December 08 - a few babies under the tree still need unwrapping!

[EffiePerine]

New thread ladies. I have a feeling I will be talking to myself a lot

WG swaddling is good. When in was a kid I used to love having my mum or dad tuck me in I always wanted thm to tuck the covers in really tight so I was all tightly snug in my bed. I kinds imagine swaddling is like that feeling for babies all tight bound up feeling safe.

i think i'm going to scream - or eat some chocolate! Phoebe is stuck in a cycle of feed - get sleepy - go into cot (all good so far!) - PUKE - get cleaned up - settle in my arms - go into cot - PUKE - get cleaned up - settle in my arms - go into cot - PUKE...you get the picture! We've been at it over 2 hours now so now she's wanting another feed which will now doubt spur on some more pukage! And i have a large heap of stinky damp sheets to wash tomorrow. doh. Am sure she has reflux. Have thought it since day 1 so perhaps it's time to be brave enough to see the gp about it.

yes veggie i got my shower and it was divine! phoebe slept in her cot so i had a fairly speedy shower but then dried my hair (luxury!), plucked my eyebrows, cut my nails - fingers and toes! - and put blusher on! I felt almost human at the end of it!

ok she has fed and is back in the cot so I'll try to get some sleep - my bet is that she'll puke within 2 minutes!
See you later xxx

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awful night - worst yet
i've had 40 mins sleep
dd2 has cold v snotty and noisy and upset and comfort feeding
boobs sore
payback for yday obv
(asleep on knee - darent move her)

(I should turn the above into a haiku...

nursing sick baby
pallid winter moon rising
mother cries for sleep

Hugs to everyone

jump Ikwym about the more they sleep, ds2 just seems to be the opposite. I restricted his naps yesterday & he had a much better night last night, its bizarre!

veggie ds2 seems to need a routine as well whereas ds1 just sorted himself out!

turnip I've been thinking about trying the GF book, ds1 didn't get on with it but thought that it would be worth a go.

Verso Sorry you have had a bad night. They do seem to lull you into a false sense of sercurity with a good day or 2 and then they have a really bad one.

I hope maybe today will be better again. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Hello all. Sorry have been a bit quiet. DD has been on feed-and-cry-athon. And apologies in advance that this is a bit of a long one. We're going to Derbyshire to see my brother today (Veggie will wave in your direction!) and then in Yorkshire next week so won't be able to get online much. Gah - will really miss my beloved laptop and wi-fi and of course all of you. On plus side will mean I actually get some sleep when am in bed rather than pretending to and actually being here.

Verso am so sorry you had another bad night - although impressive haiku-ing on 40 minutes sleep.

Wg I have a sheet of timings and a really simple routine that my friend's mat nurse gave me when I had DS. Will put it in the post if you like if you email me your address - I found it quite useful and somehow less daunting than yet another bleeding book.

Ladyt blardy women at the clinic. I similarly said hello at our clinic and was mainly ignored. Although given urban grit of where we live may have been because they thought was a prelude to me mugging them for changing bags. Am not managing to read much fiction at the moment as can't remember any plot but can cope with diaries. So as am a bit of a political geek reading Bernard Donoughue's ones from when he was in No 10 in the 70s and also my latest volume of Peyps (DH is buying me them for Christmas). Also Truman Capote's letters because he was such a bitch and they make me laugh. And quite a lot of Charlie and Lola/Paddington bear...

ZJ hurrah for going out - sounds like you're doing really well. Sorry not to see you this time but we're back and forth to Yorkshire quite a bit so maybe another time.

Trace/Kayz shall we go for Friday? I don't know where in York will be best to meet. I'll just have DD with me (going to dispatch DH and DS to the railway museum). Trace is late morning going to be best for you with school timings? Whatever you think. Will email you my mobile.

Chutney would love to meet up - maybe in Dulwich? Will email you when we get back. Hope you're doing ok. So impressive to be coping with older children as well (think toddlers marginally easier as more straightforward to distract). Can't imagine doing it without CBeebies though.

Agree with jump about perfume. My MIL wears really strong perfume and I absolutely hate it when I get my baby back and they don't smell right.

Totally forgot HV was coming yesterday and answered door in PJs and unwashed hair covered in baby sick (coping really well - honest) . Also was very proud of myself for having remembered her name so kept saying 'of course Jean....the thing is Jean' when she left I looked in the red book and it turns out her name is Rose . So another black mark...

SL you were asking about stretch marks...I had some on the bottom half of my stomach from my pregnancy with DS - they did fade pretty quickly, and then bizarrely have completely disappeared after this pregnancy. So IME pregnancy ones do go away (unlike teenage ones - sigh - it's not as if I even grew very quickly)

Hope today is a good day for all of us. Am dreading car journey - we got to end of the street the other day and DS was saying 'want to go home' and DD screaming. Although going to see SIL who is absolute marvel and baby genius - so at least light at end of tunnel.

