September 05 - lots of smiles

[milward]

Here it is!!

Pcircus - hope your appointment goes well.

Mummyhill - wish I could help out. Happens to me as well.

ds is getting his first tooth as well. Just needs to come through the gum.

Hi everyone, welcome lexiesmum
Sorry i haven't been around lately, had a very busy week.
SIMPLYRED, i can't believe your pil have said they won't attend rachels christening. We're not getting mia done as it would cause many arguements here too. i know who i'd like as gps but my friend wpuld be gutted that she wasn't asked as i'm her dds gm.
Had my mates dds christening last sunday and she was very upset as most of her family didn't turn up. (they live 2 1/2 hour drive away so understandable i guess) but she was still gutted.
Back at work in 2 weeks and i really can't wait. i've been feeling so down lately, if mia was younger i'd say i had postnatal depression. finding it so hard to get out of bed in the morning as the onlly thing mia seems to have done for the last week is scream, and finding myself crying for no apparent reason. my mum is picking dd1 up and taking her home for her tea so at least i only have 1 to cope with.
I have so much respect for all of you with 2-3 year olds too. i had my niece(3yr3mths) last week and i swear to god i was knackered!!!
Well done milward and simplyred on your weight loss, i seem to be struggling to lose at the moment, have stayed the same for 2 weeks now even though i have stuck to the plan 110%. PC, Your dd is gorgeous and i think that mia also has that top.
MUMMYHILL, your david sounds like a big boy, mia is definitely ready for more food now but so far i have held her off, except for the odd bit of rusk, she's 20 weeks on sunday. what kind of foods have you given him so far if you don't mind me asking??

Bubbles - PND can appear months after birth, not just in the first couple of weeks. As you say, maybe it's a good thing that you're going back to work before depression really gets a grip. Have you mentioned this to anyone else, like your HV or doctor. They may be able to help. Take full advantage of your DM to get some time to yourself. Sounds like you have some friends that you could talk to - esp those with children who know what you're going through. Other than that, don't be a stranger!I know it's sometimes a big effort to post here but it may do you some good to "chat". And don't forget, I'm only up the road in Whiston (near St Helens) if you fancy a meet up with or without children. x
LMG - would a childminder do school pickups and holidays without charging for full time? Otherwise there would be no point in me going back to work financially.

jaamy, thanks, you really are a hunny, a meet up would be lovely. i try to post but never seem to get a minute these days. not spoke to anyone about it except dp and my friend, i have a lovely bunch of people to help me, i can see light at the end of the tunnel, and i will get there. just having a bad week i guess.

hi bubbles - i would really recommend you go and visit your HV. The same happened to me around the time of returning to work with DD1 - i didn't go, ended up in a right state and on prozac. I wouldn't acknowledge something was wrong - kept saying, I'm just tired. Looking back now with dd2 - i realised actually how bad it really was.

Most of the child minders have an hourly rate if you just want school runs done or a daily rate. They will do holiday cover if they have enough spaces on their books as they are limited to how many children they can have.

Bubbles - Average daily intake for my monster is as follows

3am 6oz formula
6am 6oz formual
8/9am 2 teaspoons baby rice made up with approx 2 oz formula with 2-3 teaspoons of pureed fruit.
12noon 6-9 oz formula
2pm either rice and fruit again or a can of heinz baby food. (veggies if at home or a pudding if out cause I can't be doing with fighting him whilst out)
5pm 6oz formula
8pm 1/2 can of veggies and 1/2 can of pudding
11pm 5oz milk

He tends to have a litlle juice or water with his meals. May try giving him rusk for breckie, fruit and rice at lunch time and veggies and pud at tea time he seems to eat better at breakfast and tea time but moans if you try substituting a bottle for his lunch.

Greedy little boy isn't he.

Hi bubbles, I spoke to my gp (my hv is absolutely hopeless so didnt bother with her) on Monday about me possibly having pnd and she prescribed me Citalopram and has given me a referral to a therapist. I filled in the prescription but have decided to hold off taking them until I see how the therapist goes. So on Monday I meet with someone who will have a chat and match me up with an appropriate therapist. I feel a lot better having done something about it. I had depression when I was a teenager and knew it was possible it would come back, but have been sort of in denial since September when ds was born. Anyway, what I am getting around to saying is that I would urge you to ask your gp to refer you to a therapist (pref female?) who deals with pnd. This leaves open the option of ADs if you think you need them. Good luck. You are in good company!!

Is anyone else with sons born in September finding they seem to be getting a big shot of testosterone lately? My ds in the past 2 weeks has really started to behave like a boy - lots of screaching, squealing, rough playing, very demanding etc. He is such a handful, more so than before, though he has never been an "easy" baby, like some of my nct friends have . Is this just a boy thing, or are the girls like this too?

hey leximum, I was just reading through the messages from the past week that I had missed and saw that your dd2 was born on the same day as my ds1! JINX! Four months on Tuesday eh? I expect you are an expert now that you are onto your second child. In fact, I am in total admiration of any woman who has a baby as well as a toddler/s - I just cant imagine how it could be managed. You must be superwomen to manage it, either that or you have extensive staff on hand!

ds is going for his third immunisation tomorrow and a weigh in. I'm going to give him Calpol beforehand and afterhand this time because the last time he was soooo grizzly.

