May 2010: All the babies have arrived, welcome to the other side!

[rachelfruitloop]

Here we are ladies, a new Postnatal thread! I wonder if we'll fill this one up as fast with one-handed typing?!

Oh yeah and meant to say that I'll put my London Underground thinking cap on for some advice on pram-friendly routes if we meet up at the British Museum!

Angel, I'm so sorry! I hope you have people around to help and support you. Wishing you all the best.

First1, hope you won your auction. I'm v happy with the bugaboo i bought on ebay. Baby is happy in it too, in small doses! We may well get a fold up lightweight thing too when he's old enough but for now its great.

wouldliketoknow I heard yesterday that right/left handedness can switch up to the age of three and a half.

Hope the babies cry less and the toddlers behave better this weekend

Hi everyone.. it's been ages since I last posted, I sometimes wonder what I ever did with my time before having a baby...

So sorry Angel to read your news. What a shock for you. As others have said, hope you have some RL support around you. Newmomma, read your post too, really hoping things improve for you. Have not had it anywhere near as bad but have been right grumpy with not getting enough sleep so can only imagine what it's like for you

All fairly OK here, been having to go to hospital every week for George to have blood tests for hypothyroidism. Every week, the TSH and T4 levels have been "moving in the right direction", until last week when they didn't and so now we're having to give him medicine in a syringe every day which I'm getting the hang of but was stressful at first. They think it's transient rather than permanent and will just require regular monitoring.

It's been hard work as the Dr, the hospital and the consultants all involved seem unable to communicate between each other until this Monday when I lost the plot (asserted myself) and complained about it. Suddenly, things have improved, medical records have miraculously appeared, we have an appointment with the head honcho in Cardiff, a concentrated dose of medicine has been provided (so only have to give him 1.25ml rather than 5ml), blood test results have been found etc. My Dr seems to think there may be some link between my pituitary tumour and George's thyroid problems but he said it's quite unusual and very little information available. Hmph.

Routine.. still not much in the day yet but the last few nights have been feeding G just before I go to bed about 12 and he's been sleeping for just over 4 hours, quick feed and back to sleep for another 4 hours. I'm feeling slightly human again. I've experimented with swaddling him the last 3 nights and he has slept better and in his moses basket (been sleeping with us until then) so that is progress.

G has put on 4lb since birth (8 weeks ago) so HV is happy about that. Jabs in a couple weeks, I've found it so hard (wuss that I am, almost in tears myself) with all the blood tests already and him screaming the place down, am not looking forward to more injections.

Was out the other day and was breastfeeding when I caught the eye of a woman who came over to me (I was expecting something negative) and said "I just wanted to say how lovely it is to see someone breasfeeding in public, so very naturally, well done you, it's really great to see", which was a nice surprise.

Sorry for so few personals. Hope you are all having a good weekend.

hi everyone, Ive not been on here in ages! I dont seem to find the time, plus net connection is just crap! I cant seem to get mumsnet on my iphone it wont allow it for some reason, anyone else have this problem?

Angel and First1 so sorry to hear about your dh being such arseholes. Made me go cold when I read your post Angel. Hope you get support on the other thread too.

racquel - sorry to hear about Georges health problems, I too find hospital communication very poor and very frustrating for parents. I hope you get things sorted and get the support you need.

Well Lillia is almost 13 weeks now, breastfeeding was going well but I ran out, partly due to stress and lack of feeding. ds2 admitted to hospital for few days and I couldnt leave him there or bring baby in. But I was running very low anyway, So shes now formula fed, I just posted on the feeding thread as I gave her the hungry baby milk for last feed and it did work but shes been a grump today, so not sure if that suits her! I just need some bloody sleep, if shes not waking for food Im listening to dh snoring, hes driving me mad...I could kill!!

