The sequel - Fab, Sparkly & often Moany 40 + : Preggie or New Mums - come say Hi!

[jeanjeannie]

We've now filled up the last thread - and the two before that! Seems that there are a lot of us old girls out there getting ourselves into trouble

So - if you've just found yourself to be with child or have a LO and you've hit (or about to hit - we'll let you sneak in just under the radar!)the big 4 0, then come say Hi!

There is always a spare comfy chair - plenty of cake and many old ladies to listen to your moans! Think of the lovely ladies knitting shreddies - only we're not sporting a blue rinse, but wearing cashmere and kitten heels

Hello regular ladies. I avoided putting FAT, F*cked or Knackered in the title - tempting as it was

floria LMFAO! Oh my goodness....why do people bastardise the language so much?

Many thanks for translating. I'll get back to the illiterate wretch posthaste

£40 for 3 hours??????? I'll tell my DH that's the going rate and he should be paying me

Oh lord, how can anyone afford that?

I have put three through nursery and at one time it was £360 a month - I think that was in the mid ninties, but think - £360 x 48 months x 3 = £51840!!!!!!!!!

[sits down as she feels quite faint]

lilibet I'll work for you if you pay me that much

Our nursery is subsidised and its £680 a month - which is why we can't afford another child I dread to think what a private one will cost if we can't get into the work one. Theres a woman who works with me who has three small kids in that nursery - and it gets more expensive with subsequent siblings!

I am so lucky. Ma-in-law comes here from Surrey on train every wednesday to look after Elizabeth then on a thursday I drop E (and the dog) at my mum and dad's which is 5 mins from the school where I work. I couldn't afford to pay anyone on my wages, I do special needs support which is not well paid.

mrsb will it be cheaper if Darragh only goes 4 days a week? If so I would definitely take your MIL up on her offer!

yes it will - so I will be taking up the offer! lso we are looking at working condensed hours and I will see if I can work form home one day a week maybe.

Oh ladies my OH has come down with the cold and I feel it starting too - if Darragh gets it from us is there anything I be able to give him? I imagine he won't have much immunity since I am not bfing

mrsb just try and keep him away from your OH. But if you have it too, there really isn't much you can do apart from the usual sensible things (use paper tissues and throw away immediately, wash hands before touching baby, don't kiss him).

Calpol is licensed from 2 months but I'm not sure how old Darragh is now. He must be getting there. Ask your chemist to be sure if you can give it to him.

Just have to watch it doesn't get onto his chest. Apparently bronchiolitis is bad this year.

I'd stay in and keep others away. It's likely you've picked it up from last weekend's shindig with all those people there. If you're worried, give your GP surgery a ring and get some advice, or even your local chemist

I've bought a humidifier to keep the air moist as their little air canals get so dry and narrowed with the heating on. You can buy ones that you can drop menthol into. Also you can buy a Carvol plug in. Again, not sure on the age of this.

Here is what NHS Direct says...

Hoping that you're all ok mrsb (((hug)))

OK DM news...can someone tell me what the Blue Peter presenter was wearing on that Corrie story? I mean the red errrr dress? Or is it a scarf?

And Rosie! NO NO NO! She's joined the Satanic Sluts afterall!!

On a different story, Gwyneth Paltrow and her fashion faux pas. See through dress gwynie??? What would Chris say?

haha.....just shows you money can't buy you taste

thanks jw I actually feel fine now - I usually manage not to catch OH's colds (ever since giving up smoking 6 years ago I hardly ever get colds). Think OH caught it at work as others have it there - he wanted to struggle in today so as to keep away from Darragh but I told him to go back to bed.

He hasn't been near him since yesterday (leaving me knackered!) so I will keep my fingers crossed ! If Calpol is licensed from 2 months we are ok as D will be 8 weeks tomorrow.

Also have some of that antiseptic hand gel stuff left over from a brief period of OCD i had when pregnant and everybody was getting stomach bugs....

thanks again

xx
I'm off to get a cuppa and have a look at the DM

Oh and yay Obama

Yay indeedy to Obama. Almost forgot all about it.....asked DH if Ladbrokes would be taking bets on how long before the first hillbilly takes a pot shot....

Glad that you're feeling better mrsb Fingers crossed Darragh will escape his daddy's germs. The hand gel stuff is good as well.

