December 2008 Once you pop you can't stop

[Veggiemummy]

surely most of us will go on this one

Afternoon all!

Hurrah hotmama! Welcome little Harry hope your dds are being welcoming to him.

LadyT sorry if I gave the wrong impression about the rellies, they weren't actually staying with us at all. I'd have gone barmy if they had! Fantastic weight gain there for babyT.

verso your GP needs a good slapping.

arti hope things get moving for you soon - MW advised that going sideways up and down the stairs can help the baby to drop down into the right position. Anything worth a try at this stage I guess!

katie the pins in the boobs thing - hope this doesn't sound silly but when dd runs her hands over my breast it feels like pins but it's just her really sharp little nails - might it be that?

trace we've been using a dummy in the night when dd won't settle, if she's been fed and winded and changed and nothing else is working we've popped it in for a little while as it saves a tired arm - if you're doing the little finger thing it works really well but I get exhausted trying to stop my hand resting on her face

SL if you're still hanging in there at the weekend we could meet up for cakes in the Black Cat?

very interesting that thing about intrauterine nutrotion - DH was telling me about a study whereby with people who had bad diets during pregnancy, the baby programmed itself in the womb to get whatever nutrients it could but also to put on weight very quickly when food was plentiful because it was in a sort of feast and fast situation. So when they come out, they put on weight very quickly and have a tendency to be obese. it seems really unfair that kids should be given a bad start that there's really nothing they can do about.

I'm listening to a brilliant radio play by the National Theatre of Brent of the nativity story - Mary (played by a bloke) is currently being told to breathe and push and there's no other noise - apart from the angels going "wooooo!" in the background. it's hilarious. www.nationaltheatreofbrent.com/ntob.html

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God I'm behind! Congratulations Jam, GBB, JB, Cat, HM and everyone else who has had a baby!

Arti hope things progress for you

Grr ds has woken up, shall try again later!

Congrats on the birth of baby Harry Hotmama

Verso, your GP is a complete arse. Of course women go rond 'inventing' thrush because they don't have enough to worry about

LadyT: am also in awe at your social round. Hope you have a lovely peaceful Christmas. Which is next week - eek!

38w appt today, baby still engaged, all OK. I don;t see anyone now until (if) I go overdue as the surgery is closed over new year. Really hope the baby is here by then...

Glad DD is settling now Trace and thinking of all of you with wakeful babes

Hi everyone, how are you all today? I?ve had a lovely day, my friend visited with her two DCs and it was lots of fun playing with them.

Notquitesobigbird ? congratulations on the safe arrival of the twins, its fab news! It sounds like the birth went really well and they?re good weights and have lovely names. I?m sorry the placenta delivery didn?t go so well, but sending lots of recovery vibes to you.

Hotmama ? great to hear from you and congratulations on the arrival of Harry.

Jam ? thanks for the birth story, sounds like you did a great job delivering Lachlan without the epidural ? well done you!

Trace ? keep those good points coming, I love them! Hurrah for the magic dummy and hope you enjoyed DD1?s nativity today.

Arti ? hurrah that the congratulations started (did the acupuncture work, sounds like they kick started something) but sorry they faded away after keeping you up all night. I hope that during today they?ve come back with a vengeance and you?re well on your way now.

Snorris ? Lucy is a love, and her big sisters look so proud of her.

Blimey LadyT, hope you?ve had some rest this afternoon, sounds like a very hectic, but fun, week. And I?ve had a second attempt with the ?easy? fix today, and still failed at the first hurdle. So I rang maxi cosi, who told me to go to Halfords and get them to fit it (20 miles away ? and we didn?t buy it from there), so I rang the pram shop we did get it from and they were helpful over the phone and talked me through ? just got to try it out in the day light, wish me luck tomorrow ? Farmer Pat sounds fab!

Hope you all have a good night and hoping everyone sleeps well xx

Speaking of all this dieting whilst pregnant ds2 has decided to go on a diet he has had an occasional snack but no big feeding session so as a result my already engorged norks are now rock hard. I've already had a hot shower today to relieve them a little but might have a bath after ds1 has had his to milk them off a bit. Still painful when he first latches on but I feel it is getting slightly better don't know if that is his latch improving or the homeopathy. But I have ordered some iceberg lettuce with our Ocado delivery tomorrow just in case.

Congrats hotmamma glad all went well congratulations.

The easy fix is different to the isofix isn't it. We haven't tried our isofix out yet I hope we can work it out. Might have to get DH to have a look tomorrow while ds1 is at nursery. We hAven't actually used it yet as so far ds2 and I haven't left the house but we should have a little outing over the weekend or early next week so need to have it working.

