Fab Feb Thread: 22 on show........33 to go.......!!!!

[spottyshoes]

Ooo I feel all important now.

SMS hormones! poor you and DP, you clearly needed that chocolate . hope you manage to kiss and make up soon.
My DH has accused me of being grumpy/snappy/nagging a few times in the last week. Wonder how men would cope with being at home with 2 LO's after a CS? Bet they'd be more than a but grumpy
I'm missing chocolate which is probably why I'm grumpy too as I gave it up for lent. Although I was a lapsed catholic for some reason I'm getting back into it out here, probably because its against the law we've even got a catholic priest coming onto the compound on Thursday to do mass which is the sort of thing that could get you thrown into jail so I'm determined to go to that to DH's dismay!

PT wow, you have been productive, you've put me to shame, I've only been to the med centre and read a bit of arabic this afternoon whilst both LO's slept (that was a first, normally one sleeps whilst one whinges then they swop)

Have realised how anal I was getting about Harrisons's weight. He'd only lost a bit which is normal but it reminded me of when DD1 was born, she lost over 1 1/2 pounds in the first week and it took her 16 weeks to get back to birth weight. She was admitted to hospital for failure to thrive and had all sorts of tests. Now she is 12 and wears age 15 clothes as she is so tall so all that worry was for nothing.

TBM&F2, where are you? Have you deserted us? Come back

right, off to bath DC's 3 & 4 and then hopefully an early night

I have missed so much.. But am feeling a lot more alive as the late evening cluster feed has resulted in DD sleeping from 11.30 to 5.30 two nights in a row !! Don't expect it to last but am enjoying the little sleep respite

eekayjay, scubagroover,newsocks and katie BIG CONGRATULATIONS !!!!!!!! I hope all went well with you and you are loving being with your LO's...

DizzyBrummie, good luck hope everything kicks off again..

to all the CS ladies, I hope your wounds heal soon, sounds quite awful please get checked up if you think they are getting worse..

Dinky, your poor DS1, I hope he feels better soon..

MOS great news about your DS's weight gain !

Littlesez so happy to hear that you are loving motherhood so much, it is such a magical time now, I also really love it (and it gets even better as they start learning to do things ...)

Oh yes, I dont dare touch it as I am sure that i will muck it up..but the list seems to be a little out.. I think eekay and heylittlelady need to update their details ? I might be wrong though...

My mum is here now, so i might be pretty sporadic for the next couple of weeks ..I am sure I have missed loads.. so apologies in advance for anything I have missed out..

take care all .x.

MOS Good to hear about Harrison's weight. It's hard not to be obsessive about it. I made sure Lilian had a feed before she was weighed as every gram counts and I didn't want us to have to be admitted to hospital. I haven't topped up with formula for 24 hours now and she has been frantic for food (on the boob for 5 hours this morning) so I am nervous about tomorrow's weigh-in as I suspect she might have dropped weight again - though she does still have a double chin so can't be that skinny !

PT I'm feeling guilty now after hearing about all your activity.....I've just been drinking tea and eating mini chocolate rolls.

i have managed to demolish a packet of chocolate chip cookies at some point in the prceedings

I'm with you on the weight thing, MOS, still not quite up to birth weight a month on but it is creeping up slowly. Jacob is a greedy feeding monster so I don't know where it is all going. The first fish midwife who came round (on day 4 or 5 so I was well hormonal and blue) was threatening me with having to give him formula if his weight didn't pick up . And he is still a bit jaundiced. That's why I have been hanging out at kellymom.

LOVE the double bugger!

Evening

Mother & Baby group went ok today, there were quite alot of mums there & everyone seemed very friendly and made me feel welcome. Poppy was good for the two hours (slept most of it) so I managed to relax & have a chat. It was really lovely to meet people that are local to me. I am going to go back on Thursday to the baby stay & play group. It was so nice just to get out of the house and do somethng different for a few hours & its been such a lovely day here too.

Laidback I totally agree that wine should be served at M&B groups! Although ive not had a proper drink yet since getting pregnant & having Poppy, so could be dangerous

Good for you KT - sounds like it was a success!

Typing and feeding - I feel like a fully fledged Mnetter now!

Haven't logged on for a week and it seems like it's taken me nearly as long to catch up on everyone's news. I think we should give ourselves a collective pat on the back for being such good Mums

Albert was weighed on Friday - he's lost just under a pound of his mammoth birthweight but HV would like it to be back to 10lbs 10oz when I see her a week tomorrow. He's feeding well - every two hours -I think I must be producing enough milk but we'll see.