I want to try and post more, but I find it hard to find the time what with the million other jobs I have to get done. But whenever I come onto the thread for a look I wish I chatted more - you guys are really nice!! (sorry, that sounds very cheesy ...)

Friday tomorrow, yippee! I think I look forward to Fridays even more than I did when I was at work.

Hello!

Sorry to hear you are feeling down Bubbles - certainly as Jaamy says you can get PND upto 12 months I think after babys birth. I was a little strange when ds was 4-6 months - and have to say I'm rather like it now too - last time I was preoccupied with ds's health and all my responsibities - I kept impossible lists of things I must do at home and work and got really down that I couldn't do them all! As I rather see that coming again - I will delay going back to work and I'm putting my energies into ebay/family trees etc!!! But these I am doing for fun - and no lists!!! I'd certainly see your doctor bubbles.

Mummyhill - David is a gobbler!

Rachel weighs 14.8 lbs! No wonder my arms are streching!

Jaamy - I do marketing stuff too - telecomms marketing - do you enjoy it?

List?? Did I hear someone say List my preciousesss?

Evenin' All!

About the Childminding hours and rates of pay, Mummyhill's right - You only have to pay for the hours used, not a whole day. I had a wonderful childminder for Noop who did the school run and holidays. She would do baking and art and some gardening with her and we all loved her

Bubbles... so not like you to be down sweetie. does my pulling faces may you smile just a teeny weeny bit?

Have officially put a couple of pounds on (greedy greedy Cabe) Weighed myself at a friends house today... Ahhh poo!

Why Thankyou Firstimemum I think we're exceptionally nice on this thread too

Can anyone tell me how to make a pic small enough to post it on the member profiles... I've tried chopping it down in paint but still the snippet that I want won't download

I went to careers at Uni today to find out more about graduate teacher training and where I can do the courses. I've got all fired up about doing well with this degree again now I needed that incentive.

Little chap's in bed now and I'm just about to do some supper so have a good evening everyone [wave emoticon]

I made mine smaller using paint - clicked on Images and Stretch and Skew and then made it maybe 80% on both of the first boxes.

I think anyway .

Hope you manage to get it small enough - Alice wants to see her triplet .

Right, I am going to bed soon. DH and I keep staying up too late and we are very tired (by the way, not doing anything exciting when we stay up )

Firsttimemum - I wish I had staff. Said to dh last week that what I really want is a 1950's housewife. Think he would like one too
Sorry you're feeling down Bubbles. It can be so tough, can't it?
Saw GP today about my previously diagnosed (by locum) exczema. She said it might be SCABIES - possibly caught during the 3 hours I spent in hospital! YUK YUK YUK. Then again - it might not (might be stress related). She's prescribed cream as an "experiment" - obviously if it miraculously clears up then....the rest of the family need treatment too

And that's the 3 hours I spent giving birth in hospital (have had rash since ds was born). If it is, I'm going to be sooo angry - wouldn't have been there at all if the midwives hadn't decided I was unlikely to give birth and had gone out and I had had the home birth I wanted.
On the bright side, it might jsut be hormonal or stress related...but therefore not very treatable.

Pooka - I've known dermatologists misdiagnose scabies and I also know a dermatologist who says the skin is a mirror of your emotions... I have a bizzare skin reaction to stress, I actually come up with blisters scattered over my body
If it were scabies surely you would have infected the rest of the household?

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow Mummyhill xx

PC - thanks for the tip I'm going to have another go now

Will try to find you listsss precious

Cabe - I personally think it is stress related. Glad you posted - it is like having lots of little blisters. I had similar skin during final year at university. Was diagnosed as ring-worm! But tests showed not!

SR- Gosh, hearing you mention the list thing has made me really worried because it sounds like something I could easily turn into .... Mind you I made lists pre-pregnancy and with my total forgetfulness these days I think I will need to continue. But "ditto" the starting to feel "out of control" and down when you find the list growing longer and longer with no end in sight. i don't know what it will be like when I start work albeit (hopefully part-time in june). I feel so tired all of the time as it is at the moment! I'm not sure whether work will be a welcome reprieve from the growing demands of DS
or whether it will just increase my workload (and stress levels) by 50%?!!&*("&^!!???
Firsttimemum - DS has started teething and has fits of screaming but I think it is genuinely out of pain and not anything else. Like most males I don't think he tolerates being "sick" too well! He is a little on the moody side too and has a bit of a temper on him ... but I still think he's adorable

PC - Your Alice is absolutely gorgeous. With those eyes, she should be doing some catalogue modelling or something

morning all, weren't you all chatty yesterday.

