Late Jan 2011 (some very, very late!) - here we go!!!

[ThreeBubbasAndManyBumps]

Graduated
JJKM - Twin Girls
Stars - Baby Boy
FloraPost - 6th Jan - Baby Boy
Mimou - 14th Jan - Baby Boy - 7.3lb
Zippy - 14th Jan - Baby Boy - 7lb
LadyBuzz - 18th Jan - Kali Margaret Briany 6lb 1oz
Scuba - 22nd Jan - Baby Girl - 6lb 13oz
AmIGoingMad - 25th Jan - Baby Boy - 7lb 5oz
Gallicgirl - 26th Jan - Alys May - 7lb 2.5oz
BubbaAndBumps - 27th Jan - Lachlan Robert - 12lb 3oz
Travispickles - 27th Jan - Saskia Faye
Fuzzy - 28th Jan - Evan James - 8lb 8.5oz
*Saltnvinigar - 28th Jan - Henry David
Ryuk - 28th Jan - Ezra - 7lb 4oz
TheBreastMilksOnMe - 30th Jan - Amelia Rose - 8lbs 9.5ozs
SaraL77 - 31st Jan - Reuben Mark - 7lb 2
Pootle - 2nd Feb - Jacob - 8lb 9oz
cyberfairy - 4th Feb - Rowan - 7lbs 7oz
RockLover - 5th Feb - George Christopher - 8lbs 4oz
RunningKatie - 5th Feb - Isobel Millie
CupcakesHay - 5th Feb - Jesse William - 7lbs 1oz
Crystylline - 8th Feb - Xavier Louis - 8lbs 11oz

Count: 8 girls, 15 boys

Still Huffing and a Puffing..?
Shanster: 30/01 Boy (1DD)
Faraway Trees: 22/01
RobynLou: 24/01 ?? (1DD)
Loopylu: due 31/01 (1st?)

Here we go, down the slippery slope of parenthood. Slippery thanks to the poos, wees, leaky boobs and goodness knows what else :o :o

We'll be here to hold each other's virtual hands through the tough nights and delightful days, and to laugh at each other's stories of comedy nappy changes , and the fear (or not?) of getting back in the saddle, and coating some cervixes just for the fun of it again!! :o

Hi all. been a busy week as the DP has been off work and he makes me go out and do stuff!

So glad to hear the good news of jjkm's little girl coming home.

Bubba definitely try to get someone else to give the baby a bottle as he can smell your milk and would rather have boob than bottle. Failing that, perhaps try cup feeding.

Cupcakes I am hoping to go to the post office this afternoon with the breastmilk bags. I just have to get through a huge pile of washing up ( cheers darling )and I might have to feed Alys again. There's a reason she's now a whopping 10lbs!

Does anyone know how much weight babies are expected to gain each week? I was astonished when Alys was weighed and she'd gained over 2lb in three weeks but maybe that's normal.

We went to our antenatal class reunion on Saturday which was lots of fun. It was lovely to catch up with everyone and we even lined the babies up from oldest to youngest and they conveniently went boy/girl

Happy birthday fuzzy I hope you have lots of cake.

happy birthday fuzzy cheers to you and your lovely DD!

gallic sounds like good weight gain - HV's view when i asked! my DS did the same.

Happy birthday Fuzzy, hope you are having a lovely day. Crysty so jealous about your jeans, I still look like a whale pregnant...oh ok, fat! I dare not even look at my pre-preg jeans, I might have to cry :(.

George is asleep , but will have to wake him in a min to get him ready for the school run. I just know he's going to scream his head off on the way home as he is due a bottle at about 15.20 and I haven't got time to feed him before we go. Bugger!

My flat is a tip by the way Cupcakes and Crysty, will do my best to get it respectable for Wednesday, so at least you have a sofa to sit on (armchair is currently being used as a clean laundry waiting area).

Ok, off to get ready to collect DD. George is going to hate me because I need to change his nappy before we go. :(

Thabks for tips - so far I've not even been in the same room when he's been given the bottle for that very reason, but may well try the faster flow teat to see if that helps.
Ta for tea crysty
No idea about weight gain norms gallic L isn't a good example as he took 5 weeks to be just 5ozs above his birth weight, but as we all know, his birth weight wasn't normal. Actually a bit nervous about taking him to be weighed in case it's still minimal. Have to take him next week prior to the 8-week cheque, so will know more then.

Oh, and Happy 21st Fuzzy :o

Happy birthday Fuzzy

Fab news jjkm, so pleased for you all.

