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Original poster

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

999 replies

FrustratedSycamoresRocks · 21/06/2013 15:07

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.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
FrussoHathor · 23/07/2013 10:21

Mov= moving

FrussoHathor · 23/07/2013 14:46

Helllloooooo.
My goodness, the boy has only just properly gone to sleep since he woke up this morning. He's dozed, but woke at every given opportunity.
Nursery I was looking at doesn't have any spaces until next July! Shock

peardrop2 · 23/07/2013 15:31

Frus ~ I was going to say that my NCT group have already booked their nursery places. You do have to book well in advance and in your case a year Shock What will you do now?

FrussoHathor · 23/07/2013 15:46

Still have options. I have 3 towns to work through. Just wanted one by work.

AGnu · 23/07/2013 16:41

Frus it might still be worth getting his name down - people move, put their names down for multiple nurseries etc so a space might come up sooner than expected!

peardrop2 · 23/07/2013 16:48

Do you have to put a deposit down?

Lorelei353 · 23/07/2013 17:02

God I haven't even started looking at nursery places yet. Not given it a thought! Should probably do that ASAP. Hmm

FrussoHathor · 23/07/2013 17:43

No deposit. But name down at 1 nursery and 2 c/ms.

kittykatsforever · 23/07/2013 19:47

Yes I had to put my name down while I was still pregnant at the one dd1 goes to and even with her the waiting list was over a year but you will find people drop out when circumstances change so definatly worth putting your name down

bringonthetrumpets · 23/07/2013 20:04

Ok, admit it, did you get just a teeny bit teary-eyed when you saw those two emerge from the hospital? Blush It wasn't b/c of who they are, more so that it brought back memories from being a first-time parent and now I'm holding #3 who is already 5 weeks old today and this time goes so fast! I really need to start attending births again, I so miss working with new parents!!

AGnu · 23/07/2013 20:10

Nope, not even a little. I'm lying! Grin

It did make me giggle when she made some comment about every parent knowing what it feels like... No dear, every other mother knows what it's like to spend the first night alone in a too-hot, too-noisy ward being shouted at by midwives because you've not fed your baby for 3hrs & 30secs before eventually leaving hospital feeling like the entire world should be waiting outside to cheer & congratulate you after all you've been through! Wink

bringonthetrumpets · 23/07/2013 20:14

Ha, yeah, she looked very flustered when having to answer a question! Well put! Every woman should totally have a giant crowd when they leave the hospital!

peardrop2 · 23/07/2013 20:44

Agnu, did they shout at you too? Nobody I know was shouted at. Thought it was just me Hmm Nice to know maybe I'm not alone on that? I've been building up my confidence to make a complaint. I don't know how DH is going to feel about me doing so, he doesn't like me talking about it as he thinks I should move on.

Librarina · 23/07/2013 21:17

I'm happy about the new baby, but then I'm happy about all new babies. Mostly I'm just glad I didn't have hoards of people staring at me as I stumbled out if hospital, and I'm glad R didn't have witnesses to him fumbling with the car seat the first time. I think it's sweet that she sat in the back of the car with the baby, I did that too.

My baby has been lovely today. She has snoozed and fed and smiled, all as a baby should.

Librarina · 23/07/2013 21:21

I got shouted at as well by the scary night midwife, it was because the baby was crying and I didn't know what to do so I buzzed her and said 'the baby's crying' and she huffed and said 'so what are you going to do about it?' And I didn't know what i was supposed to do!

Then she made me squeeze my colostrum into a syringe and give it the baby that way instead if helping me learn how to feed her, poor sausage, no wonder we had so much difficulty feeding at first!

AGnu · 23/07/2013 21:38

Yes, there was a very old-school matronly type midwife who had clearly never heard of on-demand feeding & told me off for not feeding DS1 often enough. She made me feel like I was a terrible mother because I'd fallen asleep an hour earlier for the first time since DS1 was born at 3.43am & believed them when they'd said "don't worry, we'll wake you"... This was at about 3am. I'd not slept for nearly 2 days by that time & DS1 wasn't remotely interested in feeding but they were all too busy to actually help!

