Sept '07... I'm forever blowing raspberries and my cheeks ache from smiling so much....

[PurpleLostPrincess]

Here we go! (or should I say here wii go!?). I'll try doing a link too...

Incidentally, I had a dream last night that Cerys suddenly learnt how to blow proper raspberries! Don't know where it came from but it could be that she has been trying since she was about 4 weeks old and did it entirely by accident yesterday!

PLP xxx

hi guys,

Havent got time for a long post, but just had to say how pleased i am at the result of your bronscopy (sp?) kinki

You finally have your life back after a yr of what sounds like constant sickness. I would be [angry}at the docs too, but yippeee for being able to jog {hmm}

This has made my day!!

what cack handed typing, never mind!

Hopey: I live in Salisbury, and there's no one responding on the Local Mumsnet page so I'm guessing they don't come on very often or they didn't get much response back when they started their posts.

Kinki: Thanks, glad I've got somewhere to vent my frustrations (even if it gives everyone here the impression that I'm a big whinger!)

Arbensmum: That sounds great I must start the baby massage I remember DD1 loving it too. I like the quad B routine you've got going lol

Well, I'm going out tonight for the first time in over a year and am very much looking forward to it!
DH has had a head's up as I am going to talk with him this weekend and see how we can get things sorted, finger's crossed eh!!

DD1 is looking a lot better in herself today and I'm hoping she doesn't get worse again. I'm trying to get lots of fluids and food into her but she doesn't seem to want to take anything in Oh well, she'll eat when she wants to I guess.

Lucy's sleeping loads the past couple of days, growth spurt I hope!
Did I mention she's put on 7 ounces in the past week, she's back on track now so I'm keeping the 2 bottle feeds up, despite it meaning getting up at silly O'clock, but it gives me the chance to express some for freezing so I guess it's necessary.
A little Q for those who are expressing: How long will breast milk keep in the freezer? I managed to express some a couple of months back and when I defrosted it it stank! I'm pretty sure it wasn't even in the freezer a week but I can't see why it smelt so bad (didn't risk giving it to Lucy, luckily it was only going to be to let MIL feed her, you know entertainment value, it wasn't like I'd gone out and left DH with it to feed her thank goodness!)

Righty, I'm off got some Ebaying to get on with
x

Kyala - we have quite a few people on our local site, have arranged three meet ups too. Have meet some lovely people thru it and made some good friends. I was struggling to find people who weren't related to my DH or i knew from work(which is the other side of london) I now have a couple of people who i can go out for coffee or shopping with, its great!

kyala - depends on type of freezer. if it's just a freezer compartment in fridge then think it's 1 month but may be even less. if its an on-its-own freezer then 3 months. i've used milk that was over two months old and its been fine.

Kyala - this is from kellymom

HUMAN MILK STORAGE - QUICK REFERENCE CARD
Temperature Storage Time
Freshly expressed milk
Warm room 79°F / 25°C 4-6 hours
Room temperature 66-72°F / 19-22°C 10 hours
Insulated cooler / icepacks 60°F / 15°C 24 hours
Refrigerated Milk (Store at back, away from door)
Refrigerator (fresh milk) 32-39°F / 0-4°C 8 days
Refrigerator (thawed milk) 32-39°F / 0-4°C 24 hours
Frozen Milk (Do not refreeze! Store at back, away from door/sides)
Freezer compartment
inside refrigerator (older-style) Varies 2 weeks
Self-contained freezer unit
of a refrigerator/freezer Varies 3-6 months
Separate deep freeze 0°F / 19°C 6-12 months
These guidelines are for milk expressed for a full-term healthy baby.
If baby is seriously ill and/or hospitalized, discuss storage guidelines with baby?s doctor.

To avoid waste and for easier thawing & warming, store milk in 1-4 ounce portions. Date milk before storing. Milk from different pumping sessions/days may be combined in one container ? use the date of the first milk expressed.

Sorry - posting and running. Question on formula.

Does everyone seriously follow the guidelines on the side of the pack re. preparation of breastmilk? seriously? Start to finish following it to the letter took 40 mins. thats 2-3 breastfeeds for me. am

can you ever pre prepare a bottle in advance or is that really not recommended?

preparation of formula even. grr. not a good morning.

Dal - I have a microwave steriliser which takes 5 mins, boil kettle whilst thats on the go, then prefil bottles to 6ozs (once sterile, boiled)keep at room temp and just add formula when needed, then only takes couple minutes to reheat in jug of boling water. For night feeds, have 3ozs room temp water and add 2 ozs fresh boiled water so its perfect temp to give straight away

Morning,

Just a quick post this morning, I'll catch up properly later.

