It's all balls, bicycles, and babies for the PESH!

[maamalady]

Antenatal fred for BESH graduates

CRESH

Faith - pinky faithlet arrived 14th April 2013
Pinkr - suitably pinky one arrived 25th August 2013
Jethro - blue one arrived 23rd September 2013
Noks - pink one arrived 12th January 2014
Frankel - large pink one arrived 10th March 2014
Merks - pink one landed safe and sound 21st March 2014
Sinky - Stubborn blue one arrived 26th March 2014
Driz - blue one arrived 12th June 2014
Kat - pink one arrived 21st June 2014

PESH

Draf - Expecting a late pink one EDD 19th June
Winks - EDD 26th June
Ginger - Miniginger due 13th August
Dor - A very special pink one expected 18th August
Euro - eager Centime expected to arrive a lot sooner than 28th August
Buggerlugs - Buglet due 20th October
Fankle - ESHlet expected 4th January
Cunty - Minichops expected 7th February

So the June cluster is halfway through laying, and then we're on to the July/August batch! Are we even going to have time for Wimbledon and Le Tour and the World Cup in all this excitement?!

I went by the NHS list which says stilton is fine, because its a hard cheese.

Cured meats are probably fine too, tbh. Stilton is definitely fine, though, go forth and chow down!

The calf and I went out on a trip today - walk and bus ride and lunch with NCT. She was so good until walking back from the bus stop when I think the heat just got too much. Poor hot baby! Feeding solves all ills though :)

You'll be fine bugs, step away from the menkul.

euro you might want to check to see if her uv goggles look a bit uncomfy - dd's were the wrong size initially (they were moving around and so digging into the side of her nose) and she was much happier when they changed the size. May not be that of course but thought worth a mention. Glad she's doing well on the feeding and sleeping.

The night sweats lasted a few weeks for me last time round. Is the hormones. I'm not having them anymore which I am very grateful for in this weather.

Sorry for prompting the menkul, bugs. You'll be fine. I largely went by the NHS guidelines but ignored a few (runny eggs and the odd glass of wine in particular) where I didn't think the evidence really supported them. I can't eat cow's milk so it was fairly uncomplicated for me.

Thanks mini. She has a ridge on her head from them so they were too tight for a while but even the looser ones don't seem to make her at ease under the lights. She seems to like being held and swaddled so being stripped to her nappy and left bare stresses her. Her levels are creeping up again, so I think she will be back under them tomorrow. :(

A few weeks kat. Bleugh. I dozed off on the sofa earlier and woke up absolutely drenched and had to change.

I did my first nappy change tonight. A proper poonami, through the incubator portholes, with instructions being given by several different people. It wasn't what I had hoped. I thought I would be able to be incompetent at those sorts of things in the comfort of my own home! It didn't make me feel good and I'm a bit weepy now.

My Dad and sister and her family go on holiday for a week tomorrow. I wish they weren't going. I am quite paranoid that something is going to happen - either I am going to go into labour when they are away or their plane is going to crash or something!

My night sweats lasted a few weeks too. It was not pleasant!

Euro the first few poonamis are stressful, but you'll soon be a dab hand. Honest. Don't forget the nurses have seen it all, they won't have batted an eyelid. I remember buzzing for a midwife in the middle of the night on my second night in hospital because E was crying. The midwife asked if I had checked her nappy. I said yes and she took one look and said "There's a huge poo." I could have sworn there was nothing there when I checked 30 seconds earlier

Oh euro poor little mite. Last suggestions: is she on her front or on her back? They are much happier on their fronts when naked (less exposed feeling), and with all the monitors the risk is very low. If she has to be on her back, has she got rolled towels around her/under her legs so she feels a bit more cosy/foetal-like? They did this for DD a lot, it doesn't get in the way of the light if it's under them.

PS changing a nappy in an incubator has to be about a million times harder than on a changing mat I'm sure. please don't feel bad.

