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

[MeconiumHappens]

Hello :)

Woohoo!!! Absolutely awesome news!!! Soooooooooooo happy for Too, and congratulations to Wants' sister!!

Does a little happy dance for everyone concerned!

Also DS has just managed to poo in the potty - I thought it would never happen!

Yay yay Too - I can't stop smiling about it! As Scarlet says, even though I don't know you I've been thinking about you so much and wanting a good outcome.

Hope all is going well in the newly extended Wants family :)

Ha, mere chromosomal disorders were no match for the power of the Brooking!

Well done Biscuits's DS. Now, can you come round here and teach mine? I don't mind if it's a poo or a wee, I'll take anything. I just need to him not to completely refuse to even sit on it. That would be a start.

TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm SO pleased, I can't even tell you. I know how ridiculous it is as we only know you on here but it is so wonderful your baby is fine. And if it's dancing about that much, I'm sure that's a marvellous sign.

I am bricking it about my first day back at work in 14 months tomorrow. I was vomming vigorously at 9:30am this morning, thinking ohh, I'll be in work this time tomorrow. My dad suggested doing the throwing up with panache into a waste paper basket in the office and getting myself sent home. I like his plan!!! However I didn't like his opinion that I won't be able to cope with twins and DD at 18 months or so, and she'll be a bit neglected attention-wise while I'm run off my feet with the twins and he thinks we'll need to pay for help. We had an big argument, I cried. Now he's got me worried... I don't want my lovely DD to feel left out...

wants, congratulations on your new nephew! Oliver is one of the only boys names DH and I both like

oh, and I LOVE my new kitchen floor. Love it!!!! Worth all the disruption.

Oh Dream - poor you. You will be awesome with your 3 wee ones. It's bound to take a bit of adjusting to, but you and your DH are both there to get through it - family life is a team sport and I'm sure you'll make sure that your DD isn't left out in any way. Goodness, I'm sure you won't want to miss out on any of her in the same way you don't with the twins.

Obviously I don't know your Dad but often I think Dad's have a funny view of babycare - I think our DHs see and are a lot more involved than even Dads a little bit older than us. In many ways I think having them closer in age will mean you're more able to involve them all in the same thing.

Like your Dad's idea about throwing up in the bin though. Do they know yet at work?

Good luck tomorrow xx

I want to second Biscuit's comments Dream - I think you'll be amazing with your 3 teeny ones! Of course it'll be hard, but Mums achieve superhuman feats everyday! Your dad can't imagine it working, but you can't blame him for that, he's only a man Seriously though, you already love each and every one of your DC so much that it wouldn't be possible for you to neglect any of them!

Thanks guys, I'm relieved you think it's possible. I don't think it'll be easy, but I hope I don't scar DD in the process.

Work do know. When I say my bump is 20 week style, I mean I've lost weight everywhere else and have this big tummy that is literally what I was like at 20 weeks or so last time. I rang my manager to tell her a) I'm pg, b) it's twins and c) I'm so ill I might be off sick. She has told all my colleagues to make sure the other physios don't dump my caseload straight back on me. I have had texts from OT's, assistants, but not a single one from another physio... ominous?! I'd be a bit miffed if I thought I'd struggled through un-covered maternity leave, looked forward to a colleague coming back and then realised they would barely be back. Not that I'm pg, I'm sure they'll be happy about that, but from the service's point of view I mean- they're a bit stuffed.

For all the ladies who already have DC, are there any parenting books you would recommend? I'm a little scared at the prospect of having a gorgeous little baby at home and having no idea what I should be doing! I'm relying on good instincts kicking in straight after the birth in the mean time though I think a good book might calm my nerves! Anything which focuses on the first year would be ideal!

Will think about the book thing Scream

Right scream- I had the best book EVER lent to me. It wasn't about how to rear you child- they ONLY make you feel bad when it doesn't go that way for you. Someone else lent me the Baby Whisperer when I was desperate to get DD to sleep in her cot in the day, and while i'm sure it's good for some people it just made me feel like a failure... Shush-pat never got her to sleep, but I didn't half feel rubbish. You look up your baby's patterns and it tells you the problem with the Baby Whisperer. My 'problem' was 'complet lack of routine'. What a bad mother I felt! We had a routine of sorts, I just Couldn't get her to sleep in the house in the day in any way when she was little. It passed.

