All New, Sparkly Fab and 40 + : Mums, Mums to Be or TTC. Come say Hi !

[jeanjeannie]

Hello all - well, this is our third message board..so it's a popular topic.

If you're a fab forty something then please come and say Hi!

The thread lives in pregnancy as that's where it started....but it's certainly no longer confined to just being about pregnancy. It's for anyone whose a gorgeous 40 something. So get a cuppa, bring some biscuits - or cake - and have a chat x

hello everyone hope you are all OK, we are home. we finally got released on Friday Oliver was a very sleepy baby and full of mucus and wouldn't wake up to feed so we had to stay in Hosp to tube feed him until he got the hang of proper feeding. He is now feeding much better. He is totally gorgeous even if I say so my self {grin}. Going to catch up on all that has been happening in the last week.

Yay! hedgepig we've missed you (and you've brought a friend too )

Do catch up and tell us all about what happened. Hope LO is over his mucus episode and that he's feeding much better now. Poor him having that horrid NG tube in. Not nice But anyway, he's past all of that now. Onwards and upwards (and outwards - for him that is!)

Evening ladies sorry for not posting but have been a bit busy beautifful baby boy born 3rd oct Austin 9lb 2oz born at home as planned 30min labour delivered by dh and no stitches all well baby doing great bf and gaining weight rapidly.

Welcome back hedgepig and welcome to your new baby.

Hope everyone else is well and babies doing ok, do we have any more expected soon.

got to go baby waking for his feed, see you all later..

oooh congrats hedgepig and rosebury - get those pics up asap so we can see those little fellas!!

a 30 min labour rosebury oh.my.god. how the heck did you manage that?

so pleased for you both

hedgepig You're home and with the gorgeous Oliver. Thrilled you're both doing well and sounds like Oliver is getting the hang of this feeding malarky too.

rosebury big congrats to you too. WOW - a 30 min labour Now THAT'S what I call swift.

Love Both the names Oliver and Austin....well chosen ladies you are indeed blessed with good taste....must be an age thing

We have all done really well - group hug and pat on the back Who's left to pop? Well there are our recent(ish) joiners Ladymac, Heron 22 and Cece.

No cake today - but I've just polished off most of a tube of Pringles.......sooooo bad

I do believe Pringles contain heroin and once you pop...well you know the rest. Why are they so addictive?

Bloody hell! 30 minute labour. Well done you

JJ I saw the other day the old list from the old thread...of I suppose, all us old mums when we first started off....I'm gonna go and dig it out and see who were the original usual suspects ..................

............returneth with list in hand!

here they are. cast of thousands....

Didoreth - 30th April
Wahwha - 15 May
Shulli - ClOSE!
Christie1 - May 29
jeanjeannie- 30 May
Jules43 - 15 June
takenoprisoners - 4 July
Disneystar - 17July
Jackie77 - 17 July
Kaz196 - 18 July
Fortified - 12 August
johnworf - 15 Sept
iapanemagirl - 16 sept
LouiseAnn - 23 Sept
Hedgepig - 4 Oct
Babycakes - 4 Oct
mrsjupiter - 7 Oct
Rosa - 11 Nov
Pwcbird - 1 Dec
msdynamo -24 December

And how this list was subject to changes

Evenin' all.

Congrats to hedgepig and rosebury and welcome back! Am very impressed with the 30 minute labour. As this will be my 97th child I hope for something similarly speedy
Hope all has settled down with Oliver and that all goes well from now on.

I am feeling a bit down as Elizabeth had her hearing test earlier today and it wasn't glue ear as we had hoped. She definitely has hearing problems and the consultant was already talking about how they would take moulds ready for hearing aids after the next appointment so needless to say we are a bit shell-shocked. We are going back on Friday afternoon where they will conduct a test by sticking electrode type thingies on her head and something else in her ears (you can tell I really took in all the technical stuff) and measuring brain wave something or other. The best bit is that this test can only be performed when she is naturally asleep! The plan is to keep her awake all morning then hope she is completely exhausted and falls asleep at the hospital They've said they'll put us in a darkened room by ourselves so I can try and settle her. This is the child that has to be absolutely exhausted before she'll fall asleep anywhere other than her cot. And even if she does fall asleep I can't imagine she'll stay asleep if someone starts attaching electrodes to her head!

I don't even know that they're actually called electrodes. I think that's what the villain would attach to James Bond's testicles to get him to spill the beans. I'm sure you'll all know what I mean though.

