APRIL 2008 - We venture over to the 'other side'

[VictorianSqualor]

Our babies.

07 March: Ashton, a fourth child for gemprincess, 5lb 13oz @ 34+6
09 March: Ted, a second DS for Daftmoo, 7lb 14oz @ 36+0
21 March: George William, a first baby for KnitterintheNW, 7lb 2.5oz @ 37+3
25 March: Olivia, a second baby for TheMaskedPoster, 7lb 2oz @ 38+4
28 March: Pablo, a third baby and first DS for vacaloca, 7lb 14oz @ 39+4
28 March: Matteo Alexander, a first baby for Gangle @ 38+0 (?)
30 March: A baby girl, a second child for PortAndLemon, 8lb 15oz @ 39+5
02 April: Jak, a baby boy for rainbowdays, 9lb @ 39+1
02 April: A baby boy, a second child for bunyanvillas, 6lb 14oz @ 37+5
02April: Struan, a baby boy for Donnabels, 6lbs 15oz
02 April: A baby boy for mummyofaprincess @39 weeks
03 April: A baby girl for PippiCalzelunghe @38+2weeks
03 April: Aeryn Daisy, a baby girl for Denny185, 9lb 8oz @ 39+3
03 April: Benjamin, a baby boy for Micegg, 8lb 3oz @ 39+4
03 April: Roelof Grové, a first DS for Sal22, 7lb 5oz @ 38+5
03 April: A baby boy for siikibam, 6lb 8.5oz @39+1wks
04 April: Matilda, a baby girl for AprilsFoolsBaby 7lb @
06 April: Henry Peter, a baby boy for Sheds, 7lb 130z @ 40+4
07 April: Sebastian George, a fourth DS for Peachy, 8lb 4oz @ 41+1
07 April: Jack, a first baby for ThePFJ, 7lb 5.5oz @ 41+1
07 April: Lexie Bea, a fourth baby for babywhiting, 8lb 1oz @ 39+4
08 April: Alasdair, a second DS for bunnyrabbit, 8lb 5.5oz @ 40+3
08 April: James Samuel, a third baby for honeybee10, 6lb 7oz @ 37+2
09 April: Zara Mia Martin, a first baby for V1KK1M, 7lb 10oz @ 41+0
11 April: Kyran for rdk, 7lb 13oz @ 38+3weeks
11 April: Sebastian James, a second baby for Fleecy, 10lb 2oz @ 40+4
11 April: A baby girl, a first baby for CeylonSapphire, 7lb 12oz @ 41+1
12 April: Maya Alice, a first baby for egyptianprincess, 8lb 15.5oz @ 40+3
12 April: Sophia Viviana, a second DD for AussieDivaonaBreak, 6lb 12oz @ 39+3
15 April: Alexander Oliver, a third baby for VictorianSqualor, 10lb 3oz @ 41+0
16 April: Ailish, a first baby for Mollyfloss, 6lb 11oz @ 40+3
16 April: A baby girl, a second baby for elfsmummy, 7lb 13oz @ 41+1
16 April: Zoe, a baby girl, a first baby for ToastAddict, 6lb 10oz @ 39+3
17 April: A baby boy for paranoidmumy, 8lb 9oz @ 41+4
17 April: A baby boy, a second son for lorisparkle, 7lb 12.5oz @ 41+6
18 April: Millie, a baby girl for scorpio1 8lb 9oz @ 41+?
18 April: Cameron, a second baby for munchkinmum @ 39+5
19 April: Oliver Michael, first baby for bashboid, 7 lb 4 oz at 41 +3
20 April: Samuel, a first baby for Velbels. 8lb15oz at 41+1weeks.
20 April: Angharad Mai, 8lb 4oz, 40+6, first for 7monthsplus
20 April: Emilia, 7lb15oz, a first baby for SuzeM, 40+6
21 April: Eve, a second baby for Scampmum, 8lb 4oz @ 39+3
22 April: Sam, a second son for Soph73 @ 40+0
22 April: Molly, a first baby for EllieG, 8lb 8oz? @ 40+5
22 April: Daisy, second baby for AttilaTheHan @ 40 +3
22 April: Zoe Olivia, second daughter for Piccallilli2 7lb 1oz @42+1
23 April: Jessica Elizabeth, first baby for BabyBratt @ 40+1 7lb 12oz.
24 April: A baby girl, a second daughter for christmaspixie, 9lb 2oz @ 40+6/41+5
24 April: Miya Jade, baby girl for ShelleySare at 39+4
25 April: Amelie, a first baby for Dondons, 9lb, 41+3 (i think!)
25 April: Aisha, a second baby for Jaq39 7lb 14oz @ 41+4
26 April: Hope Olivia, a second dd for northeastmummy, 7lb 11oz at 41 .
26 April: Gabriel, a third child for Bainmarie @ 41+5
26 April: Eli Michael, a baby boy for LittleMissTurquoise, 7lb 15.5oz @ 40+5
27 April: a baby girl for Ayomi, 6lb 1oz @ 41+0
28 April: Jacob Andrew, a 2nd DS for Kaybeeand2boys, 8lb 4oz @ 41+5
29 April: Thomas Henry, a 2nd DS for TLSM, 7lb 8oz 40+3
30 April: Harry Samuel, a fourth ds for Chipmonkey, 9lb 5oz @ 39+2
01 May: Sophie May, a baby grl for Annieroo, 6lb 5oz @ 41+4
01 May: Euan George, a baby boy for Jenniejennie, 8lb @ 40+4
02 May: Robyn Olivia, a baby girl for soph28, 8lb 1oz @ 42+1
05 May: Nora Martina, a first baby for Eva07, 7lb 8oz @ 41+2
05 May: A baby boy for Beeper, 8lb 10oz @ 41+0
05 May: Gabriella Summer, a first baby for Mum2babyroo, 8lb 4oz @ 40+6
06 May: Wilf, 8lb 60z for bigbadmom @ 41+6
07 May: James Andrew, a second ds for Moominsmummy, 8lb 13oz @ 41+5
08 May: Ellie Isabella, a first baby for Carey87, 7 lb 8oz @ 42+1
08 May: Robin David, a 2nd baby for Woollymummy, 8lb 11 oz @ 41+3
09 May: 4 kittens for scorpio's cat!
10 May: Astrid Mary, a second dd for sagitta, 8lb 8oz @ 42+0

