***Lion Cub Mommies-Back In Action!***

[jelr]

Hopefully 11 days is long enough, I suppose what I'm more afraid of is some of the reading I have been doing says that some doctors believe that a LP less than 12 can cause early MC, so I'm wondering if that has been my problem. I know 29 days is a very short cycle for me, so I'm hoping that hasn't been the case in the past, but it is so hard to know because my cycles have always been erratic, that maybe they were short LP cycles that I got pregnant on before and that is why the ended in MC.

Ach I don't know, sometimes ignorance is bliss - I'm hoping it was just a once off and you had warned me that my cycle might be shorter on account of the previous one being longer, so maybe that is what the problem was this time, my body was just trying to catch back up with itself.

I can't wait for Christmas too, it really will be so exciting this year because they understand so much more. I can't wait to see Natasha's face when she sees her kitchen. DH put it together the other night and it looks great. My mam and brothers have bought her loads of wooden accessories to go with it too, so she will have great fun with it all.

Aw you see my belly button is the total opposite and never popped last time - in fact it just stretched and stretched so it is a huge gaping hole now

I really do hope that this is the start of your sickness getting better and that you can enjoy plenty of food over Christmas

 

[spidey]

jelr, I read all sorts of scary things about shorter LP's and early m/c and that's why I demanded having a progesterone test around 5w with this one for peace of mind. I honestly thought it would end in an early m/c because I had short LP's for so long and I really didn't think my body was back 100% to support a pregnancy. Plus Kira bf tons during the start of that cycle. Isn't it Aimee who has a 10 day LP? With your history of m/c will you get any extra medical attention for the next pregnancy? You grew one beautiful baby so I'm certain you'll grow another. There also seems to be debate on whether or not progesterone supplements started after a BFP (4w) will actually help. It seems like they need to be started right after ovulation for them to make a difference if progesterone is the cause of recurrent m/c. You're right though- ignorance is bliss

Natasha will love her kitchen! Kira still plays with hers atleast once or twice a week. If I stage a meal being cooked she'll discover it and then it'll keep her attention for 15 minutes

I felt pretty good today and even cooked a proper dinner. It's so sweet because DH has been denied of home cooked meals for over a month now, so whatever I cook gets "oooo's and aaaaah's" and "this is the best meal EVER!" comments :haha; DH took Kira to his Christmas work party today and left me at home to relax. He claimed he wanted me to have time alone to relax, but I think he doesn't want his work to know I'm pregnant and there's no hiding it right now He has a plan to keep it a secret until I'm full term. He works with ladies who run the infants and newborns program and when I was pregnant with Kira they gave him a really hard time. They kept telling him how I wouldn't be able to do it without drugs, and then criticized some of our plans for co-sleeping and non scheduled bf. And since they're the "experts" DH was criticized even more when he tried to defend our decisions. I don't think they'll pick on him this time, but he doesn't want to risk it. Kira did very well with being around strangers at the Christmas party so she has completely outgrown her paralyzing stranger anxiety. I'm so glad she won't be as shy as me when I was younger. And now that she's talking it looks like she'll be much more advanced than I was in speech, so thats great too!

 

[jelr]

I will get extra scans starting from 7 weeks, but that is all im afraid. Ireland are very much behind and seem to not interfere much and let nature take its course, because we don't have half the tests during pregnancy that you have in the US or UK. I think the only reason they even do the extra scans after a MC is to put your mind at rest, but there wouldn't be a hope of getting a progesterone test or anything of the sort.

Ah hopefully if Aimee had a 10 day LP, all will be okay and 29 days is a particularly short cycle for me, so it was probably all the stress from work and my body catching up from the long cycle last time. Fingers crossed this one is back to normal and we hit the jackpot

Aww that is so sweet of DH to show he is so excited about your cooking. I can understand him not wanting to tell his co-workers if they are that interfering. I don't know why people don't just mind their own business, everybody has different parenting styles and there really is no right or wrong way as long as the child is loved and looked after. God that really annoys me :growl:

That is brilliant that Kira has outgrown her stranger anxiety. They are all growing up so quickly now and really coming into their own personalities.

I really hope the dentist goes well today and that you don't get panicked and that Kira doesn't need work on her teeth. But please don't feel horrilbe, it is not your fault. You were not to know that they should go at 12 months and as I said to you over here it is 3 as far as I know, think of it none of our lion cubs have been. I honestly don't know how a dentist would look in a 12 month olds mouth. I have a hard enough time seeing into Natasha's and she trusts me and DH out of anybody in the world. Big hugs though as I know it must be a worry.

Well we have a busy few days head, so I might not get in for a few days, but then every time I say that I seem to make time I'm going to get the grocery shop done tonight, then clean the house tomorrow and then there is a carol service down in the village. Friday we out visiting and then Christmas eve we usually head to town for dinner and then Christmas day we have all my family over for dinner and then head up to DH's family for St. Stephens day (Boxing day in the UK, not sure if you have a day in the US but it is the day after Christmas ) Then on the 27th the girls are calling here for food and drinks and then things will settle down a bit again. Don't know what we are doing new years yet, I would say we will probably stay at home this year. We have only went for a meal the last few years and came home to bring in the new year with Natasha (even though she is fast asleep ) but I think we are going to give the meal a miss this year because it is more expensive and we only ever have time for our starter and main so it is a bit of a waste really.

Well just in case I'm not in. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and that it is really magical for all our little ones this year.

to you all and thanks for everything over the year. Xx

 

[Shiv]

Jean - so sorry AF got you, I feel great things will happen for you and your family next year

Spidey - glad you are feeling better and that DH is appeciating you getting back your usual self!

AS for us, well we have had a busy few days, we went back to Kent on Sunday night in an attempt to see all our extended family before Christmas so that we could relax over Christmas proper. So on Sunday evening we went to a get together with David's 3 brothers, mum, dad, gran, aunts and uncles and respective partners etc. We only stayed a couple of hous, dropped off presents, let everyone have cuddles with the girls etc. SOphia was a star, I see showbiz in her future, she was singing the ABC song to her uncle and everyone went quiet so she started singing louder and looking around the room giving everyone some eye contact, she finished with a flourish to a great round of applause to which she joined in giving herself a clap too!

Monday we went to out old house to clear out the garage so that David's cousin can move in. Then i took the girls to see my Nan.

Tuesday we went to David's granparents, popped to the hospital to drop off my friends little girls pressie (remember I said on fb that I had a friend who was pregnany but the baby was not well, well they got moved to their local hospital after 6 weeks up in London in intensive care, so she is now in SCBU, and doing better than expected but still not very well). Also dropped a pressie off for a baby born on Saturday.

Then today we came home via a friend of mine and her 3 kids to drop of pressies and have some lunch

Tomorrow David's mum and partner are heading over for the day........phew I am exhausted!

Cora has been sleeping SO well (bet i just jinxed that) she slept from 6pm to 6.30am the other night - not been repeated though! Sophia on the other hand has been waking up at least 10 times a night, no idea why. She has on inspection alredy got one full 2nd molar through (just not on the side I expected it to be) and the 4 prongs of the other bottom one. It could be that but I would have thought she could have explained that her mouth hurt and she says it doesn;t when I ask Exhausting though, I hope she has a good night tonight.

