The Over 35 Newbies and not so's :)

[ChelliBelle]

Oh Star- sorry i've no advice since ive not been through it before (yet!) but big hugs your way

Oh my Captain- what a smart little man you have there! managing to know all that at his age. You must be so proud!

Hinky- Love the wind comment- really made me You have to love kids coming out with the things they do.... My neice has taken to pointing at my boobs when i'm out with her and shouting BOOBIES 2 BOOBIES BIG BOOBIES. This i am not so thrilled about lol

 

[EverythingXd]

Rowan - we haven't used our car since we realised something was banging into the tyre (not safe). I took Fin home in a cab from the scene of the accident, and a cab to/from the doctors, and he seemed ok on those journeys. He doesn't even seem particularly upset each time he tells the lorry story, and he's sleeping fine. And Hinky, funny you said to finish the story with how baby Dex arrived... he also has started the last couple of days pointing at my tummy and saying "not in there any more" and then points to Dex and says "baby Dexter there now". Today he's done that more than he's mentioned the lorry.

Good luck with your upcoming consultant appointment Rowan, and also good luck trying Martha on cow's milk from a sippy cup

Captain - oh wow, what a clever little boy Joey is! Fin is the same age (born 16th Nov) and he doesn't count yet. I guess we haven't really done much counting with him, nor phonics! Fin isn't in nursery at all either Hinky, I have him full time but have always taken him to play groups, etc. I think they all excel in different ways - Fin's speech is now really good and he has a good vocabulary. He's good at jigsaws (does 40/50 piece puzzles without help). Potty training though... Fin also will not use a potty!!

Hinky - at Stanley, just a little fart - love it!! And your niece with her 'boobies' too Chelli! Haha!! My mum told me to get a book and write down the funny things my boys say as they grow up, she wishes she had done that with me and my brothers.

 

[EverythingXd]

Ugh ladies, time for me to tell you all my worries...

When the paediatric checked Dex the day he was born, she wrote on his notes that he had a cleft palate because she thought she saw a small hole in his palate, but she didn't tell me that, she just told me his palate was a "slightly different shape." The boss paediatric then re-examined him later and said he couldn't see anything.

When Dex was crying earlier, he threw his head back and I saw what looked like a little round white spot right in the middle of his palate. Then he sicked up a little milk and there was a dribble definitely coming from his nose. Just looked up hole in palate (cleft palate) and it says milk will come out of their nose if there is a hole in the palate. I need to contact the paediatric at the hospital, because when they thought he had it they were going to keep us in so he could see a specialist from Cambridge. Poor baby Dexter ��

Google is NOT my friend though. It also said it is often either hereditary (which I'm sure it isn't in Dex's case) or caused by something that happened in the womb between 6-12 weeks of pregnancy such as a lack of certain vitamins... so now obviously I blame myself for my poor diet - why didn't I eat better?!

Edited to say:
I sent a good friend of mine a message saying the same as above. She is nursing an 8 week old baby and so is awake in the night a lot like I am! She replied back and said her baby brings milk up through her nose too. I can't believe I didn't know that was normal, especially given the amount of time I spend reading B&B. Anyway, so then the rational part of my mind takes over again and says if my baby had a cleft palate, how come the boss paediatric guy concluded that he did NOT have one? So I hit google again!! (I know, I need to stop that!!!).

Turns out newborns often get white spots on their gums and palate called Epstein Pearls. I have a midwife coming on Tuesday morning so I'm going to wait and ask her to take a look - if that's what I saw, the midwife will probably have seen them before because apparently they are quite common.

Anyway, I thought about editing out my whole worry post, but then I thought... nah, you guys will understand the complete paranoia that sets in when you become a mummy (the moment you find out you are pregnant!) so I thought I'd still share my rough night's experience with you. Sometimes my baby sleeps a hell of a lot better than I do!!!

 

[ChelliBelle]

Oh Everything, poor you. You do seem to have had a night of worry- but like you said that's what we do from the moment we find out we are pregnant!

I think you are probably right and the head specialist would have noticed if something was wrong- but still speak to your midwife/health visitor when you seem them.

I don't know much about cleft palate, but i believe that it can cause difficulties in feeding? Has dexter appeared to have any difficulties during feeding?

I too know what you mean about google. i love google for all the werid and wonderful things i find myself reading (bit of a history geek so it amuses me!) but i try my very best NEVER to google any medical things as we are all very prone to think the very worse. I can convinced myself when i was feeling unwell in the week it was Pre-Ecampsia!

So don't be stressing yourself to much for the paranoia- like you said we are all in the same crazy boat!

I am sure your fears are unfounded- but I am sending good hopes your way.

Also, my apologies for missing commenting on your Lorry experience! I hope Fin is doing ok. I like Hinky's idea of making light of the story for him and I hope it is working!

