Nov 2007..... Once we pop, we will not stop!!!

[sparklygothkat]

I can finally start this, as someone else has had her baby.. woohooo!

SparklyGothKat - 25 Sep (8 Nov) BOY - Callum Eden
KaylaBMummy ? South Wales - 18 Oct (8 Nov) GIRL - Katie

Happy Christmas everyone!

Hope you all had a great time. I too ate dinner with my breast out (nice)-made the mistake of having a couple of glasses of vino on xmas eve at the PIL's and Phoebe was not happy for that entire night and most of xmas morning - she fed most of the night (v unlike her) and did lots of spewing so e had to do an emergency wash of ALL her bedding on xmas morning!

Then she unleashed a big poo on her daddy just as she was about to be put in the bath to clean all the sick off her --gotta love 'em!

RG - my midwife told us in antenatal classes that babies absorb talc beneath their skin and that it's particulary bad for little girls - we've been using little face cloths to dry Phoebe off and she loves it-waves her little legs about and gurgles!

Jarm - hope you are feeling ok today, and hope you can get some support with this. You sound like you're doing everything you can so don't feel bad. x

Happy Christmas to you too ara!

Thanx for the info re talc. Will not use it any more and will just use the muslins or i might even cut up a small towel into squares and use that instead (we dont have any flannels).

Hope Phoebe is feeling better today! Cant say that any booze i drank yesterday had any effect on Ellie at all!! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not?!!

ara- knew there was a reason but couldn't for the life of me remmeber what it was

Evening all!

Hope you are all ok, and RGP - Hope Ellie is coping ok with the pox, poor little thing!

Im just chilling out now, have spent the day at my dads, had a proper dinner which i thoroughly enjoyed, then dad took the girls down to the park for a run around.

Still feeling quite low and down though, not really suprising with 2 little ones and Daniel though.

Anyone know how to get my boobs back to normal? Im going to docs tomorrow anyway, isnt there a tablet he can give me for drying my milk up? Have given up completely now as Daniel is refusing EBM and its making him very unsettled and very windy - you would have thought it would be the formula that would do that! Thank god for Cow & Gate!

Jatm - sounds like you had a good day today.hope the doc manages to help.xx

rg - i always leave t's bum a bit damp but i really should dry it. yet another use for muslins.

ara - i accidentally had a big glass of coke the other night - t was awake ALL night. gorgreous pics btw.

Evening ladies,

LOM - sorry to hear your accident consumption of coke. I accidentally had 2 slices of marble cake and a kitkat chunky this afternoon ;)

RG - I haven't been drying Sara's bum either . Will try to do from now on.

JARM - I am sorry to hear you think you may have PND. On the positive side, at least you have been able to acknowledge it and can now go to the DR and get some help. A lot of women go through it without being able to define why they feel so low. Am sure the guilt and confusion can make it a lot worse. Give yourself a break honey - I cannot begin to imagine how you, Loopy and others cope with 3 kids. I find it a struggle with 2!

About the tablet to reduce your milk supply once you stop BF - my friend had 3 bouts of mastitis so decided to give up BF recently. She said her DR said that they only give medication to stop milk supply in the case of a stillborn baby. Not sure if that is general policy or was just that DR. You might have to express every day and gradually reduce expressing over a few days if you can't get the tablet.

Sara definitely has a cold. She's been sniffling and not feeding properly because she can't breathe through her nose very well. I've been expressing a bit so that her lack of feeding doesn't reduce my supply. She's woke up a couple of extra times last night again - so pretty tired today.

Have a lovely evening all.

Thanks LOM - same to you (I'm loving it that we picked the same nightie!!) - i missed your birth story, did it all go okay? I ended up with forceps but it was fab anyway!

Haven't done my research on what not to eat while i'm BFing---off the top of my head bubbles and booze are what to avoid are they??? Not a clue. Must put my responsible mummy head on tomorrow and check ,

Jarm - that sounds like a handful, no wonder you're stressed out --my mum was telling me esterday that my brother, my sister and i were all under the age of three for a spell and apparently she used to stick us in the house while she went outside ans chopped wood like a woman posessed to try and get rid of some of her tension!

