October 08 - Chit chat

[CantSleepWontSleep]

That's us with the chit chat, not the babies!

10th Sept (Due 1st Oct) - loulou33 - Boy - Joe Louis David - 6lbs 12oz - Induction due to rhesus sensitivity, G&A.
16th Sept (Due 8th Oct) - Ksal - Girl - Emma Rae - 6lbs - Just beat induction for PE!
21st Sept (Due 5th Oct) - myjobismum - Girl - Naomi Caitlin - 5lbs 10oz - Fast and furious hospital birth.
22nd Sept (Due 10th Oct) - Lozza70 - Boy - Sander Gene - 7lbs 5oz - Em C-Sec due to raised BP and high ALTs from liver.
2nd Oct (Due 12th Oct) - star6 - Boy - Quinlan - 5lbs 15oz - 36hr labour, ventouse and stitches.
3rd Oct (Due 26th Sept) - purpleflower - Girl - Rebecca Jill Erzsebet - 8lbs 10.5oz - Homebirth with paramedics due to meconium.
4th Oct (Due 30th Sept) - Aubergenie - Boy - Stanley - 7lbs 12oz -
5th Oct (Due 4th Oct) - hedgepig - Boy - Oliver - 6lbs 3oz -
5th Oct (Due 29th Sept Oct) - CherryChoc - Boy - Ryan - 6lbs 11oz - 3 day labour with natural birth in hospital
8th Oct (Due 6th Oct) - ronshar - Boy - William Dexter - 7lbs 11oz -
8th Oct (Due Oct) - RedElsie - Boy - Daniel - -
9th Oct (Due 17th) - Marthasmama - Girl - Martha - 7lbs 10oz - Elective c-sec
10th Oct (Due 1st Oct) - CantSleepWontSleep - Boy - Duncan Elliot - 8lbs 4oz - 4 day induction with 1 hour established labour!
12th Oct (Due 4th Oct) - pistachio - Boy - Thomas Fraser - 10lbs 2oz - Homebirth.
13th Oct (Due 15th Oct) - mum2jakeyroo/jrsqueak - Boy - Joshua - 7lbs 2oz - Delivered in car by dh!
16th Oct (Due 17th Oct) - rowanmac - Girl - Anna Ruth - 7lbs 2oz - 2 hours ARM to placenta delivery.
16th Oct (Due 11th Oct) - heather1980 - Boy - Alexander James - 9lbs 5oz - Homebirth
17th Oct (Due 10th Oct) - pepperrabbit - Girl - Jessica Rose - 7lbs 15.5oz -
17th Oct (Due 27th Oct) - Rhian82 - Boy - - - Episiotomy and ventouse.
24th Oct (Due 29th Oct) - Ekka - Boy - Matthew - 7lbs 15oz - Home water birth with gas and air.
26th Oct (Due 20th Oct) - jenwa - Girl - Phoebe Jasmine - 9lbs 2.5oz -
28th Oct (Due 23rd Oct) - RachieW - Boy - Jack - 7lbs 4oz - hospital birth, epidural, stitches, 24hrs start to finish
28th Oct (Due 31st Oct) - Jojay - Boy - Edward Alexander - 7lbs 7oz - hospital birth - gas and air, 2nd degree tear. 7 hrs start to finish.
1st Nov (Due 22nd Oct) - SmudgeyDoodle - Girl - - 8lbs 2oz - Hospital water birth.
5th Nov (Due 29th Oct) - Honeymoonmummy - Girl - Poppy Grace - 6lbs 15oz -
5th Nov (Due 30th Oct) - MamaG - Boy - Harry James - 10lbs 9oz - Em C-Sec. Back to back and knotted cord around neck. 24 hours of labour first though, and don't you forget it!

Aha - you're screwed then aubergenie . Really hope that Ms Pantley offers a solution for you.

Do you make your own falafel, or buy them? I love them and was thinking earlier that I might do them for lunch one day this week. I love them scrunched up in pitta bread with coleslaw. They are high in salt too though aren't they? Recipe please if you make your own!

Not had much time to post today but hope your dcs get better soon Joyjay and Myjob xx

Pistachio - I am pretty good with yuck, except poo, but I could get used to poo I suppose. I actually wish I had been able to watch my c-sections happening as I am fascinated by all that. I think the main thing I'm worried about is sick newborns, still birth or babies at risk of harm. That was always the thing I found hardest about working for the CPS, I wanted to rescue so many children.

CSWS - I made a packet mix of falafel today, which was lovely (contained some salt but not loads), but I'm going to make this recipe, so I can cut the salt out altogether.

Star - I started a thread about expressing at work and there were a few teachers talking about how their supply was affected by expressing/not expressing. Don't know if that's useful at all?

