Elderberries no 2 - all old and new berry babies welcome!

[HazleNutt]

New thread!

hummmm, not good, enjoy the wine merk, think i'd do the same.

Ow Merk, that's not fun. I found one of my stitches when I wiped - thought it was some sort of horrible worm at first (grim) - but I'm guessing you've had something rather more substantial unravelling?! Definitely worth getting midwife to check it.

So I took W to the doctor for the 4th time today about her persistent eye infection (been like it since birth, had 2 different sets of drugs but neither has resolved it, doctors have previously dismissed as blocked tear duct, PITA) because I am now worried that when she is tired the infected eye is drifting into a squint - it's happened a couple of times that I have noticed. I am really concerned that it's because her vision is blurry in that eye so often she is not using it as properly. The doctor today agreed with me and has referred me to the eye clinic at the hospital. So I am relieved to have someone finally take it seriously, but also really worried we've left it too late and her eyes are going to be affected long term. Feeling really shitty about it today.

Oh quod try not to beat yourself about it (easier said than done I know). Hopefully whatever it is, it has been caught early and will have no long term effects on her eyesight. When do you see a doctor again?
Merk try and be brave and call mw... Just to make sure nothing is infected down there!
Over here it's stupid o'clock, I've just fed L and she is now sleeping happily - and I can't get back to sleep

Oh lol it's so annoying when you can't get back to sleep and they're sleeping peacefully! S woke me up with a cry at 12 tonight but I didn't feed her as that's too early for her first wake up, and soothed her - surprisingly she went back to sleep without a feed! Then she was up at 2am but fell asleep well after the feed and she's up again now at 5am, her usual pattern. Hopefully I'll get another hour or two of sleep!

Anyway quod please don't feel bad, you're getting it looked into and getting it sorted One thing I remember being told is breast milk is a great healer and once when S had a gunk in one eye and it looked sore (I'd briefly seen a toddler with conjunctivitis the wkend before), I kept squirting her in the eye with bf and it seemed to clear up straight away. Worth a try if you haven't already?

Nope looks like 5am is morning for us damn it She def wakes herself up with wind as I could hear her straining and farting, and thrashing around, in her cot. Giving her more milk to try and make her sleepy!

Another night of H sleeping through here, down at 8.30 and not awake yet sorry guys don't hate me but I've been awake since 5 due to OHs snoring!!! payback right

quod try not to panic, it is very very early in Ws life so I am sure if there is an issue they can sort it. Hope all is ok for you.

Hope you get on ok today merk!!

quod that must be worrying, but she's so young, I'm pretty sure she will be just fine. Good that someone is finally taking you seriously though.

merk same applies to you, they can surely sort it out if there's anything not joined that should be, but you should get it checked out.

I love the time change - V now goes to bed an hour later, so I get to spend more time with him in the evenings. And wakes an hour later as well. Last couple of nights we have had one wake-up only.

DH has found a facebook group of (mostly expat) househusbands in the area and meets up with them once per week now, apparently last time there were about 20 of them present, so quite a large group. Most men he has spoken to there at least claim to be totally happy with their life and don't have any issues taking care of home and kids - so if any of you are considering the same option, don't believe the "oh but poor men, they just could not manage..."

I think DH would jump at the chance to spend the day with S if it made financial sense for me to be the worker!

In all honesty, I'm often quite envious that DH gets to spend all that time with V. Especially if he tells me what cute things he had done on that day, learning new skills and all. But as you say alex, it just makes financial sense for us to do it this way.

DH still does a little bit of work, to keep the company ticking over. But he does not like what he does, so he is happier if he does not have to do it full time. And I'm happier if I know that DH is taking care of V, instead of putting him (V, not DH) to crèche.

We are in discussions about what the balance of childcare should be in our household, seeing as there is paid (totally flexible) work sitting waiting for me to do it, and DP's stuff is unpaid/speculative for long periods with intermittent windfalls. Hopefully we'll be able to work it out so that we split the childcare more evenly in a few months time when BF is less full-on. I really enjoy my working time but the pumping to facilitate it is pretty fucking dull.

Another one here whose DH would love to be a SAHD and I think I would enjoy a more even split of childcare, but he is 'financially trapped' (as he puts it) by his work because it's well paid. I get paid reasonably well (or I did before wanky SMP kicked in) but not a patch on DH so things are staying as they are.