Potty training is going well. We only one time in the last week that she did a bit of a wee in her knickers before she told me she had a soggy bottom and we went to the toilet. Other than that she has been dry (she still wears a nappy at night which is always full in the morning though) even with a few 2 hour car journeys and lots of tooing and froing - so quite pleased with that. We still ask her all the time if she needs to go, not sure how she would get on if we just left her completely to it.

Well we are at home until Christmas morning when we head to my parents, I intend to do a lot of dairy free baking so that i have lots of treats to take with me to my parents to munch whilst everyone else digs in to yummy stuff!

Oh I forgot, my night out went well! Cora went down fine after only 1oz from her bottle and slept until 7am, then went back down after a full bottle in the am for another 4 hours. I had a lovely thai meal then went on to a few bars in the town where i live, one very random one where the DJ was playing lots of 80's songs, bananarama, wham, t'pau, madonna etc, it was hilarious and a blast from the past. We got in about 2am, very tipsy but not too bad, I did feel pretty ropey in the morning though, was sick and then felt much better! SO a success hurrah!

Well I will be looking in over the next few days, but will wish you both (it seems to be just the three of us at the moment)

A VERY MERRY, MAGICAL CHRISTMAS, AND A 2012 FILLED WITH JOY AND ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.

I just made myself tear up thinking about how much I really do love you girls even though I've never met you - what a plonker

 

[Mary Jo]

*waves*

hey girls, sorry I have not been posting since Joel was born, I have been reading every couple of days and keeping up on Facebook as well.

Jean, so sorry about AF hitting you, I have all my fingers crossed that 2012 is your year. you, too, Cleck, if you're reading.

Spidey, ack, please don't beat yourself up about Kira's teeth, from what you've said you have done pretty much the same as most of us. it is so so hard to clean a toddler's teeth properly, I think it's just very very bad luck that she's got some decay. like Shiv, I would have no idea if Adam has problems as he is impossible to pin down. I let Chris do the teeth cleaning and I am 95% sure it's never done as properly as it should be, am thinking about banning or limiting juice now, though. really hope the treatment helps and she doesn't need crowns. I guess it's just a good thing to did spot it, before she was in pain. big hugs to you both.

very glad to hear you are feeling better yourself, though. right in time for Christmas, too. don't blame you for keeping your pregnancy quiet from people like that, I hate unsolicited opinions especially when they are negative. I had it when pregnant with Adam, when I was planning to use cloth nappies, a couple of friends laughed and said I'd never do it. it only made me more set on the idea, to show them! I don't really talk much IRL about my parenting choices, I can't be bothered explaining or feeling like I have to justify anything. your child, your choices, nobody's business but yours and your husband's. experts schmexperts.

sounds like you've had a busy few days Shiv! that's so cute about Sophia and her audience. what happened about your MIL? is she coming over after all? glad you got your night out and C took a bottle. good girl! what sort of dairy free stuff will you be baking? is C responding to your changed diet?

as for us... I had my 6 week check today and it was fine. both kids fell asleep in the pushchair and stayed asleep in the waiting room (the part I was dreading most, having to prise Adam from the toys when it was my turn) and then Adam woke about 10 mins into the appt, but it was almost done then so his screaming didn't cause too much of a problem. I didn't ask about my bulging stomach (it's all sticking out below my ribs but not at the bottom of my tummy), but she had a good feel and nothing is abnormal so I am assuming I am just fat and untoned! I have 2 stones to lose. yep it's scary. I have barely lost anything since weighing myself about a week after Joel was born. but I have been eating like it's Christmas every day. and I don't really care *that* much. well I do, but am not dieting before Christmas. after - ok. grrrr.

Joel is doing well, he's so big though. we were given a load of stuff in 3-6 months and I tried some on today and it's tight enough that he won't fit it for more than a week or so. this is new stuff that I have just washed once at 40C and airdried. I want to get him weighed and measured, hoping it'll be done at his 8 week check on the 30th. we are still bf, well, mix-feeding, I definitely have a lot more milk than with Adam, I can express more, and he has one full bottle of EBM a day plus bf overnight and a couple of times during the day. he has quite a lot of formula but it's ok, he's a big lad. I feel good knowing he's getting *some* bm. he is very congested (nose), though, he has always been snuffly, but he seemed to get my cold last week, and I had to get saline spray, which helped, and he seems ok during the day but at night I have had to spray at least least once a night. poor baby hates it but it seems to do the trick for a while. I have been getting all anxious worrying that he has allergies, especially to my cat, but IIRC, he sneezed loads during the week we were in the hospital so I don't think it's that. I will see how he goes but might think about getting a humidifier for the bedroom. it does get very warm in there (rest of the house is draughty).

Adam is - a challenge. oh, the SCREAMING. the tantrums. it's doing my head in. and he's started biting and pinching, when I have to change his nappy or make him go into the pushchair. he grabs my face. ow. (we need to potty train him. thinking about trying to go nappy free for a few days over Christmas once my parents have left and before C is back at work.) he has never directed his violence to Joel, and I don't think it's really related to him, he just gets annoyed when he can't do something. you all know the score I am sure.

he's speaking a lot but not that clearly. and a lot of words are not right, but they're often funny. for example, he knows that jelly wobbles, and he knows the word wobble but he says "mabble". so cute. I am not stressing about it, C tells me he used to say loads of words wrong, and he can remember it (he remembers his nana telling him off for misprouncing his sister's name - Daydul for Rachel. if he remembers he must have been 3 or older). Adam says some stuff very clearly, so I am sure he'll get there.

(though I do feel he is behind now, with all the chattering, potty trained lion cubs we have. )

Joel is just gorgeous, just thought I'd say! he's my little darling, I love him so much.

so Christmas - I am kind of ready. C is off from tomorrow night, then my parents are down from Fri till Tuesday, and C is not back to work till the 3rd. I'm mostly looking forward to the chance of a lie in.

 

[spidey]

jelr, enjoy the next few days! Are you cooking Christmas dinner for everyone at your house or is it a potluck? We don't celebrate Boxing day here and I honestly have no clue what that day is about it's probably not about boxing though I haven't even thought of New Years plans yet. We'll probably stay home with Kira and enjoy the break from work

Shiv, yay for a fun night out! Thats really smart to get some family visiting out of the way so you can rest more during Christmas. I can picture Sophia putting on her performance for the family- so adorable! Kira does silly things and then looks around to see who's watching Poor Sophia and her teeth... I hope they pop through quick. I'm glad Cora is sleeping well too

I can't shake the guilt I've been feeling about Kira's teeth. It's been almost 3 days of guilt ever since I saw the decay on her teeth. I can hardly eat and haven't slept and I feel so sick over it and just want to cry Crying now infact since DH and Kira have gone to the store and I don't allow myself to cry infront of them. I feel like I've let her down... it's one of the only things I had to do as a mom and I couldn't even do it right. I know DH is feeling it too. We both had horrible experiences as kids with the dentist and both of us have crooked teeth that are mostly fillings and we've always openly discussed how Kira will not go thru the same things as us, and here we've f'ed it up and she's starting out worse than we did. The dentist didn't intend to be mean, but she said "you say you brush her teeth but they don't appear to be" I wish I knew it would be okay but I'm afraid of her losing her pretty perfect smile. I stare at her smile everyday thankful she has perfect straight teeth unlike my massive overlapping ones and now I look at her and it makes me sick knowing they're decayed where I can't see yet. God this is an awful feeling. I hope it passes soon because it's killing me inside and now I'm wondering how I'll cope with all the other things in life feeling this much guilt about baby teeth. Gosh I'm sounding so crazy now I just wish there was a way to stop obsessively thinking about it.