 

[EverythingXd]

No Chelli, he doesn't seem to have any problems feeding He has plenty of wet nappies and at least one dirty nappy each day. He was weighed at 5 days old and he was only 3oz off his birth weight. He doesn't have milk coming out of his nose while he's feeding, I only saw it when he sicked up.

I've pretty much managed to convince myself it's just a Epstein Pearl that I saw. This morning I've noticed something very similar inside his left nostril.

 

[ChelliBelle]

Well that's good then. We wouldn't be normal if we didn't worry about EVERY THING lol x

 

[starlight2801]

Thanks for your ladies, this sleep situation is so difficult and has continued the past couple of days and I'm sooo tired now Some nights she's been better at going to bed but settling her when she wakes in the night seems to be getting more difficult. It feels like one step forward and two steps back.

Thanks for sharing your experience Hinky. It sounds very similar to what Maia is like in bed and its so much harder to deal with when they can add getting out of bed into the mix. It sounds like you're getting back on track now and hope we can too

Everything sounds like you had a stressful night but glad you seem to have your worries resolved now. I also think the way you're dealing with Fins worries about your accident is a good thing and glad its starting to show signs of success.

I agree with Chelli that Google is evil! I put myself on a google ban at one point but seem to have started on it again recently (slaps hand!).

My last thing was googling serious complications of labour and delivery - great idea for someone at my stage of pregnancy that's already anxious about her planned VBAC - not!

On a lighter note I've managed to wash all of Logan's little baby clothes over the past few days and packed him a hospital bag I still have to add nappies to it as I haven't been able to get out to buy him any and I still need to sort mine out but even so doing it has uplifted me a bit by making me feel a bit more ready. Even though its an illusion as I still need to buy a few bits really x

 

[ChelliBelle]

Hi all,

Star, hows the sleep situation coming along? and hows your ankle doing? Im not doing too bad with my list now- i am generally an organised person, so i only have a few more bits to buy and then i'm all sorted for little miss

Thats not including hospital things- although i have bought a rather lovely baby grow with matching hat/mittens for her discharge (if she doesn't vomit on it first lol)

I'm not a pajama wearer- so i have to buy things for the hospital for me- annoying considering i'll be most likely throwing out whatever i wear during labour lol.


Everything- how is Dexter? did you manage to speak to your midwife- or did you not bother since you had pretty much convinced yourself you were being paranoid? and is Finn doing ok since the lorry bump?



well we are still waiting on my nephew making an appearence. My poor SIL is due to be induced on Fri unless he appears on his own- which at present doesn't seem likely!

No other news- a rather dull week- except little miss kicks are getting stronger and stronger! I might have internal bleeding! lol

 

[ChelliBelle]

oh i just realised i'm an eggplant no wonder i'm bruised! lol

 

[starlight2801]

My ankle is still painful, particularly at the end of the day but it is definitely getting better and I'm finding that I can do more and more on it. I still haven't ventured outside as we had 10 inches of snow earlier in the week and its still pretty grim out there. Don't want to fall over again so I'm waiting until the weather clears up. We have had a few friends over for play dates now which is relieving the cabin fever a bit

In relation to Maia's sleep I'm afraid we reverted to CC the night after I posted about my horrendous night. Hubby put her down for a daytime nap the following day and just didn't have the patience to see the gradual withdrawal thing through and gave up and brought her back downstairs after about 40 minutes of putting her back in bed (no criticism of him - its bloody hard work and soo frustrating, I'm all too aware). Anyway I thought there's just no point in me doing it if he can't back me up and its too exhausting and time consuming to take on by myself I decided it best we try stick to CC even though I hate it as it works quicker and hopefully we all start getting a good nights sleep sooner which will be better for all of us.

Anyway that night it took an hour of crying before she went to sleep and she got up twice in the night but went straight off back to sleep both times - much better.

The following night it was only 15 minutes of crying and she settled, again waking twice but going straight back to sleep both times - better still.

Last night she went off with no crying but woke at 4am and wouldn't settle. She didn't stop crying until 5.30 which was pretty distressing but I was determined to stick with it and did. She obviously wasn't really ready to get up as she was knackered today

My Gro Clock arrived today and I'm hoping that this will help her understand when she needs to go back to bed and when she can get up. If you haven't seen them they are not to teach kids to tell the time but you set wake up time and the moon and stars are on the clock face when its sleep time and the sun comes up when its morning. Sounds good in principle so hope it works. She went straight to sleep again tonight but will have to see what the night brings...

Sounds like you're getting organised Chelli Your little ladies kicks will get stronger and stronger now and you'll get to the point where you can see your belly moving all over the place and will wonder if she'll just burst out in 'Alien' style Its not comfortable and is a bit painful even but is still kind if cool to watch.