TMI alert - how much are you bleeding? I seem to have a very heavy flow of new blood and have to change sanitary towels much more frequently over the last four or five days than I did in the week after the birth. I've passed a few very insignificant clots. Is this normal for just over two weeks post-birth? MW has discharged me and I don't really want to bother the GP with something which is probably nothing. As I'm low on iron I'd like to know that this isn't going to affect my recovery. My wound is slightly tender and slightly inflamed in one very small patch - painkillers given by hospital have run out now so I'll keep an eye on it but may have to call the surgery for some advice / reassurance.

However, in the grand scheme of things all is well and I'm weirdly very broody! What is that about?? I have a beautiful newborn and I'm already thinking another one would be nice. Hormones!

Pluto - I was told by my midwife not to be surprised if the bleeding seemed to be stopping, and then came back again. She also told me to expect a few clots (Alex is 3 weeks now). However, I always say it's a good idea to get a professional opinion on things like that. Don't worry about bothering the GP, that's what they're there for.

I went up to the GP today and have finally been put on antibiotics for my wound. He said I shouldn't worry, that it wasn't like it was going to rupture or anything but he agreed that it was a bit weepy. Hopefully the AB's will get it sorted out quickly.

My DH's mum arrives tomorrow for a few days so I'm hoping she'll be happy to do a bit of babysitting so DH and I can get some extra sleep!

I'm pleased to say I'm feeling pretty good about stuff generally at the moment - well we've made it to 3 weeks without any major traumas so that's got to be good!

MoS I was pretty obsessed with ds1's weight too, I had him weighed once a week, I was so paranoid about over/underfeeding. It is a worry.
KT Glad the M&B group went well. It does make all the difference being able to go somewhere like that if you enjoy it.
QK Glad everything's going so well there, by 3 weeks with ds1 he'd already had circulation to his feet cut off (they were nearly black!), been knocked over in the pushchair, and been dropped down a few stairs

I have to agree that maybe my anger towards dp has something to do with hormones he just really annoys me at times. Haven't really spoken too much today because everytime he opens his mouth I want to throw something, sure it'll pass though. It was really tough for us relationship wise for 4/5 months after ds1 was born, there was a huge lack of help and support where the baby was concerned but it is dawning on me that maybe he's 'afraid' of babies. He has only just started to do all the things with ds1 that I've been wanting him to do from day one so maybe he's one of these men that need the lo's to be able to do things for themselves to make it all more fun iykwim.

Is everyone giving the babies water to drink through the day? At what point and how much?

spottyshoes has had a little boy

"Samuel James Edward was born today at 8.17 pm after a really easy 4.5 hour labour weighing 8lb 1oz. Can't get over how pain free it was! He is gorgeous and feeding like a pro already!"

She's hoping to be home tomorrow but I guess still won't be able to get on here. I think she can sometimes get on fb though.

Woop woop, way to go, Spotty!

Fab news spottyshoes!!!!! Well done.

SMS I think my DH is afraid of babies too - he had a hard time with DS as he had to cope with him on his own for a week after he was born when I was still in hospital and that really damaged the father / son relationship for a few months. DH called DS 'it' for quite a while..... I think a lot of men feel excluded from the whole newborn baby bit and are a lot happier once the babies begin to get personalities and can do things!

morning all
nkweto, thats fabulous with Alexandra's feeding and getting that much sleep. You are sooooo lucky. Mind you, lets hope your LO isn't like my Alexandra who turned into the devil child at age 12

Hope you get lots of help from your mum whilst she is staying. I'm feeling a bit sad that my mum won't see Harrison for ages as not due back to the UK til June. I am however thinking of trying to fly back for a few days/week in the next few weeks as we got Harrisons passport yesterday which was amazingly quick as it took 2 months to get DD's. My mum has been in hospital since 2 days after DS was born and am really wanting to get back and show her him as I am worried that she may take a turn for the worse and may never meet him. Sorry, I must sound so depressing.

spotty fantastic news and gorgeous names

SMS hope everything ok today with you and DP, I know its not easy, DH and I have never argued as much as we have the last few months as my health problems have put a lot of pressure on our relationship.

I did try DS on some cooled boiled water the other day and got a look of disgust as he spat it out.

pluto and Calico fingers crossed for the weigh ins today, its so worrying isn't it

swampy well done on perservering with the b/f and not giving in like I did with the bottle. I have been cutting the bottles down and pushing on with the b/f so hopefully I can cut the bottles out totally soon. I was just scared they would keep him in hospital if he lost more weight and in this god forsaken country they won't allow you to stay in hospital with your child.

