January 2008 Shiny New Year Toddlers - Happy 2nd birthday to us!!

[LilySwalLoosHerTurkeyBaster]

Where did 2 years go ????

LaT interestingly you mention all the things that hospitals still impose even though there is no evidence at all that they have any impact...it's random and arbitrary. Sorry if that is unhelpful.

For example a slow labour that takes 8 hours or more may well be gentler on the scar and reduce the risk of rupture. Also make sure they understand that it is 8 hours from established labour so they should start counting from 3 cm not from start of contractions.

Also to bear in mind that rupture is rare and hardly ever dangerous!

Lucky Salem is dealing with the same issues and has a really good article about it.

LaT - I have no personal experience of a vbac but my dsis had on when in prem labour with her dd despite opting for a planned cs (obviously if she had gone to term). This was after a previous emcs which has left her with badly torn stomach muscles. The hospital were attempting to stop her labour so the contractions were pretty spaced out, about 1/10 I think but this went on for well over 24 hours. I don't think she minded the restrictions during labour and managed on g&a though she said her tiny 3lb dd was more painful to get out than her 7lb ds.

I havent been on in a while as was admitted to hospital over the weekend with threatened prem labour. I was having very strong and regular bh for about six hours though thankfully didn't dilate. After a night in hospital and various tests the bh's stopped and they sent me home to 'rest'. Easier said than done with a 2 y.o.

Filly - congrats on the scan, havent read the whole thread properly so not sure if you've revealed the sex yet but please do.

Simps - glad your divorce is moving along nicely. Hope your dd is feeling better.

Thanks for your responses.

Filly - I'm tending towarsd your way of thinking. Have a fantastic trip!

IWST - I'm aware of what you say. I've done some reading about it and was ready to fight but actually, I'm not sure I want to. That's why I was asking what you lot thought about the restrictions they were putting in place. They seemed to be pretty clear that the 8 hours wasn't from the very start of labour but I will double s=check exactly when they start counting.

Simpson - DD was by emergency c-section because her heart-rate was plummeting and she probably had a fit - she was also transverse and it was all pretty hairy. They only let you labour for a short while because of the risk of rupture to the scar - which is actually minimal. I wouldn't be able to move around with the monitroing, and actually this is the only thing I'm bothered about. Toddler negativity, eh? YOu just can't fight it!

Hollyoaks Poor you. That must have been scary. How far along are you now? LOl at all the lovely rest you get with a 2yo!

LaT - I'm 25+1 weeks and to be honest at first I was convinced it was the suspected uti the gp was treating me for, the same thing happened with dd at about this time and the hospital reassured me and sent me home after a couple of hours. However, this time further tests showed that there was no infection and when the contractions went and then came back I started to panic. Especially after my dsis has had two prem labours. The hospital and mw's were lovely though and know me and dsis from her experience with delivery suite and scbu.

LaT at the end of the day only one thing matters: that you are as comfortable as possible labouring. If accepting these restrictions makes you feel safe and comfortable then accepting them is the right thing to do full stop.

Well, I'm still thinking about it but I felt that objecting was actually just a bit of a knee-jerk reaction on my part.

lat - i agree with filly, totally hideous birth with charlie and was very pleased i was surrounded by eveeryone. You may find though that being quite close together your 2nd labour is quicker, noah was 4.5hours from first contraction to birth!

come on girls we need a venue for the march meet up there has to be somewhere central.

filly - i know what you mean time is flying - it will be school before you know it.

went to see health visitors about noah's reflux he is still waking with it a couple of times a night and sometimes it takes 1-2 hours to settle him. If i feed him he settles quickly but it just starts the reflux over but i do get a bit more sleep. he will grow out of it by 9-12 months. Anyone any experience. Dont want him to get into bad habits of being cuddled/rocked to sleep or being fed (when not really hungry) but frankly there aren't any alterntives. what is the least bad thing to do??

I'm seeing a friend who has twins who had reflux tomorrow. I'll try and remember to ask her.

hope u OK hollyoaks. Are you working ATM (although i know it's half term this week)? Might be a bit naughty but I found it shockingly easy to get signed off for a couple of weeks when was PG & got a bit over-tired? Then you can keep DD in childcare and put your feet up for a bit...?

LaT only thing to add is I had continuous fetal monitoring on and off for 3 days and for 16 hours solid at the end after they broke my waters with DS, even though they couldn't get contractions going (as there was a risk of cord prolapse). And it wasn't too bad ... as the wires were quite long I was able to move about a bit, sit or stand by bed, sit on ball thing etc. Some hospitals have wireless ones too. Really push to be as mobile as you can.

Is noah on solids yet as that was a big help with my nephew's severe reflux?