Oh I do hope your SIL manages to beat her induction. Do keep us posted won't you x

 

[EverythingXd]

I hope Maia's sleeping is getting sorted Starlight. What's the latest?

I can't believe you Googled 'serious complications'! You must have wanted nightmares!

Chelli it's your V day! Congratulations on reaching 26 weeks (and eggplant status!)

I don't envy your SIL Chelli, facing induction. I always had a fear of being induced because they seem to result in long labours a lot of the time... I hope this isn't the case for your SIL (or that she avoids it all together by going naturally before Friday!).

I didn't ask my midwife about Dex's mouth Chelli, my friend from next door had come round and was there when my midwife came... it just didn't feel like the right time. Plus, I got another look at it. I obviously don't know what a very small cleft would look like, but this definitely looks more like a lump on the palate (like a small whitish bump, like a very small blister) rather than a hole or break. I might still get the health visitor to take a look, just for reassurance - she's coming on Friday.

We got some great news yesterday - the police rang (and Morrisons emailed) to say the lorry and the driver had been found. Even better, they have admitted liability We've therefore been able to start the ball rolling on getting our car repaired, they collected it yesterday. Our insurance has said we can have a courtesy car as well, we just need to sign some paperwork online. It's all such a relief!

Fin barely mentioned the lorry incident today. We talked about it a lot yesterday as well, since I had several phone calls about it, and then he saw the recovery vehicle outside when they came to collect our car. It looks like its fading from his memory.

 

[starlight2801]

I hope Maia's sleeping is getting sorted Starlight. What's the latest?

I can't believe you Googled 'serious complications'! You must have wanted nightmares!

Chelli it's your V day! Congratulations on reaching 26 weeks (and eggplant status!)

I don't envy your SIL Chelli, facing induction. I always had a fear of being induced because they seem to result in long labours a lot of the time... I hope this isn't the case for your SIL (or that she avoids it all together by going naturally before Friday!).

I didn't ask my midwife about Dex's mouth Chelli, my friend from next door had come round and was there when my midwife came... it just didn't feel like the right time. Plus, I got another look at it. I obviously don't know what a very small cleft would look like, but this definitely looks more like a lump on the palate (like a small whitish bump, like a very small blister) rather than a hole or break. I might still get the health visitor to take a look, just for reassurance - she's coming on Friday.

We got some great news yesterday - the police rang (and Morrisons emailed) to say the lorry and the driver had been found. Even better, they have admitted liability We've therefore been able to start the ball rolling on getting our car repaired, they collected it yesterday. Our insurance has said we can have a courtesy car as well, we just need to sign some paperwork online. It's all such a relief!

Fin barely mentioned the lorry incident today. We talked about it a lot yesterday as well, since I had several phone calls about it, and then he saw the recovery vehicle outside when they came to collect our car. It looks like its fading from his memory.

Aw good news that the lorry driver has admitted liability for your accident and really pleased Fin seems to be less focussed on what happened

Things are definitely moving in the right direction with Maia's sleep. She went straight to sleep with no fuss again last night and woke 3 times. The first time she went straight back off and the second two she cried for 10 minutes or so. I just pointed to the moon and the stars on her Gro Clock and explained that she needs to stay quietly in bed and at least try to sleep until the sun comes up.

When she did wake up in the morning she was so cute, shouting 'sunshine, mummy!' 'sunshine!' x

Hmm, and yes. Whatever possessed me to feed my anxiety about labour and giving birth again I have no idea It couldn't have even seemed like a good idea at the time? Surely not? Doh! x

 

[hinkybinky]

When she did wake up in the morning she was so cute, shouting 'sunshine, mummy!' 'sunshine!' x

Aw, how sweet. Glad the GroClock is working for you! Stan understands the theory, but chooses not to obey the sun. He stands at his gate at 3am shouting "turn the sun back on, mummy!"

 

[starlight2801]

When she did wake up in the morning she was so cute, shouting 'sunshine, mummy!' 'sunshine!' x

Aw, how sweet. Glad the GroClock is working for you! Stan understands the theory, but chooses not to obey the sun. He stands at his gate at 3am shouting "turn the sun back on, mummy!"

that's brilliant! Bless Stan. Although I bet its not so funny at 3am

 

[captainj1]

just a quick thought from me on sleep matters - Joey is starting to drop his nap. He naps consistently at nursery because it is part of the routine and he is very active there, but on weekends for a couple of weeks now he hasn't napped. If we go out in the car late afternoon or early evening he will have a little doze but that's it. Anyway, on the days when he doesn't nap, or just has 30 minutes or so in the car, there is very little fuss at bedtime. We get him down between 7.30 and 8 (in the week it is 8.30-9 by the time he falls asleep). He seems to need 11 to 12 hours of sleep a day nowadays.

anyway just a thought if your LOs are napping for more than an hour in the day you might want to cut it down to an hour to see if it helps in the evening. If they are fighting naptime in the day, maybe try some quiet time instead and try to stretch them out.

