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.

You're not crap at all, enormouse. Having a toddler and a baby is hell on earth. Freezer meals won't kill anyone!

We have a blue car seat and a red pram. And I very rarely dress Meredith in anything particularly girly. We like to confuse people :o

I've gone overboard on the pink and someone still asked how old 'he' was!

Just watched one born every minute as DS is at the childminder today. It's making me broody!! Shit!!
Please can everyone remind me how tough I've found these past 10 weeks and how little sleep I'm having of I ever say we might try for another.

Never say never, but will make the decision when Lara is 3.

We had the rotavirus drops too here. I think it's new. DS never had it anyway and it's not mentioned in his red book. Made her do lots of poos!

I'm planning on taking Lara swimming at some point. DS did lessons when he was little and he's now really confident in the water. He does toddler lessons now too which he loves. Think I'll start in a few months.

Broody already pidgy
I was like that when dd3 was very small, needless to say dh was dead cert No on the idea. However we have 5 dc now so my broodiness never went

No more dc for me now, so I just cannot get broody. Will keep baby pumpkin in babygrows for aslong as I can to ward it off if broodiness arises! I definitely think she will be the most babied of all my dc.

Enormouse don't be so hard on yourself you are juggling a newborn and a toddler and doing a fine job! I am in awe of you ladies who have more than one to look after.

Pumpkin 5 DC you are Wonder Woman!!!!!

I have always hated the whole pink girly thing, but I've really embraced it since people kept asking if Sylvie was a boy or a girl. Our pram is red and navy blue with white stars and quite boyish so I always make sure she's got a pink blanket just in case... Actually, looking at her now, she's dressed head to toe in pink with a pink bib WHAT HAVE I BECOME?!

enormouse if it helps, we've been referred to the paediatrician too. Henry has dropped two centiles since being born, he's on the 0.4th. He's only 9lb10, put on only 2lb 3ozs since birth which isn't a lot. Him not eating at night isn't good, but i cant make him. I've tried waking him, undressing him, etc and he still only takes 1oz and it takes an hour to take it. He just doesn't want to eat at night. He slept 6.30pm until 4.40 in his cot last night, and then in our bed until 7. The Dr said that he cant recommend hungry baby milk and it's not really any more calories in it. So paediatrician it is. The Dr wants me to get to 16 weeks and if he hasn't put on more weight, we're to wean him. Which isn't what I wanted to happen. He's on the 9th centile for height i think.

felix we're getting the train in. Apparently there is some kinda kids play centre thing about a mile away which we'll take them too.

Thanks guys. Ds1 is (usually) such a happy little guy it didn't occur that there'd be something wrong. Dp and I were very short kids but we're distinctly average now heightwise (me 5ft3ish and dp 5ft11).

frying I hope you get resolution from the paediatrician. I know how worrying it is, feeding and food is what we're supposed to be in control of.

felix that made me laugh. The non gender specific clothing crew would have a field day …that said h and m have fantastic bright unisex clothes for babies. Cal has lovely sets from there, one with green stripy leggings, matching hat and owl print bodysuit and another one that's brown with a raccoon theme.

pidgy I felt like that too, thinking maybe 3 would be nice. Then I realised I have to potty train DS1 soon and changed my mind.

enormouse my HV's desire to refer Persephone to a paediatrician for her 'poor weight gain' is well documented on here I think. Some HV's are just obsessed with it, without thinking that some people will always be smaller than others!

band we had the rotovirus drops as well! but I wasn't given any follow up advice about them, which is a shame as I've been covered in DD's poo several times in the last few days - hope I don't get sick!

Poor Percy has been feeding really badly for the last couple of days - crying to be fed and then screaming at the sight of my boob. Not very flattering, but classic reflux behaviour I think. She's had me in tears several times today though, it is so disheartening and DH can't bear her screaming (it makes his ears hurt apparently) so he won't take her when he's home either. Roll on the referral, Gaviscon isn't doing anything at all (except making her poo look like lentil purée!)

Cine babies was good, but they keep showing films with dead/dying children in them. Not great for a room full of hormonal women with newborns!

Some babies are small, some are average and some are big. Some health professionals are obsessed with centiles being on the line, most probably the case with your baby enormouse

My 1st baby was born weighing 5lb 11 2 weeks overdue: health professionals accused me of smoking during pregnancy (which I did not) and even with subsequent babys I have had several mws ask why she was so small. It's ridiculous, she is just small & infact still is 11yrs later.
Some people are small, -tis life

and in height the same applies. It doesn't always mean there is a problem.
Fwiw my niece was short as a baby, they suspected dwarfism, but she doesnt have it, she is just dainty

Enormouse we have the same H&M set in green with a hippo on the front

I am very jealous of free rotavirus vaccines! They cost a fortune for DD and are about to cost even more for N, I think €230. Once we go back to Egypt everything is private and the French vaccination schedule has changed so N will only get two rounds of shots before we go. Also, I can't get bexsero here even on private prescription because they only want immunocompromised individuals to have it. I don't really understand because the cost will be borne entirely by us, and I think the state of healthcare in Egypt doesn't exactly give anyone a fighting chance. And breathe!