Nicky I'm not sure rocking and cuddling to sleep is that big a problem. I bf Nathan to sleep until 11 months and people said I made a rod for my own back. Did 3 nights cc with him when I stopped bf and never looked back. Was at 2 year check last week and he is by far the best sleeper of the kids there - goes in awake at 7, settles himself and pipes up again in the morning, so much for spoiling him with cuddles...

LaT on reflection, there is no proven benefit to continuous fetal monitoring (it doesn't improve outcomes)and it really hampered my labour and I felt Nathan slip back to back as they made me lie on my back. From the whole list of things you mention I would fight hard against the cfm.

Very stressed for tomorrow - glad I had company tonight from my bible study group. 8.15 drop Nathan off at cm, 9am sit tests for job I applied for in Coventry 20mins away, straight after jump in car and race to Leicester 40 mins away to have one to one redundancy meeting with my manager....

Hi everyone.

I have read everything but no time for personals I am knackered. MY grandmother has had her second stroke since Xmas and spent all day yesterday in West London with crazy (and they really are) famiy and seeing her as the hospital said everyone should come in. We arent that close but my mums family are notorious for fighting and getting drunk and wanted to make sre my mum didnt get drawn in.

LaT - I had good labours both times, particularly i comparison to some of our friends here. However, the monitoring when I was induced with E I found really restricting as I just wanted to lie on my side and they wouldnt let me so the restriction in movement was a problem for me. Are you able to negotiate the monitoring so that it isnt continous and you get a break. IN terms of the time you may well find it is quicker the second time.

Hollyoaks - sorry you have been in hosp. That must have been really scary.

ThinkAnge is right..can you get signed off from work??

LaT - was on steroid drip the whole labour with J and could not walk around etc which I found v hard and was examined every hour to see if I was dilating.

When i got to 6cms they wanted to break my waters and got v insistant but I wanted to wait, and did get my own way in the end.

I had a lot of interference and so when pg with M decided to have her in a different local hosp and they set up my steroid drip so I could still walk around and was only examined firstly when I arrived. They did not even check I was 10cms when I wanted to push (which the other hosp did constantly )as they said I know when my body is ready etc..

Basically what I am saying is if you are strapped to bed unable to walk/move much I would fight it as I found it very hard...

Did street dancing/keep fit class last night which was really good fun but tough going on the muscles etc and if the weather holds out today have got buggy fir later

Thanks again for your responses. It is the cfm that most bothers me. The next thing I am going to do is see how much wriggle room there is with the midwives. I don't think that consultants actually have that much to do with labour, so I'm going to try and see what the midwives attitude it. I know officially they will be constrained but maybe they'll be lax! DH thinks they'll probably see things differently too.

It's not the monitoring I'm against, it's the kind of monitors they have. I don't want to be stationary.

They don't seem to have the hand-held monitors. Who made the funding decision that that wasn't important?

Mixedmama- how is your gran today?

Well done on the keep fit, Simpson.

IWST - hope the meetings went well. Lovely to see you posting on here frequently!

Ange - thanks for that. I will also check the wire length. IT would make a difference ean might be the best of both worlds.

Where are JKS, Ginegeme and Lilyloo? WHat did I forget?

Hi am here, just falling behind a bit.

LaT - i think the same as most comments, the monitoring needs to be kept to a minimum to allow you to move, the CMWs carry handheld dopplers, surely they must have some in hosp??

Trying T in pants, today is day 2. Going exactly as i would have predicted.
Yesterday: Pants 5 Toilet 0
Today (so far): Pants 3 Toilet 0

Will carry on today and tomorrow then abandon until Easter hols, just glad that i've been proved right and it's not my laziness holding him back, he's just not interested/ready.

Good point JKS.

Good luck with potty, although he doesn't sound all that interested!

In a bit of a fix round potty training with Sabela. SHe is scared of potties! A hangover from her UTI. DH is convinced she will never go near one. She is very aware because we have a lot of potty-training slightly older friends but is totally freaked out. She does know when she's about to most of the time and is freaked out by this too. . She now hates her bath because it means going napppyless and she is scared she will do a wee. SHe keeps her hand on her privates all the way through unless we can make her laugh and forget it.

My policy was just to ignore it and hopefully it will all settle down in a few months. I'm very encouraging around wees and poos and nappies and all that but I try not to make a big deal either.

SHe does keep asking DH (and me but less) if she can sit on the big toilet. Do you know anyone who has just gone for toilet training on the big toilet or is this just nuts.

I think I would leave it for the moment anyway, but when she seems calmer and readier is it totally crazy to try and skip the potty?

LaT - J was totally the same re potties.

