FESH Spa & Creche - The Messiah is late - 'e's a very naughty boy!

[AlpinePony]

2010 - the best year of my life, for half of it I was pregnant and for the other half had my baybee.

Can't offer any advice Alps except to say that it was a doddle with LC and made absolutely no difference to her which room she was in.

We took the do or die approach and got on with it - no namby-pambying around, just plonked her in her cot, turned out the light and left her to it. In fact, from memory, things improved as it meant we weren't disturbing her so she slept more soundly. We did keep the monitor on all night, mainly so I could get to her for a feed before any seriously wailing started. We got braver about adjusting the sensitivity of the thing 'til we eventually stopped bothering with the monitor altogether.

Am loving your super-quick birth story Muse. Enjoy marvelling in the miracle of motherhood - such a special time for you and TBG.

Positions, at home it was leaning over the bed, over my body pillow, or facing the wall and bracing myself against it. In hospital, I was on a monitor so on my back. I did try to move when they let me off it but it hurt too much and there wasn't time. So I was on my back. It worked.

Lack of pool and birth centre was because of the bleed. I basically pushed my cervix away which caused the bleeding. It is not a good idea. I think I could have torn quite badly but I was lucky.

If you're using a TENS get it on early. Don't wait, just do it. I also did some time in the shower at home, that was good.

On the pethidine. At the time it was offered the registrar had expected me to be in labour for 4 hours or so. I took everyone by surprise. You should have seen the look on the birth centre midwife's face when I turned up with a baby the next day!

thanks Muse.

Muse well done you clever clogs. Sounds like you had a really positive experience despite scariness of speed and dilation not happening quite as it should. Really really chuffed for you and hope you are having a lovely time with little BobKAte in these early days cuddled up in bed. Can't wait to finally meet the little one in our next massive PESH fest. xx

Alps congrats on the big move and remaining sane, or well nearly... Cannot offer any advice on moving to own room. We did it at 6 weeks before he really knew what was what and was used to sleeping for naps in his cot by that point so wasn't an issue at all. In fact I'd say he preferred it as there was a mobile and stuff to look at unlike the moses basket. Can you bribe him by having mobiles/nightlights and lots of entertainment and really make him love his new bed? That's what worked for us I'd say. Babymoo is happiest either in cot or on nappy changer.

Had another sesh with the perineal clinic today to find out why I slightly bled during first go at The Sechs. Anyhoo turns out that I still have some deep stitches - hence the prickling feeling I sometimes get. Apparently there are different levels of stitches!! Anyway they will go eventually and no pain or anything so I think I am lucky to get away as lightly as I did despite it all. Bit annoyed that everyone has been telling me stitches gone when they bloody haven't. Got to rub in hormone cream to help it along twice a week. Oh good another thing to remember.

Little one sleeping not so great last 2 nights. Waking up at 3 and 6 which is not exactly bad I know, but feels like a step backwards. added to which Mr Moo is suffering with tendinitis in his shoulder and is in agony all night and groaning in pain. So not a lot of sleep this week in the moo household. The rents are coming up this weekend now after all to help us sort some shit out which cannot be done when you have baby and dog under your feet all day.

Amazon have been today with my new purchases a blue bumbo and a fisher price jumperoo! photos tomomorrow methinks.

okie girls night out was ace. Lovely food, wine and lots of chat about who's had sechs and how much etc. Had a dash back at ten to eleven due to babymoo wailing the street down but we were only round the corner so really wasn't a big deal. Definitely was a much needed night out when every day seems to blend into the next one sometimes...

I have just observed Rastus release himself and roll out of his bumbo. This means we now have no chairs to contain him for him to sit comfortably in front of Waybuloo

Not good cunty! Does that mean Rastus is now free to crawl around? The Bumbo is more of a game than a chair here. Unless there?s a tray loaded with food on the front of it. Squeaks spends most of her time leaning backwards, as far as she can go. I?m sure she?ll tip over eventually. Thankfully, Waybuloo is now done either on my lap or sitting on her own on the floor. Her sitting is now so good that she had her first up-right slapping the water with her hands, bath tonight. Such fun. Thankfully she?s not crawling yet. Unless you count spinning in circles or moving backwards on her belly. And we (meaning me and Squeaks) had our first falling off the bed incident yesterday ? only a day after her dad was shouted at for letting her fall off the sofa

