Hey ladies. Still getting used to how busy it is in here compared to belly buddies. Takes me ages to catch up lol. Long Post Warning:

For all of you who are concerned with baby's feeding habits. I took DD2 to docs yesterday just for a check up. Find it helps to clear up any questions. I was actually concerned about her umb. stump but goey and bloody is normal. Phew.
Anyways, I was also concerned because she mucks around with feeding. Sometimes, she has a suck and detaches and then re attaches and basically just mucks around a lot. Then she will feed and want more less then an hour later. She is all over the place too. I don't remember DD1 being this all over the place. Plus DD2 has severe wind. She is non start farty bum!! Even in her sleep. I of course did the normal thing and blamed my diet for her bum screams, and thought i wasn't producing enough milk. However doc allayed my fears and said that all babies muck around like that for the first few weeks, sometimes even up to 2 months. He said it will take them a while to sort themselves out on the breast. 9 times out ten it is NOT the breast milk. As long as they are healthy there is no cause for alarm. Just have to stick it out with them until they work out day and night and start and finish.
DanielaBela- If you want to know baby is getting enough milk, 5-6 soaking wet nappies a day is a good indication. To make sure I am producing well while baby is still settling in is, I express BM and store in fridge for next feed. I pump 60mls per feed which she generally almost finishes. I do it while she sleeps, about half an hour after she goes down. I know this is hard if she is waking up all the time but you can at least get one breast pumped in the time it takes for them to have a nap. Pumping of course has been helping me produce good amounts at regular intervals. Plus I can see how much she is drinking. And I know she is getting the fatty hind milk which is important for weight gain. Word to the wise, Once you start using formula, you will end up giving up on BF all together. Of course it doesn't apply to everyone. But once you see how much easier it is, you tend to go "Blow it, this is better. Baby is happy." And there is nothing wrong with that! But if you are really wanting to BF, try and hang in there because more often then not, its just a transitionary period. Maybe try pumping first to see for yourself to see how much you are producing? It worked a treat for me this time around. I ended up giving up and formula feeding DD1. As soon as I stopped BF she got life threatening allergies and terrible asthma and excema. Fingers crossed I can keep it up this time! All well so far. Also feeding in public. I could not agree with you more!! It was another reason I gave up BF with DD1. So this time I bought wonderful things called breast feeding blankets. Made from cotton and specifically designed to hide everything and your baby while you feed. Nursing Blankets, Nursing Covers, Breastfeeding Privacy Nursing Blanket, Breast Feeding Cover Shawl - Easy Feed Breastfeeding Blankets Also I pump now before I go out so I can feed bubs BM on the go. I don't know why I didn't think of that before with DD1. It makes it so much easier. I remember I would be half way through a grocery shop and DD1 would wake up for a feed!! I would have to dump everything and leave it to go and feed her. I have DD1 in the trolley next to DD2 now so I can't do that anymore. I just whip out the bottle and feed DD2. So much easier!!

Will try and get hold of white noise cd. I do like to keep it noisy so she settles better. TV and Music what not. There are days where she just wants to cuddle too!! I got more smiles out of her today. She is so alert for a almost 2 weeker. She actually returned a real smile at me at one week old. I don't believe in the gas smile theory. In my opinion, if they can smile in the womb, then why not after??

Family dramas are dying down, with an awful peak last night. Rang my MIL to see if DH was there hiding out from my mum as he volunteered to leave while my mum was up until Monday to help. She of course wanted to know what was going on and blamed everything on my mother being up. They had a falling out a year ago. Won't bore you all with details. She then went on to tell me to send my mother home and tell her to keep her mouth shut. I only rang up to see where DH was and she gets on the band wagon. I ripped shreds off her. I officially reached boiling point and could hold my tongue no more. My MIL is one of those MIL's that only does things for you to remind you of how wonderful she is as a person, and to make you feel obligated for all the things she does. She brought up totally irrellevant things last night, and made her son out to be golden boy. She attacked my family and totally butt her nose in. It was disgusting and petty. I basically told her to take her own advice and keep her mouth shut. Let DH and I sort it out for ourselves. She thinks she needs to come and in 'fix' everything. Told DH via email what had happened. He then abused her this morning, told her exactly what he thinks of her (and it isn't much, much to her suprise). He also told her he didn't want to have anything to do with her and handed the keys back to their house. (Which was a bit harsh). We live in one of their rental properties, and now we are moving out in the next 2 weeks. Can you believe all of this? From one comment taken the wrong way. Argh. MIL has been messaging me all day playing the victim and forwarded messages from her daughter that tells her shes a queen and a saint. Makes me sick to think about it!! Such BS dramas. I feel like writing a script and sending it into a Spelling Production. Argh These are people with too much money and not enough brain cells to rub together between them. It has been such a draining and depressing week here. I am caught in the middle of my mum and DH's dislike for one another and now this. We now have to move to the other side of town and cut ourselves off for a while just to get some peace and distance. I really love the timing too. No one seems to care that I have just had a baby cut out of me and am trying to recover, physically and emotionally. It has really wiped me out. Sorry for the depressing rant, but it helps to vent. To top it off, Its hindering me being able to relax and enjoy my darling new infant and my toddler. It was also starting to affect my milk supply but I have been pumping even more to keep the milk coming and it seems to be working great so far. Stupid family.
Hope everyone is having a better time then me!! Sorry for the log post. It's been a while!!