Oh Pal, hope uour friends baby is OK. My close friend has 2 in SCBU as well atm, its a scary time.

Ellie- congratu;ations!

thanks for your help, girls. I tried a few things from the kellymom site regarding the fast let down and she didn't spit so much this night. and I will try to feed her less more often, sagitta.

how awful for your friend, PAL! hope everything turns out well!

hi elli, congrats and have a very special day

Eva i'm away this weekend but if you get any problems I am hapy to come and have a look (not as qualified as a Counsellor but do have some training- baby friendly initiaive course).

Hi Ellie, nice to see you back. Hope Saturday goes well, and you have a fantastic day...

Another tough night - both dds slept badly. About 4.00am I went and sat by the river for 10 mins or so, in the rain, which was strangely invigorating. Everyone fell asleep at about 6.00 - and we didn't wake till 9, which was lovely, so I feel quite refreshed.

Denny, if you're around, do you know anything about torticollis?

Sagitta - that's it, you are me! I am rubbish at baths, too - not going to admit how many DD2 has had on here. Hope you feel better. I would go on with my sunny 'it'll get better' from yesterday but I was up every hour in the night too and feel VERY jaded. DH as usual went to spare room early doors but was doing his usual of coming in and noisily searching for stuff at 7.30 when we'd finally got to sleep at 6.45 (his hair bobble - I'm going to cut it all off tonight) and left downstairs in a pigsty in spite of me taking DD2 out all evening. Grrr. And re names, DD1's middle name is Eleanor so Elfsmummy, our two are practically the same! And I love Astrid. What smashing taste we all have.

Well done on your river mission. It's a great idea.

HELLO ELLIE! We've all been thinking about you. So exciting you're getting married. I remember when we were talking about it prior to the births it seemed like the babies would be quite grown up by that time - well, it does feel like a long time since I got any sleep but other than that it's gone really quickly. I hope you have a wonderful day and can't wait to see pictures. Am so impressed you've been managing this on top of a new baby when I still only have about a 50% hit rate of getting showered.

PAL, big hugs to your friend (and yours, Peachy). Stories like these do make me feel ashamed for struggling and really lucky that I have two healthy children.

Eva hope things continue to improve, don't bother cleaning the carpets just yet .

Going to try and express again today. I think it really helps my mental state knowing I could go out/get some sleep if I really needed to.

Might try and revitalise my totally abandoned meet up plan!

LONDON MEET UP THREAD

Morning, late getting on this am due to impromtu coffee am, have cabin fever from staying in with DD1 so thought i'd get everyone round here instead. Love a good gossip.

