April 2009 - Chapter 3 - Let us round up the stragglers

[PuzzleRocks]

Ta da.

coooooooeeeeeeeee! Anyone out there?

Good evening

Holly has been laughing and babbling away all day. My girls are so beautiful, it makes me feel like sobbing.

Well, i'm glad I didn't go to any great efforts to repair the gingerbread man because she absent mindedly started to lick him earlier. Once she realised he tasted pretty good, he didn't stand a chance. So much for friendship.
The fabric idea was a good one though Bleu, I may still do just that.

Auld - I like that game. Thanks.
Make a voodoo doll of your landlady. And the obnoxious kids outside.

MrsG - I don't recommend serious gardening in shorts and a vest. I am covered in cuts scratches. I look like I have been quite badly self harming.
My gardens look fabulous though. DH took 13 black bin liners of garden waste to the tip earlier.
Oh and I always, most unapologetically, feed/fed my babies to sleep. Ellen was never a great sleeper but Holly has been brilliant from day one thank god.

Bicnod - How did the ante-natal meet up go? Was O the most stylish?

Bleu is advocating coprophilia.

Satheresitting - Good to hear from you. I hope you are well?

Bleu - I'm so glad Meg is better, bless her. And great news about DH.

Trista - You're back!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We missed you. Sorry L's dad is being a twat. Good that you have got a solicitor involved, make sure he coughs up at the very least. Dickhead.
It's great to hear you are otherwise well and happy in your new place though.

Auld - Two days in a row would piss me off. YANBU.

Swali - Poor DD1, do they still think it's tonsillitis?

Dawn - I have never fed in the supermarket. Is he in a sling?

Ooh supper's coming, must finish my catch up later.

WFH - Sorry your holiday turned into a bit of a nightmare. Is Orbit ok now?

Question for Juwesm - do you know what antibiotics they would have given Orbit in hospital? Orbit has been suffering from really bad evenings ever since and I'm wondering whether the antibiotics might have ruined his digestion. Anyone got any advice on how to rebuild his friendly gut flora?

x-posts! He's ok, but seems to have gone backwards in terms of settling in the evenings. I'm wondering whether his gut had matured nicely enough to not be all colicky and refluxy in the evenings, and the antibiotics have put him back to square one

Am a bit cross, we really didn't want him to have them, we wanted to stick with observation unless he developed any more symptoms, but we got railroaded by them and as it was 9pm on a Sunday there weren't any consultants around.

Oh dear. I hope that is not the case and it's something much more benign like the change of being away from home knocking out his routine.
Hopefully Ju will have an answer.

Well at least if that's what it is, then it will right itself. I've posted a thread about it and apparently there's some stuff you can give them to help with the digestive bacteria, but DP thinks (and I kind of agree) that we should stick to breastmilk for now and let him recover by himself.

Poor lamb, I couldn't watch when they were taking blood and putting the canula in, DP had to hold him, and he cried and cried and cried. So did I.

I would have cried too, bless him. My Mum couldn't bear to watch them put the canula in my arm when I was induced and i'm 31, it must have been horrible for you all.

I am constantly amazed at the restorative powers of breastmilk.
Have you seen the facebook group "I make milk, what's your superpower?"

Puzzle So glad you're enjoying your girls so much at the moment. Thank you for your reassurance about feeding to sleep. I don't know why I am doubting myself.

Trista Great to hear from you. Good luck with everything.

Swali Huge hugs for your entire family. I hope DD1 gets better very soon.

WFH Sorry about your hols - hope you can get some rest now. I really feel for you over Orbit's bloods etc. - it's truly awful watching them put a baby through that. On the gut flora, I think I would do the same as you and rely on breastmilk to get him back on track.

