Flying mattress graduates - dock here!

[festiemum]

Hey chaps! Here's the space for us to witter on incessantly about our pregnancies!

20 week scan today and it was soooo fantastic! I'll post some pics on my profile later. The sonographer wasn't 100% sure, but thought that it was probably a girl, due to lack of visible meat and two veg!

Hope everyone's doing well! xxx

Disco glad you are feeling good and sorry to hear about feeding problems. We had issues to start with (Lily refused to eat for 12 hours and then struggled to latch) I know it's worrying but it will pass and if you have to mix or bottle feed it is not the end of the world - look at the gorgeous phoebe!

Love the photos Rus, Phoebe is gorgeous and has changed so much! I have mixed feelings about weaning. Excited for Lily to try new things but also sad my little baby is growing up. Oh well a couple of months to go yet.

I was dieting but the month we conceived was after I decided to give up so not sure how that works with the girl/boy theory!

Hope things are going well Moo and Count.

Festie where are you?!

I was lovely reading back through the thread. There are already so many things about the pregnancy and early days I had forgotten!

Lily still amazes me every day. This set of jabs doesn't seem to have bothered her like the first ones but she is so much bigger I wonder if that helped. She is still smiley and lovely,the main side effect seems to be better sleep so not complaining there!

Been to work to ask to go part time. Hopefully that shouldn't be a problem but need to write a letter to request it and never seem to have time to do it. Need to make it a priority this week.

Hi ladies - my lil miss has had the " spot" breakout!
Face covered!!!! Not happy, although I know it will pass!
I'm mainly breastfeed but if need be will give her some formula!
Even though the last 2 times she threw the 1 ounce she drank back up even from her nose!!!!!!!! Sad to see her heaving!
Ok will read and come back!!!

Hello ladies!!! Wow this thread has moved along at some speed in the last few days!!

Count massively MASSIVE congratulations to you on the birth of your daughter - what a beautiful name as well. Sorry to hear that it was maybe a little more traumatic than expected, but at least you are both ok and LO is healthy and happy:) Hope that you are being well looked after during the healing process!

Disco hope that you are now back at home and that the feeding is getting easier and you too are healing well after the birth etc.

Rusulka Phoebe is just toooooo cute. Wow how much she has changed in such a short space of time. I must remember to take loads of photo's when mine finally makes an appearance. As for the raspberry leaf tea, I'm not really a fan of fruit teas so will not be partaking in any sort of drink made from it!! Will just keep bouncing on my ball for now.

Lil how lovely to hear from you, it's been soooo long! Glad all is going well with Lily. My EDD is 6th April; it can't come soon enough. Baby is full term now so she is welcome to make an appearance ASAP!! I can't take much more of this. Can't believe that there is only me to go as well. Feels like we have all come so far on this journey.

I am doing everything possible to try and keep occupied. Am still planning my home-birth and have a risk assessment tomorrow with the midwives and need to order the birthing pool as well (i did call last week but was told to call back closer to 38 weeks, which will be this week!). Have a list of things i need for the birth, most interestingly is the sieve; my DH keeps asking questions about this and I keep directing the subject elsewhere. Sometimes i think ignorance is definitely bliss and he will thank me for it later. Can't take these cramps and pains at the minute though. Just want something to happen. Was awake for a couple of hour this morning with them, then managed to get some sleep, went for a walk, came home and made lunch and now they have kicked in again. They are far too irregular to be anything exciting though and think it's just my body getting itself ready. Is very annoying though. Might ask the midwives about it tomorrow and see what they think.

Right, I've talked enough. Best get back to doing the laundry and emptying the dishwasher.

Hopefully next post will be with exciting news.......but i seriously doubt it!!! :)

Count glad the feeding is going well and you have something that works for you have (apart from the sick bit!) I remember when Lily got loads of spots, was upset as she was so perfect before but it doesn't last long and shows she is getting lots of goodness.

Moo can't wait for you to join the mummy gang. Sounds like your body is getting ready - i didn't get a thing before hand and ended up induced and strapped to machines so although it's a pain now hopefully you won't have to deal with that and can have a lovely home birth.

Lily has decided she doesn't want to eat properly during the day - 10 mins of pulling on and off and wanting to swap sides does not a meal make. I ended up taking her to bed yesterday pm just to get a decent feed inside her. Going to get her weighed today and pop into bf group to see if anyone has any advice. Bit worried as she has only just been signed off by the hv due to slow weight gain and don't want to go back to her visiting every couple weeks.

