Thread 13. TTC #1 Grads. Some of us still remember that thing called "a full nights sleep" for most, it's a mere memory.

[AudreyBradshaw]

Behold, the wonder of birth! Members from 6 weeks bfp to post-partum wonder Mamas! No question to grotty or minging.

We've come full circle from obsessing about cervical mucus to now obsessing if it's our vagina baby plug going! What larks!

Lots of talk about poo, ours and now babies too! Baby brain is REAL! From morning sickness in the first trimester to the third trimester struggle of getting out of bed ( "walrus-ing"in our house), to actual real babies who are growing so fast! Discussion on the merits of sleepyhead and Ewan the dream sheep.

Sooo many gorgeous babies now! And equally lovely Mummy's! We are amazing! What a year! Can you believe it's been a year since our first tentative TTC thread!? Look how far we've come!

Roll up, literally, in my case, cause I'm practically rotund! for TTC #1 Grads!

Oh Indi, I'm sorry! Poor Autumn, and poor you. Do you have something to take for it?

Yeah lisa they've given me a cream to put on my nipples and Autumn has a oral liquid to have 4 times a day. I just want it to kick in because my boobs are agony and when she's screaming it's easier to whack my boob in her mouth than wait for a bottle of expressed milk in the fridge to warm through.
I've also done my neck in, think I slept funny on it, so all round I'm a bit fed up today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I just wish she would sleep, she's exhausted

Lisa we feed to sleep because how the hell are you supposed to stop it?! We do put him in his sleepyhead if he looks drowsy and he is getting loads better at going to sleep on his own. We've found he's falling into his own routine doing this.

nev bodhi sounds like a clever boy! Harrison is trying so hard to crawl too, and will also throw a hissy fit in frustration. He's such a nosey boy I can understand why he gets pissed off

I think I might choke/stab OH. I was ill with a cold last week - just got on with it and did all my usual duties including looking after a baby who also had a cold. He has caught it and is constantly telling me how awful he feels and how he can't cope and MUST rest as much as he can. He's also been snoring his fucking head off so I've struggled to sleep but he is so much more exhausted than me. In better news though he's getting really good with Harrison

feef everything crossed things get moving soon I'm so excited for you

Sorry indi missed your post hope you're both better soon.

I'm so bad a keeping up with everything going on here and I don't even have a baby to care for yet!

Scan went fine, cyst has got smaller. Baby was lying in the wrong position to get any more good pictures but did merrily wave at us!

Had my 16 week midwife appointment today which seemed fairly pointless. Apart from a quick listen to the heartbeat it seems more like "ah you're still pregnant? Jolly good, keep it up!" sort of thing!

Hope you're enjoying your babymoon Marmite.

Potato glad you're feeling better, don't let the bastards get you down!

Sorry you and baby are feeling unwell Indi, hope it clears up soon.

Glad DH has bucked up a bit Audrey, long may it continue!

Hope you feel better soon indi. Sounds hard.

Baby steps miley! Sorry for the pun. At least he's getting better with Harrison. Maybe I'm wrong and sorry if I've overstepped the boundaries but it sounds at times as tho he misses your attention a bit not sure what the best way around that is!!
Thanks for the excitement! I'm getting a bit nervous and impatient now.

The appointments are a bit like that for awhile
Lovelyfishy! Glad your cyst has gotten smaller.

feef definitely not overstepping - I think you're absolutely right and it's pretty much ridiculous that the solution to that is for him to man up and hemp more! Never mind - he's sitting playing with him now so I guess I can't complain.

I'm having an issue getting Harrison to take a bottle. He used to have one no problem at all but hasn't had one for a few weeks as hasn't needed his gaviscon. Going to persevere and try to get an oz a day into him from the bottle until he gets used to it again otherwise I'll never get any time to myself.

Miley thanks for the reassurance about rolling. I thing Arya is starting to work out she might have more fun if she can move about.

Shouldn't laugh but your OH is a walking man flu stereotype.

Lisa not bfing but I feed Arya and then cuddle her to sleep. I know you're not supposed to but it makes both of us happy so I don't see why not.

nev that's pretty strange

Indi sorry you and Autumn are having a tough time.

Lovely glad all is well with baby. After the initial excitement MW appointments become numerous and quite dull.

