Septermber 07 poppers.....please meet here!

[dal21]

Hi ladies - cannot see a thread for the sept ladies who have popped. Thought I would start one (hope I havent been totally blind and missed one already set up)

we can share our trials and tribulations of our LO's here!

Well I rang the Health Visitor today to discuss what the midwife had said about limiting Poppy's feeds to 4 ounces every 4 hours and to tell her that it was distressing her and she told me to ignore the midwife and that Poppy should have gone from 8'9 to 9'8 in almost 3 weeks. So we have gone back to our old pattern of every 3 to 3 1/2 hourly feeds and Poppy is much happier and now sleeping! which is amazing and has meant that I can get some jobs done.

I half make up all Poppy's feeds at the beginning of the day I put all the boiling water in the bottles and allow it to cool and then I just add the formula as and when I need it, this seems to work for us.

I hope everyone is having a good day and managing to get some rest in between the crying!.

xxx

Hello everyone - I can finally join in this thread! I posted on the due Sept antenatal thread as well, my gorgeous daughter Lily finally arrived (13 days late) on Saturday morning. We are all very well and happy although still a bit sore and tired

I hope all of you are doing brilliantly too!

Hello everyone. Gee lots to catch up on. I've just got out of hospital, I've been there since Wed evening. I got taken ill in the afternoon, it turns out I've got pneumonia. I got out this evening and I'm feeling better now. This infection was deep seated and I'm wondering if its been there for quite some time causing me all the respiratory problems I had during my pregnancy. But instead they've been treating me for asthma. The good news is I'm getting treatment now.

They let me keep Liam with me in the hospital, which was good for him and bfing, but a bit hard work and tiring. I had to ff him for 24hrs because of the dye used in the ct scan, but he wasn't too impressed with that! He's also been getting bad belly ache and a nasty bum rash because of all the antibiotics I'm having. But I'm on pills now (rather than iv) and only got 2 more days so hopefully he should improve.

I'll catch up with all your news tomorrow, I hope you are all well and little babies are thriving. Are we complete now, have the last few come over?

hi all

Sadly my mum died yesterday, i think you all know she had been ill for a while. she collapsed on thursday and went back into hosptial and went downhill very rapidly. We spent the weekend at the hospital saying our goodbyes, she wasn;t conscious by then and i just spent the day telling her how much i loved her and all the things i am going to tell Linus about his granny.

Having Linus though is a great practival focus as i just have to keep going.

xx

Well I was going to have a moan about what a crap I night I had, but it pales into insignificance against the last two posts.

Kinki - Sorry to hear you have been ill, here's hoping to a full a quick recovery. I hope you have been getting all the support you need.

Sophus - Many hugs coming your way, I know how you feel, I lost my dad to leukemia when I was 5 months pregnant with ds1. Did your mum manage to see Linus? hold onto that if she did its a precious memory. My thoughts are with you at this sad time

Sophus - Arben and I send our love to you and you family at this sad time I hope your mum managed to meet Linus and glad that he is providing you with some comfort, they are quite special our LO's xoxoxoxo

Sophus, I'm so sorry for your loss . Lots of big hugs. I hope it makes it easier in some ways that you've got Linus to focus on, and I hope you managed to get a couple of photos of Linus with his granny before the end.

Kinki, sounds like you're having a really rough time too. I'm glad (and seriously impressed) that you managed to keep up with the bfing while you were in hospital. Hope you feel beter soon .

Sophus - I'm so very sorry to hear about your mum. I am glad she got to meet her lovely grandson. Thinking of you at this very sad time. xx

Kinki - was wondering where you were - very sorry to hear about the pneumonia and hospital admission and really hope they have got you sorted now and you are starting to feel better. Hope the radiographer who did your scan was as good as you . Big respect for keeping up the BF and hope Liam's rash clearing up. have you got anyone to help out with the other DS's so you can take it easy(ish)?

Emj - CONGRATULATIONS AT LAST on the arrival of Lily - so good to see you over here - enjoy your beautiful girl!

Haven't posted since ds3 was born - all quite hectic.

However, just seen Sophus's post and want to say how sorry I am for your loss. Thoughts and prayers are with you and yours.

Sophus - my thoughts are with you at this difficult time - am so very very sorry to hear your news.

Kinki - blimey! you really have done well to soldier on - well done you! hope you feel fighting fit soon.

EmJ - welcome and congrats to you!

So sorry to hear of your dear mum dying Sophus. I know only to well how devastating losing your mum can be. In time try to take comfort from knowing that she got to meet Linus ? you know I?ve long thought that very sick people are able to ?hang on? that little bit longer to do something they dearly wish to do, like meet a much loved grandson. If that was the case, it speaks volumes about your mum, you and of course little Linus.