Sorry didn't reply last night Ellie, shut down after post to watch big babies, glad your loving being a mummy, it can be a tough job sometimes with little recognition but their smiles and giggles make it all worth while.

Sagitta I presume your talking about torticolis seen in babies which is congenital. They are normally seen at or fairly soon after birth, babies head is kind of pulled down to one side, usually have a hard lump in one of the muscles on that side of the neck +/- facial asymmetry depending on how severe it is. Normally treated with streches (done daily) some need surgery to snip tight end of muscle. If it does turn out to be this she should be referred on for paediatric physio assesment for individual stretching programme to be taught to you.(can also get acute tortocolis, usually older children/adults, just wake up with it in the am generally resolve spontaneously).
If head position is correctable ie you can turn babies head to face the other way it is more likely to be an asymetrical atonic neck reflex which involoves the arms as well, one in front more relaxed and one behind bends up to head, some babies have a much stronger reflex that lasts longer than others (Aeryn has it and is now bald on that side of her head) but it does go spontaneously just encourage them to track over to that side with lights noises etc.

Well marathon post, just got to say DS has asked for potty 3 times this am, no accidents , the chocolate bribery appears to be working.

Make that 4 times

thanks peachy. I'll let you know after the weekend, if that's ok with you.

scampmum, I don't bother with cleaning for more than 5 weeks now so I guess a few more weeks don't make much difference...

Denny - thanks very much, very helpful. I am going to try to gently stretch her neck the other way a bit.

Scamp - so glad you are the same with baths, sorry to hear your night was similar to mine. When are these girls going to start sleeping?

BEWARE SELFISH RANT

Mum has arrived and is doing my head in already! I said I wouldn't be back from nursery run until 1.30 - arrived back 1.30 on dot and she's standing outside crying because I said in my text I'd had no sleep and might be ratty and she is 'scared' (must have meet up so third party can verify am not scary). Then complains about how she's had to wait outside for ages, then comes in and keeps going on about babies younger than DD2 who sleep through the night. 'Amy is thin as a rake and her baby is much younger than Eve and such a gorgeous fat thing and sleeps through the night already!' - because that's supposed to make me feel... better? about being woken up once an hour? (and still fat) I feel awful because I know I'm lucky to have a mum but it's honestly much more work having her here.

SELFISH RANT OVER

Denny, you have to give me some tips. DD1 still resolutely weeing all over the floor when having no nappy time in spite of maybe reminders every 10 minutes about the potty. Just don't have spare capacity of energy/motherly love to mop up wee all the time!

Sagitta - I don't even have excuse of not having a bath! But we do have to remember to put hot water on and bath is right next to DD1's room so always worried about disturbing her (since would prob have to be when she's in bed).

Why don't you tell her that secret you heard about Amy being a cocaine addict

• good plan

Scampmum, all my sympathy! I know what you mean about knowing you should really be grateful, but sometimes, just sometimes, you could do without the running commentary!

I've cracked under the pressure and is now shelling out for a private paediatrician checkup for R tomorrow - just because I can't take the 1001 health questions/panics from MIL anymore!!! All is fine, he's just a baby with a couple of niggling things... Family - you've got to love them (don't you? - if not, shout. Quickly. )

Scamp it's called bribery, thankfully he has a v sweet tooth and has finally clicked that doing it in the right placed results in rewards (white chocolate buttons). However tomorrow is another day and sure he will pee all over the place again. I can't believe your even trying with how little sleep your getting, v brave of you, I find myself reg counting to 10 and i'm not dealing with the level of exhaustion you are. Out of all the things to do with motherhood I find potty training the most stressful and find myself all day expecting a little turtle to rear it's ugly head. It's quite a relief to put his nappy on and put him to bed at night.

Good luck with the mum invasion, sounds like it's going to be another thing for you to worry about rather than a help.

Scamp - We are living identical lives. I can't get dd1 to pee anywhere other than the floor - or in her lovely new pants. So I've shelved the whole potty training thing as I can't be arsed to clean the floor at the moment. (Its become something of a biohazard now) .

evening all.

Scamp - I don't know if you're feelin up to it yet - or if your DD1 would allow it, but I've been bathing both of mine together each night and they both seem to love it.

I got one of these so its completely hands free. Put Elena in first, then help Eve get undressed and she gets in, wash both hairs then Elena out first and dressed, she lies on our bed whilst Eve gets dressed and hair dried, then both into Eve's room for stories.

