July 2016 #2

[Bluebell20]

A new thread as we (hopefully) move towards longer sleeps and lovely little smiles!

Just want to say thanks to you all for the travelling advice. Started drawing up my list tonight - even though still over a month to go. I think I'll be uptight the whole time but at least I'll be prepared!

Gosh rolly and elf - these jabs are horrible! Mo finally fed ok at 7 this eve but still a bit forlorn. Really don't think the blinkin hot weather helped! Hoping he'll be back to his smiley self tomorrow when it's more sensible weather! How's everyone else?

rolly it's one I bought from Boots before he was born, only just getting big enough for it so making the most of the sunny weather!

primary randomly just read about engorgement in hot weather on another site! Apparently, your body can signal to the boobs to make more because baby will need more fluids to keep hydrated. Clever stuff.

Anna - yes the cocoonababy is a very different shape from the sleepyhead I think. Not sure if it would work with the SH.

Rolly - thanks for the high 5! Our homecoming is still going pretty well on the whole. Looking forward to getting involved in various baby groups now I'm back home in London 😊
Re feeding in a sling - I am totally in awe of anyone who can do this!
Good luck with the expressing.
And Harry Potter will be awesome!

Elf - not sure if you saw further upthread, but I've recently gone through something similar and am now being treated for post-natal anxiety. It was the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced. Hope you're doing ok. So glad you've got such support from your hubby.

Birchy - nice to hear from you! Hope your little boy feels better very soon.

Cheery - I hope Baby Cheery is living up to the family name again soon! J was feverish and lethargic and grouchy for a day or so after his jabs, but has then been really happy for the following week so it obviously didn't affect him for too long 😊 (I'm awaiting the next turning point soon 😬)

Cookies - thanks, yes, I'm feeling really positive about things at the mo. I'm so much more confident now that I've cut the metaphorical cord from my parents - I've had a few days on my own with jasper now and it's a massive confidence-booster to have got through the day and actually achieved stuff too! I'm glad things are feeling better for you too - but do give me a shout if ever you want to chat.
Yes I hear you on the unworn outfits! I bought a multipack of plain white everyday ones, but Jasper was given so many cute outfits that I've barely used the boring white ones! One of my friends had told me that, because of all the accidents, babies get through about three outfits per day, but I really haven't (yet) found that to be the case - I had far too many!
Re the Caboo, yes it's sweltering! Mine is an old model and the material is much thicker than the latest model. Totally unusable in this heat.
Ha ha, yes you're probably right about boobs weighing a stone! Fab work on losing the inches - well done you!

Ruby - if you dunk your norks in a bucket you can measure the displacement to find out their volume 😄 Feel free to report back to us 😉
Re BF, I've only not given up because I'm bloody-minded. I kind of wish I hadn't bothered, but I kept feeling that I was so far down the road that I didn't want to admit defeat.
What does the sensory sesh involve?
Your gorgeous littl'un has the BEST facial expressions!

Becks and Sock - your babies look so happy and chilled! Very cute!

Primary - I've been getting some shooting pains occasionally too. Are yours up near your armpits?

Went to my first baby group today (apart from meeting up with my own Nct ladies). It was totally unstructured (ie just sitting round with tea and biscuits) but it was actually really nice - chatted to some really lovely ladies 😊 Some of them were going to the pub afterwards, which I thought was a good sign 😉 Sadly I couldn't join them as I had other plans afterwards, but hopefully next time.

For those within travelling distance of London, is anyone up for a meet-up at the end of November? FifiRebel is going to be in town with little Luca, and a couple of others are also up for it. Anna, Elf, AllTheGood - are you near London? Who else? Cheery? Elliz?

Then & Now photo below

9 weeks today

I'm in Kent, so pretty near London! julf a lot of mine stems from mental health problems before pregnancy and hormones/baby stress kicking it back off. I've been put back on anti-psychotics on a low dose to try and manage my anxiety a bit along with some of the stuff anti-psych's are usually used for. I've always been close to my parents though, I phoned my mum in tears the Tuesday after hubs went back to work as I could not cope - he made the decision to stop work for me and Logan, and I think he is happier as he hated his job at the end.