They do have her on her front sometimes and she does seem a bit happier with that. Otherwise we spend ages standing at the side of her incubator with a hand on her head to try to calm and reassure her a bit.

The nappy thing was shit - literally. I felt completely incompetent. I'd never changed a nappy before in my life and it was a very complicated way to do it that just left me feeling crap.

Changing a nappy for the first time, outside of an incubator is hard enough, let alone in an incubator!

Don't beat yourself up about that.

euro you are not incompetent and I absolutely forbid you from feeling that way. You are learning a whole raft of brand new skills which are hard enough at the best of times, never mind when there's a physical barrier AND you're recovering from major surgery AND you've been through hideous amounts of stress. Incompetent is me this morning somehow managing to let the baby pee all over herself and drench the grobag in wee.

dor how are you feeling today? Your anxiety is understandable but I'm hoping its passed? Everyone will be fine, and a week isn't long. How far along were you with the Little Mister when you went into labour?

I am lying in bed listening to an almighty hail and thunderstorm while the baby feeds like someone warned her it's her last ever chance. I got my first ever 'to mummy' birthday card today and the room suddenly got dusty :) (the room is very dusty anyway. Must dust some day.)

Awwww, happy birfday Winks

Incompetent today was me trying to run a simple errand in town with two children in tow. Total disaster! Only saving grace was the fruit cooler I treated myself to once I retreated to Costa. Parenthood is full of moments of feeling incompetent, we are all just learning as we go.

Happy birthday winks! First mummy card is a special one to treasure :)

June layers, what are your newborns wearing at night? Seems to be hard to get it right at the moment.

Aw, that's awesome winks. Happy burfday.

dor how are you doing? Have you managed to get any reassurance about the "wobbly bit" you mentioned?

We had the storm here too. I got drenched!

We had two lovely visits today. This morning we did some more incompetent nappy changing through the incubator portholes but are managing to see the funny side now. And then they helped me try her on the boob for the first time. She only managed about three sucks before she got tired and pulled off, but at least she gave it a go and seemed to get the general idea. Most babies only have to get a drop or two of colostrum the first time they try when she needs to take a full feed, so it'll take a bit of work. We'll try again tomorrow, but it was a good start. And then this afternoon my parents came with gorgeous gifts for her and had a lovely visit to see her for the second time (they saw her briefly the day after she was born). They are completely smitten. :)

Love the look bugs

euro that's fantastic, well done both of you. Of course your parents are smitten, centime is a wee dote.

kat the baby seems happy sleeping in a nappy and a grobag, either 1tog or 0.5tog depending on what she hasn't sicked on. It's between 24 and 26 Celsius in our room at night.

I saw the midwife yesterday. She wasn't sure about the wobbly bit - initially thought it might be a fatty deposit but then I said it had only appeared a couple of days ago and also put on 5lbs in a week. She then thought it might be excessive fluid, as my ankles were also a bit swollen.

The baby was quiet yesterday so she sent me around the ward for monitoring. Awkward little madam did nothing for about 20 minutes until I had some cold apple juice and then she woke up. I have felt some movement today but she is definitely quite quiet.

The Little Mister and I went to see my Dad and sister and her family off at the airport. I then cried on the way home. I am so worried something will happen to them whilst I am away and I am just missing my Mum so much. I feel very abandoned tonight which is very unlike me.

Oh dor. After what happened I can understand that it must be really hard seeing other family members off on holiday, but they will be fine, and so will you. They will be back before you know it and ready to welcome your new arrival to the family.

bugs there is really nothing glamorous about pregnancy or the post-partum body. When I get out of the shower I have a race to get knickers and pads + bra and breast pads on before bits of me leak all over the floor. It's grim.

Oh, we finally have a name. I can't believe it has taken us a week to choose between X Y and Y X. I think we were just too tired to be decisive. We're telling grandparents tonight so will put it up on t'other place tomorrow. :)