On a better note.. 2 work days for me and then Friday night we're having Christmas at my parents house. It's family tradition to open presents the Friday night at the start of my Dad's week off work. He has only ever gotten 2 weeks off, one in Summer and one at Christmas so to maximize the time spent having fun we would open our presents the moment his vacation started. So if we got a bike or skates, my Dad could take us out all week to play with our new toys. Then Sunday morning Santa is coming to my house, and Sunday afternoon we're walking nextdoor to the MIL's house. Kira is going to be spoiled by the time this is over Next week I'll be hanging out with my parents a lot since my Dad is off work... and perhaps buying furniture for Kira's room!

I also want to thank you girls for being in my life It might sound crazy but you two (and the others who are too busy to post atm) are closer friends than the people I know in real life.

 

[Shiv]

Hi MJ, thanks for popping in to see us, I miss your chat Glad that Joel is doing so well, and that you are managing to get more milk out this time, he is clearly thriving. How are you feeling in yourself now?

My tummy is still bigger at the top near my ribs than at the bottom, I thought it might be to do with my abs muscles separating, do you know if yours did?

Don't worry about the weight, enjoy Christmas, then give up Chocolate for a few weeks and you'll soon shift it. I can highly recommend a dairy free diet for weight loss

Sorry Adam is being handful, Sophia is being such a madam, I am getting towards my wits ends some days especially as she is keeping us up all through the night and it is so much harder when you are tired. She is just SO defiant and has suddenly got selective hearing so basically spends all day ignoring me. I end up getting down to her level and holding her by the shoulders so she has to listen to me. Then she just shouts "NO" in my face. Then what do I do? i have no idea! I hope it is a phase that she grows out of real quick!

AS for potty training, have him nappy free at home for a couple of days and you'll soon see if he is ready. If he isn't then no harm done. My nephew turned 3 and is ony just being trained now as my brother tried a few months ago and it ended in tears.

As for dairy free goodies. I have made a dairy free choc sponge which I am going to make cake balls out of (like cake pops but without the sticks) so basically mix the cake crumbed up cake with dairy free buttercream (made with dairy free spread and icing sugar) and then cover with 85% dark choc.

I have found some yummy crisps that don't contain milk to take as well and if I can be bothered i will maybe make some other sort of dessert.

I almost cried today in the supermarket when David was piling the trolley high with Christmas goodies (stilton, biscuits, stollen etc etc) that i couldn't eat. It really does suck especially as I am wondering if it really is dairy that is affecting cora. She is happy as larry these days, sleeps and naps like an angel (jinxed that I bet ) and i am sure the Tequila Rose shots I had the other night must have contained dairy and she doesn't seem to have reacted to it. It is however too close to Christmas to test it out now as she tends to react 48 hours later for a few days and I don't want a grumpy baby over Christmas.

Spidey, I understand your guilt, when Sophia fell down the stairs at 14 months I felt terrible for months (still do) and I can still hear the noise of her bumping down the stairs, makes me feel sick. So I understand and what has happened to Kira is not your fault, the guilt will pass. Try to forget about it over Christmas.

I LOVE the fact you have Christmas early so you can play with your toys with your dad for longer!

David's mum came round today and wanted to come to my parents house as well on boxing day but I *think* David has persuaded her to skype on Christmas day instead which works for me!

So Cora is in her own room now as I couldn't squeeze her in her basket any longer, I miss her. And now that she has decided that she wants to go to bed by about 7.30pm instead 11pm I miss my evening of cuddles too. They grow up so darn quick and I find myself getting a bit mopey at the thought that she'll be a terror like Sophia before I know it and my baby will be gone.

Right best go and cover my cake balls in chocolate!

 

[jelr]

Shiv: I'm glad that Cora is sleeping and sorry to hear that Sophia is being a madam, I do think it is down to the teeth though. I was the same last week when Natasha was sick, I found her moods very hard and it was my mam said it is probably her teeth too and I had said she is not complaining about her mouth though and my mam reckoned none of us rarely complained about our mouths being sore, that sometimes the teeth don't actually hurt but they just don't feel well or their heads hurt, so maybe she is right. I really hope she is back to her sweet self soon. Thankfully Natasha is

You are right to get as much Christmas visting out of the way, we have found we end up spending most of the holidays either visiting or having visitors and although I do love it, it goes so quickly and it is tiring and at the end of the holidays you have barely had a minute to just spend time as a family. I have dropped off any of the pressies for my friends children this week and had a good old catch up and the ones that I haven't seen are coming on the 27th for drinks here, so that has reduced our running around a little. Although we still have a few to catch up with that we didn't get to the last few week with Natasha being sick and DH's family.

I'm glad David managed to put of your MIL so hopefully you can relax with your own family now.

Your treats sound lovely I have to say. I hope dairy free is not too hard this year. your night out sounds like great fun. I was so looking forward to my nights dancing and it was a disaster because everyone was so young and under dressed and I was afraid to drink more than a couple because of being in the tww. Imagine all of us out dancing together for the night, I bet we would have a great laugh

MJ: so good to see you, I miss your chat too

I'm so glad you are getting some bf in for Joel and you are happy with him getting formula too, he is definitely getting exactly what he needs and is thriving. How are you feeling in yourself now, are you still taking the tablets?

I loved your pic on fb today with Adam in the bath and Joel asleep in the shower, now that is definitely smart thinking and a great mum, see I knew you would be great with two.

Dont worry about the weight, you lost it the last time by just cutting out chocolate, so you will again. I am up a half a stone from giving up smoking and I know I will be up another over the Christmas, so I will be joining you in the post Christmas weight loss. I did do low carb over the last few weeks, but I could only do it for 2 weeks at the start of my cycle because again I was terrified it wouldn't be good for a potential baby to be down a food group, but it was a disaster and I only lost 2lbs. I wish I could lose weight by just giving up junk, but I actually eat little junk so that wouldn't work, all that works for me is to starve myself - my plan for the new year is to quit smoking again as soon as I go back to work on the 4th and if I'm not pregnant that cycle to go back on the lipotrim once AF comes and I'm sure I'm not pregnant, because the heavier I am the worse the pcos is and I may shift it or there will be no babies :growl:

Adam is definitely not behind, even though Natasha has loads of sentaces, she doesn't pronounce a huge amount of her words properly as you can see from the video on FB and she is not potty trained either. They will all do it in their own time.

Sorry to hear he is being a typical toddler too and screaming like them all these days. Those days are so bloody hard though.

Spidey: Yep we are cooking for all of most of my family, so we have myself and DH, my mam and dad (the only meal they share together now ) and 4 of my brothers and Natasha. My sister is going to her husbands this year and my brother won't be home from London, but will hopefully be home for new years.