On more exciting news she has slept 6 HOURS STRAIGHT !!! This is twice what we normally get

Lovely photos Rusulka! They really do grow up fast, don't they?! She's gorgeous at all stages though, I do like the one of her in the Father Christmas hat the best :)

Hi Count, Alec has had a fair few random red bits on his face and body too, the nice SCBU nurse told me about rash of the newborn which I confess I'd never heard of before...mine also throws up every other feed, hopefully it won't affect his weight gain too much. He has yet to chunder through his nose though!

Moo I may be an isolated case but even the next morning after a forceps delivery with spinal block and episiotomy I felt better than I did when I was in the last 5 weeks of pregnancy! I could bend over, my heartburn disappeared overnight, I could breathe...I was still weak and if I walked or stood up for more than 4 minutes I felt a bit funny but the midwife told me it was probably abdominal and back muscle strain from pushing so hard. I felt pretty darn good (well, apart from the UTI and the dermatitis brought on by hand washing) after 3 or 4 days. So any exciting news?

Lil six hours straight?! Wow! I'm sleeping really lightly for the first bit of the night, even him murmuring gets my heart racing. I hope this will pass as I probably only got 3 hours of broken sleep last night. You are right about the mixed feeding, Phoebe looks gorgeous. The more people I speak to the more I find out about feeding problems. It is kind of the other side of the secrecy surrounding miscarriages etc - people don't like to talk about it cos they feel like they've failed/didn't spot the signs etc etc.

Well, we were let out yesterday! He is now at 8% below his birthweight (or was yesterday). It was brilliant at first but then I got seriously scared. Mostly about not being able to breastfeed, as my nipples were/are so so sore. The night was broken up, I spent most of it listening to Alec murmur and my DP snore (no problems for him dropping off, lucky him!) I only really got to sleep after the 3-4.20am waking.

This morning I tried the biological nurturing latch position and it was much better, still hurty but better. The midwife came round then and told me I was doing a good job (and was enamoured of the dog, who ate some yellow acrylic paint yesterday and now has a partly yellow face). I fed him some EBM but he still seemed a bit hungry so unfortunately she encouraged me to feed off the same breast as before, rendering it so painful...so when DP got back from the dentist I was pretty upset. I am very tearful at the moment.

I had to give him formula at 1pm as my nipples hurt too much to even express which made me feel crap again.

However, I had a shower and felt a bit better, then we went to the cafe in the park which is our first family outing. I had an afternoon nap (sorely needed) and then Alec had a go at the new position on the other breast and I topped him up with EBM. I expressed enough for two top ups after that, hurrah! And both nipples seem ok. So the formula feed was a good idea after all.

And that was our first night and day on our own...what will tonight be like?!

Hi Disco. Sounds like you are doing amazingly. Breast feeding isn't as easy and natural as it's made out to be at the beginning but it does got easier. I did have to be quite bloody minded to keep going sometimes. Have you got the purple tube of cream that i can:t spell - lansinoh or similar?! Use it after every feed, it helps. Also if nipples get really bad you could use shields for a bit to let them heal. But yes there were days when i dreaded the next feed and cried my way through them. If it helps it is fine now - nipples of steel!!- apart from the blocked duct i have atm.

Glad you are home and he is gaining weight. Take care x

Oh and is the biological nursing position basically lying down with baby finding their way? If so tis amazing and only annoyed no one showed me until Lily was about 8 weeks. Hurts much less

Hi Lil, yes that is biological positioning.

I'm getting frustrated with the feeding now. I got a great latch on Friday at breastfeeding group but by Saturday pm we had lost the knack. Yesterday it was great again for a few feeds, now it's back to normal. Can't for the life of me figure out what he/I are doing differently.

Not helped by the growth spurt he's having ATM (at least I hope it's a spurt and not usual) as he's feeding every two hours...doesn't even leave me time to express.

Had a really great day yday but things getting on top of me a bit today. Sounds pathetic but I want my Mum :(

Disco it's not pathetic at all. It's tough going sometimes and you still have lots of hormones racing around. Sending big hugs and hope you have a better day tomorrow x

Sorry been absent for a while, thread fell off my tabs!

