The PESH are rooting for a cluster-diff! Over 3 years of hard fought baybee wins.

[HavingALittleFaithBaby]

The Not-list:

BESH BAYBEES

dontrythisathome, girl born March 25 2010.
Cheggers, twinz girlz, born April 2010.
FannyPriceless, boy, born June 8 2010.
CurlyCasper, girl, born June 24 2010.
CUNextTuesday, boy, born June 29 2010.
AlpinePony, boy, born 1 July 2010.
Carrots, boy, born July 2010.
IggyPiggy, girl, born July 2010.
Cosmosis, boy, born Sept 5 2010.
Backinthebox, boy, born Sept 7 2010.
Skatergrrrl, girl, born Sept 10 2010.
VAG, boy, born Oct 2 2010.
Silversky, boy, born Nov 1 2010.
SomethingSuitablyWitty, girl born Nov 2 2010.
Honeymoo, boy, born Nov 11 2010.
okiecokie, girl, born Nov 12 2010.
ReginaMonologue, boy, born Nov 13 2010.
Lightspaperstandback, boy, born Nov 14 2010.
Maswera, boy, born Dec 24 2010.
PollyPoo, girl, born Jan 5 2011.
MrsFC, boy, born Jan 7 2011.
ChoChoSan, girl, born 6 Feb 2011.
Ginhag, boy born 11 Feb 2011.
Muser, girl, born 15 Feb 2011.
CluckyKate, boy, born 18 Feb 2011.
Perfect Dromedary, boy, born 23rd February 2011.
Casserole, girl, born 19th March 2011.
Medee, girl, born 26th March 2011.
StiffyByng, girl, born 17th May 2011.
Scorpette, boy, born 21st May 2011.
Rocketleaf, girl, born 23rd May 2011.
TwinkleToes, girl, born 7th June 2011.
Laurielou, boy, born 9th June 2011.
Orchid, girl, born 24th June 2011.
Ginfox, loving the new mega-boobs, due 12th July.
LadyGoneGaga, girl, born 24 July 2011.
Mrbitey, boy, born 29th July 2011.
Macaroonmum, boy, born 28th July 2011.
Owlbooty, boy, born 18th August 2011.
Ocarina, girl, born 6th September 2011.
Mountie, boy, born 27th August 2011.
Truffkin, boy, born 25th November 2011.
Islegrin, boy, born 14th December 2011.
Barbiesbeaver, girl, born 6th January 2012.
BrownB, girl, 2nd February 2012.
Alpinepony, ?13th February 2012.
KatandKit, boy, born 13th April 2012.

blonderthanred, boy, born 26th October 2012.
FriendofDorothy, boy, born 14th December 2012.
QueenRollo, boy, born 21st January 2013.

Need dates:

Rollerbaby, No pink here, expecting boy due March 20th 2012
IveBeenExpectingYou (CockDodger), A very active baby girl, due March 28th 2012
Silver, hoping for an easier sneeze, due mid-July 2012
Starryeyedmole, regretting recently investing in scales
cakeandcava approaching walrus proportions, DC1 EDD 21/10/12

LazyMachine (38) DC1 EDD 9/2/13
CamelKnees (34) fat and fatigued DC2 EDD 22/04/2013
HaveALittleFaith (31), getting rather rotund, DC1 EDD 23/4/13
fertilityFTW (34), weepy and whiny, DC 1 EDD 21/5/13
bluer, (33), peeing and puking, DC1 due 22/08/2013

Welcome to our new home! Right, time to get that baybee out lazy!

We decided just to go with the nhs in our local clinic. The nct one is in the nearest big town as we live in a little rural place so I wasn't sure about them from the pov of meeting people. However perhaps there would be older people there due to the cost.
I feel the nhs ones are covering what I need to know and I will hopefully meet people at baby groups !

There weren't any NHS classes in our area. Don't you think that's kind of bad? Like they assume you either don't need them (just wing it) or you'll have to pay. I guess NCT are cheaper if you're on low income but its the not quite low income enough to qualify....the cheapest classes are £80!

To be honest jeffers, I'd stay in denial...nothing can really prepare you! Anyone who tries to warn you comes across as unhelpful. You'll start getting Put some sleep in the sleep bank when you have pregnancy insomnia and are peeing 4 times a night! Just have a vague notion that the birth will be hurty but by the time it rolls round you'll just want the baybee out and it's only a day or so out of your life...prepare your home as best you can - I luffed that mine was clean! - and do stock up your freezer/food cupboards with easy meals. That's made our lives so much easier! Then just face it as it comes. That's my advice 5 weeks in! Do try to read that Womanly art of breastfeeding though - so, so helpful!

I do think that's really bad Faith. I had assumed they were available everywhere.

We did the NHS ones which were fine. Most new friends have been made through antenatal yoga and then NHS/LA postnatal classes & groups - first time parents course, baby massage, Rhyme Time (do you have any of these Faith?) There is also a NCT bumps & babies group which I've been to a few times but I prefer structured activities, I am not very good at the more informal coffee morning/playgroup type ones which require me to go and introduce myself to people!

Thanks Faith, I'll have a look at that book. I'm already feeling the pressure to breast feed and having seen 2 of my closest friends really struggle with it I sort of already resent it.

I'm a bit OCD about a clean house & we have a cleaner so that should be ok. I might follow your lead with the batch cooking although we don't have a massive freezer. SSG is great at cooking too which will help. We have decided to bite the bullet & go look at pushchairs etc next weekend

My advice about breastfeeding is simple. In the early days expect it to feel uncomfortable and even hurt but keep putting baby to the boob and see how you get on. It took me a good few weeks to feel confident that his latch was right and that we were doing a good job.