Well, wish me luck for my wild adventures in Slough. We set off after Church tomorrow and then into Legoland on the Monday. DS1 doesn't know we're going to Legoland, just the hotel bit (he loves hotels). I've packed enough stuff to survive a nuclear war. Am ridiculously nervous of how it will all go the four of us sleeping in the same room, but at the same time really excited. There is a pool in the hotel, so my main aim is a swim, and if it looks reasonably clean, will try to take Edmund in for his first swim.

Morning! where is everyone?

Puzzle, I'm glad to hear that the gingerbread man has finally gone the way of all treats. When I was little a friend's mum gave me a sugar animal that was so beautiful my mum insisted on putting it on the mantelpiece. I wanted to eat it, darn her! Then it went all sticky and dusty and eventually got thrown away

I know what you mean about wanting to cry - DS1 is being a demon at the moment but this morning both he and Orbit were asleep in our room, and I wanted to kiss them both madly. Luckily I didn't, as I might have woken them up!

mrsgboring - hope you're already having a lovely time!

Argh.
Yesterday evening my right boob began to hurt, I couldn't move my arm it was so sore, and I started feeling very weak and shivery. Peeked in my book and followed the advice to shove A on the boob and empty it of milk. Had a really bad fever most of the night (I seem to have packed the thermometer away, crap Mummy that I am, so have no idea of my temp). I now have a raging headache and feel v dehydrated and woozy.
Thought it was mastitis, but it seems less sore (though the breast is painful on the underside, and feeding isn't a bundle of fun).
I have been v stressed and tired with the move and DH never being here, and feeds haven't been the quiet, serene times they should - DS1 likes to hold Alex's hand/tickle his feet while he feeds, which distracts him, and I had to get up several times over the last few days while feeding to answer the door to postman, shout at feral children, get stuff from the fridge for DS1, etc.
Given that I am no longer shivering unontrollably or burning up and feel more like someone with a v bad hangover (ah, those were the days!), should I go to A&E with the risk that they will tell me to give him formula, or hang in there till tomorrow?

Enjoy Slough, mrsg.
Sorry, will catch up later, off back to bed;

Poor you Auld! It does sound like mastitis, you should get yourself checked out and get some antibiotics. If it is mastitis, the best thing is to keep feeding so they shouldn't advise formula, unless the French have different views?

Poor thing, sounds horrid. Have some chocolate x

Thanks WFH.
The maternity ward of my hospital is exceptionally pro-BF, unlike most of the rest of France, but I'm not sure what'll happen if I go to A&E on a Sunday.
Will wait till DH & DS1 return from having breakfast out and make a decision.
Should I feed from that side to help the breast recover, or alternate?
My appetite has vanished, but will store up choolate allowance for another time!

Puzzle nope he hates his sling. You really know how much 6 and a half kilos weighs when you're holding it in the cake decoration isle

mrsg sorry but I have to agree with Betjeman where Slough is concerned

Yesterday I woke up in a wet patch as ds had slept right through without a feed and my boob leaked BIG TIME! Today was something similar except I expressed as we are planning a night out with Nana watching over him

SoonToGetOutWithAdultsTiggaxx

have you got a pump auld? i managed to shift mastitis by always starting feeds on affected boob then after O had finished feeding pumping until pretty much empty while gently massaging painful area. also massaged boob in hot shower. hth. one-handed typing so sorry if bit disjointed!

Ta bicnod, off to sterilise pump
nipple bleeding now

right, babyfree typing as DH is putting him down for nap

Puzzle - he was IMHO the best dressed baby . Meet up was fun, O is the youngest of all the babies and now the biggest... he is HUGE... I don't realise until I see him next to the other normal size babies

Auld - you poor thing mastitis sucks. What I was going to say (but one-handed typing was driving me nuts) is that the doc gave me the antibiotics but I didn't take them because I was so scared of the nipple thrush coming back, which is why I persevered with pumping etc to clear the mastitis. I think this self-treatment without antibiotics only works if it is non-infectious mastitis - see here for NHS info on how to treat both forms...

Dawn - how fabulous to wake up with LO having slept through feeds I'm holding onto the hope that O will do that at some point soon...