BF lady has been, she reckons definitely thrush, query over whether it's ductal or not but I know what to ask Doc for tomorrow if I can get in. With a little luck we can get some healing done before DD starts her 6 week growth spurt

Lovely sunny day here so hoping to lob DD in the pram shortly and walk to the shop. DP goes away tomorrow so I'm off to stock up on ready meals and snacks. :)

Envious of the Devon meetup, hope you all have fun!

Gallic - I was told 20oz a week was what HV like to see, DD doesn't achieve that so doesn't help my general BF paranoia. Not had her weighed in a fortnight so going tomorrow to see as people are telling me she's getting longer - not a trait she's getting from me!

Arse, bugger, bum twizzle, my washing machine has just packed up nooooooo
Just had text from DH saying he might buy me a new one as a birthday treat, not sure when I took ownership of the washing machine

Hope you manage to get into the docs Running
About the weight gain my HV just said that if they stay on or near the percentile line they're on then that's fine, don't know if that means different amounts for different sized babies.

Hope the school run wasn't too bad Rock

Thanks for the birthday wishes, tonight I think

20 oz a week is ridiculous katie
You really shouldn't worry if your baby isn't gaining that much. Oh, and make sure that they use BF weight charts because I think the generic charts are for FF babies. My HV tried to tell me it didn't matter but BF babies don't gain weight as quickly initially.
For thrush look at www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/leaflets-and-publications.html
There's a better drug called fluconazole (sp?) but some doctors don't know about it or won't prescribe it because it's not licensed. I had it and was fine and DD had nystatin. Both you and baby need to be treated or you will just keep passing the thrush back and forth. Good luck with it and I hope it clears up quickly.

Poor fuzzy. A new washing machine is a crap birthday present. Definitely tonight for you.

Morning all! Oh. My. God. That's all I can say, I'm flabbergastered at my little boy. Last night I was really fed up of trying to settle George to sleep after his bottle as he was either crying or grizzling, so I put him in his moses basket (which we have in the cot under his mobile) to give myself a break.

He stopped grizzling and started cooing whilst looking at his mobile (his fave toy) and within 20 miutes he was asleep. He slept for over 3 hours until around 3.15am, so after his feed I put him in the moses basket again while he was awake. I truly thought the last time had been a fluke, but this time he fell asleep even quicker and didn't wake up til about 7.40am !!! And there was no snuffling or snorting so he must have got himself into a really deep sleep.

I am going to continue doing this and hope that last night wasn't just a one off. It was a really strange feeling that DP and I actually had the whole bed to ourselves!!

I haven't had George weighed for a few week and i've been told there is a drop in clinic today right at the other side of town at a play centre. I know I should go, but I'm really not in the mood to wait with a load of other mums in a queue with George screaming his head off.

I can apparently make a 15 min appt with the HV at my surgery to get him weighed, would I be crap to do this instead? There is hardly any parking where the drop in clinic is as it's in the middle of a council estate, so not looking forward to having to carry his car-seat for miles either.

Another thing, my scar pain had pretty much gone, but yesterday my whole lower tummy and scar started to ache like I'd done an hour of aerobics. I am presuming I have over-exerted myself somehow, are any of the other c-section ladies still a bit tender in their tummies?

As for thrush, I think that George may have a touch of it too, the white on his tongue does not seem to be clearing after a bottle. He is feeding very well so I am not overly worried, but I am going to keep an eye on it and make a dr's appt if it has not gone by tomorrow.

George is currently sleeping (lightly) in his bouncy chair, so I really should get my arse into gear and sterilize his bottles or he'll not be happy come feed time at 11.40ish. Hope everyone has a good day, I'll pop in again later.

Yay for George and his sleeping, long may it continue Rock.
Evan fed at about 11 then slept to, wait for it...... 4.30! Hurrah, long may that continue too. He was a complete sod to settle after that but hey I'll take that for now.
How did everyone else get on last night?

Hmm. Well L did his usual nice stint from ten-ish to one-ish, but then thought it was party time again so we cooed and gurgled and smiled at each other ~a real love-fest~ until about 2am then he did a massive poo which woke him up rofl about 4am so we had a bit of a grizzle about that and the nappy change, but settled back down next to me about 5am.

I know I'm setting myself up for a fall, but because he settles so badly in his crib at the 4/5am wake, and I know that if I take ages to get him to sleep at that time, I can't get back to sleep, so I let him sleep on me and then roll him on to his back next to me in bed and we snooze nose-to-nose until about half six.