Was feeling so tense by the time we got home that I had a glass of red wine with my dinner. I'm sure that I'm allowed that under the circumstances. Especially after seeing my normally strong DH having a cry at the thought of his little girl in hearing aids

((((Big Hugs)))) ladymac. What a crappy day you have had. I would have been on something stronger than a red wine to be honest. Good luck with getting here to sleep on Friday I suppose medised is out of the question if they need a natural sleep.

Rosebury I am in awe of your 30 min delivery was DH really cool with being the catcher? mine was some what at the other end of the spectrum.

So for those of you who want the gory details it's a bit long I'm afraid ...my waters broke at 2.30 am when I had a coughing fit and when I was awake enough to realize that i wasn't peeing myself (my bladder is not that big) I checked and the waters they were yellow which meant there was meconeum in then. Went to hospital to get everything checked out by which time I realized that I had probably had a leak for a couple of days (the yellow colour had made me think my pelvic floor had given up the ghost and it was wee rather than waters ). So any way we went to Hosp and waited until 8ish and nothing stated so we stated the induction and I was wired up to a drip. My saintly midwife advised me to have an epidural early on cos it would be a long process and it would hurt a lot, so I had wires and monitors and tubes every where, slightly removed from the water birth I had in the birth plan but thats life. Unfortunately every time they increased the dose of the drip Oliver heart rate kept dropping so the mw kept calling the doctors who were very relaxed about it all and said to continue. DH and I were however convinced we were heading for another section. Oliver then had one of these head probes attached to his head (as you would) to get a better monitoring of him. Suddenly I went from 4cm to 9cm dilated about 9pm and then I was signing a consent form to go to theatre to try a ventouse and if that didn't work another section (I'm still not sure why everything suddenly changed form the Drs being relaxed to this). Oliver was born vaginally with a help of a bit of suction at 10:07 pm. Bizzarely enough I feel really positive that I had a vaginal birth even though it was so for removed from what I planned.

Morning all.
Oh ladymac what a shock That sounds terribly stressful but I'm sure now that the doctors are on the case she'll get top notch intervention. FWIW I know a very cool, gorgeous girl (blonde, dreamy - you get the picture!) who has clear hearing aids. But I too would have been on something stronger than wine - possibly tranquilisers.

hedgepig You had a VBAC - bloody well done you **hands out HUGE gold star. Yep, doesn't sound ideal - but you did it and Oliver is all gorgeous and fine. How are you bearing up? Got off sitting on your rubber ring yet !

Yes, jw Pringles are very addictive. I think it is heroin....MMmmmmm...Heroin.

Been up every 2 hours since 11.50pm. I look like nothing on earth. Really looking forward to a singing group with the girls this morning It's not me singing I hasten to add. I don't do singing.....

OOOh hedgepig sounds like it could have been worse? At least little Oliver came out of the cat flap and not the sun roof, huh? I'm an advocate of get them out any old way (nostril anyone?) as long as they're fit and healthy at the end of it.

ladymac really sorry to hear of little Betsy possibly needing a hearing aid The test they using using the electrodes (on the head and back of neck) is over in 5 minutes. Katherine had hers done on the unit before discharge and I'm told, it bounces signals to the ear drum and back. They use a hand held device like the postie uses when you have a big package to sign for - except you don't sign anything for ears I think, hmm, ok, assembling words as brain thinks, things could be a whole lot worse in the grand scheme of things. When I look at K and think of things we 'may' have to come and the things that we 'luckily' escaped then I'm thankful. I'm not getting all American soppy eyed here, just trying to put things into perspective. I know it's a huge shock to you and your family but at the end of the day, Betsy will still be the same Betsy you know and love but with a hearing aid

I'm sending you a large supply of Pro-plus JJ to help. If all that out of tune singing doesn't do it though, I'd be surprised!

Off for HbAc1 bloods now. Starving but not allowed to eat till later.......hurrah for needles

hedgepig well done you! sounds a bit like my experience apart from the early waters leaking and the need for ventouse at the end. Still, jw is right so long as they make it out safe and sound and mummy is ok that's all that matters Good job for that coughing fit eh? Did you tell us what weight he was?

ladymac if your little one is having the test that they do in the hospital after birth then it really is quick and painless, not sure why she needs to be asleep as they don't normally but gosh I wouldn't fancy being told to bring my LO to hospital and get him to sleep! Another large glass of vino for mummy this evening!

good luck with the blood test jw how did you do with your 6 week GTT? I have mine coming up shortly...

