July 2010: Our babes are due! Within the month, they'll all début.

[Chulita]

Thanks to spirael for the title, hopefully we'll all pop before this thread ends!

Thanks for the welcome all...

It's my 2nd but DD1 is 5 so its been a while and feels like I'm doing it all again from scratch!

I am in Kent, due today and kept the sex of the baby a surprise so all very exciting.
Is that all you need to know for the list???

for those struggling with dummies, I did with DD1 and found that if I held it in for a minute or so with my thumb and stroked the bridge of her nose between her eyes, she would drop off - the dummy would then fall out so she slept without it!
I also found it easy to take the dummy away (the easter bunny came and took them all away and replaced with chocolate mini eggs when she was 2 1/2) much easier than those children with thumbs - can't take that away!!!

Oh and another Q, was anoyone else worried/have experience of waters breaking in public??

I am petrified of it, so much so that I am struggling to go out...any advice?

welcome munckin re waters breaking, i wore a pad for last week or so just incase rthey went in public, once i went into labour mw tried to break my waters and it took about half an hour she said she had never encountered such thick membranes so it was a waste of time for me!!!
spireal wow your LO sounds very hungry at least she will take the bottle to top up!
Lyndon slept for 5 hours straight last night but ive not felt too good today or last night and then he wouldnt go back to sleep again, dh had to take over for half an hour i ended up putting him in his vibrating chair to settle him then put him back in cot, the vibrating chair is a godsend it settles in straight away, helps bring up wind and generally calms him, have you got one dh it may settle dylan a bit??

chulita sorry you didn't get the birth you wanted. mine was also similar, back to back, wedged head, long slow 1st stage but ended in forceps, tho only narrowly avoided the c-section.

dreadful night here last night. like mindy, james just wanted to feed and feed and feed from about 11pm to 5am. then i woke up at 7am and couldn't get back to sleep. today my left breast is excruciatingly painful to feed from, and gets hot and lumpy. spoke to my lovely bf advisor this morning who advised me to rest the nipple for today and express on that side, using hot compresses and massaging the lumps. hope it gets better soon. i'm seeing the midwife later and hope he will have put on lots of weight since all our early problems. he definitely feels like he's filled out a bit.

Thanks for the responses ladies Ive just fed him and he did a lovely burp. Its amazing the things you get excited about when you have a baby lol!

Welcome munchkinland what part of Kent are you from, I live in Kent too!

memphis yeah DP's sister gave us her daughters old bouncy chair which has a vibration option on it but we havent got a battery for it yet, it takes those big square ones. He likes to sit in it and look out the window lol bless.

kk Thanks - yes we love Yasmin's hair. I was v suprised when she came out like that and she has lost none 4 weeks on!

dh yasmin is v windy too and i only realised when my friend said yesterday i had not been winding her properly. i was just leaning her forwards and rubbing her back but you can actually pat them quite hard on the back to get the wind up if rubbing doesn't work.

Yasmin has started crying when breastfeeding during evening feeds now and getting all distressed. she is also vomiting quite a bit. I'm taking her to hv today to check all ok. She's good as gold some feeds and then others acts all upset and as if she can't get enough milk. It might be a growth spurt.

Well....just back from midwife and no sweep given, they won't do it until 41 weeks!!!!!
So down. I really want to meet my little one!!
All engaged though, so you never know I guess - maybe I should get off of MN and go for a run or something!!!

DH21, I am in Dartford, where are you?

I love reading all your stories on BF-ing and just generally trying to cope with the sleep depravation etc. I can't wait to have all that - anything has got to be better than this sitting around waiting.....

kapars yeah the mw actually winded Dylan when she was trying to force get him onto my boob even though he didnt want anymore and she patted him on the back quite hard so Ive been doing the same! Sometimes though I only have to pick him up and he burps!

munchkinland Im in Herne Bay so a little bit further out than you. If I could give you my sleep deprivation I would!
Word of advice, my LO came after having sex (well a few hours later) maybe you could give that a try

Be careful what you wish for, Munchkinland! I'm finding the constant on-demand feeding really wearing and am beginning to think about trying a light routine on my LO. He's only 9 days old and I a lot of people think routines are cruel but we're both getting exhausted and frustrated from on-demand feeding and need some structure to feeding and sleeping.