For anyone who is interested, M&S have a sale starting tomorrow. Apparently a good one so might stay up till midnight tonight and see what they're offering

Morning (just) all. Verity awake every 50 mins - me in tears and MIL to the rescue and has taken Iris swimming. Small beaker of formula tonight to see if it will sit on her tummy a bit and buy me some time. Can't keep this up My norks are exploding....like having a new born

YAY to Obama.....most pleasing. Need a bit of the feel good factor....even if he can't change all the problems (and boy has he taken on a shed load of them!) then he'll at least be a more sophisticated, stylish man of the world than the current loon! tee you must be very pleased. Where abouts in that vast land do you hail from? I'd move to San Francisco at the drop of a hat....ahhh, dream on!!

ladymac yep - nurserys here about about £70-80 a day It's about £40 for 3.5 hours unless you go to a sort of playgroup - ala Montessori and then it's roughly £25. Friends of mine are paying the equivalent of two years worth of private school fees for ONE year of nursery!!!

mrsB Hope that cold stays clear of young master D.

FLoria am PMSL at your translation of the txt speak. Adults especially should not be commiting such a hideous crime against language. And then they why they can't get work....cos no one can bl*ody understand you!!

JW OOooo a M&S sale....got some gorgeous kids clothes at the moment.

May go off to bed - if verity will sleep - which is unlikely

morning-ish
fabby news about Obama I did watch a bit of it at 3am feed this morning yawn.

Oh cripes all this talk about nursery has got me pondering again, I have Oliver booked into (before he was born how daft is that) the one Ben went to which was very good but expensive c£800 for a full time place (but for nurserys IMO you get what you pay for).
I just don't know what to do with my hrs, with Ben I worked 4 days and had a day at home with him but when Ben went to school I went to 5 days but short hours so I could collect him from school. I would like to do 4 days with Oliver but need to keep the short hours cos no after school club or CM to collect Ben from school, also he is still quite young and gets very tired, the next but is then you have to pay for a full day at nursery even of you collect a 4. There is a serious lack of CM around here too. Obviously the less hrs you work the less you get paid ekkkkk my head hurts just thinking about it.

X-post JJ ((((big hugs)))). I she feeding well by that i mean good long sucks, glugging etc every 50 mins or more just snacking? if you have a bf clinic in the area it may be worth going along to see if they have any ideas?

oh God jj poor poor you - every 50 mins? what is she playing at? is she feeding or just not sleeping? If she is looking for food every 50 mins surely a bottle of formula last thing wouldn't do any harm?

I had a bit of a night mare with D last night - put him to bed around 1am in what I thought was a deep sleep but he woke up and whinged and grumbled and whined and did a sort of fake/ put on crying noise in order to be let up again. My arm nearly fell off from rocking his nest but every time I stopped he started up again. He fell to sleep at 4am but kept waking up again when I stopped rocking. He has now made a total hash of his feeding pattern and was so tired he didn't wake til 10am.

The wee bugger has been grinning like a Cheshire cat at me since we came downstairs though so all is forgiven

A black First Family in the White House - how cool is that?

jeanjeannie, sorry you had such a bad night. My DD was a demon feeder for months - would lie in bed and basically suckle all night, me turning from side to side and taking her with me like a great sow. I was knackered. Things improved when she went in a crib - she slept better and woke less - and then a cot in the room next door, where she couldn't catch a whiff of inviting dairy heaven. I also let her cry for a bit instead of feeding as soon as she cried in the night - awful, and DH had to hold me down - but she had to learn that after a big feed we both needed sleep and there'd be more milk when she woke up. Didn't take long for the message to get through, thankfully.

If you start your babe on a bit of formula at night in the hope she'll sleep more (which isn't guaranteed) you risk becoming engorged and that makes bfeeding v hard (and painful) and because she isn't suckling you will produce less milk than she needs the next day, and so down the slippery slope of needing more and more formula. If you're keen to keep up the bf it's really worth trying other things first. Hope you find a solution and get some kip!

Hi Ladies

So yesterdays appointment was a little disappointing. Scan showed a well developed, perfectly shaped sack, and what might have been a heartbeat.

I go back next Tuesday for another scan and am having blood taken tomorrow.

So good thoughts would be appreciated that there is a baby in there, just really tiny!