I guess they might not be ready, Joey is big (3'1'' and 2.5 stone) which i think is maybe why he is dropping it a bit earlier than the norm (although my niece dropped all naps at 15 months!).

 

[starlight2801]

Thanks Captain. Funnily enough I've been thinking about this. At nursery Maia naps for up to two hours whereas at home she seems to have recently dropped to under an hour and that's if she'll nap at all.

I asked nursery to wake her after 1 hour today so we'll see if this has any impact to her night time sleep over the next couple of nights.

My nieces and nephews all dropped their naps very early to the extent that my family thought that I should be dropping Maia's naps at 18 months as there was no way she still needed them. She did still need them but perhaps not so much at almost 2 x

 

[Rowan75]

hey ladies - am v behind!

well doe joey!

glad you are getting somewhere with the crash starlight!

M's had the mmr jab but all good - hv wanted us to wean her off bottle before Michael is here but she wont drink cows milk so were just going to slowly mix it in with formula - shes not ready yet and I think theres enough change to come!

Ive got a section date 4th April yey! Feel like I can actually get excited now - its such a weight off - instead of just feeling anxious I'm now feeling more bonded with Michael and am looking forward to meeting him

 

[EverythingXd]

That's great news you've got a section date Rowan I should think that makes the preparations easier too, having a fixed date to get everything ready for. I could never see my due date like that, even though with hindsight it was pretty accurate.

Bless Stan and Maia with their GroClocks, so cute and funny! I love some of the stuff our toddlers come out with now!

Baby Dexter is 12 days old now and doing great. We've had the health visitor round this morning and he now weighs 8lb 4.5oz, which I'm delighted with. We had problems with Fin's weight gain when he was the same age - Fin was 8lb 10oz at birth but dropped to 8lb 2.5oz by 10 days old. So they are actually very similar weights at the same age.

The health visitor also checked Dex's palate for me. She said he has a high palate but it is intact, and the white lump is an Epstein Pearl

 

[ChelliBelle]

Good news about the Lorry everything, pleased to hear that they are accepting liability and a weight off at least. Glad Fin seems to be over it too. & good news about Dexter and your worries

Star, glad to hear that Maia is managing to sleep a little better. Can't be easy listening to her cry, but it looks like it is slowly working for you. Hopefully it will get better and better.

Rowan, pleased you have your section date. The closer the labour thoughts come to me, the more i can feel butterflies. wish i could feel relaxed about it lol.
sorry if i am being a bit thick- but does she just don't like cow's milk or is it another reason?


Well girls i only popped on briefly, as i have been up most of the night. My nephew has arrived without the need for an induction....weighing a meer 10.7lbs!!!!! i am now going to go and rock in the corner, because the thought of it scares me to death!!!
he is so adorable tho- very relaxed and eyes wide watching everything. Cant believe in around 14 weeks i'll have my own little (please god let her be smaller in weight!) bundle lol
SIL is fine, and so is he.
I just need to get some sleep, so i will catch up with you all over the weekend

 

[starlight2801]

Wow congratulations Chelli What a big boy your nephew is. I bet he's absolutely gorgeous

Everything that's brilliant news about Dex, both his weight gain and Epstein Pearl. Bet its a big weight off your mind

Rowan don't worry about cows milk if M doesn't like it yet.

I think maybe the HV is probably thinking more about changing from a bottle to a cup as cups are better for toddlers teeth rather than worrying about her still drinking formula.

If you wanted to you could start weaning M off the bottle while keeping her on formula milk for now. When we started changing Maia to cups she was only having two bottles per day and we poured her morning bottle into a cup after we'd made it up. We kept her night time feed in a bottle for a few weeks longer before changing it. However many milk feeds M has I would try changing them to a cup one at a time until she gets used to them and then worry about changing to cows milk later on. Formula won't hurt M for as long as she wants it - the biggest benefit of cows milk is it saves money for you.

That all said if you feel M isn't ready to swap bottles for cups as yet then don't feel pressured. You know M better than your HV and toddlers are all different at the end if the day.

Congratulations on getting your c section booked relax and enjoy your pregnancy now hun.

As for me Maia went to sleep with no crying last night and woke this morning about 10 minutes before the sun came up on her clock. I popped her back in bed and told her yo shout me again when the sun comes up. I went and got ready to get up and Maia shouted 'morning mummy'. When I went to her room she pointed to the sun on her clock and only then did she get out of bed

I did have to get up a few times in the night to pop her back in bed when she fell out and woke up but she settled immediately everytime. Things are definitely getting much better x