Surprisingly coping well on five-six hours of broken sleep per night. Bags under my eyes may tell a different story, mind! :o

Fuzzy if your DH really does get you a washing machine for your birthday, make sure you get him an iron or a shoe-cleaning set for his next birthday!! :o

morning all!

woo hoo rock that's some good sleeping.

bubba love that monster poo woke L up. i'm afraid my DS gets very cross when he farts... shouldn't laugh, but keep thinking about how he'll be more likely laugh and swagger about them when he gets older.

sleep goes roughly like this:

7-11pm - doze, feed, cry
11pm - 1.30/2am - sleep
2am - 2.30 feed
2.30am - 6.30am sleep

6.30am - i feed him (he goes back to sleep til 8.30am) and then get up/get showered/breakfast etc... unless i'm feeling lazy and then i'll nap with him til later.

but... if i go with the extra sleep, then no chance of undisturbed time to do basics, so end up in my pjs for hours!

it seems to be ok for him, given he's awake all day unless he's in his buggy or we're travelling and it's fine for me as will work well with rl schedules when i get back to work.

fuzzy yes, do buy him some dull-arse household equipment if he gets you a washing machine for your birthday!! hope you had a good one though.

katie 20oz does seem an awful lot! i was told/read somewhere that it should be roughly 6-9oz per week.

gallic thanks for the bf link. i've found www.kellymom.com really useful too.

Morning all. Henry seems to be getting grumpier as the weeks go by. In a way I am finding things harder now than I did in the first few weeks. I just feel like he is stuck to me all the time. I couldn't even do the washing up yesterday so was in tears by the time dh came home. Have realised I am such a different person if i get a good sleep. Seems like ds wants feeding every hour and a half to 2 hours at the minute so not sure if he is going through a growth spurt but it's so frustrating as he falls asleep whilst feeding which I think compounds the problem as then he is difficult to wind and I know this sounds awful but sometimes I am so tired that when he falls asleep on a night I barely wind him before putting him down (bad mother emotion).
I don't know if he should be in some kind of routine yet? I am beginning to regret not doing any reading. Also how long does everyone else wind for? I went to a friends house the other day and it seemed they were winding their baby for hours!! Okay maybe I should go back to bed. DS was awake from 10am to 11 pm yesterday with small naps where I got nothing done as he was asleep on me! and then 11 - 1:30 settled by about 3 and woke again for 5:30 settled at 6 and then up again at 7:30. Feel like I am going mad. Okay rant over sorry everyone.

Oh salt poor you - it is harder when they're not the immediately-post-birth newborns where they sleep most of the time. I wouldn't worry about a routine yet as at six/seven weeks old, they're still settling in to life IME. A good book I read about this time with DD1 (and I've just got out of the library again for Lachlan) was the baby whisperer. It's not at all Gina Ford (who I personally can't abide) and gives you some indication of how to establish some kind of a routine. The EASY routine thing worked well for me (although I never got to the Y bit!).

re: winding, I normally try and get a burp out of L for a minute or two at the most, but in the middle of the night I don't burp him much.

If he's falling asleep during a feed, it may be that he's just looking for something to suck on - L doesn't take a dummy but will suck happily on my little finger to soothe himself.

Or if he is genuinely hungry but falling asleep, then try undressing him; socks off, tickling the jaw to get him sucking again etc. Bit mean, but better than feeding and sleeping every hour.

I have to wind Alys for hours but I think she has reflux. I know she certainly throws up a lot. The poor thing was crying last night for ages and only went to sleep around 2. It's so frustrating and is exacerbated by tiredness.
we've tried infacol but to be honest I don't think it has any effect. She had a good feed when she woke at 8, but I've been trying to feed her since 11 and she's thrown up most of what's gone in and had a sleep in my arms. now I've put her down she's crying again :(

Oh no poor windy babies. Evan is a bit hit and miss sometimes need winding for ages and others just goes straight to sleep. I find getting him upright straight after a feed helps.

Agree with Bubba about the Baby Whisperer being really helpful from about this age (though I never got to the Y bit either ).

