Fab Feb 2009: attack of the zombie mums

[dinkystinky]

So here we all are, complete with babies and gro-bags under our eyes

We had such a lovely ramble in Richmond Park today. Isn't the weather glorious?

Must admit I've taken the "cold babies cry, hot babies die" saying rather to heart. Tarran has had little more than a babygro on most days but as he is either held or in a sling all day he's getting our body heat too. If we do put him in a bouncy chair for a bit then we chuck on a fleece blanket and on the rare occassions he's been wheeled about in the car seat on the pram chassis I had put him in a snow suit. When I'm wearing him in the wrap out & about he's just had a babgro on beccause the wrap then covers him in 3 more layers of fabric and he has the heat of my body too. McDreamy it's best to have coat undone so lo is closer to you. When it's been cold I've been putting a big cloaky wrap thing over both of us.

Littlesez what kind of pain are you having what state are your nipples in? Just wondering if thrush has been ruled out as it's so common.

LittleSez - some babies are just voracious eaters; Danny likes to attack the boob too... Hopefully Isobella will moderate her sucking as she gets bigger... Good on you for making it out to groups though.

Rosie - there is talk about the meet up on facebook; first week of April is currently being mooted.

Ah i never get on facebook much - will have a look this eve thanks!

My pleasure Rosie. Re your bleeding - it is possible to get a period so soon after the birth (particularly if you've stopped bfing) so it may be your period. If it stays really heavy/you're getting pain/passing clots/starting to feel feverish, please do give your GP a call to get it checked out (better safe than sorry). I found my first period after DS1 was really heavy and lasted longer than usual (mind you, didnt get it until he was around 6 months though...)

Thanks Dinky - ive googled it this evening and it says that you should get your period generally around 4(ish) weeks AFTER the lochia stops which is weird as it only stopped properly about 10 days or so ago. Its just too heavy to be the after birth thing though i think so it must be a period. Im not in any pain, no clots and all seems normal so im going to wait and see how long it lasts for then go and see the doctor if its not eased up or nearly gone a week from now. Thanks for the advice - i just didnt want to end up worrying all night that i was heamorraging or something so long after the birth!

Evening all.
thom I've not heard that saying before, what an awful one, but so true i suppose. Ds1 was born in August so was quite hot from day one and i always preferred him to be a bit on the chilly side rather than a bit on the hot side iyswim, maybe that's why he never stays under his blankets in bed now for long.
When we've been out these past few warm days, I keep stopping to put my finger down Luke's tops to check how hot he is and always end up undoing his coat and removing a layer of blanket just to stop a few minutes later, to do coat up again and replace blanket and I have been repeating this every few minutes for entire 3 hours or so that we are out!
dinky As for the whole one more layer than I'm wearing thing, my body temp changes so drastically so quickly and normally while dp's sitting here visibly sweating because I've had heating on full blast, I'm here in tracksuit bottoms, socks, t shirt and dressing gown and I still wouldn't say I'm warm, so I'm not really going to be the best judge. I've always worked it that if I'm hot, the dc's (well ds1 until recently) is/are.
Am quite paranoid about the over heating thing, like thom says, cold babies cry, hot babies die.
I am sure that in the early weeks with ds1 I did actually have him out in just a vest with a blanket hung over the hood of the pushchair to shield the sun, but he was alot bigger than Luke. God, I'm getting worse, I don't know how I want to dress my baby, what a nut-case!
Batt's about to die, so will be back at silly o'clock when feeding.

Where is everybody?...........

Right here!

morning all
PT, belated birthday wishes, sorry I missed it yesterday.

dinky, thank you so much for the yummy food supplies. The carrot cake was lovely and low fat (has vegetables in it?) - maybe thats why my diets fail when I can convince myself that a bar of fruit and nut is a balanced meal in that it has a variety of food groups in it Have saved the hob nobs for later.

Pempe, glad Harry seems to be improving

DH arrived home late last night untouched by customs so my willpower is now being severely tested by a suitcase FULL of chocolate buttons eggs, caramel & creme eggs, mini eggs etc
Am very excited as he also bought me a few womens mags from the UK We can get them here occasionally a month or so late for about £3 and with half the pages torn out (ie if models with 'exposed flesh' ie legs!)
He has finally taken over childcare (he was too tired last night so I'm off for a bath with a magazine to read.

Hope everyone has a good day

Oh bugger - bleeding got alot worse overnight - not so sure it is a period now as flooding everywhere and lost a huge clot in the loo Have an appt for 11.20 at the GP's though so will see what doc says.

How is everyone else today? MOS glad you got your Easter eggs intact!

Morning all!

Rosie poor you! Hope it's all OK.

MOS I too have long contended that Fruit & Nut is infact a health food. As of course is all dark chocolate with all that iron in it.

Off to make Tarran legal today and then celebratory lunch at Cafe Rouge.

