October 2010 pregnancy thread - welcome to the other side....

[Hevster]

Well ladies, it's a bit in advance but here is the new thread, started especially early for Saartjie!

Yummy DS on the go all morning (by on the go I mean crying/boob/doze/cry/boob) and just about falling asleep in the sling now (12.45) ... thought of you! But then I have nowhere to be today and no other children to look after.

Thanks for the note about grobags, I'll check the ones I have. DS is a bit more unsettled at night at the mo - slept in my arms between 3.30 and 6am feed (not that there was long between them...) but not very deeply, but prior to that his Papa had managed to settle him in his moses basket and I had about 5 hours sleep - woohoo! Here's hoping gro bags will suit him - what should he wear in them? Will a full on babygro be too warm? Could it be a t-shirt and nappy? (How cute!)

Hope everyone got at least some sleep last night!

dilly and anything grobags come with instructions about what LO should wear when using them. eg at the moment its about 20 degrees is our house so DD has a 2.5 tog one with a long sleeved body suit, if it went to 18 then she would have a t shirt on top of the body suit and at 16 a babygrow as well. The website belonging to the gro company has loads of info and if you don't mind second hand then you can pick them up very cheaply on ebay.

Thanks Dilly, in fact we had a pretty good nite last night - couldnt quite stay awake for dream feed so last bottle was at 9pm, she then slept from about half 9 to 2:30am so i had a good chunk of sleep! (still not enough may i add! - i am dreaming of those 8hr sleeps already!)

She then woke again at 5am and 7am, then DS1 was up at 7 - its one of those 'oh god no, please tell me thats not my sleep over for another 15hrs!' moments when DS1 opens his door and shouts 'its morning!' bless him.
All i can say is thank the lord for the new TV we bought for our bedroom cos its really getting me through the nights without being as stressed each time she wakes me up! Once ive put her down (in her room) i stick Sex and the City on for ten minutes while i make sure shes actually gone back to sleep. Works a treat as i hate just drifting off for her to wake again.

Well i feel a lot better in myself the last few days, i seem to have a huge blow out every 3 or 4 days where ill just want to scream and cry, then it all seems to disappear out of my system for another few days.

On the plus side its 'date night' tonight. My mum is coming round to babysit whilst we go to the cinema and get a few hours of couple time. I feel slightly bad as i was quite harsh to OH last night when he got in from work for no apparent reason. i think theres a little resentment there that he gets to go off to work and im stuck at home with a screaming baby and a toddler all day (as much as i love them!). Does anyone else feel this or am i a terribly selfish mother?! Work just used to be a bit of a break for me, to feel like i have a life outside of my motherly duties. i dont see anyone but my mum at the moment so im feeling a little trapped in my little bubble. It will pass i know, its just waiting for these first few months to go by and its hard work.

We have gro bags but i havent attempted to put her in one yet, i think i prefer to swaddle her as she sleeps so much better if shes swaddled, her arms dont jerk her awake so she sleeps longer.

Well done on getting Daddy trained at settling baby Dilly! - my OH has zero patience with LO and so i am pretty much doing 95% of the work day and night with her as i dont like him being snappy with her. would be so nice if ii could even get him doing the 'dream feed' at 11pm so i could get a few good hours kip but its all me! :(

OMG Yummy I'm so with you on feeling jealous of DH going to work and getting a break from the DCs!! In fact this week he was off sick on Monday (man-flu!) and I was doubly resentful as if I'm not feeling well I can't just call in sick and lie on the sofa all day!! (DH actually does more than his fair share with the DCs and the housework, cooking etc, generally, so really I have nothing whatsoever to complain about - but that just makes me feel worse that I am still resentful, as I must be a crap wife!!)

Enjoy your date night with DP and try to have some good, bonding, couple-time!

