AUGUST 2010 - welcome to post-natal :o)

[CherryPie3]

I know I'm not around a great deal lately but we don't yet have a PN thread - so here we are.

Love to all xxx

:)

Hello ladies! Haven't checked in in a while so thought I would say hello :)

gya thinking of you and Tilly especially. I hope she is doing better soon. and wow at thinking to ttc #4 already!!

I've heard a little about these mooncups (from other MN threads) - isn't it messy when you have to take them out?!!

I've started back to work and so far I'm doing ok. Have been doing mornings so far, and I'm really tired. Its hugely emotionally exhausting. Had a minor wobble last week on the way in, felt very overwhelmed by it all, but I'm fine once I'm there. Good news it I hadn't forgotten how to teach! lol! This weeks new thing to face is the parents as I've arranged a coffee morning. (all the same as last years, as my class don't move)Seeing people for the first time I find a huge deal, especially in this situation where I'm the professional.

DH lumber puncture was 2 weeks ago and it was unsucessful. They were unable to get the fluid they needed for the test. It was awful and I've never seen him in such a state over something medical. He has to go in again tomorrow for it to be repeated with Xray guidance. Hopefully we should have an answer before the new year as to what has been wrong with him all this time.

My post-birth bloods (testing me for a range of blood disorders) are back on the 10th December. Bloods being taken again to repeat the same test on that day too. They have to be redone to confirm a consistent result. Keeping my fingers crossed that everything comes back negative. If these are negative there is only a slight chance that a positive would come up on 2nd round bloods.

Other news, I've stopped taking the pill. So I guess that makes us officially ttc again. I'm feeling very mixed up about it at the moment. I know we're not betraying Belle in any way, only continuing with a dream of adding to our family. Its hard to put into words all the emotions running around with it. A few days ago I was excited about the prospect of a new little baby, but when we actually got down to DTD a couple days ago without any contraception I completely freaked out once we'd finished and was feeling sick, shaky, crying. (Poor DH!) Caught me completely unawares, and didn't expect to react like that at all. Anyway, I'm incredibly scared about it, but the fear will never go away and so we're biting the bullet. Those who do pray, please pray that we'll have Belle's brother or sister safely sometime in 2011.

Funny story for you all though before I leave you!! Bonfire Night I got locked in the cemetery. My Grandad died on Bonfire Night 3 years ago, it is also his birthday. Every year since I've taken sparklers to his grave on his birthday. This year, because it was Belle's first we also wanted to take sparklers to her. DH wanted to come with me, so I went up later than I usually would, got there at 4.55, cemetery closes at 5.30. Did sparklers with Grandad, all lovely. Went up to Belle and the lighter wouldn't work properly. DH was determined we were going to succeed and not fail her. I'm so glad he persevered because it looked beautiful with her pink heart and flower pot, but it was 5.25 by the time we'd finished with her.

We raced up to the gates to find them already closed and the man about to drive off. DH flashed the light several times - I can't believe he didn't see us, but he drove off, us locked inside! How naughty to lock up early and not check for people! My first reaction was to burst into tears, but after I'd pulled myself together I thought it was hilirious. Obviously Belle thought this was an funny game to play on her Mummy and Daddy. What a minx my girl is! Loved her sparklers too much I reckon! Anyway, we had to google (thank god for smart phones!) the emergancy council number and sit there for almost an hour waiting for someone to come and let us out! Eventful and unforgettable first bonfire night with Belle!

Hope you are all doing well. Lots of love everyone x x x x x

Caz- lovely post and thankyou for thinking of me. The heart sparklers sound fab.
Sympathy with your Dh over the lumbar puncture I've had the majority of medical procedures and that was by far the worst.
Good luck with it all and the ttc- wouldnt it be lovely to be in the same antenatal club sometime soon?! X

Aye that it would gya! A familiar 'face' to help along the way! :)

posting at this silly hour because have woken up with gripey tummy pains. Nervous about tomorrow I think.

Hi caz [cheery wave] great bonfire night story

good luck with ttc, look forward to hearing a wee announcement from you soon!

gya how is Tilly this morning?

Had a bit of a better night oxygen tube still in but reduced. Drank two 2 oz bottles herself today which they ll try every 2 hours through the day. Def be in tonight and would bet on being in Tomoro night too. The other two have pretty much moved in with my parents!

cazandbelle I can't believe he didn't check for anyone! Glad you got the sparklers though, that sounds lovely. I'll be praying for another lo for you :)

blueberries I never thought I could hate bfing more than I did with dd...ha, I most definitely do. I think I've been painfree for a week out of 16. And yes, the kitchenaid is sooo expensive, I dithered for weeks before actually getting on with it but hey ho!

gya hope your other 2 are doing alright without you. Fingers crossed you get out of hospital soon. No jokes cos am having a memory blank

omg £300 for a food mixer . What else does it do?