Disco how are things going with latching and feeding? Hope they're improving and you're getting the knack- this biological position sounds awesome, wish we could have tried it. Bloody arse causing problems again! I talked to my parents nearly every day once DH was back at work and it was nice to someone to sympathise. It does get easier. If you don't know anyone with babies, I can heartily recommend going to your local childrens centre to do baby massage or an incredible years baby program- we've just done that, it finished last week- they're looking at doing other stuff so we can continue meeting as a group, and hesitantly, I think I've made at least one friend- and they don't live too far away! It's good to be able to bounce worries and ideas off each other, and we had a midwife as one of the three people leading the group, so any queries were quickly dealt with.

Moo have you popped yet?
My SiL has her 20 week scan the day you're due, I'm so jealous! Can't wait to be pregnant again, assuming we're so lucky. I'd love a home birth, but think I should maybe go down the hospital route again just to thoroughly exorcise those fears surrounding last time. I expect I'll need to be induced again next time anyway, but I don't know whether that was because of the bum. Hmm.

Count how are the spots doing? Phoebe's went quite quickly.

Weaning seems to be going well. Porridge for breakfast- I recommend the ones made up with water as it's a pain in the arse getting it from their bottle hot enough that they won't refuse it! She has fruit in the evenings, although 3 days of mango on the trot has given her them, lol, whoops. Gave her a yoghurt for the first time today but don't think she was impressed! Hope she comes round to the idea, there's another 17 in the fridge...

Well I'm cooking an easter roast tomorrow, the first I've done since I had Phoebe I think. Going to try one of those 4 bird roasts from Aldi, hope it's nice.

Hi Lil, Rus, Count, Moo and Festie (if yr around).

Well it seems that one good day of breast feeding is followed by one painful day. Really don't understand and I'm finding it depressing tbh. Not helped by all these bloody bank holidays meaning support is cancelled. I went to a group on Wednesday buT without wanting to be snobby they were only peer supporters and couldn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Where I am there is only one NCT group a week which was buggered up this week by being on Friday.

Rus, I am v lucky in that my NCT group were all nice, and I know another new mother from my choir so I've got 8 (!) new mums to knock about with. Having said that I think Easter means people have other commitments. Luckily my mum is coming down for four nights tomorrow.

Lil, how did you find recovery from your forceps delivery? I thought I was doing alright but have found if I sit on hard chairs or walk more than a bit then I get really achy. The wound itself has healed despite a couPle of sutures coming astray so must be nerve/tissue issues I suppose. I also have urge incontinence but I think that has got better over the last few days.

The baby and I are both still on antibiotics. Mine might be working, his are. Can't wait til Wednesday when the courses finish. Will be one less thing to worry about. Hilariously though the female doctor tried to tell me I couldn't possibly differentiate sensations from different parts of my genitals (apparently I can't feel my urethra itching - yes I can actually, piss off). She examined me roughly (really needed that 18 days post forceps and with UTI) and proceeded to ask me if I knew I was bleeding?! Yes you ignorant woman, it's called lochia, I had a baby recently!!!!! Will not be seeing her again if I can help it.

Rus, sounds like the feeding experiments are going well! What's up with yr bum now?

Right, time for some more feeding pain. Hurrah.

Rus glad to hear weaning is going well and hope Phoebe starting to love her yoghurts! Are you doing puree or BLW? Sorry sure you have said before but can't remember.

Mooany news yet?

Count the spots don't last too long, hope they are easing now. Lily now has cradle cap and it's starting to flake out but is taking her hair with it :(

Disco I found the same wrt feeding. After a good day I would feel really positive about it but the next I was in tears and agony. It does get better but not as fast as some say (I was told it would be better after the first two weeks ) Just take each day as it comes and soon you will get 2 good / 1 bad, 3 good / 1 bad etc etc.

Recovery was a while as my stitches 'gaped' and I had to have antibiotics. Also ended up constipated (I think through BF and not eating/drinking enough, you must look after yourself) and the worst thing was when I got piles too though - never rush a poo whatever happens, it is not worth the weeks of pain!! Prob tmi but was about 14 weeks until I felt myself again and could sit on hard chairs!

Glad to hear you have met some nice mums and have support. Hope you are both feeling better soon and don't beat yourself up about the feeding x

Going to have to try expressing as going to need to leave Lily during the day to go back to work and she will still need milk. A lovely friend has given me hers so going to have an experiment. Does anyone know how long you can store frozen milk for?

