Hi Ladies :)
Half term has been keeping me away from the laptop but the girls are now in bed, and DH is on the playstation so I can catch up here for a bit!
I know there'll be loads that I've missed and meant to respond to, but so much time has passed that converstaions here have all moved on...!
Anyway - superspot I wish I could come over and help you out. I'm so sorry you're all ill and that your promised break has had to be cancelled 
I really hope you're all feeling better soon. On the steroid thing - I think the one that disolves in water is Prednisolone, whereas your one was Dexamethasone wasn't it? It's used lots and my dd1 had it several times for croup when she was younger, with no adverse effects (that I'm aware of!), so I'd be confident that it'll help little T.
WG I'm glad you and DH can talk so freely about things now and that he's ok with the idea of some individual counselling. IME with depression, it's often the fear of feeling as bad as you used to that makes you feel worse than your really do, if that makes sense? So with lack of sleep and madam being unwell, that's a huge reminder (as others said) of those early days, which brings a huge fear of returning to that state again. For me I have to tell myself 'that was then, this is now', otherwise I spend so much time fearing how I'll be, that I end up like it again. If you can catch that thought and concentrate on 'now', it's so much easier to climb back up. Or maybe that's just me 
jam that reminds me - how is your friend? Has she picked up at all or got any help? I'm glad you spoke to her dp. From your description it sounded very much like PND to me.
Re eating...P is a bit hit and miss really. She can have days where she'll wolf down a lasagne or a caserole, and others where she turns her nose up at everything. And sometimes she'll refuse a cooked tea, so we put it in her bag for nursery the next day and she eats the lot there! (might be worth a try for you too Summer!) There must be peer pressure among these LOs! Tonight she wouldn't touch her tea (lasagne which she gobbled down the other night 
) and just started crying and pushing it away and clamping her mouth shut, so she went to bed having had just a yoghurt. And whether that affects her sleep I've no idea, as that seems as random as everything else does!
ladyt you asked me a while ago about the girls' bedtimes. L has always gone down at around 6.30 ish, but now it's more like 6.45 (then story so we leave her room about 7pm). Having said that, some days she'll read or talk to herself for up to an hour, but she knows that she stays in bed from 7. P has (since sleeping through - which was only at 16 months) gone down at 6pm and slept till about 6.45am, although over the past week or so it's been more like 6.30pm. They just both seem tired at that time and sleep well, although I guess we might have programmed them like that in a way, because from quite early on we knew we (selfishly) wanted 'our' evening so have always put them to bed at those times. I think it's about the right amount of sleep for them but all children are so different so I guess others can survive on much less sleep. I know L particularly never catches up on sleep (ie if she gets a late night she still wakes before 7am) and when she's tired she's horrible, so it just seems the best thing that she goes at that time. Sorry that was no doubt way more information than you wanted! Now in relation to your dp, it's certainly tricky. I think your recovery is a big factor so it's hard to compare with others. I feel that while you are still having difficulty with a lot of things (lifting, carrying...) then you should be getting lots of help with the kind of things that you're doing when the girls allow you to - washing, laundry, meals etc. Can dp load the washer before bed? Just simple things to allow you to REST in the day if the girls happend to be asleep at the same time. The more you try to do at the moment, the longer you will take to heal (as veggie continues to remind you!!!). Once you're feeling stronger - and as Rubes says in a few weeks time when 'routines' start to form a little - then perhaps you need a conversation about what you expect from each other. I found with P that I was happy (as happy as you can be!) to do the night feeds, because I saw that it was my 'job' while I was on maternity leave. But our sticking point was late afternoon, when I was pooped and just waiting for dh to arrive home and relieve the burden, whereas dh was pooped from work and just waiting to get home and chill out for a bit! Sometimes he'd come in and read a book or open the lap top and I'd feel so jealous (still do!) because all I'd wanted to do all day was take 30 minutes to myself to switch off. I think it helped when we realised each other needed space - and if I gave hime his post work chill out he was then better at getting on with the later things (tea, bath, stories, bed). Sometimes I wanted to make tea just so I could leave the room and not have a child near me 
, and other times that was too much hard work and I'd ask him to do tea while I stayed with the girls. I'm not sure that it's resolved now TBH - some days work better than others, but I think the fact that they're both quite early to bed means that by 8.00 we're usually pretty sorted, cleared up, fed, watered and packed lunches made for the next day, so we always have a good hour or 2 to chill before bed (which we spend with me on MN and him on the PS3 ) Although his chilling time starts while I make packed lunches
I'm really waffling tonight aren't I?!
We're off to my sister's tomorrow to stay the night, then seeing my parents on Sunday and leaving L there for a sleep over because she has another teacher training day at her school on Monday while DH and I are both at work. Right pains these training days! I'm looking forward to seeing them all, but anxious because it'll cost a bit in petrol and things are Not Good money-wise at the moment. Eek. I'm thinking we might have to stop L's dancing lessons, although I might ask my parents if they can fund it for a while. It's so hard isn't it - everything costs money. Well, most things. I try not to worry but it's just THERE putting a black cloud over every decision. Sorry. I know we're so well off compared to a lot of people, whose children have never had a dance lesson, but it's a pricey world we live in.
Right. Must stop typing.
Sorry if my ramblings have sent you to sleep.
Oh and Hi to the 'old' faces!