Jan 2014 - And lo' there appeared a star: Our babies start arriving!

[AnotherStitchInTime]

Hello ladies,

Thought I would start you off. We can just keep this a stats thread until we all deliver and then move across if you like.

AnotherStitchInTime Dc3 Mason Oliver born 23rd December at 9.57am, 34+5 weeks, 2.976kg.

To be clear... Wasn't courting for more followers! You'll get my self indulging whines here anyway :)

Mythree I'm so sorry you're having to deal with so much. It's not like you can just jack it all in and take a break either as I'm guessing DH wouldn't have a clue where to start with picking up everything you have to do! I'm assuming he knows how you're feeling from the meltdown. Has he said anything reassuring?

Bednest finally arrived but the delivery driver lady hadn't been instructed to collect the faulty one so now I'm stuck with a fucking huge box in my teeny tiny living room arghhhhhhh!!

Frying I'll have a read! I'm obsessed with reading blogs

What a nice idea to document your time frying. I agree about the boring housework. Just because we're at home I dont like that I should be responsible for it. Hence us getting a cleaner. It might be lazy but I want to enjoy my time off

felix are you gonna call them again to arrange the collection? They should deffo be offering compensation now!

thanks felix and mrsv it means I'll have to keep going! I'm aiming for one post a week.

a good blog I've started reading is called At Home with the Joneses athomewiththejoneses.com/ she seems nice and normal.

I've emailed them and awaiting a reply. I'm rubbish at this sort of thing and DP usually rings people as he's ace at complaining but they are only open 8 - 4.30 and he's at work until 5

I work in customer services. Best advice i can give is to be polite, explain exactly what has happened, be very clear, and explain what you want, while being realistic.

I'd also email first though, being honest

frying yes, this is v usual for her. Sadly. Oh well, her choice I guess. I have to keep remembering that I won't be like this with A when she grows up if I am, DH has license to shoot me.

altered can we help with the shipping? I can take delivery of a parcel and send on to France/Egypt? In fact, depending on timings, we (my work) send parcels to our Cairo office reasonably regularly, it could go in there, potentially? Shame not to get what you want...
I also lived in ME as a child (Oman), absolutely adored it - I'm sure that's part of why I became an Egyptologist!

mythree hugs. I do know a bit how you feel as my DH has a tendency to leave the decisions/thinking/mundane stuff to me. I have to keep reminding myself to ask him to pull his weight - not nag or sulk (my natural default) - as he doesn't do it to be a dick, he forgets. And YYYY to the 'do it now if you're going to help'. If you leave it two weeks days I will get pissed off and do it myself. And resent you. And mutter while I do it.
That said, like toby I get a lot of support from him. He took over at 5am this morning (she'd had both boobs and was still WIDE AWAKE EYES) and got her back down while I went back to bed, then got her ready at 8.30 for going to the docs for jabs, while I had a shower.

felix keep meaning to say, ours was a bit broken when it arrived. Was v unimpressed but they sorted it quicker than they have for you, keep on at them. They can do it! You poor thing, how shit.

Oh, and stupid question: we might go and see DH's mum for a couple of days next week. Do I need a travel cot or will the pram carrycot do for overnights? She's only ever slept overnight in the bednest. Not sure if the pram thing is supportive enough, or will 2 nights not matter? Any tips on travelling / packing?

It depends on if it's suitable to sleep in. What make/model do you have? Otherwise a travel cot will be fine. Ds1 always sleeps better in a travel cot then his bed!

humpty we went back to my parents last weekend and Henry slept in the pram but ours ( uppababy) is advertised as being ok for overnight due to breathable base. For a couple of nights I'm sure any one would be fine though

Frying I've emailed politely I wouldn't even know how to raise the subject of some sort of compensation for the mess up! I'd feel too cheeky even though I know it's their fault.

Humpty when we have been away we took the bednest as it folds up quite neatly. It depends how much space you have if you're taking a car though! Carrycot should be fine. Babies can sleep anywhere as long as it's safe. You could even put her in an open drawer if you wanted to

Also don't forget the steriliser. That's pretty much all we packed in terms of kit

Emailing for comp is even easier.

when they reply, email them back referencing what they said in the email. Follow it with "I'm sure you'll agree, this whole situation is less than ideal. While initially i was happy with the replacement, having to wait in twice for a new one to be delivered, then having to wait in again for the broken one to be collected, is very inconvenient. In light of this, i think I'm entitled to compensation. I believe blah blah to be a suitable amount"

The carrycot thing is more to do with airflow. The ones they can sleep overnight in have some sort of vents, I think, so the air can circulate and they don't get too hot.