Thanks for the support everyone. Feeling a lot better today and much more positive. And last night I did keep saying to DH pretty much what you said johnworf, that it's not the worst thing that could happen and she's still our wonderful little girl. And she's not deaf she just has hearing difficulties. She may have to wear hearing aids, just like Katherine and lots of other children may have to wear glasses. She is bright and gorgeous and has an engaging personality. And of course, she has her beautiful red hair!

I'm just worried about friday's test because of the pressure to get Betsy to sleep. Also the pressure to keep her awake till we get there! The consultant did say how hard it is to test children of her age. I'm going to phone them and ask about drugging her!

Have been keeping busy today so went to Tesco first thing then on to a friend's house for coffee and croissants. Have my parents coming over shortly then at 3pm it's our favourite playgroup where lots of our friends go and there is always excellent home made cake This evening DH's best friend is coming to eat with us so another glass of wine may be on the cards!

By the way, the onion tart the other night was scrummy but next time I will buy in the pastry. Guests were very impressed with home made pastry though! The wedges were also great with the steak so thanks for all the tips.

hedgepig I love a good birth story and you must feel really proud of yourself for having a VBAC, even if it was a little stressful. How is it all going? Is Oliver feeding well? Keep us posted.

hey its 2 o'clock and I just got dressed, pretty good going I think.
MrsB he was a little smidge at 6lb 3oz, i will post a photo soon, when I can get 2 hands free. Young Oliver is only happy when being held.
we have just seen the MW and discussed my concerns he ius not feeding enough and that he is too sleepy so we have put him on special feeding measures to get more food into him to wake him up to make him more hungry if that makes any sense. strict 3 hr BFeeeding feeding followed by bottle of expressed milk or formula followed by expressing to get my milk up. I'm exhausted thinking about it but needs must.
have had a quick wizz back through the last weeks posts and ~I'm glad to see we have had an eclectic selection of subjects but cake is still the main one.

flippin' 'eck hedgepig that's not bad going at all I have just comfort ate three mini Battenburgs cos I was so peed off at not managing to get into town for lunchtime yet again and had a row with OH cos he went into town too early for me to meet him. I have a pair of boots that are too small for my enlarged feet which, if I don't take them back soon, I will be stuck with forever. Now its raining and I will have to try again tomorrow.

Hope the little fella gets the hang of the feeding malarky soon, I'm sure you already know this but taking their clothes off and changing the nappy is a great way of waking them up for a feed.

And don't forget, with all that bfing and expressing - you will need someone to bring the cake to you!

mrsb didn't have a GTT as did blood sugar monitoring (randomly) for a week prior to postnatal check. I'm still under 6.0 fasting (5.7) so I'm good but they're keeping an eye on it all the same.

Poor hedgepig. What a lot of feeding you have to do! It's the only downside of BF (if there is one) that you can't see how much they're taking but I'm guessing that you're expressing too so you can, sort of I mixed both EBM and formula at first and K has come to no harm on it...but good luck to you dear...you must be shattered

ladymac and mrsb think that LO has to be very still for the signals to work right during the test which is mebbe why they've said try it that way. With tiny babies it's a lot easier I suppose. I'd be fretting myself silly worrying that she'd not go to sleep for the test.

Also well done for socialising. Wow, what a full diary you have Still, it's good to see life 'on the outside'!

hi all, just got back from checkup and i have small amount of protein in my urine sample. with my DS, i had pre-eclampsia and so he was delivered at 37 weeks.
this time, my blood pressure has been increasing (but still within normal levels).
i am now 24-25 weeks.
does anyone know if i am more prone to pre-eclampsia because of my history?

i dont mind but i want baby to be inside for a long while yet! i dont mind delivering at 37-38 weeks.

owwwwww I just got my nipple stuck in the beast pump.... blooming heck that brought water to my eyes?

MrsB can OH not take the boots back if he is in town anyway?

It has stated raining here and we had just got organized enough to go out, I must track down a rain cover for my pram.

Thank you for your sympathy about the mega feeding regime but I would rather start it now than in a weeks time when I get put on special measures to get his weight up.

hedgepig where exactly did you buy your beast pump? It sounds like some kind of medieval implement of torture. Do you keep it in the dungeon next to your scold's bridle?

