FESH spa and creche: The Ultimate Destination for survivors of the Palace and Deli: Prologue

[CurlyCasperBaggedABairn]

Welcome weary travellers. It's been a long road, but you made it! Now, hard as it might be, leave your ESH spawn at the creche and step into the spa - where we have every treatment available to soothe your Amityville Horror undercarriage, ravaged raspberries and worn out wits. And - wait for it - we've got the bar back. And it's all-inclusive

So, what are you waiting for? Grab a glass, lower yourself into the jacuzzi and lets get chatting. We are Forever ESH!

P.S Children never cry here...

honey we also have a laid back thing going on with our dog - depends on the dog I guess and Caspar also has form as he was absolutely fine with LC. He just ignores him, which is funny when LC tells him to "sit". Cas just looks at him and says, "you're just a puppy. I'm not doing what YOU say".

OK so seen GP. She said I should consider putting him on formula if I was struggling . Not helpful. However have come away with yet another thrush treatment which hopefully will shift it.

We will go with flow with dog - just won't leave little person alone with k9.

Any mummiezzzz with experience of "carry me" slings?

Him Indoors is having bad day. Customer being a git and has landed us in the shit. Customer not Him Indoors. Feel sorry for him. Poor boy. He is eating pizza to cheer himself up. Rough times ahead for us. Oh great.

rots let's hope the drucks work. Can post you my half used tube of canesten?

Hello all, just dropping in v briefly to say hello now am on the other side

am sat in bed watching her sleep...

so, Some birth info, may write more later...

Labour quite long... And didn't exactly go to my original plan, but it was ok! So, think I started contractions at 8 mins apart at 3am on sat morning, they were 5 mins apart by sat morning, but they slowed down again. Use the hippo breathing the whole time and it worked v v well along with the tens machine. Then I was kind of stuck in early labour for a while, so stayed at home until 9.30am on Sun morning. By then I has contrctions lasting 45 secs / 1 min still every 5 mins or a bit less... But the hosp wanted to see me, so I got there just after 10 am and they said 'oh, you look very calm, we might be sending you home' and then diacovered I was 7cm dilated, so they then said they would fill the pool and that I only had a couple of hours to go. So... Still just tens and hippo breathing, I got into the water and didn't really like it... So I stayed about 30 mins and then got out ( was too hot and I felt all claustrophobic) so I just did the rest without anything other than the hippo.. sadly... This is where it doesn't go quite so well... I got up to 9cm dilated, tried gas and air once and also hated it, so still just breathing... And then I just kept on going, contractions every minute, lasting 2 mins, for hours, never reaching the pushing stage.

So, waters still hadn't broken, so they broke them for me o try to move things on... Which didn't work.. And after 39 hours and the baby's heart rate dropping scarily low, I agreed to a mobile epidural as the doctor said the baby might be too big to come out and he thought I was too tired. So I had that, but it didn't get her out fast enough, so I had to sign consent for a possible emergency c section, be given full epidural and go to theatre, while they tried first or assisted delivery, if not, then c sect. Luckily they managed I get her out with forceps. So I ended up with a 40 hr labour, with only the last hour with any pain relief ( wasn't trying to be brave, was genuinely fine!)

Anyway... This may be too much info... But I still look back on it as positive, even though it wasn't the hippo water birth I had planned, but you can't plan everything! Gonna ask why they though she wouldn't come out, the main prob was she turned halfway through labour... But who cares what happened, we all ok and that is most important thing!

Sorry, didn't mean to go on so much

iggy Wow! That's some drama - take care of yourself because it might be a while before it all hits you. Do they know why her heartrate dropped? Bear's went down to 60 odd and it was terrifying - they were unable to pinpoint why exactly. Huge congratulations on becoming a mummy - you made it! How is doggy and when did/do you get home? She turned? You laid a breech baybee?

iggs great to hear from you! Are you home now? Thanks for sharing your birthing experience. Once again proves that no two are the same. Amazing how powerful the hippobirthing is!!!! So has your mega structure bump now become a mini / minor bump now?ooohhhh am so excited for you! She is gorgeous and as I said love the name! I do like unusual - note: chavvy spellings do not equal unusual!

Ten more minutes and I am hauling my ass and ever increasing bump outta bed!

ski am going home today, I coul have yesterday, but thought I'd take the extra day as it was included and the support for feeding has been amazing. She wasn't breech, she turned back to back halfway through. I need to ask the dr today what he thinks happened, but the heart rate was v scary.

Am worried I put too much into that story, was not meant to scare anyone cos it was all fine, except the end! But actually even thAt bit was fine cos she was fine and I got a rest... And I was tired by then...

silver bump is def smaller, but a long way to go! I love her name too, but I would

got to brave going home now... Scary!