Dal, when my boys were babies the recommendation was that you make up 6 bottles of formula ready for the following 24 hours, so you sterilised bottles, boiled water and made up the bottles putting in the formula, you'd then allow to cool and lastly place all bottles in fridge. Now it's all changed ! I've been having to buy Niamh the ready to go feeds as she doesn't like the powder stuff. When I was using the powder I'd basically sterilise the bottles and put the boiled water in, allow to cool then put the bottles in the fridge with just the water in them. When I wanted to make a feed, I'd microwave the water then put in the powdered formula. Now I just keep the sterilised empty bottles in the fridge. Did that make any sense??

Niamh had some steamed apple and porridge this morning and she loved it!

Dal, I do what Hopey just said. I do four bottles at a time (microwave-sterilise and fill with boiling water). I leave them at room temperature. Each feed, I microwave the water for 10-20 seconds, to get it to body temp. Then add the formula. I always make sure I've got enough bottles to get me through the night and breakfast feeds. I know the recommendation is to do each bottle fresh, but frankly, given the things Paul shoves in his mouth these days, I can't believe that a bit of boiled water that's been hanging around for a few hours is going to make much difference .

Absolutely MrsBumblebee, you're dead right, we're living in a far too clean panicky society, a few germs won't do any harm! Slugs and bugs babies, here we come!!

Question re microwaving water - does it do it evenly or does it take quite alot to get it the same temp all thru it?

Just shake it well

Thanks Dal that helps loads, maybe it was too close to the door or something

I pre-prep all of lucy's bottles, I make 2 every evening, so that I can stick them in the fridge and don't have to faff at stupid O'clock in the morning! and there's one for lunchtime the next day ready too (cos I know with DD1 around there's no way I could concentrate and just get it done) that's with a steam steriliser which only takes 8 minutes though so it does the bottles whilst the kettles boiling!

That's all for now, far too late and I was out last night so need to catch up on some sleep!!
C U tomorrow
xxx

morning all - thanks for the advice on formula. had a fab night last night - out with my best pal for a lovely meal. DH looked after ryan. as girls do over a cocktail - put the world to rights.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.

2 days in on the new cream for Ben and he is a different baby already. He is still red looking but all the ezcema and very dry skin has gone, I really can't believe it the only thing is he screams blue murder when I am putting the cream on, not sure whether its because he is cold when stripped off and cold cream, or if it stings he stops crying once I have finished rubbing it in anyhoo, he is getting better and that's all that matters

Dal, glad you had a lovely time with your friend. I've got a night booked in April with 2 friends where we're staying out all night . (Will be bringing Liam, but abandoning the rest of them.) Can't wait.

MrsF, so glad Ben is improving. I've been thinking of him. Did you get an idea what has been causing it? Is it his milk? Poor little sausage. Hope he continues to improve.

Someone kick me up the bum. Dh, ds1&2 have gone to the cinema and Liam is sparko. I really should be doing housework. And I'm sat here. Haven't got my excuse anymore that I'm tired and need to rest. Today I'm just feeling lazy.

Hi everyone! Hopeysgirl found me lurking on the pregnancy board and asked me to come and say hi. I was due last September but had miscarriage at 13 weeks last march. Now - as you might be able to guess from my new name - I am PG with twins!!!

I'll be 24 weeks on Thursday - one boy (Theo) but not sure what the other one is yet! We have another scan on March 6 so will find out then.

I am very excited about the babies (most of the time) - sometimes I feel terrified!! But we feel very blessed. I can even feel Theo kicking me as I type! I went on Clomid as my cycles were very long after my mc - hence the twins. I am due May 29 but they might come two to three weeks earlier. Not much earlier than that hppefully cos don't want them to have to go to special care but I am already enormous so maybe I will be begging them to get the babies out of me!