About talc - just done a bit of surfing. The reading is not good. Apparently it is not recommended because a) the talc particles are fine enough to be inhaled by babies - causing risk of inflamation of the airways and b) it is a possible cause of ovarian cancer - not only in the baby, but in the mother Apparently talc easily becomes embedded in the reproductive system.

Did notice that there seems to be a few talc-free baby products around so there are alternatives.

I have never used talc on my DCs but DH uses it sometimes. Am going to put a stop to that!

Jarm - So far so good. Ellie doesn't seem to be bothered by the pox - so far!! I'm keeping an eye on her tho and will phone the GP tomoz. Have no idea about a tablet to dry up milk supply, but i know that at worst it only takes about 3 days to dry up (doesn't it?!). Poor you - you must be exhausted with 3 to look after. You're doing so well tho. Well done!

Glad i'm not the only one lacking in the dry bum department! I did dry Ellie's bum with a muslin earlier but TBH, i think i'll use a small towel cut into smaller pieces as this will be more absorbant and softer for her. I dont find muslins particularly absorbant really so think a few cheap hand towels would probably be better!

Choudru - Sorry Sara has a cold. Hope she (and you!) recovers very soon. Thanx for the info on talc. Will deffo steer clear of it now! Shame coz i love the smell of the stuff and always associate bathed babies with Johnson's Baby Talc!

Ara - bubbles and booze??? I've had a couple of large glasses of bubbly rose today and yesterday and it doesn't seem to have done Ellie any harm. She's not complained about it anyway!

Anyone else seem to have the midas touch for their LOs? No matter how i try to stimulate Ellie, i.e. in her bouncy chair or on her mat with dangly things over it, she just seems to prefer mummy-cuds the whole time! I love it, i must admit but sometimes i need to get on. Really must try and master my sling.....

Time to keep an eye on dinner. Back later girls! xx

RG- Tesco have faCE cloths for 25p each-cheaper than chopping up towels

Apologies for the duplicate posting (if you read the Dec threads)....

Hello people - just reporting in quickly as I won't be able to be on here much if at all. With a velcro baby I'm not sure how DH and I would be coping without my mum taking her for a few hours every night so that we can sleep properly. Mum leaves tomorrow....

Frances Jean born 23/11 by emergency CS at 4.02kg

She won't sleep anywhere but on a person - she's like a doll in reverse with the eyes popping open as soon as you lay her down. We've tried back and side (and even front once after much nagging from my mum) to no avail. She doesn't cry at first, but lies there turning bright red with the effort and grunting like a weightlifter as she tries to get out. Eventually (within less than 15 mins) she's sick, and then takes the best part of an hour to calm.

The last two days were awful - colic we think probably due to too many people, too much noise, and just generally too much. Today was spent in quiet, dimly-lit rooms and was much much better. I think she's probably got a bit of reflux too as she's as peaceful as anything after a feed but sicks up a little while you're changing her and then takes ages and repeated proffering of the dummy (which she chomps on desperately) to settle.

We're bottle feeding, to my everlasting disappointment. I won't go into the detail here as I still feel like I'm being caught giving her contraband whenever I feed her, and I don't want to get into any discussions. Suffice it to say that after breastfeeding my dolls as a child the discovery that my body was unable to do this one thing was a very very bad one.

I hope you're all doing well.

the lady- congrats and firstly- stop beating yourself up with the feeding. We all do what is best for our children. i have had major diffs- ie not producing the milk and am on 3 lots of tablets to help plus using a pump and supplementer so i know how hard it is.