Don't be scared - your husband will be your slave!

iggs we NEED the troof. Honest.

Oh well done iggy! . Glad you also experienced the power of the hippo. That was the best thing I could have done for the first stage and I'm now a huge advocate. Sounds like you are the same i.e. it only went to the wall when something didn'y go to plan. Assume you think if you'd needed to push when you should have, you would have just done it with the hippo? That's how I feel about mine and it boggles my mind even still

You and your gorgeous girl take it easy now, it's a short but intense road to recovery so cut yourself lots of slack xx

Is anyone going to get their "ideal" birth? I've still got cossie down for 20 minutes sneezing and ladylike whimpering on kitchen floor whilst TGO boils a kettle.

iggy What was it like having your waters broken? They wanted to do it to me (if my cervix had been arsed to dilate ) - but it really put the fear in me. Instead I heard a splooosh on the floor of OR!

How did you get on with epidural? And how did you feel about suggestion of c-section? How was baby when she arrived? I totally agree with you though about nothing matters except safe mummy and baby!

Is dog at home waiting?

Iggy am so so so proud of you for hippoing all that time. I think it still sounds amazingly positive and if that happens to me I will still be a happy bunny. I know the end bit might not have been as you planned it, but it sounds like you were in control and calm all the time. No mean feat by the sounds of it. Big love to you and miniiggs.... enjoy getting home soon. xx PS which CD did you do???!!!!

Ski loving the dog hair on ball sack tale. Our little one has no hope. Hairy moo is licking my hand as I type here. He is into EVERYTHING. Starts off on the floor each night and by 5am he is on bed on back snoring happily.

Rots it makes my eyes water thinking about our LO telling hairy moo to sit... ahhhhhhhh. I love your story. The hormones are all over the place at the moment.

Oh iggy so brilliant! Well done! Obviously I am amazed you didn't like the water however of course the great thing is that unlike, say, meptid, you can just get out if it's not working for you.

Do you happen to know whether the heartrate was coming back up between contractions? Did you get the urge to push at all then? Babies going b2b can screw that up as they're not in the right presentation to get your body to do its stuff, as I remember from LC (I didn't have the same pushing urges as with Comma) but I'd be really interested in what you find out.

It was amazing that the hippo got you through so far with the TENS. Really positive for those pain relief methods. Did you get totally in the zone? Having the right mental space is essential I feel.

Re forceps, you prob know but be aware she may have a headache so you may want to consider demanding druks for her if she's in pain or not settled.

Take it really easy - don't underestimate how tough it's been on the old bod.

silver re customer. What happened? Thanks for the offer of the Canestan . ski well I'm gonna eat the stuff! And also buy some fresh acidophillus.

Interesting leaflet on thrush here:

www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/pdfs/BfN_Thrush_leaflet_Feb_2009.pdf

Useful to read as it could strike at any time. My GP knows bugger all about it (and it turns out has again given me the wrong bloody druks) but I know what to do and I will sort it out.

Meeting up with our NCT group today. Think there's 2 of us on the other side but maybe more since the weekend.

Well done Iggs, you did just great. She is here and safe and after such a long labour that is the main thing! Balls about the last bit but hey! who cares and the main thing is she is here.

rots sorry to hear about your BF issues. Good to see you getting help and determined but please dont beat yourself up about it. Interested to hear about LC and his skin issues. Pray tell me more. Is it diet related?

I remembered a handout I was given at a baby massage course about "wonder weeks" and thought I would share. Could be a load of bollocks but makes a semi interesting read. It goes along the lines of this

Just diving in to say Well Done Iggs!

Found out yesterday that a friend of mine had her baby yesterday morning 5 weeks early. She was due 3 days before me. When I said I was ready earlier, I meant mentally ready. Will pack the hospital bag today

well done, Iggy!

Sorry I have been AWOL. Huge congrats to iggy and fanfare welcome to miniiggs! That's just amazing. And yes, all the FESHes know about the very fab 'staring at your gorgeous baby' method of wiling away the day / night. Enjoy!

Right... catching up.

rots I can confirm from last time that breast thrush is very painful. It is like shooting red hot needles being dragged through broken glass, like your whole breast is made up of painful throbbing broken glass I mean. The world expert on this stuff is Dr Jack Newman. Google 'Dr Jack Newman thrush protocol'. There is an established series of measures depending on what the thrush responds to. If you need the super high dose oral flucanazole you may need to take some web print outs with you to discuss it with your GP. Luckily mine already knew about the protocol and didn't need convincing, but I think I wiped out the entire county's supply of flucanazole. I really hope you haven't got it bad as it leaves you incapable of thinking about anything else.

ski I have numbness around my scar, but it is quite localised. It's a weird combination of itchy and numb at the same time, and I'm told it's because of the damage to the nerve endings. But I don't have the numbness you describe at the top of the leg. How far away from the scar is it?

honey I'll respond on PESH thread to your SPD questions. Hope it's not too bad.