Hope everyone doing ok? Sorry not been on for so long x

Aiming for proper catch up later but just quick 1 from phone. mustbemad are u on orange? my phone didnt allow mn either I had to ring cust services & have all blocks removed. also a q- we want to take lo swimming but the little swimmers nappies seem to only start at 16lbs, i know some of u have been, what are u using?

cupcake yes I am on orange, I will ring customer services then, the only reason I am able to use net at min is because I am in London staying with my sil.
Cant help you with swim nappies - sorry, I havent took Lillia swimming yet, looking forward to it though.

sorry Im so crap at posting..I need to sort out my time management!

am back to more or less working full time so sadly DD is having more formula now as tiredn ess etc meant I sim ply couldnt keep up with expressing for her..she is on soya milk as she has a cows milk intolerance..it stinks..yuck

yesterday I had a full day out working so drove at 7am to LLandudno..40 miles away! to drop Olivia at my mums and returned at 7pm to pick her up. DM had a fab time I think and loved every min of it..she took DD out for a walk in her pram and I think is quite enjoying doing the stuff that she didnt get a chance to do with the older DC's Olivia was in a great mood yesterday and according to DM spent the day, smiling and cooing at her. She is now 15 weeks..eekk.. a week off 4 months..where the heck has the time gone?
DD2 is insatiably jealous of her and has taken to pinching her..so we make sure we dont leave them alone together...at 6 she is old enough to know better

Angel..Im so sorry to hear about your DH..what has he said? does he still love you, does he want to make the marriage
work..sometimes affairs are cries for help..and its the cowards way out of avoiding problems in the marriage instead of addressing them. You know where I am..I was going to visit but you seem to have vanished off my face book page?

Rachael..not sure what to advise as my DD1 was 2 when her brother was born and used to try and hurt him, but it was usually when I was out of the room..maybe have a chat with your HV? what your older DC is doing though is quite normal to a degree because he has obviously realised that Eric is here to stay and is not amused because at the moment Eric takes up a lot of your time. I was an only child but I try to put myself in the childs shoes, theyve been your baby but now theyve been kind of de throned and replaced in their eyes..

ML i have deleted my facebook account. Sorry. Probably not the best company at the moment either. he is supposed to be off work tomorrow for a week so i either have to tell him to use it to find somewhere else to live, or pretend and play happy families for the sake of the kids cos we had so much planned for the week...

Angel- How awful for you Do keep posting on her and we will support you the best we can.

Hormonal- You sound Busy! Hope DD1 is better soon.

Wouldliketoknow- Just do the bits of housework thats immeditely noticable if your sturggling to keep up. Im terrible for being obsessed that people will notice all the little bits and will spend ages doing little jobs that in reality no one would notice unless you pointed them out! Id love a cleaner... just need to convince DH

Re- lefthandedness. My DD1 still uses both hands equally and shes just turned 2. However I think shes more righthanded.

Rachel- My DD1 once hit Lucy on the head. It was more of a temper thing and lucy being the nearest thing though. I really flipped at her and she hasnt done it since. Its such a hard thing to deal with isnt it and you just dont know what to do for the best. Hope someone can give you some good advice.

I too dont have much interest in DTD at the mo. I dont think DH does either. To be honest i dont think he looks at me in that way any more Not that I blame him really, My body def isnt the same as it was pre-kids.

Rachquel- Hope little George is doing ok with his medicine now.

Mustbemad- Hope DS2 is ok.

Cupcake- Not sure on the sizes/weights but we used Little swimmers. They do an exta small. Check in different shops though as not all stock them. If not Tesco's do there own range of swimmers in tiny sizes.

ML- Glad Olivia enjoyed her day at Grannys.

Lucy has become very vocal the past week. Shes constantly cooing and gurgling. It sounds like shes talking to her toys, Its very cute Its almost like shes trying to compete with DD1 which would really take some doing! Looks like im going to have 2 gobby little ladies on my hands.

Pigleychez....no, no,no..Im sure your DH has not gone off you..babies are demading and hard work and your other little girl is still quite little too..I bet you are both just too tired an d maybe he is afraid to make the first move..waiting for you to give him the green light..it will happen..I had a horrendous delivery with DS2 so DH and I didnt DTD until he was 10 weeks old
DTD is very sporadic in this house..its a case of seizing the moment as it were

angel WHAT? Am so shocked, and so so sorry - how are you coping, what can we do?

pigley thanks for bedtime routine story - goodness I am a bit jealous of your amazing Lucy's amazing sleeping... wow.