And CSWS - I think I probably am screwed cos I've spent too long on MN and now I'm too tired to read the book.

Thmnaks for all your kind messages everyone - DS1 is now home - hurray! Still a bit wheezy nad coughing a lot, but better than he was, and armed with the steroid tablets we should be ok now

I'd seen that pittas were really salty - the ones I have are anyway. I'm not too worried at the moment, as he doesn't actually eat very much at all, but i'll watch it in the future, nad look out for the low salt ones. Which ones were they, out of interest? Mine were Tesco's own white pittas and they had tonnes of salt in them.

Night all

Good to hear your ds is home Jojay. Hope you all get some sleep.

Blimey - whole new thread already - quick post to mark place! and I've not even managed to read the rest of the old thread yet either!!!
myjob & jojay, hope your DSs get better soon.
DD slept through last night!!!!!!!!!!!
In fact, I think everyone stayed in their own beds between the hours of 10.30pm and 6am.
Most peculiar.
Night all

Hello - I am rubbish at this aren't I?

MM I'm interested in training as a bf supporter too - think I will go for the peer supporter training first and see where we go from there. I am looking for any local breastfeeding cafes in the area at the moment because I'd rather do something with a local organisation but will have a look at the different charities after I've tried that.

Ryan has started to say "DA DA DA" and "DI DI DI DI" and occasionally "Daddy"

I remember you started a thread about it didn't you Cherrychoc? I did some lurky lurking but then I lost the thread! I have more research to do. I'd ask my HV if I had one I might see if I can talk to them next time I have M weighed.....Friday actually!

Aubergenie - How are you getting on with the lovely Itti Bittys? Any leaks? I need more money before I commit to some proper nappies but I have to say I am impressed thus far

gosh a new thread already.
well i've had a shit day. i woke up with a really bad migraine, managed to drag myself to the phone to call my mum before promptly pucking in the bin.
bless her she took the day off work, took the kids to her house all day and left me in bed.
alex had to have a bottle which he wasn't too impressed by but took when he realised he wasn't getting anything else.
i'm wide awake now coz i've been asleep all day.

mm i love my itti bittis, they are my fav nappy, A bum looks so cute and fluffy!

my friend is a bf peer supporter for the LLL, but she said that it was a bit of a waste of time. after her training was finished she hardly ever got called to help people and the local baby bistro seems to be mainly the main LLL bf counciller and her trainees. seems such a shame to me.

Hey, heard a little rumour there was a new thread... Just a quick one YET AGAIN! I tried to get Poppy to sleep in her cot tonight, not leaving her on her own but stroking her with the cot mobile on...cue 30 mins hysterical sobbing. It was heartbreaking. DH and I were both really upset. I gave in in the end and picked her up and she fell asleep in my arms in 5 mins doing that little hiccoughing thing that kids do when they've cried too much Bloody HV put me up to it "now she's 6 months". I'm exhausted.

1st physio and 1st counselling sessions tomorrow, wish me luck!

I will catch up properly soon I promise!

Night all!

Jojay- Glad that ds1 is home, hopefully he'll be feeling much better soon x

HMM- sorry to hear you had such a heartbreaking time settling Poppy- I think I've missed a bit of thread as I thought she was sleeping well in her cot? I hate the lectures advice that HVs like to give. Mine told me to try to stop feeding ds in the middle of the night as "he is 6 months now" (sound familiar ) Apparently he will "make it a routine", the thing is when he wakes he is so hungry he is trying to eat his grobag! Clearly I should be hardened to my child starving, pat him gently and go back to bed. Grrr I've had so much conflicting advice from them that now I listen, take heed if it sounds right for us and forget if it doesn't! Hope the physio and counselling goes well

Right ds has gone back to sleep so need to have a shower and find something to wear.

Oh went to New Look yesterday and didn't buy any shows - I must be sickening for something

Rachie - You're a first time mum like Hmm aren't you? When you have your second one you learn to just smile and nod to the HVs and then do your own thing. My HV was terrible terrible terrible during her first visit to me. If I had been a first time mum I am convinced it would have pushed me over the edge! She told me everything I was doing was wrong and I mean everything! She asked how the bfing was going and when I told her it had improved, that M was taking both sides every feed. She then told me that M was probably taking too much foremilk and would get ill if wasn't careful and would fail to thrive. So, I just smiled and nodded & sung a little song in my head until she went. Oh and she also told me to put three week old M into her cot awake as she would develop a habit of only going to sleep on us. One thing that made me laugh was when I told her that M was in a Grobag the HV said asked what we did with the bottom. I said we did nothing she started ranting about how the bag could flip up and cover her face . I calmly picked up the Grobag and folded it back over M's feet and said 'I think it will be ok, it only just covers her feet'

Aubergenie - sounds like you have a similar situation to us. DS was waking all the time in the night and the only thing that would send him back to sleep easily was breastfeeding, but I didn't think he was really hungry (confirmed when he wouldn't take a bottle from a babysitter; he has bottles in the daytime), it was just a comfort thing. Like you we're in a one-bedroom flat so can't put him in his own room, and we're very conscious of waking the people upstairs!