DH now saying we need to repair the washing machine. I don't mind either way really but we need to get it sorted soon as I can't last too many days with 2 mucky children and one mucky husband! Apparently though I can always go to the launderette (he's in danger of losing his D again if he's not careful )

Wow - I am sooo behind. So pleased about one of your babies being home jjkm - bet you are over the moon. Fingers crossed for the other one soon.
Fuzzy - I remember my grandad telling me he had the telly, nanny has the washing machine... So you aren't the first woman in history to take ownership of the white goods. But I agree that you should buy him a DIY kit or something for his b'day.
Saskia's sleeping seems to vary - but she does seem to enjoy sleeping so on the whole it's OK. The night before last was bliss - she did 10-3, 3.15-7.30!! But last night a bit less settled and I had a doc's apt so couldn't get the much-needed snooze in the morning after 8am. So am tired now.
Went to work yesterday, took her in in car seat and she slept for hours while everyone cooed at her. Have put a photo on from this morning (she actually laughed!! )
Wishing could be there for tomorrow's meet - will be there in spirit. Have a -- for me

fuzzy hope Dh was at least planning to wrap the washing machine! yes - agree - they are very much "woman's" presents. Maybe fixing best - then you can ask for a dishwasher for Christmas or something

well done george on the sleep front - and god es don't trek across town - just go for the 15 mins appt.

salt don't despair - i am sure DS will stop being so clingy and one day you'll have time to yourself. I am sure i am going to be in everyone's position in 2 weeks time when i finally get back home and don't have a willing grandad/nanny to pass DS onto. And seriously - don't feel guilty about the winding - some nights i forget completely - but if they're asleep it can't be that bad.

bubba love the sound of sleeping next to lachlan - but i'm tooo worried i'll squish DS - although think the extrsa sleep would be lovely.

My routine is a bit like crysty's but throw in 20 mins for expressing whilst watching a family guy/american dad and that' me and Jesse. although not alwyas straight back to sleep - and he def has mad moments when he just wants cuddling and activity mat and the like. Actually i think i'd be lost without his activity mat and those contrast books - i still him on that in the morning at 6.30 whilst i dash to the toilet - always seem to need a number 2 just afetr changing DS's nappy in the morning !

gallic Thank you very much for the bags - and going to look at Dp's website later - good for you promoting him - i'm assuming he's the french sounding one?

Jesse is desperately trying to suck his thumb - so cute! Oh and he was weighed today and he's 9lb 4oz so very happy with that. And we used his snoozie sleeping bag last night - which he seemed to like. But i'm slowly dreadign leaving here - as we have a whole week in london which I know will unsettle DS....

On plus side - off to totnes tomorrow to meet 2 lovely girls and 2 lovely boys! YAY!

Oh I love Totnes - have a drink for me :)

I'm really glad the bags turned up so quickly Cupcakes. MY DP is actually the Northern sounding one. The man with the French name is a huge strapping Welsh man strangely. And no, I don't know where the name comes from but his dad is so welsh it's hilarious.

Alys loves her sleeping bags. We have a 1 tog Grobag and a 2.5 tog one from Next. It might be coincidence but since we've started using them regularly, she's slept really well at night (once she goes to sleep that is!). It's often 1 or 2 am before she goes to sleep but she will sleep 6 or 7 hours now.

I hope you managed a bit better today salt. Have you considered trying a sling and then at least baby can be close to you while you try to do stuff. I know it's so frustrating when baby won't settle down. I left Alys to cry on her activity mat this morning while I showered. I had the monitor in the bathroom so I knew she was safe if a bit noisy.

travis like the new photos of saskia! she's so cute isn't she!

awwww travis Look at that smile! I don't get anything like that. She's so sweet.

Hello ladies,

Hope you enjoy your meet up tomorrow!

travis your daughter is just gorgeous!

Please please don't hate me but Kali slept from 7:15 last night until 6:20 this morning she stirred at about 4 and I popped her on the bed to do her bottle and she was flat out again.

jjkm fab news that you have a baby home, how lovely.

I had DS1 sent home from school today because he was sick, he came in and took himself off to bed - 10 minutes later he started demanding food and now both DSs are rolling each other up in the duvet I think he will live!!!!

I vote we throw LadyB off the thread - at least until Kali starts misbehaving herself again. What do the rest of you ladies think? :o :o

absolutely. typing one handed inbetween trying to wind a fat sicky baby over one shoulder. she's about tohave 2nd change of clothes today.

thought I was doing well with 7 hours sleep. How old and heavy is Kali now?

I second that, we'll have to get some of these naughty boys to text some tips over to Kali

Travis great photos she's just lovely.

Enjoy the meet up tomorrow Devon ladies. You'll have to get a photo of the boys together.