Due May 2009 - There's a bun in my oven and it's making me HOT! HOT! HOT!

[FiKelly]

Shiny new thread already!

I would do ironing if my board went low enough but it doesn't. I've got the highest ironing board to stand up that's available. Truely brilliant, but it doesn't go low enough for me to sit down so I only do it when my back doesn't hurt.

Been off today with ds. He was sick twice at nursery on Monday, and once in the night. It's the first time it's happened, so when dh took him in on Tuesday we found out he had to be clear for 24 hours before we took him back. Anyway dh was off with him on Tuesday and no problems. Wednesday he went back to nursery and was sick first thing. I don't think they believed he had been ok for 24 hours. Anyway he was fine for the rest of the day but sick in the early hours of this morning. He didn't cry and so we only found the dried in sick this morning. yuk. I had to take him to work first thing until my locum arrived, but he fell asleep in his pram so I hung around to help out.

Hi All,
Wow, has taken me ages to read all the posts since the weekend!! Sorry if any of the following is a bit out of date or I've missed any major news.

alapala so sorry to hear about your friend. Hope you and family are ok and you haven't got the vomiting bug.

Re sterilisers... the tommy tippee microwave/cold water ones are half price (and the mstching breast pump) in my local tesco at the moment. The steriliser comes with a couple of bottles as well.

Someone mentioned hairdye about 10 pages ago, I've been using the lush 'Les cacas' hennas for about a year and can totally recommend them if you have dark hair and want some nice glossy colour. I liked hte fact they were natural-ish and they completely cover my grey! My hairdresser who is totally anti home hair dye has said she is impressed with the colour so they must be good!

detsy The cow costume is fabulous!

fi thanks for the vest links, I got a couple of kimono style ones from H&M for about £5 the other week in really soft organic cotton. They have some nice colours too.

dandy your MIL sounds like a nightmare, no advice to offer just some sympathy!

divedaisy I've packed a hospital bag too... Only because we're going to be moving any day soon so I needed to know where it all was just in case!

Am not sure who mentioned feeling massive and worrying about the next three months - that's exactly how I feel atm. People keep telling me I'm getting big and I keep thinking its not like I haven't noticed!!! some annoying woman in work also said, how are you going to cope in a few months time when you're this big now?! I guess I'll find out in a few months won't I?! I've been so uncomfortable at night as well so its making me really tired which doesn't help cope with the silly comments.

Sorry for the rant, my March resolution is to get back on here a bit more regularly, might even be back in later.
xx

My mother said that when she was pregnant she never got used to having a great big belly and so she always had ironing marks where she had ironed herself.

Runningmonkey peoples comments are bizarre - its been said before but its worth saying again. Even people who have had babies and ought to know better tell me how big I look. Last night I looked in the mirror and wondered how I was going to cope with getting any bigger.

Braxton hicks contractions - yesterday I had a feeling like mild period pain in my lower belly for about half an hour. i was wondering if this was likely to have been BH? Or if its my muscles still trying to adjust to whats going on. Oh and being kicked quite a bit above my cervix (I know its my cervix because it feels similar to a pap smear! Sorry if TMI)

Belgian I get crawly sensations - sometimes it feels like the baby is trying to feel whats on the other side of my belly, like if I lie with my belly to DP's back. Before I felt I could get an idea of where it was lying because of where the jabs went in but now they're all over the place. I started to think that the head was down below because I felt sort of heavier down there. But then there'll be a jab down there, a jab to my front, little jabs under the ribs, jabs to the left and the right, some hip action...Its really full on now when it kicks hard, its very strong. It usually saves that for when my belly is against DPs back and for early in the morning. The wee smors.

And on the fit ball Belgian! Look thats just way too efficient.

Talking about forgetting how big you belly is. They're staining our new inside doors and door frames today and of course I managed to brush against freshly stained doorframe with my bump, while trying to squeeze between the decorator and the door. It was still wet AND I was wearing one of my brand new tops I put it straight in the machine with some vanish. Hopefully it will have come out.