On the subject of sleep - we've managed to get O down to one feed in the night for the past 2 nights (feed at 7pm, sleep by 7.30/8.00pm, dreamfeed at 10pm, feed at 2.30/3am, feed and up for day at 7am). However this is not yet resulting in more sleep for us as we are having to get up to comfort him back to sleep (sometimes rocking him, sometimes just shhhhhhh-ing with hand on tummy) when he wakes (out of habit, as I'm sure he wouldn't go back to sleep if he was truly hungry) at 1am and 5am when he is used to waking to feed. Doing a full feed at 2.30/3am. O is much happier as he's getting loads more sleep at night and is getting better at going down on his own. I feel like we're slowly getting there - we're going to stick with it, and with the pick up/put down thing for bedtime and naptime as I reckon consistency is the only way to get him to change his habits. He's going down easier at nighttime but its still a huge battle to get him to go down for naps - but each time I do pick up/put down I think its not going to work and then after 20 minutes or so he suddenly just lets himself go to sleep...

Sorry for mammoth explanation - how is the sleep thing going for other people?

x x x

Hello all, brief post before I go off to village fete.

Auld, sorry to hear about your mastitis, but I recommend like the others that you feed, feed, feed, pump, pump, pump, and take some paracetemol to get rid of the flu like symptoms. Stop packing boxes and so on as well.

Nutty, that is pretty crappy of your DH. He needs to grow up a bit and smell the roses imo. You have given him two lovely DDs. You need more rispeck.

News from this end: DD getting better little by little but still very poorly. However she has pottered a little and started the FlyLady thing and ... HER BEDROOM IS TIDY!!!

My ear is still bad so I will have to go back to GP tomorrow. This is week 3 of the infection.

Felix thrives and is very settled at present. For now!

Good afternoon. I am feeling very productive. I have spent the morning switching various insurers and utility providers and have saved over £700 a year. We can ill afford to spend a penny more that we absolutely have to so i'm really pleased with myself.

MrsG - Have a brilliant time at Legoland. I hope you are enjoying the hotel.

Auld - Ouch, you have my sympathy. Have you tried Bicnod's suggestions? Any better?

Dawn - Have a lovely evening. Do you mind if I asked what you have planned?

Bicnod - How much does he weigh now? Holly, like Ellen, is an average weight but incredibly long. Her 6 - 9 month sleepsuits are baggy round the body but very snug in the leg.

Oh Boff, your poor ear. I hope the doctor sorts you out.

I really must learn to hide threads that wind me up. Made the mistake of posting on the one about epidurals (AGAIN! Will I never learn?) and am now being deeply irritated by a particular poster and their smug posts.

I know it's probably more about me and my issues than that individual, but dear god something about them winds me up.

Boff, sorry about your ear! But my goodness, did you say that DD's bedroom is tidy? I don't believe it!

Puzzle, go you on the money saving front. Can you come and sort out our finances as well? We are hopeless - saw an IFA the other day and all his paperwork is still sitting on the coffee table waiting for me to get round to making a decision. Boo.

Have been feeling a bit up and down since our holiday - think I'm still knackered but I have had some odd thoughts about how maybe I didn't really want more than one child, and how maybe I only like babies, not older children

I read that article in the Guardian too Schulte, and in fact I have her book on the subject, but sometimes I still feel horribly guilty about the fact that I want it to be just me and Orbit And sometimes not even Orbit, I just want to be on my own!

Hello!
Well my nipple was so sore I couldn't face the pump. But have fed, fed, fed, spent most of the day in bed with Alexandre and was well enough to eat some food, so seem to have avoided the worst.
Thanks for all your advice.

WFH, I dream of going on a holiday by myself - or even better, with a mate to gossip with. No kids, no duties, freedom!

Alex is wide awake and it is 9pm. Will he never be sleepy earlier?

Boff, hope your ear gets better soon.