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March 2010 - Our Terrific Terrible Twos will be big siblings

336 replies

PacificDogwood · 10/02/2012 22:44

I hope nobody minds, but I went and started a new thread Blush.

Sorry, headgirls!

Smile
OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
MandaHugNKiss · 28/09/2012 19:48

Got the keys finally at 5pm...

God, there's a LOT of work to do - even more than I remember and I remembered a lot!!

simplysarahandco · 28/09/2012 22:12

good luck manda x

Arcadie · 08/10/2012 23:34

As I am a sad sad biscuit and DH is working late again I amused myself for a few minutes by re-reading a few old threads. You ladies are astonishingly awesome.

Congrats to those who've moved.

Congrats to those who've birthed.

Just to make sure it still looks like a MN PNthread....

Simeon can: climb anything. Count to 13. Charm his way out of any situation.

Simeon cannot: tell you what colour ANYTHING is. Wear pants anytime soon.

Pacific, Melk, Rinders are you guys still here???

EarnestDullard · 09/10/2012 05:37

Well, if anyone fancies a trip back in time (sort of), I'm currently having exactly the same problems with beastfeeding as I did with Izzy. I didn't realise exactly what the problem was until after a few days - by which point I was already bruised, cracked, bleeding and in bloody agony - but she's not sticking her tongue out when she latches, and as a result my poor nipples are basically being chewed by two hard gums at each feed. I don't think she has a tongue tie; she can stick her tongue out, and a mw at the hospital checked her as well. She just doesn't keep her tongue out long enough for me to get her on the boob. One of my nipples is so wrecked that she puked up a mouthful of milk the other day that was full of my blood (I phoned the mw in a semi-panic to make sure it was my blood). So I've been trying to feed from the other side, but now that's getting more scabbed and sore too.

So I'm currently sitting here in tears, waiting for the sterliser to steam so I can express. I dont want to bottle feed, I want to breasfeed :(

Sorry for the self-indulgent post, I know there are others with real problems.

simplysarahandco · 09/10/2012 14:02

oh earnest x ur post made me sad :( how u doing now? cant offer any wise words as i was a bottle feeder with my three, just didnt want ur post going unanswered xx

MummyElk · 09/10/2012 18:27

Evening
Right then earnest let's have a look at you. BIG HUGS. you are doing amazingly.
Did you try doing the laidback nursing at all? It's basically you reclining at an easy angle - in bed or in a comfy chair at a sort of chilled out angle (the sort you AREN'T supposed to do when pregnant) and let the baby find the nipple and latch on. kellymom has lots on it
This might help you with the latch.
I know you say she's not got a tt but I would still get it checked. It could be a posterior one which is a bugger to your nipples and would explain why tongue isn't sticking out. Afraid I don't trust the hospital mw initial diagnoses, they aren't always spot on (otherwise I wouldn't see so many tt).
Have you got lansinoh or gold cream? both can help healing but not as much as getting air to your nipples - and try squeezing a few drops of breastmilk onto your nipple after each feed and leaving it to airdry. it's magical stuff and i'm sure it helps the skin heal. Basically girl, keep your baps out, they need lots of air to heal. Smile
I think you need to see someone breastfeeding-ey - not necessarily a mw as they don't have complete training in it. Is there a La Leche or ABM lot near you? Try their helpline 0845 120 2918, they are manned by bf counsellors who can help you initially.
I don't mind if you want to call either, tbh - number hasn't changed, or you can fbk me.
You CAN do this, please don't give up - it feels like hell at the moment because her latch isn't right and your poor boobies feel like they might drop off. But I bet you any money the two of you can sort this, you just need a bit of support and someone to look at her latch to see what's going on.
Have got to go as bathtime sounds like it's all kicking off - will have a look shortly to see how you getting on and will do some more reading to see what I can find out.
There's a possibility that your nipples might benefit from nipple shields but sometimes they don't help at all so I'd speak to someone on the helpline first and see what they say.
Chin up my lovely - you are doing a great job xx

