July 2008 - Now our babies are arriving let's have a thread to talk about them...

[minipinkscottish]

Hi ladies
I know there are many of us still to pop but thought it would be nice to start a thread that we can come to once the LO's are here

Abbie is 4 weeks and 3 days old today and my due date isn't here yet

Abbie is doing great - eating and sleeping and very content. The feeding was hard going at first as it is very frequent with her being early but I think you actually get used to being tired

Someone (sorry can't remember who) was talking about bottle and bf together and nipple confusion. Well all the times I have bf I have done so exclusively even when it was very difficult - I am stubborn As Abbie was early and lost a good bit of weight the mw advised topping her up with ebm through a syringe. This was tough as I was bf then trying to express only to bf 1 hour later - so I gave her formula to top up. Giving her the milk in a syringe became difficult as they tended to spurt the milk too quickly at times. So I gave her a bottle to top up( Tommee Tippee - closer to nature) and it was great!!

I bf her all day and then top up after bf at night to get a bit longer sleep - it's working - she is putting on weight and no nipple confusion

sorry for huge post - hope you will all come over and join me!!!!!

Peanut - hope you are feeling better and that your LO is having a more settled day - hang on in there...I know what it's like when they scream and scream, dd1 did that for a while - horrid, horrid. It will pass..xxx

sweetkitty - has the spd vanished?

isaidno - yes it more or less has, I'm still quite tender in my erm bum and fanjo so it's hard to say and I have not moved much since the birth IYSWIM so not done any walking to test pelvis fully yet but the signs are very good. Lovely to get rid of the acid reflux as well.

just wanted to say a big hello to all july 2008 babies - ds1 was july 2006 and he had his 2nd birthday on monday!

got me all misty eyed about how quickly it goes

July babies rock!

hi flick - that was nice of you xx

Peanut - hope LO is more settled now - it's horrible when they scream and scream - and all babies do it from time to time

I have found over the years (cause I'm so old mature experienced) that staying calm yourself is the best thing to do (easier said than done) and if you are at home and know that baby is well, fed and changed then don't be afraid to put them down in cot for a few minutes while you go to loo to cry or scream or just get a cuddle xx I'm sure Abbie will put me through the same soon enough

oh sk - it's great to be spd free - i am still getting used to being able to move almost normally!!

Congratulations to those whose SPD has vanished. I bet you are mightily relieved.
TJ - lovely photos.
Can't believe DS1 finishes playschool tomorrow ready for big school in September. How the time flies. I am cherishing Luke's early days as I can't remember Sam being that small.
Luke was weighed again today and in 9 days he has put on 1lb 2oz and now weighs 7lb 8ozs.
We also booked his christening today. It's not until 7th December, but had to investigate early as they get booked up so quickly as our church only does christenings on the 1st Sunday of each month. Is going to make December and expensive month!
At least there will be some nice food in the shops to get for the party afterwards.

Thanks for the message flick

Thanks pjr and minipink and tjuice tj - the pics are gooooorgeous. xx

Charlie was really good today. Also, DH did both night feeds with expressed breast milk so i could get a good night's sleep. I think yesterday was a mixture of charlie having a meltdown and me hitting the wall after 7 weeks of sleep deprivation.

Weighed him today and he is 9lb 7oz - up from 8lb 9oz last week... so at least he's thriving if a little louder than he used to be. The next door neighbour said she could hear his crying from her front room last night.

sk welcome! i think half the thread have been waiting with baited breath for you to pop!

libra - luke is coming along beautifully - well done.

Morning all. Got a quick question about cabbge leaves helping engorgement - anyone tried it?

Am trying my best to bf Logan - am managing about 6-7 times a day with shields and thank god for Lansinoh. He gets another 2-3 of aptimil too. He fed on and off from 6am to 8.30 this mornign though - switched to the bottle of aptimil at 7.15! Think he's on a hungry day.