LO has been sleeping in the bed with us too - won't settle in his Moses Basket. I tried some spaced soothing (Jo Tantrum's Baby Secrets) last night but found it really tough. I have been reading threads about controlled crying here and am stunned by the vitriol it creates. Is it really so bad to impose a routine on a newborn?

have posted a couple of pis for anyone who wants a look! they're not the most recent ones but wil post more soon x
nixter your little lady is gorgeous! she's like a child who's a month or 2 old! so cute!
kapars id have great fun with her hair! my woman doesnt have much! and its kind of ginger and neither of us are ginger! its not mad orange or anything though.
dh you seem in better form today!
memphis i've been thinking about contraception too and think i might go with the mirena coil. unlike you though i cant wait to get some action again!.just get the urge now and again but it will be at least another week or so til my bits are fully healed.
welcome munchkin! here's hoping you dont have too much longer to wait!
well ellie has puked 2 bottles up today.which resulted in 2 showers for me, stripping the bed (again) and changing her twice. is this normal to puke that much? she seems particularly greedy today too for some reason.
spireal that was serious feeding!
mlic i was the same last week when i was really tired.the slightest thing set me off into floods of tears!
really struggling to get any sleep at night time here. ellie sleeps like a dream but she grunting and singing in her sleep keeps me awake. dont know how we'r going to get round that one! also i've taken my first appointments for next week for going back to work . seems like last week that i finished up

Deelite I am all in favour of routine. Have been doing a routine with Thomas since he was 3 days old. As he is DC3 it is impossible to feed he exactly when he wants, especially now DH has gone back to work, as there is only me to do everything for all 3 kids.

He has settled down into roughly 4 hours between feeds now. Obviously it is not a completely rigid routine, but I have found it definately helps, as we have some sort of structure to the day

Munchkin I have never had my waters break in public. Had them broken at the hospital with first 2, and then with Thomas they went about 2 mins before he was born!

kk i found that rileigh got sick after feeds with infacol and dentinox we have stopped them all and are just using the Dr browns bottles. Lo is gorge. What you doing with ellie when you go back to work? X

I am so glad to hear that, KK. I was afraid that I'm being selfish and that he should set the schedule and not me. I don't have any other kids so it's only my sleep that's suffering although he was getting really tired and frustrated himself and my instinct tells me he's better with a routine although there is a small element of battle with the routine esp. after the 7pm feed when he just doesn't want to settle. That's when I tried the spaced soothing but it broke my heart to see him cry even if only for short bouts. He's just so little . But I'm just so tired .

kitty and dee how do you get them into a routine? I have a gf book somewhere but not looking to be so rigid.

munchkin it won't be long till your the same as us, living in a whirlwind lol. Have you had any show or contractions luv?

dh my friend comes from ashton(??) her family still live there but she lives here. She's not long back and has an awesome suntan, your weather must be great

Lo is lying snoozing, she was awake for 4 hours i'l leave her another hour so we can get dinner then waken her for daddy, bath then bed hopefully. How long should she be awake a day at 3wks? X

Hi all - a self indulgent post to mark my place. Dh has just gone to get dd from nursery, he goes back to work tomorrow, which should be OK, my mum will probably come round and dd is with mil. Thursday with dd here all day on my own could be interesting - hopefully I'll have mustered some more energy by then.
We have decided on a name, he is to be Dylan Elus.

Please don't all hate me, but he is sleeping really well - he has jaundice, so we have to make sure he feeds every 4 hours and I had to wake him up at 2am and 6am last night! He also seems to be sleeping better at night than during the day. I am swaddling him at night and it seems to really help him settle. No idea whether this will continue after the jaundice clears up, but dd never used to sleep like this (she was 18mo before she slept through the first time). DD hasn't tried to kill him yet, but we have found stickers on his face!

I am sore and tired, the 4 day hormone crash has taken its toll, an afternoon sleep seems to help. My back is really aching and I'm annoyed that I have so much stitching - second degree tear - I decided I was fine on G&A and my god it was painful when I hit transition - obviously too late by then to get more pain relief and I just went for it during second stage labour - was recorded at 6 minutes - he was 8lb1 - no wonder I tore. With dd I managed to control second stage having had pethidine and perenium was intact. Oh well live and learn (to what end I don't know we aint doing it again) hes awake gotta go.

stac Ive never heard of ashton, we have an ashford here tho, Ive got friends who live there too. Yeah our weather has been very hot, even today its cloudy but still really muggy and humid.
Dylan was awake for hours the other evening, I think as long as they're not getting crabby and overtired they're ok, didnt seem to make a difference to how long he slept at night though!

kk your LO is so sweet! I am in slightly better form, Ive been sleeping on and off since 3pm today as Dylan has been asleep pretty much all afternoon as he seems to be every day.

wonder glad hes doing so well for you. ellie's a great sleeper at night too. lol at the stickers on the face! well done for getting through it on gas and air and that was some mighty fine pushing! try the salt and bread soda bath. worked wonders for me.
stac thanks! i was thinking it might be the infacol actually but then really dont want to have the wind problem again! and the dr browns bottles are so bloody expensive! oh its just always something! i've noticed ellie is far more awake during the day too. wrt work i'm going to try and do just evenings for a little while or whenever i have someone to watch her.or if its a quick job like a cut or blowdry or something do it on dps lunch or have her with me. it'l just take me a while to work out what times will suit best

dh thank you! hopefully he'l start to drift into the night soon xx

dh it is ashford lol ashton is the name my niece likes for a boy lol

wonder great news lo is sleeping well. At least dd likes dylan, maybe the stickers are her seal of approval lol

kk boots do thier own version of the dr brown btls and they are 2 for £6 but we got ours from mothercare who were doing an offer of the 4 btls for £22. The boots ones are just as good though x

kk lovely pics of LO Lyndon holds his chin 2 maybe we have mini genius's on our hands
mlic very jealous that youve been feeling fine down there for week or more i feel so bruised still!! my ribs are still numb from epidural 2!!
wonder lovely name i like elus, very unusual!!glad he is sleeping so well Lyndon sleeps very well but just the odd night throws me out!!

