NOV 09 - once the lights are out and the last baby has arrived safe and fine, see you here on cloud nine!

[Broodzilla]

I've just realized we're now under the "being a parent" header. I've got stage freight!

PS.. toddler behaving badly too!! its so tragic

helips I know exactly what you mean about the resentment thing. With me, its not about the do's it about being able to get out of the house away from the children (I mean that in the nicest way possible, I really love them ) for periods of time. Have you spoken to dh about how you're feeling?

lemontop, it's horrible taking them for their jabs, especially for the first time, but it's normally worse for us than it is for them!

Trikken, your ds sounds like a little monkey! Could you try putting a set of 'special' toys/books together for ds, which he only gets to play with when you are bf?

Marking my place again as PC is still down. Popped into DPs work, will catch up on everything this weekend. Hope you're all well.

Boo! DS1 started playing up now...just misbehaving such as pushing pushchair when I tell him not to, etc. Walking in front of it, generally being a pain! Ah well. We have to divide ourselves between so many people it is so hard sometimes.

Sex - doesn't even get a look in right now. Too tired. Too preoccupied. Just not ready yet! Just want to read a book on the rare moments I get time to myself.

BBL a book? What's that? I'd love to have some time to sit and read in peace.

helips feel the same as you re the dh situation. Would love to have a do to go to and dh has potentially 3! He came home the other day saying about wanting to go out on another dept's xmas do - as if the 2 of his own weren't enough!
TOK yes, it's not that I don't love the dc's, I just want some time to be me!

Dh looked tired yesterday, further prompting ended up revealing that when he goes to bed (in the spare room so he gets decent sleep) he's bloody reading for god knows how long before he sleeps. So he's shattered the next day and irritable - that's not the idea of sleeping in the spare room.
AIBU to resent the fact he's managed to get through about 4 books in the last 4 weeks?! For some reason that really galls me - I've managed to get through one magazine and that was in stages.

DS1 is coming down with a nasty cough, the barky one at least he went into dh this morning at 6am though - silver lining of the spare room scenario!

Walked back from nursery today and it felt really good to get out in the fresh air.
Met Erika and little Bryn too - what a cutie he is

I love you all- so glad i'm not alone with a disturbed toddler and a bald and pimply baby that sounds like a badger crossed with a hedgehog at night. I figured out ;ast night that she isn't congested but jsut snorts when she what? dreams? and that I shouldn't pick her up as she settles down on her own most of the time.
Also hope that hair grows back...dd1 didn't loose hers properly, but baby here is completely bald all over the front. Can't make xmas pics now...
oh god. find that i must devote all attention to toddler or land under. no more morning mn whilst drinking coffee...phooie.
when do they settle down and accept the inevitable?

Scarlotti my DH stayed up until 11.30 last nigh/t on the computer! They don't learn, do they

Reading a book: between 9pm-9.30pm before I go to bed. Or on the loo. That's it. Reading Adrian Mole at the moment - about as light as you can get. All I can cope with. Taking me weeks to get through it though. Miss reading.

Toby is pimply too - looks like a teenager.

Stroppy toddlers - settle down at about 4 months I think! Then they forget what it was like before. DS1 cannot remember life before DS2 and if this helps you see light at the end of the tunnel, although they fight sometimes, they adore each other and are a little team

sleepless, find it makes me feel a bit more energised somehow, and actually after doing the deed I felt more like I normally do and wasnt sore after like i remembered being with ds. Think I was fairly lucky tho cos i only had a couple of teeny stitches.

TOK Thanks for the suggestion. ds loves puzzles so might try to pick up some cheap ones that he can do whilst Annabelle is feeding.

Isaac is sleeping soundly in his pram. Any other day I'd be but I know it's the jabs that have knocked him out. Poor thing.

Annoyingly I realised I left the docs without mentioning my carpal tunnel. I thought it would go away after I gave birth but it's getting worse. It's so bad in the early hours that I can't pick Isaac up till I've massaged it for a bit. Has anyone else experienced this?

sleepless are you using anything for the reflux? I've got some infant gaviscon but am not too clear how to use it. Had a delightful moment in the early hours. Isaac wouldn't sleep so I tried to settle him by letting him sleep on my chest. He vommed all over my neck and chest at about 4am. ugh!

sure on our antenatal threads we would have been on our 5th thread by this stage, newborns dont allow for much mumsnetting time!!

DH is away and I've survived the first night - almost! I'm so tired that I don't think I've ever felt this tired before. Its all down to the bf at night. DS has taken to cluster feeding through the night and I've seen every hour on the clock from 12am. I don't think my milk supply is that good of a night but he's very content during the day and will go for 3 hrs before a feed. I am starting on a formula top up tonight. I'm just hoping it will settle him and give us both more sleep. I'm going to have to express before I wake him for the last feed so i don't become too uncomfortable. Thought I'd check in with you all. I will read all the posts tomorrow, my eyes are too sore to stare at the screen! Roll on DH coming home!!

