October 2012... PELVIC FLOORS!

[Londonmrss]

Ready...
Steady...
And squeeze!

I thought it was poo until I heard it dripping on the floor. I thought "poo doesn't drip that fast"

livvy great news about the ring!!

squid so sorry about your friends baby. You're being amazing to them. Don't forget you need to look after yourself too.

zara most people are surprised I'm taking 9months, not a year!! I'm going back pt though dh seemed to be suggesting ft tonight boooooo to him!!

Going to sensory splash tomorrow!! Will report back !

squid I'm so sorry to hear about your friends' baby. My uncle, the one who just died, spent most of his working life as a biochemist working towards trying to find a cure for CF. You are being a great mate to them.

zara people can be odd in their reactions. French women often return to work by 3/4 months, but they have access to cheap, high quality childcare. But I haven't had too many surprised faces when I say I don't have anything lined up... although maybe they treat me differently as an ex pat.

Jealous of French childcare prices Smorgs... I'm paying monthly either €713 for 3 days or €1000 for full time

Glad you found the ring livvy

Re the whole work thing, we have decided we are going to try me staying at home for a couple of yrs like I did with DS. We worked it all out, and even with Tax Credits, I would only be working for an extra £40 p/w!!! Not worth it. Plus I can't bear the thought of leaving Naomi with strangers, she's so young still
squid you are being a fantastic friend. Can you come to the hospital with me please when we finally get an appointment to look at Naomis head? We've mentioned it to family and close friends, and all anyone says is don't worry. I'm petrified!

On the plus side, princess has found her toungue. It's hilarious, she looks like a little puppy as she just sits there with it hanging out, then giggles her head off when we say "put it away" :)

And sorry, I can't remember who asked but DS coped amazingly well back in September. We were living at my parents as we had sold our flat and were waiting for our house sale to go through. In the space of a week, DS had mummy leave him to go to hospital, got a new baby sister, started full time school and got a new house. Plus for 3 weeks after that I was in and out of hospital with high blood pressure, we finally moved into out house, Naomi and mummy went back into hospital for a week as she got a breathing infection, then it was Christmas! Yet now he doesn't remember any of it. Kids!

zara. full time childcare in surrey is 1400 a month. with a 30 pound fine per 15 mins if you're late to pick them up cos of train failure etc. it simply doesn't make sense for me to go back.

tonight I went for cocktail and dinner with nct girls. it was v fun. my feet hurt. I have not worn heels since dd was born. I am tipsy. Please please let dd sleep well....

Sweet Lord, that is so much money Livvy. And the fines......!!!

Yay for night out!!!! Woohoo!!!! Praying u are blissfully tipsily sleeping! U deserve it x

Fuck's sake. babyLondon sleeping perfectly. mummyLondon awake since 3am.

Still dh is back today after 2 weeks of doing this on my own. Huge respect to single mothers. It's hard, even for just a couple of weeks.

The cost of child care in the uk is scandalous. Especially when you think that we'll trained nursery nurses' pay is still low. The government should subsidise it more. I didn't realise it was like that in Ireland too zara.
london it's so tough when you're on your own. Hope you got some more sleep. Have you found any good groups in your new area yet?

In orner news, Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus!

Er, in 'other' news

Last night baby stirred and needed re-settling at 9, 10, 12, 1, 2.30... at which point I started feeding her hoping that would send her back to sleep... I think we've had 5 feeds before 7am... I thought we were through 4 month sleep regression (Jess was 5 months yesterday) but this is getting worse not better...

Boyfriend has been sick as a dog for three days, so I'm doing all the childcare... flat stinks of diarrhoea... not his fault but it's gross...

Hats off to those of you who've been doing this alone/ on minimal sleep all along... am getting pretty tired now. I'm cosleeping and breastfeeding so it's not so bad... just like a permanent doze all night, not really asleep or awake. Having dreams about milk...

This too shall pass. Everything is a phase. etc.
Going to library today to look at kids books.

