Dec 08 Ladies - LIghtning Strikes... and the usual gossip!

[Beans33]

Hope this works for everyone - I'm assuming Summer won't give birth in the next few hours!! x

Ok I promise I will stop my me me me only boring feeding posts after this one as I'm sure most of you are fed up!

Fed her late feed with F then BF her at 4am (no top up needed) then BF again at 6 with small top up after and she's back asleep looking very content
Lady - yes I'm so much happier - well just knowing that your baby isn't constantly hungry would do that let alone everything else. I'm just wondering what the anti formula people would say to do if the baby isn't getting enough from BF, and milk supply just isn't picking up and it continues like that - yet they are against top ups? However not a chance in hell I'll be asking on the wider Mumsnet! Anyway, I'll see how long I can do this combo for as for right now it's working for all in this house.

Yeah clackerdom is tough most of the time let alone the last trimester! You are so nearly there though. I had all that too (stretching ripping feeling) not pleasant is it? But worth it in the end when you get the next lovely miniLady
How's dd's eating going?

Vag you should have said a few words back to that teenagers Mum.
I nearly ran a pedestrian over in the Tesco carpark yesterday - nevermind needing to be cleared to drive after a C-Sect - you should need to get signed off to drive after just having a baby period! Just shows how tired I've been. I didn't get yelled at though, thankfully

Avo how did the night go?

Summer where are you? Sounds like (on FB) you and dd are doing really well - well done to you

Morning,

Rubes, I am really glad to hear that feeding is better now. I think you should always do things your way when it comes to babies and if combining BF and works for you then that is great.

Veg, I think you should go for the house. It might give you more stability as it will be your house. My friend has just been told she has to move out as her landlord is getting divorced and needs to sell the house she has been in for 5 years. She is panicking like mad.

I read the news about Sam Cam last night, must be really scary to go into labour while on holiday even without worrying about the problems she had with her 1st child.

I am a bit annoyed at the minute. DP when he started his new job was told he would be working 5 weeks on and 5 weeks off. Monday he got an email saying they wanted him to now do 6 weeks on and 6 weeks off. The email pretty much says he has no choice. But he emailed back and said he couldn't do that as he had booked a weekend away and that he was told he was doing 5 weeks and coming home on the 2nd September. The captain of the ship he is on is ringing the office today to try and get it sorted for him. I do wonder if legally they can make him do that as he was always told it would be 5 weeks not 6.

I hope everyone is well this morning. We have sunshine, just not expecting it to last.

Pubie I told her, she needed to chill out & lose some weight & as she rode off I called out that she was a Fat B-something. I know very immature, & quite meanly offensive.

Also don't get me wrong, I'm not anti formula or anti getting food into your baby, I just don't agree when HP give incorrect information and that is that top ups & expressing will help with supply, it won't, it'll save your sanity I agree, but it has been known to reduce supply. It's your choice Pubes so what others think have no bearing, but the infant nutrition organisations like Milk Action et al are not anti formula, they are anti-formula companies. They are around to make sure you can make these choices safely. I do agree though DO NOT post on the wider MN those women are butters.

Butters!!! I meant nutters!

Lady I have to admit I posted about the house because I knew you would give ms reassurrance. Ta. And Kayz, it's so true, we have friends here in a nice house but the landlord has defaulted on his loan & they are literally being kicked out with their 2 kids.

I'm not sure what the law is on that Kayz but I can't imagine that that is a reasonable request, maybe they could change it to that for his next roster but not half way through surely. That's nice that his captain is helping. What does he do sounds very exciting. So does he work 5 weeks straight no days off!

You're sounding much happier Rubes :). Glad things are settling down.

We're at the GP for DS1's preschool checkup and booster. I can report that both boys are officially normal. DS1 at 91st centile on weight and height, DS2 a shade under. And DS2's explosive nappy issue just a sign he prob needs more fibre. Just the jabs to go now.

Hi rubes - yeah I am doing well! Been at my parents owith no laptop and am so slow at
posting from phone so haven't. Dd is feeding well at the moment except she has cold so can't breathe very well at the same time. She's not sleeping so well cos of that either. She's starting to take more when she feeds though I think as I'm more thirsty all the time.

Glad things are going better with dd's
feeding. Sounds like a bit of a nightmare and seems like top ups are the way to go.

Its not too exciting Veg, they just deliver cargo and stuff to oil rigs and gas platforms in the north sea and take things back to shore for them. Yes he does 5 weeks without a day off. He works midday til 6pm and then midnight til 6am everyday. I don't think I could do it.