Ds1 seems to still be quite smitten with his little brother he loves cuddling him and showing him his toys. I think it helps being close to christmas and being from Australia all his presents are arriving in the post so he is distracted by opening them and putting them under the tree. Also we have had some very thoughtful friends in London who when they have sent DS2s presents have included one for ds1. I think he wants us to have another baby as he has done quite well with this one.

Just bobbing in quickly to say that Samuel Joseph born at 22:37 on 16/12/08 weighing in at 7lb3. Only got discharged at lunchtime due to him not really feeding, but he's well and truely making up for it now

Congrats to all the other births I've missed, will try to catch up on the 7 odd pages asap and fill you in on the gory details later...

Congrats Orange well done.

congratulations hotmama & orange veggie poor you with sore boobs! Hope the bath helps

good evening!
Hope everyone is ok. Hope your boobarellas are cooling down a bit veggie and Kayz.
I've got a yellow bit on one of my nips - I thought it was a blob of colostrum but realised it's fixed and it's like a blister but yellow - any ideas? It stings when Phoebe first latched on (on both sides) but is fine when she's feeding. Do you think it's a latch issue?
And can I ask...how often are people bathing their newborns? We did Phoebe in hospital and again once since we got home, so only twice in 7 days. Sometimes I plan to bath her then just can't be bothered. Is that really bad?
She's quite jittery again tonight so am feeling a bit bad. DH has gone out and DD1 is asleep, so I should go to bed, but it doesn't seem worth it because I know she'll wake up soon! AH me me me me me. Sorry.
Hope we hear some news from Arti soon...

oh and I went to Boots to get arnica and asked the guy if they had any. He just gave me a tube of cream and when I asked if they had tablets, he said 'I'd always use the cream - just rub it on the bruised area - where is it bruised?'...I couldn't say 'my fanjo stings' so I just said, 'oh it's not for me, I'll leave it thanks' and rushed out of the shop!

trace i would have loved to see his face if you had said your fanjo!!

congrats to hotmama and orange hope all went well.

see no sign of any baby movements - think this baby has got itself far too comfortable!

take care ladies and night night xxx

Thanks for the sympathy for GP crapness.

We have the Isofix and the Easyfix. The Isofix - the one with the yellow bits that snap onto the isofix bars - was a bugger to fit. I kept managing to get one of the bars to turn to green but not both at the same time. Did it in the end - heavily pregnant woman used brute force . I did both of the bases in fact and that one was hardest (DH's car). We have the Easyfix for my car - not really needed but DH has a paranoia about getting the seatbelt wrong, so was determined to have a base in both cars to clip the seat into and mine doesn't support Isofix.

Am dreading tonight . No idea what's going on but my chilled out baby (had a good day today) has metamorphosed into a screaming wreck . She's been in such a state since 3pm. DH eventually took her out in the car because she was soooooo overtired. I am quite frankly dreading her coming back. I am SO TIRED - and this is even after I managed to get a sleep when my doula was here this morning.

At least DH breaks up tomorrow so I hope I will get some support over the next couple of weeks... oh and I've had to find a different night nanny because the one I had arranged to go with is poorly. Not her fault but it means chasing up yet more references etc - and also more delay on me getting that much-needed sleep! Looks like I might have found someone to do my one night a week though, who is actually supportive of breastfeeding (a lot of them assume you are bottle feeding)... fingers crossed she may be able to start in January!!!

Sorry Trace but I can't stop laughing about your arnica cream story. I had the same problem when I tried to get arnica for my last birth. Boots are a bit crap like that. If you get a chance to go back just ask for the homeopathic remedies section and then have a look through them they are usually in alphabetical order on the shelf. They are kind of tube like bottles. I think holland and Barrett might also do it. How is it feeling down there?

Also trace we have given ds2 one bath which lasted all of 30 seconds because he did not like it at all. Other than that we have been cleaning his butt with nappy changes and I might go over him tomorrow with a warm flannel but really there isn't much point at this age. As we were at home for the birth ds2 didn't get a hospital bath so I'm even more neglectful of his hygiene. Also in this first week their initially Sterile skin is colonizing with the natural bugs so best not to mess around too much with that by washing esp with soap.

Verso you are having such a nightmare with nannies.

Right that's it dh is gonna sort that isofix base out tomorrow we are picking my mumm up from the airport on the 29th so has to be sorted by then.

PS forgot to say we had a minor disaster earlier. DD1 was playing with the digital camera (I so shouldn't have let her) and managed to delete all my pregnancy photos and all the photos of Frieda's first day . Not her fault at all - but so sad .

trace - I also forgot to say I loved your arnica anecdote .

