Hello Mudduh Hello Fadduh: ILX Rolling Parenting Thread

ROFL! I hear this a lot from friends who have toddlers. They mimic the way the parents speak. It's a real eye-opener as you are confronted with how you address your partner. I think I'm not looking forward to that confrontation. ;-)

We've been trying solids. It's going pretty well. I mean, of course she doesn't eat more than a few spoonfuls but it's going pretty well. She doesn't seem to like spinach though. And the WTF looks are so darn cute!

Today we received a walker! HURRAH. I know that in the US they're more keen to use the exersaucer but I don't think we have those here. WhatEVAH I'm happy to have the walker.

Sterling is so cute, Douglas!

we were warned off the exersaucer by baby experts for reasons i can't remember (safety or developmental, not sure). they're now being discouraged, i guess.

"Where's Superman?"
"Where's Superman?"
"Where's Superman?"
"Is that man Superman?"
"Is that lady Superman?"
"Is Superman going to save those people?"
"Where's Batman?"

It's true, having them makes you stupid but I just don't mind.

Slightly worrying (dilation was 8-9mm), along with the trisomic connection. Another scan at 32 weeks; amnio wasn't even mentioned so I guess the lack of any other markers for Down's means he risk is considered to be that high.

Pam is very ill today though.

Sorry, difficult to type during the frenzy of Boogie Beebies.

Good job I'm off work today.

Michael, looking at that link, an increased risk factor of 1.5 doesn't really sound very high at all, so I wouldn't sweat it too much over that. Anyhow, do you know the sex of the baby yet?

Hoping to listen to our baby's heartbeat when we see the midwife next week :)

Michael, good to hear the risk is low! the nuchal fold translucency test is that the test where they put a needle in the belly and take a sample of the placenta? (Sorry, English ist rub at the moment.) Will your wifer undergo more tests? How is your wife feeling (aside from morning sickness that is)?

I tried giving Ophelia a bottle but she started crying. :-( I really worry about not giving enough iron and I'd thought a bottle would solve that worry. Alas, no, she thinks it's not as great as mother's milk.

So how long does it take before the baby starts eating solid food *properly*?

I felt sick this morning, I think it must be in the air.

Nath, I've heard so much conflicting information regarding iron and breast-fed babies...my pediatrician told me to start vitamin drops because there's not a lot of iron in breast milk and the babies deplete their iron stores in the first few months. BUT I have a hard time believing that thousands of years of evolution would produce breast milk that was seriously lacking any key ingredient, so I want to believe the doctors that say that although breast milk has low levels of iron, nearly all of it is absorbed by baby so it works out...as opposed to the iron in vitamins or formula which is poorly absorbed.

I'm really happy that I didn't start solids until well into the sixth month (and we're still only doing one meal of rice cereal in the evening). I experimented with some a bit earlier but he just wasn't into it, and if I had started back then, I'd be well bored with poking goo into his mouth. Breast milk is best and everything else is just kind of for fun at this point.

hahahahahahahaha kids are so smart and hilarious

Not too long ago the boy (7 now, btw) cried at something he saw on tv/movie for the first time. Then he did it again the next weekend. Maybe it's my fault for letting him watch such emotional stuff.

The latter was the more understandable, the scene in the end of Return of the Jedi where Luke is giving Darth Vader a proper funeral. This also precipitated a lesson in different kinds of funerals (he had never heard of nor seen cremation before).

The former I was actually more touched by. It was an episode of Futurama where the audience was made to believe Fry had died, and they had a funeral for him, Star Trek style with the launching the body into space. He was trying to hide his face and stuff, and I was like "it's okay, I promise Fry is really still alive" and then there was this one shot of a chimp in a tux at the funeral and suddenly through the tears he busted out laughing "why is there a space monkey at Fry's funeral?".

Yes, I know what you mean about iron in breast milk. Only, I know from experience that my own iron levels are low. (I still don't know why I don't absorb'em...) Which isn't a big worry for me personally, but I hate it if Ophelia is suffering from my low iron levels, if you know what I mean. Yes, I worry all too much. :-) Then again I still take my vitamin pills as well as iron pills. So I guess that should be okay for both of us.

