jan 09; dream feeds, sod mummy's needs, shes on her knees...the one where it all starts to get better (hopefully)!

[fourlittlefeet]

here we are; a bit early, but one more task done. tick

off to dentist here
i luv house of tiny tearaways

morning !

stripey - I'm in awe of your patience it's hard enough conceiving with my DH in bed every night let alone with a donor in another country!

dog are you seriously talking 12 hours of non-stop sleep? Wow.... am v ! I didn't even think about opting out of the 8 week injections, is there any reason too? Of course I'd heard about the mmr controversy but nothing else.

chef Nye does that pulling off thing sometimes too - could be fast let-down, or wind, or getting ready to poop! I take him off, sit him up and see if he needs to burp, and generally just try to get him to relax a bit, then put him back on. But no fun in the middle of the night!

stripey I'm with dog, I would love a wet nurse, could take it in turns during the night!

Lenni I think my DH misses my boobs too - I used to have very sensitive nipples but now they feel like I've had local anesthetic there! But also weirdly painful when touched - and also they let down if they get so much as a stroke! So not so much fun in bed!

ray wanted to ask you when are you supposed to start taking the mini-pill? I can't remember if my doctor said wait for a bleed or just start whenever...I could call him I suppose. I think I am playing with fire at the moment!

MM hope you feel better, sending hugs.

House of Tiny Tearaways - yes, the couples often had appalling relationships - I think that was the number one thing I took away from that programme, that however you choose to parent, you need to be parenting together and supportive of one another. Otherwise the whole thing crumbles!

Oh, really feel like a day off today! It's sort of relentless, isn't it?!

dentist fine off 2 ikea soton

Swaddling Well- i'm just going to keep swaddling her. She obviously likes it & quite clearly isn't ready to sleep without it. I think when the time comes i will do it gradually, getting one arm out. etc.

Peach Yes, thats what Esme does, its her jerking hands that wake her up, and she obviously cant get herself back to sleep without the blanket. As for giving calpol BEFORE jabs - totally not what was said at my GP surgery. I was clearly told not to give calpol unless it was necessary (temp rise) and as Esme didn't seem at all fussed, and had no temp rise, i gave no calpol. I'm talking about 1st set of jabs. Are you? Could be diff with 2nd set maybe? just find it odd to give something BEFORE something that might not happen has happened?! Oh- and its wasnt just me with a fat willy Tshirt? thats madness, i never even saw another person with one of those! I was only Small, and i supose i got it on holiday so not everyone would have one!

MissJ i was told to start taking the pill straight away, as i havent had a bleed. If soley breastfeeding he said take straight away & use protection for the first 2 weeks. Although- If you've already been playing with fire- hey ho- just take the pill & cross your fingers

moose so you wouldn't advise lillypadz? as i was thinking of getting some. Fed up with disposable breast pads! as for 10 oz & big pat on the back!!!

HKZ Enjoy your cream eggs! :-)

Cleaner did whoever was asking about them end up getting one? We have one that comes for 2 hours once a week. Brilliant. Best money ever spent!

Better run, my mother and sister should be here any moment!

chef - c often does this, sometimes it's wind, sometimes she's distracted by all the things that are available for her to look at - but also, if she is at all congested she pulls off and cries. sometimes you can't even hear the congestion, so perhaps it would be worth a try with the saline drops?

ray, i'd continue swaddling if i were you until she is more mobile, if her arms are that distracting for her. isn't it absolutely ridiculous that they can wind up being exhausted just because they have arms?!

fym, eppm, yep, wouldn't be keen to go through it again - at least i have (had? guess i won't know till i stop breast feeding. i hope.) a pretty regular cycle so it was possible. and she is an absolute charmer (when she's not yelling the place down) so it was worth every minute of the hassle and stress.
also, lenni, meant to say last night that conceiving dd sounds like it was pretty awful too, so glad it was easy with ds.

missj, dog - yes, a wet nurse would be amazing, just for the odd day off... but not to the point of forcing dp to take a load of drugs....

Lol dog yes I did sleep... but ds decided to have an extra feed last night and then dd needed the loo....

rray I think cornish holidays were v popular where I grew up!

re jabs- yes- it's his first set... its weird, because of course chefwife's dd is 4 mo, and my ds and a couple of others' are only 2 mo- massive difference at this age!