It is so lovely to see all the familiar names on here - can't believe it is a year since we all found out we were PG! Thanks for inviting me over Hopeysgirl, I was really touched!

nh101andhertwinbeans I joined quite late so didn't get to know you but many congratulations on your news that's wonderful I had wanted twins the first time I got pregnant (mostly to get it all out of the way at once lol) and feel very of those who have twins, it's such a blessing in my eyes (those who have them don't always agree lol)
Well done you!
x

nh101, I'm SO glad you've posted. I've been keeping an eye out for you. That is just brilliant news about your twins, I'm very happy for you. Please promise to keep in touch and let us know how you're getting on. Am desperate to know if twin no.2 is a girl!!

nh101, hello and how lovely to hear from you. What lovely news, thats really exciting! Glad to hear its going well and hope the pg continues to go smoothly xx

Hello everybody else. Sorry I've not posted for a while again - I spilt juice all over my purple keyboard and sadly it has gone to wheelie bin heaven so I couldn't get on the computer for a few days. I have been reading though (I managed to get onto DH's computer but he has a strange gameing keyboard that I can't type on!).

MrsFish - so pleased to hear that Ben is improving, that must be such a relief for you!

kinki - you deserve a break, don't feel guilty for resting! Kick back and make the most of some time to yourself!

dal - so glad you enjoyed your night out! I nearly ventured over to my friends this weekend but I chickened out - not sure why as Cerys is in bed for the night for 8pm so I should have escaped but I just wanted to curl up on the sofa with the new LOST episode! As far as preparing bottles go, I'm afraid I've stuck to the oldschool way of doing things, unless we're going out of the house. My hv just said to be really careful and to keep the bottles at the back of the fridge

The bumbo is great and I'm so glad we got it. It does require Cerys to still use her muscles but she is supported which is why I think she only likes to be in it for about 5/10 mins but thats plenty anyway. Sorry to hear that Ryan doesn't like his, I guess they're all so different bless them!

kyala - thats great news about Lucy's weight gain! Hope you've managed to have a good chat with DH this weekend xx

laksa and holly - lovely to see you, hope alls well?

hopey - Hope your cold has cleared up and that the lump has gone down? I totally admire you for looking forward to your diet, hope it all goes really well for you!

Hello to everybody else!

Cerys's new dilator came this week so its not been fun using it (for us or for her!). Apart from that she's doing really well - might get her weighed later on this week. Its my birthday on Tuesday (I've heard its also pancake day so two of my favourite days rolled into one!) so DH has promised I can have a day off - we'll see!! I'm still very up and down to be honest and seem to be very teary but I'm still adamant that its not depression - I can't afford to be depressed when there's so much to do!

Gotta dash, I'll be back soon xx

mrs fish - I have eczema - very badly until my twenties then cured it and pregnancy/childbirth has brought it back with a vengeance. anyway the creams do sting at first especially if skin is very inflamed but the stinging is very shortlived and is followed by such relief that the itchiness has gone. I remember when I was about 17 and had it all over my scalp, I was prescribed a lotion which my mum had to pore over my head to try and dry the wounds so they could heal - it stung so much that I just turned to my mum and said " why are you doing tnis to me, you're supposed to love me"! I think her reply was to just pour more on me, she was never one for indulging the drama queen in me.
But if you want any tips on eczema management just let me know and I can email you.

we went to london today - dp went to football with his dad and I wentso linus could spend the day with his granny. he was very good and I felt like a very dutiful daughter-in-law. but we only got home around 9pm and linus is off to the childminder for the first time tomorrow so i've got another early start and so much to do just to get out of the house.
hope everyone had lovely weekends.
x

Hi everyone.

nh101, I didn't know you before either, as I joined the thread late, but that's fantastic news on your twins!! Many congratulations .

Sounds like everyone's doing pretty well at the moment, which is fab. We've had a bit of a breakthrough weekend with Paul. Up until now, I've always got up to him in the night if he's chatting or whimpering, because I find it hard to lie there listening to him awake and alone. For the last three days, though, I've turned the sensitivity setting on my monitor down, in a desperate bid for more sleep . Now it only registers if he shouts or cries, not if he just burbles and wriggles. Anyway, the result is that I haven't got up to him once between 7 and 7 (except for his dreamfeed at 10pm) since I started doing this. I half wake up and hear him fidgeting occasionally, but I then fall back to sleep and so does he. What's more, he had a two hour lunchtime nap for the first time EVER yesterday (usually it's 40 mins max) - I think it must be because he's learning to settle himself. I feel like I've had enough sleep for the first time in months.

Also this weekend he learnt to roll over onto his front all on his own, and to stick his foot in his mouth . It suddenly feels like he's growing up really quickly. I've got a feeling I'm going to start getting broody again much sooner than I expected .

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Sophus, good luck with the childminder - let us know how Linus gets on.

Didn't get to have that talk with DH this weekend
He seems to have chilled a bit but I'm determined to be having that chat!