FlipFantasia · 12/10/2012 13:22

Earnest just seen your post Sad. It's a nightmare when BFing is hard [flashbacks to the first 2 months with DS] but I'd recommend seeking actual BFing support rather than relying on what the midwife said. Check out this site for info about the free BFing support groups on every day in Haringey (I know you're not in Haringey but you could still go along). I went to lots of BFing support groups - the Stonecroft one is particularly excellent for technical advice (it's pre-booked, so numbers are limited, which guarantees one-to-one support). Also the helplines are great. Second Melk's advice about air exposure/rubbing milk in. Also look into jelonet (your local chemist may have some) as I found that moist wound stuff pretty great. You're doing so well and your DD2 is just gorgeous - I really hope all this BFing stuff is sorted soon.

Big waves to everyone else!

Sitting here in Manhattan with DD playing on the floor (she wants her breakfast but I'm MNing!). DS is still asleep and DH is off to work. We've only got just over a week left in Manhattan before we move to the house we've rented in northern NJ (so much space! I can't wait, even if our stuff won't have arrived yet...). And we're buying a car tonight! Manhattan is great, but I can't wait to move on from here. It's fun, but we're staying right in midtown and the subway is not particularly accessible with a baby in the sling and a toddler in a buggy! Manhattan is much more fun without small kids in tow! Though it is pretty cool to be living on the 34th floor in a swanky apartment, like a mad holiday Smile.

Arcadie · 12/10/2012 16:24

Flip - my cousin just moved to NJ too - she's loving family life over there and fills my FB page with pictures of site-seeing in Manhattan with visitors!

BlueyDragon · 13/10/2012 14:33

Big hug for Earnest.

Wine for everyone.

Pacific and Rinders have been spotted on other threads. Was it something we said? Grin

BlueyDragon · 13/10/2012 14:37

In actual toddler news, A is both in pants and in a Big Boy Bed. Not sure the potty training attempt will last as whilst he will now wee in the potty he still hasn't really got a clue when he needs to go. But it's progress!

EarnestDullard · 22/10/2012 18:03

Hi all, thought I'd do a quick post while both girls are (miraculously!) asleep.

How are you doing Bluey? Hope you're feeling well. And good luck with the potty training! Izzy is still having an accident (just pee) every few days, usually about two minutes after she's been asked if she's sure she doesn't need the potty Hmm It's frustrating because she's so good most of the time, but I suppose we need to cut her some slack at the moment with the new baby and everything.

Adjusting to life with a toddler and a newborn here; taking it one day at a time. I've not been getting out much when DH is at work, although I did take them both to Izzy's Monkey Music class this morning, and mercifully Eleanor slept soundly in her carseat. It was nice to show her off too Grin

BFing is better (and thank you all for the helpful and supportive posts, especially the lovely Melk who actually anticipated my problems before I even posted about them!), although I'm still alternating BFing and expressing. Nipples all healed though, and seem to be toughening up a bit. I'd like to go back to BFing all the time (although it's been great to be able to leave DH with the girls, and a bottle for Eleanor if needed; I even got my hair cut last weekend!). I should really just try a day of BFing and not expressing, and cross my fingers that it won't get painful again.

Arcadie I had a re-read of some old threads recently too, mainly the one where the babies were born. Strange to see it with Pixie and iwcas' posts all deleted though. And it doesn't seem like almost 3 years ago Shock

Manda how's the new house?

Flip have you moved to NJ yet? I'm a bit Envy, NY is a great place, and brilliant for kids. I was shocked on our last visit by the entry costs of museums though, I guess we're a bit spoiled in London with lots of free museums.

Hope everyone else is doing well :)

EarnestDullard · 22/10/2012 18:06

Ooh, does anyone want to read my birth story? Or would it be really boring to people who haven't given birth recently/aren't due to give birth soon (speaking of which, how are you doing scooby?) I spent ages typing it out and posted it on the Oct 2012 thread, will happily cut and paste here if anyone fancies a nosey! Actually I got DH to write up his own version yesterday as well, as there's a gap of about 2.5 hours in my memory of it I was high as a kite on G&A at that point. It was funny to read his take on it.

