September 08 - Just ladies with babies

[pacita]

I thought I'd start a new thread before we run out of space...

pacita we have really basic one from mothercare. Link here. Good luck!

highly entertaining discussion ladies, many thanks!!

Feeling much better today as have decided that I am the love-child of hopefully & starlight.
Basically, I DO need some sort of routine but also to be partly led by C and to trust myself and her to find our way. So, i am happy that C is feeding every 3 - 4 hours from 7am to 11pm and sleeps through the night but I am not going to worry yet about further routines like naptime in her cot and regular playtime/bedtime. So she is now downstairs with us and will be until she starts to regularly fall asleep all evening with us (currently asleep now though ).

I am also going to stop worrying about regular stimulation for now. She has one class once a week, which is full of structure. Everything else, i'll just go with the flow - probably meaning I start taking her out alot more just to see new sights that I want to see (parks, museums etc). if she sleeps, she sleeps.

hopefully & digitalgirl don't worry about the journey. I drove DD to Wakefield last week (a 2.5 hr drive) to stay in a hotel with DP while he was away on business and she slept most of the way. we had regular stops for stretches and food and she then slept really well in the hotel.

I am feeling much better today for 2 reasons:

1. Got my first period of the year! Daft to be happy but it's amazing to think that my last ovulation created C!!!! Blows my mind still.

1. Went to cinema this afternoon with DP while MIL babysat. only out for 4 hours but we held hands (you can't with a pram and I miss it!) and ate ice cream and generally had a 'date'. Came back feeling totally refreshed, totally loved up, missing C like mad and am now full of happy feelings like I had when I first held her - was in tears at some of the songs on x-factor cos I just felt, wow i am so lucky to have these 2 people (DP & DD of course) in my life.

Sorry for long post but it shows what a great day can follow a day from hell.

Imo, regarding "So, i am happy that C is feeding every 3 - 4 hours from 7am to 11pm and sleeps through the night but I am not going to worry yet about further routines... "

You lucky girl! If D was behaving that well, I would not worry about ANY routines either!

Happy to hear a happy day after a hellish one. I am hoping for a night without many nightly feeds...

Pacita babies haven't changed much in the last 200,000 yrs so the happy medium for them is what they had way back them. It is our expectations of how babies should be that has changed.

If you look at their body language they mostly try to tell us what they need providing that will make them happy. They are the centre of their universe I am afraid....

I really recommend getting the book 'the social baby' it shows these body language communication which tiny babies give all the time.

Pacita - our magic poo chair is much like the one Ponymum linked to. I'm glad others have found out about the magic of the poo chair as I have mentioned it to others and they have poo pood my theory (did you see what I did there )

Foxy - is your dh still away at the moment? I really admire you looking after your newborn and poorly dd on your own.

Hi Pacita I'm guessing you can't do much about the poo. DD1 used to go ages and now M is the same, only once since the Meconium left has she pooed twice in the same day, and only once on consecutive days - otherwise 3, 4 or 5 days apart. I doubt if it's my diet as I'm veggie and eats loads of fruit and veg and am very regular (sorry if TMI!). DD1 now has no problems so it won't effect you in the long term.

imoscarsmum sounds like a great day.

Hope everyone else is having a good weekend.

We saw a Father Christmas parade with real reindeer in town yesterday and a few fireworks in the evening. However, poor DD1 not really well enough to enjoy it

Just getting this on my threads.

I have a drink almost every night by the way - and on friday i had lots (well about 4 glasses - hen night). I really can't discern any changes in my milk or frank's reaction to it, it doesn't even make him a little bit more sleepy .

Last night DP persuaded me to accompany him with Frank to the pub to see some friends - but Frank wasn't allowed in! So we left him in the car - do you think this was OK?

Only joking! We had a very swift half sitting under the heaters (um, with all the smokers) outside with Frank tucked into DP's coat..felt a bit wrong but it didn't seem to do him any harm, plenty of layers on and he liked peeking out at all the people and lights (I think...)

I'm v entertained that we have all discovered the joy of the pooing chair! Ours is much the same as Ponymum's. That will be my top tip on the next pregnancy thread asking for advice.

imoscarsmum I'm wondering if I'm the father or the mother...!