As for the sleeping can you lie down with her on your arm and then you'll get some sleep

Yay - two handed typing for once. T is happily gurgling to himself. I'm taking him to the docs this pm; I kow section babaies are supposed to be a bit snuffily but he is positively stuffed up and I'm worried he's getting a cold.

thelady - Congratulations on the safe arrival of Frances. I had an e cs too, leaves you feeling a bit battered doesn't it. Sorry you are so disappointed re the breastfeeding. Sounds like you are having a tough time. hugs

Choudru - Now that was some accident!

Ara - glad you had a positive birth experience. Those nighties are rather handy for nighttime feeding aren't they?
Here's my birth story - the short version.

Sun 7pm - After a day in town Christmas shopping I starting having mild contractions every 5 -15 mins.

1am contractions getting stronger but still irregular. Went to hosp but sent home as onlt one cm dilated.

Spent the night in nest of cushions on the lounge floor. Dh and my mum took turns in sitting with me.

Mon 1pm - Exhausted and contractions intense. tens machine pumped up and another trip to hosp. Sent home with cocodamol - still hardly dilated. Very upset and pissed off. Pain killers gave me a couple of hours sleep.

Mon Night. Dh fell asleep holding the boost button for the tens as i couldn't organise myself to press it. I'd occaisionally shout at him to press it.

Tues - A bit of blur, in pain and bloody knackered. The hired tens gave up the ghost so dh was dispatched to mothercare for a new one. Contractions closer together and more intense but still irregular.

10.30 Went back to hosp as things getting more intense and I had no energy left to cope with pain. they finally admitted me as I was 3cm.

I'll have to tell you the rest later as T needs to fill his face

Pixie - good idea. Might have to go and buy some!

thelady - sorry you are having velcro-baby trouble! I think Ellie suffers a bit from reflux too and one thing that has helped dramatically is after a feed, we keep her held on our chests or semi-upright in the crook of our arms for about 15-20 minutes which gives the feed time to go down a bit. Then we are able to put her down and she doesn't stir. Before we did this, she would quite often wake up screaming, particularly in the middle of the night and we thought it was colic. I think she suffers from a bit of wind retention too, but just keeping her semi-upright for a bit really does help. It's also recommended that you put a book under the head end of the cot feet so that the cot is slightly tilted downwards, thus making sure that any stomach juices wanting to return are minimal. Hope this helps and sorry if you've already been down this route! I also agree with pixie about not beating yourself up with the feeding issues. At the end of the day, if she is thriving on FF then that's a good thing, isn't it?!

Hello all - got back from my mum's last night. Have quickly skim read the posts. Hope we all had a relatively stress free xmas.

Mine was full of colds and snuffles. DH spent xmas eve,xmas day and boxing day in bed with a heavy cold (he didn't dare say he had man flu). Megan has got it now too . struggling to breathe a bit and full of snot. I've bought a thing from tecsos that sucks snot out of their nose - but doesn't seem to be working much .

DH is driving back now from picking up stepkids so I'm about to have a house full for the next week. Not sure how often I'll be able to get on.

TheLady - try Rg's suggestion re elevating the bed. Megan didnot/would not sleep for 2 straight weeks - I felt like death!!!!! We put a pillow under her cot mattress half way up and now she sleeps really well (not all night obviously)

JArm - hope yr doing ok, please get some professional help if you think you have pnd, take care

Sorry to those who have babies suffering from reflux-I know what you are going through as my Ben has become my third child to suffer from reflux, they have all had it in different forms, Ben's started with him having blood streaks in the milk that he brought up, my fantastic doctor spoke to me on the phone and wrote out a prescription for ranitidine on Christmas eve. If you need any support I'm here as I know how you can feel.
Also have found out that Ben has a heart murmur, which is going to be checked out at the end of january

Silk - Thomas has a cold too. the doc has given him some saline drops for his nose as he was having probs feeding, Might be worth a try.

Djarm - isn't the fact that your baby is feeling much better what's important here, not how you feed him? You said yourself there was a noticeable improvement, and as a mummy you do what's best for your child, which is clearly what you've done. Make sure you take care of yourself too x x

thelady - William's a bit of a velcro baby too - but only really at night, during the day he's happy to fall asleep anywhere, but at night finds it harder. He is getting better at settling himself after a night feed though, but only after a really long one. He is hungry baby and likes his midnight feasts!

