SEPT 2005 - thread 2

[pooka]

here it is

Hi all.
I feel very strange posting as I have been lurking for months. I have been reading about you ladies since about month four of our pregnancies. Mumsnet popped up on a search for info about some ailment I was experiencing at the time (forget which one as there were so many) and has since become my favorite place to go for advice and entertainment online. RZ's return is what has prompted me to finally make an appearance. It is amazing how concerned one can be about someone in another country who has no idea I exist. I am so relieved you and your little one are doing well.
Max is my first child. He was born Sep 26 (twelve days late) by emergency c-section. We had a pretty awful birth experience, but we are both happy and healthy now. I had a very intense period of depression following the birth and have been taking ads for four weeks. They have helped me feel "normal" again. Max is the cutest, sweetest little guy and I am so happy to be his mum. He is a great night sleeper but doesn't sleep longer than 30 minutes at a time during the day. That makes it hard to get anything done around the house. I can't imagine trying to take care of Max with another child around. All of you who have more than one kid are superwomen.
By the way, I live in Seattle, Washington. That is one of the reasons I didn't post sooner. I wasn't sure how excited you all would be about some American crashing your thread. I haven't found any American sites that I like, so here I am.
Don't know why I am so nervous about posting. It is like you are all of the popular girls at school and I am the nerdy girl who is trying to fit in.

Had perfect night last night and thought we had cracked it but tonight different story. Dh is trying to console her but Im sure he will be coming downstairs with her soon!

Went to baby massage class today - dd right at start pood all over towel, i went to get change bag and she kicked about in it and covered herself, arms legs etc. Then cried and had to be fed for duration of class. Will try again though as it seems like a really nice class.

We ended up co-sleeping for first 5 weeks most nights. i wouldnt have said that i would have pre birth but it just felt right when she was very little. Used a toddler bed guard as didnt want her between us (didnt trust dh!)and I just slept in warm pjs - so no duvet

RZ - just put hairdryer on and left it on floor while i settled her. Untuned radio works too. May go up and suggest dh tries it now....

A Big HELLO to you Jess and Max !!!

How lovely you've plucked up the courage to post - If you've been watching this thread since April/May-ish then I'm a new girl compared to you!

Everyone here was so welcoming to me when I joined in at about month 8, and it really did see me through the last weeks... especially as (like so many of the Sept mums) I went overdue.

Sorry to hear you've had a bit of a traumatic time in the first few moments of Max's life, I hope it gets somewhat easier for you now.

My Brother emigrated to the US last December, taking his wife and their little girl... SIL is from Virginia and they're in North Carolina - I keep meaning to make regular e-mail contact with them and your joining in has helped me decide to start tonight

Have a lovely day - hope your weather is better than here!

xxx

LL no need for an electric pump here - think I'd flood the midlands if I used one... Moooo

Hi there Jess and Max. All welcome here - this is a very nurturing and non-confrontational thread (unlike others that I lurk on, open-mouthed as things turn nasty).
Sorry you had a rough time delivering Max. Hope that the ADs are helping you cope. Do you get good post-natal aftercare generally in the US or are you left to your own devices? I was really lucky first time round to have fantastic midwives visiting practically daily until about 3 weeks after dd was born - I was so tearful and overwhelmed. And the health visitors have been OK too.
Just had my post-natal check. All well though blood pressure up a bit and have been told by my (lovely) GP to get going on the pelvic floor exercises . Had a really good chat - have known her since I was 5 and she is GP to my mum, brothers and has been DH's GP since he was little too.
Tom had first EBM in bottle tonight. Apparently fed like a dream but only 3 oz. But then I had fed him about 1.5 hours earlier. Now sleeping like the proverbial baby. Fed up with fireworks. While they don't particularly bother dd, commenting on them, wanting to see them etc. is a much loved delaying tactic at bedtime for her.
Anyway - dh back with curry. Yum yum.
Sleep well everyone (particularly those pesky kids).