I think he did not like the sensation of poo/wee falling into it iyswim rather than just in nappy.

Whwen we did toilet train him he refused the potty totally and went straight to loo so maybe you could do that when you decide to toilet train her??

M did one poo in potty afew months ago and has not sat on it since and point blank refuses to

JKS - good luck with potty training...

Thanks for the good luck wishes

He is not using a potty at all, too big really now anyway.

We got one of those loo seats that has a smaller seat in the lid (Jojomamanbebe i think) that works well with all the younger kids that come round here.

So i would say def go for the toilet and abandon the potties.

Pants 5 Toilet 0

One more day then i'm giving up!

Hey all just getting you back on my threads.
Will catch up later , had some heavy family stuff going on the last few days so not been around!

Hi everyone.
Cant believe they chucked me off this thread because I havnt posted for a couple of days
Have had a busy day today . Took the boys to the London Transport Museum. We all got in free because DH waorks on the underground and I have a staff nominee pass plus all the boys are under 16
We wnet swimming yesterday but that was a big disapointment. I rang the day before to make sure all the pools were open, they have a great baby pool with an elephant slide and flumes which I thought ds1 would enjoy. Got ready went in, only the main pool open which was bloody cold Edward just cried and got out and sat on the side the whole time and George was shivering after 20 mins. So we all got out and got changed again. I made a complaint, which Im not in the havit of doing so the manageress gave me a compliments note thing for a free swim for 2 adults and 2 kids next time
On a better note though DH , me and ds3 went to the dentist and apart from DH having a filling all is well
Sorry for no personals but Im so tired.

JKS - I've been trying to potty train dd here too and its not been very successful either. She can tell me when she needs a wee or poo but just won't sit on the potty and then cries when she has an accident. She was getting stressed and so was I so we gave up for now. Did try a reward chart, stickers for her and her toys and sweets but she wasn't having it. We even went to mothercare last night where she picked the most expensive INTG potty but when we asked her if she would wee on it she said no so we put it back.

Simps - interesting like M, dd was ok using potty from time to time, like before baths etc.., until she had a poo in it and it scared the life out of her. Only had one wee since.

morning all just caught up

Have dc's school friends round in a minute so no time for personals.
Hectic and busy week with dc's off and had my sis and her kids staying , she due another baby in 3 weeks and is splitting up from her dp , long, almost unbelievable story hence why have been absent from here!!

Looking forward to dc's going back to school next week.

Think i may be a birthing partner now for my sis not sure how i will find it being on the other side!!!

Hi all

Mixedmama and Lilyloo thinking of you with family troubles. Lily I'm sure you make a fab birth partner for your sister.

JKS I can't believe T is still not playing ball! He's so clever and knows exactly what's going on. It must be frustrating for you, but he will get there x

Went back into the real world yesterday, suit and all. Weird after six months off. Sat an assessment centre for a job I applied for in Coventry. It's far more junior but it means I can cycle to work in 35 mins, so no long commute and a fullfilling job without the stress. Then off to Leicester for the 1-2-1 with my manager which took longer than expected. I'm going back to work on 1 March, for 1.5 day the first week, then back to 2.5 days, although it is rather likely that the closure of my office will be announced on 2 or 3 March. If the office stays open I will be the only manager per 1 April which is probably Not A Good Thing - either way interesting times. And before all that the trip to Holland.

maybe lost the thread because MN crashed the other day?

Busy morning out in cold with dog and soft play which was of course very busy. DS ought to have a good long nap now.

Waiting for DH to land imminently. Has been abroad for 4 days organising a school exchange programme. Off to the station to meet DH this afternoon, a treat for DS to see the trains. He is absolutely transfixed by them!

Hope you get the job WST ... sounds like it will make for a good work life balance & that's all good.

only one more week before I go up to 30 hrs a week! Childminder is doing me a discount for Thursdays. She is a star. DS is very happy there but I might get him in to pre school a couple of mornings a week. I think it will be good for him. She won't charge me while he is at pre-school or nursery either like a lot of them do!

The only annoying thing that happens if I increase my hours is that my student loan repayment kicks in and cancels out some of the extra income. Ah well, paying the price for mis-spent youth! Anyway the ulterior motive is that I will be better off on ML if that happens and would be able to afford to take 12 months off maybe!

Being as DS can't really talk yet I think toilet training is a no-no although I do get him to sit on the potty after his bath each night in reward for a chocolate button he has not done anything in it to date! He looks kind of uncomfortable on the potty too as he's quite big already. I'm trying easy ups this week to see if the nappy change struggles are any better.

OMG I have been talked into going speed dating with a RL friend tonight

Go Simpson - don't worry about not being ready for relationships etc, just have fun. It's good for you