I use reuseable breastpads- have some avent ones (okay, but sometimes show through clothes) and some boots ones and some from toys r us... can't rememebr- was a US brand- but they are pretty good. They only time I leaked was when ds decided to sleep all night first time- I was in agony though, and had leaked milk everywhere...

Speaking of leaking- somehow today while I was winding him after his 2nd breakfast I had a hot leg... and he had peed all down my leg... his sleepsuit was wet (where it came out) but not his vest... and his nappy didn't seem particularly full either... no idea how he managed that one! DH asked if he'd stuck his penis out the side!

Hi

Ray I think the Lilypadz are generally considered to be very good and to be fair they only leaked when put under extreme stress . When you think about how much milk I managed to express, they must have been under quite a bit of pressure and added to that they leaked when I leaned forward to put DD in her carseat and my boobs got squished up against my lap.

Best disposable pads I've found are the lansinoh ones. They are a bit pricey, but super thin and I've never leaked once whilst wearing them (that's with all three children as well).

Stripey I hadn't noticed the civil partnership post either, been very vague and only skip reading recently, sorry. If only all babies were as wanted and loved the world would be a much better place. I did, however notice the 'black rose' username, is it because of the Irish connection or are you a Thin Lizzy fan? (My DH is the biggest Thin Lizzy fan in the world!)

Had a lovely morning with the boys, they let me sleep in for a bit while they watched a DVD then they played with DD while I made the porridge and we haven't had so much as a cross word let along a fight all day.

Think I'm in for trouble when they go back to school though. DD sat in her swing lapping up all the attention and every time they stopped playing with her she squaked at them! It was hilarious to watch, but won't be so funny when there's only me here to entertain her all day!

Dog pleased to hear positive news from senco, hope it goes well with salt as well.

Oh, glad its not just me - thought it was my over generous chest that was the problem. Have heard other people rave about them and am now assuming they must have been A cups!

moose - my name is roisin... i haven't had occasion to use breast pads - had i think perhaps my second leak so far this morning and this, like the last one, was due to c sleeping for over four hours between feeds! i was going to get all carried away about the progress (so much sleep, and quite a lot in her cot!) but it occurs to me that she might not be that well - she had a cold last week and i thought she was over it but no, we have congestion and green poo today

Sorry Dog, had to go and sort the washing! Am back now. Well, I wasn't very impressed that she mouthed it across the playground and would have welcomed some more information about how he had improved and in what areas specifically. I think after they'd said they would arrange a meeting to discuss his problems they should have arranged the meeting whether there had been an improvement or not.

I don't think I will push it though, as long as he is fitting in with his peers and coping in class. Tbh, I think he will have more problems in Junior and Senior school when he is expected to conform more. He will move up to the juniors next September and I feel inclined to just let him be who he is and not make an issue out of things until/if we have to.

Stripey I love your name, I would really have liked it for DD, but unfortunately it rhymes with our surname. I am right in thinking you live in Ireland aren't I, or did I dream that? Sorry to hear DD is poorly.

I was just starting to think I didn't need to use breastpads either, (except at night that is, as DD goes from 10.30 to 8.00 am and I am always engorged by morning). During the day they never get even slightly damp, so was completely at yesterdays deluge! Sorry to hear lo is poorly, have you got a cot wedge? Ours was bought for reflux, but was an godsend when DD was congested.

Anyone got any idea where I can buy good quality plan white socks for DD that will stay on for more than five minutes? I got some great pink ones off ebay that never seem to fall off, but only seem to be able to find the ones I had for the DSs in plain white and they would never stay on.

Just read that back, should have previewed, I sound as scatterbrained as I am!

Moose- gap- babygap socks are the only ones that never come off babies! They do plain white along with other colours.

DS had his jabs- he cried at first, but stopped straight away. He has just guzzled some milk, and is snoozing now

dog I'm sorry- is it your sister who died? I can understand completely why you wouldn't immunise your own children

stripey another one here who hadn't realised your DP was f- forgive me, we make assumptions all the time, and you must get fed up of people assuming wrongly I know you spoke about not being able to have civil partnership yet... but I lived in france for a while, and it is quite common for people there to get paxed rather than married (ie hetero couples having civil partnerships) so it didn't register at all with me.
I think I too would have encouraged a female partner to bf... imagine being able to share the load... especially at night!

