Dear Mumsnet please could we have a 'Larger Families' section?

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

rather like the 'multiples' section

it could be for 4+ children maybe and we can all get together and discuss how to run home soup kitchens/chinese laundry and whether or not Nick Leeson had the right idea for how to finance our broods?

I have mooted it before and people seem quite keen - it is different having a lot of children and it helps to have support

Thanks !

LTH.....thats really sad how badly you felt.

yes, I think you may be right in that you had some type of antenatal depression. I felt really quite similar to that while carrying DD3......and all I can describe is that almost straight after we came home from hospital with ehr I felt as tho I had walked out of a huge black cloud.....and yet, while pregnant didn;t say anything as I hadn;t honestly realised I was feeling that bad IYGWIM.

I too was convinced something would go wrong, altho it kind of did in that she was born with chicken pox as I had never had it and then DD2 had it when I was 38wks pregnant!!!

I guess I felt like that as I had two gorgeous girls already and so by manner of odds/detuction/fate, I was in line for something bad.........illogical I know, but then, hormones are never normally logical anyway going on how I am with PMT.

feeling very at the thought of feeling confident enough while pregnant to pose for a magazine nude!!!!

t was exactly that psyhco, i washed the black cloud away in the delvery room with the 90,000,000,000 billiongallons of water that shot out when his bady came out. Th MW sai dit was like a firemans hose!!
She was soaked from her chest down!!!

Even now, I still have trouble saying/typing the actual word, It still scares me.

Wow LTH tht really is sad.

So pleased you were both okay in the end.

With ds1 our marriage only just survived due to my antenatal depression. We only spoke about it when ds1 was 2yo. Then we decided to have ds2 and things are back the way they should be now, but it was hell whilst it lasted.

It carried over past the birth for me.

I knew something wasn't quite right but it wasn't until the HV asked if I'd bonded that I suddenly said "no I don't think so, I can take or leave him actually".

The guilt I have from that time is awful to acknowledge

Ok I have uploaded a pic of the magazine pic

Lth, I felt the same I was convinced that because 1 in 4 or 5 pg's end in miscarraige I had 4 healthy children so maybe it was my turn Then with the polacent previa they said I could end up very badly ill and losing me, baby or both if I lost too much blood I shit myself even more.

It was thanks to Marslady on here that I was so calm and ready for the c section

After reading all of your birth stories, I will do a quick run - down of mine.

Ds1 was born 6 days late in hospital, after a 6 and a half hour labour - all very straight forward

dd1 was a day late. A home birth, and she was back to back. The midwife came round to do a check up and I was having severe back pain (but no comtractions) She examined me and I was 7 cms I then had 5 contractions and dd was born

ds2 was something you would see on a comedy show A pipe had burst under my bath the previous day, and the kitchen ceiling collapsed, and I had no running water upstairs. At 37+5 he was born 40mins after the first twinge, with only dh with me at home. just as he was born, there was a knock on the door, and thinking it was the mw we yelled come in, but it was the plumber!

ds3 was a lovely straightforward hb, after a 2 and a half hour labour at 3am and none of the kids woke up!

dd2 was born on her due date, in our bath! I had a very quick labour and she was back to back, so only had back and leg pains (which were actually pretty horrendous) mw arrived and dh went to let her in and Molly was born just as they were walking back upstairs

all in all I have been very lucky

I love being pg and giving birth, and it makes me to think I will probably never do it again

Magnolia lovely pics! If i looked that good naked i would dispense with clothes forever!!
Lovely dogs too are they Staffs?

Wow Magnolia, LTH was right!!

You are indeed a babe

Thank you

The black and white one is a staff and the tan and white one is a staff cross springer spaniel. They are lovely but hard work

My births have been ok.

Ds1 26 hr labour but quick birth. Swallowed loads of meconium so needed suctioned etc but was fine.Was born on his due date.

Ds2 waters broke in local shop on the Thursday and had niggles till late Sat night,off to hosp and born 2 hrs later. Born day before due date.

Dd1 Waters went Thursday morning,niggles till ate Friday night and born midday Saturday.Born exactly 1 week late.

Dd2 Was meant to be born at home.Had birth pool set up ,entinox delivered etc. Had sweep on Friday and nowt happened. had sweep Monday and MW sent us to hosp as i had a poss vasa previa(fatal for baby). Ended up with a consultants huuuge hands up my nether regions for ages/scans etc. Prepped for emergency section and taken to theatre to have my membranes ruptured. Luckily all was well and i was allowed to labour and had dd2 after 2 and a bit hours.Born exactly 1 week late.

Feel really sad to never be having another db

Told you, didn't I??

Magnolia IS a babe!!

Oh LTH i kinda know how you felt having db no4. I always felt so lucky having my 2 ds's,really blessed you know?

Then i was even luckier having dd2 with no traumas,and got another perfect baby.

Then we got pg with db4 and i was convinced this would end in a MC or would die during the birth. So when the MW suspected vasa previa i was sure it was all over for my db. I just couldn't understand why my DH and i were able to have 4 perfect wonderful dc when some people can't have any iyswim?

Anyhow we now can't have anymore,god knows what kind of state i'd be in with a no5!!

Uber-babe more like!!

aGal, That feeling of my luck running out was the tip of the iceberg. Thats how it started out but really I was totally convinced he wouldn't make it by the end.

I'd even think of what I'd say to dh to make sure he got all the baby stuff out of the house before I came home. I just couldn't believe it was all going to end happily.

When I loook abck at myself during that time its like seeing a different person. Like i don't know who I was.
It was horrible.