It?s right that you want to keep her memory alive for Linus. My dc know all about their Grandma Ivy, although she died many years before they were born. The 2 older ones have a special teddy that she bought them before she died ? she guessed that I would have 2 boys. They treasure these teddies and keep them special. My mum?s sisters have just given us some money to buy one more for Liam. Maybe there are one or two things you could but in a box to keep for Linus and any other dc you may have in the future.

On a practical level, over the next few days, do try to do the basics like eating, drinking and sleeping, to keep your energy levels up. It?s good that you have Linus to focus on, but do try to give yourself time too. Time to think and time to grieve. Quite often we are strong for all the others, but forget about our own needs. Me and I'm sure all the others are thinking of you, and we?re all here for you.

Thanks for your kind thoughts about the pneumonia. I can cope with pneumonia, but when I first got to hospital they were saying things like meningitis and blood clots on my lung, but thankfully that was not the case. Hammer, I was absolutely dreading the ct knowing it would be done by my friends and colleagues. But it turned out to be an old buddy of mine from way back, who made me laugh and relax throughout. The next day I needed a trans vag u/s scan. The last one I had was done by a male colleague , but this time it was done this time by a very lovely lady radiographer. Phew! Its one thing pulling a few strings to get these tests done quickly, but another having your friends seeing you at your most exposed. Glad its over.

sophus, you poor thing, so sorry to hear about your mum. Kinki's absolutely right, take care of yourself and allow yourself time to grieve. You'll always miss her, it will get easier to bear, but it takes so much more time than you think.

Kinki - I hope you're feeling better soon, how scary for you, but glad you got good care from your colleagues.

All this makes my pathetic bfing woes seem a bit silly. Having to express and feed ds ebm as he's too small for my big nipples and is still not gaining weight fast enough. Nearly five weeks old and he's still only 7lb9oz

thanks all. i am worried about getting too exhausted but am just going to take it day by day, and more importantly night by night and try and get sleep where i can, although i find it difficult to nap as am such a stressbucket. Linus does sleep well, but takes several hours of screaming to get him to go down.

I would love some advice from those of you who are expressing. i have the kit, but i need to get started. i just find it too overwhelming to get myself organized enough to do it. But at the moment it would be goid if he could have a bottle, and a friend of mine is coming to the funeral with us to help look after him, adn it would take a bit of pressure off me if we had a bottle in reserve.

So i need to sterilise everything? Is a pan of boiling water okay? And then how do i express if he drinks every last drop from both sides each time he has a meal? Can i do it in between his meals without spoiling his supply. It's all just another thing to get my head around. I did it in the hospital with no problem, so i don't worry about the psychological side, just the pure practicalities of arranging it all.

Any tips as to how to get started and get my kit in order would be much appreciated.

Love to you all for your support at this horrible time.

Oh and another thing to the mothers of small boys - do any of you have a problem with weeing up their backs? Every morning Linus does it and drenches everything. I always make sure he is well tucked down, and put a reusable nappy cover on over his nappy but every morning without fail, he pees all up his back, through his clothes, grobag and over the bed/cot whereever he happens to be.

S
x

Sophus - re the expressing.

I do 2 lots of expressing. One after the first morning feed (when apparently milk supply is at its peak). I first milk the breast Ryan has not fed on - and then depending on how much I get from there (currently taking 6fl. oz) off at each expression, I take more from the breast Ryan has just fed from. DH then gives that milk at the night feed. When he is feeding Ryan, I express again - and that stash goes into the freezer (lansinoh breast milk storage bags are fab).
From what I understand, you can express at anytime (your breasts produce milk pretty quickly). I also find that it helps me (and my production) to stick to some sort of daily expressing routine - similar times etc. so that my breasts get used to producing the correct amount of milk.
HTH - although am not an expert, so forgive me if something doesnt make sense.

Re. the peeing. I just make sure Ryan's willy is pointing downwards when putting nappy on, and we escape wee escaping. The one time he did wet himself was when my mum did his nappy for the first time and didnt do it tight enough at the waist.
Have you also tried a different type of nappy? I find pampers works better than huggies as it fits Ryan better.

Hope you are doing ok. Look after yourself.

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss Sophus

Kinki, I hope you are feeling better very soon.