Arcadie · 22/10/2012 20:41

Yes yes!!! I LOVE birth stories! Post it immediately!

simplysarahandco · 22/10/2012 21:02

i agree withn RKD_ love to read birth stories x x x x

EarnestDullard · 22/10/2012 23:07

Oh alright then :) My birth story, or what I remember of it anyway. It's very long, sorry.

I'd had contractions from about midnight until 6am on Monday 1st, but they stopped when I got up and had breakfast. My Mum was visiting and really hoped the baby would arrive before she left on the Thursday. On Tuesday night I was having some tightenings but tried not to get my hopes up. At 1amish on Weds I woke with some crampy pains and more uncomfortable tightenings which built up to about 12 min apart. They didn't get any more frequent so I tried to get back to sleep. I woke again at about 4.30 and they finally started to get more intense and frequent; I went to get washed and ready to go to hospital just in case, and at one point they were coming every 3.5 mins. I woke DH up and he practically flew out of bed to get dressed, bless him. I told him not to panic but to call the Birth Centre to say we'd be coming in. Nobody answered. Tried again, nobody answered. We phoned SIL to give us a lift, kept trying the Birth Centre from the car, and eventually phoned the hospital. They said to come to labour ward and someone would contact the Birth Centre. The contractions slowed a bit in the car but were still every 5-10 mins.

We arrived at the hospital at about 7.30am, not knowing if the Birth Centre would have room for us, but the receptionist called them and eventually told us we could go down. They took us to a lovely room with double bed, en suite shower room, and birthing pool. A midwife examined me and did a bit of a sweep. I was only 2-3cm but very stretchy. She sent us off for a walk round the hospital to get the contractions going. When I was moving the contractions were coming about every minute. I breathed through them and tried to tell myself "it doesn't hurt, it's just a strong feeling of pressure" (bit wanky, but it did seem to help!) and DH rubbed my back. We had a coffee in the hospital cafe probably freaking out the other customers then headed back. When we got back there was a new MW on shift, who had actually looked after us when I was in labour with DD1. She also had a medical student who wanted to watch, and bless him, he was lovely, but having a young guy making idle chit chat was not conducive to keeping my contractions going! We went for another walk, up and down 5 flights of stairs a couple of times, and again I was contracting very frequently. We headed back and the midwife examined me again; I was now about 4cm (had been hoping I was at least 6!). The contractions started getting much more intense though, and the next time the MW came in I asked to try gas and air. And this is where it all gets a bit hazy Grin I don't think I was using the g&a correctly with DD1, but this time I clung to it like my life depended on it and it definitely helped. It also made me feel quite strange, and messed up my perception of time completely. At one point it seemed like hours had gone by, but when I checked the clock it had only been about 40 mins. The MW would pop in occasionally but DH had to answer any questions because I was off my head not quite aware. I remember her saying things like "That was a long one" and "there's not much time between contractions now, is there?". At one point someone brought lunch and DH fed me a few mouthfuls in between contractions.

And then there's a period of about 2.5 hours that I can't really remember at all. I don't know if that's down to the g&a or just me going into the "zone", but the next thing I remember is being on the bed, moaning loudly (with the g&a mouthpiece still clamped between my teeth, obviously!) and wanting to push. I was bloody noisy though Blush I howled with every push; it just felt right, so I went with it. DH says I pushed for about an hour. I remember saying that I couldn't do it, and that it hurt, and at one point the MW told me to pant. Then she told me to push as hard as I could and I just thought "fuck it, I want this to be over" so I gave it everything I could (still screaming; luckily there was nobody else in labour in the Birth Centre, I probably would have terrified them!). The MW told me the head was out, and after a couple more pushes I felt the rest of DD2 come whooshing out. And suddenly I felt like I'd snapped back to reality, like someone had clicked their fingers and brought me back. It was very strange, and the relief that it was over was immense. I was still a bit in shock though; the MW put DD2 straight onto my chest but I don't think I noticed! I was shivering, not from cold but from the adrenaline. Then they took her to clean her up, and said we'd need to stay overnight as there had been meconium in my waters. She had been born back to back, completely facing up instead of towards my spine. I was quite pleased to have pushed her out by myself, as I'd neeed ventouse for DD1 who was in the same position. The MW helped deliver the placenta, which was a bit painful and took a while, and she put in a catheter in case my full bladder was preventing the placenta coming out.

