Sept 08 - No no no, ME do it!

[CappuccinoCarrie]

Shiny new thread for Christmas!

Awww what a beautiful birth story, so happy your parents got to see her before they went home.

Nice to see you star and fanny

How exciting bec I hope you find a lovely house.

Oh dg I hope you get a bfp soon and the others that are ttc

Carrie I felt like that after my flu jab too, I had it on the Monday and could not get out of bed on the wed.

I have started feeling sick most of the day now so that's a good sign.

Wow pacita, loving the summary of your birth story being "awesome project managament"!!! What a gorgeous story and a wonderful family, you've done brilliantly.

Happy burns night debi! [bgrin] [bwink] [bsmile]

Any news NC on what's causing your symptoms?

Yay bec on making a decision regarding the house, we know how unhappy you've been and its great that you're taking some action, I'll enjoy following someone else's moving drama adventure [bgrin]

fanny I salute you, what an adventure you've been on and you've all survived and the end is in sight, we hope your new home is fabulous, you deserve it [bsmile]

star we've had enough of a mare deciding on schools without special needs to take into account, hope you're doing ok.

self-indulgent-misery-disclaimer

DH left for america last night [bsad]. I haven't cried that long or that hard in a long, long time. Everything I've faced in the last few years that's made me cry, I've had DH, my rock, with me through it. Last night alone in bed was the pits, then DD woke up missing her daddy too so we were both crying at 2am; super. In laws are on their way to come and help out, so it'll be nice to have company in the day and someone with a bit of extra energy for the children. I'm hoping I'll sleep well tonight by virtue of being so shattered. Have said I'll shred DH's passport when he gets back so he can't go again [bgrin]. Thursday next week is a long, long way away.

Well done pacita, you did that all by yourself!!! Ines is a beautiful name.

carrie sorry to hear you're feeling so down with dh gone. I'm sure once you get into a mini routine the days will fly by and he'll be back just when you're beginning to enjoy having the bed to yourself.

nc sorry I missed your post about late af and bfn's. It's very frustrating. I used to get that when ttc the first time round. I chart my temps now, so at least I know when I ovulate. Saves me from getting my hopes up, also saves me from worrying should I get pg and measure small for lmp date.

carrie I hate it when dh goes away, but actually, there is something strangely peaceful about having one less person in the house and doing things exactly the way you want to. The forced extra childcare chores also (provided are temporary) brings me closer to my children.

aaaw, great birth story pacita. DD arrived in the nick of time .

I'm watching a doc about pleasure on BBC1 and a chocolate expert thinks we like chocolate as it tastes of breast milk. I think she has a point there, IMO white choc does taste like breast milk. Mine was always like sugar water.

Pleased to hear you are feeling a bit queasy lolly, wouldn't wish nasty sickness on you, I hope it is nice 'middle of the road' sickness.

star There's a bit about the oxytocin rush on the BBC1 programme now funnily enough. I never got it at all, think I was just glad we were all alive! There must be a difference between the 'high' after a cs birth compared to a natural birth.

I don't think I got a mad rush, no, though I wish I had.

Ladies, can you please Tell me what to do with newborn that won't settle at night, won't release the breast and never seems satisfied. :(

Oh Pacita, ime this is the hard bit, so you have my sympathies.

Firstly, keep reminding yourself that she is very very young and is getting to grips with everything. She's been through a HUGE change too.

I have no idea if this works, but keep her in the daylight when it is day, then when you are feeding at night keep the room quiet and dark. My theory is this helps them get used to day and night, and it's what I done.

Feed, feed, feed and feed some more during the day. Again, my theory is pack the milk in during the day so they don't need so much in the night.

When it gets to much, hand her over to dp. I often found my frustration was mimicked by the ds's. So after a feed I would pass them to dh to do the settling/walking about.

Your supply is still establishing itself, so it may be playing catch up as your milk has only been in a few days. Try and tell yourself that the constant attachment to your breast is a good thing - it is stimulating your supply.

She is satisfied by your milk, but she also wants to be close to you, and being attached to you is probably the best feeling in the world to her. It is bloody tough though.

Hang on in there, it will get better

pacita Do you co-sleep? Would you consider it?

As a temporary solution, if at all possible I would go to bed 7-8pmish and stay there until 7-8ish the next day. During that 12 hours you are both likley to get 6-8 hours somewhere if broken.

Ideally you'd hand over the baby to someone else until midnight or so, just being brought to you for feeds and then take over at midnight.

Honestly, this bit is tough for anyone but when it isn't no.1 it's harder.

Let me know if you want info. about cosleeping safely. When done right it is actually safer than having the baby in their own bed.

note to self. Do not read mn threads containing birth stories and husband going away stories in the 5 mins you've got free before going to teach. They will make you cry!

Bookmarking. Pacita hang in there. It is harder to have a toddler too but easier in some ways as you know it'll improve.

Hello all. carrie sorry - hope the week flies by.

star good to have you back lovey. If I ever manage to conceive no2, I'll be asking your advice!
Currently on 2ww on cycle 5.

fp you are an amazonian!!

Now we just need an update from hopefully re her growing bump and the gangs back!

