Tiny Turtle Hatchlings

[Kenickie]

It's weird that the HV routine seems so different with all of ours! I've still not heard from mine since their last appointment at eight weeks.

I'm glad Biggie has been sorted out. I think we'll be doing injections at the samish time then, mine are down for Jan second.

[Rhodonite]

That's so lovely, Hazey!

Ken, that's brilliant you've got on well with pumping, and that's they've taken a bottle so well.

Conchie had his second lot of injections on Friday, but the nurse said she doesn't know what will happen with this 3rd lot, as she is retiring this month! She's got a list of everyone that needs appointments and will tell reception to phone when they know that's going on. So that's reassuring!

Pov, I know! I am so not ready for him to be on the move. I'll be avoiding putting him on his front until he's at least 7 months if he carries on!

[Kenickie]

Your surgery is so rubbish, Rhod. I hope you've heard back about the third lot of injections now.

Happy Christmas to all hatchlings, but especially Hop, Biggie and Conchie for their first Christmas! Mine have been awful with sleeping tonight, and feeding (it was hourly at some points late evening yesterday) so I hope they're more settled today.

[Kenickie]

Thanks. How is M? And how are you doing?

[Rhodonite]

Happy first Christmas to all our newest arrivals and to all the other turtles, too.

The surgery actually phoned last night to book his third set of injections, but still no nurse now the last one has retired, so the HV is doing them! Booked in for the 10th of Jan.

M! I hope you escape the sickness for a while longer, Beatrix.

[Kenickie]

That's good you've got a date but you'd think they'd have a bit of notice for someone retiring and would have sorted a replacement!

Talking must be such a lovely stage. I wish you just enough sickness for reassurance.

[Kenickie]

How's everyone doing in 2020?

I spoke a bit too soon about them being ok after their jabs yesterday. Tim was doing inconsolable crying for most of the afternoon and evening. Not even feeding helped much. He was s bit better during the night, but woke at six to be fed and won't be put down. I literally just moved an inch forwards just now as I was going to try him in the crib again so I can go back to sleep for a bit and it led to more terrible crying. I took his temp last night and it was fine, so I'd have thought he'd be ok by now. I guess he maybe needs another day of cuddles. They both had three lots of calpol yesterday (11am, 3pm and 7pm) - would you carry on giving it to him today as he's still out of sorts? It's hard to know if he's actually in pain or anything still or is just extra clingy.

Weirdly Topsy was much worse straight after she I had to feed her in the doctors to settle her, but she seems back to normal now.

[Rhodonite]

Oh Ken, poor Tim. How is he doing now? Probably a bit late, but I'd still give Calpol I think, if he's still not right.

I seem to vaguely remember J was worse after his 3rd lot of jags, and that was without the men b.

[Kenickie]

Thanks, sorry to hear that J was bad too.

Today has been a bit of a nightmare. It feels like the whole time has been holding him etc while he cries, feeding him and trying to get him to sleep. He slept for a tiny bit in the morning, finally had another nap at about four pm, and we've been taking it in turns trying to get him to sleep/ stop crying since about half six. He's obviously massively over tired, but I'm not sure how to solve it now. Feeding to sleep usually works but he stops feeding and is upset again a few minutes later. We've tried white noise, rocking the crib, burping him, sitting him up, rocking him, holding him close, letting him lie down and the best we can do is get fifteen minutes where he doesn't cry, but nothing is getting him to sleep. He's definitely not got a temperature and there's no sign of anything which might be hurting him. I want to make him feel better but just not sure how. I guess he'll presumably have to conk out eventually, right?

[Kenickie]

OMG as I was typing that P has just got him to sleep.

[Kenickie]

Thanks. That's not annoying say all as it could well be coincidence with the injections. I'm choosing to think it's related mainly because that sounds likely to be shorter lived than a leap. ;)

He woke up shortly after being put down that time but after half an hour more cuddling went down again and has only just woken up again which is pretty good really.

How is the pregnancy going? Have you told real people yet?

[Kenickie]

Well you know I'd never tell anyone they shouldn't moan about pregnancy after the complaining I did. ;) It's honestly the worst I've ever felt in my life. Even with the lack of sleep etc now I feel a million times better. Sorry you feel rubbish, but it's nice that you've shared with people. Hope telling your boss goes well.

[Rhodonite]

I really feel for you, Beatrix. I hated being pregnant both times, so please don't feel bad for thinking it or saying it. I used to tell anyone that asked, as I do think more woman should say when they find it hard, so there's less guilt about feeling like that.

Ken, I've remembered that J was in a lot of pain with his second Men B. We had to pay privately and had to wait until he was 2 for him to get it, and I remember he couldn't walk properly for a day afterwards. It was sore to put weight on the leg he got the injection. (they should really get it in the arm by the time their walking but for some reason the Dr decided just to put it in his leg).