Verso my dh said that there is a possibility he could recover the photos from the memory card. If you want to send it to me he could have a go?

Trace if you want I can send you my arnica pills - I think it's the 60 sort? Don';t really understand the whole homeopathic business Had about 5 pills from the bottle but that's all so there should be plenty left. My email is on the general list that's been going round, send me a message if you'd like them as I'm not going to be having any more.

We're really hoping for a quiet night tonight, dd had several long feeds followed by several long sleeps and has been down since 9.45 without a real cry - squeaked a few times but settled herself so she's bound to wake at about 12 for another feed but please God she'll go back to sleep. Gave her a nice bath and a bit of a massage - well, I rubbed various limbs softly in a "this might feel nice" sort of way! - and she seems much more relaxed. Could be to do with the mammoth up-both-sides-and-out-the-top-of-the-nappy post-dinner crap she had though.

Hope everyone has a good night, whether it's with their fresh nippers or in anticipation of new arrivals [big hugs]

morning all!
well the dummy was not quite so magic last night so don't think we slept much, but still better than the first few nights.
my dds have swapped roles today...dd1 is still asleep which is a first at this time, and dd2 is bright and alert and entranced by the christmas tree! one day they will coordinate themselves to allow me to sleep, but think it might be in several years time!
dd2 has a sticky crusty eye today.
dd1 has her last ever day at nursery today...big emotions for small child.Aw.
fanjo update...it's getting sorer by the day and my walking is getting worse.not sure whether to ring mw today or if they'll just think im a wuss and wasting their time. can't see any lady gps till 29th and not sure i can wait till then.
feeding time again....back later xxx

trace lol @ your arnica story! I think if you are really in pain & struggling then you should see the mws. They won't think you're wasting their time & might be able to help.

jump glad you had a good night

We've ordered the easybase, am a bit now that we're going to be able to fit it going by everyone's stories!

Ds2 had a bit of a restless night, woke up with hiccups at 2.30am & then didn't settle again until well after his 4am bottle.

I'm taking him shopping today as I've realised its xmas day next week & I've not got anything for dh. Even worse, I don't have a clue what to get him!

We had a mixed night last night as well. Early part was awful - DD2 really really windy and screaming - but DH took her out in car which eventually settled her so we managed to get the night off to a better start.

Am still shattered though.

Veggie that would be amazing if your DH can retrieve the pics. I'll email you...

Can anyone teach me some kind of Zen breathing or something to help me get rid of anger? I am so fed up. The babycare itself is fine - I'm tired, but it's to be expected. No, what is annoying me is DH joking about how tired and forgetful he is at the moment because of lack of sleep and my Mum sending her friend an email yday (which she also sent to me) saying she couldn't help her out because SHE WOULD BE HELPING WITH HER THREE-WEEK-OLD GRANDCHILD!!!!!!!! If anyone can tell me how making me get a taxi to the health clinic counts as 'help' I would be very grateful for the explanation.

Am SO MAD they are both taking some kind of 'credit' for MY work!!!!

I'm telling you, I usually share my annual bonus 50:50 with DH (he doesn't get one as he's a teacher) - but he's not getting a PENNY this year.

trace you are NOT a wuss. Phone the midwife. FWIW the pain from my stitches peaked about two weeks in - I think they kind-of tighten as they heal - and I had to go back to my GP for more Diclofenac. I ended up on it for ages - but I'm not sure what kind of tear you had so that might not happen with you and I don't want to worry you unnecessarily (I had multiple internal lacerations, multiple external tears and one third degree tear, all stitched back together.) The GP (male) was very sympathetic. I've often found (see my earlier post!) that male doctors can be more supportive of gynaecological problems than female ones - not sure why - maybe they don't want to have to look so get the prescription done quickly to get you out the door!

Also - I know it is REALLY sore - but walking really will help you heal well. If you don't keep the area mobile you will pull the stitches when you eventually get back to normal fitness and activity levels, which will hurt even more.

HTH

Morning all. Really crap night here as well. DD fed on and off from 9pm until 3am and would not settle in between. Towards the end she was getting really angry and rooting viciously, scratching and hitting me, which made me wonder if I was out of milk. Had to bring her downstairs and put her in her pram at one point to try and settle her (which didn't work) but that just woke DS up. DH snored through the whole thing and was surprised this morning when I told him what a bad night I'd had . I've been attempting to express this morning as I have a conference call this afternoon and my Mum is coming over to watch the kids, but have only managed a pathetic amount so far, any idea what a 'normal' amount is from one boob?
Seriously contemplating buying some formula today to try to feed her up before tonight, would that be a huge mistake? I just can't manage another night like that.