Sun is out so off for a walk this pm.

Lil I read on Babycentre you can keep breast milk in the freezer (at -18 or lower) for up to 6 months. Has to be a proper freezer though, as opposed to the icy bit in the top of some freezers! Don't know if anyone still has one of those...

Disco sorry to hear feeding is still regularly giving you grief. As Lil says, it does get easier, but everyone is different, so don't feel you've in any way failed if you haven't cracked it by now. You'll settle into it in your own time, and then you'll be sailing!

Well, we were at hospital Saturday night with Phoebe- she's fine, nothing drastic, just that's where the out of hours doctor was.

She had diarrhoea at some point in the afternoon, and just wasn't herself. When I tried taking her temperature early evening (in her mouth) she projectile vommed practically her whole bottle (about 6-7oz). Naturally I was well freaked out! But after that I did it in her armpit, and although she did have a temp per se, she wasn't herself.
Let DH know at work, who rang me back and said he'd sent his dad over in case, and eventually I rang the out of hours doc who rang back with an appt for 10pm. So we picked up DH from work and FiL dropped us off- by the time we got there and took her out of her fleece and blanket, she was ridiculously hot, and when the doctor took her temp it was 39, which was a bit upsetting. He checked her over, said her left ear was a bit red, and prescribed amoxicillin... he also said that she needed calpol NOW to reduce her temp, and of course we didn't have it with us. The only chemist still open was Boots at Bluewater, so off we went, and had to buzz for the pharmacist to come and get the slip, at which point he said that he couldn't do anything with it, as they'd put a brand name down- amoram- and they didn't deal in those- it needed to say amoxicillin specifically. Grr. I did however manage to get her some nurofen, so I gave her some of that, and then we had to go back to the hospital, get him to write it down, then go back to Boots. I was out for blood!!! Got the antibiotics eventually, but what a faff.
DH looked up amoram online and it's been discontinued for use in the UK, which makes us wonder what the bloody hell it's still doing on the NHS's system!
A few days in, and she seems fine- I've stopped her food though, as she's got constant bright yellow diarrhoea with more or less undigested food, and I know how painful acidic poo is. She still has porridge for breakfast, but that's it.
I'm in a dilemma though. I don't think she has an ear infection. My mum said her ear could just be red from teething. DH has got norovirus going round at work, and he's been a bit ill. They were both eating from the same container of mango on Friday... and that was the third day in a row I'd given her mango. So I think the mango upset her tummy a bit, the high temp was from whatever she got off DH, and the only reason she threw up is because I made her gag on the thermometer!
So she's on her 5th day of horrendous bright yellow nasty diarrhoea, which is pretty much being caused by the amoxicillin. She's not taking as much of her bottles as she normally does, and she won't take much water. I'm worried she's getting dehydrated, and I want to stop giving her the meds, but everyone around me is pressuring me to finish the course.
Antibiotics don't work on viruses, so effectively all I'm probably doing is killing off her good bacteria.
Argh!!!
Only 2 and a half more days though and she's all done. Guess I should stick with it... but my mother's instinct is telling me to stop it. Feel so conflicted. :(

Sorry Lil meant to say, I'm sort of BLW- really it's a bit of both, because her porridge is just wallpaper paste really, and the fromage frais is obvs on a spoon- but when it comes to fruit and veg I try to give her chunks. She likes to hold a broccoli 'tree' and suck it to death- just make sure it's got plenty of trunk for her to hold on to. And the other day she was sat with a chantenay carrot in each hand biting chunks off quite happily.

Update

Contacted NHS 111 last night at the end of my tether, cue ring backs from a nurse at midnight, and finally a doctor at 0240, yes. I should stop the antibiotics. But not the food. Sigh. Back to bed. DH apologises for not believing me. 0500 I'm woken by (tmi) crapping myself. Not an innocent fart as I expected... explode on loo, change pants, back to bed. Then hear Phoebe doing some rather epic farts of her own. They're not squidgy though, so probably ARE innocent. Up again at about 0645 for another loo dash. Manage to get back to sleep, then at 0740: wah! Phoebe bursts into tears! Have to get up and dressed, and change her. More explosions on my part, none on hers. Feed her porridge. DH goes out early to work. I have a slice of dry toast on his suggestion.