Sorry for the crazy rant but as you can doubtless tell I am getting super stressed about going back this summer and trying to plan for every possible eventuality, which isjust making me crazier. Yesterday caught myself trying to choose a baby carrier for a hypothetical holiday we won't be able to afford. I need to get out more but N now feeds and cries from 8am to 3pm, then I tryand eat lunch, then I have to pick up DD at 4.30 and try to keep them both safe and happy until 10pm when DH comes home and I give him N to try and lure DD into sleeping. I usually conk out before her, wake in a pool of drool around 12, put N to bed and go to sleep before DH tries to spend time with me. It is shit, and I hate that I am not able to provide DD with more structure and better meals. She has been sleeping in her favourite dress the last three nights ffs.

BIL coming to stay for a week on sat, DF and DSM plus DB and DSS will be in a hotel and I am dreading it. We live in a studio flat with a concertina door to separate off the sleeping space, BIL will be in sofa bed beside N's cot so I will have to be fully dressed 24/7 and I jst hope to God I don't kill anyone.

Sorry, I came on just to tell enormouse not to feel bad but I imploded.

book not sure of exact incubation period but I think it is quite short and the explosive diarrhoea and rapid dehydration would be hard to miss, so hopefully you are ok.

Do you know which rotavirus vaccine the nhs is using? Is it the two dose or the three dose one?

Sorry, just reread your message properly book. I am sorry things sre so shit. DHs really can be completely useless can't they?

DSM tried to compliment me the other week by saying DD was beautiful in her coat and reminded her of the little girl in 'The Birds'! Didn't freak me out at all...

I think it was called Rotarix or something similar altered, I'm hoping it is just two doses as it can aggravate reflux apparently. It sounds very stressful for you at the moment, so don't be so hard on yourself. If DD sleeps in her favourite dress it won't hurt, so don't sweat it. Could your BIL not stay in a hotel too?

Yep, rotarix is two doses, rotateq is three.

BIL is a student, so hotels are out. He is coming for DH's viva too, so we can't really ask to reschedule either.

altered you are doing great. Hugs. Btw, I ordered take away 3 days in a row because I was too tired to cook. As Toby wisely said it won't kill them.

book I've been lurking and following your hv tales. Can't your DP take her out in a pram/carrier?

pumpkin thanks. . I just feel angry that poor DS1 has been constantly measured and weighed because of these bastard centiles. When he was younger it was his weight, it fell a few centiles and the HVs were ridiculous over it despite him being healthy and a good eater (put cream in his cereal ffs) and now it's his height.

enormouse thanks. It is funny that no HV seems to have been told that children's growth isn't linear! My DD is quite short and seems to grow in a steps. First she bulks up and starts looking tubby, then she suddenly gets taller and seems a more normal shape. In Egypt they wanted her on special formula to bulk up, in France they wanted her to lose weight. You can't win, so just let it all wash over you! As long as he is eating and happy and healthy it is unlikely there is a problem.

Today I ordered some presents for my Mum from Mimosa Street. I really like the trinket boxes and vases, though the bracelets look nice too. 15% off until april 1st with discount code KTGTC15.

Sorry, forgot to say, discount code via kat got the cream

enormouse you're doing brilliantly! Ignore anyone who tells you differently, as they are mad wrong.

book your DH needs to take Alex for an hour. Now, that would hurt his ears poor delicate blossom that he is. She is, objectively, incredibly loud. Even doting relatives reluctantly say things like 'well, it's good that she's got such healthy lungs' whilst looking at me like ---->

toby wasn't thinking polio! More MRSA/C.Diff/winter vomiting virus etc. I'm sure it will be fine.

frying hugs.

Had a good day today, despite Alex screaming at her great grandma for almost an hour with hardly a pause. Afterwards she did a humungous poo, quite paste-y (interesting you say this about Gaviscon, she's not on anything) and I had to change her in the back of the car in the services car park. Felt pretty ninja after that!

MrsV I go to Sainsburys a) as something to do and a reason to g out and b) because I love our new car and will take any excuse to go for a drive! Sad, innit?

altered that's shit. Bloody stupid healthcare systems. Although after Alex's total lack of sleep post Rotavirus drops, you can have our next dose for free?

But the jabs don't protect babies from those things, Humpty. That's what I meant. The things the jabs protect them from are unlikely to be things found in a nursing home.

Also, re growth/height/centiles etc, our GP, v charming Frenchman, v sensible, told me Alex is 'harmonic' because she is huge everywhere in proportion. Actual measurements are kind of irrelevant, surely, unless they show huge weight losses or increases?

toby sorry! tired brain! I misphrased. My slight concern about going to the nursing home wasn't to do with jabs/being vaccinated against stuff before we go, just that she'd be potentially at risk of coming into contact with viruses etc, at a v young age. It's the drug-resistant infections that I'm concerned about, but only slightly, not panicking.

Oooh, perhaps I didn't read properly. I thought you'd said your HV said it wasn't a good idea until she'd had all her jabs. I was thinking your HV was crackers like book's !