We will have a calm and worry-free pregnancy with lots of jumping beans and bouncing babies and will BROOK NO ARGUMENT on that (Part 7)

[TooImmatureTurtleDoves]

no nice meal here either, i had a ready meal earlier, as DP working late, so he won't be back till after 8, and i would be absolutely ravenous by then! He has offered to take me out another night when he can get back earlier, and i received a delivery of a big box of sweets and another with 6 helium heart balloons and a very soppy message, so romance isn't completely dead!! Although i didn't think we were doing valentines this year, so had to rush out this afternoon and buy a card and a couple of token pressies for him.

And dream re creme eggs.....surely you don't need any justification in eating 2 eggs, that's one for each baby!! (now the question is, what are you then going to eat that is for you?! :) )

My old stretch marks were never red, they are just silvery now but they show up in certain light!
dream and too you reminded me I forgot about my creme egg again( it is hidden inside a tiny baby hat in my room!) I am happily munching on some red grapes now, the closest I'm going to get to wine tonight!:)
Ds1s GF is sleeping over tonight so I better go and make the sofa bed up for her!

So nice that lots of you are having lovely romantic evenings - I feel quite the spoilsport .

Happy valentines one and all

Don't worry Biscuits, I'm not doing anything romantic! It's just me, the cats (who seem to have deserted me!), a bowl of gnocchi and some mint imperials. And Grey's Anatomy. While DH is out restauranting somewhere! Grr...

I'm still stretchmark-less too Scream, though I'm a few weeks behind you (27+2). I've been religiously using Palmers and some oil from Sanctuary, but I don't think they'll help much - I reckon if I'm destined to get them, I'll get some, and they'll appear in the last couple of weeks..!

Mine appeared in the last few weeks last time, will see I'd they get any bigger this time.
loopy I like your way of thinking re the Creme eggs.

Ah, the romance in the dream household. I have finally escaped dd's room and am sat uncomfortably on the landing eating my first creme egg alone. Dh got back late from sitting an exam in Manchester to pass an accredited course to qualify to sit another exam in May... Goodness knows how he'll revise for that once babies here. no cards, presents or soppy anything here.

I do think stretch marks are your genetics. My mum has none from 2 pregnancies, as does a friend of mine- she used no bio oil or anything. First time i thought I'd escaped til someone asked if I'd checked under the bump- gutted!

So,erm, what am I going to do about this going to bed palaver with dd?? 7 weeks 1 day if I don't go into labour before that... Nap never allowed past 3:30 absolute latest anymore. She's knackered for that and goes down without a squeak. She is always taken out or encouraged to run.around post-nap and made bedtime a bit later to ensure she's tired. This won't be able to continue with two newborns around...

First time I thought I was escaping stretch marks until DH noticed them under my bump when I was in the bath at about 33 weeks. I was gutted and cried and they grew slowly but surely for the next 8 weeks. Still, despite having only 3 months between pregnancies they faded away very quickly and I still wore a bikini on holiday in May (in private!) because it felt too weird not to, in spite of the stretch marks and the flab. I just refused to let DH take any pics - problem solved!

I'm getting my DH to check under the bump for me - so far, so good! I've already got silvery faded stretchmarks over my upper thighs from where I suddenly put weight on (when I gained my curves - I'm not complaining, I'd rather have silvery stretch marks and curves than no curves!), which I presume means I'm prone to getting them. It's only a matter of time!

Sorry Ninja, meant to say earlier - congrats on a wonderful scan, and on the news it's a girl! How exciting!

I think deep down I'm still thinking my LO's a boy, though I did dream it was a girl last night.. hmm!

Oh! A question for those who know... what advice can you give me on what a baby should sleep in? Not clothes wise, but blankets or sleeping bag wise? It's one thing we haven't yet got - I keep looking at all the choices in Mothercare/JL/Mamas and Papas and being befuddled. I asked my mother today when we were out shopping and she said she wouldn't know what's best anymore... but I'm guessing some of you will? :)

Sorry, posted in a hurry as forgot the choc brownie pudding was in the oven! Mmm.

Dream, there is a thread in AIBU at the moment about the sleep dilemma here There are lots of ideas there. It degenerates into a bit of a bun fight about controlled crying, but before that there's a lot of advice. I don't have any techniques to pass on, but hopefully there'll be something here that you haven't tried yet and which works like a charm.

I want to get drunk too! Properly drunk, not just have one measly glass. It will be ages if bf works out as I hope and pray it will. I suppose once I'm confident in the feeding and have worked out expressing (ie, months down the line) I can express enough to allow me to get pissed. Probably won't take much more than one glass by that time. I sound like a total alkie, don't I?

