January 2009 - New year, new buns in various ovens and time for our not so little ones to turn one!

[SherryMerryLennipillar]

Happy 2010 everyone! Cast your mind back to this time last year... [soppy]

Too much wine - excuse for thread title should it be shite rubbish when I read it tomorrow. Thought it was time to wave goodbye to the festive one, although perhaps we should have waited for epiphany?

Patthehammer - ds [Z], 7 Jan 09
moosemama - dd [E], 15 Jan
stripeywoollenhat - dd (c), 18 Jan
hackneyzoo- DS [J], 21 Jan 09
treedelivery - DD2 [H], 22 Jan 09
Dog - DD2 [Isla], 10th Feb

School and pre-school still closed but nursery open, hurrah! So shipped DS off this morning for a half-day. Needed a bit of a rest! Myself and DD have had a nice day, been to a friends and then to get petrol and popped to Tesco cafe for lunch. MY GOD, Tesco was hell on earth! People buying stuff like supermarkets are only open today or something we took one look at the shop and sloped off without buying anything!

Fussy babe here to, woke up twice last night (wtf!) so glad I have not quite given up the boob yet, it has been my saviour the last few nights. however, a peek in his mouth has shown the tips of the two bottom canines through (can this really be 6 teeth in 4 weeks!!!)

Stripey- Z had a great time being a vacuum cleaner after his party finished yesterday, so hygeinic!

Lenni- Lovely to read your story (although I think you have told me it before it seems different in print!) I will maybe post one one day as feel left out! Ouchy at you waiting for your Tens machine though! What struck me this time round was the utter bliss that really quite minimal pain relief can give when you get to quite a late stage. I started the G&A about 7cms with DD and if somebody had told me that I wouldn't have had it till full dilation with DS I would have laughed in there face!

Dog- your clothes piles sound very much like mine. I have such good intentions and each pile is meant for something or someone but they rarely get put anywhere or go anywhere! At least having no more means I can get rid of stuff that is too small pretty quickly

Tree, moose etc- mine are having there vaccine next week. It has been rife at Ds's nursery and DD gets wheezy very easily and doesn't cope well with D&V so I can see her getting it quite badly should she come across it. Interesting about Guillan barre syndrome, I was chatting last month to my friend who is frontline NHS so her and her family had the jab a while ago. She said she ummed and ahed about giving it to her kids but in the end her consultant friend suggested she read the research. This made up her mind. Apparently the Guillan barre stuff was associated with the US vaccine by the media (they use different vaccine to us IIRC) but the research shows no greater risk if you have the vaccine than if you don't. the trouble with vaccination is that most people decide on anecdotal evidence, which as all my year 10 biology class know, is extremely bad science. So my advice is if you are unsure then read the studies that are around (studies that have a credible number of participants/subjects).
Anecdotally, 4 people I know who have had the jab all suffered side-effects but if I look at that objectively they are all chronic skivers who are off work frequently with a cough or cold.
it is a difficult decision with little ones, especially if they have underlying health issues. I don't think anyone else can make it for you sadly, so I wish you all luck! I do have faith in vaccination though, and always try to think of the horrible nasties that were around killing our littlys before vaccinations were discovered.

ooops, mega-post and sorry for typos DD will not leave me alone she is velcro pre-schooler at the moment and it is tres annoying!

Pat - we demand a birth story. Get a cuppa and cake and compose it this evening.

so that's five weeks of holding our tongues on fb, then, dog

i looked up my birth story - admirable brevity, i thought. left out all the crankiness and the slightly shouty midwife, the bit where i experimented with not pushing because i was so tired and discovered that not pushing is really painful, and the episiotomy, which stung like a bastard while healing, as i recall... and c came out yelling, and didn't stop till she hit skin, and feeling quite awkward about holding her, and surprised about all of the blood. i didn't have the rush of love thing, she sort of grew on me overnight

that's way more detail than is in the original one, lenni

pat, it is upsetting, the idea of panic buying at tesco i hope that if i ever do have to pack for the end times to do it somewhere more salubrious

Oh dear...........I rather just polished off a large glass of wine whilst checking email and fb so thought this a good time to write Z's birth story (may be rambling and full of typos but nevermind eh!).