Thanks also to others for bedtime routine help.

wouldliketoknow I have a bad and deep scar on my left breast, have to feed with a nipple shield, everyone said 'Oh is terrible will affect production doom and gloom' but actually that's my best-producing side and baby loves it. Hope OK with your scars?

newmomma thinking of you
rachel that's a tough one, sorry, have no advice, but sounds really tricky.

I am sick AGAIN. Was sick for last 2 months of pregnancy and have been sick on and off for 6 weeks now. Am so exhaisted and rundown that I can't shake off bugs. Went to the docs, who gave me antibiotics for bronchitis and clearly did not realise I had new baby and said 'Right I am signing you off work' and I said 'No no sign me on work, would be easier'

swimming pools....our local pools say all non swimmers must have buoyancy aids, armbands are bigger than baby's arms! anyone know an alternative?

also, virginia is just not gaining weight, we apparently have thrush, after being given totally wrong and unlicenced creams we now have cream for her bum, cream for my nipples and liquid for her mouth, how on EARTH do i spread drops around her mouth without her just sucking and swallowing?

and to top it off she has a cold....

and is therefore waking hourly for cuddles and milk

sorry i know my problems are tiny in comparison to some, i think of you all...

stupid doctor, lucky... hope you feel better

this particular hv was not referring to an actual scar, which i don't have, but deep scarred tissue, lot more serious, went to the gp, and been told there is no way you can get that kind of damage from breastfeeding, even if you did, you can feed with only one breast, if you had just the one, as some cancer patients do, or had twins!!!, so not in danger of loosing milk that way. my problem was really bad delivery, after 8 hours from the first dose i had an epidural top up and 15 min later, baby heart beat drop dangerously so i had to push early, midwife wasn't counting on the birth for at least two more hours, that was after 3 days labour, so it was understandibly difficult for both me and baby to learn to latch, after that i didn't have my milk for 10 days again due to difficult labour... but now, he is latching well, he loves being on the breast, i no longer have open wounds or blood, and i can't express any milk after he's fed, sometimes he doesn't even need a top up of formula, sometimes just a little bit, but it is all good, and can only get better... not all hv know what they are saying, and thinking about it, i think the lady was trying to make excuses for me giving him a bottle...

sorry me post, mustn't mention that hv again

Racquel - sorry to hear about George, hope everything improves soon Glad you had a good experience bfing in public, must have been nice!

Cupcake - we buy non-disposable swim nappies like Splashabout. Most of our newborn ones are pink and flowery though, so not ideal for Corin but can't be bothered to get new ones.

LuckyC - sorry you're feeling sick, hope you feel better soon

Homebirthmummy - argh, thrush sounds like a nightmare!

Wouldliketoknow - glad the BFing is going better

Angel and Newmomma - thinking of you.

Quiet weekend here catching up on various chores. Corin is v.chatty and smiley at the moment, and is sleeping well so I feel reasonably human. Making the most of it while it lasts!

Homebirthmummy we've just come to the end of our second course of treatment for thrush. I find there are some times when DD2 takes the drops nicely and other times when more comes back out than stays in. They did say to make sure that I give them at the end of a feed so she will keep them longer in her mouth. I'm hoping that it is now all cleared up (fingers crossed...).

Lucky hope you feel better soon

I'm now also getting better at this bf in public business - did it in both a Starbucks and a restaurant today and feeling quite proud of myself. I just can't believe how much easier feeding is this time round and am actually enjoying it, which isn't something I ever thought I'd say.

The two girls are now sharing a room - second night tonight and it seems to be going well so far in that they don't seem to disturb each other. Quite what it will be like when the sides come off the cot beds, who knows?!