If I've missed anyone's questions please ask again. I should be around for a while now.

honey it is quite cute really! I dropped some cereal in the kitchen and rather than vacuuming (because I'm lazy) I told LC to tell Cas he could come in (he's not normally allowed in the house). So LC is standing there at the back door saying, "come in, Caspar, come in, COME Caspar, Caspar COME" with Cas peering round the door at me saying, "look, the puppy's saying I can come in but can I just have confirmation please?".

okie LC is intolerant to lots of foods, most of which he has always avoided eating. Some are obviously not usually liked by children such as onions (and relatives). Others, such as eggs, he's always avoided even though most kids love them. He's ok with goat's milk and less intolerant of skimmed milk than semi or full cream so we just have skimmed milk now, although when I clear the thrush I will express milk that he can have, which although its newborn milk will be good for him, too. He has looked longingly at my breasts and has asked to be able to dig in himself, which I've firmly said "no" to! Although according to ski's FB post, he'll have a longer life just by looking .

Other than that the worst thing for his skin is for it to get sweaty and hot. Until he went to school he only wore natural fabrics - usually organic cotton or bamboo - which kept it at bay as they're so breathable - but the school uniform calls for a polyester jumper thing which is really bad for him. It's taken me a year but I've finally found one that the school will accept which is 100% cotton (organic actually but most important is the breathable, natural fabric) and they've put the school logo on for me. I also bought "non-iron" shirts for him from M&S which was a big mistake as he needs 100% cotton shirts. When I switched, although they are a pain to iron, his skin improved massively.

He has hydrocortisone cream for flare-ups which I only use when desperate, and various other non-steroid creams for day to day use which I massage all over him at night. He also has a special oil for the bath. We banish any soaps or shampoos with SLS in (I sell SLS-free ones so that's easy) and only use shampoos on his hair - the rest of him is only ever washed with water.

The final thing which causes a flare-up is stress, so when he first started school there was a bit of a problem but it settled down ok.

Xpost fanny - thank you very much for the info. I will Google it and take it to GP if this course I have doesn't fix it. Good description. Fortunately only bad on one side so I can have a break and feed on the left.

fanny how long did it take to clear? Did you use the gel on her mouth? How many high doses of fluc did you have? I have the lower dose for 10 days but am considering buying a Diflucan tablet as I can't be arsed to go to the GP AGAIN for a freebie - I just need to check the dosage is correct on the OTC one.

rots Dosage info from the website is: 'Your prescription will be for fluconazole 400 mg as a first dose, followed by 100 mg twice daily until you are pain free for a full week, which usually means at least two weeks.'

See this page and scroll down to dose section for info about resistance. Mine took ages to clear. From memory, messed around for a couple of weeks with useless 'advice' from so called BF supporter - still makes me furious thinking about her actually! Then someone on MN gave me the Newman info and I got the meds, but needed 3 courses. It was horrible. I also did the grapefruit seed extract washing and some other stuff I now can't remember. I am shuddering and wincing just thinking about it now.

Just off to bed for a nap before work but wanted to come and say hello to Iggle and MiniIggs*. Well done on the birthing, sounds amazing despite being not quite what you'd planned, I hope you are v proud of yourself! Brought a little tear to my eye. Oh yes, and the name is fab and she is utterly adorable!

Honey if you are still here, sorry to hear about the SPD. I hope you get on well with the Physio today.

Ski and Cas, it did take me back a few years reading about the man-woes. Me and TG fought like bitches for the first 6 weeks until things settled down and got into a routine. Hormones awry + sleep deprivation + breastfeeding troubles and general lack of confidence in self = Very Grump Poo. The thought of doing it all again fills me with horror. I am hoping second time around will be calmer, due to us knowing a bit more about what we're doing. Plz to no-one bursting my bubble!

Where do you all stand on feeding chairs? Sofa or more specific chair for the purpose?

Thanks for the wishes Polly luckily she thinks I have just pulled the ligaments and not SPD. Small mercies as I would otherwise be in alot more pain apparently.

This thrush business sounds nasty.

rotters customer?? Hope the boobage is on the mend.

honey sounds promising that it's not SPD !

I contacted NCT and it seems they don't have an email from me regarding classes. Luckily she can squeeze me in. Peoples - tell me do your menfolk go with you to the classes?

Yes bigtime relieved but can still feel it, so not quite better yet.

Oh yes... there is NO WAY I am going to NCT on my tod. Mr Moo is in this for better or worse...