I will re-borrow, or find out what this book is called and let you know. It tells you what to expect week by week with your baby up to 6 months. Like lieterally, week 6- more crying for no clear reason. It was wierd how accurate it's been for both her boys and my DD and a friend's DS who also borrowed it. A definite.

Scream - I think Penelope leach is probably the best. I would say avoid the routine based ones at this point, just way too scary!

I also love Naomi stedhams book about mothers but it is probably better read a few months into life with a new born rather than before.

Yay for biscuits's ds's poo!! Busy day all round.

Dream - your dd will be fine and you will be a brilliant mother to three.

hello?

I liked The No Cry Sleep Solution. I never touched the dreaded Gina Ford. Basically, all the books ay have a routine, they just go about it with different levels of strictness (is that a word?!) and in different ways.

Gina Ford is militant. Wake your baby at 7am. Nappy, feed at 7:10am. Every day.
Baby Whisperer is the E.A.S.Y routine- Eat, Activity, Sleep, You-time
No Cry Sleep Solution advocates a predictable routine so baby knows what to expect and gives loads of ways to do this without ever resorting to controlled crying, which suited me.

I don't think you need a parenting book. The your baby week by week guide is very reassuring that you're not 'doing' anything to make your baby attach itself to the boob for 4 hours at a time (SO good to read it was a phase most do!), or have their sleep go backwards a bit etc etc without lecturing or telling you what to do or that it's rubbish if you haven't. It does give great advice- like put your baby down awake and try to let them self-settle, but each week it will say things like don't worry if your baby is still not managing this and other tips etc.

I've found it-
www.bookdepository.co.uk/Your-Baby-Week-by-Week-Dr-Caroline-Fertleman/9780091910556

it is on amazon but I can't bring it up without it saying my full name on the link page because I'm too rubbish with computers!

hi ninja!!!

Did |I miss your BFP?!?

of course we'd love to see you for a quick visit anyway, BFP confirmed yet or not

Still beaming for you Mrs!

it's confirmed dream me and dp are in a state of shock.

Dream - get over and read the other thread! It's been edge of your seat stuff this evening for Ninja!!!

lovely cushion thanks biscuits May I say until now I never realised pg cramps/ pains are SO similar to period pains. I didn't have any symptoms with ds that I can remember.

Scream I agree with dream. Books on parenting are very focused on only one point of view depending on the author and these point of views range from one extreme to the other.

We were in a routine (of sorts) by approx 3 months. It was not strict or forced, but in terms of feeding and sleeping it was pretty much the same every day and worked for us. I did read Gina Ford's Contented Baby (bought before doing any research on her views) and ignored everything apart from the feeding at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm, 11pm which we found worked really well.

I did have 1 book which I thoroughly recommend. It was not a parenting book but it was a month by month guide of what to expect covering feeding, sleeping, development stages, how to spot growth spurts, vaccinations, health, first aid and lots of helpful, factual information. It was called "What To Expect The First Year" by Arlene Eisenberg, Heidi E. Murkoff and Sandee E Hathaway.

Your maternal instincts will kick in. I felt much the same as you and was 100% clueless regarding looking after a child. I did find though that I didn't really start following my instincts properly until DH went back to work and I was alone with DS for the first time. The 3 weeks before that we were both a bit WTF? But we all survived and so will you.

Oh my, I just came on to post about books, to find Scarlet has posted exactly the same!!!

I concur re Gina Ford (she suits some people, I read it before DS was born, tried it full on for one morning before collapsing in a heap and then just did the feeding times)

Also was going to recommend What to expect - lots of info without routine-ness

And also the instinct thing! I totally freaked out before DH went back to work, thinking I would never manage it (so we tried GF and then I freaked even more), and then I started to rely on my instincts and it started to fall in to place. Although I would still be jolly glad when DH got home!

When I say Scarlet posted the same, I mean she could have written my post!

Argh"!! Just been and read the other thread, how exciting!!!

Fantastic news ninja, just fantastic

Pull up a vom bucket