The posifrikentivity graduates thread - we did it!!

[IBelieveInPink]

Finally enough graduates (with more very imminently expected) to have our very own little thread. Yay. :)

Oh pink, contractions are quite sore aren't they?! but they're over and then I'm fine. Still about 6mins part so haven't had a bloody wink of sleep. Just had a shower so at least I'm clean.

Can't believe this is happening, I was beginning to think it was all a big fat lie. Crumbs. Needless to say, dh has slept through the whole night in the spare room and not come in to check on me...can't really have missed my yoga groaning ffs! Feel a bit nauseous.

Will try to keep you posted xx

At least they are still going, that is a good thing! I got so annoyed with mine, they would ramp up then disappear, just enough to stop me sleeping!
It is far better that your DH has slept through so far, you will need him later and a tired grumpy DH won't help matters. Honestly, I know it's annoying, but it will be better in long run.

Hoping they ramp up soon for you (in the nicest way!) x

Yes you're right, there's no point in both of us bring tired and narky!! Just had a 5 minute gap...fx the next one is the same :)

Good luck Janie!!
Thinking of you and sending positive labour vibes, every contraction brings you closer to your baby.
Look forward to hearing the news of your arrival.

Oh I'm so excited. Honestly men are hopless! You are better just getting on with the relaxing in your own for now! Sounds like you are doing a fab job. I was induced and DH went home so had no sleep the first night in hospital then the next day the pessary fell out so was given another and still only mild surges. Then was threatened with a drip and I turned all the lights off, relaxed etc and it all went from nothing much to having her within 2 hours! At the end of it all my DH went home to bed feeling sick (was just tired in the end!) and I've not really had much sleep since whilst his had a good 7 hours each night in spare room! Men!

Oooo janie best of luck, hope things speed up! Have you had a bath, you might find you can doze in there? And eat if you can as you may find you can't later on

I also sent DH home for the induction and just called him back once things kicked off...it makes sense for them to sleep if you don't actually need them, annoying tho it is!

Little Noah is fab, he went 4hr30 then 3hr20 between feeds over night....no poos and doing big burps when winded Hoping the infacol is sorting him out...MW suggested reflux and going GP for baby gaviscon if it didn't work so would be brill if it is just trapped wind

pink you must be some kinda hero to express and feed like you are doing

DH has just picked up some infacol for me. Forgot yesterday and Charlotte was in a lot of discomfort last night. Shell - that's a great amount of time between feeds. Hopefully you got a good sleep then. I was up every hour or so. I'm sure she not drinking properly because of poor latch. Taking in wind / air so them getting hungry again quickly.
DH goes back to work 2mor. Going to have to do the nursery school run and getting ready DS in the mornings and sorting little one. Wish me luck! Maybe I need to dog out those lucky socks!

Janie..... You've gone quiet. Are you pushing? push push push!!

Ou she must me otherwise engaged :) baby Janie will soon be making an appearance.
I'm having a lazy day today as DH back at work 2mot and I have 3 appointments before 12.00 o clock. Still in my jimmy jams catching zzzzz's wham madam does!

garden welcome to this thread and congratulations once again (I posted on the other thread yesterday)! Very cool name!

ibip yes it was me, really glad to hear it's what you wanted. I didn't use it in the first few months with DD1, I didn't even get the chance to read it till she was 3-4 months old to be honest - I was too overwhelmed with all the information I had been given! Anyway, I'm re-reading it now, from the beginning

anda so good to see you here! The noises they make...so funny! And indeed when hungry you'd think you're killing them!

janie thinking of you!

What was the book Pentagon please.

Lucky - is a development book. Something simple which just shows a few ways to help their development, and what they can understand at different stages. Link here
www.amazon.co.uk/Babys-First-Skills-Miriam-Stoppard/dp/1405335157/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385571633&sr=8-1&keywords=miriam+stoppard+baby%27s+first+skills

Girls...I can't believe it's true but I am now the proud mummy of a very handsome and very hairy little monkey man called Leo Thomas Born at 6.30 this evening and weighing in at 7lb5oz! I'm madly in love and in complete shock!! Will check in tomorrow properly as haven't slept in 48hrs and I'm frickin knackered! He's a wee dreamboat but likes to cry lots! Xxx

Fantastic news janie Im so pleased for you :) I hope you and your gorgeous little boy are both snoozing away very soon! Xxx

Wahoo Janie. So happy for you my due date buddy. Welcome to the world Leo Thomas :) am feelin a little emotional! Can't believe all we have been through and now we have our little babies :)

Thanks for the book title Pink.

Janie!!!!! You have a bebe!! I'm so chuffed for you Hun, that's Fantastic news. Wow look, we all got our bebbys in the end. That's so bloody lovely. Well done Janie, so happy!!

And shell - I meant to say, thank you! I've been feeling the guilt that I can't get mini pink on the boob (and to be honest it hurts so much that I'm not willing to try any more) but seeing expressing as my 'punishment' for not managing it.
However now trying to look at it as going above and beyond to give mini pink what she needs, and it really cheered me up that it isn't just me that thinks it's hard! So I appreciate the hero comment, although I wouldn't quite go that far!

Hello again. Janie mahoosive congratulations. What an absolutely gorgeous name. Luffs it. Hope you've had a good sleep and are well rested

Sophie was in hospital with suspected bronchiolitis. I don't think she had it really, just a very bad cold and she couldn't feed because she had so much crap in her throat. I took her to out of hours and she screamed the whole time we were there and I think they just panicked a bit. She's okay now. After a week of counting every single ml I got down her she's just taken a 200ml bottle which has never (ever) happened before - they normally have a max of 150 but I've switched to ready to feed formula as it's easier to swallow and the cartons are 200ml. Charlotte's coming down with a cold too now bless her. Which was inevitable but still...