DS4 was the easiest, most contented, happy baby I have even known, he still is. He's the light of our lives and as awful as the PG was I thankgod every day that we had that accident, he's the best accident we've ever had
I think he knew what a hard time I;d had and gave me a easy ride

Yep i remember that feeling only too well. I look back and can't believe that i thought all those thoughts really.

I used to say to DH that we couldn't be this lucky a 4th time and he used to laugh at me. He said we were good people and of course we should have a 4th and it would all be fine. He just didn't get it i don't think.

That's prob why we went ahead with the vasectomy when dd2 was only 5 months old actually. I would have gone mad torturing myself with awful imaginings if i'd had a 5th Doesn't mean i don't want a 5th tho lol

LTH I also know that feeling. Having had so many miscarriages I could never accept that the baby was ok until it was safely born .

My births go like this:
Ds1 emergency section

Ds2 planned section

dd1 vbac in hospital 17 days late

Dd2 vbac in hospital 14 days late

Dd3 vbac at home 17 days late

Ds3 vbac at home 18 days late

I also had the last 2 births filmed for those birth progs, "home births diaries" etc. on TV. I'm really glad I took part as it has been wonderful to watch them and I think wonderful also for the children to see their entrance into the world

Magnolia i have a black staff too.

Magnolia your lovely pic is making me feel that I didn't have any photos taken properly when I was pregnant!

We have loads of photos of the kids, but as I take them all there is a hardly a photo of me around... DH is a bit slack on that front

LTH sad to hear how your morbid thoughts got out of control. I think they are pretty natural with all the extra responsibility of childrearing... I am constantly worried about what would happen to us if something happened to DH for example. But yours really sounds like it was outside the realms of 'normal'. Did the fear go away once he was born?

just reading about ante-natal depression.thats how i found this site,i needed some support when i was expecting no.5 as i was on the verge of insanity.i was bad with no.3 and 4 as well,because i didnt want to be pregnant at the start i thought the baby would be taken from me.in fact,when dd2 was taken into hospital with bronchiolitis at 11 days old i thought it was my fault because i'd been so eager to give birth as i felt so crap,and had been induced at 38 weeks(due to PIH,but i told myself the consultant ony agreed to it because i ushed her),so if i'd stayed pregnant she wouldnt have got so ill iyswim

a MW said to me when i was admitted with PIH at 36 weeks with no.5 that it was unusual to have had 5 pregnancies and no M/C,she said 'oh,youve probably had a couple of early ones and ot realised'

am still at all these demis!saying that,my body wasnt upto much before i had kids,so all i have exra now are a load of stretchmarks,a flap of belly skin and boobs that are 3" longer.

Good evenig all, seems I have missed out on all the chat today. I've been to Museum of Kent life with my lot, bil, and his 3, and my great nephew, who I have staying from Up North. He's 5 and he's never been anywhere away from his parents before. He's doing really well.

Took me ages to read from page 10, the sock goblin doe indeed live in my house too, and as long ago as I can remember, we have always worn odd socks, didn't think anyone bought matching these days.

Quick birth rundown from me

dd1 18 days over, dragged out at 8cms, with large cut and ventouse, mil who was there, told me 2 yrs later, that she thought she was gonna be dead!! Was all a bit scary at the end, her heart stopped and the consultant who luckily was there, just snipped and pulled. 13 now. 23 hours

ds1 14 days over, induced cos that was protocol at west midd. Easy birth, 2 hours and 15 mins, Took us by surprise, epidural was sighted just in time for stitching 3rd degree tear!!

ds2 induced on due date as ws found to have Obstetric cholestasis, best birth yet, mobile epidural. Highly recommended

dd2, induced at 38+2 cos of OC again, and Polyhydramnios, (excess fluid) absolute nightmare of birth, had flashbacks for a long time after, and me and dh still can't talk about it properly.

dd3, went into labour 17 days early, 8 hour labour, she got stuck in birth canal for an hour cos she was off centre!!

Had antenatal depression to varying degrees with ds2 and dd3. Didn't bond with last baby at all until after her birth as I had convinced myself, I wouldn't be coming home with a baby. (background to this was attending birth of my great niece in 2006, who was born sleeping)Defence mechanism i think, If I didn't get attached, then It wouldn't hurt so much.
To be honest, i still feel mild panic sometimes, and have a kind of feeling that we only have her on loan. It's not at all rational, just something i can't shake off.
Actually, i've never told anyone that before!!

My eldest 2 kids are first husband, last 3 are my fab husband, who is my soul mate.

Think that's me, I'm 41, dh is 38, (my toy boy)

"To be honest, i still feel mild panic sometimes, and have a kind of feeling that we only have her on loan. It's not at all rational, just something i can't shake off"

Liaghen, I know exactly what you mean there.

Once Ds4 was born the morbid scary feelings mostly disappeared. I would still have a niggling fear ticking away but I was able to think more rationally.
Then a few weeks ago he had chicken pox, he was sooooo ill and it all came rushing back. I cried on teh phone to NHS direct because I was so scared. He was literally covered in them, I couldn't even pick him up without hurting him because his blisters were everywhere. We ended up at the hospital it was so bad.
I'd seen a report a few month ago where a mum had lost one of her twins to CP and it was all I could think about when Ds4 was so ill....The fear all came rushing back.

Lth, (can we call you that?) As mothers we worry, of course, that's our job, but you just feel sick, when they are ill don't you. Little Annie is like your ds, so contented, and the most adorable baby, I dunno, we are blessed, I shouldn't let the dark thoughts cloud our happiness.

Cp can be scary when they are covered, and ill. My eldest boy got quite poorly with it, and complications can set in. I'm glad he is ok. You know where to come, when you feel things are getting on top of you.

Everyone calls me LTH

Or Lth