The CRESH spa and creche: we ALL deserve crap ham

[FannyPriceless]

Enter all ye ESHes. We've been Barren, we've been Pregnant - now at last we are Child-Rearing.

• Come share your questionable tips on raising a real live baybee!
• Compete with Cunty to take control of the bad mummy crown!
• Eat crap ham - after all, you deserve it!

Have to agree with gin (obviously tius is from observation not experience) but a larger gap works for my sister and quite a few other freinds. I reckon if you have the second when the time is right for you from an emotional social and financial pov then it generally works out better, rather than sticking to a 'child development' schedule. Personally I'd rather larger gap 4+ years which probably means just the one for us due to my already advanced decrepitude :-) (plus 'just the one' was the deal with TB)

Every age gap has it's challenges Silv but, given that walking happens around 1, you'd have to be back in the saddle pretty quick to have yourself two non-walkers.

Am also tempted to go for a third but trying to figure out when - based on the need to find a bigger house, which means getting a job, it's not going to happen for a while. MrCluck is not so keen .

I had thought it would be nice to plan so that Squeaks is entitled to her free early years education by the time I go back to work after having number two.
But a) you can't plan these things, b) The Government probably won't be funding any sort of education by then and 3) I actually want another one NOW! But that's probably the anti-ds talking. I'm thinking there will be no SWI here until at least 2012. And probably no S at all before then either given my complete aversion to the sechs.

But I am ridiculously broody. I want a weeny baby again!

Agree. My attitude was - it was hard enough to get diffed first time around and my ovaries are in the late stages of retirement planning, therefore I had to start trying as soon as possible after SPD recovery. And if I was lucky enough to get a second win I'd make the most of whatever age gap I ended up with!

That's the theory anyway. When old people in the supermarket say 'Oh that's a handful you've got there' I used to want to hit them. Now I grin and pat myself on the back while thinking 'Yes, it bloody well is so I must be doing a GREAT job to have made it this far.'

Oh, and the thing I am most surprised about with alp's recent win is that we should have at least been told she was having the sechs. It is so rare these days that whenever a CRESH does it there should be an on-line announcement with flashing lights to alert us all. (Or in the case of iggs and polly should that be flashing reversing lights?)

alps The only justification the instructor could give for the new riding method was that ordinary riders 'constantly nag' their horses and 'the head instructor just won't put up with that sort of cruelty'. WTF? Turning my knees in made me sit on the front of my pelvis so I couldn't even use my seat. Which apparently is part of it because at one point she told me to 'stop trying to drive the horse from my seat'. OTOH they are totally welcoming of children, Bonnie would love it there, etc.

God I bet we're ALL doing The Sechs this weekend!!! Alps look what you've done now... :)

I agree, I think gaps are determined by what kind of parent you are. Knowing me, I am a sucker for punishment so will try and get the first 6 months out of the way sooner rather than later. That said, I love the fact that I have little man all to myself so then again maybe not. This morning I brought him into bed with me for his 9am nap and we snoozed all cuddled up for way longer than is normally allowed. IT was bliss. Then we went to get a haircut and looked at funny shaped vegetables in Waitrose. I can't tell you how lovely it is on the days I don't think about work. I neeed to get work working for me so I can do more of it.

How are you feeling Alps? Are we permitted to talk about your pregnancy on this thread or do we need to go back to the PESH thread?!!!

TGO has been going through pics on his compact camera and sent me a link to a pic of me the day before sneezing. Bloody hell talk about massive!! I?d forgotten just how giant I was at the end!

He has also been finding emails I sent this time last year about how wriggly Artie was being. Made me proper well up. Sigh.

I think I'm with honey in this respect. I didn't really enjoy the "newborn" stage - every day now Bear gets more exciting for me. But , I wanted to get all "the shit stuff" (e.g., random sickness/broken nights) over in one relatively fell swoop - e.g., by summer 2013 I expect to be for the best part "done". For me I didn't want to wait until Bear had started school and our lives were "normal", only for us to go through it all again.

I started TTC as soon as the medics said we could, although it was very hard (badoom tish!) and at least 2 of those months were a total fail due to ill-timed Sechs and resentment (i.e., no Sechs). It's taken 6 months to conceive. There are no guarantees either way of course, and it could've taken me a full 5 years to get the win.

I'm feeling fine and you are more than welcome to talk about it - it's all a bit surreal right now. This morning I went out to buy proper Clearblue just to make sure. Have started re-reading the pregnancy book - amazing what I'd forgotten already.

Financially it will make barely any difference to us at this stage. Clothes/equipment etc. can be re-used. Creche 2 days per week will set us back a bit and the government are reducing subsidies, but all still very manageable. This is assuming I don't have MOG Twinz lol!@!2

If we have a second, it will need to be after I have re-established myself in a job (maybe a year's worth), but which time I will be 36+ so who knows. I think partly I am feeling sad about packing some of EA's newborn and 0-3 stuff away, and that she's nearly out her Moses basket and also a feeling that I missed out on the really newborn stage. But she's brilliant fun at the moment (when not refusing to nap.)

I hear ya wise ESHs. All good advice.

Half me thinks have a rotten time sleep / money an all that jazz now rather than wait til MB is 3 and try and start TTC sproggo 2 and run the risk of who knows what not working etc etc. Plus if we do want three then I aint got time on my side. I'm sure I may end up killing myself in the process if we are lucky enough to have another win.