Please don't feel so guilty about Kiras teeth, because you are more on the ball than any of us to have spotted it, when none of us have seen in our LO's mouths. I do understand though, I know when my mam fell with Natasha when she was 2 months old. I don't know if you remember or were on bnb at that stage, but we got timber delivered and I had told the delivery mam to put it in our hall, so it wouldn't get wet until DH came home and my mam called over and was playing with Natasha while I lit the fire and she had a dirty nappy and she said she would go down and change her and I never thought to tell her about the stuff in the hall and she fell over it and dropped Natasha. My poor mam was worse than Natasha because she hit the wall and burst her nose, but we had to make a trip to the doctors and then into A&E to check for a head injury as Natasha got sick all over herself. I still feel sick when I think of it and will never forget my mams scream that she had dropped her. I was rooted to the spot and don't remember even going down the hall. I had to ask my mam did I just stand there, because it felt like I was frozen to the spot. I know when I did go down all I just whipped Natasha up and then saw blood on the floor and couldn't even take Natasha away from my chest to look if it was her bleeding or my mam, I was too terrified to look at her face and just shouted at my poor mam whos blood is that. The guilt does get easier and you have hopefully nipped this in the butt and taught all of us some lessons too.

I can't wait to see Kira's new furniture. Enjoy your dad being off work.

Aww, I teared up reading you girls posts. I LOVE you girls too and am so so happy that you are a part of my life, you have been great over the last year. I have very good best friends, but we don't get to see each other as much as I would like now because life is so busy with everyone, where as I nearly talk to you girls every day or every second day and it really has been a hard year as you all know and you girls have been there for me and been my rock just as much as my own close friends have. I definitely couldn't have gotten through everything this year without you all. Crazy when we have never met, I so wish we all lived nearer, because I know we would be great friends and I'm funny when it comes to friends, since I have gotten older. Because I don't have much time anymore between work and Natasha, I don't really have time for new friends. I'm not good with making conversation with new people really either (well I can do the small talk, but that is it) and I think it is partly because my best friends have all been my friends for years and years when I was better at meeting and mixing with people, but also because I feel I wouldn't have time now to meet new friends when I can't find the time that I want to with my oldest and closest. I speak to them all once or twice a week and they are here in a heartbeat if anything is wrong or vice versa, but I only get to see them every few weeks now. Anyway I'm rambling now, but my point is, I know I would click with you girls and become great friends if you lived nearer. I mean how many times have I said I wouldn't get back in the thread when I'm working and I do sometimes find it so hard to even get the time to get in here, but when I'm not I miss you girls or else I intend to read and try to get to bed early and then I do read on my phone and something has happened or one of you is down and I have to log on and let you know I'm here or be there for you, because it upsets me so much if any of you are upset. You are all such a big part of my life now.

Well not much news from us, I told you I would find time to get back in seeing as I didn't think I would - I ran around like a looney today, getting washing and cleaning done and we went to the carol service which was lovely and Natasha really loved it, they also had dancers in the hall afterwards from different schools of dancing and she wanted to get on the stage and dance with them - I definitely think we will have to do dance classes of some sort when she is older. DH now has her cold though and is really smothering with it, I hope he is better soon and that I don't catch it - although I usually do end up sick over the Christmas holidays and my immune system is probably down because my arthritis is playing havoc the last week. I feel so much better though this week and am in much better form and am starting to get the Christmas cheer and am so excited for Santa and even though next year will be so different with work. I'm feeling really positive that I will get my bfp and that next year will be a better year.

Well this time I know I won't be in under after Christmas anyways, I will hopefully get in before the new year though.

So have a ball everyone and eat and drink loads and enjoy Santa. Love and to you all.

 

[spidey]

Hi MJ :wave: we must have posted at the same time the other day! It sounds like Joel is doing wonderful. Is he pretty laid back? I bet he's entertained all day by watching Adam run around the house I loved the pictures you posted of Adam on FB. The sandwich on the wall was so clever Kira doesn't talk much either, but she's just starting to repeat things back to us, so I think this time next year she'll have sentences. I think its hard on them because they're so smart and have things to say and tons of wants, but don't quite have the skills to say them yet.

Shiv, I'm sorry you can't indulge in all the yummy dairy filled desserts. Everything yummy has dairy in it. There are some great blogs for gluten free recipes, so you might want to search for dairy free blogs. I know GF people are very determined to make yummy GF desserts, so I bet the dairy free blog people are the same way.

With all this talk about molars coming in, yesterday Kira was being super cranky and I noticed 1 corner of her molar just popped in! It's funny how they're all going through teething again.

jelr, I hope you can avoid the germs at your house. Your cycle worked out perfect so you can enjoy some drinks over Christmas and not worry about being in the 2ww!

As for me, I'm feeling better after my rant and hearing how you girls suffer from the same awful mommy guilt. jelr, I don't remember your mom dropping Natasha so I must not have been posting around that time, but that's so awful. I do remember Sophia falling down the stairs though. I guess no matter what we do we're going to feel guilty about something. After giving it much thought, I decided to change dentists for Kira. The dentist was very good, but I think she could have been a bit less accusing and strict. I brushed Kira's teeth before her nap yesterday and had a really good look in there... she even let me scrape at her teeth with my fingernail. The dentist said her teeth had plaque and tarter ALL over them, but they don't. I went almost 10 years without seeing a dentist and I know what tarter and plaque look like. So I honestly believe DH was doing a good job at brushing her teeth in the evening, and I think the dentist was being a bit dramatic. I also don't fully agree with the accusation that mom infects the sterile mouthed infant with bacteria causing them to get cavities. The dentist told me to stop sharing food and drink with Kira so I stop giving her big doses of cavity causing bacteria (after I told her I have no unfilled cavities in my mouth). I've spent the last 10 years working in science, specifically with bacteria, and I know that everything is covered in bacteria. Our entire digestive track is teeming with bacteria, which we ingest everyday. Lastly, to tell us to "be mean" when we brush her teeth and hold her in a slightly inverted position as we brush her teeth for 10 minutes "and its okay if her gums bleed" seems so cruel. Ive also done some reading on how some baby teeth can come in with little or no enamel, or pores and these teeth are prone to decay no matter how many times they're brushed. Sometimes its genetic, sometimes its from medications the child has, but basically they don't know why some teeth are made crappier than others. Kira has been on some harsh medications in her little life, so who knows if they affected her teeth. I'm sure me and DH are to blame somewhat for her decay, but I don't think it's 100% our fault and I think the dentist should have been more understanding. Kira is sooo good at getting her teeth brushed and I told DH that we are NOT going to "be mean" when we brush them and torture her. We're going to start brushing them 3 times a day- after breakfast, before nap and before bed. And we're going to cut out juice and give her water instead. My mom told me how at the age of 3 I was still sucking on a bottle of koolaid all day! I had my teeth brushed once a day before bed and I ate an unhealthy diet filled with sweets. Gotta love the honesty of my mom Kira doesn't drink from a bottle or a sippy cup (which are 2 major causes of decay), she mostly eats healthy when I'm feeling well enough to cook, and her snacks are foods like pistachios, sunflower seeds, raisins and granola... things that don't speed up tooth decay (but rather help her poop, lol). Okay, I need to stop blabbing on about this, sorry about my rant it's been eating me up this week.

I'm being naughty and posting from work, so I better get back to it. No one is here today so its hard to focus! Tonight is the first round of present opening!!!

 

[Shiv]

Hi girls, I will come back with my own update later but i wanted to paste this before I forget. I messaged Cleck on fb to wish her a merry christmas and she replied and asked me to post it here .........