Not much going on here except potty training the twins. It's going quite well with Esther, she is about 60/40 in favour of going on potty now v on the floor and tonight she actually said 'i need the potty' and then did a wee on it (I have been cajoling her onto it when I could see she needed to go.)

We have been stuck in for a week now and it is so boring and frustrating! But Daniel has some jabs tomorrow so my mum is coming to do potty training duty and get to go out. i am prob the only mum looking forward to her baby's injections.

caz, lovely to hear from you, hang in there, my prayers are with you.

blueberries, sorry your night didnt work out. i used to express loads with the twins but i cant be bothered this time, i'd rather not go out.

Got into a debate on fb about the mccanns, someone saying she has 'no sympathy' for them cos they shouldnt have left their kids alone. that might be so but how heartless to have no sympathy for parents who have lost a child

Agree re the mc cans - if they had their time again they wouldn't have left but they paid the ultimate price for their mistake.
You'd have to have a very hard heart not to feel sorry for them!
Up feeding Tilly - so glad this illness and hospital seay has utterly cocked up her routine!
She pulled out her feeding tube earlier so they r letting get go without and reduced the oxygen right down but had to turn it back up again so looks like we re not going home just yet ..

I was up at 3 too gya but in the comfort of my own feeding chair...hope Tilly gets let home soon, must be a right pita. You seem jolly enough though! (or are you just good at pretending? )

neenz glad the potty training's going ok, I can't face it yet even though I reckon dd's ready. S is up every 2 hours at night and has been for weeks.

I hate bfing, I really truly do. 16 weeks on and I absolutely loathe it.

:( Chulita. At least you have a DH who can suck out blockages! Mine had a go last night - total failure. Really hope things improve soon - it's miserable doing something you hate umpteen times a day x

Yes feeling fine not pretending! Missing my other girlies tho haven't seen them since Saturday as it's less stressful for all concerned if they don't see me till I get out, they are fine tho v cheery on the phone!

My bf ing career looks like it's coming to an end as since she's been ill she won't only did for first time yesterday. Expressing produces nearly nothing!

Well, Elodie had her 12 week jabs today. As before, it felt like a horrible betrayal, but she only cried for a few seconds and I bf her before and after. She's just dropped off in my arms and we're having a little slepy cuddle :o)

gya, hope you and Tilly get home soon all better.

bellygazing don't don't don't feel like it's a betrayal to give Elodie the jabs. Just remember that you're doing her a massive favour, and that X years ago you wouldn't have had the opportunity. These days, I think the problem is that so many childhood diseases are just a memory, that we tend to forget the horrors we're protecting them from. As you say, it's a few seconds discomfort in return for a massive reward.

gya you're being so strong, good for you. I hope the feeding is going ok tonight.

Chulita sorry you're so down about the bf'ing. Big hugs.

Well, I've had a horrid day. DS1 has got a really nasty cold (and, I'm beginning to suspect, an ear infection), plus he managed to twist his knee while we were playing in the garden. So he spent the majority of the day whinging, and the last two hours of it basically screaming/sobbing. And S has been even worse than normal on the nap front - so poor DS1 was not getting the attention he needed. Still, at least I consoled myself after they'd gone to bed with a very large drink and a freshly baked warm apple and maple syrup sponge pudding with lashings of double cream . I'll put the remains on the table for you to help yourselves.

Patience and cheeriness now officially run out as we gave been moved onto a ward with 3 other babies so now have 4 coughing crying wheezing babies to contend with. We were in isolation as she us contagious but they all have same so we r in together.

I was fine when we were in our own room but this is a whole new thing..

ack gya that's rubbish! I can see how being in your own room would've been reasonably nice. I really hope you get let out today, how's Tilly's feeding going? any hope of escape later today?

Ooh, and elusive any chance of a recipe for that pudding? sounds delicious!
S is being rubbish at napping too recently but today we can't go out til the courier's been so I'm going to put him in bed every 90 mins without fail and see if we can't get him cracked. He cried for 10 mins just now but went quiet just as I was about to go and cuddle him.

gya that's crappy, poor you . Hope you get out of there asap.

chulita no probs, here's the recipe. It was very yummy and extremely quick and easy to make:

'Maple syrup and apple upside down sponge'

120ml maple syrup
225g cooking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (worked out at about 1.5 Bramleys)
100g sugar
100g butter
2 eggs
100g self raising flour

Pour maple syrup into bottom of pie dish (I used a round pyrex type affair). Cover with slices of apples. Make sponge by combining the butter, sugar, eggs and flour with an electric whisk. Spread sponge over apples and bake at 180c for 40 minutes. Turn out of the dish so that the apples, glazed with maple syrup, are on the top.

