We will brook no argument for a boring, uneventful, blooming pregnancy; followed by a perfectly-timed pain-free sneeze birth; vol 5

[ScreamIfYouWantToMeetSanta]

Hi No Brookers! I do hope this has worked and is in the right place...

I've added a few extra sofas so we have plenty of space for all the Rat Smackers who will be joining us soon. There's also a nice long table filled with mince pies, yule logs, gingerbread snowmen and xmas puds! Plus some non-alcoholic mulled wine. I've strategically positioned a few clean glittery vom buckets under the table, just in case it's still a bit too early for xmas munchies for some people!

As you were...

Joining the ranting:

1. Go. To. Sleep. And. Stay. Asleep. That is it. Mouth blisters and all, i'm getting too tired to care (stuck under a baby,again, already woken up, again. 5 wakings before 3am last night)
2. Bugger off morning sickness, I am DONE with being sick, and feeling sick too
3. someone invent a gaviscon infusion to keep me asleep, or in my catch 22 of too tired= vomit I worsen the reflux again all day and struggle to sleep amid the howling too
4. Why oh why am I not the magic 24 weeks yet I've been waiting AGES

FFS

But great to hear of your scan ninja, so sweet of your dad
wants, thank goodness heating fixed but what a shame about the car... Hope this ends the time of expenses.
biscuits, I would happily have divorced my Dh for various minor offences recently, I would look like a bulldog sucking a wasp in your shoes.
scarlet, I have rage for you someone went in before you, waiting with a toddler so ling, who was so late

Forgotten the rest.

Going to try n get out from under dd

So, all in all then, not a hugely good day all round in the brooking world?

lol biscuits!!

Has your DH arrived home yet? Is he forgiven?! My DH says he is like Herpes- once you've got it, it's for life! (he said that after I tried to dump him the second time- as you can see, being married to him and growing his second and third children, he refused to be dumped way back when!!! good job really ) so I imagine that would mean mine would also be resistant to divorce?! Current reasons would be- Grand Theft Duvet, usually at 2am, annoyingly saying at least you're 23 weeks now (last week), errr, no dear, 21, not wanting to come to my scan that much, not doing any household jobs when he looks after DD, not doing any household jobs full stop, not taking nay baby name suggestions/discussions I try to have with him seriously...

purple lovely to see you glad Hugo still doing well. Love the socks story!! My DD carries random items of her choice around a lot (occasionally socks, often toothpaste, our electri toothbrush, landline, her favourite monster vest... our house is littered with rubbish this way!)- maybe she helped them get there?!

scream, big sympathy for the BIL disaster... your scan will be fine- his visit? Potentially much worse! Do fill us in to distract me from wallowing in tiredness and gloom

not much to complain about today. had a parenting fail at tea time though. DS got too hungry and refused to go into the kitchen, let alone the highchair. then i realised there was poo, so i had to change him, cue even more tears.

eventually, to calm the meltdown i sat on the couch and watched cbeebies while he had a nutritious dinner of Ella's kitchen Mango baby brekkie. followed by pudding of blueberry and pear one. he loves those wee pouches as an occasional bribe snack, they are called 'squeezies' apparently. not normally for dinner though...

i think i may have to bake tomorrow too. i love baking.

i get looked at like for being about a millisecond late at the doc, they'd fall about laughing if i turned up an hour late

sorry to hear about all the crappy days, glad to hear good scan and appointment news though.

get well soon dream's DD and musical.

oh and getting off your face on gas and air helps with the needle thing.

Morning Brookers

Am currently being reunited with my insomnia . DH got up at 3 to go to work but fell asleep on the loo so has gone back to sleep until 5. I now can't sleep because I'm worried about him and his work and the fact that I can't do anything to help. At times like this I do feel very 'pointless'. Naturally I work very hard looking after ds () but I don't have the stress that he does and I just wish I could help him.

And I wish I could sleep - I thought this pg insomnia had buggered off.

Anyway, Musical I hope you're feeling better soon. Resting up sounds like v wise advice - you have to get better and who cares about your arsehole Friday employer (of course I get that really it's the kids you don't want to let down).

Dream hope a more restful night is being had at Dream Towers and you eventually got out from under DD?

Jaggy bless you and your teatime troubles. I'm sure we've all been there (or will be there) in one form or another though and at least you got to have a nice snuggle with ds?

Ninja super fab scan news again!! And bless your Dad for bursting into tears - awwww. Did you already tell your ds? I think you did no?

Purple loving the sock story. It's amazing where stuff turns up isn't it!

