March 09 - The spring babies have sprung

[jollyjoanne]

Thought I'd start us up a post-natal thread for the new mummies of March 09 (or thereabout!)

Elsy -I am in New Malden - where are you ? Kngston was heaving today - having not used a buggy for about 18 months I had forgotten what a pain it was waiting for lifts esp. in the Bentalls centre !

Auntyspan - congrats on almost getting to 6 weeks . It is a milestone.

I'm drinking wine! Pen seems no worse off for me having the odd glass of wine during the evening (and when I say "odd", I really mean couple of glasses, 2 or 3 nights a week). She went down at 7:30 tonight (and has pretty much been asleep every night before 8) and wakes at 11:30pm for a 15 min feed and then again at 3am for a 15 min feed before starting her day at 6:30 / 7am. No idea if the wine is helping to settle her, but it certainly doesn't seem to be having a negative affect.

But then I am not a particularly strict person when it comes to "prohibited" things during pregnancy either... ate soft cheeses, pate, sushi, runny eggs, a bit of alcohol etc. I did stop smoking though, of course.

effect, not affect...

RE: the alcohol issue, my mum was advised to avoid 'acidic' drinks such as cider, but was actually prescribed Newcastle Brown Ale on the NHS to help her milk come in .

I can't believe that you are all managing to keep your houses pristine. I can put the washing on and the dishwasher but the house looks like a tip, I do some ironing at the weekend when DH is at home, but my mum put the hoover over for me yesterday as I don't think it had been done since Mae was born (a month ago - ewww). And the lawn really needs mowing but DH likes to spend as much time with Mae as possible when he's home and I really can't be bothered to do it either.

I also can't believe it only takes 15mins for a feed, Mae can go 3 or 4 hours most nights but each feed can take 45mins and may be even an hour if she falls asleep enough in between - the problem is she falls asleep i try to unlatch her and then she starts sucking again - this can go on for ages and if I try to put her to sleep before she has decided shes done she will cry and cry.

Also wishing I didn't still look 7 months pregnant, I still can't fit in any of my clothes I'm finding it quite depressing. I think I have been conned by all these celebs who look fantastic after 4 weeks!

Oooh but Mae has started to make noises that sound like laughter - she even does it in her sleep it is soooo cute.

I know what you mean Jolly -- I bought a dress yesterday (this one www.tedbaker.com/shop.do?cID=596&pID=6113 ) for a wedding at the end of May. I used to be a size 8 / 10 before I got pregnant, so to buy this in a size 12 and it STILL be too small is a bit depressing. But at least I have got 6 weeks to fit into it properly.. am planning on going for my first run in about 9 months tomorrow - but starting with something small - just 3km or so. Have also got to stop eating so much!

Can anyone recommend some good magic knickers (those ones that pull everything in) and a good supportive nursing bra that would work well with that dress? They need hoiking up and in to work (am currently a size 34E - yikes!)

Another drinker here

I have a large glass of rose wine and lemonade on an evening, and it does not seem to bother matthew at all.

I am like Boobz though, I had all the forbidden stuff thru pregnancy too!

Matthew seems to sleep like all day and all night

Not really a problem, I suppose, as long as he sleeps during the night

I seem to be drinking lots but its water!! I cannot get enough water!!! Seems nothing else will quench my thirst. Just had soup for lunch and am thirsty again!!

I had one or two of the forbidden things during my pregnancy, but rarely drank. I din;t mind having the odd runny egg tho, or soft ice cream.

DD1 has chicken pox.

JUST what I f**king need!

aunty I feel your pain. Have you had chickenpox - if so Lydia should be okay.

thanks for the advice about my wound - how did you clean it - just with water? I will try to air dry as much as possible (though not easy with Rosie, a streaming with snot dd1 and hamster cheeks dh with the mumps - oh isn't life just a bundle of laughs!) as the last thing I want is to end up back in hospital.

jolly my house really is not pristine - there are dust balls in the corners so I avoid looking at them !

lovely dress boobz - impressed that you are contemplating running again. Alas I now have 2 loads of baby weight to lose - but I seem to be losing a lb a day at the moment (baby fluid and stuff i reckon) so am heading in eth right direction. Looking forwardto be able to get out of the house and go for long walks with Rosie - but I suspect that is on teh list of things I shouldn'tbe doing with an infected gaping wound - boo!