Thank you! I'll pop out and get some bramleys if this darn courier ever gets here.

Anyone got any foolproof ways of shifting blockages? I daren't let dh near this one cos it's that painful but I'm all engorged and bruised. I've tried expressing, feeding with the chin pointing towards it, warm/wet compresses - anything I'm missing?

elusive Oh, I know how important they are and wouldn't dream of not getting her vaccinated. It's just when she's sitting on my lap smiling and gurgling at the nurse with no idea what's about to happen it feels like you're doing a really mean thing. I'm also really bad with needles myself, passed out when having blood drawn once (you can imagine getting prepped for a c-section was GREAT fun)

gya sounds so tiring and hard work - hope you're all better soon.

chulita no hints I'm afraid, I think I would have tried all the things you've mentioned - maybe give it a bit of a massage in the bath, or I've heard cabbage leaves in the fridge might help - but you prob know all these things better than me

Chulita
I gently massage my boob at same time as expressing to try and move any bloackages. It takes time (ages) but it works in the end. Hope I'm not stating the obvious.

CazandBelle Great to hear from you, will defo say a prayer for you and your DH.

GYA ouch, your poor LO, I really hope things improve soon, sending you lots of get well vibes.

Kitchenaid, how much . Does it do anything other than mix??? It seems rather expensive for just a mixer, or are there some other magical tricks it can do????

Hope everyone is ok. Take care xx

Well after a truly awful night s sleep we are home !
Tilly was woken by the other babies and I only slept from 230-330 then a bit from 6-7.
They were a bit iffy about her leaving and I had to promise I'd take her back if anything happens and that I have help but I really could not have coped another night.
Right off for a rest will post a less 'mememe' post later!

GYA So glad Tilly is back home, hope things improve for you all soon.

gya so glad you're home, hope you both get a bit more sleep today/this evening.

Great news GYA, that must have been a tiring/traumatic experience. Hope she heals quickly.

I nearly knocked Daniel out last night when I knocked a chair over onto him . I was getting up from a dining chair and my cardi got caught on it and it tipped over right onto D's forehead (he was in his bouncer). He cried for ages . He seemed OK after about 30mins (Calpol kicked in!) and slept through so wasn't all bad. I knew he wasn't too badly injured cos it didn't knock him out . With the twins I would have been on to NHS Direct or at A&E: but they always say 'did he lose consciousness?' If he didn't they are not really interested!

Potty training is going well: Esther only had one accident today and takes herself to the potty now. Theo is a bit behind cos we started E first. But he did 3 wee's on the potty and actually asked to go on one of those (usually I need to remind him to go). They are so funny... when E sits on the potty she says 'it's not coming yet'. Before baths I've been saying to them 'do you want a poo before you go in the bath, because you don't poo in the bath, do you'. well tonight before bath she said 'you don't poo in the bath, DOOO YOOOOU' . This morning I said to T: 'you're going to do all your poos and wees on the potty today aren't you?' and he said 'no... sorry mummy'

They were competitive weeing today - E did one, then T did one then E got back on and squeezed a bit more out! They are fascinated by watching it go down the loo.

elusive oh man, that apple & maple sponge sounds awesome. I know we have all the ingredients downstairs (including 2 bramley apples that need used up) so my heart & my tummy want me to go & rustle one up. My head & my lazy bones have won though - I'll just stay under the duvet with my cuppa & my Twix. :)

gya glad you're home safe & sound. That last night in hospital must have frayed your already frazzled nerves. Sending 'get well soon' vibes & kisses to little Tilly.

chulita Right there with you on the nipple agony front again, sister. I'm going to get my attachment checked again tomorrow at bf group..that's 3 weeks now since we've been off the shields and it's still bloody sore. However I'm not entirely convinced it's not because A is using me as a teething device. Hmmn. But at least we're still going if not strongly.. my heart went out to a girl at baby massage today who was gutted & almost tearful because she'd had to give up after a few weeks but had desperately wanted to feed her little girl herself. It's cruel how hard & emotional bf is.

caz you're so good at finding practical things to do to keep Belle involved in your life. I'd never have thought of the sparklers, let alone heart shaped ones. Sounds like a comedy night though & as if you're in a good place because where you could see the black humour & feel close to Belle - I'm sure the same situation could have tipped others over the edge. Good luck with ttc..look forward to seeing a wee announcement here soon!

A is soo much fun just now. I may as well say it here as my gruff Scottish demeanour won't let me gush in RL. Motherhood just keeps surpassing all my expectations & I feel so joyful all the time (except those 20 secs of latching on obv). Throw the Kitchenaid into the mix and life is just perfect. :) I always had a bit of the Cath Kidson in me but I think I have officially become a Stepford Wife.