A reporter is a follow up on my article today. Used a nice picture instead of the awful one used before and just pointed out how silly Costa and their staff had been. It was nice to read.

Ive had a brilliant day it's Arya. I've worked out that if I play with her instead of trying to work while she's awake, she gets warn out and takes a nap so I can work without interruption for a bit. I get a lot more done and she getting a lot more tummy time and exercise hopefully it will work as well tomorrow.

Anyone here got HIVE from British gas? I'm writing an article about misselling.

Sorry about the thrush indi hope it improves.

Alexa is nowhere near rolling and just lies there with her face on the ground looking pathetic and miserable during tummy time! They'll all get there in their own time.

Lisa I do whatever she needs (and I need!) to get her to sleep! Sometimes that's feeding, sometimes rocking / jiggling / sitting on birthing ball with her. I'm quite relaxed about it at the moment.

Soda that's exactly what Arya was doing until 2days ago. I like to call it slug pose

Thanks Miley, Potato, and Soda. It sounds like others aren't rushing to get their babies to self soothe, so I think I'll ignore the apps and books and keep doing what works for us. They're still very young, so you're right that we should do what we find the best.

Q has such a horrible cold at the minute. She's really struggling to breathe because she's so blocked up in her nose. It means the last two nights she's been waking up every hour. Plus, it makes it hard for her to feed so she takes lot of air in through her mouth and becomes so windy. Really wish this cold would go away, for both our sakes!

Hi ladies

lisa, I feed to sleep too. We always wait until she's been asleep for at least ten minutes after her bed time feed before putting her in her cot. I find that otherwise she doesn't settle properly.

feefs, fingers crossed things start moving along soon. We need another thread baby

indi, has he medication started working yet? Hope you are ok.

miley, the jabs were ok. Just one needle and then a dropper thing. Much less traumatic than the earlier jabs.

For those who see their PIL, can I ask how many times they have seen baby since baby was born?

Glad the scan went well lovely, and yippee for OH stepping up audrey!

pink not much to be honest! I thought PIL would be more bothered than they are and they just annoy the shit out of me now. When FIL is here all he does is talk about himself anyway it seriously annoys OH. Glad to hear jabs weren't too bad!

Lisa do you have any snuffle babe? We found the saline nasal drops worked really well and we have the vapour oil which we out in a bowl of water which was good, too.

potato good news on the reporter. Glad you're taking no notice of the idiots on Facebook. I'd be inclined to guess that probably 90% of them don't even have kids!

Here's some Christmas Harrison! (Most of you will have already seen on IG)

Aww Xmas Harrison is a little cutie miley!

Pink we live 6 hours away from home but my FIL has visited us for one weekend since Autumn was born (she's now 9 weeks). I'm glad TBH, he irritates me beyond belief. MIL isn't around as she left when DH was a kid and we haven't had any other visitors from DH's side. I expect when we go home in the new year we'll see them then.

Lisa I try not to 'feed to sleep' in the daytime but at night I don't mind. Do whatever works for you

Glad your DH has got his act together Audrey! Hope you're doing well.

So after autumn's bad day yesterday she seems a bit better today. The thing is I can't complain about her having a whingey day becuase she's so good at night ( she slept 10.40-8am today and is now napping again) and she's also not fussy with bottle or boob which has really helped since my nipples have been too raw to feed from I just wish her bedtimes were earlier and she could settle at 7/8pm so me and DH had some adult time. I guess that will come in time though..I hope.
Oh and for the first time since she was born she didn't poo all of yesterday and no appearance yet!!! She looks like she's straining but nothing is happening..tried giving her some cooled boiled water with brown sugar but she won't take more than a few sips. May have to mix it in to a bottle of milk for her.

Loving Christmas Harrison, he is so cute!!

Sorry about the thrush indi but glad to hear there's a reason behind it. Are you still topping up with formula? Seems to be becoming a regular thing at night here as it's the only way to get him to sleep.

Ladies how much did your bf babies feed in the earlier days? R is 3 and a bit weeks now and for the past week has basically fed constantly throughout the day and evening, getting increasingly more frantic as the day goes on. I do normally get him down by midnight and he has three feeds overnight which is fine, but I can't do anything during the day at the moment and it's starting to impact on me a bit....I feel trapped in the house. Just want the end to be in sight and him to settle a bit without constant boob!

