November 2012 - hurry up to graduate, we're running out of November

[StuntNun]

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/1611078-November-2012-the-birthplosion-thanks-Peaky

Stats list: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/antenatal_clubs/1485512-November-2012-Stats-List

I have a Ewan. My mum bought it for E when she was born. I find it a bit big, takes up much of the Moses basket so I don't really use it. When I have used it it didn't seem to do anything. DD1 had a giraffe one which I thought was better, but still didn't really seem to help. They obviously help some babies, just not mine!

vq glad j is out of hospital. Hope he recovers quickly, poor little thing.

Stunt I started driving at two and a half weeks post section. Changing gear made the scar twinge a little. I did a couple of emergency stops to test it out, then figured that in a real emergency I would put stopping the car ahead of my scar anyway.

Aaah VQ for you and Jacob

Horsey I have been wondering about changing teats as I have been having a similar issue : feeding slowly and getting frustratd during feeds. Baby, not me.

Petite - she might be ready!! I'd put it offwitg people telling me he'd be sick etc. But since Wednesday/Thursday feeding has become harder. I'd put some of it down to a cold. I also didn't want him being sick after my bug. Plus I thought Friday it might be because I wasn't really feeding him. However yesterday was a battle, last night and this morning he was just angry at the teat and it was like bf for us so I thought I'll change it.

Feed two all good!!

Vq - good news!! Hope he keeps getting better!!

Have been on the scales and think my breast feeding fat reserves are doing their trick - slowly disappearing and being transferred to the piglet. Wahey - time for more cake.

Also had a bit of an eye opener in the super market yesterday which got me thinking about how much of getting through these early days with sanity intact is about perspective. We happened to bump into the lady who was in the hospital with us at the same time I had Jonas - she was the one who was using cabbage leaves to stop her milk coming in as she was planning to FF. We both asked 'is he sleeping' whilst cooing over the others baby - simultaneously she answered with a miserable face 'no - we're lucky if he goes six hours without needing a feed' and I answered quite chirpily 'yes - sometimes he treats us to five hours between feeds'.

Ok I know some of this is the difference between bottle and breast - but I reckon five hours sleep feels better than six if you are pleasantly surprised by it rather than begrudging it. Wee ones are meant to wake up at night - it's a survival mechanism - expecting them to sleep like someone hungover after a night out isn't on. So I'm trying to be thankful for what I get not what I don't...

Last night I decided to force him to feed for no more than an hour - by unlatching him, swaddling him and putting him down. Ok he went half an hour less between feeds but I think I'm going to stick to it to see if we can speed the little chap up so I don't end up watching TWO episodes of Grey's Anatomy per feed even if I do think that Dr Shepherd is the mutts nuts

Good to hear from you vq and glad to hear J is back home. Hope he's fighting again soon x

pass think some of it was wind as he did some massive burps & I kept winding him but it was the fact that he just wouldn't stay still, whether winding him or cuddling etc, and seemed unhappy wherever he was. DH tried cuddling him, & he still fussed.

YW glass half empty/half full type situation huh? I have never thought ff was a reliable way to get a baby to sleep, but I guess its a common misconception & it must be disappointing.

I think it might have been to do with the fact that her boy was her second - maybe her first child slept better? I still reckon that 5 hours in a block (not every night I should add) as a max so far, and 3 hours min is pretty damn amazing for a 6 weeker and am chuffed by it. I think she went away from the encounter convinced I was a mad lentil weaving BFer who'd left all sense of rationality in the delivery room which is potentially true

Yw - I dont think it's a difference between how people are feeding their baby. I think it's a difference between peoes attitudes towards babies. I fully accepted sleepless nights before getting pregnant. Yes they are bloody hard, but like each feed I take each night as it comes. A good night can be followed by a bad night. Last night for the first time in ages I slept 11.30 till 5!! Then 545 to 715. It was lovely. E is a good baby, he tends to sleep 11 till 3 then 4 to 6/7. Sometimes he wakes at 2 others 4. Sometimes he sleeps till 730.

Im always relaxed at feeds, bed time or not. From his second day at home we had a routine. Not a set in stone time routine but an order in which we did everything routine. So before bed he has a bath, goes into his pyjamas and grow bag, we have cuddles and a little story (often just me and dh talking lol) then milk, cuddle, lights out, bed. In the night feed, low light no talking, nappy change, feed, cuddle, bed. In the morning, feed, wash, clothes change (farm!!) but everything is more fun etc. I know babies don't remember, if be cried at night I immediately cuddled him etc.

He's a happy, settled chap. But I don't complain about broken sleep. It's part of the job. Tough but part of it!!

Wow most people would consider 6 hour stretches to be great at this stage.. In fact it's almost sleeping through !

I'm happy with one feed during the night. Sometimes it's at 3, 4 or 5, but it's a quick one.yesterday it was so quick I was almost annoyed as I hadn't finished the chapter of my book. I say almost annoyed.

Lots of snow here today, was happy to have my winter tyres. DD1 was very happy, she's too young to remember the proper snow from last year.

Horsey that sounds like a great routine. Have been thinking about implementing something similar, but with the evening cluster-feeding there is no obvious bed time yet here - well other than 11.30 after DH gives him a bottle (I slope off to bed at 10) but that seems too late to put him to bed! What time is Etienne's bedtime?

Petite I stayed up an extra 11 mins to watch the end of an episode of Greys last night with a sleeping boy in my arms - i must be mad it was 4am!!!!