Lol Jacksterbear im glad im not on my own, in fact from speaking to him on the phone today he's obviously been having a good rant to his best mate who has 2 kids like us and his mate has said he got the same off his wife so i dont feel too bad now! He says he doesnt want to go to work and im like 'why the heck not i would kill for the chance to have 8 hours peace EVERY friggin day!' and the fact he still thinks he has a hard life when i dream of sleeping as many hours as he does a night just makes me more mad!

Fingers crossed, LO has been a lot better the last 24 hours since changing her milk to the comfort one so maybe its helping. Although i wont hold my breath as she may just be having an off day!

LOL at you guys - DH is wfh and helping out but I would be exactly the same if he was going to work every day!! O yes!

Just posted here about a bfing problem if you have any thoughts....

Hi everyone, we've had a hell of a week.

I was readmitted to hospital last Sunday with severe mastitis. I had been to the doctors to get antibiotics on Tuesday last week with just some redness and a small hard patch in my breast. I went back on Friday as I didn't think they were working, and the redness and swelling was spreading but was told the antibiotics needed more time to kick in. However, the doctors I've spoken to since (and I've spoken to a LOT of doctors in the last week!) say antibiotics should take a maximum of 48 hours to start working. Anyway, by Sunday morning, the infection was so bad and my breast was so swollen that I couldn't get Henry to latch on any more to drain the milk and I was actually leaking pus. Really not pleasant. I went to the out of hours GP who thought I had developed an abcess and sent us straight in to the hospital where I was put on a much broader spectrum antibiotic on a drip, together with fluids and paracetamol to reduce my temperature, which had reached 39.2.

I was told I needed to stay in, which was fine but then they said Henry would have to go home as I'd been accepted on a general ward! I said this wasn't an option and they got in touch with ward maternity ward who accepted us straight away and from then on the lovely midwives took care of us again, they were absolutely amazing. We were actually in the same private room that I had stayed in the night after giving birth. We got discharged on Thursday when Henry was 5 weeks old, so it feels a bit like we are starting all over again. It must have been a bad case as they came and took photographs of me for teaching purposes! Henry was fussed over like nothing else, as they never usually get to see babies this old on the ward.

Sorry for the horrible details, but I think you can see we'vehad a really rough time. There is still a lump in my breast behind the nipple, which the consultant thinks could now take 6 weeks to clear so I can't get Henry to latch on to that side yet. I have to express regularly and give him top ups froma bottle if he's still hungry after feeding from the normal side, which he invariably is! But despite it all, he put on 6oz last week, the little guzzler!

We aren't getting much sleep at nights at all at the moment as Henry's really unsettled after our troubles. V jealous of you who are getting several hours at a stretch as we only seem to manage 2.5 at the moment.

Dilly, just looked at your BF post. My right boob is massive at the moment compared to the left as DS is feeding just from the left with top ups of expressed milk from the right. Starting to look very lopsided and can't wait to be feeding from both sides again.

Oh Patsy how horrible for you! This happened to a friend of mine - she said the pain of the abcess was worse than giving birth, so you must have had a terrible time!! Hope it starts healing soon and you get some rest. x

hi everyone just wanted to pop on and say hi! Haven't posted for ages...

dilly when I was bf my right boob was always bigger than my left; no idea why... I found expressing helped for a while

patsy hope you are feeling better the mastitis sounds terrible.

yummy I am exactly the same; every 4 days or so I have a massive cry/scream fest for no real reason. I go nuts for an hour or so and shout at DH if he's there (poor sod). I feel really jealous of him working too, he gets this massive long break and because he works shifts every other day he comes home when DS is in bed

I feel awful for feeling like this: DS is totally awesome. He went through his 6 week growth spurt early and dropped his night feed and so sleeps 6:30 - 10:30, has a feed then goes through until about 7am. However, this comes with a price as he has now decided day time sleep is for wimps and just refuses to do it at all... Cue lots of looong walks to make him fall asleep in the pram, although whether that happens today with the snow is another matter!

Patsy how awful, hope things improve really quickly for you.

Jazzie i get unreasonable too - today i had a rant at a disabled lady because she parked in a baby space at Morrisons rather than a disabled one and then not content with that I wrote a letter to the local paper about how selfish people are who use baby spaces when they don't need them!