Cabe lol at the faces

Bubbles - sorry to hear you're a bit down. Must admit I got a bit fed up around this time with DS and really enjoyed being back at work (went back when he was 5.5 months) not sure if I'll go back now but can't quite see myself as a full time mum. Have to do the sums and see if I'll actually make any money after nursery fees and commuting costs! My full pay ceases on Wednesday and I'm then down to SMP so think it will sink in then.

PC Alice v cute.

Mummy hill what a hungry boy,

must admit I weaned DS at 19 weeks and he was eating loads within a week or so. Had gabrielle weighed on Tuesday and she'd only put on 11oz in 4 weeks. Had a look at DS's book and he did exactly the same between 11 and 15 weeks and was told to wean! This time was told it was still not advised for another 10 weeks! Don't really see the point of weighing as Hv basically said not to worry re weight gain looked healthy and is only waking once between 7 + 7 for feeds. was still a bit disappointed with weight gain.

Pooka hope it wasn't scabies (esp as I was in the hospital a few weeks later)

morning all, weren't you all chatty yesterday.

Cabe lol at the faces

Bubbles - sorry to hear you're a bit down. Must admit I got a bit fed up around this time with DS and really enjoyed being back at work (went back when he was 5.5 months) not sure if I'll go back now but can't quite see myself as a full time mum. Have to do the sums and see if I'll actually make any money after nursery fees and commuting costs! My full pay ceases on Wednesday and I'm then down to SMP so think it will sink in then.

PC Alice v cute.

Mummy hill what a hungry boy,

must admit I weaned DS at 19 weeks and he was eating loads within a week or so. Had gabrielle weighed on Tuesday and she'd only put on 11oz in 4 weeks. Had a look at DS's book and he did exactly the same between 11 and 15 weeks and was told to wean! This time was told it was still not advised for another 10 weeks! Don't really see the point of weighing as Hv basically said not to worry re weight gain looked healthy and is only waking once between 7 + 7 for feeds. was still a bit disappointed with weight gain.

Pooka hope it wasn't scabies (esp as I was in the hospital a few weeks later)

hello all - here have 3 kids at school!! this only happened on monday this week so am tired out. Also dh off sick yesterday with a cold. He's back at work today - he was really unwell though (not man flu!!)

Does anyone express their milk? Thinking about trying this out. Have never managed more than a drop before - even though I bf no probs!!

Hello everyone!

Very sunny morning here so hoping it'll still be nice when I meet Mummyhill later

Pooka - Ringworm they love the doom and gloom make you feel just chuffin' parasites don't they!

I've been wondering if we should start thinking about a Summer meetup of as many that can make it on the thread... The days will be longer and warmer and there's plenty of time to arrange things... I know some of us are going to have to travel quite a long way - especially if we do a London meet-up as there seem to be a few Sept Mums down that way... Is anyone interested?

Milward - I express... usually at night when boob demand is low! I sometimes wait until I get that slight prickly feeling of the milk let down but it can still take a little while for the milk to flow once I've started expressing.
Recently I've noticed that I can pump for quite a while (10 - 15mins) with little result - I do swap boobs though, then all of a sudden the let down really happens and 3 - 4 oz is expressed within a minute or two.
I hope this helps... I think it's a very individual experience for everyone

I think that should be 3 - 4 oz are expressed within a few minutes!

I love lists - just off to write a list - to remind me to write a list - or two!

Pooka - hope your skin is ok! Know what you mean about stress causing alliments. Think we all have good reason for pent up stress - lets try a primal scream - oh no I can't stop! and I've woken Rachel up!!!!!

Hospitals are also yucky places - I'm still angry to have come home with mrsa after Rachels birth. My dad said I should take them to court - but I just want to forget! Either way I'm fine now - ps My Mum says I'm like Uncle Arthur in Only Fools and Horses - except I say 'when I had my c-sections....' rather than 'durring the war....' so sorry about that - I'm just talking on to get it out the system!

Any one doing exciting things this weekend?

Uncle Albert? In OF@H?

Milward ~ my nest time to express is between 7 and 7.30 in the morning. I'll usually get 2oz out that way. Not great, but if I do that for 2-3 days I have enough to leave one bottle. It's not like I go out anywhere very often. Most of our bottles of ebm are used by DH when I am in the house.

I once had that let-down that Cabe talks about. I was watching TV as I expressed and lost track of time. I'd got my 2oz out and seemed to be pumping out a trickle then all of a sudden let-down happened and I got another 4oz. I must try that again.

A trick I use, is to feed a few times in a row off the same breast. I can then get a few more ounces out of the other (by then bulging) breast. I'm not sure this is to be recommended incase you cause a blocked duct but I have never had anything like that happen to me (yet) so I find it a useful way to express.