Ok, ready to share my birth story now:

So contractions began around 11pm Sunday night. Hot into the bath at 3 for pain relief and through the night they were getting stronger and closer together. Monday afternoon they started to become erratic, some 2 mins apart then a gap of 3 hours at one point. Continues through Monday night and into Tuesday afternoon when I noticed my mahoosive ankles. Got seen on the labour ward where they said i was 2cm and gave me a sweep.
By 4am on Wednesday morning the pain was getting too much so headed back to the labour ward where I was examined and admitted as I was 5cm.
Gas & air was working well and by 8.30am I was 6cm. Examined again at 12.30 and still 6cm so at 2pm they broke my waters and gave me another sweep (the most painful and horrendous experience). Found Meconium in my waters so had to be monitored. By now i was shattered and my contractions were slowing down. They wanted to put me on a hormone drip to speed things up at which point I asked for an epidural. Both were administered (I might have declared undying love for the anaesthetist!)
My contractions began to get closer together but baby wasn't recovering well after each one then her heartbeat plummeted.
The consultant scratched baby's head to get a blood sample to analyse her blood oxygen levels, which came back as borderline so before I knew it we were preparing for an EMCS.
She eventually came out with forceps 67 hours after my first contraction!

She's totally amazing and we can't imagine life without her now. I have a million questions to ask you all about different things but will save those for a separate post as this one is pretty epic!

I completely second what horsey says. Little P and her new cousin are perfect examples of this being born 3 days apart and both formula fed. I and pleased as punch if P has 3 hours sleep. Like horsey I expected sleepless nights and understand that. My sister, however, has a baby who sleeps for up to 6 hours but she seems disappointed by this and convinced there is something wrong with him. I am not sure she ever wants him to be awake. We don't have a routine as such but I accept being woken up as part of being a new mummy.

Speaking of which, looks like it's milk time!

X-post with missl. What an amazing story! I am very glad you and LO are well.

Absolutely it's the attitude to it and the acceptance of broken sleep as normal not something to be 'fixed' that seems to make the difference not the feeding choice. Though I think there are misconceptions about the lack of sleep with BF and the reverse with FF (some of this propagated by adverts) - neither of which are true in all cases which can confuse things too.

Wooo Kate and Wills are updiffed and she has hyperemisis! I wonder what name they'll pick - that'll go to the top 10 names list!

Are they? Lovely for them. Hmm, I would like them to call it Zebidee.

I am trapped under a sleeping cat and a sleeping baby. I have just realised that P is in yesterday's clothes mortified in the face of horsey's awesome routine so I really must change her if only for my dignity

Yw - we start getting ready about 930 to 10 with the bath. Feed about 10 to 1030, down about 11ish.

Missl - wow!! Congrats!!!

Pass -I think some people do just want babies asleep. I love it when e is awake. Mainly because if the faces he pulls!! But he's just fascinating!! Today I could have done with a tiny bit more sleep just to get the washing away but never mind!!

I've a list of undone chores today - Jonas has just been a boob limpet.

I vote that they should call the baby Kaiden or Jaiden or something else suitably Jeremy Kyle-esque.

Hyperemesis - my guess is it's going to be a girl - if so - good thing they're changing the rules on primogeniture. Apparently she is only just preggers but they had to announce it as she's been hospitalised for hyperemesis and the story would have leaked otherwise. How gutted would you be being forced to tell folks before you're 12 weeks gone?

Pass We don't change the baby grow unless it is wet/dirty. Yesterday he managed 24 hours in the same babygrow. I see that as an achievement! We haven't put him in anything other than babygrows, so I see no difference in day/night wear at the moment and probably won't for a few months yet.

YW I agree that it is expectations, I fully prepared myself for a high maintenance baby. I tried not to think about anything positive about having a baby to be honest. I was determined to be more than realistic on life with a new baby. DS was hard hard work - and yes he was formula fed - and feeds were made up for 24 hours back then! Didn't make it any easier!

Oscar has exceeded all expectations, and I can honestly say this time around I haven't even had a whisper of the baby blues - the only thing getting me down is my bits and bobs lol! Just looking at him makes me feel better!

I was definitely prepared this time around. Very prepared!

Then again, I am in a totally different situation this time around, so I suspect that helps too that and I've been waiting 10 years for this!.

YW I had to announce my pregnancy at 6 weeks because of hyperemesis. Had it both times - both boys .

Pass My mum called Oscar Zebidee when he had no name .

The was a report on French TV last night that she was pregnant and that an annoncement was planned for early December, so it might not be as early as all that. Enough time for it to have leaked fairly wide anyway.

Ooops, forgot to mention, my wound swab came back no growth - surprise surprise. I know it isn't infected - it is the sutures! RAAAAAAH!

I'm going to have to live like this. For a long while.

Best just get used to and get on with it I guess.

P was in 4 different outfits yesterday so I suppose her babygrow wasn't on for too long.

The only inkling of baby blues I have had was when I was in the middle of the feeding issues. As soon as that was sorted I felt better. DH asked me the other day if I thought I had had baby blues - got weepy just at the thought. Dafty.

P is such a wee cutey that it is hard not to enjoy myself. I make up day bottles and night bottles and I must say I quite enjoy it. DH was asking if I ever got cabin fever and I can honestly say not yet. I don't feel the need for the outside world at the moment. I am happy snuggling up inside TBH.

Having said that I think I need to get us out the house maybe just for P's sake. A wee walk up to the supermarket would be good.

I feel for anyone who has to tell the world before the 12 week mark. I know things can change on a daily basis anyway but telling people made it public property for us - and I'm not an heir to the throne believe it or not!