September 08 - New Year PFBs, Last Year BFPs!

[ninja]

Hi - welcome to the new thread!

eandz did you say you were going back to doc's today? How did you get on? Is Noah any better? I think you are doing brilliantly, stay strong, it will get better -x-

Yes I am full-time but am looking forward to it (although there are redundancies at my place so may not end up back at all) as it's spurring me on to sort this out. I'm now really hating breast-feeding and the feeling of being so tied and the only one who can do anything.

I had heard about the Medela bottle but have been loathe to buy it as it's so expensive. May end up resorting to it though. I have both silicone and latex teats (Playtex do them) and she'll accept neither. The one I tired yesterday (First Flow) is supposed to be good as it allows her to suck like she sucks on the breast by putting the milk into an initial chamber that she has to work to suck it out of. That didn't work either though!

By the way ladies, am having a sort out of clothes that no longer fit me (sadly, most of them!) and wondered if any of you were interested before I ebay them???

NEXT Bronze 1950's style sleeveless dress. Size 12. Worn once at my brothers wedding. Cost £75. Am asking £20.

DEBENHAMS Debut knee length strapless prom dress (with optional detachable straps). In white with blue,green and lilac spots and blue alice in wonderland sash belt. Size 12. Worn once for a wedding. Cost £90. Am asking £30.

WALLIS blazer style black lined leather jacket. Size 14. Worn once. Cost £100. Am asking £40.

Can provide pics if anyone is interested........thanks!!!

sunshine Sounds like you have tried most things...I would give the medela feeder a go though, despite the cost (we must have spent hundreds of pounds on bottles and teats for poor ds1 before we got it right! )

Hope you get this sorted before returning to work x

Oh dear Imoscarsmum that sounds stressful. I was going to try and be funny and suggest you drive home in a dressing gown, but you need more constructive suggestions than that.

I imagine as she gets older and stronger she will get more used to the session and won't be so tired afterwards. Would it help to take the buggy base and try and wheel/wiggle it while you get dressed?

ninja thanks for the comments - your idea of driving home in my dressing gown sounds like a good plan! . I did wonder today why I was drying myself as it was so quick, I put my socks on to wet feet and gave up on a bra!

I will persevere, just hope it gets better - as i hope M's sleep does for you.

It's 5:30 pm and DD is in her fourth outfit of the day. We had two multi-layer poo disasters in the morning. Thought I then had it under control with both of us bathed and in clean clothes. Doing up the last dome on her suit when she vomitted down her front and on to my jeans and arm. Put her in a 0-3 mth outfit as nothing else left but it wouldn't even do up... now finally got another clean one in the proper size out of the tumble dryer, thank god for that invention. Wait, that's five outfits!! Oh dear.

Sent in my letter today about return to work. I am totally in denial though. I still can't imagine really going back to work...

sunshinemummy - sympathy for you, you poor thing. Sounds like you are doing incredibly well in the circumstances.

meglet - love that your exP is mad you are coping so well. Of course you are, because of the magical powers of the Sept 08 mummies cheering you on every step!

ponymum - got my letter the other day... will go back after the 12 months because of childcare, and feel so lucky when I read of places like states where you only get 12 wks UNPAID!!!

pacita have sent you a message on FB

sunshinemummy sorry to hear you're having trouble with the feeding and night waking.

A slept well last night - apart from the bit where he didn't sleep (11pm-12:30am) but that was find because he was in his cot the whole time gurgling and wriggling around till eventually he fell asleep (no crying, hooray!). Then he woke at 4:30 and 8 for feeding and no wake ups in between - hooray again!

Had my NCT group round today - I made leek & potato soup and baked a lemon syrup cake. All possible because A had some decent length naps. Am now knackered.

Becaroo Your clothes sound lovely, shame that I'd never get my boobs into a size 12

Imoscarsmum Don't worry about what other people are thinking, I can assure you they aren't thinking badly of you or your baby, everyone else has one too remember!! Our changing room was deafening the first couple of weeks but it's no where near as bad now. DD sometimes falls asleep when I'm getting dressed she's that tired. Does she scream the second you're out of the water, or just when you're in the changing rooms because it can be really cold in there so maybe get her dressed on poolside?

SLING LADIES - what is a good yet inexpensive (yeah right!) sling for a premie baby? My friend is looking for one that could take her little DS, he'll be approx 4lbs, she wants one that he can lie down in.

DD just laughed out loud when I blew raspberries on the bottom of her feet. I am so in love with her!

imoscarsmum can you develop some sort of rocking-carseat-with-foot-while-getting-dressed manoeuvre?!

sunshine Have you tried giving the bottle first thing in the morning, when your baby is well rested and starving hungry? My ds has one bottle a day, but he won't take it if he's not very hungry. If he's had a few ounces then come off to burp, he sometimes won't take it back again, but would happily bf. For him the theory about taking the edge off their appetite before giving the bottle really doesn't work. HTH.