Polony, I get crawly sensations too! it's really low and I feel very heavy when i'm walking.

Jennster, hope ds is better.

feeling really sad today and must stop listening to sad news, stories, reading real-life drama etc. my hormones can't handle it!

time to pick up girls from nursery. may be back on later. hope all are well.

Detsy keep meaning to say how brill that cow costume is, but forgetting. Also is that 3d scan your dc2? It's scary how much lo looks like your dd!

Yes momino the David Cameron story kept coming up everywhere and then (while ironing ) this morning was all about loosing children, etc... I kept getting tears in my eyes and ended up just switching it off and having a CD on instead.

Ooh, I just remembered Jennster My dd had exactly the same as your ds last year. She'd be sick, then seem better and then she was sick again. She was also complaining of feeling sick, but could still eat and stuff. The GP thought she had an irritated stomach rather than a bug and gave her something against it and it helped straightaway. It was very odd, just like your ds. Hope he gets better soon.

llareggub & belgian re breast feeding & huge norks. Is the rugby hold the one where you position them at your side under your arm (difficult to explain) ah just found some examples... here & near bottom of this list here I do remember trying this one.. along with all of the other positions possible! Hopefully with pointy nipples and an actual milk supply i'll actually manage it this time

I found the rugby ball hold worked well even without massive norks. You can put cushions next to you to rest baby on and curl your arm round them.

fi Yes that's the position. Personally I loved side lying, especially at night. I found I could have a sleep while ds had a feed. Unfortunately my dd didn't like it as a small baby, but did as an older baby/toddler. I hope to train this one to like side lying at night, I will need my sleep even more with 3!

belgian I liked the lying down one too... and got on with that one as long as i still had my sleep nursing bra on to keep my other huge nork from getting in the way!!!

DS liked to position himself on my tummy and feed. We had some lovely snoozes like that, it was a definite incentive to continue breastfeeding. Sadly he is very active when he feeds now and sometimes sits on my head, bouncing up and down, while feeding! Or he kicks DH out of bed due to his enthusiastic kicking. Our lazy mornings are definitely over!

llareggub lol at the pictures your description of his feeding positions have just created in my head. Ahhh those lazy sunday mornings in bed they're a vague memory now... [sigh] but like everyone else I wouldn't change a thing!

On no, what are we doing? For the last 6 months we've had our lazy sunday mornings in bed back! The dcs tend to sleep until 8.30 and don't come asking for breakfast til after 9. Just as life got easier again, the hard work is coming back. What were we thinking???

llare lol at your ds. I think it were those half asleep morning feeds that kept me feeding for as long as I did. It's just so lovely and cuddly, why give it up?

thanks for the tip runningmonkey think I'll pop to tesco tommorrow I feel my credit card twitching

I too was in tears this morning when they did the phone in about losng a child. When Denise Robinson started talking about her sons death - OMG when she started crying I couldn't control myself!

Great image Ilareggub with your ds bouncing on your head while bf!

Well going to bed now with my book.

Nit nite...

Hi everyone,

On feeding & bottles - DD was formula fed after 4 weeks, and we have only ever had 6 bottles (a full steriliser's worth). You have to change the teats quite regularly, which is something that nobody mentions for some reason. Avent make some teeny little bottles & we had a couple of those but they are a bit of a waste of money as they aren't big enough for long.

Warning - first timers might not want to read this bit!
The reason she was formula fed was that by the time I left hospital my nipples had both cracked and were constantly bleeding and by 4 weeks I had had mastitis twice - the second time the doctor was so worried he had me on double doses of two different types of antibiotics. After about 10 days I managed to see a breastfeeding counsellor who pointed out that her latch was wrong (up till this point everyone had told me it was fine). But by then it was too late.