Hi all, I really should stop catching up on my mobile, but it seems that this is now my me-time: Lukas asleep on my chest, sitting up in bed in a dark room... I've even done some of my shopping on the mobile at 2AM...
Skorpion Congratulations!
Scarlotti ooh, I miss books too. I've bought at least 3 non-baby-related ones since having Lukas in the hope that I'll get to read them soon.

Re: nappy rash, Lukas has a brand conscious bum - Huggies give him a rash, Pampers is fine.
Re: baby hair, Lukas is sporting an overdone Beckham cut - fringe and mullet.
Re: 6 wk check - we both had a thorough examination.
Re: bouncy chair & Xmas - got one that Lukas did NOT like from day 1, he's getting a Baby Bjorn one for xmas.
Re: sex... DH is not even sleeping in the same room.

Every time I think we're in a routine it changes. He's starting to wake up earlier in the mornings, but then he's ready for a nap after an hour. Who was it who said something about a 1-2-3 routine? Can you please explain how it works and if you're meant to wake the baby up to keep up with it?

Expressed some milk this PM so DH could try giving Lukas a bottle. I sat right next to them (celebrating with a Bailey's!) and they both did a great job, but afterwards Lukas got really upset. As I was just getting ready for bed DH carried him around for a bit... By the time I got him he was hysterical, and the second I held him he stopped crying, buried his face in my neck and just sniffed... Like he missed his mama.
Part of me thought "aaaw, he does love me and not just my boobs" part of me thought "omg, i'll never be able to leave the house without him".

And now he's sleeping in the same position, face in my neck. I've got an attachment parenting book on its way from amazon, maybe it'll make me feel better about co-sleeping etc?

Respect to all of you with older DCs, I really don't know how you do it: sleep, organisation... The lot! Hopefully you'll reap the rewards in a while when the DCs are playing together and each other's best friends!

Lemon I know I keep harping on about it, but have you looked at a cot-wedge? (reflux pillow)? Lukas has been brumpy since his jabs, not sure if it's cause or coincindence.

Oooh, and the onion problem? We have exactly the same. Swapped them for shallots and everyone's happy!

tamlin I live between Cowley and Iffley Rds too! We could meet here - there is a little cafe which is a breast-feeding mecca...

Had a long day with Rosa's first outing in town - felt had to entertain granny and my sis by meeting them in town for lunch - luckily they're actually staying with PILs - and having a wander but it was a bit rubbish, I didn't take the time over feeding Rosa I should have, instead just shoving her in the pushchair and as a result she screamed the place down. Had to go into Boots Mother and Baby room to chill her out....

Hibernation day tomorrow I think.

Ooh and baby hair - since birth Rosa looks like she's been down to Toni & Guy - she has lovely thick brown hair with blondey highlights!

Right - sleep time. Night ladies

I read books while breastfeeding - doesn't everyone?! How do you not get bored to tears just sitting there? (Okay, I have a feeling that I'm supposed to be gazing lovingly into my newborn's eyes, but give me a book any time). I learnt with DS 1 that I could only read paperbacks, though, as I'm not dexterous enough to turn the pages one-handed on hardback novels and I kept dropping them on his poor head. Also, I'm too tired to read anything complex, and I can't read anything in which children might die - so that rules out most crime fiction, and most historical too! I got in a stack of Eloisa James paperback novels in preparation for having a newborn, as they're entirely mindless and babies do not die in them.

Raggie, central Oxford is hell for having a small baby - there is NOWHERE convenient to just nip in and change or feed your baby. With DS 1, I still had a fob for my college (which is off Radcliffe Square, so v. central) so I used to nip in there and breastfeed him in the MCR - I'll never forget the day he both weed and projectile-vomited all over the nice wooden Tudor floor, though...

Morning all! Wow so many answers to my questions! Thank you all. This thread is really great help. And glad to hear that at least some of you feel fine.
Fruitpastels, I hope you will get enough rest to survive those days.
I've just learnt my husband's schedule for next week. Tue "short" afterwork meeting (no idea who), Wed very important dinner (forgot who) and Thu big x-mas do from work. So considering that he will come home in the middle of the night, drunk enough that I don't want his help with Paula the next morning or even talk to him as I will not have the patience for it, it will be like three days on my own. It would probably even be easier with him not sleeping here. Well, I guess, I should not already start to be annoyed now. There will be time enough next week.
Paula is feeding enormous amounts since yesterday and without vomitting (well except once). I'm really curious if it was another one day thing or if she is now really bigger and needs more. At least she needs new pyjamas. She has extremely cold fingers at night, the pyjamas from next have those turnable mites but they have already been slightly to short. And now even the normal sleeves are getting too short. And she is always loosing the scratch mites we put her on.
Maybe I should try another brand with longer sleeves and legs.

