The Final Fruition of the Frolicking Forays for the First Time Frolickers

[Spirael]

We came, we saw, we frolicked.

Now our PFB has arrived and we can begin the stressful befuddled guiltridden exhausting wonderful journey of parenthood!

(Or at the very least we can stop bothering the antenatal bunch until they join us!)

Hmm.. I think I jinxed it - another 2 hours wide awake stretch last night. The worst part is that he won't settle for DH sometimes so I found myself being woken up to go and help! And then he would fall asleep but as soon as I left the room he woke up and screamed blue murder. I was seriously considering bedding down on the floor of his room.

bunny oh you poor thing! Hope it was just a one-off and you have a better night tonight. Did he have a long nap in the end?

worrisome I have ended up lying on the floor next to Will's cot on a number of occasions

William must have been feeling really sorry for himself yesterday - he took a 3hr nap in the morning, and then another 2hrs in the afternoon. He slept much better last night though - went through till 4:30, then needed a cuddle because his nose was so blocked he couldn't mouth breathe and suck his dummy. He's also gone and got conjunctivitis again, so his eyes are oozing green gunk, but he seems happier today.

Hi all,

Sorry to be all me, me, me... Hope you're all well... BUT! Have just had an early scan... One word - TWINS!!!!

Bloody hell!!! Double congrats roses bet you're DH thinks he's got super sperm!!! Can I suggest you hightail it over to the multiples board?

WOW WOW whiteroses double congrats!!!! How is it going so far - hope not too sick? You must be in complete shock right now

ps LOVING everyone's photos on facebook - we do make very cute babies...

bunny Poor will! I hope he feels better soon.

whiteroses Double congratulations, what a shock for you! I hope its sinking in. How lovely to have 3 so close in age, they will have so much fun together.

I thought I'd pop in to see how you got on today. Was NOT expecting that one!

OH MY GOD roses Congratulations 3 under 2 sounds like it will be alot of fun

halo thanks for asking after Will - he seems much better today. I think having already had a few colds and a bout of conjunctivitis recently his immune system knows what to do and he's fighting it off pretty quickly.....not before he gave the cold to me though

How's Hannah's sleep going? Saw your FB post about trying to get her to feed less at night. I tried and failed at the refusing to feed completely with Will - he would just get angry, cry and we'd end up giving in and feeding. What was successful was delatching as soon as he started comfort sucking - he cottoned on pretty quickly to the idea that he was going to get food if he was hungry, but not going to get to use boob as a dummy. He'd then let us settle him in other ways eg dummy and patting in his cot. My only problem was that it only ever took a couple of bad nights for me to lapse back into feeding him to sleep as the path of least resistance - and three nights of that meant I'd formed a habit we were going to have to break again.

Her sleep is pretty much the same bunny maybe slightly better as she goes 2.5 between feeds now and we haven't had hourly wake ups for a while. I only feed her for 3 minutes each time but it still disrupts my sleep. I hardly let her stay in my bed now as that was leading to less sleep for me so even if she feeds to sleep she usually wakes when I pop her in the cot and she settles with the dummy and hand holding.

She still seems to have food as a sleep association though even she doesn't need the boob in her mouth to sleep but likes a milky tummy to go to sleep with.

Thing is even a full feed only takes about 5-7 minutes sometimes she could just hungry and sometimes comfort but its hard to know which. My bf group leader said you if fed every 2 hours then you would be hungry every 2 hours too and suggested sleep training when she is on 3 meals a day.

Last night she didn't settle after her 2am feed until 4am. She was wide awake for the day at half 6 so even with a 9pm bedtime I feel shattered.

DP is sleeping off a night out so it was me that had to get up (as it pretty much always is.)

I now always nap during her first nap of the day and that is just about keeping me going.