Hope everyone's well. Think Tarran's starting his second cold .

rosie let s know how you get on, hope all ok. it's such a worry isn't it. how lucky are new dads not to have to contend with all that stuff too!

rosie hope you are ok x

rosie... hope everythings ok sweetie. good luck at the docs.

THOM... never heard that saying but it is how i generally treat my babies.... had a massive fight at 1am with the ward nurse after ds1 was born as she kept giving out to me wanting him dressed warmer (july 06, heatwave and ridiculously hot ward!) and i refused to put 2 layers of clothes and a blanket on him, not least because i was planning on co-sleeping with him anyway. aaron is the first of mine where i've ever really been concerned about keeping him warm as when he was admitted to scbu his temp was subnormal and then he spent 5 days in an incubator at 30 degrees so got used to that temperature... i feel a bit sorry for him coming home to our fridge house after that!

mos..... eat the buttons... jesus will forgive you

my mom went mad and got me yves st laurant cleansing water, chanel foundation and chanel mascara as well as a book on orchids feeling very pampered today and my crappy skin already look better now that i have my good cleanser again.

got home late, dp had bought a card and a few bars of chocolate from the kids for me (a mothers day card and 2 bars of nestle which i boycott but the choc bar her go from aaron was a starbar which i was living on while he was in hospital.... his usual weird mix of very sweet and completely off the mark) wanted to talk ('i don't want to fight on your birthday'.... coz i do?) but i don't think we got anywhere, was 2am by the time we got to bed and i don't know if things are better or worse.

What can we get/do for MIL for Mother's Day? She's generally lovely but has also been a huge help recently. She's coming for weekend so we can't send her flowers, DH has only 3 weeks left at work so we can't spend much and I did lots of photo-type presents for Xmas so that's no good. Any ideas?

Rosie - really hope you're ok. Let us know how you get on at the GP (they may send you to hospital for an investigation) - thinking of you.

THOM - how about a framed paint handprint or footprint picture (DH,you, DS1 and DS2)? Or, if she is into plants, take her to Kew gardens? Or get her National Trust membership if she likes that kind of thing? Sorry to hear Tarran is getting another cold - our household is a permacold zone too!

MoS - glad DH and the chocs made it home safely; hope the little ones start behaving now daddy's home.

Pink - sounds like you got some lovely gifts from your folks and DP at least tried (got to be a good sign?) - fingers crossed life is getting better for you.

So, latest from the dinky house of lurgies DH came home from an awards dinner last night (pissed of course but I had been given prior warning so was fine with it) and spent all last night throwing up. He thought it was too much booze but has cramps and the runs now so I have pointed out it is food poisoning or another bug (sounds like one had last mothers day leaving me to cater for both sets of parents and my sister and look after ill DS1 on my own when he had invited them all over and was meant to be doing big lunch for all). Went out to get him some dioralyte which he is whinging about having to drink. Men! Am heading to the park for a picnic with my boys in the sun then over to see a speech therapist about DS1 (not major but he still pronounces all js as gs - wouldnt worry so much except he thinks he is called Goshua ) - hopefully they'll tell me what to try out with him to get it right

afternoon all, I'm on my own with DS as DD and DH are asleep upstairs and have been for hours. He is tired as was woken a few times last night. Get used to it mate!

THOM, dinky's idea about handprint/footprint is good. I did some just after H got home from hospital for his baby book and did a couple of A4 size sheets with DD's hand/footprints on the outside and H's inside of hers. Looks quite cute.
Even though you did piccies at xmas, you didn't have Tarran then so why not do an up to date one now? You could always give her flowers/a plant.

I've not been able to get my mum anything (although DH posted a card and photo to her home address when he was in the UK) She is still in hospital and don't know when out so no point sending flowers to her house (she never got the ones I sent for her birthday on valentines day as was admitted a few days before that - god knows what happened to them?) and sods law if I send to hospital she won't get them or will be discharged just before they arrive. Will have to make it up to her at a later date (hopefully)

PT that cleanser sounds good, never tried that, tend to stick to cheaper brands (need a tight cow emotcion) Might look out for that when in duty free in a few weeks on our way on holiday I love duty free shopping.

dinky sorry you are back to a chunder house again, although unlike your DS's you can leave DH to clean up after himself. Wonder if he has some sort of allergy to mother's day? Hope your picnic goes/went well and DS1's therapy went ok. I'm wondering if DD needs to see a speech therapist when older as she can't say D, eg she says 'gog' instead of 'dog' and has a lisp.

Right, off to find some healthy snacks although tempted to eat all the easter eggs whilst the lazy git/poor tired DH sleeps

mos, i only get good cosmetics when mummy dear buys them for me.... stuff i buy myself is generally supermarket stuff tis a very good cleanser, hard to get here though, she sent my 12 year old cousin into brown thomas' with a note when he was up in dublin as you can't get it within 100 miles of here

mothersdayitus must be a common allergy among men...

thom, aldi have nice orchids in pots this week, would she like something like that? or how about a book on something that interests her?