If you feel it's worth reporting then do it. No-one else can know how something made you feel & there's no point in you just letting it fester. Get your closure & then you can move on! Smile

AGnu · 23/07/2013 21:44

Lib she sounds exactly like my scary midwife! Sad

FrussoHathor · 23/07/2013 21:52

I wish you'd have had my midwives. They were all lovely.
The paediatrician was a lot bit uneducated about on demand feeding. Told me off for not being able to express 30ml, before my milk had come in! tried to tell me my milk should have come in within 2 days of the birth, bull and tried to make me go at least 3 hours between feeds, and then top up with formula after every feed even though he was puking my milk back up from being over fed.
If it wasn't for the midwifes supporting me and agreeing that she was batty not correct I may well have screamed at her lost the plot.

kittykatsforever · 23/07/2013 22:27

Frus who was that?! I've never heard of people being told to top up with formula when trying to bf!Shock
Thank goodness your an old hand at it
Was it just me then that aside from being happy for the new parents was abit gleeful that Kate still looked pregnant?? Nice to know she is human!
No
Just me then Grin
I had nice midwives thankfully though with dd1 I let her go over 8 hrs before I fed her as I didn't know she I wasn't surposed to and she just slept lol
Dd2 we got congratulated because she was so greedy good and fed about every 2/3hrs for ages, she was snuffling for my nipple the minute she came out and fed for 20 mins straight away

peardrop2 · 23/07/2013 22:31

Omg Lib that's exactly the same experience I had!! It was horrendous! Definitely my lowest point. The worst part was my mum watching on as I was being forced to express and syringe. My mum was horrified but didn't say anything until after which makes me mad as at the time I knew know better. I hated my time in hospital. The only happy memory I have is of baby pear staring at me with his big eyes when he arrived.

Thanks Agnu I will call tomorrow. I've been putting it off but I should do it sooner rather then later so that I can have closer like you say.

peardrop2 · 23/07/2013 22:36

Frus...I was forced to top of with formula too and again told that my milk should have come in after 2 days. God it was just a horrific experience Hmm Seeing Kate today just brought it all back for me. She looked lovely though. So happy for them both Grin

FrussoHathor · 23/07/2013 22:52

Kitty it was a silly consultant paediatrician who we were under when we got re-admitted.
also drove me insane with ridiculous questions about the meds I was on and why I didn't have them with me, Angry because I wasn't supposed to have been re-admitted, ds was meant to be an outpatient
If I'd have been a first time mum I probably wouldn't have stuck bf out. But I refused to personally give ds the formula. m/w had to cup feed him whilst i left the room. after the 1st one i had enough expressed, but ds puked that back up and refused to drink any (overfull) m/w told me not to waste colostrum and just to feed him normally.
And damned if I was going to make ds go 3hrs between feeds.
I told the m/w if he cries I'm feeding him, and she agreed.

I can't fault my midwives. although my hospital is known for not being helpful to parents who want to ff.

FrussoHathor · 23/07/2013 22:55

pear was that from a midwife? That's shocking! I can understand a paediatrician having no idea, but a midwife really should know milk takes 3-5days to come in.

I'm angry for you.

peardrop2 · 23/07/2013 23:18

Frus ~ not just the one midwife either :-( It was a very difficult and upsetting experience for me in hospital and after at home but I stuck it out and I'm now 100% bf and enjoying it (even though I do envy those who can give their babies one bottle a day). The one thing that helps looking back now is to know that next time it will all be so much easier as I will be so much wiser...I just have to remember!!

bringonthetrumpets · 23/07/2013 23:26

I loved that she had a completely normal postpartum bump! AND that she wore something that you could see it. Hooray for normalcy.

Good lord, you ladies really had to deal with some crazy care providers. Why the hell would you top up with formula if you're trying to encourage milk production??

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience pear No new mother should be made to feel that way. Writing a letter or speaking to someone can be really healing for you.