Long time, no see

Well now it really has been a while since I updated this. I just haven't had the time!! Seth went from sleeping like the proverbial angel to driving me insane! 45 minute naps all day, every day. Settling him to sleep was hell too. I was always rocking the cot, patting his tummy, turning him on his side and patting his back, stroking his head, letting him fall asleep feeding or on me. Hell I tell you!

My mum was my saviour, even with all her faults and everything about her that irritates me so much, she has been invaluable to me over the past few months. She called for help, Plunket help, and they were actually very helpful. Shh but the area coordinator gave us a little booklet of advice which has changed our live now, for the better! It's not Plunket endorsed so really they can't hand it out but mum and I were SERIOUSLY desperate.

So now after putting the advice in the booklet into practice, Seth is now going down to sleeps a LOT easier, I put him down, tuck him in and walk away. He's still only sleeping for 45 minutes at a time but I can deal with it a lot better now. It's even better that in the past few weeks he's been sleeping for longer and longer during the night. He's now sleeping from between 7 and 8 pm until between 5 and 8 am. It's so cool, I actually get to sleep. Now what is sleep again?

Seth is now fully formula fed due to my supply reaching a maximum of 80mls at a feed while Seth was taking more than twice that amount, medication for my PND when I was diagnosed (yeah I have PND, will talk about that later), and Seth not gaining weight as he should have been. Things have been going pretty well here since I decided to wean, yes wean not just go cold turkey. I managed to do it with nearly no engorgement. I still have a small supply if I try to hand express, it'll still shoot across the room, but that will eventually fade, probably. Seth has taken the transition pretty well though he still turns to my breast at times and will try to feed even though there is clothing in the way. Makes for lovely slobber patches. I still give him breast occasionally if he's really frantic for a feed, though he pops on and off so he barely gets anything.

PND. Ah yes, postnatal depression/distress. I think it started slowly with just little things, having to settle Seth to sleep every. single. sleep. His screaming in my ears as I did so. The frustration at not being able to fully breastfeed like I wanted and expected to. Little things that built up until I was screaming at him to shut up and go to sleep. Slamming my fist into a wall so I wouldn't do something I would later regret. Banging my head against a wall for similar reasons. I would get SO angry that he wasn't sleeping, that he was crying, that he wouldn't cooperate. That he wasn't doing what I wanted him to and what I thought he "Should" do.
Looking up the signs and symptoms was hard, talking to my husband about it even harder. I was put onto the Edinburgh scale by a few people I would talk to online and I scored an 18. Not as bad as it could have been but bad enough. I went to the doctor and he prescribed me some medication and I'm going to a PND support group which is really helping.
Since being on the meds things have improved hugely. I don't start screaming/crying/raging over little things anymore. If I miss a dose then the next day is bad though. I can now handle things a lot better and I feel a lot more relaxed. Most of the time anyway.

Well that's a bit of a novel so I shall leave you with that and I will certainly try to update more often.
Ciao for now.

Growth Spurt Hell

So my little munchkin has hit his 2 week growth spurt and my sanity has gone right down the drain. Since Saturday my little angel has been a screaming little mess which then turns me into a crying mess and it's a horrible cycle because I can't get him to settle which means he gets overtired and cries which upsets me and then upsets him and so on and so forth.

Today I think that either I made a bit of a breakthrough or he's settling down again. 2 feeds in a row now I've managed to get him into bed without a fuss, long may it continue! I think I was keeping him awake for far too long feeding him and so now I've started trying my best to get him fed, changed and back into bed within an hour, things seem to be looking up. 2 hours of awake time is a lot for a little baby!

Anyway, just thought I'd leave you with that little update. I'd better head to bed now before my eyes fall out! Babies are not good for the under-eye luggage!

Yet again, I suck, and also the latest

I seriously don't do so well with keeping this updated now do I?

*sigh* Ah well.

So, what's been going on lately is...

Wedding plans are sorted and finalised and the wedding is on SUNDAY!! (the 13th)
So that's one excuse that I have lol. I've been too busy trying to get everything sorted out for that!

Had an appointment with the Physio to see what's wrong with my back. She thinks it's just muscular from things getting strained with my pregnancy and so on. Makes sense to me. Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt though!! I have a Smiley Belt to help balance me out and redistribute the weight more evenly so I don't end up with so much pain. It helps, I think lol.

A few days before my Physio appointment I managed to arse over at the beach and landed flat on my bum. Took a few days for it to start hurting but believe me, my back was punishing me!! I couldn't even take a short trip in the car without whimpering in pain!
Good thing is that has now sorted itself out and I'm just back to the comparatively mild ache from the stressed muscles.
Goodness is it nice to get The Man Thing to give me a massage before bed lol. Must see if I can get him to do that more often!!

Had an appointment with the OB and another scan to check my cervix. Cervix is doing well, still holding up to the pressure. Also had a growth scan and Mr Squigglebum is growing perfectly to dates which is awesome!
OB doesn't need me to have anymore scans unless something goes amiss and she doesn't need to see me until the end of the month, when she'll take a little looksee and see if there's any stitching left up there. If there is then she will try to remove what she can, if not well it's not something we will have to really worry about anymore!

I'm starting to get massively annoyed with these darn Braxton Hicks that I keep getting. Last night is the second night that they've managed to keep me awake for more than an hour!
Bloody things kept coming 3 minutes apart too so I barely got a break!
I only know they weren't real contractions because they started off at 3 min apart and gave me barely a niggle, and I think that was more from my achy hip than anything else!

Now because the wedding is on SUNDAY!! (OMG!!) we're having to give the house a massive spring clean! Luckily my mum came and gave us a hand picking things up and weeding because up until a couple of days ago I couldn't bend over without massive pain. Still have a few things to do like the kitchen and bathroom but then we're pretty much done!
Only reason we're cleaning so thoroughly is because I'm expecting an influx of The Man Things family after the picnic at the park and I don't want the house looking like a bomb hit it lol.

I have 2 new Med Students following my pregnancy. I've met one of them and she's lovely, though a little skittish. I'm going to invite them around for dinner (goodness what will I cook!!) so we can have a relaxed meet and greet and so they can learn everything they need to know about me in a nice relaxed environment!

Right now, I think that's the latest. Hopefully I remember to update a little more frequently!!

Progress and Passing out

I'm now officially 29 weeks. Woot!! Things seem to be getting a little rumbly in the cervix area though. Have had some interesting discharges but nothing that suggests an infection or thrush to me (thank goodness!)
Have been having what I can only describe as FULL feelings, which makes me think that my cervix has been taking a hammering.

I was really paranoid when I woke up this morning that bubs hadn't been moving. I poked and prodded a little bit and woke him up (sorry baby!) but it certainly reassured me. Guess he'd been quiet overnight and my brain kept track. He certainly let me know he was there over the course of the day though, booting away. While I was awake anyway.

For some really weird reason I slept all day today. Like seriously, all day. I woke up, had breakfast and an hour later I was exhausted and back in bed. Stupid thing is I was tossing and turning and not able to get to sleep for ages. Then I finally woke up again at 2.30.
Roll on 5pm and it was like I'd been hit over the head with a stick, I was dizzy and tired and really needed to lie down. So I did. And then woke up again at 8pm. So so weird...