Hope all the poorly DC are much better today.

re sleeping bags, i highly recommend the merino kids ones. Because they are merino, they stop a baby from overheating, and you can use the same one all year round - so don't need a summer tog and a winter tog, and they come in a size that fits from premature through to 2 years of age. They are dearer than gro-bags etc, but it made sense to use, as we bought 4, and thats all we have needed for DS, he is 15 months and still got space to grow before he is too big for them, he sleeps soundly every night, and has never overheated, which gave us peace of mind re cot death risks. (we got 4 as he has reflux, so needed spares, but most people would probably just need 2 to cover the 2 year period, one to wear, one to wash!) And there is a slot in them for you to use them in the car, for the car seat buckles to slot through. DS was a terrible wriggler from day 1, and always kicked his blankets off, as soon as we got these, he was sleeping 8 hours overnight (at 6 weeks) and now can sleep 11hours minimum at night, up to a max of 12 hours 40 record sleep time, plus average of 3 hours+ of naps in the day in them. Also stops him getting his legs stuck between his cot bars, which happened when i put him in his cot for a daytime nap without a sleeping bag on when we first moved him into his cotbed!

Aagghh I've had another hectic couple of days, not even had time to log on never mind post. We're full on up to our eyes in rubble and dust. Work on the house is causing havoc and I'm stressed stressed stressed. There's stuff everywhere, it's impossible to keep clean, DS is really out of his routine and playing up BIG TIME and I'm almost at the point of major meltdown. DH is so laid back and relaxed (one of the things I usually love most about him) but in times of crisis it really winds me up! The worst of it is being housebound with DS. As we have workmen in who we don't know and DH is at work I feel as though I can't leave the house.

DH and I have never treated Valentines as significant. Luckily we both feel the same about it. Bah humbug

Ninja So pleased to hear your scan went well and congratulations on your little girl

dream sorry to read you're back to your post on the landing

musical re sleeping bags. Definitely recommend them rather than blankets. We tried various brands before discovering Purflo. I highly recommend them. They have detatchable sleeves which are fab for when it gets colder, you just zip them on. They're also made from anti-bacterial and non-allergenic filling. You'll probably struggling to find them in a shop, but if you Google Purflo there's a huge range online from various retailers including Amazon. They're a bit more expensive that Mothercare, Grobag etc but we found DS slept so much better with one it was worth buying a couple.

Biscuits I hope you're all on the mend soon and DS is feeling much better already. My DS is still completely wiped out from his illness last week. In fact I'd still say he's not fully recovered. He's still coughing all night and it took until Sunday for his temperature to go back to normal. Our GP said his cough could last for weeks

Thanks for the link too. Sadly its all cc, or be consistent, don't give toys/lights/attention and gradual retreat. I don't talk to her, go in and whisper 'its bedtime, lie down and go to sleep( then never look at her and do.gradual retreat to landing and shush shush shush or a bit of humming if she's crying more). I always do the same. Her bedtime routine is always the same. hmm. It is improving gradually- she's often lying down quietly when I leave the room initially but its only been a handful of nights we've not had her making a fuss... Cc is not for me. Not with her at least. argh!!! Not long left for her to get the message fully!!!!

scarlet, sounds crap. How long til the works done??? Poor you. Dd still coughing. We're into about month 4 of the coughing...

I use grobags but the merino sound seriously good loopy, I've got some merino tops that are fab so will definitely have a look at them. Our grobags were all hand me down n got loads though so bit of an extravagance.

Dream I'm sure the gradual improvement will get there in the end. Is she in fairly good health at the moment? We just all have to brook very hard that she's not knocked off course again by another illness.

Stick with it though - it sounds like you're doing all the right things

I am also new to the world of sleeping bags. My boys just had sheets and cellular blankets. I have actually been given a couple and I bought one second hand. I think they will be useful as this house can get chilly at night.
I have another busy day for me, hospital group,uni library and pop into work to have a tidy and clear out and then grocery shopping! I am very grateful at the moment that I do not have a toddler in tow!
Sorry to hear you are finding the work stressful scream have they given you a time scale?

She is, coughing but cheerful enough biscuits and she has slept through once finally asleep for the last nearly week . It's the bedtime business that needs to improve!

I wish my cough would get better, I'm getting worried about my pelvic floor!!!!!

Sorry I think I mean scarlet these pages move to fast !

We got given a couple of grobags and ds really liked them.
Off to work today, think I might start a countdown to mid May as have no motivation and my mat leave cover is already advertised.
Laters alligators!