Thanks for the socks advice, will pop into Gap next time I'm in town.

Dog she didn't 'talk' about it even, she kind of mouthed it at me from about 20 feet away!

EPPM glad jabs went ok. I always wind myself up before we go and its never usually as bad as I think its going to be. That said DS2 has to go for his pre-schools soon (should be done before he's 5 and that's next week!) but after his hospital experience I dread to think how he's going to react.

I'm sadly excited about shopping in Gap as we didn't shop there until recently because of their child labour record and was always seeing lovely outfits in magazines or on other people's children that I couldn't buy.

I read a report a few weeks back though that said they are now one of the best rather than the worst of the clothes shops along with H&M, which was another surprise as I thought they'd be terrible being so cheap.

Nope school thing not professional at all and his teacher is head of KS1 fgs! Its also considered to be a very good school, based on its results though rather than day to day school life. That said, both boys are really happy there and really like going to school and you can't put a price on that.

Right better go and put the tea on, DH will be home early tonight and have been busy ebaying so only got 15 minutes! (hmm pasta night methinks!)

MM - Agree about teacher with others who've said it isn't very professional. But fab to hear that Gap and H&M ok in terms of ethics now - have wanted to shop at Gap for years but DH and I have both boycotted them ... until now - yay!

I use reusuable breastpads. Never had a problem with leaks but don't like the Boots ones so much, a bit itchy.

Chefswife - sounds like Violet is giving you a hard time with sleep lately. It will be a phase... everything is a phase...

Stripey - a donor in another country does sound stressful - and sad to hear about the miscarriage. I had one the month before I conceived DD, awful awful business and I was only 6wks pg and had it confirmed, in some ways I think that made it easier though... and at least with the medical problems I had at the time I wasn't allowed to wait to try again so literally 4 weeks later I was pregnant again. In many ways that probably made the antenatal depression worse as I hadn't dealt with the m/c at all and right up until the day DD was born I was convinced I would lose her. My Dad was gay btw - I didn't actually know until I was about 10, but it hasn't affected me.

Thanks for the sympathies Dog - actually at the moment I am quite healthy, and only have minimal problems with my joints. I do need to lose this extra weight though since that does me no good. I also understand how hard your decision about immunisations must be. Can see why leaving it to 6 months would be easier for you. Good news about Arlo - and good luck with the SALT, they are a precious commodity, make sure you really ask everything and anything while you can and get a follow up appointment booked in so you don't get forgotten. I used to worship our SALT when I was a SENCO!

MissJ - I also have very sensitive nipples, or did have anyway. I hope they go back to being sensitive after I finish breastfeeding. The rest of the damage to my body I can take

EPPM - what a star your DS was. The first ones are the worst I think, after that it seems cruel but not as scary to me iyswim. I used to give DD calpol 30mins before but she had a scary reaction to her first ones and her MMR, temp of 40degrees and completely inconsolable crying for hours and hours. After her MMR she had meningitus symptoms - was very scary. They considered sending us to hospital for them after the first set but instead used to do them first thing in the morning with plenty of calpol in her for 24 hours after.

moose - have a wedge pillow i used during pregnancy which is being recycled - she seems a bit clearer this evening though (and is asleep in her cot! again!) we live in dublin.
sorry to hear about unprofessional teacher - it's amazing that she could be so casual about it.

eppm, we have a uk civil partnership but it's not recognised here - eventually it will be but i think that ongoing financial catastrophe will push back the legislation which is due. (gives me time to save up for a ring...)

gap socks are the only socks i've come across that stay on catherine.

lenni - really sorry to hear about your miscarriage and that you had so little time to get over it. i had a missed miscarriage at ten weeks, absolutely heartbreaking, but didn't conceive c until four months later and i think that the interval did help; we did have a very early scan with c, though, because i couldn't bear to repeat the experience of thinking i was pregnant when the lo was lost.

oddly, i think my nipples are now more sensitive than they were. not really a good thing. not looking forward to teething....