Lovely holiday but back home now

Welcome back cavort! How was the hol? DH forgiven? And how was the flight? Please say absolutely fine given I'm braving 11 hours with M in September...

DP would love the idea of splitting childcare, but says that in reality he fears they would both spend all day in their pants watching tv and playing xbox. Am therefore glad that despite me being the major wage earner we were able to afford me taking the whole year off

Sleep is definitely regressing here, last night it was 1.30, 2.30-3.30 (she kept waking herself up and needed resettling over and over) then again at some point where I brought her into bed with me so that I could get a couple of hours light sleep while being flailed with small fists. I don't mind co sleeping per se but it really makes my shoulders ache as I sleep with one arm above her head. Staying at my parents next week (just me and W) and they don't have a spare cot so we will be co sleeping for 4 nights - I'm hoping having more of the bed to play with will make it easier to both be comfortable.

Yeah it's not great here either quod, we just need to hang on in there, slap on concealer and tell ourselves it will improve again! (Yawn!!!)

Newsflash: (ahem) DH and I dtd! I know, I know, it's been ages! I felt like with not wanting to wake S, me going to bed early, uncertainty about stitches etc, we haven't had much opportunity! quod put me to shame

welcome back cav! And the bikini photos, really - where's the spare tyre one?

quod this too will pass. Might get worse before it gets better, but it will pass.

It's also getting harder and harder to get her to nap - yesterday it took me 1.5 hrs to get her to fall asleep, and then she was only asleep an hour. Making a concerted effort today to try to get her to nap before she is tired but it is tricky as I can wind her down, have her somewhere totally calm and quiet and she will still fight sleep!

Alex we have dtd a total of 4 times I think in nearly 16 weeks so not exactly at it like rabbits. We have started referring to W as the human contraceptive.

Congrats and well done on DTD though! hope you made it count

S's naps haven't been hit yet, but she's fighting sleep at night. Woke at 12.15 for feed, then was up for hours after 3.30am feed with just one more hour sleep before morning. Rough. A million times better than her screaming colic days though.

Oh was just thinking about S, alex when we met up with our antenatal class. We also had one screaming colicky baby there and parents described the first couple of months as pure hell. And one day, she stopped. Just like that. Is an amazingly happy smiley little girl now, like a different child.

So if any new berry babies are like that - this too will pass.

Alex and Quod it seems really, REALLY shit at the time, but you will both live to tell the tale. It doesn't last long in the grand scheme of things, but in the meantime caffeine is your friend.

Quod our naps got so bad around 4 months that I just gave up and took her out in the car or pushchair rather than battling her to sleep. I used to time needing to go to the shops, take the dog out, etc. with her naps. I am a big fan of doing whatever makes my life easiest.

Alex well done on DTD!

Thanks Janey. E was really good on both flights, much better than I expected she is usually a moaning, whining nightmare when bored or tired. We were even getting compliments on our well-behaved baby from other passengers. Obviously the days of spending a long haul flight watching films and boozing are gone and it was an 8 hour game of pass the baby instead but it really wasn't that bad. We got bassinet seats which is really worth it if you can get them? It meant we could put her down when she napped rather than trying to get her to nap on us which is difficult in a economy-sized seat. The bassinets are for babies up to 24 pounds but the stewardess said they are fine for older/heavier babies as long as they still fit in it and she has seen plenty of babies sleeping in them with their feet hanging over the end.

Hazle I can't bring myself to tag myself in the spare tyre picture but I will see if I can put it on our FB group as I don't mind that. I'm not sure if I can though as it's from my friend's phone.

Withou sounding like a perve cav your body looks hot on your hols! You are another of my yummy mummy inspirations to motivate me! (said as I consider where I can get a good chocolate eclair at Westfield today)

Oh and hazle she really does seem like a different baby, so much happier I often say that to my mum actually and she defensively says S has always been a good baby, honestly you'd think she's her baby, bless her

cav I would say more milf territory than yummy mummy, but that's more because I hate the term 'yummy mummy' with a passion....sorry, it's another 'baby dust' for me.

H is still a shit napper post 4 month hellish sleep regression alex, I also make sure I time our morning dog walk to allow for some napping same as cav, then if I go out again I make sure its mid afternoon so he has another nap.

Love the fanfare for dtd no nooky in this house as my OHs snoring making him very unattractive!

Just found out our car failed the mot bloody thing!

I got called a milf by some teenagers once. However I was only 30 and childless at the time so didn't take it as a compliment!