we did it, we did it, the babies are here, now come and join us and we will give you a cheer!!!!

[Dozymare]

Hope this works

thought i would start a thread for those of us already in the heady World of motherhood, so we can share the trials and tribulations of the early days....

I shall start with my birth story and hope other's follow and I haven't started a dud thread

As you know I was dreading a 3rd CS, almost to the point where I was having panic attacks - we went in on the Thursday and after waiting for an EMC we were taken to theatre where I was DELIGHTED to recognise the aneathatist (sp!!) who helped deliver DS2. Now, one of my major fears about a 3rd CS was the fact that having had a "perfect" excperience with DS2, it6 wouldn't be possible to experience the same thing again...I was wroing, it was better The whole thing was started at 1315 and Tallulah was born at 1344 weighing 7lbs 2oz. She has a shock of dark hair but seems so small compared to the boys who were 9 and 10lbs respectively. The care I recieved was absolutely 2nd to none - no complaints or gripes.........So far so good.........

HOWEVER.........my god, do you forget the pain of breastfeeding before the milk comes in - I am in absolute agony and have had to top up with aptamil as the poor wee thing is so, so hungry...I am literally BF for up to 2 hours (the point of pain in both udders ) and then topping up with Aptamil. She guzzles 30ml and then settles.......As for sleep - sleep is for wimps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dozy I have not tried Mack with a dummy - I really don't like them although I do wonder if I should because of the SIDS advice. What are you doing with TL??

I'll join the after Christmas skinny bitch-to-be club! DS was really good about eating my baby weight but he never touched the 2stone I'd been trying to lose before getting pregnant. After reading a thread on here about a juicing diet I have been thinking of asking for a juicer for Christmas.

We had such a good night last night. What a contrast from Thursday! DS was in bed and asleep by 710, and DD fed at 830 so I was in bed by 915, and wasn't woken till midnight! Four hourly feeds, all by herself at 2days old! And even when she wanted breakfast at 4 she asked nicely and didn't scream, DS woke just as she finished and had a bottle with medised so he didn't get up till just after 8am! I love my kids!!

Leaky - is EE eastenders? How depressing!

Morning everyone!! Sorry not posted sooner, DS is a week old today but only came home from hospital on wed, and been getting used to life with 2 DC!!!!

Sorry cant possibly catch up on the thead but will try and keep up more from now on!! Hope you are all doing ok??

Looks like there isnt many left on the anti-natal thead and a few imminent, looks like I went most overdue so far at 14 days over

Where do I post my birth story? Its quite long i'm afraid and probably not to be read by those not yet had their baby, but it ended in a beautiful little boy so all worth it

morning all

choc I also HATE the look of dummies, but after reading the info on the fsids website, I am not sure what to....don't know if anyoine else has read it, but it basically says that cot death can be reduced by giving a baby a dummy to go to sleep. I am confused....has anyone done any further research on this - hana perhaps???? She seems very well researched.........

As for the skinny bitch club members so far are:

Dozy
ladybuzz
Roca
Yorky
Leaky

are we going to follow the same diet, or each to their own? I quite fancy WW as you can "cheat" and still have wine and choc out of your points allowance.....don['t know if I could survive on a juicing diet...maybe to kick start the weight loss as an option, but definately not long term for me...I would fail miserably and end up juicing choc and wine

I tried mine with a dummy - sometimes he will take it other times not but he has'nt 'needed' one for a few days now so an leaving it.

Will try swaddling again tonight, hes very good in that he only wakes up 3 times between the hours of 8pm-7am but he will just not settle in his basket (unless its daytime of course)

Yeah - I am finally here!!! Didn't think I ever would!! Will post again later.. xxx

I need to lose 3 stone too, I have actually PUT ON WEIGHT SINCE GIVING BIRTH (blush]! But I think I will get depressed if I am trying to diet and bf so will have to weight(wait...geddit? durh). Anyway, my body tends to hold onto fat whilst bfing, didn't start to lose last time till I stopped bfing, so another year to go, if I can keep bfing that long.

