November 2017 #5. You wait ages for a baby, then 3 come along at once. Ante/post-natal chat ...

[Zampa]

No specific post-natal category so I've added it to the normal ante-natal category ...

I ironed some muslins prior to DD2's birth but now she's here, I'm not doing it again!

I've tried spooning water in which he promptly spat back at me... any words of wisdom???

@DuRezidal do you have a syringe you could try?

@zampa my LO feeds for a total of 2 hours in the day, at 3 weeks old - absolutely no idea if this is normal or not as all the literature states "8-12 times in 24 hours" - he is thriving though and is packing weight on!

@sock of course you have not failed Bea my lovely - you are doing what she needs which is what any of us would want to do as a mother. My cousins DD was born with hip issues and was in plaster casts until 9 months old, these things happen, you would never even know she had been through that and she doesn't remember it either..... 😘

@labelle I've never ironed a muslin yet and no intentions of doing so! You are not alone 😉

Bath time is the only point in the evening when Felicity is quiet. She's a little sod from the minute DH comes home from work until we go to bed. How long can I keep her in there?!

Thanks @valentinefizz. DD has put on 265g since her birth 10 days ago and is tracking her percentile so I guess she's eating what she needs in those 5 hours!

I've been coughing all afternoon and feel like I have a stitch in my lower abdomen, around my section scar. I'm not sure if it's anything to worry about but I wish it had happened before the midwives discharged me!

Thank you @ValentineFizz hearing that your cousins DD has done well since having the casts is just what I need to hear. I've got to see as doing the best for Bea, and it's best to do it now before she is really aware of it.

@Zampa i hope your ok, it's horrible when section scar hurts. Would a warm bath help you? My scar hurts occasionally now if I cough or have a violent sneeze.

That's reassuring to know @theotherendofthesockportal (but I hope it doesn't hurt you too much!). I just worry I've ruptured something and will bleed to death internally! Did I mention I was a drama queen?!

@Zampa you are not a drama queen at all. Remember it is major surgery, our bodies are bound to feel a bit different afterwards. It's the only time in life you will have a major operation (or if you give birth vaginally and have the major body trauma) and instead of resting up to recover you work harder than you will ever work in your life. We should be proud of ourselves!

Oh sock you haven’t failed her in the slightest. Life is just very trying at times and this is one of those times for you. Hope you have lots of chocolate biscuits to cheer you up.

@butterybollocks she screamed blue murder all the way through! I couldn’t even bear to finish painting them so will have to go back another day to finish off.

I’ve got mastitis again, it may break me :( any tips for resolving without antibiotics please?!

Oh no @lydiangel83 my only tip for mastitis is to pump, pump and pump again, while massaging any lumps/hot spots you can feel. It bloody hurts though.
Hope you have more success when you go back to finish off your painting.

My first week of DH being back at work has been tricky. DD has a sickness bug and this morning she threw up in my bed just as Freddie woke up shouting for a feed. I've been washing my hands obsessively and DD is not allowed to touch Freddie but I'm expecting that we'll all catch it in the next few days. She's had a temperature of 40 and she's been delirious and talking nonsense which freaked us out. Roll on 5pm when DH is home from work.

my DD is off to hospital, she's still poorly and really dehydrated I'm at home with Freddie and DH has taken her in, I'm so upset that I'm not with her, she's never been this poorly

Sorry to hear about your daughter @butterybollocks. Hope that she's home soon.

@butterybollocks I hope you daughter feels better soon. Don't feel bad, you can't be in two places at once x

to everyone having a tough time with poorly babies

Oh god how awful @buttery! I hope your little girl is ok and home quickly! Xx

@Lydia that sounds awful :( is mastitis caused by blocked ducts? I found getting in the bath when I had painful lumps and bumps in my breasts after my milk came in and just massaging them pretty forcefully really helped. The warm water eased the pressure a little too. X

I've just seen another thread about having the heating off in the night. We have had ours constantly since we bought Bea home from the hospital. My smart meter is showing me that my energy bills have shot up 😱 I have it on at 18 degrees, sometimes a bit more. What are you ladies doing on your homes?

@lydiangel83 I have no experience of breast feeding/ mastitis, but, would standing in a hot shower and allowing the water to land on your breasts help?

We've had the heating on for longer @theotherendofthesockportal. Dreading doing a meter read!

DD1 was a summer baby so night feeds were far more pleasant as it was often light and was certainly warmer. I find it difficult to leave bed overnight this time around without some form of heating.

I've been leaving the heating on overnight with the thermostat on about 16 degrees. And it's been on pretty much all day...it used to just be an hour in the morning and 2 hours in evening when we were both at work, so the next bill will be a shock to the system!

DD is home! She didn't need to be admitted (local docs thought she might need IV fluids), looks like she's keeping water down now. Freddie has been an angelic baby overnight thankfully!

We had a new boiler fitted the week before F arrived and have a thermostat for the first time ever. It's set at 19.5. The house holds heat well and we have a log burner so unless it's really cold weather the heating doesn't come on much. Hopefully our bills won't change much but that's probably mostly because I usually work from home so we're used to heating the house all the time.

According to my smart meter my gas has gone up from around £1.25 a day to around £3.50 a day. I called my energy supplier to try and increase my payments and the lady seemed reluctant to increase my payments and said I could pay any difference when I receive my 6 month review. After a bit of an argument she has now increased the payments!

@butterybollocks that is good news about your daughter. I hope you have a uneventful weekend.