Hey. Hope you guys had an amazing christmas! I've been so busy since being home. My MIL bought a Curves business, which is a work out place for women. Well my SIL is managing it, so I babysit my niece every day and have helped with random business things like making their business cards and we'll be painting and redecorating this week.
Emma has been sick twice since being home. The first time was her first ever ear infection and it was a double ear infection too. So that was an awful week. And now she is sick again. It's the price we pay for being around cousins and family on a regular basis, I suppose.
I ran over my dog Diesel last week with my Jeep. Since being home he started chasing me out of the driveway anytime I would try to leave. We are in the middle of the country and the dogs are just left outside to roam (35 acres) when we aren't home. Anyways, he was chasing me and I hit him. But he is okay. Just a little beat up. That was a dramatic week for me as well.
I don't have super regular access to the internet so when I do get on, I typically just check email and pay bills and than get right back off. Surprisingly it has been really refreshening for me to not be as dependent on it. I know I need to get on BnB and update but I am such a downer about anything pregnancy or baby related right now so I've just stayed away. I have friends and family asking at every get together when I'll have another. Drives me crazy.
Corey is definitely getting out of the navy now. That wait is over with wondering if he has to get out. He plans on joining the reserves for the healthcare though. So he will still have to be gone only one weekend a month now. Which will be a drastic change. I'm terrified and preparing myself for the worst. But my inlaws have said they will let us live there for as long as necessary. It has been so wonderful living there so far. I keep their house clean and cook a lot of dinners to help out because my MIL works all day so I figure she shouldn't have to cook when she's tired from work.
Emma is doing great with potty training. She rarely uses her little potty anymore because she would rather sit straight on the toilet and she has finally started telling me when she has to go so I don't have to keep asking anymore. She is still having issues with pooping on the potty though. I think she's embarrassed about it so she would rather just do it in her pants without me knowing. But I figure she'll get the hang of it eventually. Her talking is coming on by leaps and bounds now that we are around a ton of people. She speaks better than her 3 year old cousin! Which I'm slightly smug about.
Feel free to post this on the page so everyone can read this update. I really am sorry I haven't gotten on. I'm sure once we settle into our own place and get normal internet back I will be back full force. Corey get's out of the navy September 1, 2012. Which seems to be coming up fast. I've been saving like crazy in preparation and fixing whatever needs fixed on my Jeep so we won't have any mechanical worries right away either. lol Okay, this is all jumbled and I'm sure I forgot some updates. I really miss all of you guys! XOXOXO

 

[spidey]

yay, I'm so glad she wrote you with an update! Besides Diesel being hit by the car it sounds like things are going really well! Thanks for posting it. I have tons of questions for her but will save them for when she's back on here posting.

On Saturday we're picking up Kira's new furniture!
https://www.roomstore.com/kids-room/kids-furniture/collections/chantilly/205254.aspx
We're getting the bed (not the underneath part), dresser (without the mirror) and nightstand. I've spent the last few days trying to organize all of Kira's clothes and toys. It's a real disaster right now. Today I'll be cleaning out the spare bedroom which currently is packed with DH's book hoard, diningroom chairs, and tons of boxes and garbage. That room will be for the new baby and before Saturday I need it mostly cleared out so I have room to put Kira's current mismatched furniture in it.

How is everyone else enjoying their Christmas week? I could use about 2 more weeks in order to get everything done around here!!

I'm having some flashbacks and mental issues regarding Kira's time in the NICU... I'll make a longer post about it later because I need to figure out how to get it into words. It's come out of nowhere and at night I can't help but cry for an hour about it before I can get to sleep or go back to sleep. I can't tell anyone because it makes me feel crazy so I'll subject you girls to it

 

[spidey]

I'm going to blab on about things now... I think I just need to get it out and I really hope it makes me feel better. I can't bring myself to talk about it to DH because I would cry before the first words came out. Kira's tooth problems have brought back all these crazy emotions about her birth that I obviously had bottled up somewhere. With Kira's teeth, we were given 2 choices- either have her put under general anesthesia to have crowns put on, or give her fluoride and wait and see how long those teeth last. We picked the wait and see option. In my mind, "good" parents would take the more medicalized option and have their child's teeth fixed right away. When Kira was about 3 days old she was intubated and not making good progress towards recovery. They sat us down in a meeting and said we had 2 choices. Either have her transported to Children's Hospital in Washington DC to see a pediatric neurosurgeon who could perform life saving surgery to stop her bleeds, or we could leave her at the current hospital with no pediatric neurosurgeon and wait and see what happens. We decided to wait and see. At the time I felt like I let her down because "good" parents would do anything they could to save their child. I know in the end we made the right decision and more than likely any surgery would have left her with disabilities. But at the time the guilt nearly killed me and I knew if something happened to her I would forever live with guilt knowing I didn't do everything to save her. Another incident that I keep playing over and over in my head, that I can't even think about without crying, is when Kira was 4 hours old and they put us in our private hospital room for the night. The nurse turned off the lights and told us to go to sleep (it was 1am). Once the nurse left we flicked on the lights to have a few minutes alone with our new baby. DH insisted she was a little blue, but I honestly did not see it. He kept going on and on about it and I told him to shut up and she was fine. I was really irritated with him. The nurse came back in the room and wasn't too happy to see us with the lights on, and DH said "she keeps turning blue". I was mad he would say something like that to the nurse when all I wanted to do was hold my baby. She watched Kira for awhile and said everything looked fine, but DH said he couldn't sleep, so the nurse offered to take Kira to the nurses station. An hour later she completely stopped breathing and they found her blue and performed CPR. If she remained in our room that night, she would have died and I would have woken in the morning to find her. I get so overwhelmed at times because I know that one little decision changed everything. 99% of the time if I tell DH to shut up he will, so why didn't he listen to me that night. I can't get that moment out of my head... every detail of that night plays over and over and it's all come back these past 2 weeks since Kira's teeth incident. I know her stay in the NICU permanently changed me and its obvious I haven't healed from it since some decay on baby teeth shouldn't leave me so traumatized. I've been on edge her entire life waiting for the next disaster... at first I was obsessed with her having SIDS, then having seizures, cancer from all the x-rays, developmental delays, etc and so far everything has been too perfect and I feel like I'm cheating at life. I've been mentally preparing for the next disaster and now she has a few rotten baby teeth and I snap. I never talked about what happened at Kira's birth and the week after. I lied to everyone about it. When my parents called to get updates I didn't tell them the complete story and most people including my MIL have no idea that Kira had hemorrhaging in her brain. I told most of the family that they kept her in the hospital nursery because inhaled meconium might cause an infection. I didn't even cry when she was in the hospital... completely blocking it out hasn't done me much good obviously.

Okay, end blab session. I wish I knew how to fix it. I don't think being pregnant helps because childbirth is creeping back into my mind. And I'm a pro at avoidance since I changed birthing centers and midwives for no good obvious reason. Now I don't have to face whatever anxiety I have when I see the midwives who delivered Kira and visited us during the days after her birth.

Oh, and I'm planning to take Kira to another dentist for a second opinion. Perhaps it'll help.

If you made it through thanks for reading and I hope it wasn't too jumbled... I just needed to get it out of my head. Lets see if I sleep better tonight.

 

[jelr]

Oh Spidey big massive - you are not a bit mental, it is totally understandable what you are going through. You have loads of pregnancy hormones playing havoc with you at the moment and that was a massive massive trauma to go through with Kira that would change anybody and you are bound to be thinking about it more at the moment with being pregnant and facing child birth again.