Right, off to the hospital now to have a check up with my consultant. Have a good day everyone x

Morning all. Dp's not back from work yet, he's very late. Probably scared to come home incase I yell at him again! It'll all be ok though, we got through it before and we'll get through it again, I suppose I'm quite lucky he's not good at confrontation and won't argue back.....
How often are the rest of you ff feeding? Luke is having 4oz 4 hourly, I'm abut to knock that upto 5 because he's taking the whole lot every time and I'd rather there was a bit left over in the bottle than him feeling he could have more iykwim. Anyway the cmw at clinic yesterday came out to the waiting room to carry on chatting as it was quiet and I was preparing a bottle to give him there before I popped to shops and she asked me why I was feeding him so I said because he is on 4 hourly and I wouldn't make it home if I wanted to get something in for dinner. She said he didn't look hungry so I shouldn't feed him, so I told her I didn't want to leave it longer than 4 hours and with another child on my hands I didn't really have the complete abilities to feed on demand. She asked how much he was having and when I told her she said that wasn't much but that I was prob feeding him too often Is 4 hourly too often for a 4 week old? He's staying on the same percentile with his weight so I can't be doing anything too wrong.

I don't think I've ever been this tired! Waiting for the over-tired adreneline to kick in now

yay, back from hospital and no more injecting into my stomach! hurrah. Also, consultant was happy with my wound and seemed to imply that it would heal quicker now I'm stopping the clexane. Have to say, I always thought it a bit dubious injecting a blood thinner close to a healing wound

SMS, can't help you on the formula I'm afraid as I'm doing a bit of that and b/f. Harrison is however on average in a 24 hour period having around 4 bottles of 60ml (around 2 oz) so around half what you are giving so that may be around right bearing in mind he is having breast milk too. At the end of the day, you can't always demand feed so making sure he doesn't go hungry as you are doing sounds like it is working. Don't forget too that all babies are different and midwives don't know it all!

SMS That sounds about right to me. HV told me yesterday that there should always be a small amount left in the bottle, so if he's draining it, then you should up to 5oz. I think that it would have been far better to feed him then than have him really hungry and bawling his head off round the shops. Especially with an older child...

spotty Hurrah! Massive congratulations. Can't wait to see the pics.

Nkweto Have fun with your mum, and Happy Birthday!!

Not too good here - bad night as madam's still really blocked up and can only breathe when upright. Also, HV told us to change her formula to the easy digest aptemil, but it's a lot thicker and she's not quite used to it. John decided to complain about lack of sleep at 5:30am so I took her and changed and fed her in the spare room, and then tried to sleep in there as well. She did - me not so much!

Then he came in just as I had got her back to sleep after she was sick to do the "who's getting more sleep" competition. I was not impressed. Told me I needed to organise myself better so I can sleep during the day, so he can sleep at night. He said he was so tired the other day he was on the wrong side of the road, which is obviosly not good, but still. I don't think he realises that I have to cook, do the washing-up, do the laudry (including nappies) and prepare bottles etc, whilst holding a not very happy 3 week old baby.

Hoping that I can drag my MIL round this afternoon so I can get the jobs done quicker and I can get some rest...

SMS That sounds about right to me. HV told me yesterday that there should always be a small amount left in the bottle, so if he's draining it, then you should up to 5oz. I think that it would have been far better to feed him then than have him really hungry and bawling his head off round the shops. Especially with an older child...

spotty Hurrah! Massive congratulations. Can't wait to see the pics.

Nkweto Have fun with your mum, and Happy Birthday!!

Not too good here - bad night as madam's still really blocked up and can only breathe when upright. Also, HV told us to change her formula to the easy digest aptemil, but it's a lot thicker and she's not quite used to it. John decided to complain about lack of sleep at 5:30am so I took her and changed and fed her in the spare room, and then tried to sleep in there as well. She did - me not so much!

Then he came in just as I had got her back to sleep after she was sick to do the "who's getting more sleep" competition. I was not impressed. Told me I needed to organise myself better so I can sleep during the day, so he can sleep at night. He said he was so tired the other day he was on the wrong side of the road, which is obviosly not good, but still. I don't think he realises that I have to cook, do the washing-up, do the laudry (including nappies) and prepare bottles etc, whilst holding a not very happy 3 week old baby.

Hoping that I can drag my MIL round this afternoon so I can get the jobs done quicker and I can get some rest...

Morning lovely ladies. Fabulous news about Spotty and Samuel - am delighted that after weeks of early labour she got a really quick and easy active labour. Hurray! PinkSpottyWellies - please pass on our congrats to her when you speak to her and tell her we miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiss her!!

Swampy - am glad Jacob's weight is starting to come up. Pluto - Al was such a big baby, even if he's lost a pound, he's well above the curve; just keep doing what you're doing and he'll put the weight back on. Give your midwife a call if you're worried about blood loss - I passed a couple of small clots in week 2 (and blood loss was abit heavier) but now in week 3 its mostly dying off. MoS - am so sorry to hear about your mum being hospitalised; really hope she's on the mend and you manage to introduce Harrison to her. Nkweto - I love the long sleeps you get after cluster feeding! Brilliant news that Alexandra is sleeping so well - long may it last! Have a lovely time with your mum over and get lots of sleep in...