Hi sophus,

really sorry to hear your news. i can't imagine what you're going through.

i am a ff-er so i'm not very clued up about ebm. on the sterilising front, i believe boiling water is ok but you may find it easier to use miltons tablets. equipment doesn't need rinsing after and if you make up a bucket of solution it's safe for 24hrs so you can just leave stuff in there until you need it. any clean container/bucket/washing up bowl is suitable and it's so easy to use. a few people have said that the tommee tippee teats are closest to a nipple, and on the ante-natal thread i talked a lot about the disposable bottles they make that are ready-to-use from the packet. sorry i couldn't be of any more help. big hugs xx

Sophus, when in the hospital I used a tupperware box with half a milton tablet to sterilise dummies and breast shells. As loopy says it just needed changing once a day.

just a quick message to say how sorry I am to hear about your Mum, Sophus - sending you lots of love and hugs and I'm really glad your Mum got to meet and hold Linus.Take care of yourself xxxx

Kinki - you poor love ! Hope you are feeling better now ? Did anyone come and help last week with the DC or did your Dh have to hold the fort ?Do you think you can get someone to help you with school runs etc so you can take it easy ?(and not go to and from school 5 times a day !!!)

Mrs Mar - how was the BF counsellor ? Sorry to hear you are having troubles with BF ! What does your HV say about Luca's weight ? I am going tomorrow to have Eloise weighed again (Doc at 6 week check though she hadn't put on enough !)

love to everyone else ! xx

ACmum, hopefully that day going to school 5 times will be a on-off, usually I only have to go up to 3 times. Dh has been run ragged looking after ds1&2. Funnily, over the weekend everyone has been rallying round him with offers of help. His parents have been over and my friends have been having the boys to play, including a sleepover for ds1. Funny because the previous week dh b*ggered off for 5 days leaving me to it all. It didn't occur to me that i needed help, I just got on with it.

HOWEVER, he has been man enough to tell me that he has been finding it hard to cope looking after them. And that he now has a better understanding of what I put up with day in day out. And he said that, knowing he had only 2 to look after AND with all the help he was given. So alls not bad if he finally gets where I've been coming from!

hi all.
My thoughts and best wishes to you sophus.

Right then [rolls up sleeves]

Restless babies. I think are worse when they have a growth spurt, so it comes and goes. If they are really going for it, see if their arms are moving in a jerky sort of way, it could be that they are over tired and need help to learn to fall asleep [not helped by sore tummies of course] Dim the lights, make it quiet, low tv noise perhaps. Try swaddling, check for hunger, nappy etc and put them down. Perhaps gently rock or jiggle their bed, or gently rub their tummy/back. Walking around with them all evening tends to keep them awake longer at this point. A quick walk in the pram might help, but they will probably wake up when you move them.

tummy ache. try all the usual suspects, try rubbing tummies, and yes babies with colic do tend to like being on their tummies. Try feeding them a little weak fennel tea with their feeds [or drink it or peppermint tea if you're bfing]

making up feeds. I put the water in the bottles and the bottles in the fridge, ready to be warmed and add the formular when lo is ready.

all of mine have preferred to sleep on their sides, they are only human and we all sleep in different positions.
I waited until lo was over 8lb before attepting to put them in washables. They are still on the large side, but are doing a sterling job at keeping all the poo inside.

I'm sorry that some of us are feeling down and/or unwell. You have all of our support here, try not to pressure yourself too much atm, you are doing fine [I'm sure].
There, sorry about my long and rather dull posting. I hope it helps someone, even if it gives them a good laugh at my crap ideas lol.
Lo is stirring ready for bed, so I shall probably be going again now. Good luck to you all, see you soon.

Hello all,

First of all, so sorry to hear about your mum sophus big hugs to you, you're doing so well! Really pleased that she got to meet Linus - my DH's dad held on to meet his grandson before he died so I reckon kinki is right. Wish I could offer some sort of advice re expressing but I was rubbish at it - well done for persevering!

Well done emj, glad you have you with us now and welcome to Lily!!

kinki - sorry to hear about your 'adventure' in hospital but glad they are finally getting you sorted out. Well done on continuing to bf with all of that going on too. So pleased you got a colleague you were comfortable with!

nicki - so pleased you spoke with the hv about feeding Poppy, I bet she's much more contended now!?

MrsMar - I wish I could use a sling but DH has a personal hatred of them - he fears anybody falling over while the baby is in it and therefore crushing it . I've tried talking him round but he's having none of it . How did it go with the bf advisor?

dal - so of you having a routine, thats brilliant! There are parts of the day where we have what I call a 'floppy' routine but it needs more work lol! So far, Cerys is still sleeping through the night and thats the bit I'm hoping will continue...

ccpink - so glad to hear I'm not the only one making up bottles! I've actually stopped using the colief as it wasn't helping at all and we've gone back to infacol which seems to be working now. What a waste of a tenner!

twit - thank you for your tips, its nice to be reminded of the growth spurt thing as I reckon thats what Cerys is doing at the moment. Hope all is well with you!?

As far as teats go, I found some Tommee Tippee ones that are just like breasts and Cerys loves them, they're amazing! Let me know if you need their name etc.