If I didn't bath her with Eve, Elena would never get a bath, and she has a whole head of hair so gets pretty whiffy if it isn't washed vaguely regularly!

Elfsmummy - I have one of those but didn't know if I could use it when she was so small. How much water do I put in the bath when using the bath support?

I want to get one of those bath supports, they look great...although Benedict does love his tub, he's such a monster I'm not sure how long he'll fit in it.

Sympathies to those having crying/non-sleeping babies. Ben is laid back and I feel very blessed about that, he still doesn't sleep between 5-10/11 normally (although he did the other day in his sling) but he's not screaming, just awake, so it's no great trauma, just a bit disconcerting to have the cycle of 'sleep, feed, awake' which is like clock-work in the mornings, dissolve into, 'feed, awake, feed, awake, feed, awake'. Makes my evenings feel like a shrinking groundhog day as the cycle gets more and more contracted until finally at 11ish he conks out.

Is it bad that he doesn't go down? Should I be trying to settle him to "teach" him to sleep a bit earlier in the evenings or do I just go with his patterns?

Is anyone using reusable nappies? I'm too tired to be able to think clearly about how to go about getting started with these - does anyone have any tips? the washing doesn't worry me, of all the chores it's the one I can usually get done most days..other cleaning/tidying doesn't get a look in but laundry I can do.

There was something else....can't remember..should go to bed..

We used reusables with DS... haven't started yet with DD but I am going to this weekend, honestly. I'm going to be less hardcore about it this time, though -- I think she'll be in disposables overnight, and possibly if we go out for a whole day or are away for the weekend.

PAL that's pretty much my plan too - I'm not a purist about these things (about anything much), I figure that if I can use a reusable for even 3/4 of the time then that's still a decent reduction in waste. I hate buying disposables, they just seem like such a waste of money. Will venture over to the nappies forum to see whether I can work out what to get. Need to try to find a place that sells them IRL so I can have a look at some up close & work out what I think will work for us.

Oh I remembered what else...are those things that you use to suck snot out of baby's nose ok? and are they all the same or does anyone have a specific recommendation? B seems to be coming down with something snuffly although only one nostril seem affected at the mo' so he can still feed & sleep ok thank goodness. Think I should get something in case it gets worse.
I dreamt last night that he was really sick and needed to go to hospital - probably after reading about the poor LOs of peoples friends and relatives here - when I woke up I turned to OH and very strongly suggested that he make getting his license a priority...he's been promising to get since I found I was pregnant. 9 months went by...my dad ended up driving us in. I think he relies on me being able to drive, perhaps I need to spell out to him that accidents/emergencies can happen when I'm not at home as well (and that I will eventually be leaving the house on my own a bit more often )

sad]
Poor little Alex.
He had his jabs yesterday and within about an hour he had all red eyes and was Not Very Well.
He doesn't even really want to feed.
Last night he was really fretful and it was the first time we haven't put him to bed awake because he kept crying.
He went to sleep about half nine though and didn't wake up until 6:30
He's sleeping still now after having a little feed at about 8ish.
I think it might be the calpol making him sleep though.

LadyBee, IME it's best to try and get them to start sleeping by themselves ASAP, so if you can, try putting Benedict into bed awake, it's hard if they fall asleep when feeding but rather than tip toeing up the stairs hoping not to wake them let them wake up, it's good practice for when they get older.
The reason many babies don't sleep through even when not hungry is because they don't know how to get themselves back to sleep, they wake up, cry and get fed back to sleep. If they go to bed awake from now they are more likely to wake up, go back to sleep and not wake anyone else so you won't even know they've woken.

Goodness - look at this thread!
Hope all (and LO's) are doing well ... once again I don't have time to catch up - just send my best and touch base so to speak.

Poor Alex VS!! Those jabs really get to me too (and Livi). Hope he is back to his normal self very soon . Livi has her second lot next thursday .

We are all well - Livi is a little gem and a v. easy baby compared to DD1, always quick with a smile or a giggle.

I am exclusively BF-ing for another week (until 12 weeks) and then introducing a bottle a day of FF. This is purely as I have lots of 'events' coming up and I cannot for the life of me get the expressing thing to work at all. Ho-hum - it took a lot of soul searching, but tis the right decision IMO.

Take care all and hopefully one of these days I will be able to join in on the chat.

xTMPx

Ladybee, the snot sucker things are fine but I often find just dropping saline drops in the nose works as well, it sort of washes the snot out. Sorry if anyone is eating their cornflakes at the PC!