Parenting After LT TTC ~ January - April 2008

[onthefly]

Wow Lenny, you're so lucky! It's hard when they don't sleep during the day though - Aric hardly sleeps in daylight hours at all, but once it's bedtime, he's out like a light. Mind you, the screaming and spewing don't sound like fun. Aric's getting quite fussy with his feeds these days. He's fine at night, but only wants to snack during the day mostly and will scream and push away when I try to feed him properly - no wonder he needs lots of feeds during the night. He's also spewing more recently too - though nothing like Liam I think! Does my head in and trying to feed while working is not too much fun either. Sometimes I love bf, and sometimes it's just a chore... sigh.

Yar, I just realised last night that you have to stop bf if you do IVF, don't you? Now I feel a little torn between doing the best by my boy and wanting to get started on IVF once he's about a year or so old. Spose I should just wait and see how we go rather than worrying about it now though.

Happy birthday for your little guy Kimnastics. Hope he has a fun day!

Good question Lenny - is it different the second time round? Easier....?

[mako]

Kim Happy Birthday to Hayden for tomorrow. I hope you all have a lovely day. Are you doing anything special?

DH and I are trying to organise Sage's 1st birthday combined with a Naming Day for him too. Its just soooo hard to get a Celebrant that time of year as they all seem to be busy with weddings etc.

BBL as I'm trying to get the little man to have a sleep

[mako]

Kim How did Hayden enjoy his birthday? I bet he had a great time

[onthefly]

Hope you all had a good day Kim.

Hugs Nic - it sounds like you're doing it tough now. I remember when DS would only sleep on my chest... so much better now though. Hope the doctor visit can shed some light on any problems he may be having. Sounds like he's got an upset tummy (ha! listen to the expert here, not). Hope you guys can get some better sleep soon,

[Lenny]

Oh Nic, you poor thing. It's hard when DH works odd hours too. Liam wasn't much fun from about 3 weeks until about 9 weeks. And you feel bad for wanting him sooo badly, then just wishing he'd be quiet/sleep etc. He was so windy/colicky and never slept much more than cat-naps and then about 3/4 hours at night. He got over it though, and things just get better and better! Liam still seems to sleep until about 5/5.30am so I'm still fairly well rested. He's still little in size though, so i get the dumb comments about breast feeding and him not getting enough...these people clearly don't have to change his nappies!!! Oh and the MCHN is the worst! You'd think she'd be all for bf - but she loves formula!

I am desperately waiting for summer - i feel a bit housebound at the moment. I'd love to spend a day in the garden too - my vege patch looks a bit sad.

I have my mother's group here today, so better get the vacuum cleaner out. I still have to buy the bikkies though - not yet organised enough to bake!

Is Ltl Panda still out there?? And Arielle??

Jo

[mako]

Lenny Tell you MCHN and the others to get stuffed hun. You are doing an amazing job BF Liam. I still get alot of comments even now 9 months on and as much as they do get me down at times I just have to look at my happy and content little boy and I know I'm doing the best thing for him

Do you have anyone who could take Liam for you for a couple of hours while you have some "you" time? If not how about putting him in his pram while outside doing some gardening? I do understand how hard it is at times. I haven't had any "me" time since Sage was born. I do leave him with my MIL while I go to work but honnestly thats not "me" time as I'm working iykwim?

I've been wondering about Ltl Panda, Arielle,DJTTC(Jo),Sazz and Kimbe too. I hope they are all ok.

We are ok here. In saying that though,we are going through a tough stage. Sage is very clingy as in he only wants me all the time even when he's asleep he has to be on my lap,in my arms etc. As much as I know its just a stage he's going through it can be very frustrating too as he just screams whenever DH has him or anyone else for that fact.
I'm looking forward to him being happy to be with someone other than me sometime in the future. Any tips on getting this to happen would be appreciated.

[Willow]

Nic, I just wanted to send you a huge - you sound just like me after DS was born. I wanted him so badly but wasn't prepared for it to be so hard the second time around. He wasn't a great sleeper to begin with, he was good at night doing 3-4 hour blocks but day times he was a very restless sleeper and it nearly did my head in. Looking back though, I wish i'd just gone with the flow more than I did and waited for it to get better (and it did!) - I'm not a 'go with the flow' kinda girl though to be honest! I got so stressed about it all that I ended up so anxious I started having panic attacks.

After talking to a psychologist (yeah, I was that much of a mess ) I realised that the reason I was feeling so bad was because I'd wanted him so badly, went through so much crap to have him that I thought bringing him home would be smooth sailing, all the hard times behind us....but someone forgot to give DS that memo! He was and is just a baby, brand new to the world and he just needed his mummy!

I thought that because I'd done this before, that it'd be a piece of cake! I'd know how to handle sleeping issues (DD wasn't so great to start with either but with a bit of work ended up being a fantastic sleeper). What I didn't take into account was that DS hadn't done this before!

I PROMISE you, no matter how hard you're finding it now, and probably thinking he will never sleep and you'll never get your life back...it DOES get better!! DS has improved out of sight. We've had the usual hurdles of teething and illness but on the whole, he sleeps great during the day now. He still doesn't sleep through the night, but he does sleep well at night - quick feed and straight back to sleep. I'm just used to it now and have accepted that he's not his sister, he's his own little person and he'll sleep through when he's ready.

It's a tough gig this motherhood...and those early weeks are a killer. Hang in there babe, you're not alone, I felt exactly the same as you are now and am here to support you!

Ok...sorry, that was a bit of a ramble but Nic's post just reminded me so much of our early days. Hope all are well. We're doing good, DS sick with another cold at the moment but still pretty good.

PS - have done a total 360 on having another baby. Just not ready AT ALL to go back to that newborn stage now that things are getting so much easier with DS and not sure I want to do it again at all....so that is on the backburner for now....I guess I'll need to start thinking about it again after DS turns one, wouldn't want a smaller age gap than that in any event.