Oh and nc agree with digi about charting your temps. When ttc C I had a 52 day cycle with bfns. Had no idea what was going on. Now I temp, I know when I've ov.
Twas recommended to me by fp too!

pacita Agree with what everyone else has said really....pack in as many feeds as poss in the day and hand over to dh in the early evening after ds is in bed...that way you might get 2 hours sleep prior to the first night feeds IYSWIM? Also, I co slept (well, still do really!) with ds2 and that helped.

carrie Oh, you poor thing When ds1 was 2 dh had to go the the far east for 10 days....and again when he was 4....I REALLY feel for you...it was hideous. I know he will have to go away again soon...they are even talking about Brazil this time!!! aaarrgh! but I am dreading it. Glad PIL are coming to help you out x

post natal rush???? hardly. I could barely walk because of stitches and kept conking out due to being anaemic!!!

Pacita that was a lovely birth story. Well done for dd making it in time for gp's to see her.

Robyn had her first hour at nursery today. we were going to stay but she just weanted to run off and play, she even told us bye, so we went home for a cuppa then I went back to collect her. She had a great time, she was in circle time when I got there and was sat very well. She was glad to go but that was more to do with being allowed to jump in muddy puddles. She's back next weds and thurs for 90 mins each morning then the week after she will do 10-1 and have dinner.

thats great news debs Gives me hope for sept when Toby starts!!! He will be doing 2/3 x mornings til this time next year when his 5 free mornings start.

Am anxious about it already!!!!

Great news about the nursery!

Right. You lot remember I can't cook right?

So I have in the oven some goats cheese and watercress muffins.

The disasters so far:

Not to bad actually.

First I found out that the watercress is 75g, and not 85g. Not a big disaster.

Then I find out that the goats cheese is soft. I tried hard to find hard cheese from the internet shop but it was impossible to tell, so I went with my instinct and was wrong.

I went ahead anyway and crumbled it and then stabbed the mixture lots to break it up more. What do you think?

Then there is the age old problem in that my oven is so old it doesn't have any dials so god only knows what 180 degrees is, but I've overcome that one before so I'll guess. FYI the temp dial is currently facing straight down,

Finally, there is the issue that my muffin tins are for six, and the recipe is for 10 and I didn't know whether it was important to fill all the holes for some kind of 'balance' so I just divided the mixture a bit more to make 12.

The good news is that despite it taking seemingly forever to chop the watercress with a blunt knife and a chopping board the size of a postage stamp, it still didn't take even the 25 minutes to prepare (so maybe I've done something terribly wrong .

So, do you think there is any chance of getting some edible muffins out of all this?

boy do they smell yummy though

Oh, and I forgot to look at the time when I put them in

(although given I have no idea what temperature they are on perhaps it is immaterial)

I think that as long as you haven't cremated them and they look cooked they should be ok.

If I spot any 'Win a cooker' competitions I will let you know .

We used to have a weekend farmers market that sold watercress scones. I think we were too chavvy as we don't have one anymore .

Mmmmm, so I can confirm that it is okay to use soft goats cheese. I can confirm that the mixture can be split into 12 without any issues etc.

I've eaten 2 already and they were very very yummy!

starry They sound divine! I think you are shortly going to have to revise your 'I can't cook' claim.

You know what. I was just thinking something similar. Having really inappropriate and inadequate equipment and ingredients requires a higher level of instinct and cooking intuition(at least that's what I'm telling myself whilt my cooking turns out alright, - when it goes wrong it will definately be the oven's fault)

I dunno how I'm going to get round the cook book issue though. DH keeps buying me 'really simple recipe' cookbooks but I don't even recognise half the ingredients, let alone understand the 'techinques'.

For example, what is the difference between folding, mixing, blending, whisking, whipping stirring and beating. My arm aches with all of them so it is just a general getting the ingredients to be the same kind of consistency thingy.

I must say I liked the muffin mixing. No effort at all, just a bit of moving a spoon (don't understand the rationale between wooden and metal, so went with wooden just in case - and because the metal was in the sink)!

starry glad to hear they were ok. If off minute, then its my recipe and C and I make them lots.
I've never used soft goats cheese, so may give it a go.

Btw, if you want to check if they're done, push a piece of uncooked spagetti into the centre and withdraw. If it comes out clean, they're cooked.

Good for you!

Minute = mumsnet! Doh.

Hello all,

blimey, I had forgotten how HARD work a newborn was!

she is pretty good during the day, but of course I'm having all of the breastfeeding panics I had the first time round. And I thought I was so sorted!

The latch, is it good? Is she getting enough milk? I have wet nappies but no poos. Is that ok? I watch internet videos, all of them with babies who drink like sailors, while my little Ines just seems to nibble for a bit then fall asleep. And then there is the nights. And the blocked duct that I've been massaging for the past hour wiht a hot compress and is still there...

Star, I totally want to co-sleep, but I think my lying down latch is not working. Any advice re: safety, latch, clothing, comfort would be more than gratefully received.

I do apologise for the self indulgent rant - it's day 4, so could be the onset of the baby blues, which tend to materialise as anxiety in my case...