MY god, my left breast is in agony today. think it's just a blocked duct again (bloody expressing), but it's insanely tender. really looking forward to sitting at family party in agony

yes, dh is still away. he's back on the 28th at 8.30 am. whoo hooo! or as I prefer to put it: 19 more sleeps.

dd1 is slowly getting more proficient on her leg. (sadly, it doesn't yet include walking.) The consultant said that he expected anxiety about the leg and it is still early days to expect her to walk on it. I am hoping praying that she is walking by Friday.

morning all x

Hi.
Jenpet Sam is very handsome and big. You have beautiful children

Pacita I have just looked through the last posts of the last thread and I looked at the photo of Diego, he is gorgeous too. I love the name.
The bedside cot is still doing the job.
Lorea is also doind explosive poos that made me change her clothes.She seems pleased with herself everytime she does one of those wice a day.
She is now 5 kg and still feeding on demand.
My 4 yr old is being very patient and today has received a present from his sister "For waiting for mama when she is busy with me (Lorea), most of the time" He was happy about that.

OK, so both DCs are asleep and what I am doing? Am I getting a nap to supplement the 5 hours sleep I've been getting per night? No, I'm waiting in for our new washer/dryer to arrive - the delivery man rang at 12:40 and said he'd be here in 20 mins.....I can see by the time he's delivered it and taken away the old one and shown me how it works that one of the DC's will be awake - probably Dougie as he's actually due a feed right now....

Routine - well we've sort of got one but unfortunately with DH being on shifts we can't do it every night. The feeds seem to be as follows (all approx but roughly every 2.5 to 3 hours during the day): 7:15, 10:15, 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, then somewhere between about 9:30 and 10:30, 12:30/1am. He then sleeps through til the 7:15 feed. So normally I express after the first one and DH feeds him the 12:30/1am feed - he stays up and dozes on the sofa while I go to bed. But when he's on Mornings or Nights I have to stay up to do the 12:30 feed myself. I tried getting him to go down earlier and it was a distaster - he cried on and off all night and eventually at 4:30 I woke DH in tears and got him to take him so I could at least get a couple of hours sleep before DD woke up! He seems to really struggle after the 10ish feed - lots of red face, squirming, crying and usually poo, then he will eventually fall asleep on your lap. We then wake him for the next feed, change him, and he seems to go down fine after that.

So at least I'm getting 5 hours and once DH is on Evenings/ Days Off I'll get longer but already the short nights are catching up with me. I haven't been out with them without DH yet - I just feel like I'm surviving at the moment and can't face trying to get out to groups etc!

Still without hot water or central heating. Apparently they are coming to fix it on Tuesday, by which time it will be 2 weeks. The fault lies with Coverheat, the insurance policy people, as they didn't bother to authorise the plumber to order the parts until DH rang up to ask when they were due in! We won't be renewing......

Oops, Dougie's just woken up......I'm going to be feeding him when the washer/dryer arrives......

yep, the second I put him to the breast...have left the guy to it so I can carry on for now...

Poor Dougie! I had to take him off 3 times! He cried in between so couldn't just leave him. They've gone now. So much for them explaining how the machine works. All the guy said was "read your book, it's complicated! and turned it on and off to show it worked!

Now giving D the rest of his feed......

Jearund - I'm very impressed. You're feeding and yet there's still punctuation and capitals!

Bookmarking the thread!

Ds is pooing less frequently now - hasn't gone since Thursday so 3 days. It has been roughly every other day for the last couple of weeks and before that was every day. We have a rocking chair rather than a bouncy chair and I don't think the motion has the same effect.

Poor dd has done a huge vomit all over my front! She looked very distraught afterwards and then fell straight to sleep on me... er.. help.

Luckily she was leaning forward so all the vomit went on me rather than her, and I grabbed a muslin and wiped it up from my chest and around my breasts (I was bf with my top pulled down). I really don't want move her now as she was so tired and obviously not feeling well, and is now snuggling into me like a sad, abandoned kitten. I feel a bit gross but am telling myself that baby vomit is sweet, harmless stuff. DH just left a msg on the answerphone saying he'll be home in 20 mins. Counting down to a bath...!!!