Felt like you guys when I had DD1 about DH swaning off to work everyday and was really glad to go back myself at 6 months but second time round is really different for me, am loving being at home and find DD2 really easy, but before you all thing smug cow and hate me am finding DD1 harder than ever and am getting up inthe night for her more often than her little sister!

Hi girls; tried the dream feed thing last night after reading about you all talking about it and being really curious. It totally worked I was sceptical but I'm a convert! It took about 15 minutes to give him his bottle with the minimum of fuss and he slept until 5:20 this morning when I gave him a cuddle and his dummy and he dropped off until 7:30! Bliss...

I've been following the Gina Ford routine but not to the letter; I don't really have a clue about raising babies so I use the feed/nap times she suggests and take the rest of it with a massive pinch of salt. She's a bit strict! I've heard the baby whisperer is good too; has anyone read it?

hevster a woman almost reversed into me at the shopping centre the other day and I actually confronted her the worst part about it was that I followed her into boots and asked her if she thought driving without looking in her rear view mirror. God, im turning into a loony...

That sounded really smug about the dream feed: badly written sorry! It's just normally, at the night feed it can take about an hour to give him his bottle; I was starting to worry the neighbours would think we were beating him the way he was going. Seriously he turned into a little demon!

Hevster DS is worse in the night than his little sister too! Argghhh!

Jazzie glad you're settling into a routine and having some good nights.

Yummy how are u doing?

All ok here. Apart from a power cut on Sunday night and all day yesterday which was not fun - we went to my mum's though so were fine.

Is everyone loving the snow? Tilly's woken up today with a horrible cough... I've made an appointment at the doctors but I'm not sure if I should take her out in this?? Will it make her worse...

Ugh!! Any advice? It just sounds like such a horrible cough :(

Xx

No harm in getting her checked anything - they will listen to chest to check for infection. A GP can also prescribe Calpol for babies under 2 months if they have a temp. I would just wrap her up v warm and make sure her chest, neck and ears are covered - e.g. snowsuit with hood up plus hat, and blanket over top. Hope all ok. DD had a horrible cough last week but it cleared up after about 4 days, now she is just snuffly.

anything if you ring the surgery will they come and see you at home? If they knew it was such a young baby I bet they would.

yummy are you ok? FWIW, ds can be an oddling at night too... Have you tried snuggling him into a deep sleep in a sling? DS loves it, and once he's calm he can either go back in his cot or if not, stay with me. It leaves your arms free to eat/post on mn/change the channel... Can you guess where DS is now?! Is it so wrong of me to guzzle mince pies and drop crumbs on his head? I've found the sling also keeps him distracted long enough to begin pushing feeds a bit longer apart.

Tried DS in his grobag as opposed to swaddling for his nap earlier... Oh dear... The screams! Has anyone ever had issues moving on from swaddling? I'm scared of him overheating in a swaddle...

HI folks

My DS has passed his one month birthday and I am feeling a bit more human, fewer tears and raging hormones. Feeling a bit cooped up as the snow means long walks are more difficult.

Re the Baby Whisperer I got it today from Amazon and seems to have a few good bits in it but it seems to be a bit anti breast feeding which I didn't like.

Had a massive clear out of the house today as hubby was home as University was cancelled due to weather. Can't believe how much rubbish we had gathered in four weeks of very little house work.

The baby massage is a great idea and most local Sure Start centres do a free/cheap course.

Expressed some milk for the first time today and was able to get 3oz in half an hour (is this good??) so going to get someone else to do a feed and see if the wee one takes the bottle.

We have also set up a three sided cot by our bed to try and move away from completely co-sleeping so we will see how that works - does anyone else co-sleep? Or wee one refuses point blank to go to sleep in his Moses basket so I am going to have to be a bit tougher and get him to sleep in the cot.