Canters, that sounds completely normal to me. I felt like the first few weeks were mainly spent in sofa jail with Q.

I've been tracking the feeding and in the early weeks she'd spend up to (and sometimes over) 6 hours a day* on the boob. Obviously not all feeding (bjt of comfort sucking in there too), but a lot.

It does get better, and it comes down to less time. Now 9 weeks and it's around 3 hours a day.

Hope that helps x

*one day being midnight to midnight

Ah, bold fail.

Meant to use the asterisk to indicate that one day means midnight to midnight....

canters yes to sofa jail. It does get so much easier I promise! Harrison is 12 weeks and is feeding every 3-4 hours during the day now instead of what felt like bloody constantly!

indi hope Autumn isn't constipated. I know sometimes they say to drink orange juice if you're bfing and little one is constipated - maybe worth a try if you have some in

Thanks lisa and miley! Think I'm feeling it more as had mum staying last week and MIL this week so spending a lot of time trapped upstairs without tv feeding. At least next week I can be reunited with sky plus and Netflix and my sofa!!

How on earth do people breastfeed their second child? I desperately want more babies but the thought of having to sort a toddler and manage a newborn is, um, interesting!

Lisa I hope Q feels better soon.

Pink FIL sees Arya about one a week but he only lives around the corner.

Miley look at all of those cute outfits!!!

Most of the commenters were blokes

Well, I've had another company contact me about reviewing a product and the electronics supplier wanted me to do more work for them. Feeling pretty good about it

I think Arya's coming down with something though. She's been fussy this morning and the afternoon all she's wanted to do is sleep on me. Thank god for iPhones!!!

Pink PILs have seen her 4 times (3 visits by them and 1 by us. She's 12 weeks old) but they live over 200 miles away so that seems reasonable to me. Are you worried about your PILs?

Canters it sounds really normal and it does get a lot better! Your milk production lessens throughout the day which is why R seems more frantic during the evening. Try to stay hydrated and have a snack in the early evening which seemed to help my milk.

Indi I know exactly what you mean about adult time. A doesn't go down til 10.30-11.30 either which means as soon as she's down I want to go to bed too so no relaxing or time just me and DH. We'll get there though. Everything we're all going through is just a phase --the more I say this the more it has to be true

Cute Christmas Harrison miley!

Really glad you're feeling better potato. I'm so sick of rude people who think they have a right to stick their noses in and be horrible to you - the other day I was on the tube with A. She was all wrapped up toasty warm and an old lady sat next to me and said 'ah how old is she?' I told her and she then said 'why have you brought such a young baby out in this weather? You should be at home!' What the hell? She was on crutches - what was she doing out?!! I was so shocked so I just mumbled that I needed to see family but it makes me so angry thinking about it now!

Poor Q lisa. Hope she gets better soon.

Thanks pink, god I am sick of this now!

No experience yet canters but they were fairly blunt with us at my breast feeding workshop and said first 6 weeks will be like that and then there would be periods of cluster feeding after that. She seemed to think top ups can prolong that stage as the baby feeds constantly in order to increase your milk supply so if a top up is introduced it can get in the way and start a bit of a vicious cycle. Not sure if there is actually any evidence behind that tho.

Poor DH is having the worst week ever lots of work crap then, he broke his rear headlight yesterday then today hit a pothole and has done some major damage to his car. His job involves working with vulnerable people and the person he was with then attacked him and did further damage to the car, a member of the public had to phone police. He needs to get it to the garage now which means obviously we are without car! Hopefully he can borrow his mums tomorrow. Managed to hold it together on the phone but have been crying since. I feel silly because obviously it's him that's actually having to deal with this but I feel so worried.

Pink - I've just registered your comment about waiting ten minutes to do the transfer to cot for E.

That's interesting. Is it because she won't really go down, or will she go down for longer if you do that? We barely wait any of that time.

Feefs - your poor DH, I'm so sorry. The odd bad luck things happen, bit it must have been such an emotional shock to be attacked like that. I hope he's ok.

I think he's used to be attacked by the person unfortunately pink. However having to restrain someone by the roadside is not ideal. He'll probably be more upset about the car. The person who attacked him had been doing a lot better in terms of behaviour so I think he'll be feeling upset about that too.