MN Little Italy 20 ........Buon Natale !

[Rosa]

Here we are then ........

ps if i had a first baby again i would spend the first two months of his/her life lying in bed feeding them and cuddling them, not bother with getting dressed/ tidy up etc... it is such a fleeting precious period. But you are so focused on trying to regain control of your life and go back to what you had before (impossible...), I know I was... that's how i nearly lost my sanity!

with subsequent babies you crave that new baby period but you're lucky if you get to sit down while you feed them, nromally it's hold baby on one hand with boob out while doing playdoh with the other (hand that is, not boob!)

"i was completely alone after my mum left, and while that was nice in a way (it felt good to organise my own day), i think if i had had someone to just take the baby out for one hour in the pram while i showered/slept/done nothing it would have really helped"

I also did this very same mistake - twice! It's good to do things on your own and your own way but those few hours for yourself are as needed as the air you breathe. If you can afford it get help.

Only now, dd2 is almost two, I get a couple of hours for me every morning... I feel a different person. I didn't do it before because I thought there would be better ways to spend the money - there aren't!!!

"But you are so focused on trying to regain control of your life and go back to what you had before (impossible...), I know I was... that's how i nearly lost my sanity!"

MM are you me????

agree pippi there is no better way to spend the money. as a friend of mine said to me, you've got to get the most help you can possibly afford. I shrugged at the time but i can now see the wisdom!!!

I AM THE ONE WHO LET THE CLEANER GO WHEN DD1 WAS BORN BECAUSE "I WILL HAVE SO MUCH TIME NOW THAT I AM NOT WORKING" (my very own words to my mother who was but gracefully let me be!)

SG - i didn't get the chance to get the baby blues with DS as well, didn't get the time btw getting used to being a new mum with no-one around and taking care of DP at the same time who was recovering from terrible shingles. but definetly had it with DD, I think also because of the terrible pain I was down below... take each day as it comes and enjoy the baby, forget about everything else, let others take care of you.

the nipple things I got from here (I was told about then from a friend in italy who got them at the farmacia, they're the same ones)

nappies - muslins will be enough for now (origami fold with nippa and a mother ease airflow), really easy to fold them, looks more complicated than it is. for the rest,, I'd say you need to try a few (made enough mistakes), babiees are obviously different. but if you want to e-mail me at jadeflex at hotmail dot com I can tell you more without gettin everyone bored , have lots of different ones in size small you can borrow.

hello MM!!

I think we are all the same person, in different manifestations

Sui, I urge you to learn from our collective mistakes, but if you don't, then be reassured you will survive anyway as we all have. which is meant in an "affettuoso", not patronising way, i swear

Hello Camo!

btw TommyCarcetti, your namesake did good... didn't think he had it in him.

I am abslutley LOVING season 4.

My babies stopped having rashes once i stopped using wipes and putting olive oil on them after changing. Also no nappy time on bed at regular intervals..Take care SG.

Lol at "I think we are the same person in different manifestations

I totally agree with everything said by all of you.
Plus. I think there is this "bonding myth", which make us anxious to bond in the first hrs of a baby's life. It doesn't always happen. Often the bond, the heart melting love arrives a bit later... it isn't a sin.

And of course, I think the money best spent by us as a family has been on childcare

Oh yes Masseuse, I watch ep 1 of season 4 yesterday and it was magistrale.

I then watched a docudrama of the bbc called Threads on atomic war (as it was posted on a mn thread) and I'm now revising all my zombie plans.

Oh Franca - Threads!!!!!!!!! I had nightmares for YEARS after watching it - dreaming about the mushroom cloud over Sheffield....
SG totally second everything everyone has said. Re BF please don't feel a failure if you decide against it. A good friend of mine suffered badly from the baby blues because of the problems she had breastfeeding. She struggled along for 3 months and it was only when she changed to bottle feeding that she started feeling better (and her daughter started gaining). I struggled for the first 2 weeks and managed 6 months as it got a lot easier as time went on. Another friend of mine is still bf at 2 years old. Everyone has different experiences and I so agree with what Pippi said-it's a long term thing. Go for what is right for you and your baby. Be aware this seems to be one of the most emotive issues on MN so any posts you make, take the advice on board, decide what is right for you and you dc and DON'T take any remarks personally.If you continue to feel low then speak to your doctor. But it is still very early days and nothing can prepare you for what you have and are experiencing so it may be that in a week or so you will automatically start to feel better anyway. I remember having a few days when I think I was almost grieving for the fact it was no longer just DP and me, as happy as I was to have DS. Enough pontificating- off to do aerosol
Rosa your house sounds like could be a real find.

Yes, Gio, I can't stop thinking about it

Yes, agree, agree, agree.

Sg its all been said. I got an infection after dd1 in my stitches so if they feel like somebody is stabbing you then go and see a doc. If they feel tight like you are being pulled a bit then sounds like they are healing ( try sitting on a bag of frozen peas or an ice pack )But these sensations should go pretty soon so if they don't get them checked.
My mum stayed for just under 3 weeks and when she walked out the door I cried for ages and ages ( dh had taken her to the airport). Then I looked at dd and it was a case of well its up to me now lets get on with it ! I had sore boobs ( cracked and bleeding at one point - argilla compress worked for me ) and both my dds had slow weight gain but we made it and I am sure you will ...Hang in there.
We have printed off a proposta for the casa...... We now need to find a bank that does mutuo and restoration as we will need a bit extra .
Sput the external walls ( and the one between the kitchen and camera that was an external it seems we can't touch). BUt our geomtra friend from the commune things we might be able to he is in edifici publici but it is a friend in the right place and seeing as we are in Italy and esp Venice we need all the friends we can get Having siad that I saw Cacciari twice this week. I did try to ram the pushchair into him but missed

Lol Rosa at attacking Cacciari with the pram

poor Cacciari ... you might get Brunetta next...

As I said, I agree with everything said on here. I'd also like to add that lots of baths with lavander oil helped me healing down there. But this happened with dd, where I only had one stitch thanks to my lovely midwife (dd was born in Exeter)

MM how's things down your end?

Great news Rosa.

Gio, how's the sinusitis? Mine is still bothering me, especially if I go out for more than 30 mins (and I wear a hat)

Franca:
A.E.R.O.S.O.L.

just do it

things here are ok-ish. geneva is not too bad, but boring as hell. I am enjoying spending time with the dds but feeling completely panicked about my job prospects... am applying for a million jobs and getting nowhere. Also I am constantly exhausted, which is a mistery given i do absolutely nothing at all. last night i fell asleep at 7.30 while dh was putting dds to bed

ah, didn't need all those *s
still, looks quite nice.

I blame tiredness, I am over my stomach flu moe or less, but so tired.

Time of year I reckon MM

no 3 MM?

not yet Pippi, but it's not off the cards! everyone has at least 3 kids around here!