Anyway, hope you are all getting some sleep. I am slowly realising that the days of 10 hour sleeps are long long gone....

marking my place

Jazzie baby whisperer saved my bacon with DD1, I dipped in and out of it when I had a problem with something (which was most of the time!)but it's not for everyone. Am following the same routine ish for DD2 and no complaints so far!
grobags were an issue with DD1, we swaddled her until about 4 months and then had a couple of rough nights getting her used to grobags but i think you just have to persevere if you want to use them.

DD2 had her first set of injections today so we have had a bit of a rough day (for us), she cried properly for the first time in her little life

Jacks hope the power situation has improved

anything hope DD is feeling better

Bonsoir lovelies, just reading your posts with a sleeping Ds on my chest in the sling. Man, it's hard to get this kid to sleep at all ever but maybe I'm doing it all wrong.... He doesn't want to sleep in his Moses basket Kath, but I tried the baby whisperer patting and shushing and yesterday it worked! But today I had a friend for coffee and he didn't sleep all day just cried between feeds, sicked up and DH and I spent hours patting and shushing and in the end I stuck him in the sling (DS not DH)... He doesn't nod off in the pram, he spits out the dummy in order to cry more, doesn't like swaddling, he takes aaaaaages to fall asleep...he used to conk out on the breast and stay conked but not no more! So we half co-sleep, half not as DH can get him to sleep in the basket after the feed at 11/midnight. So he sleeps from about 12 or 1am to about 3 or 4 am, then feeds, then again at 6 or 6.30 if I'm lucky, then he may fall asleep for a while or wake up at 7.30 (farting merrily away...) then we start to have a 3 hr window but no naps anymore! He's 6 weeks now... I don't really keep notes on everything he does but maybe I should? He's a windy little man so I think some of it is tummy ache... any ideas?

Sorry - v selfish post, really a bit desperate (exhausted!)

Hi dilly, sorry to hear you are so tired my DS is also windy. Is your DS having problems with trapped wind, or does there just seem to be a lot coming out? I don't want to preach to you because you're obviously way better at the whole bf lark than me (ff from 2 weeks!) but I've heard that if you don't leave your baby to finish the whole breast if milk, then they can take in too much fore milk which is thinner and waterier than the hind milk which can result in wind pain. FWIW, DS used to take 45 minutes to finish one boob when he was tired/distracted which was most of the time. My mum mentioned it and I don't know if it's true but worth a bash? Also if in doubt, use infacol/colief to make sure if there is wind, it's easier to bring up. I did used to keep notes on what DS did; how much/long he fed, when and how long he slept, it just helped me put it all in perspective. I bet your DS doesn't cry for that long. If he cries for 3 minutes, it feels like ages but it's not. If you actually watch the clock I think you'll be surprised. Also with the settling to sleep, it took me ages to realise he wants to be left alone. He doesn't want to be fussed over and cuddled. Perhaps your DS is the same; if you want to go to sleep, you want to be in a quiet, dim room with no noise. What if he's the same? I sit with DS in his room in the quiet and hold him until he's calm and then wrap him up and put him down. He sometimes cries, but never any longer than 2 or 3 minutes; I stand outside and time it. It's rare though, only if he's overtired. Does the co sleeping bother you much or are you happy to do it?

dilly did you have a difficult birth? (I can't remember - sorry) but he sounds really like DD1 was and she was massively helped by seeing a cranial osteopath who said she had a sore head from her traumatic birth.

I will second what Jazzie says about the infacol etc, it's worth a try if they are struggling to bring up wind but the infacol works on a build up process so you need to use it a couple of days before you start to see the full effects.

Hey ladies.

I'm on my 2nd windy baby and IME it's largely just a case of waiting it out until their digestive systems mature a bit at around 3/4 months!

We did try osteopathy with DS but not sure if it did anything. We have also used Infacol with both DS and DD (which does seem to help with burping) and Gripe Water. Friends of mine swear by camomile or peppermint tea from a bottle to help babies' digestion. Dummy is a miracle but as a result we have a DS still addicted to his at nearly 4 - we swore we would not use one for DD but soon gave in!