The thing thats getting me down at the moment is that I have no idea if/when its going to end. I booked a night out (gig) in October. Its looking increasingly likely I won't be able to leave my then 6 month old for 4 hours in the evening. Its not that I want to be going out all the time, I accepted my life is difference after becoming a mum but one night out lasting more than an hour and a half in 6 months doesn't feel that much to ask.

I am glad Will is better. I've been really lucky that Hannah has been healthy so far. I reckon my immune system wouldn't stand up to much so if she gets something so will I. Hope you fight it off soon.

halo it will get better. I went pretty much to hell and back with Will's non-sleeping between 3.5 and 4.5mths, and again at 6-7mths. At the low point in the 4mth regression, I had stopped going out and was so so tired I spent large parts of every day in tears. Yet even he's managing to sleep through, or at least get to 4am without waking now I felt throughout both of them that if someone could just say to me that it was going to be bad for x number of weeks but then be ok, then I'd be able to cope, but with no end in sight it's really really hard.

It seems like Hannah's just like Will, and is quite sensitive to forming sleep associations, and needs help to have associations you feel happy with. I approached our sleep issues like this in the end:
-I used quite a strict routine for a couple of weeks so we both knew what was happening and when
-took all distractions away when feeding so he was getting good feeds during the day. I actually started offering bfs less often so he was feeding for longer and getting a really good feed (if he was a bit sick after then I was happy as I knew his tummy was full!)
-sleep training at nap times and bedtime only - if he can't settle for naps and at the start of the night then he wasn't going to do it in the middle of the night

I was very strict with myself over getting him to self-settle for naps, once he was doing that ok (after about 3-4 days) I got stricter about bedtimes. After 2 weeks bedtime was still an issue, and so I decided that a over a month of waking every 1-2hrs at night was enough, and we just went for it. I knew he could self settle as he'd been doing it for naps, so I just left him to it. Took about 20mins but that night and for a whole month after he never woke before 4am Then we hit the 6-7mth regression, which mentally wasn't so tough as I knew we'd survived similar before.

I hope things start to get better for you soon x

Aww Halo - I've just been reading your posts. Sound like you're having a terrible time of it and like you could really use some "me time". Will Hannah take a bottle at all?

Bunny - you sound knackered too, and you have a cold... :( Poor you. Glad Will's okay though!

As for my news... Still hasn't sunk in! Lol! Worrisome - funnily DH isn't thinking he has super sperm - prefers to "blame" me (jokingly, of course), saying that it was probably two eggs... Apparently our twins are totally seperate and 1/3 like that are identical, but 2/3 are non-identical, so it's more likely that it was 2 eggs rather than 1 that split. I'm guessing when he tells his (5) brothers, that's when the "super-sperm" jokes'll start! Cherry - I have been REALLY sick but at least now I know there's a reason and I'm not just a complete wimp! Halo and Bunny - three close in age having lots of fun together - that's the image I've been using for the past 27hrs to try and block out the panic! Lol! Pixie - YOU weren't expecting that one?!!! Lol!

Okay... So how do I get on this Facebook page then to see all these cute babies?! :)

bunny What was your routine? 3 naps at set times? And how did you get Will self settle? With tears/without? Currently I put Hannah's musical seahorse on, dummy in and hold her hand until she is sleepy then sneak away, I repeat if she cries.

She definatly snacks for bf's so doing them less often could help. Did you feed at set times? After naps? Sorry for all the questions - I will read through the thread tonight when Hannah's asleep as you have probably wrote about it at the time when Hannah was still just a bump.

whiteroses I am ok just feel like I've got everything wrong sleep wise. She hasn't taken a bottle since 4 wo (now nearly 20 weeks) DP has tried when happy/tired/hungry/not that hungry but to no avail. We've not tried different bottles but there's currently no looming deadline (back to work January) and I am hoping to get her on a cup asap.

I hope the twins news is sinking in, definatly get yourself over to the mulitples threads, there will be loads of support there and practical advice i'm sure. I hope the sickness passes soon.

roses I'm sure it'll all work out fine for you - at least you'll be getting the baby/toddler stage all over and done with quickly.....unless you decide to go for no. 4 Hope you're feeling less sick soon.