We're going to a wedding next month and M will be sleeping in the pram overnight in the hotel because we won't have room in the car to take the pram and a travelcot. Stupid massive pram!

Totally agree re DHs being a bit shit sometimes, however supportive. I had a passive aggressive strop last night because it hadn't crossed either DH or DS's minds to do the dishes while I fed M. She was really upset because I eventually had to hand her over to DH and do the dishes myself. I muttered and huffed the whole time. Tonight I will mostly be feeling like a nag because I'll be mentioning that and also grounding DS due to the fact that I've found clean, folded laundry on his bedroom floor for the FUCKING MILLIONTH TIME!
I wash it, dry it, fold it and put it on his bed for him to put away. It ends up on the floor every time

Rant over :o

humpty N slept in his pram carrycot for the first six weeks because we didn't have room. There were holes in the base under the mattress but no vents in the side, tbh I doubt it is meant to be used for overnight sleeping. I chucked out an armchair to make room for the travelcot after that because once he had unfurled a bit it became quite snug and he got enraged every time his hands touched the sides and became a sleep refuser. He sleeps much better in the travelcot. Unless your carrycot is very roomy it might be worth having a trial run to make sure A will sleep in it.

Travelcots are pretty cheap and you should get a lot of use out of one so it probably makes sense to buy one anyway. If I had a car and was choosing whether to take a pram or a travelcot I would take the cot and put N in a sling every time, especially if the cot had a changing table.

Thanks for the offer of help with shipping. I can have the nappies sent here fine, I was just thinking how much it would cost if the elastic went once we were back in Egypt and I had to return them.

I am playing the good wife today. Idefrosted made a pork casserole and knocked up some crusty bread to go with it. Dh thinks I'm ace, and I'm basking in the smug glow.

also, ds1 is down for the night and Henry is asleep in his Moses Basket is asleep too! Definitely feeling good

Go frying! I've come on here to celebrate too - I've just managed to breastfeed whilst baby wearing!
it was shit compared to feeding on sofa with trash paper, laptop and snacks

What carrier puggle. I've managed in the moby but it wasn't hugely comfortable for me or Alex.

Does anyone else feel like they're constantly ill at the moment? I can't remember it being like this when dd was little - is it a toddler thing?

Baby bjorn - loosen one shoulder strap to lower sprog and then scooped boob up a bit. Never in a million years did I think I'd manage 12 weeks ago!
I am off to sling meet tomorrow to find another carrier as Hugh is getting heavy and I don't fancy forward facing carrying too much

Lost a long post on the pc, thought it had posted but sadly not so sorry to those I miss as now on my phone.

Love the idea of feeding in a sling, will have to try if I get a chance. Hope the sling meet goes well, let us know which ones you like. Need to find something for my ginormo baby!

Humpty sorry your mum is being horrible again, I know how hard it is when thinking of breaking contact. I got very close late in my pregnancy and only keeping things going by having weekly visits. These are driving me mad and I still face the wo is me power trips.

Toby glad your evening was better than expected and that the gaviscon is working. Hope this is the start of better times.

Had a mixed day here. Last night Alice slept from 8:30pm to 1am and then till 5am so getting there but this afternoon she cried as if in pain on waking and then at bed time she cried in pain again and refused the breast for 10 mins.. Also cried during the feed Hope this isn't the start of something.

I've also discovered babies who lunch london. Brilliant invention of another new mum arranging things for parents that you can do with young babies. No longer stuck to just baby focused activities! Going to Koffmann's for lunch in April

Ooh fly what's this lunch thing?

Thanks for the invite to the fb group frying.

tarka I know the feeling. Have never been so ill as the past 10 months or so. Think my immune system is shit at the mo. Everything DS gets I seem to get. Still trying to shift this cold but it's definitely in its way out. Yay!!

Managed the night routine on my own tonight as DH was working late. Cheated and didn't bath DS, just Lara. Was still tricky dividing myself and poor Lara had a good cry. She then settled in her basket from 8 to 11. Just fed her again about to put her down again.

Jabs tomorrow. Dreading it!

fly I've found that group and the lunch sounds great, much more my thing than a normal baby group! Would you mind if I gate crashed the lunch? Or would that be weird?

Good luck with the jabs pidgy