Vagola, I think what she meant was - rather than doing nothing involving the boobies, expressing would be the next best thing to help keep supply a little longer that's all. I remember asking her would expressing at least help supply a bit, and she said "oh yes of course" but keep in mind I was shattered, and in tears for most of the time I was talking to her so i could have got a lot of it wrong Oh and I wasn't directing the anti formula comment at you by any stretch - I was meaning the Feeding thread peeps! I know how you feel about things, and I also respect that you are quite open minded to people doing what works. I think for me it's just really annoying that I was able to feed ds for 5 months no drama's (bar a small one when family member was rushed to hospital and milk stopped) and with dd it's completely different. A real wake up call and as Lady said, makes you remember that all babies are SO different

Glad you told off the woman!

Crossed with you Summer! Glad all is well and hope dd gets over the cold soon.

Kayz, where did you meet him? And how is ex dh about it all? Am I being too nosey? I have a tendancy to be

Thaks Effie

Erm ds has managed to get pots of frozen BM out of the freezer and using them as stacking blocks. This is not ideal

It's fine Rubes, I met him in the pub actually. I had made friends with his friends while he was last away at work. I popped out to see them as a few of them were going on holiday and he was there. He then added me on facebook and we started talking on there and got to know him that way.

XH seems ok with it, he has had a new girlfriend for ages now who is about to give birth so I suppose he can't really be grumpy about it.

Oh could I please change my name to vagola, would that offend anyone. If I can't Pubie that's my nickname from now, of course with Vag for short. As Lady said it's not you that's different it's your baby. Unfortunately there are no medals for giving BF a go and for how long you did it. In the end it's you that has to be proud of yourself for whatever you do. I think because of this some women use MN to try to gain medals. They want everyone to tell them how great they are, which isn't going to happen so instead to make themselves feel good they put down those who didn't BF exclusively whilst eating a free range organic diet! On the otherside those who couldn't BF for whatever reason feel guilty/angry/put down by the above mentioned fanatics so in turn have a go at the BF fanatics. Caught in between sadly are the new mums who just want to ask a simply question like "which formula is best for nightime feeds" & bang a war starts! (please note I am not promoting night time feeds it's just the first thing that came into my head because our tutor used it as an example of a question that might be asked at a BF group).

Crikey he must sleep the rest of the time. Wow your XH is having a baby wow, how do you feel about that.

Laughing my head off at the BM igloo Rubs.

Lady meant to say earlier, why don't you lie down with a book that makes you weepy & have a good sniffle. Or a movie that has the same effect. It's either that or you'll get grumpy with some shop person and burst into tears, just speaking from experience

He sleeps from 6am until half 11 and then spends the evening talking to me on the internet before going for a power nap about 10.

The baby is apparently not his as she got pregnant around Christmas time last year. But the way he talks about it you'd think it was his. I'm not that bothered about it, its his life.

kayz - meaning he met her not pregnant right? So it's his? [very nosey] Gosh wow I've really missed a chapter! So glad everything is better in your life.

Vagola it is.... although if I get bored I shall use some variations if that's ok?
very accurate that, about the BF threads....

Have managed to get BM back to freezer before any thawing took place...

crossed with you Kayz!! But you answered my questions! Wow!

How could you possibly get bored of Vagola, it's exquisite.

Well, you make a good point Vagola, but for example, I might want to call you by a more formal version like Vagerola or Vagerama, then other days I might be in a casual mood and it will be just Vag or Vaggo. Vagola is a bit more in between.

Hello everyone,

rubes It is really good to hear you sounding happier and more relaxed! Your HV sounds like she took account of the whole situation, rather than just read from a text book which is refreshing! I was interested in the 4 hour thing, is that so she gets out of the snacking routine?

veggie Wise words indeed on the wider MN FF vs BF debates. My friend's wife really struggled to BF and eventually with great distress on her part FF. She has been a virtual hermit because she feels judged by people in public with she gets out a bottle to feed her DS. Very sad.

ladyT Hope you are going to rest up today or else we'll all become very stern and give you a scolding. On the weepyness front, I haven't been the same since before being pregnant with DD, and it has got worse since being reclackered. The cctv footage of that woman putting a cat in a wheelie bin set me off earlier.

vag How rude of that woman! I found that traffic didn't stop at zebra crossings when I visited Maastrict a few years ago. I nearly got run over! I'd go for the name change!

I wonder what Sam is going to call her new baby? I like her other children's names...