Got mw visit today so home she'll tell me he's put on weight rather than the small loss newborns usually have.

Also need to get his passport application in so need to get into Snappy Snaps to get his pics done. Joy! It's next to M&S in Colchester so I'll pop in to the food hall and get some yummy treats.

Have fab days and hope lo settles down soon Peanut.

Hi everyone

finally made it over here!

Louis is 2 weeks old today and doing great. He's a very hungry baby and even put on weight in the first week. Feeding every 2-3 hours, nips now much less sore and I'm remembering how to feed discreetly in public- would recommend mothercare's nursing vests they're ace! There is a little flap through which to poke your nip but the rest of the boob stays covered, really handy. And only £10.

DH went back to work on Monday after his week off, was dreading it but although dealing with a 3.7 year old and a newborn has proven challenging so far it's not as bad as I'd feared!

Isaidno I think it was your post I saw elsewhere about wondering about dummies. I've been going through the same thing. Louis is such a sucky baby that he would be on the boob 24/7 if I let him. Mainly comfort sucking tho. But then he gets too much milk, it gives him wind which really unsettles him and he throws it back up again 5 mins later. SO after lots of umming and ahhing I have introduced a dummy and am really glad I have. He feeds better now (I think it's more that I am certain that he is hungry rather than needing comforting) and doesn't throw up as much. Hasn't forgotten how to bf either!

Not started expressing yet, when did you other expressers start?

hi everyone

don't have very long as I really should feed ds3, but thought I'd pop in here. He has a name now!! Conor Sebastian. 2 weeks 4 days old. After having breastfed really well for the first few days he has now developed some gastric/gut discomfort. Lots of screaming, during or after feeds, sometimes relieved by burping, sometimes it carries on for ages, especially at night. His poo also varies between green and yellow, which the midwives are a bit concerned about.

I'm trying to work out what exactly is going on, but ds1 had a cow's milk intolerance and ds2 had reflux so I'm not terribly surprised by this . I have quite an overactive letdown and he's definitely doing some coughing and spluttering when the milkflow is too fast, so I've been doing various things to slow down the flow, like feeding from only one breast over a 2-3 hour period. I'm also wondering if he's reacting to something I'm eating...

So Peanut, I don't think I'm in quite the same situation as you but I do know what it's like, especially based on my experience with the previous two. I found mum and baby groups especially difficult when ds2 was in his worst phase. I was hardly a good advert for breastfeeding, with him writhing about and screaming so much. Huge hugs to you, come on here and moan any time you like.

I like the kellymom.com pages about 'fussy babies'. There are some good suggestions there, although I know every baby is different, so what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another. With ds2 and now ds3 I've found that an upright position in a baby carrier sometimes calms them down - so that's what I've been using for all the school runs. The other mums must think I have a really laid back sleepy baby but I know better !

I had great plans to donate milk to a milk bank but I haven't started to express yet as it will just stimulate more supply and I think we could do without that at the moment.

Similarly I'm quite keen to use a dummy but want to wait until at least after the 3 week growth spurt.

anyway I will try to come back again sometime (in the next week lol) and read everyone else's messages.

Morning all
Donutmum - cabbage leaves do work but you tend to smell rather badly after a little while as the cabbage seems to cook on the skin If you are bf 6-7 times a day you shouldn't be getting that engorged. Ask MW to check your positioning as poor latch will lead to sore nipples and engorgement - I've been there and it's awful!! I am also using formula to top up - why not try spacing out the formula feeds between the bf and giving yourself a rest - only a suggestion - good luck xxx

Abbie is fine this morning but I am totally stressed out!!!! A bit hormonal I think and also having a bit of terrible 2 trouble from ds4 - I know he is of baby and i am trying to spend lots of time with him but he can be so naughty at times especially when I'm bf. It will pass I know but right now it's hard work

hey ladies

on my "lunch break" and will actually have a sleep while she is down today (usually find something else to do for two hours).

i had my six week checkup for elodie with this old locum doctor that they must have wheeled out of retirement (he was about 75 or something). I asked him about colic and to my surprise he recommended acupuncture of all things.

i spoke to my acupuncturist and he said that it is extremely effective and not many people know about it. its not like an adult session where you have to lie down for 20 mins - it only takes a few minutes as babies are small and very responsive to the acupuncture.