Hi everyone. Busy busy weekend here. Have Sunday eve gloom knowing that DH will be back at work in the morn & I'll be back to chasing my own tail with 2 LO!

hbm4 I have a blow up seat for Harry. Think I got if from boots originally but they seem pretty popular.

cupcake I've just bought some boots own brand swim nappies in size 3. Not tried them out yet, hoping to go swimming this week once Harry's cold totally clear.

angel I'm totally for you, can't believe your H would do that. Hope we can all support you in anyway we can.

newmomma thinking of you, hope you've had some quiet time this w/e.

... and to bed, need to get some hours in before Harry needs his next feed. xx

has anyone heard from Den26 ? Im wondering how her little boy is getting on

caricube, it is really encouraging that you are enjoying bf this time, hopefully will happen for me too, ... must prepare dinner, i mean, heating up tortillas on the microwave, busy day today, we decided to tidy up instead of going for walk, feeling better now... must do more tomorrow... without freaking out, that is.

Hi All

Back from fab hols and going to try and catch up but apols in advance to anyone that I miss.

Newmomma - so sorry you are struggling, please keep posting on here so we can support you. Just a thought, but have you tried to see if LO is intolerant to anything in your diet that she is getting in your milk? A girl in my NCT class had a baby who cried a lot and it miraculously stopped when she cut out dairy from her diet. Might be worth a try?

Angel - can't believe your news, so sorry to hear it. Hope you manage to get through next week, whichever way you try to tackle it.

HBM4 - we have an inflatable seat that we used for DS. It was from Jojo Maman Bebe online. It was a sort of seat with inflatable tubes on either side - might work? can't believe the treatments you have been given - how can you be given unlicensed creams FFS?! Hope you get sorted out soon.

Racquel - sorry to hear about George and all his tests, hope the treatment works. Isn't it amazing how soon things that are "lost" can be found when you complain, and someone can be bothered to look properly?!

Rachel - sorry to hear about issues with DS1 - we had v similar problem with DS and we have three year age gap too. I found that really shouting at worked for us and then putting him up in his room behind a stairgate. We also compared his behaviour with book characters that he reads at bedtime. So, for example, when he was good we would say he was being like Alfie (from the Shirley Hughes books) and when he was naughty he was being like Gordon (from Thomas the Tank Engine). Putting him in his room also worked for us as well as he was then completely out of the way, I knew he was safe, and it was a real physical manifestation that I was disappointed with him. And although I hate hate shouting at him, I found that when I got a proper Angry Voice (deep and loud) it was v effective - I come from a family of teachers and they have been teaching me the Teacher's voice and Teacher's stare which are coming in very handy! Hope that helps!

Pigley - your DH won't have gone off you, as ML says he will be waiting for signal that you are interested. You will get back to "normal" whatever that may mean.

Carikube - hope the room sharing goes well! And well done on the public BFing!

Well, holiday was fab, can thoroughly recommend Northumberland in the sunshine - fab beaches, brilliant sandcastle sand, just wish we had gone for two weeks! Back to normality this week and have a crazy week - got to get everything ready for family and friends descending on Saturday for DD's christening on Saturday afternoon. Plus, survey has been done on our house and house we want to buy, and all mortgages in place, so looking to move end of this month eek. So have got loads of boxes down from loft today to try and start mammoth packing job, only to be rung by agent today (yes, on a Sunday!) to be told that buyers want to come round on Tuesday afternoon. So now have to put all boxes back in loft and tidy up house AGAIN which means hiding all boxes, ironing, etc and am worried that they want to come round because something has come up in the survey...will just be glad when everything is signed and sealed and we are in our new house!

Hope everyone else is doing OK

TomlinTowers - glad you had a good holiday, sounds fab Hope everything's OK with your buyers

Pigley - sure your DH hasn't gone off you, he'll just be waiting for you. My DH says he finds it difficult to feel terribly sexy atm because we're so busy all the time.

Lucky- Poor you. Hope you feel better soon.