First of all - I do agree with you though, you are not a "good" parent, but instead you are an excellent parent. I would have made the very same decision regarding Kira's teeth. Why would you put a tiny little tot through an anesthetic to put crowns on when she is not in pain and the flouride can do the job. Anesthetic can be so dangerous and it would be extremely traumatic for her to go through, so it would be madness to put her through it when it is not necessary and they are only her baby teeth.

Also regarding the surgery when she was a baby, you totally made the right decision by waiting because she is perfectly normal and healthy, whereas the surgery would probably have caused disabilities. I'm not religious, but I do believe that there is a higher power or I guess you could call it a God, but even though I am a catholic because 99.9 percent of Irish people are and I have gotten Natasha christened, but more so because I don't want her to be different than her class mates when she goes to school and feel left out when it comes to her first communion and confirmation. But I am not a practicing catholic. The only time I go to church is for weddings and funerals and on Christmas because it makes my mam happy and the choir and ceremony makes it feel like Christmas if that makes sense. I don't belive though that any particular religion is correct or that you need to pray or worship a God, but that once you are a good person and treat others as you would like to be treated, you will be okay. I guess what I'm saying is I do believe there is something up there and more so I believe that everything happens for a reason - Granted I did feel very differently at the last MC and lost that bit of faith that I did have for a while, but now I have it back again and do feel that because Natasha wasn't sleeping I was struggling with parenting and since then I don't care if she sleeps or not and have so much more patience because I feel so lucky to have been blessed with her because her pregnancy could have ended in MC, so what I'm saying is maybe that was the reason, or maybe things with my job would have worked out differently because I would have been on maternity so maybe I wouldn't have gotten my permenant contract and would have had no job to go back to. I don't know, but I do think there was some reason for it and we just don't know it yet.

Anyway I know I'm waffling, but the point I'm trying to make is you feel like you didn't fight for Kira, but something made you make that decision to wait and it was the right one so everything does happen for a reason and the reason you waited was that the outcome of the surgery would probably have been much worse. Being a parent is all about choices and it is usually a guessing game and you had a choice back then in the hospital and although it doesn't feel to you like you were fighting for her, I think that you did. You made the decision to wait because you were fighting for her to have the most normal life possible and that happened because of your good choice, so please please stop feeling like you are a bad parent, because you are not, you are a fantastic mom who has made the correct choices for her baby.

I know it has to be scary to think what could have happened if DH didn't kick up a fuss, but he did and again it was the right decision and that is not something to beat yourself up over, you had just had a baby and were probably exhausted if you were anything like me, so it is totally understandable that you didn't see her being a bit blue - the nurse didn't even see it, so you couldn't have been expected to just after giving birth. My DH reckons he could have thrown a cow on top of me and he would have gotten the same reaction because I was completely exhausted after childbrith.

I hope that you feel a little better now you have gotten it all out, but maybe if you don't feel like you will still cry, talk to your DH about it or even your mom, because I do think it is something you will need to deal with before you give birth again, so that it doesn't all freak you out when the time comes. Maybe even write or type it out to either of them and that way they will know, but you will have it out without crying and then you can discuss it and cry all you need to.

I love Kira's furniture by the way, it is absolutely gorgeous.

Cleck: if you are reading - I'm glad things seem to be going well, but am sorry to hear that Emma has been sick and about the dog, I'm so glad he was okay though. We do miss you, so hope you will be back with us soon.

Shiv: Thanks for giving us the update and hope you and the girls are well also.

Well not much going on for us. I have been really sick since Christmas Eve, so this year really did finish with a bang. I started to shiver and shake on Christmas eve and had really bad flu symptoms like pains and my skin was sore and then when I took my temp Christmas morning I was running a fever. It was fine though I was well enough to get up and do santa and DH looked after all the dinner and I went back to bed when Natasha went for her nap, since then I have had an awful throat, headache and sinisitus and really bad snottyness. It thankfully seems to be clearing the last few days and I only have the headache and sinus problems so hopefully it is on its way out. It did mean we didn't do as much as we had hoped and I have felt pretty miserable and exhausted that I didn't really get to enjoy the holidays and time with DH and Natasha like I wanted to, but then I always tend to end up sick at Christmas and should have known this year would end with me feeling crap :growl:

Anways at least the year is gone now and hopefully this year will be a good one. I'm on CD16 today so OV will probably be around Tuesday, we have dtd loads to cover all bases and I still haven't gotten a postive OPK - I'm constantly getting a line, but just not a darker one than the test line and I forgot to test yesterday, so I'm not sure if they will work for me with the pcos. Don't know how this month will go either with being so sick and so full of cold medication in the last two weeks, although I'm really grateful that I could take loads of cold medication and that I wasn't in the tww, because I probably would have ended up in bed if not.

How did Santa go for you all. I think Natasha was still a little overwhelmed by it all, she loved everything she got, but we didn't get the really excited reaction that we thought we would, she just didn't really know what to look at or what to play with - she has really made me laugh over the Christmas though, although the I don't like was really annoying, there were times where it was funny and her new one is "I need" and it is mainly I need a snuggle when she is meant to be going to bed or eating

What did you all do for new years after? We ended up just staying at home and it was looking like the two of us (and Natasha in bed) and funnily enough I would have happy enough with that this year. I usually feel we have to do something for new years, but this year I was so happy to see it go and it kind of felt right to have a quiet one and be just with DH considering everything that we have been through this year. But my brother arrived home from London and my sister and her husband opted not to go out either as my sister had to work today, so we had ourselves, my sister and her husband, my two brothers and my mam and it was really lovely, we had a few bottles of champers and had a right old giggle, and it was so relaxed and just right really.

Anyways hope you are all well - I have babbled enough

 

[spidey]

jelr, thanks for your words of support I didn't have time to post a few days ago after you posted, but you definitely reminded me to focus on the more important things. I know what you mean about having more patience because you are blessed to have Natasha in your life. I am the same way with Kira- I still stare at her while she sleeps and feel so lucky that I have her. I do think the experience of having her in the hospital has changed me for the better too, because I am a very patient person now and I don't take life for granted like I used to. When I was in the hospital there was a mom on the maternity ward complaining about her newborn crying. I swore that if I could leave the hospital with my baby that I would never complain when she cried. I know this tooth issue has rattled me and I'm definitely thinking more doom and gloom about things, but I'm trying to change my way of thinking to be more positive again. I know I'm over protective to a fault because I don't want Kira to have any more pain in life.

I'm in contact with 3 women who have 2 year olds with similar decay and they have told me their stories. In all 3 cases the decay progressed very quickly and all 3 girls needed their 4 front teeth removed. 2 of the girls needed other teeth fixed too. It has made me sick hearing the stories of these girls. They use this thing called a papoose board where the child is secured to a board so they can't move their arms, and their foreheads are secured with a belt. I looked more into it, and it's banned in most countries, but apparently commonly used here in the US. In both cases, the parents weren't allowed in the room during treatment. This happened to 2 of the girls. The other was held still by her mother as they took out her teeth. I wouldn't let anyone do that to a dog, let alone a child. I have an appointment with another pediatric dentist tomorrow (Wednesday) for a second opinion. I know this journey will end with torture so part of me wants to repair the teeth now. It's either torture now or later... but no matter what I'm not allowing them to strap her down.

jelr, I'm sorry you had to spend your Christmas break sick. 2012 will have to be a better year for you! Have you gotten a positive opk yet? When I'm sick my cycle seems to take a pause so I end up with a longer cycle on those months. My opks were usually almost positive and I often times doubted myself, but when it was positive there was no doubt because the line was clearly darker than control.