I also selfishly love my 1:1 time with MB and things are much easier now in some ways. To go back again o Square 1 does terrify me. My MS was not a patch on yours Alp but all the same it was traumatic what with working. Plus what about me nag? Not to mention having to cope with two on my own virtually all the time. But I'd give it a go. I'd rather try and in years to come not have any regrets. If it's not meant to be then so be it.

We reckon it won't be worth me going back to work due to childcare costs. But again everything's up for discussion. All I do low is that HI will be VERY keen to crack on with TTC, as you know there has been a not of a sechs drought in our house. Not bovvered me as been to knackered to even think about it.

My morning has been mainly all about poo! Horse and baybee! MB has had 4 already today!! Let's hope that's the last as I'm off out this arvo and would rather not have to deal with a stinky butt.

alps will you have to have CS?

silv I want an elcs. I don't think they'll push me for VBAC - but all will become more clear when I book in for the midwife. If they try and make me VBAC I am likely to go proper "menkul" and they'll section (C + mental) me anyway. I have a terrible fear of a VBAC. :( As for the hoss, I'm going to try and get someone to take her on until next spring because if this pregnancy is anything like the last one I now have approximately 8 days before ms kicks in and I won't be able to ride for months, then I'll be "too pregnant" to happily ride. Last time I couldn't find anyone trustworthy or competent to ride her. :(

I am very much looking forward to being massive in the winter rather than the summer! Although I've bought 3 new winter coats this year which have not yet been worn.

C'mon silv, come and join me in PESH, you too moo!

Must be poo day today Silv - BC has also filled 4 nappies with his sludge and LC has done 3 decent sized logs too [heave]

Gawd, all this talk of more babies ...we have already given all our outgrown baby stuff to friends expecting a baby next month... Seems silly but part of me felt a bit sad about doing it, even though the plan had pretty much always been to only have the 1, and that was reinforced after the experience we had when Squib was born. I just couldn't imagine coping with a sick baby and having another child at home, but there's plenty who have to... Similar to Medee though, I feel like we missed out on the experience of having a newborn baby.

There's still a small bit of me that would quite like to have a little girl...that I could dress up in dungarees and train to be a proper anti-pinkwearing, tree climbing, scuffed kneed tomboy like I was...but getting preggo again to get one of the other gender would be a guaranteed route to bonkersville...

We seem to mostly be getting the exit of the poo coinciding with Squib's 10 pm milk feed these days...he averages 3-4 nappies during the time it takes me to get 200ml of milk down him. We change him thinking it's all out, reinsert bottle in gob, and more comes out! Not much dreaming going on during that feed I tell thee... Instructions on how to reprogramme baby to poo during the daylight hours pls?

I am definitely NOT doing the sechs this weekend. Even if my under carriage wasn't leaking unmentionable stuff, I am not running the risk of going through all that again for a good while. Not until the legendary and so far mythical amnesia kicks in anyway. Or we get some condoms.

Great timing, Babyleaf has over slept and is just waking up in time for MY tea to be ready.

I still remember the near hysteria at the 6 week checkup when the Doc asked me what contraception we were using... as if

Abstinence seems the best type!

Having a baby in the same room was a pretty good deterrent for us. Now that BC has moved into his own room we're at it every night - whaddya mean you don't believe me

Light sorry if I have missed this but why do you feel you missed out on newborn stage?

Alps I won't be joining you for a while ...after Xmas maybe... Have got to sort out work and house renovations before I turn into a hormonal wench who sleeps 43 hours a day.

Which one of you told Artie that 5am was an appropriate wake up time???

Blimey...maybe it should be FuckyKate then? Not much swinging from lampshades going on in my boudoir these days...

Honey - not to bore too much, but after a really good home birth, Squib was admitted to hospital at 36 hours with low blood sugar, which led to fitting similar to Medee's experience I think, though for different reasons...he had to stay on a glucose drip for 5 weeks whilst they figured out what was wrong - was treated for everything under the sun in case that was the cause, and spent 5 days on a respirator whilst they paralysed him to stop the fitting. Which was fun. In the end we transferred to Gt Ormond St which diagnosed a problem with his insulin regulation and put him on some medication whilst his body sorted itself out, and he came home just before Xmas. He's fine now, off all meds, and will be monitored until he's 2 for any impacts from the low sugar/fitting that happened, but I'm not worried. So all's well that ends well. You spend any time hanging around in a place like GOSH for any period of time and quickly come to realise how lucky we were...

cossie It clearly wasn't us because Clyde decided 3:30 am was wake up time this morning. I kid you not. My eyes are currently held open with matchsticks scaffolding beams. Did you know that it is completely light at 4am these days?

I have some freshly ground coffee here...would you like it in a cafetiere or spread out in lines?

light Intravenous please. Have you got a syringe?

3.30? Evil! Evil!

I miss Clint being a newborn sometimes. Though he was an easy baby, and I liked the telly watching, snuggling and baby cinema trips. And I was on a hormonal high for months. Will be trying for another at some point.....don't much fancy 2x nappy duty. And have fear that #2 won't be easy baby, cannot be lucky twice...

Milk monitor: 1oz expressed two nights running. Tiny but huge compared to drip managed on Sat night. Persevering.

CBA today. Will be doing minimum poss.

Lights sounds very worrying, you must have been beside yourselves. Glad it has no lasting impact, but can see why you feel robbed of newborn stage. Did.you stay at hospital or go home? Must have been heartrending.

lightofourlives that's really scary. Glad all is ok now.

I have bfing ishoos! Help plz! MB has started to stop feeding to investigate my nipples. He's got a mean pincer grip! I've been removing his hand and saying no and he goes back to feeding and then stops, investigate, repeat to fade.....