To join the fb group you need to be friends with one of us so we can add you. I've sort of been the ringleader till now because you can get to me on fb from here. There's a link somewhere up the thread to my photos and you can add me as a friend from there, then I can add you to the group (just be sure to let me know who you are when you add me!)

halo I'll send you a pm with our sleep plan in, otherwise it'll take up the whole thread

Roses I could add you if your RL name and FB name are the same? I'll have a look - and hopefully not befriend some total random!

Have left "you" a cryptic message just in case

just popping in to say hope you had an ok night last night flo. No wonder you're feeling a bit beaten down about it, the no end in sight thing is pretty tough. We're lucky that C is not too bad at night but she also feeds every two hours in the day, and at night definitely needs to feed to sleep both at bedtime and after her night wake ups, and gets very very cross if we try anything different. This combined with her refusing a bottle means that I can't see myself going out in the evening for a very long time. Like you that's fine on one hand as I knew my life was going to change, but once in a couple of months would be nice. I try and enjoy the night time snuggles and the fact that she really needs me, as I know it won't be too long before I am chasing her around the house/playground trying to get a hug, but it is hard!

glad feeds are going better mrsw - fingers crossed for the weigh in on Weds. My back and wrists are really playing up from all the carrying, rocking, picking up :)

Hi all. That's me got onto the page on Fb! (Thanks pixie!) Just checking first though - there's no way anyone I'm friends with in RL can see that I'm in that group or see anything I write on the page, is there? Like I sometimes see things people have said to people I'm not friends with, and can also see comments non-friends leave for friends... So just checking if I say anything on Fb to you lot, NOBODY else will see it? (Really paranoid about twins!)

am pretty sure that only group members can see that the group exists or what is said on it - if you look at your newsfeed, then anything related to a secret group will have little padlock symbol which I think means that only members of that group will see the comments, photos etc. I have asked DH to check my posts don't come up on his newsfeed, definitely not keen on my RL friends reading my MN posts about TTC and all the more glamorous aspects of pregnancy, childbirth, b-feeding...

Just a quick on as I'm at work. roses when I set up the fb group I made it a secret group so only those who are in it can see it even exists (hence you had to be friends with a member so we could add you to it, rather than you searching for the group and asking to join)

We can also try and keep what's said on the fb thread fairly general, so just posting pics/general chat, just in case someone who shouldn't be looking ever sees it. All our embarrassing secrets can be kept for this thread

Hi all! Long time no speak...sorry haven't been very good at popping in but I seem to be packing my days with stuff and whilst trying not to stagnate have become so busy I'm rarely at home. So last week I have started planning one or two days a week indoors!

Firstly, massive congrats to highheels on the birth of Rose. She is just gorgeous! And roses - double congrats to you! How exciting! Hope you're not feeling too overwhelmed!

I wont try to write a personal hi to everyone as I am feeding Tabitha and am likely to get very mixed up (not a natural multi tasker ) but I've read up and it's lovely to hear how everyone is getting on and how well you're all doing. And our babies are getting so big and so clever!! Time really flies doesn't it. It's really good to hear I'm not the only one to still be eating crap for breakfast - crisps today - and that im normal :) hehe.

Cherry mentioned the fb group...i'd love to join if that's ok. How do I do that?

Hopefully I won't be as crap at keeping up with the thread from now on!!

crazyb gald to hear you and Tabitha have been getting out and about!

To join the fb group you need to be friends with one of us, so if you already know any of our rl identities then you could add that way. If not, there's a link somewhere up the thread to my photos of Will - you can add me from there. Just be sure to let me know who you are!!