Hi tee. Must do things differently at your hospital if you had a scan before 12 weeks. I was going to say don't worry, but of course you will worry. We've all been there, honestly. If they've done a scan on you before 7 weeks then it's really difficult to see the heartbeat in most cases which is probably why hospitals don't tend to do them at booking in sessions. If they want you back next Tuesday it's probably because you'll be that little bit further on and in the early stages, things grow and change very quickly. Take heart and try and think positively

I'll be thinking of you next week and hoping all is well

jj sorry to hear that Verity has been causing you lack of sleep through the night. Thought you'd cracked it last week as well

Hopefuly MiL and the formula will give you some respite (((hug)))

xxxx

Oh dear me JJ, you poor thing. I hope you have managed to have a rest through the day today and she has settled better for you. My experience of bf stretches to an entire 2 weeks with dd1 so I am not the one to offer advice, sorry Hope you have had some cake to help keep your strength up.

Tee, so it was a bit of an anti climax? Are you about 8 weeks now? At least you saw something and well done to your countrymen on doing the right thing

YAY Barack!!! [ponders Barack for a first name choice]

Gwyneth - what were you thinking - not jsut the dress - but the shoes!!!

I am resisiting the temptaion to set the DM website as a favourite.

Those who are pregnant - are you finding out the sex?

Afternoon all. Just got Verity off for a nap - expecting about 30 mins at most Anyway chaps mucho thanks for all your support re the long sleepless nights........ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

tee I can't remember how many weeks you are? I've only had an early scan at 9 weeks and then they could just see something. I think before that time it can be difficult/impossible to see anything at all. I think this is why first scans tend to be round the 12 week mark to avoid any stress. It's going to be hard to not worry - but I'll say 'don't worry' anyway x

ermintrude you are of course totally right and I'd been wrestling with the whole bottle of formula issue for about a month now. It's not a guarentee plus there's the engorement issue.

Thought I'd cracked the sleep issue but it's getting so bad that I'm literally now on about a month with less than an hour unbroken sleep Tried co-sleeping (AGHH!) Tried the baby whisper (Pat, put down etc) Tried ignoring! (wakes up 23mth DD!) Spoke to MIL who was a BF counsellor in the 70s (think lots of needlecord, comfy shoes and short spikey hair!) and she thinks it's a tough one because BF for 6 mths is something most women have never done as weaning was previously much early - so she's amazed (and this is the woman who freebirthed Dps sister!!!)that anyone has the stamina to continue for that long with another LO!!! I shall formulate a plan when i've got a bit more energy!!

lilibet OOoo CAKE and that looks suspiciously like a coffe and walnut...my FAVE!!

Hi everyone - I posted about a week ago - 43 with a 10 month old and just found out I'm pregnant again.

Well momentous decision today when dh finally realised I couldn't face the option of not going through with it - despite the fact he's just been made redundant and my job looks pretty iffy.

So wish us luck and I'll be back.

WOAH...scared that is a momentous decision, how lovely. It must be the Obama syndrome - everyone is feeling hopeful despite the economic outlook!

No one can predict the future with regards to jobs but you and your DP are more-than-likely folks who are emminantly employable and who'll also have the balls to see it all through - good times and bad. Plus you'll have LOs to brighten up your lives

Well - damm good show, pull up a chair, grab some cake (coffee and walnut today ) and come join us when you can

Hi girls...I see a glimmer of optimism is shining through despite all things dodgy. I'm thinking group hug but it sounds very hippy trippy. In the absence of said group hug, let's all have a crumb of JJ's cake.

JJ I feel for you girl, I really do and I would have given up the BF long before now and favoured sleep instead I'm sure whichever decision you arrive at, will be the right one.

Btw, why do we women always beat ourselves up over matters that men wouldn't given a second glance to?

scared there are probably better economic conditions to have a baby under but tbh, the average normal (wo)man in the street can never afford kids....and it's probably never the right time so you just have to dive in on a wing and a prayer and it usually comes right in the wash I hope that doesn't sound too trite as it wasn't meant to.

Or alternatively, I find by sticking my fingers in my ears, screwing my eyes up and singing 'lalalalala' very loudly, I avoid all problems and things I do not want to hear. Life is simpler and happier this way I find but I do not advocate this method for everyone