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?!

Ginge I hardly had any Braxton Hocks and certainly none in the run up to labour I just walked and walked, and bounced.

Bugs I didn't bother with the bed pads either! I think it was Faith who said to use puppy training pads instead as they're cheaper

Happy Birthday btw Faith

HWHNN's grandpa's funeral is booked for 4 Sept so we're waiting to find out if they'll let him come back for it. We had a chat about it this morning (he has Sunday mornings off) and he warned me that if they did let him it would be for a very short time, most likely land in the UK on the morning of 3rd then fly back out the following night, so we'd get about 36 hours together, if that allowing for travelling to and from the airbase.

This is going to sound awful but I'm not sure I want him to come back for such a short space of time. Having not seen him since the end of May, to only see him so briefly then have to say goodbye again (although only for another 3.5 weeks) will upset me all over again. Does that make sense? I feel like a horrible person saying that out loud

Happy birthday faif

I might be exactly the same, frank. It can be harder to see someone for such a short period of time. You're not a horrible person. Here, have the skate of stoicism.

I bought some bed pads but didn't use any (of my own - the hospital put some under me immediately post section as the pads aren't very effective when there is a catheter in the way). I also bought the Tena pants that my mw recommended instead of maternity pads but didn't get round to using those either. Any london PESH are welcome to a bag of unused absorbent products if they want them!

I can understand that frank. I guess you will deal with it either way.

Happy birfday faif!

Thanks for the birthday love! I have consumed and had a nice day :)

I did use puppy training pads but they made me sweat quite a lot and I was already hot in bed! My waters went when I was on the sofa leather fortunately! but the pads were handy to sit on in the car when I travelled to be examined and they were still leaking a lot!

Happy birthday faify :)

You ok now bugs? Buglet wriggling ok? Time for a new toaster, I think.

Today I am mostly sitting around, amusing the baby and watching The Sopranos while HWCA is at work. All very agreeable, but I feel kind of guilty - should I be doing more? We do go out most days...

winks, if baby is happy, and you're happy, all is good! Soon enough any will not be happy with sitting round the house all day and you'll be providing entertainment in the form of tescos and walking under trees . Till that point, enjoy the sofa!

Hope fingers have stopped tingling bugs!

What sinks said. If I've learnt anything since having Faithlet, it's that you (one) have (has) to stop thinking 'Should I?'. If you are mini Winks are happy it's fine. Jobs can wait, you don't have to go out every day! :)

Quiet round here ain't it!

Bugs glad the toaster incident hasn't has any lasting effects. Totally understand you taking a bit if a break and we're always here.

Ginge how are things with you?

It looks like HWHNN is going to come back for the funeral, providing there are no last minute dramas out there. He'll be back on the morning of 3rd and will fly back out on 5th.

Currently in ante natal ward. Have been contracting strongly since 10pm Tuesday but baby is stubborn (can't think where it gets it from ). Have had about 3 hours sleep in the last 52. Am knackered.

Good luck ginge. Are they giving you any good drugs?

Oh good luck Ginge, hope things pick up soon! and yes take all the drugs they offer!

Oh, good luck ginge. Sounds similar to me. I didn't eat or drink for 48hrs by the end (think I was a bit delirious - was hiding food from GHJ ). Please try and eat/drink - you need to keep well.

Thinking of you and sending dilating/pushing thoughts!

I liked apple ribena in labour, good sugar hit. I also liked oral morphine :)

frank I kept replying to your post yesterday but this stoopid new mobile site ate it a few times. Meant to say I'm glad HWHNN is getting to the funeral but I get what you were saying the other day about such a short visit being worse than none at all.

Good luck, ginge!

bugs that sounds like the right thing. You shouldn't be struggling that much.

We are doing ok. KFZK and I are absolutely knackered and even something like a trip out to the supermarket feels like climbing a mountain. The newborn weeks are tough for everyone, but preceding them with 9 weeks (6 while I was pregnant and then 3 of C being in NICU) of high levels of stress and sleepless nights has not helped. It's frustrating, as it's the last few days of KFZK's leave (he took 2 weeks of holiday when she came out of NICU) and we feel like we should be making the most of it, but it is all we can do to get through the days. And I am not looking forward to doing it all by myself next week... Bfing is still not working, so it looks like I am stuck expressing, although we did have a breakthrough yesterday when the mw figured out what the problem was, but at this point I think the bottle is very much the easier option and I just can't see her ever switching over at this point. But C is an absolute joy. She is adorable and is doing really well. She was weighed yesterday and is just half an ounce under 5lb, meaning she had put on a shade under a pound since she was discharged 12 days earlier.

Thinking of you ginge.

What did the midwife say the problem was euro? Do you want to switch at some point? There's a poster whose DD was ill and finally switched from expressed milk to direct BFing at 5 months, so depending on the issues it could still happen. Either way, you're obviously doing brilliantly, her weight gain is cracking, just under a pound in 12 days amazing for any baby but especially as a percentage of her starting weight.

Thanks Winks, it's by no means certain that he'll come back - military have a habit of changing things at the last minute - but hopefully it will happen.

Bugs sorry to hear you've been signed off! it is ridiculous that no one contacted you about the blood results.

Euro that is excellent weight gain from C, well done both of you. I know what you mean about feeling you need to get out and do stuff, but honestly as long as you've managed to dress yourself and eat something by midday that's usually an achievement with a newborn! People told me I did a lot in the first few weeks, but honestly I just can't stay in the house all day long!

Hope the feeding issues get better, don't kill yourself expressing all the time, you need to have time to enjoy your baby too.

Winks the issue is getting the nipple to hit the roof of her mouth. Mine are flattish and she needs it to get right to the back to trigger the suck reflex and they are just not getting far enough in. The mw tested it with her finger. It'd probably be easier if it was cooler and they were pointy more often! We've been given a couple of things to do to try to help, both in terms of getting the nipple where it needs to be and using our fingers and the bottle to force her to draw something from the front of her mouth to the back herself.

That's good to know about the 5 monther. The mw says the suck reflex goes off soonish, so thought she needed to get it soon if she was going to.

I agree with that frank but as my body did such a crap job of growing her when she was in the womb, I am pleased that my milk is doing a much better job now that she is out, so that encourages me to keep going.

I hope you do manage to get a nice visit in with HWHNN, however short.

euro apologies if you've already tried it, but if its a nipple issue, would a nipple shield possibly help?

euro we had a similar problem, simply because my nips were big and Faithlet was so small (about the same size as C is now!). Nipple shields helped us. You're doing a brilliant job pumping and fattening her up but I do agree with Frank, it's ok if you decide to mix feed. I wish I'd believed that when Faithlet was tiny it might just make life that bit easier for you.

Hope you perk up soon bugs.