[maya]

We’ve also had a good couple of days of extreme grumpiness following jabs, so I hope it’s just that and that things improve today!

I’m another who really didn’t enjoy pregnancy - I wasn’t even particularly sick, I just felt hormonal, fat and annoyed. And that felt very ungrateful so I had a good bit of guilt on top! Hopefully the tiredness and nausea will ease up soon Beatrix!

[Kenickie]

How horrible for him and I guess it shows that they can have a big effect. Really rubbish of the doctor too to put him through that unnecessarily.

On a positive note, I asked if we could weigh them before the injections as the clinic is such a pain to deal with and they're both still putting on weight well which is a relief. Tim is 14lb now and Topsy 13 2 and we've moved them up into 3-6 clothes (at four months).

I definitely agree about it being important to be honest about pregnancy and not feel guilty. I mean, I know there's plenty of women who would love to be pregnant but can't, but I think there's probably even more pressure to enjoy every minute if you've had a difficult journey to get there which shouldn't be the case.

Sorry to hear you've had some tough days too, Maya. Here's hoping yours will pass soon too!

[Rhodonite]

That's brilliant, Ken. I think Tim is probably heavier than Conchie by now! I've got the HV round at the house on Thursday, so I guess she'll weigh him again then. Hoping there's not too many more visits, after that.

[Leap]

I'm still part of a TTC group on FB and you do get the odd person who has a meltdown about people in their lives who complain about being pregnant / have dared to get pregnant with a second / celebrate not being pregnant (there seems to have been a meme shared a lot in December saying 'marked safe from Pregnancy in 2019' which was mysteriously taken as a personal affront in some cases!), but thankfully there are also a lot of balanced responses from people recognising what self involved nonsense that is. It's mostly expressed in an IWLTS fashion but you will always find someone who doesn't like what you're saying/doing/feeling - and bollocks to them.

I hope Tim is feeling better today - Hop reacted a lot more like that after the first two injections, and was more like Topsy for the third so I guess it's a bit of a lottery.

We're doing well over here, with really regular and predictable daytime naps and feeding. We switched last week to Baby Led Weaning as Hop couldn't have been less interested in a spoon held by me, but would happily grab it and guide it directly to her mouth given half a chance. I'll be honest, I was much keener on spoon feeding because my SIL did it so successfully and with so little mess but the tiny dictator has overruled me, as is so often the case ;) She has been fantastic so far with everything we've tried, our only challenge has been preparing it correctly as the first few days I kept overcooking for fear of giving her something she couldn't break down in her mouth, only for it to be too soft to do anything but unhelpfully turn to mush in her hands

She's also been babbling and interacting with us so much more just in the last week, and it's SO lovely.

My next big thing is to finally sort nursery which I have been putting off which will only make it harder to find a place and to have the conversation with work about my hours. I really only want to go back 3 days if I can, and that's going to mean either dropping 2 days entirely, or dropping 1 day and condensing my hours. I have looked at the numbers but I just can't figure out how to know how our finances will work out with taxes and nursery and commuting and everything :crazy: Pus C can condense hours and drop a day too, which also affects how we work things out with childcare and commuting (we drive in together). It just feels like too many variables. I'm actually supposed to be looking at it just now but here I am instead

[Kenickie]

I'd quite like monthly HV visits to weigh them, but after a bit of googling it seems normal for them not to do anything between six weeks and one so I guess as I haven't heard from mine we're done for a while. I hope you've been keeping diligent sneezing records this time. ;)

I think you need a spreadsheet with some complicated formulas, Leap. I need to start thinking about it soon as finding childcare with two spaces might be tricky. I've got similar decisions to make about how much to reduce hours and whether to condense, and obviously we need to actually check with our work what might be possible! As P has another redundancy round in the spring I don't know whether to just leave it as it might all become moot anyway but obviously that's a bit of a gamble. We're still hoping he can take some unpaid months off when I go back so I guess that's the first thing to sort.

[Kenickie]

Oh and my sister recommended the little packs of veg that you can steam in the packet in the microwave, just cooked to the instructions, for weaning if that's helpful? Obviously we're a way off but I asked her about it over Xmas do I feel more prepared.

And I don't want to tempt fate but Tim seems so much happier today. He's currently lying in his play gym, chatting away to the monkey toy and kicking his piano.

[Rhodonite]

I basically did baby led with J, as I couldn't be bothered to puree his food! But I did do a bit of a mix and things like soup would be spoon fed. But I'm not looking forward to starting it all again! The mess!

The babbling and interacting is so cute.

I hope you both manage to get the hours and days you want when returning to work.