In re to solids: she does enjoy the spoon in her mouth but overall she hates spinach, sort of likes fruit,... I just know that it's a slow process and that, for now, it's just a big experiment. :-)

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Nuchal fold translucency is something that was developed at King's College in South London - a noninvasive method of measuring the amount of fluid at the back of the neck during ultrasound. It's a statistical screening test, not a diagnostic.

I don't think it's morning sickness with Pam; she didn't suffer at all with that in her first pregnancy nor with this one up until now. It's very similar to the symptoms she had with her ear infection a couple of years ago (pre-Ava).

Haha I wonder if maximum exposure to Wimbledon in the womb leads to tennis ability in later life?

I also inadvertently watched a video of someone giving birth (on a tape of that old Human Body series by Robert Winston). YE GODS.

And yes, hearing the heartbeat is just sublime. :-)

Also, stop watching videos. Practice relaxation techniques; it really does help. And nurses/midwives = really, really awesome people.

Fast forward to the teenage years.

Ian is two weeks old today; the craziest two weeks of our lives! My wife had a super fast labor (9 hours start to delivery), everything went smoothly...but then he was jaundiced after birth, enough that they rehospitalized him several days later under UV lights. This would have been fine if the staff at Kaiser Oakland weren't rude and awful to us the entire night. He's past it now, but I didn't know anxiety until this happened.

Things I was also unprepared for: how much he eats and poops. Good lord!

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what a lovely tiny fellow. I can't believe they start so small.

that drunken sailor look they get after a good meal is just the best though.

teeny, OTM about that postprandial baby look. I love infants because they are so small and they always look like everything is a shock.

kyle, I've got to admit that labor videos freaked me out. However, I couldn't stop watching them...

Michael, my two pregnancies were vastly different. No morning sickness with the first one, but morning sickness with the second. Not to say that Pam can't tell what morning sickness feels like. How is she feeling?

Congrats to the new parents!

Cyrus has started really walking in the past couple of days - and raising himself to a stand without using anything for support. Verbal development is also accelerated. Two days ago, he said "baaah" and waved, now he says "bye" and is adding new words all the time. Now when you say "clap your hands" (without doing anything with your own), he claps. Say "where's the light?" and he looks up to the light.
So exciting!! Now we can start to communicate verbally with each other and I can find out more about the mystery who is a 14-month-old boy.

Conrats all new parents and parents to be - you are in for a whole world of joy.

I remember those first two weeks. It was an emotional rollercoaster that gets easier after you suddenly just let go. :-) I do know that I would cry at the tiniest problems at times. Even though you read what it'll be like, it's nothing like actually experiencing it. My husband explained it best: you're being pushed into a pool from behind. The only thing you can do is try keeping afloat and not sink to the bottom. It's fun but scary at the same time.
One of the best things I did: Not waking up my husband, not putting on the lights when I did a night time feeding. It was the world of difference: you and the baby go to sleep much quicker.The other great thing for me was not staying home alone. I think I'd have gone gaga.

And yes those first six weeks (and even a bit longer) are all about the baby. Quite a shock! :-) There was no time for much else.

Anyway, it's so much fun hearing about babies. Also reading about Cyrus' walking and talking! :-)

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Dinner time!

She's OK now. The 48 hours of complete incapacitation due to dizzy spells/vomiting might well have been triggered by hormonal changes or something else related to the pregnancy - the GP certainly couldn't determine any other cause.

This pregnancy IS tougher, I think, for many external reasons - lack of money, house stress (moved in February but we're still only halfway through the costly refurb), never any time to relax (thanks to Ava and the fact that to keep paying the bills Pam has to freelance from home every chance she gets).

Pam's first pregnancy was from May '04 to Feb '05 and, thought I'm sure we grumbled our way through that at time, it really was a breeze compared to this period. Of course, then you worry about how all this stress is affecting #2.

Of course, easier said than done.

I don't think the stress will affect #2.

Obv I know nothing.

I wonder if we can help at all. I think the only help I've been so far is to leave a big pile of washing-up and plant the idea of a cellar under the garden.

at the campsite:
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on the main lawn (elvis costello onstage somewhere in the background):
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