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Lal LOL at the HV name debacle but who is Jean?

Trace did you get any sleep? Verso are you ok?

God knows - I was so proud of myself as well - kept dropping her name in way more than necessary...

kayz try this website
LadyT sorry you had a bad reception at the clinic. Women can be so bitchy. As an ex-Londoner living the rural 'idyll' I know the sort of attitudes you are coming across. Even though I grew up round here and moved to London for 12 years and then back here again, I am not'local' and therefore not at all accepted. It doesn't help that I speak the Queens English and don't finish every sentence 'oohargh'.
Verso sorry you had a bad night. Karma dictates that tonight will be blissfull though, fingers crossed.
I took DD to the clinic for the first time yesterday and like LadyT was largely ignored by the other women. DD has lost weight again, so I have started to top her up after every feed with a couple of oz of formula. I am very tempted to give up the BF'ing completely so that I know exactly how much she is eating, but think DH would be 'severely disappointed'.
Had no colic at all last night for the first time, which I cannot account for, perhaps the Infacol is finally beginning to take effect.
Off to take a shower whilst DS watches Cbeebies and DD is asleep. Have a good day everyone.

yes thanks veggie - she slept a little so i napped when i could, but it's hard when she's so pukey. Have made gp appointment for next week. I had a bad mum moment last night. I was trying to sleep as Phoebe had been settled for a few minutes, and i heard the puke noise. instead of leaping to my feet like normal, i lay for a few minutes thinking 'she can lie in puke - that's fine'. very bad. then i saw to her, changed mucky stuff etc then spent ages worrying that my selfish horrid thought would lead to a punishment for me, most likely in the shape of Phoebe dying. need more sleep.

am having boob issues today. right boob is lovely and pain-free and soft. left boob is tender and feels full of rocks. ow. feel like it needs emptying, but i can't just feed her from that side because that would presumably stimulate more milk production and would ultimately result in me having one mega-wanger and one diddy-wanger. what shall i do?

lal - yes all sounds good to me. slug and lettuce is baby friendly - how does that sound? can you come kayz? what would be the best time for you?

cat - was it you that said about not having to do a million nappies in the night? Thanks for passing it on, because having read that I felt like i'd been given permission to not change her every 2 hours with feeds - so thanks. Sorry your night was so pants.

verso - nice Haiku

trace DD vomits such a lot that I am forever leaving her for a bit rather than rushing to change her every time. What's worse is that I don't even feel bad about it. Really isn't end of the world (am such a sluttish mother).
Am sure Veggie will give you better advice, but mine would be to feed as much as you can from sore boob until it gets better - you can worry about evening up production (!) later but you don't want to get mastitis and you can only really clear it by feeding.
Having said that last time I had really bad mastitis on one side and only realised how one-sided I'd got when I stopped breast feeding and had to put a pair of socks (I kid you not) in one side of my bra to even it up while I waited for milk to go. But that was after months.
Right. Must go and pack.

Verso: sorry you had a bad night . Can you doze at all today?

Trace: if Phoebe is refluxy, could you avoid setting her down flat? If you have a sling maybe try that for a while after a feed, or raise the head of the cot with a couple of books?

WG and ZJ: yay for getting out of the house. The trip to Starbucks sounds lovely. Am planning second trip out this afternoon once the mw has been (they don't give you a time which is a major pain so I'm hanging around while DH takes DS out to the park). MW checking on DS2's jaundice, he still looks a bit yellow to me but is feeding well and getting more alert.

Re: routines, I got into a bit of a flap with DS1 becasue he was feeding so often and not settling, so am trying to be more relaxed this time. So DS2 has to fit in with DS1's routine, but then he sleeps most of the day anyway. Another fussy evening last night, lots of feeding and wind. Finally got to sleep at about midnight, awake for a feed at about 2:30 and 5, then slept till past 8am, as did DS so I feel like I've had a proper night's sleep! In some ways I quite like the frequent feeds (easy for me to say as he tends to feed then drop off again) as it's my time with him if that makes sense. I'm sure different routines suit different babies though .

re the sore boob, def feed from that side. Also you can use hot flannels to compress - sounds like you might have a blocked duct. Are you feeling fluey at all? Paracetemol and rest if you can!

Hi ladies...I thought I was going to be able to catch up on all my missed messages but I thinkthat I am going to have to admit defeat and as with eastenders, accept the fact thgat anything that happened in the last week is forever lost to me!!! If someone fancies doing me a round up of major events (as my sister did last night with a 20 minute monologue of the plot twists of albert square) I would be most grateful!!!!

Hope you are all well and that the bubs are behaving themselves...off to write my birth story for you girls....I'm probably the last I'll bet!