Who knew????

Fingers crossed, Elodie isn't really colicky - just gets a bit fussy when its been a busy day and she's overstimulated and her "routine" is totally off.
But its worth knowing.

Also, he agreed to see me on monday and will look after her during my session. how nice is that?? he has seen me through the aftermath of miscarriage, quickly pregnant again and a smooth and comfortable pregnancy - totally rate him.

Hope you are all having good days.

I am having a day at home after a week of "mum dates" and its nice.

really should do something about my podginess now but don't feel like exercising yet and keep scoffing choccy like i am still pregnant!

Morning,

Hope everyone is OK?

Peanut I know what you mean about having a fussy baby, DS1 was an absolute nightmare, and wouldn't feed, I just got to the end of my tether with him one day and gave him a bottle, after 2 days of hourly feeds (day and night ) He drained it and then slept for 6 hours!!!! Hurrah! Bottle feeding seemed to suit him better, I don't think he could get enough from me, and I was getting stressed, which didn't help my supply... You are doing very, very well!! Good old DH for doing the night feeds! Luckily I'm a little less stressed this time, And I'm Very suprised how well it's going!

Minipink DS1 is naughty too, when I'm BF Sam, he is usually so good, but so far this week he has taken his nappy off and pooed on the floor, 'stolen' the toothpaste from the bathroom and squirted it everywhere, taken bites out of ALL of the tomatoes in the fridge and put them back!! Thats just a few of the things, and there is f**k all I can do about it as I have a baby attached to my nip!!! Other than that, all he wants to do is pick Sam up, give him kisses, hold hm etc, which is a pain, but cute at the same time!!!

Tjuice How cute is Elodie!!!! She is adorable! One of the very few girls on this thread!!!!!

Brownowl Love the name Maisie, it was my nan's name (well Mary, but Grandad used to call her Maisie) and I wanted it for a girl.. Lovely lovely lovely!

Anyone else I've missed, sorry.......

I'm STILL bloody working as they STILL haven't sorted out my MA..... Rang yesterday and they should have it done by the end of the week!

Minkus - Poppy wouldn't even try the dummy, but she has worked out the best way to comfort suck. I know she's doing it because it's all gentle - not much milking going on!

SK - looked at your pics on facebook and Bethany is lovely xx

I've just eaten some brie and it was yummy yummy yummy! One of the joys of not being pg! Must stop eating at some point though or I will be back to 9 mths pg weight!

Jodie - thank god I'm not the only one with a terror tot - makes me feel a bit better IYSWIM He is in garden with dd at the moment - a little peace

I need shopping today but am too stressed to face supermarket with dd, ds4 and LO
Ds1,2 and3 are away for a couple of weeks to their dads - they are such a help when they are here.

Abbie crying - must go xx

Hello all, my turn to join this thread

Thank you to all who have posted re:bottle and breast that is exactly the info I was looking for. I want to use breast and bottle (with EBM) as I would like to involve DH and it seems there really isn't any reason not to. I expressed this evening my right breast as Alex hates that breast for some reason and it is very hot/heavy/engoirged, was expressing for 4 minutes and got nearly 30ml, not sure if this is good or not.
At the moment life seems very chilled as all Alex seems to do is eat and sleep, in fact I am fussing already over whether he is sleeping too much. First time mothers huh.

isaidno - my first supper out of hospital was camembert, water biscuits and a large glass of wine

Jodiehavingababy - they should backdate your MA to whenever you stopped working!

Great news for all of you whose SPD has gone!