Nearing the end of the day now, and Phoebe has had diarrhoea on and off, and my arse is in possibly the worst state it's ever been in. It feels like it's been turned inside out, and the piles, which I thought I'd got rid of, are back with a vengeance.

My mum has agreed that I probably shouldn't have given Phoebe porridge this morning, and just stuck to her bottles. I think I've been to the loo about 20-30 times. :(
Did I mention I'm supposed to be driving to Coventry tomorrow to visit my sister? An ill Phoebe is one thing, but if I can't stray far from a loo, it ain't happening! Wah... and we were going to see my folks in Norwich straight after too. :(

Totally shouldn't have had that toast this morning, it's just prolonging the episode.
So. FiL has gone to retrieve DH from work (he's been with me all day keeping an eye on Phoebe so I could get to the loo in time- didn't make it 3 times this morning) and hopefully he can have tea (I'm not eating! Sod that!) and I will have a delicious bubble bath and try not to turn it brown (sorry). DH will have boy time and then come join us so him and Bee can have a splosh, assuming the water doesn't look like the North sea on a particularly bad day.

What a bloody day... I'd laugh, but all I can do is hallucinate about food!
Hope you've all had better days!

Oh dear Rus, that sounds horrid!

You have my sympathy. I've had episodes like that before, not nice. And how unfortunate to coincide with no doubt long cherished travel plans :(

Xxx

Hello!

It's been a long weekend of ups and downs, but we did manage to get away, to Coventry AND Norwich, and got home yesterday. Clinging to the car for the rest of the day and been to Morrisons for a good old mooch, then off to Bluewater later to see if I can spend my Mothercare voucher in relative peace without feeling like I'm holding anyone up- collect DH from work, drop off car, home, and a massive hawaiian pizza for tea. :)

Need it!

In the end I had 2 days with no food, pretty much, as sometime on Friday afternoon while I was packing, Phoebe had an accident and I ended up in the walk-in centre. Argh!

I know you're all going to be either horrified with me or wincing in sympathy, but Phoebe has just started sitting up herself- bit wobbly, but I really don't want her on the floor as if she falls. she'll bash her head on the boards, so I've been letting her sit on the sofa- I know, I know...
Anyway, she was sat quite happily, I noticed she was looking for one of her toys that had gone over the edge, and as I turned around to do some packing I thought oh, I'll get that in a minute, at which point I heard a thump.
Oh, I was nearly sick. Phoebe was lying on the floor on her back near the sofa. The silence quickly turned into screams as she cried and cried and cried. I couldn't tell how she'd hurt herself, whether it was shock or what, but once the angry red face subsided a bit I could see a big red mark on the side of her forehead- she must have rolled forward over the edge of the sofa, spun in the air and hit her head (hopefully a glancing blow) before landing on her back.
In that horrible 5 minutes wondering what the fuck to do, I thought we'd better go to the walk-in centre. Out we went with me with wet hair, and I rang DH on the way but my battery died before I could leave more than 'Hey love, on my way to the walk-in centre, Phoebe's...'
Got there and had to wait 2 hours to be seen. It was horrible, knowing she could be badly hurt and it was first come, first served, but as we waited, and a little boy did various antics to amuse Phoebe, she laughed and laughed and I thought she was probably fine. Eventually we got in and yeah, she's ok. Bounced well. Doctor said we could still go away (phew!) but to watch her for 48 hours, and if she vomited more than once, to go straight to the nearest A&E. Wah!
Home, to try and get packing done, as DH was finishing work early, and as I was walking down our road he leapt out of the house and came pelting down the road towards me. He looked so fraught I couldn't help laughing.
Then the whole drama unfolded.
He'd gone for a tea break around 2pm, happened to check his phone and got the message 'hey love' in a panicky voice, before it cut off. He couldn't get hold of me, so he started to get worried. He rang his dad, who hadn't heard from me, and my dad, who hadn't heard from me either, then got a taxi home, frantically walked to the shops trying to find me as he knew I was going to Aldi, rang my friend from baby group, who hadn't seen me, and then his dad was out in the car looking for me. They even went to the police, and FiL was on his way to the hospital when DH got hold of him to say he'd found me.
He'd thought I'd either had an accident, been ambushed by a gang, Phoebe had been stolen, or I had either left him or was dead. (Umm, overreaction!)
What a palaver!
So that was our Friday.
Things we learnt: DH is going to change his answerphone message (it's really long). If it hadn't been so long I'd have been able to leave a proper message before my phone died.
I am going to double check that my phone is charged before I leave the house, or just upgrade the damn thing so the battery isn't quite so crap.
I'll leave a note to say where I've gone.
Also maybe ring someone and let them know what's happening before I leave the house, so I can use the house phone if need be.

