried all sorts. Gentle, and least stress for her works and then for some reason she just slept easier and easier. Now she goes down without a peep.

At your DDs age DD was having two naps, usually sometime between 10-12 and then about 3pm. I also put her to bed at about 8pm which seemed to work best for some reason. She also has a music box thing with a gentle light and lullabies that she adores and helps her drift off.

I also didn't feed her to sleep, I fed her after dinner and then that was it until the morning. Initially DH would then put her to bed, so Boob wasn't a feature of her bedtime routine at all, and that really helped with her sleeping.

I hope that makes sense and I know the approach it isn't everyone's cup of and tea. I hope things get better :)

Oh also a karvol vaporiser is fantastic when they are snuffly, best money I have spent tbh!

Looking forward to the scanathon, I wonder if it will reveal more twins??

And congratulations Jazzy nice to have a newbie, and cramping is normal mine was so painful I would have to catch my breath, but my Boy (squee! still so excited) is 22+2 weeks. Your corpus luteum is quite often to blame :)

Thanks scarlet and purple. Had a very disturbed night with dd after all that too. Today,I am going to buy a karvol vapouriser as clearly the rub is not the thing. I'll hope it'll settle down once she's better naturally. I think she could do with two naps a day but she disagrees... Getting her to sleep has always been difficult too purple. I worried and worried about her falling asleep feeding as count myself lucky she stopped herself and it wasn't a major issue!!!! A month of this has been tiring, I just hope she gets better soon and the sleep does!!!!!!! Oh well, at least I'm not doing anything too obviously stupid.

Will be checking for scanathon ladies, and expecting either musical or Jen to announce twins!!

Sorry to hear you had a rubbish night dream, I found Olbas oil better than the rub, you can use vapouriser and the rub see if it helps. I put some Olbas oil on DDs top the other day and she said 'OH thank you!! Mummy!' I think she sees it as some perfume. lol

I am going to be lurking all day for scan news :)

Morning ladies