I was taken up to a delivery suite as I'd torn during delivery and they had to check if it was 2nd or 3rd degree; luckily it was 2nd, as if it had been 3rd I'd have needed a spinal while they repaired it. The poking around was horrible. They gave me a local anaesthetic injection and stitched me up there and then (still unpleasant, but again the g&a was my best friend). Then they took us back to the Birth Centre, to a smaller room, to spend the night. They brought tea and toast, and post-childbirth tea and toast is the best you'll ever eat Grin It was about 5.30pm by this point, and DH went home to see DD1, then came back once she was in bed and stayed with me and DD2. She fed lots overnight - I wish I'd paid more attention to latching her on properly, I'd have avoided a lot of damage and pain later on - and the midwife had to come in every 2 hours to do observations on DD2, but we did manage to get some sleep as well.

The next morning we had to wait for a midwife to check DD2 and also for a hearing test, then we were finally discharged at lunchtime. I have to say, I felt amazing; despite the pain and the hard work and thinking both during and afterwards that I did not ever want to do that again, overall I felt really positive. Not needing intervention and being able to stay in the BC overnight (as opposed to ventouse and staying on the postnatal ward by myself last time) made the whole thing much nicer. My stitches didn't seem to be as bad as last time either. And I'd just had a baby, all by myself!

simplysarahandco · 22/10/2012 23:30

AWwwwww, that bought a tear to my eye x so lovely to read your story x x x x x x

BlueyDragon · 23/10/2012 22:32

Earnest, thanks for your story. Have to admit, it makes me glad I'm not doing that again though Grin.

Hmm, potty training is very hit and miss. He will go if we take him, but doesn't know when he needs to go and whilst he's been dry all day a couple of times we have yet to successfully poo anywhere other than in pants. He'll get it eventually.

Otherwise I'm ok. Very tired, but thankfully lots of help on hand.

EarnestDullard · 24/10/2012 14:41

Yeah, I didn't spare any of the gory details. I think being on MN has probably made me a bit too candid about these things Blush

Glad you've got lots of help and support Bluey x

FlipFantasia · 24/10/2012 19:52

Earnest wow, what a story! It made me quite emotional, as I also was at the birth centre for DD (but was only there for an hour before being whisked up to the labour ward because of meconium in my waters - still managed to go from 1-2cm to 9cm in that hour so the relaxing space did work!). Hope things are going well with the 4 of you. I bet DD1 loves her new little sis Smile

Bluey sounds like potty training is going well (compared to us - I've not even started it yet - am being lazy and waiting til we settle in!). Glad you're doing OK bar the tiredness and glad that you've got lots of help.

Big waves to everyone else.

We moved from Manhattan on Sat (and our neighbours brought us welcome cookies and muffins Smile) and are loving our new house and the town. The house is spacious and lovely, even if currently quite a bit of a state (our shipping container arrived on Friday, so we've been reunited with our furniture and boxes). We need a bit more furniture (mainly book cases!) in order to unpack properly and also need to get our pictures on the walls. It's a beautiful town - we're five mins walk from the train station (DH can commute via train and direct trains to Penn Station), a park, a library with an amazing kids' room, the bustling main street with lots of independent shops/restaurants, our local big supermarket is a Trader Joe's (for anyone who knows that chain that is!) and all of this with a house with a front porch Smile. I've even discovered some local NJ MNetters via the Living Overseas section and will hopefully meet up with some soon. We're hoping to buy next year and I can imagine putting down happy roots here. So all in all, it's going well.