So, Baby was due the 27th of december but failing miserably to put in an appearance. I wasn't that bothered tbh but everyone else got on my nerves and had been having annoying braxton-hicks since 37 weeks so...............2 sweeps later and still no sign an induction was booked for 12 days overdue (which would have been cancelled as I am a total hospital wimp but hey!). So Weds 7th Jan dawns and I have a 3rd and final sweep booked at 10am. Braxton-Hicks still regular and painful but seem to be slightly more so this morning, typical its DD's first day at pre-school!
Intuition tells me to ask DH to phone in work as I'm not sure I can drive with these annoying 'niggles' that I am getting. DH does this and we time a few niggles and they are 8 mins apart. Get to pre-school and drop off DD, everyone there astounded that I am still with-child yet they all notice me jiggling about a bit every so often.
get to MLU, thoroughly unimpressed with my 'tightenings' but my community midwife spies me and whispers 'I'll get Emily to do your sweep....she has reallllly long fingers'. for some reason I say thank-you to this and shortly afterwards the long-fingered one does her business and dislodges mucus plug.
They then tell me to keep active so myself and DH cheerfully take a wonder round sainsburys (wtf!!!) whilst having niggles every 5 minutes or so. DD dutyifully picked up and I proudly announce that I am 2-3cm and then quickly despatch her to the CM so I can go and get organised and pack bag and stuff (yep, you would think it was packed at 40+11 but finishing touches and all that!).
Afternoon is spent lounging watching 'starter for ten' and another movie which I forget eating DD's xmas smarties, all the way informing DH of how much icky show I am producing everytime I go to the loo. About 4pm we collect DD and I decide to phone the IL's to come and get her about 5ish as the niggles start to take my breath away and she is beginning to notice all is not well with mummy.
We decide to call the MLU at 7pm as I want to check to see if anything happening as I still don't feel productive contractions and am terrified of being induced. So they say to venture up and they will check. Have internal and she says cervix posterior, still 3cm, go home and have bath and bed (she then whispers to DH 'see you later'). So we get home and have tea and I take MW advice and run bath. get in at 9pm and 9.15pm I feel a profound change and things start to get painful, ouch!
DH napping so I just slip my pjs on (what and why!!!) and get into bed next to him to begin texting my sis who has broken down on the way to us to be my second birthing partner. About 9.30pm I realise that cx are about every 3mins but manfully watch Celeb BB and continue texting. about 10ish they get too painful to lie down so I trot up and down the landing wrapped in a blanket, pausing to hold banister every so often. Shortly after this I feel the need to kneel down so slump over the bed and start moo-ing.
This immediately wakes DH who has heard this sound somewhere before and he jumps onto the phone and tells MLU we are coming in. I now refuse to be moved but DH coaxes me into some clothes and shepherds me to the car with our bags. It is bloody freezing outside, snow fell 2 days before and it has frozen on the ground, nontheless I make DH cane it to the MLU as the one cx I have in the car is horrendous to say the least. DH attempts to stop at red light, cue a torrent of abuse from squwaking and panting animal in the back. 5 mins later we arrive and I leap out of the car as I feel a mega one coming, stand shaking in the car park holding the car for dear life and wee myself a bit.
MW opens door and says 'Oh hello Pat how are you.........' all jolly like, to get the reply 'where's the pain relief!'. I jump on the nearest birthng ball in the birthing suite and express a very strong desire for her to fill up the birthing pool, which she goes off to do. So this is 10.40pm and she dithers around until 11.10pm to get me some pain relief. She gives me the G&A as she examines me and finds me to be fully dilated. DH is shocked and relieved (DD was a lonnnnnnnnng labour) and I have a massive cx that makes me feel all spaced out and like an out of body experience (my transition I think???). So pool ready at 11.25pm and I charge in there like a mad thing, dragging my trusty canister that god himself would have trouble wrestling off of me at this stage.
I feel very calm in the pool.........it gets more painful..........I start to trip out and have flashbacks to DD's labour (same pool!)...........I do a poo which breaks into a millon pieces and the MW and DH busy themselves with the sieve. Shortly after this I inform the MW my waters have gone as I feel a load of pressure relieved and a massive cx. After this I am quite lucid and quite enjoying the whole thing. Next thing the MW says is 'Oh you can push if you want, if you feel the need'. Now I am not sure about this as I am not sure I can feel the head (tis true, he was not engaged AT ALL until about 1 min before birth!). Anyway next cx arrives so I give it a bash and what do you know, a whole baby moves down inside me. He then slips up a bit which is agony so I think 'right you sod, you're coming out with the next one' and hey presto.....the whole head, body and shoulders come out with the next contraction. I catch baby and bring it to the surface and am amazed by how soft its skin is and how perfect it's head is (DD had a massive conehead!). Quick look at the genitals to confirm its a girl...............oh, hang about.....................someones put a willy here!!! Burst into tears of joy and he wakes up properly with a nice scream. Born at 11.50pm. He has a good old nuzzle and root around and then MW is panicky about getting out of the water to deliver the placenta. The other shock is his mega-long bungee cord after DD had such a short one, had to sling it over my shoulder as I got out! MW poked around whilst DH held Z but I wasn't happy with this and wanted my lovely soft boy back so I told her to stop pestering me and let me lie on the bed to feed and the placenta would come out fine. She obliged and Z had the first of his many, many bf's as the 3rd stage completed and DH and I stroked him a lot, in awe of his perfectness and beauty. no stitches, tears, or nuffin and felt remarkably well and 'alive' unlike the 'hit-by-a-bus' experience of DD. Went home a few hours later.
P.s His skin is still so strokable