I'm relatively near Maidstone if I'm honest, I don't like to be too specific just in case, and head stuff. We may be able to go, it's dependant on money as we rely on benefits and also how I'm feeling (and if el fuckface hubs wants to drive). Yes, as you can tell, I'm pissed at him - Logan has his bedtime, and he was more interested in being on ps4 with his brothers then getting Logan sorted, then he wouldn't settle and I've spent the best part of an hour sorting him out whilst he's playing some fucking online game online - obviously not the best thing to do if the kiddo hasn't settled - 4th fucking time he's been pissing about online this week and not been able to help. I am not happy, he's meant to be here to help but how can he if he's playing fucking online missions.

(Sorry for the swearing, I needed to vent in a healthier fashion than either shouting at gitboy or other things...)

gitboy is hubs, not Loganbear - Logan's a baby, he can't help it, he can't talk, he can only communicate through grump and crying.

Thank you very much all you lovelies for your breastfeeding cheerleading - you lot were one of the key reasons that I felt able to persevere so thank you.

Julfin mega thanks for the detailed positions descriptions! When you described the one handed feed I thought you must have biceps of adamantine, but I tried it out yesterday and while I'm not brace enough to move round with him yet I am pleased to report that even with weakling me it is possible!

Cookies massive congrats on the inches loss! I hadn't thought about measuring and I wish I had been now! I did measure my waist at the height of pregnancy but can't for the life of me remember what it was. I do know what it was before I was pregnant though and I think it will be a long old while before I'm back there!

Cheery I'm so sorry that Mo had a rough time with the jabs. Hope he feels better by the morning.

elfen I would be cross too - your DH needs to realise that his priorities have to be different now. Can you have a chat about it when you feel a bit calmer? Maybe he doesn't realise how much pressure you feel when he doesn't help out. I did read a blog the other day where the mum described how pissed off she was in the first few weeks that her husband could just go for a wee whenever he wanted, whereas she was having to hang on for ages for an opportune moment! It's the stuff like that that our partners may not realise unless we explain it to them, I guess!

I have just been snappy with my own DH and am feeling guilty now. He came back into our room for the first night in ages. Ruben was starting to make little waking up noises which I tend to ignore until they escalate (sometimes he goes back to sleep, plus he feeds better when he is properly awake, plus I am milking every minute of sleep I can). DH (very nicely, I must say, I even got a 'my darling' which makes me feel even more guilty) woke me up to feed him and I snapped that I knew he was stirring and would get up when I needed to and not before. DH then left for the spare room!!! Whoops. I will have to apologise in the morning. To be fair the health visitor did say in our post natal class to do exactly what I have done, so that if the baby isn't really hungry they have the chance to self soothe back to sleep. I will explain that to DH in the morning over a conciliatory coffee...

primary sorry you didn't get the reassurance you needed with the lump. Could it be a blockage? Keep an eye on it - if you're still not happy in a few days, head back to the GP.

julf I would be quite keen to meet up! End of November might be too early for me to travel that far solo, but I won't discount it and I would definitely be keen on future meet ups.

Bluebs - so glad you had some luck with the one-handed hold. I'm sure you'll be fine moving around - and you do always have your second hand if you need it.
I'm sure your DH will understand re leaving Ru until he's properly awake. But yes, an apologetic coffee sounds like a good idea!
Glad you're up for a meet-up - it'd be lovely to meet you! Remind me where you are? Yes, I agree long journeys are daunting at this stage.

Elf - sorry your DH is being such a doofus (ha! There's a word you don't hear very often!). Do have a serious talk with him, so he fully realises how much pressure you're under and what support you need. Keeping fingers crossed it gets better.

Cheers julf. Yeah poor DH - I am not at my best when being talked awake before I need to be! I'm in Somerset so not too far from Londinium, but driving cars in cities is my kryptonite so I would probably catch a train.

Just woke up to find little man lying across his chicco cot. He's only had nearly 9 hours sleep!! What a super star. Better feed him now. Xx

We did have a chat in bed last night - we explained each side (he, being typical man, thought that when I said I'm fine I meant it) and that we're going to stick to a new rule - no online gaming when little man is grumbly, but you can when he's napping/asleep for the night.

Brilliant elfen - sounds like the perfect solution.

Birchy - I am a tad jealous!!! Well done!

Quarter to 8 till quarter to 8 last night! (With a half hour feed at half past midnight)

Was supposed to have next set of jabs today but he's running a wee bit of a temperature. I'm full of the cold and must have passed it on to him. Poor wee scone. He's now in a calpol induced coma though and very peaceful!