And can you all shhh about your wine intake -you are making me soooo jealous!!!! Antibiotics will be finsihed on Friday - so I will have a bottle chilled and ready to go ahhhhh!

wheely nhs24 have confirmed that dd1 can still go to nursery as she's had the mmr. I'm just worried because dh has been in and out of nursery since I went into have Rosie - and so he's been around babies who won't have been vaccinated But he probably got mumps from nursry in the first place!

Slickbird - re: the modelling, I imagine my eyebags will be fastidiously erased on Photoshop afterwards, I'm not exactly picture-perfect at the moment so no need for everyone to start throwing rotten tomatoes! Have lost far too much weight though. I actually lost weight during my pregnancy and it has continued to slither off (presumably due to breastfeeding). I'm over 5'9" and despite 28F boobies currently weigh 7-and-a-half-stone - my poor beleaguered mother's beside herself and says I look like something out of Holocaust Poland.

So am working on getting in some extra snacks whenever I can. I'm pecking at raisins and consuming a Muller desert Corner as I type! I NEVER thought I would curse my uber-fast 20-year-old metabolism but that's precisely what I'm doing. I'm quite a lot thinner than I was when I was misguidedly restricting my diet hugely for catwalk shows aged 16/17 - which is saying something. I look rank. I'm bordering on Mandy-from-Shameless skinny at the moment, no offense intended towards the girl.

My lovely Jimmy seems to have settled a little bit now after a fortnight or so of erratic sleeping - he's back to going at least 6 or 7 hours through the night which is a blessed relief. We got our first real smile earlier this week and now he's grinning non-stop! He's so big though, when old biddies in the street / on the bus / in Morrison's etc ask how old he is they're astounded that he's less than 2 months old. The poor great big sod.

Have so many posts to catch up on, so I hope in advance that all the March mammas and sproggos are happy and blooming!

jolly - our feeds here take a lot longer than 15 mins too mostly.

boobz am v. jealous of you going for a run. I took up running last jan and ran regularly for 6 months until i got preggars and finally managed to lose my baby weight from DD1 (who was 3 when i started running ). I'm going to start buggyfit asap but they say you have to wait 8-10 weeks from c-sec. So, in ther meantime I need to stop stuffing chocolate down my throat as my weight loss has plateaued. V jelous of loliand your 20 year old metabolism. Mind yo, I don't think my 20 year old metabolism was quite the same !

Aunty - sorry to hear about the pox - a friend of mine's ds1 got it when she had 5 week old twins. The twins did catch it but v. mildly and didn't bother them at all.

meep - sorry to hear about your house of ill ! pleased dd1 can still go to nursery.Don't feel guilty about dh - you weren't to knowhe might have been contagious.

Think on the alcohol front I'll continue as I was I think - a glass every now and then. iIt didn't seem to effect Lara.

Talking of whom, she's reaslly snotty esp. at night which means she;s not sleeping too well. The poor thing. Any tips ? we have the crib raised at head end and have used nasal saline drops.

lolli, try to include some protein-based snacks into your diet if you can, nuts or sunflower seeds are good. I'm currently hooked on Japanese rice crackers!

I must admit, I've been quite pleased with this pregnancy, I put on about 4st with DS1 and it took me 2 years to lose the last stone, I lost 2st in the week after DS2 was born and am about 7lb off my pre-pregnancy weight. Hurrah for being able to get back into my favourite clothes!

Oh Wheely, try Karvol drops on a muslin near her head, it's fab for snotty babies!

laumiere - can thery be used this young ?? i use a plug in when dd1 is snotty but thoufht they had to be 3 months ?

our local pharmacist said from birth was fine so long as they're in a well-ventilated room...

Boobz, v jealous of your running again ? and honestly, still in awe, as your 80-hour labour seems like it was just yesterday! And that?s a gorgeous dress ? makes me think of sipping Pimm?s in a sunny garden.