THE NEW ARRIVALS

25MAY PEANUT75 BOY CHARLIE 5lbs 8ozs first baby
03JUN TJUICE GIRL ELODIE 7lbs, 4hr labour, vb, epidural (fab) and oxygen (EDD 26 JUN) first baby
13JUN MINIPINKSCOTTISH GIRL ABBIE SUSAN 6lbs 5ozs, 50min labour vb no pain relief(EDD 18th July)( DS 15, DS14, DS 11, DD 5, DS 2)
16JUN TWINKLE TWIN BOYS CALLUM 3lbs 2ozs and CONNOR 4lbs 6ozs (EDD 24JUL) fourth and fifth babies
18JUN ISAIDNO GIRL POPPY ELIZABETH 6lbs 4ozs (EDD 03 JUL) third baby
19JUN NIKNAKF BOY 6lbs 12ozs (EDD 08 JUL) 1st baby
23JUN LIBRALADY LUKE THOMAS JACOB 6lbs 4ozs (EDD 01JUL) 2nd boy
29JUN BEEPBEEP BOY NAME TBA 10lbs 1ozs (EDD 02JUL)
29JUN MUMMYPIG BOY NAME CONOR SEBASTIAN 8lbs 14ozs (EDD 06JUL) 3rd boy
01JUL KAZ1967 GIRL KEZIAH 10.45 6lbs 8 1/2ozs (EDD 18JUL) 1st baby
03JUL THEPUDDINGCHEF GIRL MEGAN LIA 9lb 3oz 2nd baby.
03JUL MINKUS BOY LOUIS ROBERT 11.29pm 8lbs 11ozs (EDD 07 JUL) 2nd boy
03JUL EXCITEDFORNUMBER2 BOY DECLAN MARK 10.57am 7lbs 9ozs (EDD 10JUL) 2nd boy
04JUL JODIEhavingababy BOY SAMUEL MICHAEL 11.09am 6lbs 11ozs (EDD 15 JUL) 2nd boy
04JUL ICHEF BOY FRED CALLUM 15.35am 8lbs 6ozs (EDD 11 JUL) 3rd baby (DD8, DS3)
06JUL JOCESAR BOY SANTIAGO 8am 7lbs 5ozs (EDD 08JUL) 1st baby
06JUL BROWNOWL18 GIRL MAISIE ELIZABETH 11.55am 8lbs 12ozs (EDD 23 JUL) Third baby (DS9, DD7)
07JUL PURPLEJENNYROSE GIRL FLORENCE ANNIE 10.13am 8lb 1oz (C-section, EDD 13 JUL)Second girl
09JUL MCCHESERS BOY AIDAN 18.40pm 9lbs 11ozs (EDD 12JUL) 1st baby
09JUL DISNEYSTAR BOY SAMUEL 9.47am 6lbs 15ozs (EDD 17JUL) 7th baby
09JUL JUSTJULES GIRL ELEANOR HOPE 7lbs (EDD 14JUL) 1st baby
09JUL POLYXENE BOY WILFRED JONATHAN MICHAEL 19.07pm 8lbs 6ozs (EDD 02 JUL) 2nd boy
10JUL MUMMYWANNABEE BOY MAX 5.08am Weight TBA (EDD 08 JUL) 1st baby
10JUL CASS66 BOY EDWARD 12.30pm 8lbs 8ozs (EDD 10JUL) Third baby, first boy
11JUL SILVERSIXPENCE BOY NAME TBA 2.17pm Weight TBA (EDD 16 JUL) 1st baby
12JUL DONUTMUM BOY LOGAN GABRIEL JOHN 5.25am 8lbs 3.5 ozs (EDD 11 JUL) 3rd boy
14JUL SLEEPYCAT BOY THEODORE 10.10am 7lbs 14ozs (EDD 21JUL) 3rd baby, DD and DS
14JUL LIBRA1975 BOY ALEXANDER PHILIP 12.35pm 7lbs 5ozs (EDD 15 JUL) 1st baby
14JUL JACOBSPRINCESS BOY DEWI HENRY THEO 9lb 9ozs (EDD 09JUL)2nd boy
14JUL BUTTERFLY McQUEEN BOY NAME TBA 8lb 3ozs (EDD 09JUL) 6th Baby
15JUL HUBARBSPONG GIRL SKYLAR 7lbs 14ozs (EDD 10JUL) 1st baby
15 JUL SWEETKITTY GIRL BETHANY ANNA GRACE 4.25am 8lbs 5ozs (EDD 10JUL) 3rd girl - 1h 35 waters to baby
15 JUL AGGIEPANTHER BOY STANLEY 8lbs 15ozs (DD1 13 DD2 2) 3 and a half hours from start to finish!

