The 5th Gemini luxury bus - the one with babies!

[FrustratedSycamoresRocks]

As we have all our gorgeous babies now, welcome aboad the 5th Gemini bus.

Drinks and previously banned foods supplied in bulk, Car seats installed, slings and prams at the ready, as we head into parenthood, and all the excitement, and sleepless nights our little ones will bring along the way.

Sorry, I've been quiet lately.

pear hi! Nice to hear from you and that things are going well. Stay on the bus. There's loads of room!

jojo I jinks I have something similar. My let down is very strong. If DS pops off at the start it goes everywhere, and he often does struggle as it's too much for him. I get a slight burning in my nipple sometimes between feeds, but I think it's when I start leaking a bit, or really need to feed him. Weird sensation but I've had it for about a week and nothing bad has come of it.

pear M doesn't hurt that much to start with. Mine didn't. High temp showed itself as a headache and just feeling a bit ugh.

For me the mastitis started as a warm patch, that I couldn't quite work out if it was warm or just where my bra strap went (in the armpit side) and felt like a bruise. After a day the skin looked odd. I can't describe it, but it looked odd and not like the surrounding skin. And I thought I could see a pink patch. Like when you poas early and squint because you don't know if you're imagining it. The next day it was clearly there and had a clear outline to it (where it changed from m skin to normal skin)
But it didn't hurt at any point. Just bruised when I touched it.

I have since noticed that it was in a place that ds puts his fist when he feeds.
jojo could your ds be pressing in the same place when he feeds to slow the flow?
Your thick icing through nipples is so spot on. That's exactly it. Hot thick icing. usually marks the point when I look at my cheat to check my breast pads are in place

The best thing for forceful letdown (I had it with dd1 as well, but not dd2, and usually accompanied by oversupply) is getting him above the nipple/breast literally so that gravity is on his side. Leaning back when you feed, or sat on your leg and held facing you so his head is level with your boob. (Easier when they have head control)

Epic post jojo has your DH tried rescue remedy for his anxiety?

DH has always been like that, it's just especially bad at the moment!

Yy, let's all run away together! We'll find a lovely spa retreat in the middle of the countryside & fritter away the days sipping cocktails cucumber water by the pool. We won't tell anyone where we've gone so even the most effective nipple-radar-possessing baby won't be able to track us down! I guess it's time for another feed then... I can always tell when it's time because he wriggles closer to me & rolls onto his side! We've had to put rolled up towels under the sheet to stop him wriggling too close to me at night - I found him at right angles to where I'd left him with his face worryingly close to my bum the other day! I could easily have rolled over in my sleep & sat on him! The towels went in that night. He just wriggles down now! DS1 stayed where we put him until he was at least 5 months!

Mmm cucumber water actually sounds quite nice. clearly sleep deprived and sucke dry
I don't have wriggly baby, I seem to have naturally adopted the "recommended co-sleeping position" ds is trapped between my legs and arm. But he doesn't seem to wriggle up or down in his cot either. strangly a few times I've got up to go to the loo, and come back and wondered how he got onto my bed. Then I wonder how I got up without touching him. That's usually the point I put him back in his cot. and pretend I'm not freaking out
Ds has a nipple radar. Mr needy koala as he will henceforth be known seems to be able to tell when I am more than 2 metres away from him.

No, he's not tried anything... Why would he want to when "it's just the way [he] is" & "it's not really a problem" & he'll "get over it eventually"... I'll suggest it but I doubt he'll try it. He's the sort of person who's convinced that the only medication that can help has to be prescribed but he won't go to a GP for anything unless I force him to because he thinks that if he can just about cope then it's not worth wasting the GP's time! I'm often the same but I have a lower threshold of what I'm willing to tolerate. I won't go for a bug that'll clear up eventually but I'd be straight down there for drugs if I had any concerns about my mental health!

I have been leaning back while feeding recently but it doesn't seem to help a great deal. I'm going to try other positions to see if they help - he's not yet got the hang of latching on when we're lying down so I'm hoping to work on that. I might pop along to a breastfeeding group next week incase I am doing something wrong. The latch generally looks ok to me, although sometimes it's not & I take him off straight away! I'm pretty sure it's not tongue-tie either but I don't think it's ever been checked. He has no problems poking his pointy little tongue out at me!

Ahh well sorry I'm v wrong about the M word hurting then! I guess it's different person to person.

Even though I've had a really tough night with the heat making needy koala extra needy I'm feeling very proud of myself for persevering with breast feeding today. Well done all of us. Give yourself a pat

Reading that back 'give yourself a pat' sounds ridiculous Give yourself a treat today!

pear I didn't mean to sound pretensious. I didn't realise m didn't always hurt until I got it. I guess it might if left longer before treatment(?)

Ugh DHs driving is doing my head in. Aaahhh if you bump me thro

...through another drain I will be sorely tempted to commit murder.

Frus ~ no I generally meant sorry I was only going on what I've read. Much better to give JoJo real life experience!

Bf is hard isn't it, I rembered it with such fond memories ( and I do love it) but at the same time, it's so draining and sometimes you just want a day off, plus all the worrying aches and pains
Work have phoned me for a chat tomorrow about a job and I know they will ask me if I'd like to do it which I would as itl only be a few days but if its in the near future I won't be able to because I have to have a baby attached to me!
Jojo my dd2 is such a wriggler, she crawled off her sensor twice again last night, she's sleeping well, I'm not!
She was at the other end of the cot lying sideways?!?
( can you tell who is the mean mummy, am I the only one who makes dd sleep in her own cot?!?)

