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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ah the witching hour will soon begin - where he will root and root but will not take the milk so we try the dummy, nope, then I stick my finger in, nope, he might then take some milk before screaming while rooting and we do the whole thing again. Normally starts around 7pm before he goes to sleep at nine

Im following the GF timings but not any of her other stuff, although he was following that routine anyway on his own its just he was having his 2 hour sleep in the morning not in the afternoon.

zonedout My DH is also very involved - he wants to know is your DH going to the Square Mile Sports Awards (city sports awards) if so, my DH reckon he knows who your DH is!

How bizarre.......

choc you are finding out very quickly that GF is adaptable - I have always found that as long as you start your day at 7-730am and get 4 feeds in before 7pm, then one before midnight, you should only be awake 1x in the night, which is sooooooo doable. remember, that M is still less than 3 weeks old, and as lacks says, he hasn't read the book!!!!!!!!

PINKY Your day sounds lovely, did you buy amnything at the german market???

Hello everyone, I am all in-lawed out!
My parents arived yesterday evening and left tea tie today, FIL and DHs half sister arrived lunchtime today for couple of hours, followed by MIL later this afternoon. And we still managed to go to church to show off DD this morning! Had to laugh at guy who said "Unusual to brig baby to church so young (exactly same age as DS was) keep her away from anyone with colds" - that includes me, DS and DH!

She is being a star, feeding well and not sleeping too badly. Her cord stump is a bit skanky though - MW made it bleed when squishing tummy for newborn checks and I'm scared of hurting her moving it too much when wiping - although she shouts enough when being changed anyway!

Pinky - was it a german Christmas market? I love them, being at uni in Lincoln was great - they have a huge one every year

DH back to work tomorrow (gulp)

we ha a lovely time. We didn't buy anything- just some very large sausages and pancakes for lunch

We have an open air ice-rink too, so hope to take DC's there one weekend, too.

hi yorky yes german market, we have one most years here in Manchester. They are great fun.

Sounds like you had a busy day, too! Good luck for tomorrow

Hi everyone - I am now officially on the 'dark side'

Have no chance of catching up with everything but did manage to read some of the thread on Patientline in the hospital!!

Brief summary of Sam's birth

Went to hospital for 8am on Thursday morning, was in theatre by 9.30 and Sam was born at 10.10. The surgeon referred to him as a 'chunky monkey' as he pulled him out and due to my fondness of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey icecream, the nickname has now stuck for Sam

Wasn't totally straightforward, as happened to Ladybuzz, when they cut me open they found some nasty scar tissue from my last cs and implied the surgeon had done a 'botch job' last time Anyway, he said he wold fix it as best he could but there may be implications if I had another baby - good job I am not!!

Recovery was much easier this time - I felt pretty good quickly, was up and about by Friday morning and was desperate to come home yesterday - fortunately they wanted the bed so I was chucked out anyway!!

Sam is an absolute darling - looks exactly like his big bro did when he was born (although if you look at my profile, you can see they look nothing like each other now!). He is such a calm, contented baby who has rarely cried since he was born - the only time he really cries is when you change his nappy/clothes.

DS1, on the other hand, is being a nightmare - completely whingy, tantrumming all the time, playing up - I know it is probably a classic reaction but I am tired and in pain and have no energy to deal with him - any tips??? Tbh, me and DH are counting down the hours until Tuesday morning when he goes to nursery so we can relax and sort stuff out

My boobs have swollen to Jordan proportions and I am in agony with them - anyone who is ff, how long does it take for them to return to normal? My milk didn't come in with DS1 and I assumed it wouldn't this time round but, by god, it has come in thick and fast judging by my boobs!

That actually wasn't so brief was it? Sorry

Ceebee I have posted n th other thread for you too. I stopped feeding after about 5 days and it took 2 or 3 for my boobs to stop hurting. They do though

Hi Ceebee and welcome to the dark side.

scar problems sound rather nasty . Did you have any problems with the healing process the last time?