Scarlet I would have been very too about the doctor thing. We were 10 mins late the other week for the doctor (stupidly we had to go in the car as we had to go straight on somewhere else, and it is literally a 2 min drive from the house, but no time to walk home with ds after and then the traffic was hideous and I couldn't turn right out onto the main road - was literally stuck there for ever!!!) and the receptionist was very about it. I think they only saw us at all because it was ds - I bet they'd have told me to sod off, but probably didn't think ds should be disadvantaged further after clearly having been landed with such a disorganised mother .

Hawthers - hope all is well. I am so excited about the very first brooking baby!!!

imps always lovely to see you popping in m'dear - we'll be able to keep you here soon though, rather than just these little visits - hope Father Christmas brings you an agreeable pee stick

Hope everyone else is well. And that all those still 'in the closet' are doing ok with the festive season.

I'm getting my hair done later and bits and pieces like that. So another day faffing about while DH busts his guts . I just want him to be able to finish everything.

He actually said to me last night 'the lesson I've learned is that to get anything done I just need to do it at the weekend' (so as not to get interrupted by emails and phone calls, of which he gets a phenomenal amount).

I actually had to point out to him that that probably wasn't a very good lesson to be taking away from all this. It makes such a negative difference to him and his productivity when he's worked all weekend (or conversely, such a positive one when he's had a proper break from it) but when he's under the cosh so much there often isn't a choice. He just seems to have been so busy for so long and I can't do anything to make it better .

Right I'm off to see if a biscuit will send me back to sleep?

Laters preggos xx

And (even in that mammoth post) I forgot to say, Wants - bah humbug to the car and lots of things going wrong. I know v little about cars but I believe cam belts are bad news? It happened on my nuns car once and was v expensive.

And bah humbug to your BIL too Scream. If your DH knows you don't get in he shouldn't even be suggesting he stays for do long. You'd think at 31 he could entertain himself in a flat in London for a while? Especially if he has mates etc. hope DH sees sense and changes his mind?

My mum's car, not my nun's .

Although I do know a nun....

Ha ha, I have single handedly out this thread at no 4 on the most active threads .

I'm guessing not many people up at this time then

I quite often end up talking to myself on threads biscuits so this has made me feel better

my insomnia is a bit better at the moment, i was lying awake every day from 3/4 am and going a bit nuts. worrying just makes it worse though eh! i am a professional worrier which does not help with the getting back to sleep.

it sounds an awfully stressful situation for your DH. :( Is it a particular busy time/piece of work or is he this busy lots? just hoping it will get better and calm down for you soon.

although I'm the only one working in our house, i feel lucky that my amount of shifts is fixed so we sort of know what to expect.

don't downplay how busy you are with DS, I'm off for a week and v tired chasing him about. also he has a much busier social life than me somehow... look after yourself :)

I'm not too stressed about tea time, i just wistfully remember when you could serve him up pretty much anything and he'd eat it any time. he's so suspicious now...

Oh biscuits sounds rubbish - dh has been through periods like that as well, most memorably straight after paternity leave! I never noticed pre dd as was so busy myself but when you're at home alone juggling all the house things and the kid(s) it makes you feel a bit lonely and invisible I find. Fingers crossed that over Xmas and the NY he finds a better balance. He'll have to once the littlest one comes along!

DH reached a good agreement with his boss yesterday that basically gives us some breathing space so that's good. he was shattered and stressed which I understand but he seems to fail to understand that it stress me too so I too would have happily joined the 'divorcing brookers' at 10pm last night!

Dream - hope your dd gets better soon and that you get some sleep. brooking for no puking for you.

scream - Urgh problem in laws. You need to plan lots of stuff to do alone when BIL is there!

Pomme glad your DH has found a bit of breathing space with his boss - these things are so stressful aren't they!

MrBiscuits is often this busy sadly, but it is always emphasised before he wants to take time off as he tries to get everything finished. He gets an absolutely astounding amount of emails and phonecalls during the day (I mean he can be out for a 1-2 hour meeting and get 10 emails to respond to) and on top of that he is supposed to do his job as well. It's very difficult to balance and so if he's trying to do client work in the office he is constantly interrupted by emails / calls / staff and it's really hard to knuckle down to anything.

I just want him to be able to finish so he can have a rest. The annoying thing too is he will be totally shattered when he does finish so will need a massive lie in every day - understandable but annoying as it seems to waste the family time we then have together. And then he feels bad that he's working so hard and letting me down when he's promised to have time off (even though I am jolly understanding about it all generally speaking) and then I feel bad that he feels bad about that.

But I mean overall we have a really nice life and live in a nice place with lovely DS so we really can't complain too much. I mean its our choice for him to do the job, and he gets paid for it (after a fashion), it's just frustrating when it really peaks busy-wise.