Does anyone have any tips for avoiding this scenario, or at least getting through it without being too ill? I think I might try mixed feeding but was always advised against it last time because of nipple confusion etc - but I figure it must be better to get some breast milk regularly than none? Although having said that DD is right as rain and hearty as you like.

On the subject of wriggling, I was sitting with DD on my lap today and baby was kicking her in the back through my bump! It didn't seem to bother her though. It felt really sweet to think that both my girls were there together! And at least one of them was quiet. Isn't it wierd to think about what is going on in there - what can they hear/see/feel/taste etc? I know what they tell you, but nobody really knows do they...

rek all you can do is make doubly sure your baby's latch is good, because if you've got that sorted everything else will follow. Read up about putting baby to the breast and maybe see if you can contact that bf counsellor to just check if your latch is OK. If you can't get a bf counsellor to come, just get a mw to double ceck. And don't be afraid to take baby off if the latch isn't right. Early feeding can take a lot of on and offing, but it's the only way baby will learn to open her mouth wide etc... And remember, what happened 1st time around wont necesarily happen again. This baby might be a natural for all you know.

I think my lo often just thinks: stop leaning forward, woman, and give me some space! It goes especially mad when I lean forward while wearing my support belt, it aims just where it's digging in.
Another amazing thing is how babies seem to be so strong and so good at aiming while they're in the womb, but once they're out the seem so weak and unco-ordinated.

Right, time for a bath now with my book. Hopefully I'll finally get a good night's sleep after that.

Hi all
Just caught up, I think, but should be writing a briefing doc for work... well should have done it earlier and now have to do it now...

Thanks again about my cow everyone! She saw it this morning in her bedroom (kept it for posterity for a bit) and she grabbed it and said eek eek (mouse noise), hmmm. Apparently she kept chewing the udder so she had the right idea there at least!!

Jennster apols to you I forgot to say thankyou for the Quinny download link. Yes the scan pic is our little boy - he's def got his dad's nose. I think he looks like Lottie too and am getting very excited about meeting him

Lottie has developed a sudden and very passionate interest in her babies - she spent a good half hour before bed tonight doing bottles, blankets and patting them gently - brill timing for my little helper in May. Just hope she takes to a real baby with the same passion!

Re feeding - i did a mix from day one, and only managed 3 months of BF then DD and I mutually decided, bottles were the way forward. I was delighted she made the decision as I was feeling guilty about wanting to stop. I plan to do the same again, bf for first few months and supplement with bottles (so DP etc can feed with express or we can use formula if need be) I'm pretty chilled about it and def think its each to their own.

I had the opposite exp with Tommee and Avent - we liked Avent and stuck with them. The multi flow teat someone mentioned is for when they are older - I used these with thicker follow on, bed time milk when DD was much older.

running I need to do the Tesco run for new bottles/teats/dummies. I convinced my little sister to get in my loft today and found all my tiny clothes so don't really need any vests but am now tempted by coloured organic H & M ones

And I deffo need some little chap gear, can't wear pink now can he!! Also need all the gubbins for my bag (and my new change bag) so thining about having a few days off and getting it all sorted so I can chill out.

Oh and a double buggy..

Thanks Belgian - I think the thing about taking her off is key - for some reason I didn't really realise you could do that! I think I had listened too carefully when I was told that you should feed on demand for as long as they like, but that doesn't really apply before your milk comes in does it? I have to say that all the midwives I met told me the latch was fine, which is why I just carried on, I think it was quite a subtle adjustment that was needed.

Detsy (and anyone else)

A friend of mine has a brand new (still in box) Phil and Teds sport (including doubles kit cocoon and raincover) which she bought for £330 but doesn't need. She found another one she preferred (P&T dash), but was too late to cancel the order so ended up with 2 (plus a third dodgy e3 being sold as a "sport" which she's still disputing on ebay). She was trying to get me to buy it but we have an P&T e3 already. She might be willing to do a deal if anyones interested.