Sorry been a bit me me me of late... thanks so much for kind thoughts about my friend's baby. smiley yes it was just diagnosed off the heel prick test, complete shock to them just as they were getting used to the thought of having a premature baby and about to go home from hospital... cannot imagine, really can't. livvy good on your neighbour!! I knew a great guy with CF, he did die a few years ago (I think he was 31) but he'd only been diagnosed at the age of 12 and was basically not expected to get out of childhood so he did amazingly. Still fucking sad though. he was married, again, cannot imagine.

Livvy yay about your ring!! That's cheered me up. Yes we should all get cleaners. Actually boyfriend is quite good at cleaning OCD but we could do with an industrial strength hoover to get rid of all the bloody cat hair.

1st day of spring today.

squid you're not alone. up at 10.30, 11.15, 12.30, 2.30, 3.15 and up for the day at 5.30. 21 weeks. 5 month sleep regression? whatever it is, it can Fuck off

Sleep remaining horrendous here too. Not slept for more than an hour consecutively. Keep thinking its got to get better and that this phase will pass but it's been 6 weeks or so and just gets worse and worse. Don't know what to do.

Think I hyperventilated a bit when I read those fees Livvy I wouldn't be able to afford to work at those rates either. Our crèche is one of the pricier ones in Dublin (but prices are lower than they were during the boom), but the 30-seconds-from-our-front-door factor is one of the benefits.

They have very generous child benefit in Ireland €130pm but there is a big push to make childcare tax deductible.

Makes cups of for crazy and smiley
Are you working today smiley? (are you better?)

Bloody hell livvy missed those fees! Costs about £700-800 for full time nursery in east Yorkshire - we are lucky (comparatively.....).
Am working this afternoon - not feeling great, still coughing and a bit feverish but much better. Oh well, perhaps I'll lose a little bit of baby weight with this bug, there must be a silver lining. A bit apprehensive about how people will react to me having been off...

Been off radar for a while with DH away in DC. Three trips down, now just NY, a night in Prague and week in New Delhi to go and in 13 days this crazy stint is over. Don't know how I'd cope for two weeks on my own, though... Respect.

Squid, I think your support for your friends with the prem baby is fantastic. I was reading a piece in the Guardian on Weds by a carer who knows that many of her elderly and disabled clients see or talk to no one else ... I think the way we treat some elderly people is a terrible indictment of the way we live now. Glad good people like you are going into geriatric medicine.

DS is still waking regularly to snuffle for boob but he had a reasonably long sleep after he went to bed yesterday - I didn't check the time when he woke up, but I think about 4.5h. Just hoping that first stretch of sleep continues to lengthen, as it did with DD. Smiley, you are a star to manage those wakings and go to work/ be ill. Will you get a break soon? I mean, a bit of holiday?

Still getting used to idea of being a SAHM. Wish management would come up with the latest voluntary redundancy offer so we can work out whether one day a week of childcare is affordable.

London and suburbs people - are we still on for a meet up on the 6th? Coram's Fields is good if it's not raining, although a bit of a walk from King's Cross.

livvy are those fees based on nursery or childminder? I don't think childminders are as expensive and if you find the right one I personally prefer them to nurseries. mine's £5/hr inclusive of food and is like a second home for ds1. she's away atm and he's really missing her, it's sweet. my area is similar cost-wise to yours (just outside m25, south east). worth investigating for if you teach yoga maybe?

My friend's baby is going home from hospital today. :) :) :)

Surprising development last night... ds sitting on my lap as we ate dinner, he reached out a grabbed a spear of broccoli and started gumming it! Was quite surprised as wasn't planning on weaning for another 6 weeks but might have to start looking into that! He is 19 weeks currently. It was quite comical, also surprised he had the coordination since some toys are a bit hit and miss at getting to mouth but clearl no messing around with food!

Next few months will involve weaning and potty training for ds1 - not going to be a pretty state in our house!

Knackered today, was expecting ds2 to wake as normal in night but he slept through and handed baton over to ds1 who was coughing and spluttering and needed me in his bed. Went to baby cinema which was nice and relaxing and got to see most of film as a kind woman lent me her baby bjorn which i'd left at home.

a year ago today i found out i was up ze duff. kinda glad pregnancy is over, i hated it. but i have a beautiful daughter now so it was all worth it.

catch up later