The Wonder Weeks app has been like a godsend to me. There's a book but I just have the app - think it was £1.49. You enter your EDD (not birth day) and it charts developmental 'leaps' so tells you what's going on when but also when you should expect periods of unsettled behaviour. It's uncannily accurate. And it really helps when they suddenly decide they want feeding every three hours in the night again and you go on the app and there's a whopping great thunder cloud! We're in the middle of third leap at the moment. Everyone on the Facebook group has found it really useful too.

ibip you are an actual hero for expressing. It's miserable, I know. If you haven't done already hire a proper medela pump from the maternity ward. You'll be able to do two boobs at the same time and it's quicker too. Definitely worth the money. Also, take expressing time as your time. I used to toddle off and watch Geordie Shore and express. Classy. I did it for three weeks and had to stop because they were only sleeping for half an hour together and I could use that time to express or eat or sleep. Eating and sleeping won. My friend who's a doctor swears that getting past the first month on breastmilk is a milestone. You've done everything you can and given her the best start. Now, potentially controversially, DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP WHEN/IF YOU STOP. No one can tell a ff baby from a bf baby, but they can tell a happy mum from an unhappy one.

Oh, and in other news, and probably due to Soph being ill, Charlotte has nearly caught up and is only 2oz lighter now. From being 2lb8 smaller at birth that's quite good going! Little Lottie is no more (well, they're both quite little - still under 12lb and on the 20th centile).

Yay Janie xxxxxxx

Pink what pump are you using? Also do you know you can freeze the milk/store for a bit in the fridge? Not sure how poss it would be for you but you could up the day time suction by one so you can drop a night time one? The boobage adjust to demand around use so it is a possible option. I expressed in the mornings when I went back to work, it was a killer but it was my way of still being there for her, I know how hard it can be. I've got a v good pump (not double which his a great idea) can't remember the make but can look if you want x

Good luck whoever's got the school run in the morning with DH back to work - sorry brain does not function enough at this hr to remember names!

Thank you ladies :) just on the second pump of the night!
I have the medela swing pump. Not a double unfortunately - when DH went out to get it we didn't realise quite how much I would be using it!
I tend to use it depending on when she wakes up in the night. I sometimes miss the earlier pump if I have done the last daytime one. But have started going to bed about 10pm which means I am doing 2 pumps at night. I considered missing this one tonight, but it is usually the biggest of the day so I don't like to!
In the day time I am already pumping every 2-3 hours, so is hard to squeeze any more in. She is just such a hungry baby, it takes a lot to keep up with her!
Diet I don't know how you do all this with 2 of them!

My target is to get to 13 weeks. I read somewhere that 13 weeks of boob milk has additional health benefits (no idea what they were now) however will be very dependant on how my supply goes. At the moment, I am doing okay and have even managed to freeze a little. But she eats do much, as soon as she ups that I will be short. We have emergency formula for when I rub out or don't have time to keel the supply going!
Very interesting to know it is the first month though. 3 weeks today. So not far off that!

Diet - clever Charlotte growing so much! And poor Sophie, must be heart breaking for you to see her poorly. Glad she's on the mend

Massive congrats janie Leo sounds totally gorgeous! Hope you are feeling more rested now and can go home today x

It's funny re bf we all hear/get told different things...my target is 6w as that's what I think of as the most beneficial time for health benefits? I suppose no one really knows which is why we get told all kinds of different info

Shell - my friend has also got 6 weeks as her target. She's planning in phasing it out introducing formula, so he will actually get 6 and a bit weeks. That seems like a much more manageable target, maybe I will revise my 13 weeks!! Another 10 weeks of this seems like a long time!

Btw - if anyone hasn't discovered it yet, we have just found slumber bear. Slumber bear is my new best friend, and mini pink is sleeping better than ever! I'm not sure if this is one of those things that everyone knows about, so let me know if you want me to rave about how amazing slumberbear is!

janie congratz once again! (I've just posted on the other thread, it's kind of funny writing the same thing twice ) So happy for you, can't wait to hear all about it! And another great name!

lucky, ibip beat me to it! I hope you find the book useful

anda I meant to say how do you feed twins? I mean, do you breastfeed, bottle feed or do mixed feeding? I've always wondered how people do it when they both wake up and want to feed at the same time? The app sounds fab, I just need to get an iphone!! So glad Sophie is better and well done to Charlotte for catching up. By the way, what FB group are you on?

ibip I'm also in awe of your expressing! I find it quite difficult and don't do it very often, only when I want to go shopping with Elsie or plan to leave her with DH. The Medela pump is great, isn't it? If it weren't for it I would never express I think! I plan to breastfeed for a few months if I can just because I find it easier than sterilising bottles and heating up milk! (I'm lazy, I know!) And what's slumber bear? I've never heard of it! I'll have to get one if it's that good.

DD1 has been a bit under the weather - we didn't realise immediately, she threw up on Tuesday night but we thought it was because she was screaming and crying so much (we're trying to teach her to fall asleep on her own); then yesterday she complained of tummy ache in the morning and had a temperature in the evening. So I guess it's a stomach bug or a cold... She seems a lot better today so fingers crossed she's over it. It's awful when they're unwell, it worries/depresses me so much!

Pentagon I'm interested, how exactly are you trying to get dd1 to fall asleep by herself? Could do with that!

Okay slumber bear is a bear that has a clever box inside it that plays recording of womb noise. You take the box out of the bear (they are a bit little for the bear at the moment, it's quite big) and hang it in the cot. It has a motion sensor so when baby stirs, it plays the noise. It has been amazing in calming mini pink down, best thing yet. They are on offer in mothercare at the moment, £25 instead of £35. We love slumber bear!