Dummies, I have some, but haven't used yet. Ds1 wouldn't take them (but I only tried at about 3 months old). I have just been lax at sterilising them this time so haven't tried yet...I actually brought them downstairs last night and put them in steriliser so they will get done for tonight and we'll give it a go, especially as dt's wake each other in the night and then one has to scream while the other feeds which is a bit stressful, so maybe dummies will help.

Managed to express y'day and checked with how long I could keep for and the advice was very different. One website said use within 24hrs and definitely discard after 72hrs. Another said 6 days!!! Anyway, we will use tonight, just over 24 hours.

Lacks, the colief really seemed to work . Just used it for the formula feed, but it made a difference. Still dd so used to being up in the night that she was up and wide awake though not in pain, and definitely did not want to lie down in the dark and go to sleep, so had a bit of a time getting her to sleep but at least she was just crying rather than the horrible groaning/ in pain noises.

Well, baby is calling...

dozy I asked the MW today about the sids/dummy advice and she said you shouldn't introduce it till they are 4wks old and i asked if she thought i should do it she said not necessary as long as baby is in room with you for first 6 months - mother/baby sleep cycle is in tune so you subconsciously keep an ear on their movements. i guess its just another opinion to add to the conflicting mix!!

good news - Mack has gained some weight and was discharged from MW care today!!

ooh Choc, perfect timing for me and dummies as they are 4weeks and 3 days now!

merry i found this useful link on storing milk - its american but surely things are the same over here??

Thanks, Choc, the timings seem to vary a lot on each site! But this one is nearer the 'longer timings' website I found. I think I will tend to freeze unless using it within 24hrs anyway...but just wanted to check that 24hrs and a bit was ok, since one website was so weird about it!

afternoon all.

I don't bother sterilising my pump or dummies!! There is a MNer on here who had preemie twins (RTKangaMummy) and when her DTs were in the NICU nothing was sterilised so she has converted me. According to her, and other stuff I have read, washing in hottest water you can stand and allowing to air dry is perfectly fine, as is washing on the hottest setting in the dishwasher. I'm going on the premise that as baby often sucks on my non sterile fingers, and that my nipples aren't sterile then baby is already getting exposed to bugs and bacteria (especially latching him on in the middle of one of my night-time mammoth sweating sessions!!!). I do store expressed milk in sterile containers though, and would sterilise if using formula.

Rosa, thanks for that. I have been persevering with him and taking him off if at all uncomfortable for me. He is getting a bit annoyed with it as we can unlatch and relatch several times to begin with and then again during the course of the feed, but I think the message is getting through to him!!

Shall we have a new thread for the weight loss? I'm quite happy with WW as you get lots of extra points due to BFing ....and I have all the stuff as well from joining when DD was little.

mum2becks, post on here, or there is a birth announcements board. Good to see you here and congratulations

Just wondering - are any breastfeeding mums giving their LO a bottle of expressed milk at all? I was thinking of starting soon when DH goes back to work so I can get to bed earlier but not sure if 2 weeks old is too soon to start - there is such conflicting advice out there so would be good to know what other MN mums are doing??

choc I always gave DS1 and DS2 a bottle of EBM (or rather DH did) as their last feed at night. In fact, DS1 had EBM and DS2 had formula...both BF for near on 10 months.

Did this from birth. I know that merry and Obs are using mixed feeding with BF and bottle, so maybe ask them, but in my experience, never had a problem with interfering with milk supply.

DH loved it as he had an hour of 1 on 1 parenting with LO as I went to bed at 9pm!

chocorange05 you do what you feel - at the end of the day you do what is best... with dd I did the expressed milk with a bottle and breast fed, I was told that I would confuse her but it worked out quite well as it allowed me and dh to get back to normal, even managed a date!!!