About a week ago we 'got tough' and decided that only DH, not me, would see to him in the night. The first night was horrible, he screamed and screamed and took forever to settle every time, and woke up loads of times. DH put up the travel cot in the living room so he could take him in there if necessary (our bedroom is underneath the people upstairs' bedroom, so noise is worse in there!). Since then he's had a couple of bad nights, but he's also had some of the best nights' sleep he's had in months, and he's finally learned to self-settle. Last night he went to bed about 7.30, and woke up about 11. We were in the living room and heard him wake and start whimpering slightly, but didn't go in. Within a few minutes he'd settled back to sleep on his own without ever crying properly. He woke up about 4am and DH settled him, and then woke up just after 5am, and I fed him (I tend to feed him if it's gone 5 as it seems like morning then!). It's not perfect but it's a million times better than 10 days a go, and DS seems happier and more alert in the days because he's slept better!

Am I the only one here who's gone back to work already? I work three days a week, and express in the daytime at work, and sometimes in the evenings as well to make sure I've got enough. It's a pain (planning on weaning as soon as he hits one and can take cow's milk!) but it works well enough.

Ooh I've been really lucky with the HV as well, a really lovely woman who came to visit when I was pregnant and explained that her role was not to tell me what to do, it was to support me and DH in our parenting. Lots of great advice and so lovely about breastfeeding - always tells me how great I'm doing and how impressed she is.

Everyone who uses creams for DC's eczema - make sure you get it prescribed, no matter what it is! Even E45 or Aqueous cream can be given on prescription, and then it's free! DS is using Aveeno at the moment, which is working wonders, but so far in his life he's had 3 big pumps of E45 (£10 each to buy) and 4 pumps of Aveeno (£12 each). Don't know how we'd cope if I couldn't get them prescribed, so remember it's not just for the heavy-duty chemicals.

Myjob - She actually pursed her lips and shook a little bit. It was very funny. My first hv was lovely, we used to chat for ages.

Forgot to say - hmm if you're there.....good luck today. And I agree with myjob, P is your daughter, you deal with the sleep issue the way you feel is best.

MM- lol at the grobag incident. I am a first time Mum and I'm getting better at trusting my instincts and not the HV's! It's hard though as at the start you feel like they know it all and you know nothing which I guess is marginally true in that they may know more about babies but they don't know your baby.

I think I felt most supported when she phoned on the day she was supposed to visit to do my six week PND check. She'd left a questionnaire which I'd filled out carefully but then she couldn't actually come round so phoned for a chat. Although I've been lucky to not have PND I was struggling at the time, feeling quite teary and low and could have done with a bit of support. However she managed to diagnose that I didn't have PND and wasn't likely to get it by the following converstation;
HV: How are you feeling?
Me: Ok

Marvellous!

Rhian - I feel your pain I work 5 days/week (but only away from Q 8am-3.45pm) I express every day at 4.30am (make the most milk then) and twice during the work day (I'm a primary school teacher). I used to get really stressed about making enough milk for him, but now he's just flat out refusing milk from a bottle when away from me. So he makes up for it before I go in the morning, when I collect him and before bedtime (and once at night as well). It's working a lot better now

THanks Myjob... but feel a bit crap about having to go back so early to be honest. I wish I could have stayed home longer But I've made teh best of it... and teaching provides great holidays!! Especially my (american/international) school which breaks up for summer mid June!! only 31 more days of school left until summer!!! Yay!!!

myjob - hope the croup is getting better. How awful

Rhian - that's really interesting re. the aveeno. I have been using it on emma with some success (it seems to keep the eczema in check) but when i asked my GP they said i couldn't have it on prescription - maybe it depends on the area? also just for interest, i went back to work 25th March (emma was 6 months ish) i'm back full time and emma is in nursery and loving it.... i'm permanently knackered, but not really any more so than before!!! how are you finding it? I personally think star is a hero for managing to keep BFing and expressing while being back at work.

myjob, my dad was telling me about when my brother had croup - he found it really frightening, in fact he welled up a bit talking about it and this was 37 years ago!! so must be really hard for you.

CSWS where is this gym place of which you speak - it sounds great and may be near me.... i know its too soon for emma, but my godless daughter (who is 2) would love that kind of thing

sorry probably should explain that by godless, i mean i am one of her non-god parents from her naming day.... i just have no idea what the correct names are! and godless parent/daughter appeals to the heathen in me.