Thanks Cabe. I try to put a positive spin on things! Tell my kids when they're throwing up that's it's good as the germs are coming out!!

Hello Jess - hope you're feeling ok -welcome

boompi - sounds like you had a challenging time at your group. I've thought about baby massage & a friend will be showing me the technique. She still massages her kids & they find it calming.

pooka - so true about this thread. It's where I check in first on mumsnet.

best wishes to all xxx

Used to take dd to baby massage when she was little. She was a bit uncertain at first, but started to enjoy it more when she was about 3months old. Used, without fail, to pee all other the towel whenever she was massaged. I took this as a compliment - showed how relaxed she was!

Hello Jess and Max .

Welcome to the thread - please post as often as you like.

I am also taking ADs and have been since March. They definitele have been helping me.

Well, Alice did much waking up again. I think she may be getting too big for her basket . I think we need to rethink sleeping arrangements.

She and I have just been watching a DVD of Bod I found in the library. It is great fun and takes me back nicely to my youth (discovered it is a old as me)

Morning Morning

PC - poor you and Alice - do you think she'll settle in a big cot?

Not that this is going to help you in any way but Conrad went into his cot at 7.30 and slept soundly until 7.30 this morning despite very noisily sucking on his thumb and fist throughout! At one point I actually got up to see if he was rousing for a feed but no, he was still fast off

Wish I had a magic formula for you... and any other sleep deprived mums but no there's nothing that I'm doing that any of you are not - Sorry.

One thing I did last night was to feed a full 4oz bottle of ebm... from previous good night's sleep.

Hello jessinwa and Max - glad you have joined in. Sorry you had a bad birth expereince - so did I - I've been to see a counsellor twice since Rachels birth - to 'get it all out'.

Opps - better go Rachels crying and ds is trying to settle her (sounds a recipe for disaster!)

Good morning all xxxxx

oht

quiet on here
I'm just looking round wondering what I was doing all those hours he was sleeping, it looks a mess in here... he's having a bit of a hissy fit on my lap atm, not hunger, not bottom, don't even think it's wind...

Oooh think it might be subsiding, i'm going to take him out in the fresh air if he does settle a little.

Is everyone enjoying the weekend/having dp/dhs around to help?

TMK - How's the romance going?

i'm here! just wondering about 'dream feeds' - is anyone doing this? i'm not sure i can bring myself to wake the baby up when she's asleep for a late feed! But she went 8hrs in between feeds last night, and if i'd done a dream feed, i wouldnt' have had to get up at 4am...

LL - I think Beatie and TMK dreamfeed - I think the idea is that baby doesn't really wake... I was thinking of the logistics of this last night when I was sure Conrad's voracious hand sucking was sure to wake him (and thinking it must indicate a terrible hunger)I was imagining how possible it would be to lean over dropped side of his cot an dangle a boob in just the right place

We'll have to find out more from those who are doing it!!! I'm not much help

Elise did well to sleep 8 hours though

Elise did well to sleep 8 hours though

Hello!

Imagine a baby either accepts a dream feed or not. Rachel I'm sure would wake up fully and scream for hours to make her point!(not that its an option as she's on the bottle) Our babies generally seam to be getting better at sleeping -long may it continue xx

Hello all

Welcome Jessinwa and Max everyone is welcome here.

Must admitt that this is the first place I check when I log in I tend to read but not post very often on some of the other threads as everyone seems to get a bit heated under the collar which seems a little unnecessary to me.

Cabe - Where are you? Just wondering as you were threatening to flood the midlands!

Will be able to take david to baby massage after he has his first set of immunisations on Wednesday. I remeber taking DD and it was really great however I can't remember any of it as I stopped when I had to go back to work. It used to be part of her bed time routine but as I work evenings/nights and mum/mil couldn't/wouldn't do it this fell by the wayside.

Hello. First of all, thank you all for the kind words. Max and I are doing really well now. I didn't mean to sound so low in my first post. I am a very happy mum.