Homebirth- We have this. Lucy is alittle diddy for it so last time kind of laid across it. I do prefer them to be free to move in the water though so dont like her to be in it too much. DD1 hated it as a baby though!

Carikube- Glad the room sharing is going well

ML & Tomlin- Thanks for your comments. Im not sure why but I just have the feeling that he just doesnt see me like that now. I feel like im just "Mummy" IYSWIM. We have had a few occassions lately that ive tried to dress for and the most enthusiasm i get is ' Yeah, it looks alright'.
Gone are the cheeky pats on the bum, and impromtu hugs/kisses. I try to intiate cuddles etc but hes always busy, or its for a nano second.
Oh well, guess ill have to just get used to becoming 3rd in line.

Anyway!...
Just waiting for our cupcakes to cool before we ice and decorate them. DD1 LOVES cooking!
Annoyingly DD1's swimming lesson has been cancelled today I hoping she doesnt realise we arent going or I wont hear the end of it!

Another good sleep from Lucy. Bed at 8.30 and slept through till 5.45. Had a feed then slept till 7 She isnt interested in a dream feed anymore so sleeps straight through... Magic!

Im fed up..Olivia is the one of the oldest babies, 4 months old on friday yet still not sleeping through

on a different note can anyone advise re a parent facing pushchair..we have a luna mix which only faces forward and a pramette but the prammette only faces parent in pram mode, Olivia no longer likes lying completely flat but I really dont like little babies facing away..I like to chat etc when out and about..so am going to sell the pliko pramette an d am considering a quinny buzz...any one got any experience of them at all..

ML hopefully the transfer to the cot will help Olivia sleep longer - DD2 kept bashing the sides of the moses basket and I think that disturbed her a fair bit so now when she kicks around she doesn't hit anything...

Morning everyone

Meet-ups - I would love to do a meet-up but don't think I'm near anyone being in Northumberland.

Pigley - thanks again for the reassurance about Grace's weight. I'm sure your dh does still think about you in that way, he's probably just tired with having two dd's and it sounds like he's working hard too. Have you talked to him about it?

SK - my anxiety is exactly the same, an irrational fear of something happening to the dc or dh. It's always been there but got a lot worse after dn died and then flared up again after Grace was poorly. I've seen a wonderful psychologist since January who has talked through this with me and we've found that the anxiety eases off if I talk to dh about it. Communication is the key however I have a diary if things get too much or I don't want to share it with dh. My score was 18 back in January and 6 last week.

Angel - I'm so sorry, your dh has behaved appallingly. I hope this week with him off isn't too stressful and you decide what you are going to do. Hope you and your dc are ok and if you need to vent on here please do, this is what the threads for.

Hormonal - hope dd1 is ok after her op. I'm potty training dd1 at the moment and it's going great apart from the odd accident, typically when she's engrossed in something. The first time we tried she just wasn't ready and it just caused loads of stress. I'm sure your ds will be better next time you try.

Rachel - have you tried a naughty step or time out with ds1, the naught spot works wonders with dd1. I would put being gentle back on his star chart too.

Wouldliketoknow - dd1 is a definite lefty, it's been apparent since she was about 1 iirc.

Raquel - the lack of communication at the hospital must be quite annoying, however it sounds like George is thriving. I hope it is transient

Mustbemad - hope ds2 is ok.

ML - glad Olivia had a nice day with your dm. Hope the cot works for tonight.

Lucky - sorry your feeling poorly, its the worst feelingwhen you've got a lo to take care of.

Homebirth - hope Virginia feels better soon.

Carikube - I'm really enjoying bf too, never thought I'd be able too after being unsuccessful with dd1. I've also bf everywhere now, with a restaurant being the most worrying, and it has really boosted my confidence.