Right work to do...

Yes, JB, I am a terrible cry baby ever since I had DD - I don't actually allow myself to cry much, stiff upper lip and all that, but have a lump in my throat about ince a day (more at the moment). Yesterday I went a bit hoarse when DP was telling me about a colleague's daughter who'd been shabbily treated by the university of her choice post A-level. It's all a bit OTT really. How are you feeling, anyway?

I am sort of resting today. I am only going to the house to work later this afternoon. DP gave me the day off but I guess I am just so keen to press ahead. He cooked me a lovely supper when we got back last night and we watched The Damned United, anyone seen it? I know it's about football and not everyone likes it, but Michael Sheen is so good and the whole thing had all the elements of a Greek tragedy.

Rubes, I try to avoid the feeding section of MN since the poster said about wanting to kidnap my ff DD and bf her. There are some nice, supportive, well informed voices on there who may have useful advice but sadly there is no way of avoiding the vociferous obsessed on there, circling around like sharks. It's like in life - I try to avoid people who are obsessed with one single issue in politics to the absolute exclusion of any other consideration. It's a shame, really, as it would be interesting (for eg) to have a discussion about how people were fed themselves as infants affected how they fed (if it did). I was ff and my sister was too, yet I ended up ff (and I do think the fact that I was ff myself was a partial factor in this) and yet my sister bf for 6-12 months with both lads. But you couldn't have a discussion like that on the feeding board without people kicking lumps out of each other. Maybe I am naive and some topics are too tricksy to discuss objectively.

Vagola! It sounds like a medieval stringed instrument But rather elegant really. Sorry about the altercation you had yesterday. And yes, as to property, the golden rules (even more relevant in a global recession) are of course to buy somewhere to which you can add value and if you are anticipating renting, in a healthy area for rentals.

Kayz, at leat your contact with your former MIL is now limited, right? That must be a huge relief. Your DP would have to look carefully at the terms of his contract. Some employment contracts allow the employer to do pretty much what they like.

I think Sam Cam will go for Florence, Martha or Edith. I am very much hoping she won't go for OUR chosen name so am on tenterhooks. DP thinks it unlikely Her other DD has a lovely name, shared of course by Urbane's DD. Urbane, where are you? I wonder when Mom is back? And Avo, you were asking about Beans who is on hols.

I am looking forward to the scan tomorrow. But my skin feels like it's stretched so gossamer thin that they could probably just dispense with the scanning malarkey, just shine a torch on my tummy and see the child waving I am actually relieved you had that sore bump thing, Rubes, as I was feeling like a real freakaloid yesterday.

I had a dream last night that a correctly predicted SamCam's baby's name on here and ended up being interviewed about it by Richard and Judy. V odd. The name I dreamt was Iris Demelza Cameron. I think my dream had some logic to it: Iris goes with Nancy but sort of pays tribute to Ivan. Demelza is a Cornish name. Look out for me kindly smiling through Judy's drunken ramblings any minute now...

Lady, I too think it would be interesting to be able to have a debate about what influences feeding choices. I was breastfed for five months when my mother was forced to return to work because of the death of my father. My mum loved BFing so I was bought up with a positive image of what it would be like. I think I was also very influenced by the research that suggests BF reduces your chance of breast cancer. My mum died of breast cancer so that was a factor for me. However, in all honesty I think one of the biggest drivers for me was how easily DD1 took to it and how easy it was to comfort her with the breast (not to mention the excuse it gave me to lounge around on the sofa watching box sets - that sounds glib but its a real reason). It was the ease that led to me continuing for 14 months. Had I experienced a lot of pain or problems I imagine I would have switched to formula pretty quickly. My positive experince with DD1 meant I read quite a lot of stuff about BFing so that by the time DD2 came along I was much more committed to the idea. BFing DD2 was harder and I think if she had been my first I would probably have given up.

Acutally I think that post misses the main factor that led to me breastfeeding: it was the norm around here to give it a go. I tend to go with the flow and had it been very unusual to BF I may not have tried. But it was normal, my friends all tried, so I tried and when I tried I found it easy and rewarding. It may be no more complicated than that.

I think that is all extremely interesting, Avo. I suspect what our mums did or didn't say about it may be quite a big factor (possibly my sister would think differently though). Hmmm.

You might be onto something with Iris Demelza.

Cross posted - I think bf is the norm amongst people I know as well, but oddly that didn't influence me as much.

What did influence you? Was it simply that you were FF and saw no ill effects?