Sorry, far too long, but once you get started

pmsl, pat, and also a bit

dog- I was utterly convinced he was another girl and at the 20 week scan the sonogrpher said 'she' twice????!!! We never asked to know outright though so could have just been because DD was there and she was in 'girl' mode. Howver, he does have quite a small winkle so maybe she just never saw it.

God, quite drunk now!

Pat, ah, lovely birth story.

Not too long at all, in fact, - surprise - its nowhere near as long as mine, despite the whole thing only taking an hour and a half. lol

I have just gone back through the threads and found my mahoosive birth story. Brought it all back.

Also read some of the postnatal stuff. I'd completely forgotten the bone achingly awful anaemia I had postnatally. I was only telling my Mum earlier today how the first few months of 2009 were very probably the happiest of my life so far. (Obviously had my nostalgic rose tinted specs on at the time.) Still think they were though, having dd has made me feel complete personally and also completed our family. We've had some tough times on and off, but I haven't regretted having her for a single second. [soppy Moose emoticon]

OOOh that birth story is wonderful Pat. I love all the littlle details we remember, like photo's in the brain.

I don't know either Books. Tbh.

hello, just been out to the pub so keeping this short! I'm next after Moosey. I so remember the long nights chatting to tree and extreme jealousy at Lenni as I was sure I'd go first after my 3 million nights in hospital with Braxton hicks!

Lovely birth stories pat and lenni.

must go to bed. have read all the posts and cant' remember a thing. Guinness has gone to my head so must go to bed. er, did I say I was going to bed?

by the way, H is also only taking 2o mins nap per day and waking all night at regular intervals. Not sure if its teeth or development. its annoying though. sleeps fine in bed with me. grrr.

Awww, Pat that is lovely. Made me laugh and go all mushy too. He does have lovely skin - wouldn't like to speculate on the size of his tinkler though, feels a little, er, odd. DS has a little one compared to my nephew, who has quite an odd anatomy as his testicles are very flat so when he poos it covers everything up to his belly button, more like girl poo. Very odd - anyhow, moving on...

The list:
Lenni - dS [D], 7 Jan 09
Patthehammer - ds [Z], 7 Jan 09
moosemama - dd [E], 15 Jan
stripeywoollenhat - dd (c), 18 Jan
hackneyzoo- DS [J], 21 Jan 09
treedelivery - DD2 [H], 22 Jan 09
Booksgalore - DD 27 Jan
Dog - DD2 [Isla], 10th Feb

Beautifully formatted list.

Party tom - has been something of an effort to get it on, change of venue and time required to avoid cancellation due to snow. Children's parties are always so much fun in your mind, and such hard work in reality - but also fun. You just forget the hard work part quickly, much like labour.

I'm a big mushy mascara mess, think I must be hormonal, the birth stories are making me weep buckets...it would be nice to cut and paste them althogether and have a little birth story book/thread....am feeling far too sentimental today. Pat, I moo-er for england too, DH was looking at me in a kinda WTF way!

Lenni, hope the party goes well today, for some reason I thought you'd had it last week. at children's birthday parties being like labour. Your description of actually giving birth reminded me of how I felt, I was amazed at how amazing my body was iyswim, it just felt really powerful and I just had to do what it told me...and low and behold, a Jude was born...was on a complete high for ages afterwards, completely blown away by the experience.

Books, how is DD, has she recovered from the pox?

Moose, I was chuckling at your at long birth story....surely its just a Moosey class

We've heard nothing about the SF vaccines here. I suppose they expect you to go in and ask for them. What is the general consensus on them? I haven't got round to doing any research yet so any advice would be appreciated.