I just had a giggle! Whoop whoop.

Hello ladies, sorry I've been off radar for a few days, been focussing on baby and it's paid off.

Thrush is, I hope and pray, quashed and my nipples are far less sore and tender. I'd go as far as to say that some feeds have even been nice! I've been sitting in the garden on a rocking chair in the shade and just nursing her when she wants it and ignoring my mother who says she is using me as a dummy.

I'm afraid I have a confession. It appears I may well be a big crusty mama after all. Baby now sleeps with me, and it's bloody lovely. I have her in the sling almost all the time, and she's really happy there...AND I haven't shaved my legs or pits since she was born! All I need to do now is start using real nappies and my transformation will be complete! I kind of had a revelation that I got stressed and miserable everytime I tried to do things the 'modern' way, and when I acted like a cave-woman mama I felt happier and therefore so did she. It's a bit of an identity crisis for me, but i do love responding to her. Now all I need to do is reconcile this with a peaceful and effective bedtime routine and I'll be in the road to feeling like a competent mummy.

Ooh Frus. I have giggle envy! How old is your little one now?

Hahah Lib does "crusty" = "crunchy"? If so, welcome to the club! Glad to not be the only hippy here. . Also fab news about the thrush! So so glad things are improving for you.

Sorry to hear about the booby pain Jo I hope it's not mastitis and that it clears for you. When in doubt, get it checked out though.

Sorry I've been lurking in the past few days and not posting. Dh had his septoplasty surgery on Monday and it's completely knocked him out for the past three days. Starting to feel really frustrated that he didn't believe me that he wouldn't be going back to work the same day as the surgery (jesus men are just ridiculous sometimes) and now I've had to switch over from recovering and enjoying this very short postpartum time to taking care of him, a newborn, and 2 preschoolers plus all the house duties. Yes, I am complaining. Yes, I probably sound like a spoiled kid, but this is really exhausting and I feel like I got shoved off a cliff into the deep-end after being able to rest when needed during the day and now I'm running around taking care of everyone. My bleeding has come back with a vengeance after completely going away which is just a huge sign that I'm doing way too much. I'm so tired!

Exciting news about the giggles Frus! Still waiting on smiles over here.

Oh bring that sounds really hideous. I feel sorry for you Glad you can moan!

Frus that is cute. What set it off? My DS fell asleep listening to the beach boys booming from the stereo. The only thing DH could do to stop the cries. Madness :-/

That's cute pear can't go wrong with a bit of beach boys.

kitty you're definitely not a mean mummy. i co-sleep purely out of laziness ease, although I do like ds to start the night in his cot.

lib you're slowly heading for the dark side. you'll be on real nappies soon enough.

I think I may join you on the edge if the dark side. But I'm not doing real nappies tried them with dd1 but I can't keep up with the washing at the best of times I have spray on 5min hair removal cream for legs told you I was lazy
And I've ordered 3 different types of washable breast pads; organic lanowool, thick cotton, and hemp fleece. The plan is to see which are most comfortable whilst keeping my leakage at bay for the longest time possible. I'm spending a fortune on breast pads. the plastic backed ones irritate my skin. And the others leak. Often.

Ds is 8 weeks today lib. pear I was kissing his cheek and he made a cute little "huhuhu" laugh that was almost a cough. The dds giggled at DH 1st. I'm chuffed I got ds.

bring you will get smiles when they're due.

... Oops just fell asleep mid word. Night.

for bring! It's so frustrating when we're suddenly expected to look after them when it still should be the other way round!

@ giggles Frus! We're expecting smiles any day now. He's given me an almost smile once but it wasn't quite enough of a gummy grin to count!

I fell asleep on the sofa while DH was running DS1 up to bed at 8. Slept for 3 hours but don't think I'll have any difficulty getting back to sleep now! I was supposed to go out tonight but I had to text to say I couldn't make it when I realised I could barely walk in a straight line, let alone drive!

DS2 is now 7lb 13oz. That's a gain of over 1lb from his lowest weight & just 1oz short of 1lb over birth weight in a month. He's following the 9th centile curve perfectly! It's so nice to have a baby who does what they say he's supposed to! DS1 stubbornly refused to follow their lines & dropped from the 25th centile to below the bottom line in the first few months! Feeding seemed to be fine though!

I thought you ment you'd had a giggle frus, I was going to reply what at?
Didn't put two and two together thicko yes very I've had smiles this last week though and they are the real face lighting up ones, gorgeous!!
Lib are you wearing a long skirt your well on the way to earth mother status lol what Evers right for you, ignore your mum unless you ask her for advice
Bring looking after the while family single handily, you have my utmost respect, moan anytime!
I've had a shit night, went to bed at 10:30 ( dh on nights) tv in bedroom has started turning itself on?? Went on at 11 woke me up, dd2 woke at 12:30 felt she wasn't going to self settle so decided to feed her and hope she wouldn't wake again.... You see where this going dont you!
She wiggeler of monitor after that , I woke up, she then woke for another feed at 4:15, then dd1 woke at 5:30, when I went down the cat has been sick everywhere
I've just had a little cry

Ew cat puke, that's not the end you want to a sleepless night kitty

I don't get many wide mouth smiles. J is just too serious, but I do get lots of closed mouth smiles and corner twitches with twinkly eyes.

Hugs for bring

8wk check and jabs in a minute. I think I will cry if he cries at his jabs.

We've just had out check frus but think it was surposed to be 6wks isn't it? Anyway were at 71/2 and all well, not had the jabs yet, she is rising perfectly just under the 25% centile and is on the 91st for height