It's been a crazy week filled with reorganization of the house. First I had to find places for all of Kira's new toys. Then we redid her bedroom and I took all my personal stuff out of her closet. So her room is only filled with her stuff. Then we emptied out the spare bedroom which was being used for storage and an office. Now that room only has stuff in it for the new baby and none of our personal stuff. We had to clean out our bedroom and bedroom closet to make room for all the crap we took out of the spare room. Anyways, the house has been a wreck but its finally almost back together.

Here are pics of Kira's new bedroom. I'm still waiting on pink curtains and bed guards so she doesn't roll out. She loves it and has been taking naps in there, so once we have the curtains and bed guards DH is going to transition her in.

Spoiler

https://www.razortoe.com/share/biggirl/IMG_3311.jpg

https://www.razortoe.com/share/biggirl/IMG_3313.jpg

https://www.razortoe.com/share/biggirl/IMG_3315.jpg

https://www.razortoe.com/share/biggirl/IMG_3318.jpg

she thinks the hedgehog looks like me, so everytime she sees it she says "mommy" and laughs. "mommy" is also on her sheets, and on her curtain too

https://www.razortoe.com/share/biggirl/IMG_3322.jpg

 

[Shiv]

Spidey - I am so sorry I haven't replied to your previous post, it didn;t show up on my phone.

Firstly you are not mental but I do think you need to talk to someone face to face about the feelings you have around Kira's first hours/days in the world. It is completely undrestandable you feel the way you do, but I know from experience that things you don;t work through regarding the birth will come back to haunt you during your next labour, and you don't want to freak out and refuse to push like me

I too am not religious, but it is obvious that Kira was meant to turn out perfect and the world did whatever it took to keep her that way, that meant your DH pushed the point about her being blue. You had just given birth so please don't feelbad about not being quite as uber aware as him, labour is exhausting and all we want afterwards is to hold our bubbas not have them whisked them away.

And you are not a bad parent, you are a great parent because your instincts to keep Kira with you and not send her for surgery are what has kept her perfect.

As for the whole teeth thing, I would have made the same choice as you to use the flouride treatment rather than putting her under anasthetic for crowns. I can't believe that they keep LO awake and strapped down to remove teeth there. I don;t know what they do here but that is totally barbaric and like you there is no way I would be allowing that. SO they put them under for crowns but keep them awake for removal - seems crazy! I hope your appt with the dentist goes better today and he has some positive news for you - let us know

jelr - any positive opk yet? When is AF due, when will you test etc. I know you aer back at work today so I hope it didn't suck too much and you are feeling much better after being sick over christmas

I loved looking at all the Christmas photos from both of you on fb, seems quite a long time agonow.

Anyway I have to go now as Sophia is being a madam, OMG the tantruns have been monumental recently, will come back later hopefully with an update about us

 

[jelr]

Spidey: you are not overprotective, you are just a good mommy. I think it just in us now to not want them to feel any pain.

OMG, that is barbaric about strapping them to a board, that is mental that it is allowed anywhere. I would totally agree with you on that one about refusing it, there surely has to be an more humane alternative.

I love Kira's room. I really love the white furniture. When do you think you will have everything to transision her?

Shiv: Lovely to see you, sorry to hear Sophia is being a madam - we are not getting as many tantrums now, but by God she has become so cheeky and is starting to tell little fibs, the money. This evening when I came home from work to collect her, my mam had given her a present to open from my aunt and I was looking at the instructions and she decided she wanted them and was saying "they're mine", to which I retorted "no the present is for you and this part is for grown ups" and I wouldn't give it back and next thing she said. "I talk to Eilish and she said its mine" and she didn't talk to my aunt at all. I found it very hard not to laugh, but instead I was very stern and told her "no you didn't talk to Eilish and that is a lie and we don't tell lies as it is very bold" - She has come out with stuff before that is not the truth, but it has only been imagination stuff, so I have let it go. It is very hard to know when to what non-truths to pull them up on

Anyway not much from me, I'm on CD19 today and no positive OPK yet, which I didn't mind up until now as I know they sometimes don't work with PCOS, but my temp didn't go up above the coverline this morning either so I don't think I OV'd on CD18 like I thought I would so it is looking like a longer cycle again this month which is a real pain in the ass as I have no idea when I might OV is the OPK's don't work, but on the other side you probably both saw my post in the fb group about my friend misscarrying and it really felt wrong that we would be conceiving just as she is losing her baby and I don't know how I would have told her if I was pregnant.

Although in saying that I am still gutted this morning, I know we are only ttc for 3 cycles now, but I really did think it would happened quickly seeing as I got pregnant by accident the last time and I know this is going to sound so stupid but I had it in my head that this was going to be it, that I finally knew more about my cycles and I suppose I went overboard on the positive thinking and had convicned myself that it would be perfect to conceive straight away in the new year, seeing as how I have been saying this year would be so different than last year and also it would have been nicer as we got to dtd properly loads this time because of being off work and not being as tired or rushing around as it does tend to me more about dtd for conception sometimes and not because we are in the mood if you know what I mean, where as all this week has been because we were both in the mood and we had dtd on CD12, CD14, CD15, CD17 and CD18 so I thought sure there was no escaping it (except me being sick, but I deep down I was convinced it wouldn't matter) - It kind of feels like it will never happen and I know it is still early days, but all the waiting around does my head in and it is all I seem to think about these days

Other than that, work was okay. I wasn't in the office until nearly 12 as I had to pack up my home office this morning and I took the time to get Natasha ready and dressed for my mam as I had put in an hour yesterday and the day before, getting it packed up also. It was hard being in the office though as nobody seemed like they wanted to be there, which is understandable after the break, but the mood in the office didn't help mine ifkwim - so it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't the best of days between thinking of my friend and feeling fed up because of no OV, but then it wasn't the worst, just very long so I shouldn't complain.

I meant to also tell you, I have decided to leave potty training until the summer. I did think I would have 5 days next week as I thought I was in Mon to Wed next week and not back until the following Tues, but I'm in what I think will be my usual days for the moment and that is Tues to Thurs, so I won't have more than 4 days to work on it until the Easter Break and because it will be my only week off until the summer, I don't want the two of us cooped in as the weather will be getting better and it would be nice to go to the park and just do some fun stuff that week. So the summer it is unless she decides to start herself. I feel like such a lazy mother though and really had intended to do it this week until my start back date changed.

Spidey: How did you manage around work? Did you have time off or did you let your mom take over from you in that first week?

I do think I'm going to transition her from the cot to her cotbed in the next while though, so I don't feel lazy altogether, although DH is saying to leave her when she is happy in the cot, so I will have to convince him

Well I best get to bed as I'm up earlier from now on as I have to be in the office for 9 and it is a 30 minute drive. I was a bit teary tonight about it as I usually always got Natasha dressed and left here at 9 as my work has been so flexible up until now, but it won't be now that I'm office based and she will probably be still asleep or just waking when I'm leaving. It hit me, when I was saying goodnight as I always say "see you in the morning" and it dawned on me that I probably wouldn't. It feels such a long time not to have spoken or cuddled or kissed her from when she goes to bed at 8 until the next evening - I guess I should count myself lucky that I have managed to do it so far and I will just take some adjusting too.