Right, this is an odd question, but....DD is now 2.8 and over the last few months has spent a lot of time...well...errr.... making large piles of cushions on the sofa or living room floor and then spending about half an hour happily humping them and telling everyone to go away as she's busy. This is all fine as she is getting in touch witrh her body and all that....but at what point do I draw the humping line? Do you think I should tell her its something she can do in private or is she too young for that? I'm not embaressed by it, I just don't want her to make other childrenor staff feel awkward at nursery etc...although I have had no reports of DD doing this art nursery....ramble ramble.

Gettign a bit restless here, my Dad was admitted to hospital yesterday with a chest infectiona and partially collap[sed lung, but the hospital has norovirus so no visitors are allowed at all. So am very worried for him being alone and feeling scared. I have a friend who works there as a nurse so am trying to get hold of her to see if she can go and see him, but no luck so far. Am hoping we can atl east go and see him later today or tomorrow. Am worried about missing work too as have had quite a few days off with Jude, and work are great, but its likely I will need more in the future, and every lesson counts at the moment with the year 10 and 11 students...Have had such a lovely time over the last 3 or 4 years itr seem sin the last few months everything that can go wrong is going wrong...I feel strangely calm, but could do with some good news for a change!
Sorry that was bit a bit rambling/ranty/me me me...

Must go and encourage DD to play rather than mount cushions and stop DS fiddling with the sockets.

HKZ - I'm sorry about your dad. Has he a mobile, you could ring him for a natter if he is well enough?
There was a thread not that long ago about the humping! Do a search, I can't remember anything about the title but I certainly read something about this.

Thanks Tree, will do a search on humping! Dad has a mobile but no idea how to use it. Got to speak to him earlier and he sounded ok, but hated the hospital and was a bit shocked at the care (or lack of) he was receiving. He is normally on a lot of meds and the GP was meant to fax all the info through. i spoke to the ward sister and they didn't have it or his medicine and did not seem at all bothered by this. Its really to see older people treated with such little regard or respect. His ills and worries are often brushed aside by his GP as he is old, I think he feels unlistened to. Grrrrr.
Am sitting here eating chocolate biscuits and neglectingmy children while I piss around do important shopping research on the internet.

Aww Boots, absolutley not. Read my 'me neither' in a totally mystefied tone of voice to get my true meaning Sorry should have included the all important at the end of that post!
Poor dd, sounds like it was a miserable case for her. It is too awful isn't, imagine those in your throat.

HKZ, it has been my friends experience of care for older people with complicated cases that one of the younger assertive relatives basically has to act as project manager. Asking if blood results are in, if scans have been booked, if Dr's have changed prescriptions. Truly shocking and amazing. One of reasons why Dr's and nurses etc never seem to pissed off with maternity care, as in comparison to some wards [where you are lucky to get fed even though you could potentially starve as you can't feed yourself] it looks quite good

disclaimer : isn't universally true and I don't blame anyone, just state expereince of friends.

So you or another member of family might need to gently feel your way into being the care police.

Tree,I have my car epolicemn's hat on and aw wielding a large truncheon.. Its just completely impersonal having to do it all over the phone. The hospital is still closed to visitors because of Norovirus. I have been quite assertive this afternoon though, but tis the weekend, so nothing can happen til monday. Think they are very snowed under with the weather and norovirus... I just want make sure he has the paper and knows hoiw to work the tv unit and all that stuff. The nurse is getting a bit annoyed now with my incessant calling Still no further with his meds either...

Dog,hope you are feeling better. I am busy quietly ignoring humping here. Its hard as it involves rather a large stock pile of cushions.

Books, glad DD is on the mend, in the mouth and oesophugus sounds horrendous

Good on you HKZ. Kick ass.

The list:
Lenni - dS [D], 7 Jan 09
Patthehammer - ds [Z], 7 Jan 09
moosemama - dd [E], 15 Jan
stripeywoollenhat - dd (c), 18 Jan
tink2010 - dd2 (b), 19th of jan
hackneyzoo- DS [J], 21 Jan 09
treedelivery - DD2 [H], 22 Jan 09
Booksgalore - DD 27 Jan
Dog - DD2 [Isla], 10th Feb

ye for list have been into town this morning hubby dropped me in bought flowery wellies, last bits for brackens party.
received party bits in post lovely
have all been out in snow great fun!! but freezing!!