Tamlin I also read and feed, but I am getting really stuck on The Winter Ghosts at the moment as it is soooooo dull, despite having a beautiful cover.
If downstairs and feeding though I get stuck in front of the tv watching all kinds of rubbish. I do enjoy 'How Not To Decorate' though!
I have left work and got a small payoff- it all came through yesterday. Scary!!! What I wanted, but still a bit like peering over a cliff!
On co sleeping, we are still doing it, with the old lying down feeds. Hedy sounds like a woodland creature all night too, like sleeping with a snorer I expect. DH is on futon in ds's room. far from ideal, but at least everyone gets enough sleep to function. Ds is settling down a little, but still likes to put us to the test.
Weighed self this morning and I am losing the odd pound but am still 2 stone heavier than pre preg. Know it all comes off in the end as it did before but still.. would like to eat mince pies with impunity!

Ha, I'm glad to hear that mine isn't the only husband stuck on ye olde futon most nights (his choice, he complains about not enough sleep!)

Morning all
Had a better night last night so going to brave town and do some xmas shopping today. Get to pick my rings back up from the jeweller too - got them cleaned up and DH put a few little sapphires in my wedding ring for me as a thank you - what a sweetie. Haven't worn them for about 7 months as fluid swelled up my hands right at the start so am quite excited at the thought of having them on again!!

Brood sounds like your little man is falling into the Gina Ford routine. Wake at 7, nap from 8 till 9, awake and feeding until about 10:30 then sleep for 3 or 4 hours. She seems to suggest that they would then need another nap around the 4-5 mark before bed at 7. All quite rigid but sort of makes sense.

ursi cold fingers and toes are the norm, their circulation is still immature so nothing to worry about. As long as the back of her neck is warm, she's fine.

I mumsnet when feeding, laptop is on the side of the sofa but i do get a sore neck from twisting around! Paperback is a good idea, might start expanding my entertainment as daytime tv is doing my head in!!!

scarlotti, I know cold fingers are normal but they are just soooo cold. I guess I want her to have warm fingers as I suffer(ed) a lot from cold hand and feet. And at least she should have pyjamas with long enough sleaves. I feel really like a bad mother if the poor child doesn't even get appropriate cloths.

And forgot to mention: I'm having a FEMALE almost bald wolverine with lots of spots, doing strange pig noises and head banging making terrible grimaces... strange that the result is just soo cute (or maybe just in mothers eyes ?)

Lemontop have a thickening agent to put in expressed breastmilk which is helping. We don't get Gaviscon here but mum just sent some from england so will give it a shot if it gets worse. I still BF in the night as its too much to expect her to wait for me to heat the milk, add the thickener then let it cool..she screams the place down.. I intend to add gaviscon to expressed milk. You could also make in boiled water and feed via a spoon.

Charlotte screamed from 7 to 11 last night it was pretty horrific..its a pattern now. Trying everything and taking her to a cranial oesteo in Belfast when I go..

Trikken you're an inspiration..have to sort out birth control tho..DO NOT want to be up the duff again!

As for "routines" they all fall into similar ones, except mine screams the place down in the evening. DD1 was the same.

BF tip..try listening to books..I'm listening to Life of Pi at the mo..makes BFing more interesting at night as we;re awake for an hour.

OH may i add.. MY DH IS going skiing next month with the boys for 5 days..AND skiing a day next week...its alright for some!

sleepless a 5 day ski-ing trip?!! You're a better woman than I am!
Listening books, now there's an idea. Can you get them for iPod's?

ursi know what you mean, I moved up to 0-3 months a couple of weeks ago as I was having to stretch the babygros and the sleeves were at his elbows!

Finally we're both ready to head to town - only taken me 1.5 hours

Hello all! Had a badish night last night and a bad day today. Toby just didn't settle easily after feeds and was unsettled and very snuffly piggie in the early am.

I took Toby to our local dropin this morning and he only had a short nap on my lap while we are there so is now totally overtired and it's taken me 45 mins to settle him!!! I'm hungry too and want my lunch!! Just about got him off now so I'm going to eat my lunch quickly just in case. Very tired today too zzzz it just makes the smallest issues seem much harder to bear - like cranky baby.

Cheered up by the fact that just received a commendation letter from DS1's school for DS1's attitude and behaviour. How lovely is that

I'm thankful that DH hates skiing (or the idea of it). I'm the skier but I haven't been since before DS1 was born.

Oh god! He's awake!!! Just about eaten some food. Better go...