Hope those of you down south aren't too affected by the weather. We've actually got quite a nice sunny day at the moment so planning to take him for a walk. Just hope the weather holds.

elfen I've concluded that men are just a bit thick/clueless where baby rearing is concerned and don't know what a hint is. I'm just blatant about it now. "Here you go, I'm going for a shower" or "your turn to feed him". I think dh appreciates that more and I feel like I'm not doing absolutely everything anymore.

That's very true - I have just told him I'll be going to have a nap now, I'm so shattered.

Logan has had his 12 week jabs, luckily he's not been as shitty and is currently napping happily.

Cookies well done on the inch loss that's fab.

Julfin pleased you are back home a feeling a bit like yourself again.

I'm still struggling to get anything done each day. I don't do the school run anymore I just send the older boys themselves as I just can't get out the house in the morning.

I will catch up properly later.

Love all the pics of our gorgeous babies. I've added ours.

10 weeks today

Elfen &,sock yes to dh being clueless! If you give them a choice they will choose one with least work for them! Dh has started coming in when I'm getting Sophie dressed in the morning and getting all in her face and in my way so I've started just leaving the room and doing something else. Means I'm not waiting on him to do it- like change sterilized or make bottles.

Took sophie into work today. Does anyone else wanna scream when people say get that dummy out of her mouth!? I try not to use constantly but she is a crier/screamer and anything that distracts her from that is a good move in my book! If they wanna settle her when she's in a screaming mood be my guest!! Argh!

sophie yes! Constantly "oh does he just use the dummy for sleeping?" Or "what does the advice say about dummies and teeth these days?"

He has a dummy because it soothes him. He may take it for 30 seconds or 30 minutes or he may not want it at all sometimes. But if he needs soothing then a soother is the way forward!

I am his mummy. I know him best. I make the best choices for him.

If you don't like it, knob off!

Ha! sock - 'knob off' really made me chuckle!! Gosh, I'd be lost without the dummy. Mo is a high volume super screamer! His Grandma thinks he might be an opera singer!! I'm doing everyone in the one mile radius a favour by using that dummy, any comments very unwelcome!

julf meet up sounds awesome! I'm in East London but we have a car so can travel further a field. Very exciting!

P.s. Mo remembering his Mum's nickname today and gave me a little smile (it's from Discworld in case anyone's wondering, there's a dwarf called Cheery Littlebottom that my uni friends charmingly named me after - I am short, it's true). Still a bit grumpy and sleepy today but GP checked him over yesterday and said he was ok. Trying not to worry, it's been over 48 hours....he's not got a fever or anything, just sleepy

Mo on day 2 and yesterday. Oof we've come a long way!

Loving all the baby pics, will post mine later!

Have used coconut oil on Annie's horrendously dry skin and cradle cap and by god it's done the job in 24 hours! (It does smell though)

On the opposite end of the scale - I'm chronically jealous of your dummy loving babies - nothing but boob for Annie which seems to wind people up even more!

I agree - knob off!

What beautiful babes we all have! 😄

Sock - yes I'm taking the direct approach with DH too. "I'm going to do my teeth, if you can look after J". I make sure not to say Please, because after all it's his baby too so I don't want to give the impression that he's doing me a favour. He says "just tell me when you need me to do something". Obviously I'd rather he was able to judge for himself eg when J needs a nappy change but that's clearly not going to happen, at least not any time soon, so the direct approach is the next best thing. Better than exhausting myself and getting really stressed, anyway.
Congrats on the 12 hour sleep!
Weather in southeast is pretty mizz but hey ho. We've had some glorious weather so can't complain!

Beaut, lovely to hear from you! What a gorgeous baby! I can't imagine coping with 2, let alone more. You are Supergirl! I really don't know how you do it. How's your DH? And are you managing to look after yourself, amidst looking after the menfolk? Make sure you take time to eat properly - you need your strength.

Sausage - re the dummy, yes I hate people offering their opinion un-asked. Maybe just respond with "the midwife says it's fine" to anything like that...? Or equally, I like Sock's response of "knob off"!

Cheery - fab re meet-up! We were thinking of somewhere near Victoria as it's easy to get to on several tube lines as well as trains and buses. I thought Inn the Park in St James's Park (short walk from Victoria or St J Park tube stations) might be good as it's got loads of space for toddlers to run round. But FifiRebel is going to set something up.

Primary - I LOVE the smell of coconut oil. I use it on my bounty-baby's little bottom when it's sore. Only problem is it melts so quickly and then I put it in the fridge and then I forget about it until it's rock-solid!

Trying to catch up on thread on my laptop rather than mobile - it looks weird!!