Thanks MoS - picnic was lovely and DS1 actually ate well (well, well for him) and enjoyed it. Speech therapist basically just told me to keep doing what I'm doing (repeating the words DS1 says with the right j noise in them) as they wont actually know if its a permanent problem till he's 4 (hopefully not as he says juice right). He used to get ds and gs mixed up (DH was gaggy for a long time) but it sorted itself out before Ganny was born...

Dinky glad you go on well at speech therapist's. DS says dr instead a v a lot of the time (Mummy, I'm drerrry, drerry cross with you) but I must admit as I find it cute it has never occurred to me he might have a probem. I guess I should make an effort to correct him more.

Tarran is all legal now and I enjoyed an enormous and very rare steak as well as three (count them) puddings at Cafe Rouge.

phew - sorry people, I haven't even got time to read the posts today Harry has turned into a milk monster, constantly demanding food, refusing to be distracted by anything else, like my finger or a dummy. I'm exhausted, we have been feeding allll day, my boobs don't seem to be keeping up (I know feeding triggers production, so am going to post on the BF thread to see if something's going wrong). Would be gutted if there is a problem with my milk supply, we've gone through a lot to get to exclusive breastfeeding

Hope you're all ok, I'm off to bed, got to conserve some energy for all night wakings/feedings

Ok all well i think Thanks for your well wishes. Doctor did seem to think that it was a period ( after 5 weeks! ) and prescribed me some tranexamic acid which is supposed to reduce the amount of bleeding and clots and stuff so we shall see - have been through three pairs of trousers today already - i have never ever been this heavy ... childbirth eh!

HOM congrats on Tarran being all legal bless its nice when you have their certificate and they are official isnt it?

PT v jealous of your lovely skin products too i only use supermarket or loreal but have been utterly crap and slatternish in my skincare since Milos been here and ive got bloody spots again! Hope things are gradually improving with DP for you - talking is good even if you feel like you arent getting anywhere eventually it all comes out in the wash whichever way it ends up going iyswim

As for the temperature thing i was pretty paranoid too about overheating and keep a close eye on the thermometer in our room - at night now he is co sleeping he is just swaddled in a sheet and i have the fan on AND the window open a bit too is bloody freezing but i just think about in the old days when babies used to come home to uncentrally heated houses i suppose they did ok then and im of the same mind as you all really - better a bit chilly than too warm he he i should create my own paranoid emotcion

Dinky I WILL get on FB tonight and have a squiffy at when the meet is for as really would look forward meeting up with everyone Sorry to hear that your DH is poorly too - never ends does it!?

MOS i am the proud owner (albeit temporary) of nine easter eggs atm and its taking all my willpower to not scoff them too! Trying to be good here though as have GTT booked for next week at the DAU and i really am hoping that the consultant was wrong and that i am not type 2 diabetes but we shall see. I would snaffle one egg if i was you and blame the heat

Thanks for all your lovely messages everyone. Alexander is now home and we're loving having him here. We've spent a lot of time staring at him in wonder, so pleased he's here and doing so well.

Unfortunately we left the hospital on a slightly sour note as the last thing that was done before we headed home was his canular was removed from his hand. It had been hidden under a big wad of bandages for the past 4 days, and we discovered when they were taken off that the dr who put it in hadn't bothered to pad it with cotton wool underneath and it was digging into his poor little fingers and actually cutting them. We were horrified, and the poor little mite hadn't made any fuss at all about it. I could see the panic in the nurse's face as she tried to size up if we're the suing type (we're not). It's fine today, healing incredibly well, but we did let them send someone out from the homecare team to check it just in case.

One good thing about Alex being in hospital is that we've got him out of the moses basket and into his cot. The hospital use full size cots even for the littlies, and so have come up with a great way of making the babies feel secure. Basically they make a nest in the cot for them by rolling up blankets into long sausages, lining them up end to end to form an oval shape and then covering them over with a sheet. It creates a little nest within the cot for them so they aren't swimming around in loads of space. Alex loved it and slept really well, and was perfectly happy with the same set up in his cot last night.

QK great news about little Alexander being home with you both Am and about the canula fiasco though ... grrr stupid Doctor! Glad you managed to convince him the cots are the way to go as well - wish someone would have a word with Milo about that

QK - glad Alexander is home and doing well. Most appalled at the cannula treatment though - its so unfair to be so slap dash with treatment of little ones who cant vocalise what is wrong and giving them IV antibiotics is painful enough (I remember DS1 screaming his head off every time he had to have them in SCBU) The nest idea is lovely - we have a stokke mini cot which we had for DS1 which we're using with Danny which is pretty cosy and nest like and so far he (touch wood) seems to love it...

Rosie - glad you're ok and most impressed at your stamina at withstanding those easter eggs! Hope the GTT goes ok.

Pempe - know you're probably asleep or feeding by now, but hope that after feeding all day Harry gives you abit of a reprieve tonight.