Hi heron sorry I know very little about pre-eclampsia, I'm sure someone will be along soon with some advice. Your pregnancy is speeding along, can't believe you're so far gone. I am over 14 weeks now - at that stage where people wonder whether you're pregnant or just fat!

Hi heron22. I had pre-eclampsia with my first two pregnancies. B/p started to climb around 28 weeks and I ended up on hospital bed rest from around 36-37 weeks. I too had protein and raised b/p plus started to get blurred vision. Don't panic though. Yes, you are at increased risk of getting it again in subsequent pregnancies but that is not a given. I didn't get it in my third and believe it was down to the raspberry leaf tea and cod liver oil tablets I took. No idea how they work but worked for me!

Only advice I can give to you is stay off your feet, relax and put your feet up (keep eyes peeled for swollen ankles. Oedema is another symptom). It's early days for you yet and I'm sure they're just being over cautious

Ouch hedgepig. You made me cross my arms over my chest Thank god my expressing days are gone. Now all the milk has gone my chesticles are like deflated balloons

Thanks for the congrats ladies, we are doing well but this bf is very tiring and how the hell I will ever manage to get out of the house again i do not know.

hello hedgepig and Oliver we are currently sleep deprived sole sisters, energy vibes to us both.

Ladymac, I do feel for you it is such a worry when there is something concerning happening to our gorgeous little ones please try not to worry as you need to be strong for your baby and prepare yourself for the doctors so that you can ask lots of questions, maybe seek some support from others who have experienced this before mn may be able to heop, good luck will be thinking of you.

cake , bloody cake I am trying to ignore the cake in my kitchenI need to lose all of this pg weight and pringles do not help either.
Maybe we could talk about how wonderful a cucumber tastes ha ha.

bye for now.

hi johnworf,
thank you for your story. you are right, the docs are being over-cautious i will remember your tips, i am keeping off my feet and in fact, i have just ordered DH to put the dishes in the dishwasher! he was obliging but most surprised i think!

hi ladymac, i know what u mean about being 14 weeks and people look at you and think "hmm too many puddings!"

Evening ladies and a big Nork'tastic' HEllo to all those breastfeeding. Gawd it's so tiring getting it going. Once you're off though and your nipples haven't cracked, bled or exploded then it's fab - until the growth spurts start... !!

hedgepig Yeeeeoh! I think I heard you yell - I'm pretty sure the sound reached Bucks!! Yep - best way to get that weight on him and to get that milk a flowing is basically to live with them stuck to your breast! I really never knew it was that relentless....And as for pumping - well, it's a faff. Especially when your darling LO won't blinking well take a bottle...GGggrrrrrrrrrrr

heron22 sorry, no pre-eclampsia experience I'm afraid. Hopefully though if you've had it previously then they'll keep a beedy eye on you - which is a good thing.

rosebury I think you'll find CAKE is essential for BF It's something to do with all that 'cakeyliciousness' passing through to the baby...... You WILL leave the house again, i promise - when is another matter

mrsboogie well done you for the mini Battenburg marathon - I'm impressed. I know what you mean about the enlarged feet - mine too - along with my calves - MMmmm hope that goes.

jw cheers for the pro-plus - better for me than the smack! Not been able to get to post much for last couple of days - all been full on and I've been soooooo knackered that i've just wilted and not had the energy to wrestle Iris off the laptop. Plus my hair is coming out in hand fulls....anyone else got this? It's really freaky and quite frankly not a good look!!

hello all

jj I have to confess that I ate the remaining two Battenbergs in the pack blush

yeah when I say I have enlarged feet - I kinda mean from the thigh down...

Darragh has completely thrown his feeding pattern out the window now. For the last couple of days he has been increasing the gap between feeds during the day (not at night I hasten to add) but today he has only had 2 bottles since 10am (this is the lad who was feeding every 2 hrs up until the weekend)

And now his poo has turned green...

Well, I've just read some threads on the Breast/bottle feeding message board and apparently babies go nuts around 4 months. So it seems that it's to be expected - oh joy

Green poo mrsboogie yep, that also sounds familiar. I was told it can be caused by wind and Verity can indeed trump like a good 'un. She unleashed a poo yesterday that looked like Iris had coloured it in with lime green felt tip

I'm almost putting off going to bed as I know that once I drift off and get all lovely and cosy - Verity will decide it's time for num nums....