I hear you on the coughing Dream and the pelvic floor. DS has this nasty cough and I'm getting it too and every time I cough energetically I'm panicking! Also, throughout this pg, coughing has made me retch so that's a bit grim too!

Sleeping bag wise I love them. I've never heard of all these fancy pants ones, because i was very under-educated when we had ds. We just had grobags, or some from mothercare or M&P. This time if it's a boy it'll have to have ds's as they're all in good condition. If its a girl i might investigate some of those suggestion as I may be able to justify a new one or two. Although we had several neutrals before.

TK Maxx often has cheap but genuine grobags though.

And yay for dd sleeping through once she is asleep, that's a huge step in the right direction as hopefully it means that if she is waking in the night she's getting how to settle herself. So she's getting there - just need to convince her to do it at bedtime

We had a merino one that I loved. We'll be using that again. Spare winter one was Mamas and Papas and spare summer one was a hand me down.

We had some from MIL when she was little that didn't say the tog on and weren't from a company I knew so I never used them. Was that a bit precious of me?

Dream - Is there anything enticing about bedtime for her? DD has a dummy at night and although she now totally ignores it in the am loves seeing her rabbit clock so both those things make her more willing to go to bed?

Ooo lots of sleeping bag suggestions to check out, thank you all! Sounds like sleeping bags are definitely the recommendation from you all then? I shall do some hunting around when DH is home this weekend! I'll have a look at the fancier ones, though I'll admit the prices are putting me off for the 0-3 month ones - just because I imagine they won't be in them for long! I can see the benefits of investing in one later though, where they'll be in them for quite a while. Maybe I'll put it to DH like that - a couple of cheaper ones for the first three months as we don't know how long they'll fit in them, then a more posh one for when they're bigger (and when it's colder) - think that might work a treat .

Dream, glad DD's getting there! It sounds like she's made a huge improvement since her series of many illnesses..

Ninja, I also have no enthusiasm with regard to work. Actually, let me rephrase that - no enthusiasm with regard to work I have to leave the house for! Not having problems with regard to the composing/arranging I have to do from home, it's the leaving the house at silly o'clock and the rest of it I hate. Six and a half weeks left til ML here! :D Plus I've already gone on ML from my 'worst' employer (one day a week, but it's a start). Think I might have to do a couple of KIT days just after going on ML for year end, but that shouldn't be too painful...

Lovely day at home today! Sadly part way through the day I have someone from the letting company coming round for a 'house inspection'... but hopefully that'll be relatively pain-free.

Musical our smallest grobags were 0-6 mths which wasn't so bad. And we put him in them as soon as he was big enough as he never really took to swaddling (or I wasn't very good at it!) although I remember the mw insisting I should be swaddling him and we used to hide the grobags and leave a blanket out when she came round, although she never even went into our bedroom to see his crib! To be fair though, not many people are still under the mw 3 weeks after the birth.

And I meant to say Scarlet hope the building works are over soon. Can't be easy at all having to stay in with a 'getting better' DS.

DS is at that getting better stage where they're not right yet but are better enough to want to do things, but then not well enough to be able to do it properly so get really frustrated. Over silly stuff too - for some reason after illness DS seems to launch a series of totally unreasonable demands (like wanting chocolate for tea, or wanting to stay in the car while I go round the supermarket) and then has a total meltdown when the much anticipated 'no' is given! And much as you know they're just tired / poorly still it's so difficult to deal with the whingyness. Especially if you're ill too!

Anyway I'm brooking that the builders are out of there ASAP. Are they doing everything or will you be left with decorating etc to do once they've gone. Hopefully it will be one of those sorts of things that seems to have been going on forever when it happens but soon becomes a distant memory once it's done.

Like Dream's bedtime battles will be

Ooh, Biscuits, 0-6 months isn't so bad! The Purflo ones on Amazon seem to be 0-3 months, which I think is too short a time to convince DH to invest :P The Merino ones look gorgeous, but they're so big! I suppose that's the point though. Will do some hunting in Mothercare/TK Maxx this weekend and see what we find.

I remember you mentioning your MW and her insistance that you should be swaddling before! I wonder why they dislike sleeping bags, especially as so many mothers swear by them? Plus they eliminate a lot of the risks they warn about with blankets I imagine? Most bizarre...

I didnt know you could get 0-3 month sleeping bags. I won't be bothering, 0-6 were fine for me. I also only knew about grobags as they were our hand me downs!

I haven't been doing anything 'fun' around bedtime pomme, kept seeing 'no fancy light/ sound toys' in advice places but a clock might be an idea. She gets 3 stories of her choice though cuddled up with mummy- what more does she want?! ignores the 65,798 books we read in the day