Sam sounds like a poppet....he looks really cute . Love the photo of him and DS1, especially the thumbs up!!

Re DS1s behaviour; my HV said to us lots of praise and positive reinforcement of good behaviour and ignore the bad behaviour and be firm and consistent with boundaries. Also, take a few moments throughout the day to relate to him on a one to one basis. Since I started doing that with DD (and it isn't much, just a tickle, or a wee chase or a brief play with a toy before getting back to Fin) her behaviour has been so much better.

My stitches have started really hurting again . It feels a bit hard around the area of them and I'm not sure if that's normal or not? It also feels like he hasn't quite sewn me up to the end properly as there is a little V shaped groove at the top of my perineum that never used to be there

Feeding is getting better though....and his sleepy time seems to have moved on from morning to evening; maybe by this time next week it'll have moved round to nighttime?????

oh and meant to say not sure about the boobs, but cold savoy cabbage leaves are meant to help with engorgement. All it did for me was make me smell like a cabbage though

Evening all
Just wanted to say a quick thanks to Hana and Pinky for the sling advice - I am going to take the plunge and purchase one.can't wait to carry my little cuddly boy around

Obs - sorry you are having such a rough time and if you want any help with complaining to Kings then let me know. Can't wait to meet up with you soon!

Choc - sorry to hear you are feeling a bit low too, but don't worry it is normal! Our lives have just changed completely and utterly so you are bound to feel emotional. Just keep looking at your gorgeous boy and remember that it will get better.

James is getting into a bit more of a routine now but still feeding every 3 hrs. He is a hungry baby so I have gone and bought the Aptamil hungry baby formula which seems to satisfy him more. He won't settle back in his basket when I've fed him in the night and falls asleep on me and if I'm really tired (like last night) then I end up falling asleep too! Am I really making things tough for myself??

Hope everyone else is good and will catch up more soon
Xx

daisy/Ladybuzz thanks for the advice re DS1 (it still feels strange typing that . I have found myself shouting at him a couple of times and I know this is wrong but he is really testing our patience Tomorrow is another day and I will try the positive reinforcement although finding good behaviour is proving difficult

Daisy sorry about your scars - no advice unfortunately but maybe get your doctor to have a look.

Not sure I fancy cabbage leaves in my bra - maybe I will just bear with the pain - preferable to stinking of cabbage

ceebee, after three weeks, DD is coming round and her behaviour is almost back to what it was before DS2 was born. Give him time; his wee world has been turned on it's head when you think about it. Keeping telling myself that helped me rationalise DD's behaviour a lot

I can't get used to the DS1 and DS2 thing either. DS and DD sounded fine, but DS1 and DS2 sounds so impersonal.

3 weeks??? Give me strength......I know how much of a shock it is too him which is why we are really trying to be patient with him but how much leeway do you give to his behaviour?

It is a good job Sam is so calm and placid cos the sound of DS's whinging would be enough to cause any baby to scream the house down

That's fab news, autumnlady, about getting a sling- I hope you find one you like, I'm sure James will love it.

RE- sleeping on you at night- I often wake up to find dinky asleep on me after a feed- it's those sleep-inducing bfeeding hormones! I did this with my other two and they are both very good at sleeping in their oiwn beds so I wouldn't worry!

ceebee your little boy is lovely!
I had lots of scar tissue, too, but prolly because it was my 3rd more than anything else. I hope you heal well.x

DD2 has had quite a few tantrums, partly new baby, partly being 2, methinks, but as things are getting back to normal, and I am doing most of her care again. she seems more settled- reassurd I suppose that the baby is not taking mummy away too much-I am a real advocate of positive reinforcement, and second what daisy has said about that.

I think I may have popped one of my internal stitches at some point this time, asI have a very lumpy bit, under the scar. It doesn't feel really hard, like healing tissue does, it's kind of lumpy and was very sore. I will get it looked at when I go to GP, I think.