Today I have mostly been doing housework or at the hospital. Apparently I have a very high pain threshold. Specialist couldn?t believe I wasn?t in more pain given the state of my joints. So we?re trying higher doses of a drug I?m already on and there has finally been mention of me possibly going on to fancy new biological agent treatment. I don?t want to get my hopes to high for this, as I was rejected for it about 7 years ago. It?s very expensive so you have to meet the right criteria. I am told I now do (in my current state) so WIBU to hope that I don?t actually get better in the next two months?

alps - we just chucked Squeaks into her on room. No special prep. She was used to the cot, and used to napping in it with no one else in the room, so it was never a problem. I do try to make her bed as familiar as possible wherever we go. We have one a dinky of <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.rughouse.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/baby-sheepskin-rugs-9-300x300.jpg&imgrefurl=www.rughouse.co.uk/blog/sheepskin-baby-rugs/&usg=__OcI4IMYimBqDcRVXOI0BHULxOd4=&h=300&w=300&sz=22&hl=en&start=0&sig2=io8kngRED9UmoMYR5ZT7yw&zoom=1&tbnid=4lWlFha3eeopHM:&tbnh=128&tbnw=134&ei=lHpdTd23A42F5AbXu526Cw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbaby%2Blambswool%2Brug%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D709%26tbs%3Disch:1%26prmd%3Divns&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=659&vpy=62&dur=53&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=143&ty=111&oei=ZHpdTZSJA5KShAfgpcjWDA&page=1&ndsp=26&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">these that always travels with us

honey glad you are finally getting some truth about your undercarriage. And I'm very of the night out.

Hope you?re recovering nicely Muser. Your latest FB pic made me melt. I want to put my hands through the laptop screen to steal snuggles.

Hope to see Cho and Gin over here too soon. And Kate of course. Perhaps we should get VAG?s posse back together and try to scare him out? And we can be very well prepared from Drom. Sheesh, it?s going to be busy in here soon.

curls he is very much on the move, although crawling may be something of an overstatement, it's more of a caterpillar affair. He won't sit still long enough in front of the telly - he'd rather be snuffling the carpet or rooting around in someone's handbag (although I've told Stuart to keep it somewhere higher up so he doesn't keep having his spare thong used as a hat).

He is going in his own rom imminently. By the end of the weekend I reckon. Although it will just give me further to walk, that's all.

Went to the clinic on Tuesday to have him weighed (23lbs!) and I bemoaned to the HV. She declared if he is having 3 solid meals a day, and his last one is carb-heavy, and he is BF'd before he hits the sack, then he should be sleeping through. And the only reason he wouldn't is because he is in a bad waking pattern/habit. So last night when he woke up at 2.30am I left him to moan. And cry. And shout. And finally howl like a banshee. Hom snored noisily throughout. I had to feed him back to sleep which I SWORE I was not going to do, but I was dancing a jig with Desperation. I don't know what to do to break this habit, I really don't. I'm back at work in a week, on compressed hours, cycling, and I know I need the zeds

Do you still feed him at 10/11pm Cunty? If so, is it breast or boob? Because it might help to get him used to feeding from a bottle only when he's in his room - so last thing at night, and during the night, so he's not relying on the mummy flesh snuggles. (And so you can force Hom to take some of the strain).

Then maybe you could still feed him at 2.30 (if you have to and even if he doesn't need it) but give a bottle rather than boob. And aim to feed to a sleepy state, but not asleep IYSWIM. Once he's used to that you could switch milk for water. He'll soon realise that if there's no mummy snuggles, and then no milk in it for him, he might as well go back to sleep. That's the theory anyway!

Or, just keep on with crying it out. Sorry i can't be more help, but Squeaks is only just becoming slightly cuddly again, and she's never been a particularly hungry baby. All her waking is wind/full nappy/ or I Want To Play Now!- related, the latter being the most difficult to deal with.

It sounds like Rastus just loves you too much.

And wow at the 23lbs! Squeaks is still about 16/17 I think. She's taken a stretch, so looking a wee bit less chubby. I never have her weighed properly, just stand on our scales holding her.

I tend to bf before bed and then a bottle at 11 or whenever, then bf during the night as and when. I've always done that cos i'm too lazy to make up a bottle in the early hours , but is that right? Or is there a way of having a bottle ready for an unknown point in the night?

muser I was very interested to read that your body felt it needed to push before you were dilated because "famously" my body went mental when I was induced and everything in me was screaming "push" but my cervix didn't even open wide enough for a knitting needle. :( It's always puzzled me wtf was going on there and I wondered if I was mad or had imagined it so it's good to know someone else felt that too. I think that's where it went wrong for me - the pressure was immense but the door was firmly shut.

cunty 23lbs? We got Bear weighed on monday and he's a comparatively tiny 18.1 lbs and even then people say he's a biggun! We too have a baybee on the move.

