julf fab idea to type posts in Notes - that shall be my strategy from here on in! Glad the magic pills are working for you. Sounds like a good idea to phase a return home - for both you and your husband. Hopefully the time away will have helped him to adjust gradually to parenthood - rather than being sledgehammered with it like the rest of us!
I also bought a baby manicure set, and used it for the first time today - while Ruben was awake! I couldn't bear the thought of waking him up by cutting his nails (sleep is precious) so I did it during a calm awake phase. It took me twenty minutes, and getting the clippers hooked round each teeny tiny nail while he was waving his arms around and cooing at me was pretty tricky, but he smiled his way through it!
Floss sorry to hear about DH troubles. As others have said, it sounds more like he's being a bit thoughtless rather than intentionally selfish - sounds like you might need a few frank chats. Hope he pulls himself together soon.
dats ta for the tea and sympathy. I think I am trying to apply myself to breastfeeding as if it's a science with set rules and outcomes, and clearly this is not going to work as all babies and jubblies are different. I'm not sure if it is comforting or terrifying to hear that cracking it with baby number one doesn't necessarily mean easy street with baby number two! Delighted to hear the kitchen is done (as someone who lived with chipboard makeshift work surfaces for nearly a year, I know the pain of kitchens-in-progress).
And hoorah for the name! Joscelin is lovely. We got a slap-your-wrists letter in the post last week for not having registered Ruben, giving us one more chance before prosecution! As a matter of fact we had registered him - albeit last minute dot com - and the birth certificate was already in our possession, so some admin wires got crossed somewhere. Did try to ring them and tell them this but they didn't pick up, so DH chucked the letter. Hope we don't get any big scary official types showing up on our doorstep now...
Beaut I was seriously impressed by your comment to mil. You go girl!
primary I want pics of those spice rack bookshelves when you're done! Also, I finally bought breast shells and GOOD GOD they have revolutionised both feeding and expressing. No longer having to stuff a muslin down my bra (iPhone just autocorrected that to a Muslim down my bra...!) to avoid soaking through a Tshirt every time - plus I am collecting a ton of milk. Yippee! (Although at 3am the other night I managed to put one in upside down and ended up with milk pouring through my bra onto my pyjama shorts!)
Sophie Ruben's burps rival my husband's! They are astounding!
Anna I'm not googling so much... Just mainlining shit TV on Amazon Prime. I nailed two series of The Unreal (freaking hilarious) and am now on Under The Dome which started promisingly but has rapidly descended into nonsensical plot twists. May give that up and investigate this mysterious Yes to the Dress which I've never heard of before!
Ruby thank you ever so for the BF group details. If I can't find anything more locally now term has started I will be heading over! Also, what is with your mother?! That is possibly better than my dad asking me to do his laundry when I was 41 weeks pregnant...!
sock lovely news about your friends' wedding. Sorry about the brats...
julf loving the escapee neologism! Yeah Ruben is more farty (slash pooey) at night but I can't seem to get it all out - so the hours of 4 till 6 are spent with Straining Babe.
So we are doing quite a bit better with feeding, although it has taken time and patience, and earlier this week I really didn't think we would ever sort it. I was very down and beating myself up about it, but then had a bit of an epiphany in realising that I don't think badly of anyone else who is struggling, so why was I being so harsh on myself? Did a bit of a mental dusting down and shoulder shrugging, and sallies forth with a more positive attitude. Which is paying off!
Things that have helped: I am making sure that I 'pull' my nipple out as far as I can (by kind of squidging and pressing it) before trying to latch him on, and I am being very hot on removing him when the latch slips (which it does, often). The last couple of days, Ru has actually started opening his mouth noticeably wider, which is allowing his bottom lip to flange out when he latches. So exciting, as his lower lip has always been tucked in and pinchy before.
He still doesn't open his mouth wide at night when he is sleepy, however, so at the moment I am still on this expressing regime overnight. DH feeds him at about 12 and 6, and I do the 3am feed as well as expressing so that DH is not as zombie like as me the following day. It works ok but I am getting lazy about getting up for the expressing (the alarm doesn't pull at my heartstrings like a baby crying) - I am about half an hour late each time which is not good cumulatively and I am going to have to squeeze in an extra pump this morning to make up for it. Bad mummy. But oh, sleeping for more than 2 hrs in a row is soooooo nice...
The HV has seen us twice and we have finally, finally been referred to a BF specialist nurse, who I hope will get in contact with us on Monday.
So who are we backing in Bake Off? I am loving Selasi, obvs, but I also hope Val stays in for a while because she just warms the cockles of my heart. I am also quite fond of Candice - I like the way she is trying but kind of failing to hide her competitiveness - although her lipstick in week one reminded me of my poor make up choices in teenage years as a pseudo goth type.
In other news, I cleaned our utterly filthy fridge yesterday while my friend cuddled Ruben. It made me so happy that I took a photograph, which I shall now inflict on you all.