Love the new baby pics hedge and spooky. Such chipmunk cheeks!

We just had a small group of friends round for some champagne to welcome Rhys, and he was an absolute angel. Three hours of feeding and blinking placidly at his adoring public. Of course, now no one believes my stories of utter meltdowns...

Ruby, have also found that since my milk came in and Rhys has turned into barracuda baby, I?ve had a lot more lochia.

Spooky, how did you arrange to get the extended-sleep baby model? That wasn?t offered to us in the shop!

Jolly, with you on the long feeds ? and even then, Rhys doesn?t ever seem to totally empty the breast ? I can always get more out manually. Makes me worry he?s not getting to the hind milk, so I guess I?ll carry on with the block feeds.

Any of you who feel compelled to clean and sort, there?s a job waiting for you in Brussels?(actually, I?m a bit the same ? I?ll hand Rhys off to DP and rather than being sensible and collapsing for a nap, I?ll be fussing round straightening things).

Meep, sympathies on the infection and the mumps ? sounds miserable and hope it all clears quickly. Same for auntyspan and the chicken pox.

Also, meep, your comment about lying there in apprehension after putting the baby down, waiting for the explosion, sums up our life here perfectly! I am wondering what y?all think about setting sleep habits at an early age.

Rhys just won?t settle in his cot/bassinette ? the only way we can get more than 15 to 20 minutes of sleep is to have him in our arms or (last night?s discovery) in his bouncy chair. Then he?ll sleep anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours, which is wonderful. My take so far has been that when he?s a week old, survival supersedes discipline ? but am I setting us up for huge sleep adaptation difficulties down the road?? And Wheely, like you, a lot of it just has to do with sheer exhaustion and falling asleep with him on my chest.

On the drinking during breastfeeding thing, being prescribed Newcastle Brown Ale to help is not as daft as it sounds, as alcohol increases milk production, but it also reduces oxytocin which inhibits the let down reflex. So, lots of milk but difficult to get it out - or more difficult anyway!

corgi I don't think we even tried to enforce any sleep habits until around 6-8 weeks with dd1 - even then it was only bath, milk then bed for around 7pm. The first night she wasn't keen so we just kept picking her up and cuddling then putting her down. The second night she was fast asleep at 7pm!

I don't think I will have the time to do this with Rosie - but then she gets popped in her Moses basket as soon as she shuts her eyes and most times will drift off to sleep - the only thing that seems to wake her is hunger or a big poo!!

At the moment Rhys is too young to get any bad habits - he needs as many mummy cuddles as he can get . If I didn't have dd1 to deal with I would be spending all of my time with Rosie asleep on me - nothing nicer at this stage!

.......or managing to wee through her nappy, vest and sleepsuit as I have just discovered!!! Now wide awake again

Hi girls

Sorry to hear about your DH meep what a bloody nightmare .

And blooming chicken pox for your DD aunty lots of warm baths and we found camamile cream to be better than the lotion when the girls had the dreaded pox.

corgi Totally agree with meep, you cant really spoil a new born, just enjoy him dont worry about spoiling him you will know when it time introduce a routine.

Right off to feed again, think DS is having a growth spurt this week as it all i seem to have done!!.

Oh and piccys of Alex now on my profile has only taken me 6 weeks to put them on , can you tell i am finding the adjustment from 2 to 3 a bit difficult LOL

Sorry for those of you who have add dc/dh's with illness.

As for keeping the house clean and tidy, that's me as i find my depression get worse if the house is a mess. I already have list of jobs to do next week when dh goes back to work and the following week when dd1 goes back to school.

I also had a uber-fast metabolism at 20 unfortunley now at 39 i have an uber-slow metabolism . I just waiting for my 6wk checkup and then i will start doing the wii fit again (lost a stone doing before i got pg)along with walking to help lose the weight i put since meeting dh.

I will be introducing a routine on Robert next week as he can wake anywhere from 6am to 8am, but i need him to be fed and dressed by 7am so i can then sort our dd's to make sure that dd1 get to school on time.