Oh and the best bit - you mention the new arrival Pomme? My due date is at his BUSIEST time of the year! Ha ha . Early March would be manageableish, although he'd still have to go back in to get stuff finished off while he's off and if I could hold it in until April apparently this would be better still. But the actual due date - very inconvenient apparently .

Anyway - I WILL stop moaning about it now.

Oh, and I woke up to find DS had had a nose bleed all over his bed so it looked like something terrible had happened when I went in as it had just been in his sleep so was all over him, his bed, etc etc. I now have a huge pile of bloody washing, and I don't mean that in the expletive sense . Any tips for getting blood out? I know to avoid hot water and my mum always used to just use soap and cold water until the blood was gone, but any magic tips?

I am actually considering just going to see if they still sell the duvet set as it was his favourite .

Dream how are you and DD this morning? Hopefully some sleep was had? Musical you too - feeling more rested? Hope so.

Typo - in a 1-2 hour meeting DH would get 100 emails to respond to , not 10

I've heard something about salt and blood before but that's probably when it's wet.. I'd be looking for a new one myself :)
My DB used to have amazing nosebleeds during the night - mum would come into find it smeared all over the walls as well as the bed. Scary!

Better get practicing your leg crossing for mid-end March then biscuits :)

This baby is not waiting until April.

No. Way.

DS was early and i'll take anything after 37 weeks this time.

DH will just have to suck it up.

So. There.

If he wants the baby to arrive in April he can carry it from 37 weeks onwards!

Heehee.

Imagine if men could help carry the baby. Bet pg symptoms would get a lot more attention then!

Morning all.

Thanks for all the well wishes. Oddly I'm feeling less rested this morning, despite only having to get up to be ill six times in the night (instead of the 14 last night!). Feeling worse as well - maybe it's mainly a morning thing? Anyway, a lovely quiet day today now I'm not at work, with a potential theatre trip this evening - anyone heard of Fascinating Aida? :)

In 'other news' I'm annoyed with Annoying Employer again as they arranged cover for me today, but haven't asked me for any cover work, which I had lined up! Who knows what they're trying to teach the kids...

Biscuits - sympathise with DH's workload - only not with my DH, but with my Dad! He gets a mad number of emails - and always has to work during some of the Christmas hols, but limits the amount he does. I've frequently gone through his inbox over the holidays to help filter out some of the junk mail, just to bring the number of unread emails (normally 2000+) to something that looks a little less scary. Sorry to hear about the nosebleed-no tips from me I'm afraid, I'm useless with stains!

Glad your DH has managed to negotiate some breathing space Pomme :)

I have come briefly to confess my awful parenting shame...

Last night, dd was up crying at 9, 11, 11:30 and at midnight (no sleep for any grown-up by this point), when Dh said this is ridiculous, went to get her and put her in with me and disappeared to the spare room... Couldn't get her back to sleep, with me or in cot, gave up 2:45, stuck her in her cot and left her, still whinging and crying at 4 am (so i haven't been to sleep at all yet) when i totally lost it, and was shouting saying shut up, we all need some sleep, stormed downstairs to get her some water, joined her in some (exhausted) crying, Dh fuming I'd made her worse by getting upset and shouting....

Disasterous.

Oh, and Dh has hand foot and mouth now. He's at work. He rang the health protection agency and because it is a 'mild viral illness' it does not need quarantining. So, can someone tell dd that please?!?! And I feel very guilty that he is knackered, ill, sore blisters on his hands and feet and at work for a busy day, plus its his work Xmas night out tonight.

Me me me

I'll come to and do better later...

Oh no dream! Poor all of you - I so don't blame you for getting so upset, sleep depravation is a method of torture and sleep depravation whilst pg with twins and the puking is just RUBBISH. It will have no effect on her at all and your dh would probably have been a lot less annoyed if he wasn't ill or tired too. Are you drugging her enough with calpol ?

The docs told me no quarantining when dd had hand foot and mouth (she got it mildly - no mouth bit) but nursery wouldn't take her until all spots had scabbed over.

Oh Dream you poor poor sweetheart!

I'm not surprised you were at the end of your tether with no sleep whatsoever! I know when they're poorly you feel like you should be Florence nightingale but when they're 'whinging' all the time, even if you understand why it gets to the saintliest of souls!

I know I've been there when DS is under the weather and you feel like saying, I get that you're ill, but stop whining - just either snuggle up and be poorly or be better. Stop just moaning about everything! And I do understand it's not their fault - its just the constant-ness of it all.

And it's not like this is the first sleepless night for you. Plus what's that other thing? Oh yes, you've had terrible sickness yourself and are growing twins in there!!!