Stac I don't have any books about the whole 'routine' thing - just going on my trial and error experiences with DD and DS1!

I started with Thomas by trying to regulate his feeds - As we starting on day 3 with him, I started by making him go 2 hours between feeds (the first 2 days he was wanting to feed on and off all the time). Then just gradually increased the time between feeds up to 4 hours. It means that when he does have a feed, he is hungry and is taking a good amount at feed time. Tried feeding on demand with DD (first baby) and I found it was a nightmare. Ended up so we couldn't leave the house as she was feeding so often, and I had no idea of when she might want the next feed, and she would end up screaming alot of the time!

With Thomas now he has his feeding pattern established he seems to be waking himself up for most of the morning, which works really well for us, as we generally do groups in the morning, so I have been encouraging him to be awake at this time by getting him out of the pushchair ect so he is more likely to wake up, rather than sleep. He is then sleeping for a good couple of hours over lunchtime, which works well as I can sort DD & DS1's lunch in peace!

We are not 100% strict on the routine, but I tink it definately helps, and especially if you have other kids ect to work around. For me the challenge will be when DD starts school and we all have to be ready and out of the house at 8:30 for the school run!

Hi Ladies,
Just a quick post to say i simply havent had a chance to catch up with posts so untill i do i dont want to post much! the longer its taking me to catch up the harder it is!!
Im really enjoying my little man, he is just so soooooooo lovely!! Although his feeding has been hard as he doesnt latch very easily and im so so sore, the MW are helping and have given some good tips and as my milk has only just properly come in this is probably the problem thay said. He is awake a lot through the night but he is only 5 days old so wouldnt expect any different really. Oh yeah his name is Devon, he was 6Lb8oz and he is simply yummy!!!!
Hope everyone else is ok, i would know if i had caught up sorry!!

chulita-sorry to hear things didnt go as you planned,have you got dh at home for a few weeks to help out?

munchkinland-welcome, feels like its never going to come out when your overdue doesnt it! have you got an induction date?

ok for my birth story-

decided on thursday night i would go see my friend(mum) as I was sick of waiting for the baby. dropped ds1 at school friday morning, and went over to see my friend with ds2( 45min car trip)

well as soon as I reached my friends house at 10am started having contractions every 5-8mins, refused to beleive it because of how much cramping ive had the last week till 2pm when I thought perhaps this is actually it!

I drove home and arranged for someone else to pick up ds1 and dp. still unsure of if it was the real thing but rang dps parents to warn them they may be getting a call.about 6pm they started to get stronger so decided to get dps dad to have the boys overnight and dps mum arrived just after 7pm.

I sat around during the evening on the pc then had a bath but it didnt calm anything down so pretty much convinced I was actually in labour by this point! rang labour ward about 9pm, women was v unhelpful and told me to take another bath and take some paracetomol!!(wtf?!) dp and his mum not happy so dp rang them back at about 10pm, thankfully spoke to someone different who said to come in as contractions now 3:10.

Arrived at labour ward at 11.15PM, VE and 4cms, contactions still bearable so walking round room, bouncing on ball in between. by 1.30am cx quite painful, started gas and air, by 2.15 needed to get in the pool so another VE which showed 5cms. got in the pool and laboured in there until LO born at 9.13am weighing 9lb.

after a few minutes got out to deliver placenta but thing wouldnt shift, was getting very concerned something was wrong and it was sooo painful, not what i remember with ds2 where it just plopped out. finally after about 20mins i delivered the placenta-OMFG, it was massive! the mw was v shocked, it overspilled the tray she put it on, no wonder Id had trouble getting it out!! anyway had no tearing so all good.

feeling knackered at present shes feeding v often, sunday night was awful she woke at 10pm and didnt go back down till 5am. last night not too bad but am apprehensive about tonight as shes been feeding constantly today and I actually gave her a few ML of formula in a syringe this evening just to settle her a bit and give my poor nipples a break!

She still has no name!

we also had a visit from SS today (regarding ds1) who turned up an hour early whilst i was sleeping and not dressed/washed or anything, I looked a right state but hey ho, fuck it I only gave birth 3 days ago. she was here about an hour, talking , writing stuff down and looked around the house, apparently we'll get another letter shortly. just what you need after just having a baby.

anyone else feeling very achey/bruised down below? cant remember being like this with ds2 but he was 1lb lighter so maybe to be expected with a larger baby?

July 2010: We're nearly done. Just a few more to join the fun!

July 2010: Just days to go. Time for the last few babies to show!

July 2010: The end is nigh... To antenatal we say goodbye!

these are the list of names spireal gave for the new thread, I like the last one what do you all think? xxx