34 BABIES AND COUNTING - 10 GIRLS 24 BOYS

Good gracious that's a lot of boys!!

Well here we are surfacing from days without much sleep. I slept until 10:30 today and then had lots of wee naps through the evening. The house is a tip and my cats are sorely neglected..but we're getting there. No schedule so far..just feed on demand, wind, change nappies, sleep. Wash, rinse, repeat.

He only cries when he is naked, wet, or hungry and there seem to be nice 3-4 hour breaks in between. So it's all up to baby at this point. Our flat is a bit busy and loud with the city background so we opted for the BT digital baby monitor. Holy poop it does everything! It has talkback, a nightlight, and lullabies. (there's a reggae dub version of the muffin man) You can even get it to play mp3s. wow!

Poop is orange..midwives are happy and I'm starting to feel less like a rubber chicken and more like my old self. More pics on my profile.

Tjuice - your girl is adoreable!

We're going for his US passport photos tomorrow so trying to keep those scratch mits on. Not so easy

My sympathies to the screaming babies. We went through that the first week in hospital. ugh.

hi ladies thought we needed the list over here I get confused!

Well 2 days old already, she has day and night confused but is so cute I will let her awat with it. Milk came in today ouch forgot how painful that is had pump out tp relieve it a bit. I'm terrible I am already latching her on and falling back asleep, she must unlatch cuddle in and fall asleep herself, I also did this with the other 2, you have a different kind of sleep lighter and you are always aware of them, DP said he watched me one night and I was arranging her blanket and cradling her whilst asleep. When DD2 was older she used to latch on in the night and help herself.

Bought dummies today not used them yet. Will try a bottle in a week or so too.

Libra - I think Bethany is sleeping too much as well she's only a day younger than Alexander, I seem to remember they do sleep a lot for the first few days to a week then start to get more active and nosy. TBH with just the one I was really bored at the start DD1 was a really good baby and never cried for food and slept loads, I used to go out a lot with her though, take her into London and show her the sites

Poppy is just over 4 weeks now and hardly wakes for more than an hour at any one time. Over 24 hours she must be asleep about 21 of them! She went to bed at 7:30pm tonight and I'm just waiting for her to wake for feeding and I will then join her. I always put her in the moses basket upstairs in the evening, quiet and dark - I think it helps her realise the difference between night and day.

When she is awake she only wants to feed and cuddle - which is fine by me!

SK and Isaidno, thank you for your words of reassurance, DH has just banned me from reading anything about babies as I keep getting myself worked up about what I should be doing rather than just going with the flow of what Alexander wants.

Mcchesers - have you found any scrath mitts that actually stay on??? Glad you are feeling more like your old self.

questions for non first timers and cat owners:

1. how often do you bathe baby?
2. when is it advisable to go into town?
3. 3 weeks before dummies can be introduced?
4. what do you need in your changing bag for extended days out?

Questions for SK-

1)what's with people putting a coin in DH's pocket when we are walking about?

2)what does baby need to wear out on days like this. He's too small for proper clothes.

Lucky us there is a brand new D'nisi coffee shop just across the street from us and they open at 8:30am. There goes my allowance!