Top teeth are coming in and they're awful - big & swollen and his temp hit 38 last night. :( Poor muffin.

Can we round up VAG's mob to kick jb's cunt in please? Bear was moved in to his own room yesterday. By 11:08pm he was ranting at me and dragged the cot back in to our room. :( I know he's going to cry and whimper and obviously this is exacerbated right now with his teething. But if we bring him back in our room every time he cries... he could be 12. :( JB is taking him to Scotland on his own in about 8 weeks. I think 24/7 might have him changing his tune.

cunty Yes, I was told that after 6 months it's safe to make up a bottle and keep it in the fridge which can just be put in the microwave. Shouldn't keep it longer than 24 hours in the fridge though. But then there are some that would say it "takes too long to cool down" from the way you make it and that could lead to bacterial growth. So you've got to assess his sterile biodome and decide whether the shite he's licking up off the carpet is better or worse than a bottle sat in the fridge for 6 hours.

Please don't worry too much about going back to work. It's lovely being a real person again!

Yes yes but plz to tell me that it's ok to warm bottle up nicely then allow it to sit on bedside for many hours and that babby will be immune from resulting disease? Cos i can't be arsed to fanny downstairs to
heat a bottle up in the middle of the freezing night

"The books" recommend offering water in the night if he's just waking up out of habit. See how he likes them biscuits water?

cunty I will fess up to having done that. Or bung some carton milk in a bottle and leave it on your bedside (I always felt this was safer for some unknown reason). And try not to give a full feed, just the minimum needed. For us it was always a couple of ounces, with head stroking while it was being drunk - propped up in the cot in the middle of the night so she wasn't actually lifted. (or sometimes lying flat - so shoot me!) Once she seemed relaxed again, bottle removed, dummy in, favourite cuddly toy back in snuggle position (actually, I did that while she was feeding where poss) and leave the room. If she was a bit more awake than I liked, on goes the music box, or her lullaby light show, at the lowest volume possible.

And if there might be teething involved - bung on the gel. Sometimes that's enough to distract them from the crying alone.

That's exactly it - once he's used to a couple of ounces of milk, from a bottle and little interaction, you can switch to water. Did this with Squeaks and it worked.

Forgot to say, Bear uttered his first word on Tuesday night. I was sat down and he was stood on my thighs when he sat/fell back down and I'm 99% certain I heard "Fack!". Time to watch our language around him I think!

Make room ladies - baby chick has finally hatched, 16 days late in fabulous homebirth

Jumping over from the PESH thread...Cunty tell me to piss off if this 'sleep training' advice isn't wanted/needed but when my daughter was about 8 months old and in a horrible, knackering pattern of waking up several times a night demanding to be fed, we tried a technique called 'disappearing chair' or 'gradual withdrawal'. CC had just resulted in hysteria on both of our parts but this technique meant that we weren't leaving her alone to get distressed and she could see us as she fell asleep but had no stimulation or routine to get attached to.

Anyway, the technique really worked within a week - she started sleeping through within a few days of starting the technique and I don't think I fed her in the night ever again. She did go through a period of waking at 5.30am, which was not fun when I went back to work, but we used the same technique about 6 months later and that put an end to that. I have a 8pm-7am sleeper now and will be reluctant to give that up when this next one arrives in June!

The first night or two it took an just under an hour for her to fall back to sleep when she woke in the night but from then on whenever she woke up it only took about 10 minutes or so for her to drop off.

Tips for the technique if you fancy giving it a go:

• put to bed awake but dozy after a feed
• the person who has to sit in the room should not initially be the mum if possible (particularly if you are BF)
• put the chair or cushion you will be sitting on next to their bed on the first night and on subsequent nights only move the chair very small distances away (i.e. if the first night you have to sit next to them on the bed, next night sit very close to them in the chair). Take a week to move the chair into the open doorway and then finally outside the door.
• don't talk to them or have eye contact that stimulates them. Use earplugs, ipod or read a book while you are in there if you are able to see it without turning on lights.
• If they are really crying hard then you can pick them up and hold them until they calm down (no talking etc) and then lie them back down.
• wait for 5/10 mins after they fall asleep before leaving the room. When they wake up in the night, do exactly the same as before.