Unfortunately, I think if you expect it to be a nightmare then it is more likely to be so.

Yes joops there's a music group in my village that does a 0-6 months meeting I plan to go. I'm also planning to go to the breast feeding support group near me tomorrow (which the midwife said is really good). I've also met up with a MNetter from my ante/post natal thread who had a baybee 8 days before me. She's just moved to the area. She has a DD who is 2 as well so has the bonus of having experience of being there before but also sympathising about having a brand new baybee.

My one piece of advice with BF is expect them to want it nearly all the time! Otherwise you keep saying Surely you're not hungry again? and the answer is nearly always Yes!. It's exhausting initially but it does get easier.

Now Faithlet is a bit bigger sometimes she actually needs a change of scene not just food. My sister brought round my nephew's baby gym and she stopped crying when she went under it! :)

That's awful that there's no nhs class faith...tbh I'd read most of it already but it was nice to be able to ask things. The nct class here was 210 I think! !
I feel the bf pressure...I really really want to do it but one of my best friends has become some what militant about it and is currently training to be a advisor type. She actually said to me that formula was the equivalent of not strapping baby in when in a car and told me formula babies are more likely to die of stomach problem I really feel she's going to judge me if I can't do it. My other friend couldn't and i'm much less scared of telling her if I feel I can't.

^ that attitude is exactly what I'm talking about pink. I'm not even saying I'm NOT going to do it but I already feel worried about talking about it if I had an issue. Which I probably won't. I think women feel the need to be evangelistic about childcare in general. What's right for you doesn't necessarily translate to being right for anyone else. I really hope I learn to keep my opinions to myself unless I'm actually asked for them.

Jeepers formula isn't the devil! It has its place. Some babies would not survive without it! I just preferred to BF and was worried about my supply if it was introduced too soon. I found this NCT page helpful about mixed feeding when MSB was keen and I wasn't.

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.birthchoiceuk.com/Professionals/BirthChoiceUKFrame.htm?www.birthchoiceuk.com/Professionals/FeedingResearch.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this page also has some interesting stats. Basically saying wait til at least 6 weeks before mix feeding to establish supply. We've had no problems giving Faithlet a bottle of expressed milk, only thing is hand pumping is a pain so I'm looking forward to the electric pump I bought off eBay arriving (hopefully tomorrow!) :)

Your friend sounds like a pain in the arse.

My advice is to give bf a go.
Persevere but if it becomes too horrendous, for whatever reason, then do something different!

I know she's judged other people so if I can't then even if she seems supportive I'll know she thinks badly of me. I think she's just been lucky and took to it well.
I too promise never to judge others or give unwanted advice!

I am sure that both pinkr and Jethro will do fine.

I'm sure I will too Dor, it just might not involve evangelical BF!!

When my baybee was 36 hours old and starving they encouraged me to FF her from a cup. I said at the time - I want to BF but I'm not so precious about it that I'll refuse to feed her formula if that's what she needs right now. I hand expressed colostrum so that she got the goodness from that and it helped my milk kick in. I think you have to do what's right for your circumstances.

What a good night! Faithlet gets a gold star - fed til 9, took ages to settle but after she did she slept til 2.30, fed for 30 minutes then slept til 5.45!!!! :) so much sleep!!

I really don't know how to tell her that she's become a bit ott. She's been great i'm a lot of other ways and she is one of my oldest friends but the bf thing scares me the way she's so set. I know though that if I need help with it she'll bend over backwards...I just find the other stuff too much.
Of course everyone has they're opinion.. Don't even ask about mil...

I am feeling shitty tonight. A

All the photos I have seen of me this week I look terrible. My arse looks fucking enormous and I feel really vulnerable. I think my MIL's gentle undermining of me this week is really getting to me.

Edward just wouldn't stop crying and that made me cry even more.

I will join you in the feeling shitty comer dor. Sadly it's myself undermining myself. My breast pump arrived and I broke it immediately. This has sent me down a negative thought process. Have my 6 week check on Friday (happily with the luffly female GP at my practice) so I will say about how I'm thinking/feeling then. She's alright - full of milk and fast asleep on me!

How long are you away for dor? I gather from t'other place you didn't have a good night?

How did you break it? Can you get replacement parts. Chin up. You have lots if milk and a happy babe. All's well.

We are away until Saturday. If it was just me and The Mister and the boy it would be lovely.

Not to mention the inlaws are coming to stay for another week in 3 weeks time.

Submerged the pump and motor . Ordered a new one but its half as much as we paid for the pump again. I have a sleep babe who whines every time she's put down. I guess I'm just feeling a bit low. Ironically we had a really good night. Took ages to settle her last night (it was 10.30pm before she finally went down) but then she slept til 4am!

I was moping too because I was meant to get my hair done but my hairdresser is sick. My hair is all frizzy and I feel crappy because of it and they can't fit me in until next week. Instead I have been proactive and booked into another hairdresser. Scary (no-one else has done my hair for about 5 years!) but I only need a tidy up so I'm going for it. Also leaving Faithlet with my Dad for the first time but have a bottle expressed in case he needs it. He's actually quite excited!

dor you make me feel quite fortunate that MSB doesn't have much contact with his crazy mother! Hope you have a nice day out.

Hmm, pump is now turning on again...about to try it!

It worked [grin[ so much easier!

How on earth did you manage to submerge the pump?

Which pump did you buy in the end?

Bought the Phillips avent. The pump isn't that big and was attached to all the other bits so I um, bunged them all in the steriliser?! the blue bit on the top right is the pump. Ah well I got 5oz expressed today. One full baby snoozing now. I best settle too!

Hope you had a nice day dor?

How is everyone else doing? pink do you get half term now?