Learn from my mistakes! I think DH aged 10 years with the worry.

Hope your weekends were less fraught!

oh Rus, what a time you've had :( I leave Lily on the sofa propped up as she can't sit alone yet because she prefers being able to look around instead of lying down all the time so you have massive sympathy from me and I will learn from your mistakes. So glad Phoebe is ok, that is the main thing x

Good to hear you are eating again and are both better, it must have been a nightmare. How is your bum now? Hope it is healing and all the toilet visits didn't mess it up. Enjoy your well deserved pizza!

Expressing is not going well but only tried yesterday so will give it another go today and hope I get the knack soon.

Lily has her final jabs today. She has only woken once a night for the last 3 nights so really hoping the jabs don't mess her sleeping up as this is major progress!

Hope everyone else is ok. Any news yet Moo?

Well, I didn't get to Bluewater as DH phoned just as I was about to set off to say he was coming home early ill. Had to just pick him up and come home, then lose the car (wah, no shopping). Ah well, not meant to be.

In good news however, saw the nurse yesterday, (DH said the night before that my bum hole was 'bulging weirdly') and she said that it's because it's healing!!! OMG!!! Actually fucking doing something. Shit the bed! So, we're to continue dressing it every day, but NOT clean it, and when I have my baths, I'm NOT to wash it. So basically, don't interfere with it, just keep repacking with clean stuff, and not shoving it in too far, and fingers crossed...

And Lil, no, it was my other bum hole that got messed up by the epic toilet trips, lol.
Great that Lily is sleeping better, in my experience the jabs don't make any difference to sleeping patterns, but obvs it depends on how she normally is after jabs. I wouldn't have thought the beginnings of a good pattern of behaviour would be completely ruined by jabs though. FX!

What else... oh, weighed myself at my sister's and according to her scales I have lost 3 and a half pounds- woo! Although, since then I've been at my mum's, and had 2 roast dinners in 2 days, loads of biscuits... and I went to the supermarket and bought loads of naughty crap, which is why I find myself finishing a bag of chocolate brownie popcorn for breakfast today, whoops. Methinks I shall undo all the good work the diarrhoea did... wonder if a voluntary fasting day this week would make any difference? Hmm...

Moo have you popped yet? I'm going to assume you have unless we hear from you in the next 48 hours... and then I'm cracking out the party poppers!

Jabs done :) Think she knew what was coming as when I had her legs out and was holding her in the position she cried even before the nurse jabbed her :( On the plus side she seems her usual happy self and slept from 9.45-6.45!!!! fed for 30 mins and went back to sleep until 9.45 This is unheard of. I woke up with very painful boobs and a blocked duct though.

Don't worry about the weight Rus - I've got back to pre baby pretty easily (thank you BF) but stuck there and could do with losing another 1 1/2- 2 stone. Just don't have the motivation at the moment.

Great news about your bum and hope your DH is ok.

Expressed in the morning yesterday about an hour before feeding Lily and got 2 oz in about 5mins - very pleased compared with the day before.Didn't want to do too much as worried Lily won't have enough but done another 2 already today and will do some more later so hoping for about 4oz a day.

Hope everyone is ok and am getting ready to crack open the bubbly for Moo and her LO xx

Hello ladies, sorry that i have been very quiet; just trying to keep occupied and keep my mind off the fact that I am 6 days overdue and STILL bloody pregnant. Had a sweep on Wednesday, utterly useless as my cervix was only 1cm dilated and of a medium consistency, although it had started to shorten. All the mw could manage was a bit of a wiggle rather than a full sweep, so not much use really. Booked in for a post dates assessment on Tuesday (also DH's birthday) and hoping that they might offer to induce me then; means that my home birth plan goes out the window (slightly annoying considering the pool has been up in the living room for almost a week now and the house is in complete disarray because of it!) but at this point I just want her out. I want to meet her and start using all the things we have collected over the last 9 months (an obviously I want my body back and the whole labour thing to be over). I am also getting a little fed up of the constant how are things messages!!