Dd is getting her second set of molars so I've been awake since 4:30am. She's been beside herself all day and I've been trying to get her to chew on things that aren't her own hand, or the inside of her gums which are now all swollen. And we have to go through all this again with ds

Lollipopmother I'd recommend a gypsymama stretchywrap. It costs about 30 pounds and is supersoft and lovely to carry a little one in. You can use it in different positions including cradle. It's fine for a premie to be in a sling sitting up though as both head and back will be completely supported. Hope all goes well for your friend and her little one.

Katie has now mastered the art of rolling and won't countenance being on her back. Tonight when I put her to sleep she just kept rolling over on to her tummy, in the end I gave up and let her sleep on her tummy which she seems to like. I'm a bit worried but I've always been told that once they can roll over to let them sleep in the position they choose.

I've voluntereed to be a parent helper friday afternoons at my daughter's preschool. Went for the first time today and it was great. It reminded me of all the things I love about teaching. Maybe I'll try to get a job in foundation stage. It also gave dh a chance to be on his own with Katie which I think did him good.

OK, I'm sure you all must be totally sick of my moaning, so apologies i advance...but I'm so and fed up.

P got in at 4.30am this morning, then slept til about 12 other than for a few minutes when I forced him to help early on. I on the other hand had about 5 hours sleep in total, was woken by dd1 wanting to get out of her cot before 7, which i won't do, so she started shouting til dd2 woke up also. dd2 was ten overtired so cried every single time I put her down making having a shower, getting dd1 breakfast and all 3 of us out of the house to get to pre school (on the bus, pouring rain, baby in sling, pushing buggy) a tad stressful.
I then go to baby sensory, then back to collect dd1, then to supermarket. Rest of the day I vacuum, tidy, wash up, entertain kids, end up carrying dd2 on hip half time as not content to play alone....
all p achieves is cooking dinner for himself and dd1 (them carnivores, me veggie). Then this evening he just announces he's off to the cinema.

Is it me, or is this just unfair - he goes out whenever he wants while I just seem to be in service 24 hours. However I try and explain how I feel, he just carries on. I know I should jus let it go, and think of the future when I'll have left him, but I struggle to detach, and just burn with rage that no one looks after me in any way [self pitying emoticon

imoscarsmum I've learnt DD's cry for when she gets stuck on her tummy in her cot with an arm hanging out the side. She's very good as she goes back to sleep once I have freed her arm and turned her back.

I was very sensible today and had some interior door glass replaced for toughened glass that even DS cannot break. The old stuff was patterned and the clear sticky plastic safety film wouldn't stay on. The man doing the glass made a hell of a noise, it woke both of the DC's up.

pacita & becaroo DS had bad excema as a baby but we've since discovered that its down to the 'hard as nails' water in this area. He's down to 2/3 baths a week and his skin is much better and he doesn't need much cream anymore. Did you see the trials in Portsmouth giving families with excema water softeners, it seems to be helping some of them. DD's skin flares up when she has a bath too . It makes me so sad as bath times are lovely (and necessary!) but we have had to cut back so much.

splish at your P.

My ex P managed to see the DC's for all of one hour today, he is living 2 minutes walk away and was off work too. He's off to his parents this weekend to 'find himself' FFS . Although I do think he's having a breakdown so the peace and quiet might help.

splish - so sorry to hear P is still the same way. try to do what Starlight said...

for splish. Its Friday night so lets order her a takeaway and open a bottle of red too

Starlight - I'm tempted, but I just think dd2 would end up crying loads. He doesn't seem to be able to entertain her for more than about 5 minutes, seems to think that my boobs are the only solution to anything. If she cries, he sometimes just leaves her lying there getting more and more worked up, as he says what's the difference if she's crying when he's holding her anyway? When I've tried just telling him he can look after them while I go and lie down, either the crying gets to me, or he brings her back in to me after 10 minutes.
Also unless he's actually doing some fun activity like cooking with dd2, she is a bit clingy to me at the moment, so would probably be crying about wanting to be with me. So I'd just feel stressed and guilty and not be able to relax at all. His suggestion for me getting a break only real solution is to get his mum looking after dd1 (but since that Christmas card returning palaver / letter about her sacrifices etc, I don't want to rely on her.

AND my computer has gone mad, has this thing antivirus 360 coming up all the time, throwing me out of the computer, trying to get me to buy this programme, even though I alrady have antivirus prog. Don't know how to get rid of it

lollipop I found the pouch great when M was newborn, I've seen them around £15 on e-bay (new ones)... especially a microfleece one, but a wrap will do the cradle position as well.