Cabe - I have never been to the part of the country where your bro and family live but I have heard it is beautiful. So glad to hear you have decided to email them.

Pooka - The prenatal and postnatal care you get here totally depends on the doctor you choose. Also, an expecting mother doesn't always go to a midwife and home births are rare. Most people deliver in a hospital with Obstetrician. I researched and asked around a lot to find a good OB and I absolutely adore the one I chose. She and her entire office were very supportive and thorough but I have heard from women here who have had horrible OB care. Home visits are absolutely unheard of.

Max would laugh in my face if I tried to wake him for a dreamfeed. It would turn into a nightmare feed very quickly.

I have a question for you all: What's with all the fireworks? That would drive me crazy.

Must go. I hear a little voice begging for the boob. Mooo, indeed.

i'm not breastfeeding RH, I bottle feed as well. Was just wondering about how possible it would be. Think I might not tempt fate, and will just leave things as they are for now!! Never wake a sleeping baby and all that...

lol at my self!! - I alway thought dreamfeed was the mum sleeping whilst bf. I do this with ds4 - when he bf at night I think great I can sleep for awhile. With my 4 kids I've never had the luxury of thinking should I wake a sleeping baby for a feed! - mine have always been wide awake.

my dd3 who's 2 is so difficult sometimes it gets me down. Don't think it's the new baby but that it's tough being 2.

LL - In the short time I breast feed ds he could feed and be asleep. I never noticed this when he went onto the bottle. I don't think they get the same comfort from it. I would not try to bottle feed Rachel whilst asleep - she is a light sleeper and/or she would fill with windy gripe and would be distressed and cry.

jessinwa - the fireworks are for and around the 5th November- when Guy Fawks tried to blow up Parliament in London in 1605.His plan failed and he was hung drawn and quartered as a traitor = and us brits mark this occasion every year with fireworks?!!! Its gone really mad in recent years and some are let off all through the night! Hope this makes some sence!

All is quiet here and I'm going to bed!

I'm in Kenilworth Mummyhill - it's pretty here and the autumn's lovely as we've got a big park with lake and many mature trees... just wish the people were as nice as the place! I've been here 2years now and still feel like a stranger to the place.

I've made myself cross, I was determined to have an early night but after tea I fell asleep on the sofa - I've just woken, TV blaring. I guess I'm lucky it's not even later.

Conrad's still sleeping so I'll creep in quietly

Night night all xxx

Awww - Cabe - what a shame we did not manage to move to that part of the country last September as me and DH had hoped. A job interview for a Warwickshire school came to nothing. We'd have loved to live around there.

Nope I am not doing a dream feed. Little Alice is mostly awake when we go up to bed at 10:-10:30pm so she's W-I-D-E awake for that feed. I did do a dream feed for dd1 for awhile when she was about 4-5 months old. Bu tthat was with a bottle not a boob.... so I did not lift her out the cot.

BIG WELCOME to Jessica and Max. Of course you're welcome here. I am pleased you have found a place you're comfortable posting. I'm the only British person on an American forum which I found when I was expecting dd1. Appx 25 of us have tapered off into a private (password protected) forum of our own.

Morning

All washed and dressed and supose I should do some house work! going to pil's for dinner today so that will be nice. It's my friends daughters first birthday today - don't know where that year went!Have a good day xx

welcome jessica + max, sorry, I didn;t notice you there!

Elise went almost 9hrs between feeds early last night, til 4.30 this morning, so not too bothered about doing the dream-feed business, as long as i'm in bed by 10pm I can get a few hours on the trot! yay! the amazing power of sleep!! Feel like she is definitely getting into more of a routine now, tending to eat at the same times every day etc. God, no one warns you how horrid those first couple of months can be eh? I think we should do our own ante-natal classes!

RH - housework, what's that? Foolishly, I am attempting to write another novel while Madam sleeps during the day!! Must be bonkers, but it's better than watching daytime telly all day...