Lal/Trace I can get to York for 10 so anytime after that is fine. I will have both boys with me so you may want ear plugs as DS1 can be very loud.

I think I might give up BF. The HV said that DS2 will never be exclusively BF which is making me cry as I type this. I just feel like I am doing all this BF for no reason as he never seems full until he has his formula top up. I feel like such a failure and I am really angry with myself.

Why did she say that Kayz? I don't have any experience of top-ups but I know people have phased them out (if they wanted to that is). You've done really well to get this far though, and the decision is entirely up to you

She said it is because he is a bigger baby so will want feeding more.

We have decided to have a go tomorrow at not giving him any formula and see what happens. It was when I mentioned that to the HV she said that she thinks it is a bad idea.

Sounds a bit odd to me . DS2 is a biggish baby but is fine on BM (he does feed every couple of hours though)

Olipops Birth Story

Hope its not too long!!!

So?on New Years eve I had a few twinges when I went to bed but they didn?t amount to anything.
Same thing when I sent to bed on New Years Day and DH suggested plugging myself into my Hypnobirthing. I managed to doze off but when it finished I came too with a bigger contraction (but still nothing to write home about). After a while I suddenly felt that tell tale POP and managed to leap out of bed to avoid soaking it! Checked the time and it was about 12.15. I then rang the maternity unit and they said that they would send someone out to check on me. I started to get a few more contractions so I rang my Mum and she said that either her or my sister would be round to sit with Oliver in case he woke up.
I plugged in the Tens, started up contraction master on the laptop and took a couple of paracetamol. No midwife yet and slightly alarmed to see that the frequency on contraction master was about every three minutes although pretty mild.
My Mum and sister arrived in their PJ?s having decided that neither of them could cope with waiting at home for the phone call. Needless to say, my Dad and brother didn?t have the same feeling!
A midwife arrived at about 1.30, loved the contraction master as she said it helped her to see exactly how the labour was progressing. I was standing at my breakfast bar, holding onto the back of two chairs and rocking from foot to foot. I?d managed to scoff a banana and a cup of tea before it all got too strong. The midwife said that all looked good but she?d have a cup of tea and decide whether she should leave me to labour for a while. Needless to say, she decided to stay as the contractions didn?t let up and an examination showed that I was 3 cm and whilst she was ?in there? so to speak, progressed to 4 cm. I basically stood and rocked until about 2.45 with progressively more intense contractions which led to the utterance of the odd ? oh gosh? and ?oh lordy? (well my mum was sitting behind me!!!!). I did whisper the F word once or twice but I think I got away with it! At 2.45 ish I felt Heidi travelling pretty fast!!! Go gravity! The midwife scrambled DH to lay out plastic sheeting and pads and I knelt on all fours leaning over the sofa footstall. Ten minutes later with a few more not so whispered F words, she was out! Mum and sister left the room for the gory bit but could still hear what was going on. I felt that I was more ?anti pushing? than pushing (ie trying to slow down the birth) and managed to avoid any tears or bruising?bloody miracle!
I was a bit stuck for a while?.shaky legs and all that so couldn?t move! DH held Heidi whilst I recovered myself and then she was bought over for a first go at feeding! Mum, sister and second midwife arrived and we all had a cuppa (see a theme here!) and some biscuits. By 4.30 everyone had gone and DH, Heidi and I were sat on the sofa drinking Bucks Fizz and waiting for DS to wake up. DH was twitching to call people and then remembered he could call his sister in Oz. DS woke up at 6.10 (late for him) and DH bought him in and pointed out his new sister. He asked for chocolate milk and then we all settled down to spiderman 3.

All in all it was fantastic! She is now a week old and feeding really well. Long may it continue!!! But lets not count any chickens!!!!

Oh and she has managed to put on 6 oz already...little porker!

kayz - please don't be angry with yourself. You have done sooooooooooooooo well. And Dylan is putting weight on and you should feel proud of all the effort you've out in. You are NOT a failure. With dd1 I BF and gave top-ups but found it disheartening - just thought what's the point in BF if it's I've got to give FF anyway? SO I know how you feel. But the more you feed the more you produce so maybe a few days of BF only you'll meet the demands of your big boy. Don't try to please anyone else - just do what your heart tells you is best for you and Dylan.
And when you come to York will you be driving or public transporting?

oh and....should be be moving to a post-natal group? We've all got our babes now haven't we? DO we wait to fill this one up then move to a post thread?

effie - she still seems to vom even when propped up. I try to keep her upright for ages, but as soon as she's down it comes back! Think I just have to accept I have a sicky one and that we're all going to smell of stale baby puke for the next few months! I feel a bit better sleeping her on her belly because at least it doesn't choke her that way. And it seems more comfy for her.