DH taught William to stand up while still wearing his sleeping bag last weekend....it's come back to bite us somewhat as we're now having standing in the cot issues. Last night I put a very tired boy to bed at 6:30pm, at 8pm he was still awake and standing in his cot. No crying, just playing - DH ended up in there with a hand on him to stop him from pulling back up until he eventually went to sleep. Thankfully he did sleep right through until 6:30 after that otherwise DH would have been in the doghouse!

Roses Wow!!!! Congratulations!!

Bunny Can someone PM me about the group?

Halo How are you at the moment? I'm sorry you're having a bit of a time of it.

Right I'm so sorry I've not been around much, real life has really gotten away with me.

So an update from me, DS will be ten months old next week. He is commando crawling and is into EVERYTHING. In the past six weeks since he began to move around, he has broken a fruit bowl, a cup, a candle holder and a lap top (words fail me).

I'm still breastfeeding him but have mixed fed recently to give me a bit of slack on expressing at work. I tried to work it out so I wouldn't have to, but in the end there wasn't a way that didn't mean compleatly giving up feeding him myself that would mean I wouldn't need to express at work. So I've just gone with it.

So I am back at work now, it was horrid the first few weeks but last week was better. I don't know if any of you remember but I had terrible anxiety in my pregnancy with DS. Well it seem seems that after DS's birth it carried on and it's only been of late that I seem to be getting better. I'm going to be speaking to someone about it so hopefully it will get sorted.

I have had a post birth talk with one of the midwives from the local maternity unit. I had some things I wanted to resolve about DS's birth. It did help enormously, although I did find out I was a hair away from a c section (scary). I'm still coming to terms with it all, but I'm better than I was. I would strongly encourage anyone to do this.

Oh and I don't know if anyone can remember way back when on the conception board, I was doing a driving course before I found out I was pregnant with DS. Well anyway, I finally passed the damn thing!!!

Also with sleep, DS is quite frankly crap at it. We have managed to go from 11pm until 4.30am without a wake up which is a break through. We're now working on getting him to go until 6/7am without waking. I did post on FB about it once and my smugly ugly beast of a cousin in law proudly told me that his daughter loved sleeping.

I always thought the rule was if someone is having a hard time with sleeping, and the lack of it, you don't tell them how proud you are that your kid sleeps. You offer commiserations, quietly thank whatever you believe in that your kid sleeps and only say something if they really push you. Even then you say it really quickly and then point to something shiny.

I have plans to knee him when I next see him.

Anyway, I hope you're all well.

tribble long time no see!! Well done for managing to still BF DS - I tried expressing at work, then tried mixed feeding, but sadly William decided he preferred bottles so I gave up. And well done on passing your driving course Was it you who had a hunky instructor or course mate or am I thinking of someone else completely

Hope you get your anxiety sorted out and glad your birth debrief has helped a bit. I'm really thankful that I had a very straightforwards labour, but I imagine it can be hard to get your head around things if they don't go to plan.

Grrr about fb posts re sleeping. William's suddenly got much better, but he's given us plenty of problems. I actually hid one of my very best friends on fb for a while when she was posting daily updates about her 3wk old sleeping 11hrs straight at night. It didn't last though, and I have to say I felt slightly smug when I unhid her to see daily updates about having no sleep at all

worrisome I showed DH your video of Lochie walking, mentioned that he's only a couple of weeks older than Will, and DH's competitive dad streak has broken free. He's put poor William in walking boot camp this week - not sure that he'll manage to walk unaided in a mere 7 days seeing as his current attempts at cruising lead to him going backwards

Will's sleeping much better again - he's now going through till 5:30ish. The only problem with that is that when he wakes he's had almost enough sleep so he wants to get up, only to get really overtired about an hour later. If he's going to wake before 7 I'd rather he did it around 1am because at least then he sleeps in till a reasonable time. Just have to keep reminding myself that it's less than 2 months since he was waking every 2hrs, so I should be happy with the improvement we've had!

pixie and mrsw I've reported the post with Tegs name in and asked for it to be deleted. Hope that's ok