I am bf again and can't wait for my milk to kick in - I hate all this fannying about to begin with - although Jack is being brill... No bother atall! Luckily the other kids are good aswell - so dh has taken ds1 out for some lunch together!!

Having monsterous ctx with my tummy - after pains my mw calls them.. wish I could have some gas and air for them... lol

Thanks DM and twinkle - I have been expressing for a couple of days, although not getting much out - think I am going to try a bottle for the first time tonight, fingers crossed!

count me in 3stone loss. I have 1.5 to lose.

same night. up all night. ds2 in bed with me 2am-8am. 6 hrs sleep bliss. but don't want to co sleep. dh down on sofa bed. = problem.

obs is ds2 snuggledv right up0 close to you or just next to you, so has his own space????

choc I wouldn't worry too much about expressing atthis stage. I didn't manage to get anything of worth while amount until well into he 1st month.

Should you not have them snuggled close dozy

DS has taken wel to the dummy, only 3 weeks here. Again, oops. But I won't worry.

Hmm can you tell DS was shouting at me when I was typing that?
Now happy with that dummy.
I hate them, but I would far rather that he had one than he sucked his thumb. You can take a dummy away, but you can't take a thumb away, is my logic.

choc I meant with DD, it was a month before I got any good at expressing, even then I could only do it at 4am (the first feed she dropped)

DS squiggles and squirms until he is snuggled close, everynight, even though I put him in his own space. See I have good intentions, they just fall through

Ooh! Yeah! I found my kari me, so now I have 2 sling options, well three with my home made ring sling.
Choc you said the slings were exspensive? Have you tried ebay. Mine came from there and they are dandy. Sooo much cheaper!

Missy I just looked at the Didymos on ebay but it didn't seem any cheaper.

I bought a baby bjorn bouncer off ebay yesterday (on someone's recommendation - Daisy's??) and it should arrive early next week so I hope he will like sitting in that as he doesn't like lying on the floor!

I would also like to lose one stone - I am only half a stone over my pre-pregnancy weight now but I wanted to lose at least half a stone before. I am still holding out hopes of when I was 18, and 8 and a half stone!! (BTW - thats losing much more than 1 stone!! )

Can I join the weight loss club, 8lbs to pre preg weight but like choc wold like to loose an additional 1/2 stone to be 9st 7.

I seem to be eating loads of chocolate at the minute and can't stop so at this rate will be gaining weight.

Interesting that others are considering dummies now. Rebecca sometimes takes one but at others does not want to know. I will leave it with her, I am not bothered either way although I second what missygoo says about being able to take a dummy away.

I struggled last night, Rebecca did not settle back in her moses basket and ended up sleeping next to me and like you said Obs sleep bliss but DH slept downstairs I am thinking its because she is snuggled warm when being fed and then moses basket is cold, she is in a grobag and been really pleased so far although last night was the coldest night so far.

I am going to try and express next week, think I have plenty to express as seem to leak but could be proved very wrong. Expressing could be the answer for the wedding next saturday. The closer it gets the more I don't want to go

DH and I just bought a baby monitor - it is saving my mind as I don't imagine babies crying in my head all the time now!!

I love my baby monitor.
My DD is 2.2 now and we still use it cos we love listening to her ramblings (used to be gurglings) every morning.
Am actually considering getting a second for DS just so that I can still hear DD in the mornings.

Thats a shame that the didymos one was no cheaper on ebay, it must be more popular, I guess.
Kari me's go for around £20-25. I checked cos considered selling. Not sure now, you guys have me wondering
Finally tried the Tricotti last night though and it was fab. DS fell asleep. I was able to get him up to bed and clean my teeth etc, and even a wee snooze before he started to shout for his next feed. Pretty pleased really. And I only used one half. I think if I am going great distances, two would be better. With one he did get a little low for me, but figure the second one will hold him in place a little better. Ah well time will tell and, no doubt, then I will tell all you guys

And now we know the new baby monitor works.