Daisy have you had the stitiches checked. My mum was stitched up too tightly after her episiotomy and had them redone. I would get them checked to amke sure they have been done right. (says me who is rubbish at going to the doctors!)

Daisy just seen your post on the AN thread - Sam is jaundiced at the moment so that may explain it. He has actually been awake for the last 90 minutes - for most of it laid happily on his playgym looking around. Unfortunately we can't do this during the day as DS1 just lies down next to him and starts rolling around and squashing him (unintentionally) as he wants to play with him so Sam spends most of the time in our arms/in his moses basket - both conducive to sleep I guess!!

Pinky thanks for your advice aswell...will persevere.

Will stop moaning about it now but I hadn't realised parenting 2 children would be this hard and I feel it is stopping me and DH enjoying Sam

It has been getting steadily better over those three weeks ceebee, so don't despair.

We are being firm with the things that matter; like thumping the baby or being too rough with him or climbing into the crib, and the odd biting incident (although she hasn't tried to bite anyone since she tried to sink her teeth into my leg and face planted on the floor when I moved it quickly out of the firing line). Other minor things (running away with the remote control etc) we are trying to let go.

The jump from one to two is hard ceebee as you feel torn in two. It does get better though. Two to three hasn't felt as emotionally difficult for me, but I had a horrible time adjusting to DD and dealing with DS1 as well.

My typning is so slow, I missed all that.

ceebee I wouldn't feel bad about telling him off from time to time if he's reallt naughty, but trying to head off the behaviour is often the best approach I found with DD1.
She got to the point one week where she was clearly fed up of having visitors so I made sure we had a couple of mornings together on our own, whilst the baby slept, and honestly her behavior the rest of the day was positively angelic for her.

If you ignore as much of the seemingly naughty behaviour as you can, it loses it's effect. It's the same when my two fight over things. If I just ignor it they end up settling to play quite happily.

DD1 loves holding the baby- she feels very grown up!

Does you DS have a dolly, so he can mirror your looking after the baby- both mine really enjoy doing that?

DD keeps bringing me all her dollys to cuddle when I have the baby in my arms......either that or she is after a swap

lol daisy
DD1 sits next to me whilst feeding and says "can I hold it?"

I will alweays remember when DD1 managed to reach out and hold her rattle- DS clapped his hands anmd said 'well done dd', it was a really lovely moment as he clearly recognised her as being another person, and one with significance in his life, considering he was so young, it was quite special ,to me.

hi hana wel done you- how's it going?

Hi Ceebee and welcome to the dark side

I have to say, you little men are adorable, I can't get over Sam's dark hair, it's gorgeous!

I feel for you with your ds1's behaviour, I remember it well from my ds1 when ds2 came along. I am having a little backlash from ds2, but his issues are not behavioural per se, but developmental, his speech is suddenly bad again and he is back to wetting accidents several times a day, full blown "I will just stand here and pee myself" rather than not making it to the loo in time wet. It is all very frustrating, but I find the less I react to my kids bad behaviour, the less they do it (and I don't just mean because of the baby, I mean in general). I too would praise for any and all good behaviour, no matter how small and try not to react too much to the bad stuff unless it is dangerous or likely to hurt you, him or Sam. Hugs. I think this threads mantra is "This too shall pass", we remind each other of this all the time, about sleepless nights, colic, sore boobs ect, ect.

We have had a pretty good day here. Zack has been a bit more awake, so we attempted a photo session with him. We only got to try a few poses before the natural light got too dim to do anymore, so will try again in the week. The pics we did manage to get are at the top of my profile.

Sadly, I think Zack may have silent reflux. He is always coughing or choking and gagging to the point where he actually can't breath. Has given me quite a fright a few times in the last few days. At first I thought it was because my letdown reflex is very fast, but he still coughs and gags ages after he's been fed and winded.

Right, going to finish my cuppa and get myself and the tired little man off to bed.

Opps, typing too slow, plus I got sidetracked by baby, lol! Welcome Hana, I hope all is going well!