Though I miss my friends in London. Not the place really, but the people. An old school friend just had a baby in South London and it was a traumatic birth and feeding is not going well. Wish I could just be there for her, rather than relying on email/texts. But we're so much closer to family here and I've really enjoyed seeing so much of my in-laws. I know I'll make friends here soon (we've only lived in the town 5 days!).

scooby26 · 01/11/2012 22:45

Evening

Not been around much lately been a bit exhausted ;-)

FLIP- glad ur enjoying USA and that you're erring settled. I love it I've there- always feels very homely.

EARNEST- glad all working out for you- I am somewhat nervous of the transmission of one to two! Aomg time to go yet- just 10w3 at mo- scan on 12th. Sounds like your birth went ok though- pleased for you. Sorry to hear you've feeding problems tho- it's not nice but ever so common- keep your chin up.

Can I asks straw poll of how many potty trained toders we have? I'd quite like DS to be rid of nappies but he is strong willed and does NOT want to be rid!

X

Rindercella · 02/11/2012 10:56

Hello everyone Grin

Sorrrrreeeee for never coming on to the the wonderful MMM threads. I just think that as time went by it got harder and harder to keep up with you all and I didn't want to come on here and just talk about mememe!

You're all bloody wonderful and I am so pleased I caught sight of this thread. Can anyone give me a quick(??) synopsis of how everyone is. I know from FB that there have been some beautiful new arrivals in the last few months. Many congratulations to you all.

I hope all the gorgeous March 2010 babies (soon to be 3 year olds! How did that happen?!) are all well and giving you as much joy as little Jasmine gives me.

simplysarahandco · 04/11/2012 09:25

hey Rinders and Scooby, good to 'see' u both,

Congrats scooby, be sure to come let us know how ur scan goes, Elliott is still training to come out of nappies, he is not the slightest but interested- but we are getting the occasional wee in the potty or toilet but its a working progress! we will get there at some point- they all do x x

Rinders how are you and your beautiful girls, ????

simplysarahandco · 04/11/2012 19:45

Elliott has had a day of pants- only 2 accidents, and he is now going on the potty by choice- result !!!!!lets hope we continue in the right direction!

MummyElk · 08/11/2012 23:36

Hello everyone again - hope all well
well done sarah and elliot, of course, on the potty training, excellent work!
rinders good to see you - i'd do an update for you but have only a faint grasp on everyone's whereabouts anyway - needless to say there have been some house/country moves, some babies born and some nappies thrown away....

slightly selfish one from me but am in that weird limbo bit of being in hospital and no-one knowing about it so i thought i'd tell you all whilst it's quiet here and see a) what wisdom you can impart and b) offload it so i feel a bit better...
it loooooooks like i might have pre eclampsia...no-one is sure but my bp is unusually high for me (but its all over the place) and i have a large amount of protein in my urine.... so am staying in overnight whilst they work out what to do. what i can't work out is whether this means a definite early arrival for DC3 (i'm 35+5) or whether it means a quiet month ahead of me, or what.

anyway i'm not feeling too stressed about it - these things happen, but the not knowing is a bit disconcerting... add that to the fact i have sent DH home to the superking bed on his OWN whilst i get to squeak around a hospital mattress for the night and you can imagine my mood..... Smile

anyway.. if anyone sees this let me know what you think. i have little knowledge of pre-eclampsia, tbh.

hope everyone else is well and enjoying their toddlers. dd2 is hilarious and BOY does she know her own mind. she runs rings round her older sister. ridiculous.

better dash the mw will be back soon (and i can't type v well with a bp cuff around my arm).
think i might be on some meds though, latest bp was a bit high.

hmpf.

MummyElk · 08/11/2012 23:38

p.s. small panic but i haven't said a word on facebook yet so don't ask me too publicly how i am....
i will do tomorrow but it's all too vague.
i know we don't check this board so much any more but you know me and my paranoia/control freakery Smile