Pink - most impressed at your most proactive day yesterday with 3 kids around! All I managed to do yesterday was DS2's passport application and a trip to the cranial osteopath for both of us to try and sort out DS2's trapped wind issues and my sacrum...

SMS - sorry your hormones are making life hard for you and DP at the moment. I hope you guys make it up soon. Its knackering enough having a toddler and baby to deal with - you could do without wasting any more energy you need to get through the day on arguments/anger. DH and I argued alot after DS1 was born too and we've had a couple of spats after Danny was born but the one thing we learnt after DS1 was that we HAVE to talk it out and not go to bed angry as it just tends to fester and become so much a bigger deal in the morning when you wake up cranky and sleep deprived.

KT - glad the group was good. QK - glad you've got ABs for your wound; hopefully it will clear it up.

Cross post - MoS congrats on ending the jabs! Must be such a relief.

MrsY - DH is sleeping in the spare room while I'm in with Danny until Danny starts sleeping for longer stretches (DS1 started doing that at around 6 weeks so we moved him to the spare room then and DH back into the bedroom); we did the same when I had DS1 as its important that he can function at work (and with DS1 in the morning when I'm dealing with Danny)while I can be a zombie around the house in my pjs all day if need be. If I'm having an awful night, I can wake DH up to take over for an hour or so while I get some sleep in then trade over again. It worked - and works - for us as we dont have 2 cranky sleep deprived adults. If John is going to be in the bedroom with you and M, I'd suggest he have ear plugs in so he can just sleep through whatever and if things get hard for you and you need a break, you can give him a jab in the ribs to wake him up to take over. Great idea about getting the MIL around. And try the sling if M wont be put down - will at least free up your hands to do all the stuff you need to do in the house if you have to do it- though I'm a great fan of the sod the housework, just do pasta and sauce for dinner and get a good nap in with your baby in your bed school of motherhood and wifedom. I think we lived on takeaway pizza for the first 4 weeks of DS1's life

MrsY, I fully agree with dinky on the housework front

mrsY I am now sleeping in the spare room with Lilian whilst DH has to deal with DS at night so that there is a chance that one of us has a less rubbish night's sleep but DH is still complaining that he can't get back to sleep after DS has woken him for a 'daddy cuddle' at 2am. I'm arguing that I can't possibly manage two non sleeping babies every night! DH gets in such a bad mood if he doesn't get at least 8 hours sleep. I'd settle for 3 hours at the moment.

SMS.... even with a bf baby most of us do the 'feed him now rather than have him cry in 20 mins' feeds whenever we're going out the door.... they don't take the feed if they're not hungry fgs and better to have a full contented baby than a baby who wakes up 10 mins down the road and screams the whole way round the shops.

KT, baby group sounds like it went well.... good for you starting these things early... i wish i had with dd but i was always too nervous and ended up very isolated for a long time.

mrsy..... something you learn when you have more than one is that it doesn't do a baby a damn bit of harm to cry for a few minutes while you get stuff done.

if you need to cook dinner/do housework and she's not settling it is ok to just put her down in her bouncer (well fed with a clean nappy) and get on with what needs doing.... 95% of the time you'lll find that after a few minutes baby stops crying and either dozes off or watches you work. some babies [gives aaron meaningful look] would have you carry them 24/7 if you were willing and whilst it is lovely to hold them and cuddle them there are certain things that simply can't get done with babe in arms and even those things that you might just about manage now won't still be possible with a 12 month old or a 2 year old hanging off you. i'm not saying ignore the baby crying constantly but if you're struggling it honestly won't hurt her to have to watch you work every now and again rather than you feeling like you've got baby attached to you crying in your ear every hour of the day.

dd was a very whingy baby too and i wish i'd been braver about learning to just get on with things whether she was crying or not as day after day spent pacing the floor with her screaming and whinging did neither of us any good and damn near broke me.

that said i do find aaron hard to resist at times...... i made pork strogonoff one handed last night as i didn't want to put him down even though he was fast asleep against my chest

forget PFB... he's already turning into my SLC (spoiled last child)

Congrats to Spotty! Woohoo!

HV just been, F is now 10lbs- properly beefed up. I'm still have some latching on problems though and he's gulping down loads of air so going to see a bf counsellor Thursday.

Pink- I have got loads to do today but instead have been spending time on the sofa cuddling the nice warm soft baby. I have been trying to explain to dd that his only form of communication is crying so we don't have to pick him up every time he squeaks.

I parked him by the back door the other day and went to hang the washing out. He sqeaked and before I knew it dd had swiped him out of the pram and was marching across the concrete towards me with him dangling.

Cue me pulling this face and sprinting across the garden.