Night girls. xx

 

[spidey]

Shiv, I read that the papoose board is illegal in the UK. You're right, I need to talk to someone about my first birth because I know it will cause problems with this one. Giving birth is such a mental thing and little hangups can really slow things down and stand in they way of a good delivery. It's a bit scary the second time around because I know what to expect... but I'm thinking this baby will just drop out randomly so it'll probably be a lot easier

jelr, I'm sorry your first day back sucked. I bet you'll ovulate soon... you have to expect ovulation to happen later this month since you were so sick around Christmas. I honestly thought I would get pregnant TTC my first cycle too. That would make the baby about 8 months old now Honestly, I'm glad things worked out the way they did. I do feel your pain on having TTC on your mind all of the time. Every month was stressful trying to decide when I ovulated, and every month was a let down when I wasn't pregnant.

I think leaving potty training until the summer is a good idea. The only reason I attempted it when I did is because DH was away, my parents were away, and Kira and I were going to be house bound for 4-5 days. My mom continued potty training once I went back to work. Kira was holding her pee at that stage and was only going 2-3 times a day, so some days my mom never got a pee I usually work Tues, Thurs and Fri, but that week I couldn't work Thursday and Friday since no one was here to watch Kira, so I started training on a Thursday, so she had 5 long days home with me until she needed to leave the house to go to my mom's.

Today we met another dentist. This one was soooooo nice! She said those teeth came in with no enamel and that's why they decayed, but the rest of Kira's teeth are formed well and look good. I wonder what happened to all the plaque, tarter and gum disease that the other dentist saw.. grrrr! Since Kira is "strong willed", a sedative wouldn't work since strong willed children can fight the effects, so the only way she'll fix those teeth is under GA. But she wouldn't do it until Kira's 4 other molars come in. IF those 4 molars came in with no enamel, then the dentist could go in all at one time and fix everything as its not worth the risk to have 2 separate "surgeries". She gave Kira prizes and stickers.. and Kira left with only good memories. It was so sweet how nice everyone was to her. This dentist said juice is okay, as long as its not slowly sipped from a bottle or cup all day. Sweets are okay, just not sticky sweets like taffy. Raisins and dried fruit aren't the greatest for teeth, so brushing after eating them is a good idea. I go back on Monday for an appointment to discuss a treatment plan. The dentist doesn't like talking in detail in front of the kids since they hear everything- which is true for Kira- she's like a sponge. We still don't want to do GA, but at least we have time before we have to make a final decision. I bet those molars will take 6-12 months before they're in.

 

[Shiv]

No time for a big reply but

hugs for you jean, ttc is hard but keep having sex and you will catch that egg

spidey - SO glad the new dentist was great! i would find it hard to trust any health care in the Us as it is all about money but sounds like you have a good dentist there and also that the decay was NOT anything you could have pevented

 

[jelr]

Spidey: Yeah I'm thinking I will definitely leave it until the summer as I do think I would need 5 days plus and I will only have 4, I suppose the big thing with me is I would like to leave her with no bottoms for a week and 3 of my brothers who are aged 20 to 25 are living at home with my mam and it wouldn't feel right having her going around with no bottoms all day over there. I'm probably being silly, and they are often around when she is getting her nappy changed, but I dunno It just wouldn't feel right for her when she was older to know that she was starkers from the waist down for days in front of them. I know I wouldn't like to think of myself strolling around as a toddler with no bottoms on in front of my uncles

I'm so so happy that you got on so well at the other dentist and that she was so nice and I hope you will feel better now, knowing she was born like this, so there was no possible way it could have been anything you did or didn't do :thumup:

I think some dentists are ott anyway. I know I went to one years ago and he told me I had a touch of gum disease and more or less said my teeth would fall out if I didn't gargel with special mouthwash, brush after every meal and use interfloss several times a day also. Well I don't gargle with the special mouthwash. I do brush twice a day but not after meals and I only think if using the interfloss once in a blue moon and I am 32 years of age and only have 1 filling and have never had to have teeth out. I probably just jinxed myself now

Thank you both for the sympathy on ttc. Dr. Google is not my friend tonight though as I have been looking up stuff about irregular cycles and ttc and a lot of siteis reckon that if you OV later than CD21, the egg will be too old and probably of no use, so 2 of out the 3 cycles we have been ttc have been longer than CD21 unless I OV tomorrow and I doubt that will happen as I have no positive OPK and no symptoms of OV yet. I'm thinking I might ask my doc about referring me back to the gyne I was under for my pcos when ttc Natasha and for the MC. I know I'm probably jumping the gun, but it could take months for an appointment so I don't want to wait another 6 months and then have to wait another 6 months or even a year to be seen as I do feel time is not with us to wait that long as Natasha could 3 and a half or 4 before I'm even seen at that stage and I really didn't want that much of a gap and DH is older than me also, so I really don't want it to be years.

I don't know as I haven't actually discussed it with DH yet as I only found the info just now and he has already gone to bed, so I will have a chat with him tomorrow and see what he thinks.

Well I hope you both have a great weekend. Xx

 

[spidey]

I do worry that the dentists here go overboard because it's all money to them. It seems a bit crazy that all these dentists recommend crowns on her 4 front baby teeth that she'll lose at age 6/7 anyway. I can almost understand putting crowns on the 2nd year molars since they last until age 13... but still. I can't imagine how much general anesthesia and 4 baby crowns will cost. We do have dental insurance, but it only covers part of the bill, and only up to 1,000 per year. I bet all that work would be several thousand and with 2 appointments, and 1 more on Monday, we've already reached $200 atleast. I definitely feel better after hearing it's a developmental issue and not my awful parenting. The dentist also said antihistamines and allergy medication are notorious for causing tooth decay since they dry out the mouth. It seemed like Kira was always on allergy meds between 12 and 24 months since she had all those food and medicine allergies. At the meeting on Monday I need to get a clear answer from the dentist on whether or not she'll pull those teeth herself. When I asked, she said she would probably refer us to an oral surgeon. So she'll put a kid under GA, but won't pull a baby tooth? Seems crazy. I have a feeling she didn't want to discuss pulling them since her goal is to save them, but to me they're baby teeth and not worth the risk of GA. Ahhhh!!!! Makes me crazy thinking about it!

jelr, I honestly don't think late ovulation causes worn out eggs. Once the signals are sent to start the process of ovulation, then it's on a set schedule. I think late ovulation is caused by an early delay in those signals being sent... so everything just sits dormant for awhile. But once the signal is sent it leads to a cascade of hormones and ovulation will happen in X number of days. I'm not an expert though, but this is what I remember from school. I know my cycle started on September 10th, and I conceived October 9th, so I ovulated around cd30. But that being said, it certainly won't hurt to get an appointment with a doctor who could help things along especially if you have to wait months for an appointment. Don't give up hope.. you're on cycle 3 and haven't ovulated yet, so you're still in the game this month. I kept an anal record of my ovulation dates and cycle lengths, and I saw a trend that showed that late ovulation led to a longer luteal phase. It's as if the hormones had more time to build up or something. I think that's why I got pregnant on a cd30 ovulation cycle... if I would have ovulated on cd14 the egg wouldn't have had the time to implant before AF started. It's frustrating I know. Keep BDing because ovulation will happen soon... my guess is 7 days after you expect OV because you were sick. Whenever I'm sick at the start of my cycle, it seems like I get an extra 7-10 day delay.