Rus so sorry for all that you have been through lately. You really have had it tough. Hope Phoebe is ok after her fall. If it's any consolation, when i was about 14 months or so, my mum put me in my play pen/cot because the door went and she thought i would be safe in there. Little did she know that I was a nosey little bugger and when she went to answer the door, I was so keen on seeing who was there, i fell out of the cot. She was mortified, but these things do happen. My DH was dropped on his head as a baby by his cousin and another friend of mine, at the age of 2 (she was an only child) decided that the best way to get some attention was not to have a tantrum etc but to throw herself down the stairs, which she did!!! All these things are probably not very helpful I know, but I just don't want you to feel bad for what happened. These things do happen and babies are extremely tough and resilient!! But :) :) YEY for the bum healing :) fabulous news, so pleased for you.

Lil also pleased for you that the last set of jabs weren't as traumatic as you were expecting and that she managed to sleep and feed fine afterwards. Fab news. Also pleased that the bf seems to be coming along. Out of everything, it's the one thing that is worrying me the most once my LO is here. So concerned that I won't be able to do it or that she won't latch correctly. Sure it's only normal anxieties but still a worry nonetheless.

Right, I am off to eat some pineapple as instructed by the midwife. Have already tried epic long walks, spicy curry and going up and down the stairs. Nothing seems to be working. I keep telling her that it is so much better on the outside, there are so many people waiting to meet her and things for her to see and do, just think she's made herself a little too comfy in there.

Hope everyone is enjoying the milder weather too. Might even try and attack some of the garden this afternoon (or may well end up bouncing on my ball and finishing my jigsaw with some choccy biscuits!!)

Hopefully my next post should bring some good news..........hopefully! :)

Oh Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo the pineapple won't work unless you eat about 8. Sorry. All you'll get is a sore tongue.
The gardening will probably help though! As will bouncing on the ball. FX for some progress soon!
Induction isn't so bad though...

Lil yay to the awesome sleeps! Sorry about the boob issues. Squirt it out in the shower, worked for me!

Phoebe has spent 2 afternoons now playing with her friend from the baby group, which has been pretty awesome, nice to have a friend (for both of us). Her mum reckons they'll be best friends growing up, they were both laid next to each other and Phoebe had her hand on the other little girl's leg, like marking her property, lol. I think they'll get on famously til a boy gets in the middle, then all hell will break loose!

I'm completely over Phoebe's fall now, trying to be more on the ball, but she's my first child and it happens, I don't know what to expect and realistically she's my guinea pig- my parents were wonderfully sympathetic... after all, I broke my nose when I was 2 jumping up and down on the sofa, then slipped in my socks and smashed my face on a marble windowsill- I had so much bruising to my face that my mum had to put foundation on me, all the Germans used to think she'd been beating me up! So they weren't really in a position to judge.
Just really hit home how much I have to watch her like a hawk!

Cheers Rus - yeah I heard that the enzyme needed is only present in tiny amounts, but I did enjoy eating half a pineapple (DH came home early and started munching some too!!). At this stage I'm not too bothered about being induced as I'm just so excited to meet her!!

Great news that Phoebe has a little friend, how adorable!! And that you have other 'mummy' friends too. Must be nice to be able to chat to women who can be understanding to how you are feeling and how things are going!!

DH just making me breakfast in bed, then I must get up

Well the grumps set in yesterday pm, but a bit of calpol seems to have done the trick.

Moo sorry you're still hanging around but induction is ok. WRT feeding my top tip is refuse to leave the hospital until you have established feeding and have fed DD alone a few times. It's a pita staying in but was worth it. A friend hated being in hospital, left having never fed her DD alone and her DH ended ringing around petrol stations at 2 am trying to find formula while their DD screamed and refused to feed :( She was on bottles from then on - not saying that is a problem but if you want to give bf your best shot I would stay until somewhat confident.

Also I never bought any formula. There were times when it hurt and I was in tears and if it was in the house I would have given in and used it, instead by the time I had the opportunity to buy it I was feeling stronger again and didn't. Sure this isn't for everyone but worked for me.

Finally if bf doesn't work out for whatever reason it really is not the end of the world

Hope you get to meet your DD soon xx

Just a quick post to say I'm being induced tonight at 9:30 eeeeeek. Next post and hopefully she'll be here