Tomlin - have to agree that Northumberland is fab , where did you visit? Hope your survey goes well, moving house is so stressful.

hi all - sorry been a bit lax with the posting - dh has been hogging the laptop as his latest project is learning French. We're hoping to go to France next year on a cycling holiday. Another incentive for me to get fit.

ml sorry you're not getting there with the sleep. Molly still wakens every 3 hours most of the time with the occasional 4 hour stretch in the first part of the night. I have no idea about pushchairs, sorry although I nearly got the Mothercare one that spins round to forward or parent facing. Maybe worth a look? The quinny is pretty popular though.

pigley those wee intimacies are always the first thing to go IME. You could try to restart it yourself.

angel I am so sorry about your asshole H. WTF are these men thinking of - raising a family is the biggest buzz there is. Hope this week goes well for you whatever you want to do. Hope the worms have been dispatched.

first1 hope you're ok too in advance of your op. And what happened in the auction? I'm not allowing myself on ebay at the moment but want the buzz vicariously.

newmomma hope things pick up soon. I'm lucky that Molly doesn't cry much but only if she feeds constantly. When she is upset she quickly gets practically inconsolable but the white noise app on my phone helps.

sk and hollyoaks I'm still getting bouts of anxiety for no reason but my score is lower than it was - about 6-9 now so hopefully the worst is behind me. Fingers crossed the same goes for you both.

Hope you feel better soon lucky - I was constantly sick after dd1 was born but so far (touching wood frantically) so good this time.

Love and germ free hugs to any poorly LOs.

carikube and hollyoaks bf going well here too. Hoping the worst is behind us with that too.

rachel ds was a nightmare after dd1 was born. I didn't find the naughty step or star charts were much good as he happily took the extra attention associated with being bad over his jealousy of the attention he was missing. I found some great ideas in a book called "Sibling Rivalry" by ?Faber and Dawlish. But basically I utterly ignored him when he was bad - if he did something to dd1 I used to pick her up and`walk out of the room without speaking to him at all and fussed over her a lot so him being rough got him the opposite of what he wanted (attention even negative attention is oxygen to toddlers). I would also encourage it when he talks about his feelings even when they're negative as the feelings have to come out eand talking them out is better than acting them out. iyswim. I also tried to make a fuss when he was being good and talked a lot to dd1 about her gorgeous big brother so she got to hear my chat but he got positive feedback. It worked to some extent but basically time improved things as he adjusted to the new normal. They still fight for my attention now. Ds was a nightmare on Sat night when we went to my parent's house. Not sure what got into him but he was playing up like a 6 year old not a 12 year old. I got so stressed with him and then got a lecture from my Dad about being too strict. Not a fun evening. And Molly cluster fed the whole time we were there. To constant comments of "she can't still be hungry"

hi millingtonsmummy hope the tail chasing is going ok and the weekend was fun.

homebirthmummy hope the thrush is improving. We have had it too and nystatin suspension was a total waste of time. I got Molls some daktarin gel - is that the unlicensed ointment you were prescribed? It's very recent that the manufacturers decided it wasn't safe for under 4 months as it's quite thick but it's the best stuff by far IMHO and perfectly safe if applied really thinly. We (fingers crossed) are winning the battle which is good as I'm really allergic to the tablets for thrush (fluconazole) so have to get on top of it without that option.

racquel hope the thyroid business is sorted soon. It does my head in when hospitals get the admin side of things so wrong.

tomlin glad the hols went well. My parents are both retired teachers so I have years of exposure to the teacher stare and voice. With ds however I found the quieter I was the more he listened. He was so nosy that he couldn't bear to miss anything that was being said but if I shouted then so did he! Good luck with the house stuff

wltk and homebirthmummy and any other spd sufferers - hope it improves soon. I have a really sore thumb. No idea why but it really gets in the way!

wltk no idea about housework - sorry. I just do the absolute necessities and try to ignore the rest. Never was a domestic goddess and even less so now.

Hi to schipo, sassles, hormonalmum, heffa and KJ

Hope I've not missed anyone out

Re meeting up - bit out on a limb in NI unfortunately but will be in Lincolnshire/Nottinghamshire from about 22nd to 29th October and would love to meet anyone who is around

Re dtd - little success here as my non sleeping, constantly feeding, co-sleeper is getting in the way a bit. I'm so not bothered but DH is