The first couple of nights were hard but far less traumatic than the CC we tried. It worked so well for us I'm a bit fanatical about this technique! Hope you get some unbroken sleep soon.

Hello everyone else! Muse hope the first couple of days with your daughter are going well.

ahh, x-posts! Mahooosive congratulations Clucky, well worth the extra wait I'm sure and well done on the fab HB!

Clucky !!! big congrats to you. So happy that you got the birth you wanted and sounds wonderful. Enjoy that wee bubs!

Twinkle - that crying technique definitely sounds like one to remember for later. When can you start doing I wonder? I mean, babymoo wakes at 3 for food and is definitely hungry. however, he is supposedly able to go through the night at this stage given that he is 18 lbs 3oz at 14 weeks!!!! (I am seriously getting muscley arms chaps) That said, I wou;dn't feel happy not feeding him in the middle of the night. Is it something to consider once he's weaned?

Cunty - feel for you. Must be dead stressful knowing you are going back to work. Could you get a cooler box and a bottle warmer or kettle for by the bed and then you can sort out in the middle of the night without trekking downstairs? Oh I wish we could do a bottle, I'd make it mr moo's problem!!!

Alps - one of my nct lot had the same thing as you - induction but no dilation at all and went from no contractions to non stop contractions in half an hour. Had 3 epidurals which didn't work. I really felt for her and you. Must have been absolute agony. It's the bloody induction drucks. They are evil I think. Although not a fucking lot you can do when baybees don't want to come out. Had interesting chat with perineal midwife yest. Apparently size of baby not anything to do with tears. More to do with speed he came out they think. I had wondered that if I was induced earlier next time whether that might make a difference, but apparently not.

Curly - that sounds good about drucks and pain threshold. When will you know if you can do the treatment?

thank the lordy, back to normal last night - 3am and ten to 7 this morning. Me and Mr Moo had a bit of a bad row last night. Mainly down to me being so fucking tired and grouching at him about what he hasn't done and him being in pain and being grouchy. Not a happy household yesterday. I get so cross when he gets cross in front of the baby and uses irritated tone of voice. Is that ridiculous? Anyway we have had a big chat this morning and harmony is restored. It's all sleep related really. neither of us are any good without it.

honey Yes, it was bloody agony - but at least I got a surgical incision rather than a tear. :( I think had "nature run its course" I'd have succumbed to the PE even had he survived (my placenta was shutting down). So obviously I've no regrets about any of it because we both lived, but I do wonder about the induction so early... I think an elcs would've been a preferable option. I totally get the "voice" thing too - one of the things which infuriates me is that when Bear has a bad night all I hear is "for fuck's sake " which I don't feel helps the situation any. No matter how tired I am, I always have love, cuddles and sympathetic tones for Bear. (am patronising show-off bitch obv.)

twinkle Thank you very much for that guide! I've sent it to jb and he's ignoring me.

Congratulations Clucky! About time one of us got the birth we planned - sounds amazing!

The drucks sounds interesting Curls, I hope you manage to get them.

Hello rest of you. I am feeling bit shit, tablets not kicked in yet. Will resume normal service soon hopefully.

Congratulations cluckster see you shortly for a well deserved smugfest

twinks muchas gracias para that suggestion. When he is in his own room that's one we'll try. He won't be fooled by l'eau however. I tried it the other night and he looked at me like i'd butchered his whole family (tempting sometimes)

pol please accept this knee to the face by way of a get well soon sentiment. We're rooting for you ya auld slaaaaag xx

Clucky that is ace news! Well done you and I am dying to hear about the calm and according to plan home hippo birth. I love the name you have chose too, it is mini oke's middle name.

Cunty another sleep training option is as follows. If Rastus is waking pretty much the same time every night you could try switching his inner alarm off. Sounds werid and a bit mad but apparently if you get up 1 hour earlier and physically wake him just enough for him to come out of his deep slumber then this switches ihis inner alarm off. You should only need to do this for three nights to reset his inner alarm and hey presto, no more night time wakes. It seems a bit mad to set your alarm to wake yourself up in the middle of the night to do this but may be worth a try rather than listening to wailing and offering boob which I agree he probably doesn't need.

Moo sounds like you had a nice night out. It is essential to get out every now in then imo.

FP beeing thinking of you, how are you doing? Are those boxes unpacked yet?

Alps we had no issue with moving mini oke, was a matter of place in cot, close door, job done. Peppa still in our room as the cot is still in bits and Mr C needs to build it again, a job for this weekend methinks as head and feet are touching ends of the basket.