RG - my sister had chickenpox as a baby, and was the only one of us not fussed by it according to my mum (my brother and I had it at the same time). Hope Ellie is ok.

LOM - might ask doc about saline drops when I take William for his 6 week check next week. Can't wait for the rest of your birth story - it's like a soap opera with a cliffhanger ending, I'm desperately waiting for the next instalment!

Had a chilled Christmas, which was good as William was awake most of the night with awful wind as he's full of cold and takes in lots of air when he feeds sometimes, so it was nice not to have to worry about mealtimes, getting dressed etc! DD was so excited when she found her stocking inthe morning. We could hear her in her room saying 'Mummy, Santa, bring me presents!'. The night before she had gone to bed saying to herself 'sleep. sleep', as DH had told her Santa wouldn't come when she was awake, it was so cute.

Jossie- hope the news is good in January.

Swyn had gained 4 1/2 oz this last week. Not fab but not bad either. Bit worrie3d when she was meansured though. She was apparently 55cm at birth but only 55 1/2 cms today. The HV told me that the birth measurement could have been wrong as they measure them differently at birth and that she thought the birth measurement was wrong as 55 cms is extremely long for a girl

pixie - phoebe was apparently 56cm when she was born, but was only 53 on moday when the hv measured her!
Apparently they run a tape measure up their back from heel to head at the birth so all the nooks and crannies at the back of the knee etc get taken into account

pixie - tesco face cloths are the ones we're using and they're lovely and soft as well as being good and thrifty !

Not getting far with my BF research (food and drink to avoid) -i think my couple of glasses of champers the other night def had a strange effect on phoebe as she's completely back to normal now....bugger....thought i could quite freely have a merry festive season in celebration of getting my body back. It would seem i've been a bit optimistic!

RG - at ellie's constitution, i will have to build up phoebe's tolerance!!

Thelady - phoebe's a complete velcro baby too - i have to wait till she's full on snoring till i attempt to lay her down v e r y g e n t l y and sneak out of the room! I have been using the hot water bottle trick which has made it much easier. today i have got virtually nothing done due to being used as a mattress by her - she's woken up every single time i've tried to detach her. Out of interest, which hotel in Jedburgh do you have? I'm from Maxton originally and have lots of family down there!

Daniel has been velcro baby today too - hasnt slept unaided for more than 30 mins! Cant complain really though as DH is doing most of the holding while I deal with the girls because my boobs are so sore I cant have anything or anyone touch them, so mummy cuddles are out at the moment but its good for DH who hasnt really had a look in these past 4 weeks - OMG - Daniel is 4 weeks old already!

Anyone considered ahem sex yet?! DH is getting rather ahem eager, Im terrified to be honest. The pain of labour is still VERY fresh in my mind so Im trying to put him off a bit, but Im not sure how much longer it will work - we were back at it after 2 weeks with the girls.... hence i have 3 under 4 I guess!

Am going to start my anti-depressants tonight, the side effects seem rather scary so hoping I will be able to sleep through most of them!

Hope you are all ok xxx

ara- that's what the hv told me as well but boy am i relieved it's not just us

Evening everyone

Silk - Hope your DH got over his bad cold (aka man flu) and that Megan is feeling better too. It's horrible when the LOs get sick isn't it. Good luck for the next week!! I'm sure you'll cope fine, but i cant say i envy you!

Jossie - Sorry to hear that Ben has a heart murmur. What a worry for you. Not really sure what it is or what it involves (), but hope you get it sorted very soon. x

ara - i strongly recommend you build up Phoebe's tolerance - it makes life much more bearable!

DJarm - DP is on a promise tonight for us to restart "relations" after reading that we should have tried it before i go for my six week check so we thought we'd best get cracking!

I've put a couple more pics up on my profile for anyone that's interested.