Hello to Hammer, amyclaramum, hannahsaunt, LLL, FioFio and kelmcd; hope I haven't missed anybody!? ((((((hugs))))))

Well, things have been fun around here - we seem to be changing Cerys's bag every day due to leaks at the moment and her skin is getting more and more red. Monday morning we got up to get ready for our 6 week check only to find that she had been leaking all night and had poo everywhere bless her. I wouldn't mind but she still slept . So, we had to bath her and change her bag etc but we still got there for 10.30am. I had only gone and remembered the wrong time - we were meant to be there for 10am and the doctor wouldn't see me because "half an hour is too late!". Needless to say I was most upset but there wasn't much I could do . We've rebooked for next Tuesday. We then saw the stoma nurse at the hospital and she gave us some smaller bags to try in the hope that they might not leak but she leaked again last night so they're a no go! She was a bit bunged up today with this cold so she's been a bit unsettled but not too bad.

I've started keeping a brief journal of how she is each day and how she is feeding etc so I can discuss it with the nurse on Thursday. There's no way I can retain all the information so best to write it down!

Sorry for the long post again. I'm off to bed now. HV is coming tomorrow for the post natal depression check - isn't it a bit early for that?

Take care, PLP xxx

Morning everyone

Well another night of only approx 4 hours sleep [yawn] Ben is suffering with his tummy bless him. He has been very unsettled after his feeds, especially the early morning one (3-4am) He had his bottle at 3am this morning but was then writhing in discomfort till his next feed at 6.30am. I am using the avent bottles and teats at the moment but my HV yesterday suggested a make called Dr Browns, so will be tying to get a hold of some of those to try soon. The infacol I am using doesn't seem to be working the past couple of days either, will be trying the colief drops today. Someone said they didn't work for them (sorry can't remember who) but HV has sorted me a prescription out for them so its worth a go.

Morning all!

MrsF - sorry to hear about bens tummy. Twit does give some superb advice. When Ryan gets restless sometimes, arms are worse than lying them down.

PLP - only have a routine as far as it comes to me getting up/ showered and expressing. No real routine for Ryan yet. Am hoping to try and start implementing one though as he feed times are pretty much settling into patterns of every three hours at the mo at those of you with LO's sleeping through already.

I have a question - how many of you are using dummies with your bubs? I found the night before last that everytime the dummy fell out, Ryan was starting to wake - so last night put him down without one - took a little longer to settle but got there eventually. Do you think dummies are evil or a lifesaver? Also - is it bad practice to put bub to the breast to settle them instead of using a dummy or does that only teach them to snack?

I had a bit of a funny moment last night - I always find the 11ish BF at night the hardest (prob because it wakes me from a very deep sleep) - and I honestly hated bfeeding with a passion. I just lay there thinking this is not what I thought breastfeeding entailed and wished I could switch to FF. Anyone else finding the BFeeding element exceptionally draining at times? I guess I just wasnt prepared for it. I had prepared for sore nips (didnt really happen), poor latch (didnt happen), amazing bonding (does happen) but not the flip side of that which is when you are tired, the last thing you want is a baby feeding away at your breast. I also find the fact that I am still not drinking (have the odd half glass of vino) annoying.

Sorry for the rant- guess it doesnt help that I met up with one of my lovely friends yesterday whose second one is 15 weeks - both of hers were FF and sleeping through by about 8/9 weeks. I guess I just looked at her and the grass seemed greener - isnt that always the way? Just cannot win, I know that if I hadnt been able to BFeed, I would have been gutted so guess I just have to grit my teeth and get on with it. 6 months is not that long in the big scheme of things (although makes me wonder how my mum did it for 2 years with my brother!)

Hope everyone has good days. to all.

Ok everyone, call me mad. Yes I know I've bitten off more than I can chew, but I'm beginning to panic about something.

I'm hosting my Dad's 80th birthday party this Saturday. And I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to cope. The house needs a serious spring clean and I don't have the energy or inclination to do it. Several people have asked if we should postpone it, but I'm not going to. I already screwed up his actual birthday. That was last Wed, the day I got ill. Instead of us taking him out for a meal as planned he ended up babysitting all evening and night while dh was in hospital with me.

So I'm worried about the party. My db has taken over organising the food, and my niece's bf has tidied up our gardens. So really its just the house that needs sorting. But where do I start? I'm beginning to get my knickers in a right old twist. Pleeeeeese send me all of your cleaning fairies. Ooohhhh that's a point, did any of you use a cleaning agency to do a pre-natal spring clean? I remember we were talking about it a few months ago and one or two were thinking about it. I wonder if I could get someone in the next couple of days. Its a bit indulgent and expensive but I don't see any other way if I don't want to end up back in hospital. Wish me luck.