ILTMIMI my friends named their vibrating bouncey chair 'the nappy compactor' for that exact reason!

hopefully are we related? We colour code our spreadsheets, like routine, and have a tendancy to head to Croydon....! I hail from there originally but now live in York.

Yesterday was my day for total emotional breakdown. Just kept randomly crying all day. I calculated that I'm down at least 2 hours sleep a night, which over 6 weeks adds up to 3 1/2 days lost sleep! Dh also struggling with exhaustion this weekend so neither of us in a place to pick the other up, so we had our first argument since ds was born too All sorted now

I'm SO glad I had ponymum's warning about the effects of fluconazole on baby's tummy. We have explosive nappies and a lot of wind with every feed. Oh joy. SHould pass soon!

Oh dear, Mr Tumble has just finished so my window of opportunity has closed...back tomorrow!

carrieon impressed that you've only had one row with dp so far!!
dp and i have rowed quite alot since dd arrived. got me down a bit.....

getting better now as we both adjust to our changed life and getting more sleep -more patience!
daft really - think we're both quite competitive so it was a case of 'i've done more than you today'...

i find it quite hard that he is working and i'm not. i want to be with c for now but dp breezes in full of stories about the outside world..gets my goat!

foxy i thought my dp was away alot but nthing like yours! hats off to you for coping alone.

I had a moment when we were out for lunch today. DH was carrying Mac in the baby carrier and was due a feed, but was fast asleep. We had just finished lunch and I leant forward and brushed my boob, which was enough for it to gush. The colour top I had on made it very noticable so I quickly put my coat on and got ds on the boob asap!

I stopped wearing breastpads ages ago because I don't tend to leak, but this past week it has been happening every day and especially during the night. I feed ds on one side and the other side starts to drip.

Foxy - I didn't realise your ds was going to be away for so long. You deserve a medal. Do you get much help from friends and family?

just a quick one so i can find you all again.

who's 1abrat

lol at the pooing bouncy chair. I'm obviously bit thick as is only now that I think about it that I can see there is a link between ds2 being in the bouncy chair and pooing. And I remember having to strip ds1 off loads of times when he was a baby after being in it and exploding too.

DS2 seems to be back to normal apart from still quite phlemy. He has certainly got his appetite back, has been feeding lots today and last night.

Legoland yest was amazing apart from getting soaked and it getting too dark to see the model world bit properly.

DS2 is almost going all night without a feed now. He feeds at about 10.45pm and for the last few nights its then been after 5am and pushing towards 6. This morning he woke at 5.50 so I just gave him a little bit (or so I thought, I think he just drinks faster to con me into thinking I've only given him a little feed) but then I had to wake him at 7.45 and he wasn't really interested at all. I don't know what the earliest time is that I'm happy to call morning and treat as his first feed of the day. I'm not a morning person at all and can't decide if its better to be awake for 20mins in middle of night then sleep till 7.30ish or to get woken at 6 and have to wake up properly then.

Well that didn't end up being very short after all. Oh well.

Helllooo!
Finally! i am able to get back here to see how everyone's doing. (and to post so to save new link/thread)

Toby is doing well and ds1 has come to accept and kinda like having ds2 around. ((thought the day would never come.)) mr t is now 5 weeks...and was weighed this last friday by the HV. gained nearly a pound in a week. now is at 13.5!!! my boy isnt even 2 months old and is nearly a stone! needless to say, he's in the 99th centile on the chart. i think it was blimey that had the other 11lb+ baby...anyone heard from her? i wouldn't be surprised if she'd overwhelmed with the demands of the big baby, much like myself!

so saying that, i've almost completely moved T to ff. i do feel sad in some ways, but a bit relieved as i can insure how much he's getting and all the other details that help with such a hungry one. and its helped me, mentally/emotionally, as well.

ds2 started to smile last week as well as laying on belly and holding up his head. and if i recall, its much earlier than when ds1 started to show off those skills.
i'm pleased at his abilities, but im really in no rush for him to move on! at his size, he's not going to be a baby for very long so i'm trying to soak it all up while i can!

iwill catch up with the posts on the new thread tomorrow. must...get...some...sleep!
gnite yall!!
xx

note to self: must change name back to my regular user name...