Seriously, please don't be so hard on yourself. Are you off today? Do you think you could enjoy a snuggle / doze with dd and CBeebies or a DVD?

In my opinion, you just need to find a way to get from one end of each day to the other at the moment. Doesn't matter how you do it. And make sure you're remembering to eat and try to look after yourself where you can too.

Also any chance of anyone coming to help you with dd? Did you say your dad sometimes comes up to help?

Thinking of you xxx

Dream, you poor poor thing :(

I hope you're off today, and can take it as easy as possible - for both you and DD. As Biscuits said, you've had an incredibly tough time of it - the universe needs to give you a break! :(

You've been so amazing considering you're looking after an incredibly poorly DD, are growing twins, working as well AND still have morning sickness - it's no surprise you broke last night :( I mean, I lost it yesterday after DH left, having not done something (small and insignificant) I'd asked him to do, and subsequently burst into tears at the postman when he delivered a box of chocolates. And I don't have anywhere near as much to deal with as you do.

Thinking of you too, hoping your day gets a lot better..

Hello all, just got back from preschool Christmas party, 50+ children. It was quite fun in a manic kind of way! Rather embarrassingly I had a hormonal break Down due to all the crap over last couple of days! No parents there fortunately.:( just thinking to myself now, we are all well, I am getting a whole nights sleep so I need to be grateful for that:)

dream so sorry to hear you're all still having such a rough time. Is there anyone who would be willing to have your DD overnight? Just for one night so that you and DH can get an early night and catch up on some sleep.

Biscuits I'd be and too if DH had to work that many hours. Getting up at that time for work is awful even when it's shift work, never mind doing it as additional hours. Is it really necessary or is he just very concientious?

musical I hope you have a lovely night out at the theatre tonight.

scream I'd be miffed at anyone expecting to stay for that length of time, never mind it being someone I don't get on with. If he feels the same as you, why on earth does he want to stay with you anyway?

I'm full of cold and very tired today. DH is at his work's Christmas party tonight and I'm dreading him coming in later. He gets terrible verbal diarrhoea when drunk and I know I'll have to hear every tiny detail about the evening before he starts snoring and I'll be left wide awake and .

Oh Scarlet sorry you're all coldy . Hope your DH isn't too talkative when he gets home. It's so unfair when that happens isn't it. If it was he other way round there is no way I could stop DH from dropping off if I wanted to talk, but if he's the one wanting to talk, he'll talk and talk and talk until he drops off and then leave me wide awake. And then snore because he's been drinking.

Muscial not heard of your theatre thing, but I am hideously under cultured . Do have a lovely lovely time though - hope you're feeling better by then xx

Dream I like Scarlet's idea of someone else having dd for a night so you could sleep? If you could find someone man enough for the job, it wouldn't even matter if she didn't sleep that much if she doesn't sleep at home? You just need a willing volunteer? Like some respite care!

Scarlet - I would say its a mix of necessity and conscientiousness on DH's part. And I guess the fact that the buck stops with him so if he doesn't answer stuff now it'll just be there waiting after his holiday, but the client will be more irate by that time! I do understand wanting to break up for holidays with a clear-ish to do list. But everyone wants stuff done for Christmas.

I just feel sad for him as he was so looking forward to the time off

i just wrote a long post and then the computer crashed and I lost it all!!!!!

It is not my day...

Thanks for all the supportive comments everyone. However, I am well aware that shouting, crying and generally losing it is not going to help get a baby to sleep at 4am. Very embarrassed about it all, and worried about what dh will say about it when he gets home... Couldn't get dd to sleep for her nap today either, so walked her in the pushchair in the end, it lashed with rain- had her raincover, no coat for me, so i'm soaked. I did already resort to cbeebies, breaking my own rule of no-telly-til-after-tea... oh well. And I only work 2 days a week, I'm just getting so tired even from that, I'm clearly being a bit wet.

scralet, sorry you're full of a cold, hope it gets better soon. When I had a problem with my bank card I got one posted out really quickly, so I hope that happens for you too.

biscuits, your poor dh- and you. I know what you and pomme mean about it being so hard to have your dh stessed at work and be able to do nothing about it. Its hard. And it does sound so much easier saying well, we went to toddler group, then did X and Y....

wants, 50+ pre-schoolers! Pandemonium, at elast you survived. Hormonal outbursts are par for the course in pregnancy, dont worry.

musical, what a shame you feel worse after a still bad but slightly better night- very brave to be continuing with your social plans regardless.

Anyway, gutted, but dd coughing her guts up and woken herself up. I must just accept this is not my day!!! Better go and get her...