Appetite

I lost my appetite as soon as morning sickness kicked in (really should be renamed all day sickness). I was physically sick on average once a day from week 6 to week 16ish. Throughout the rest of the pregnancy my appetite didn't return and during the early weeks with 1KB it still wasn't back to normal. I was eating what I could (one handed) when I could and often it was just easier to tend to her and forget about me. However I can safely say that my appetite has returned in earnest so I now need to be a little bit careful - I'm not trying to lose weight I'd actually just like to stay where I am now and not put any on. Unfortunately food that is easy to eat one handed and satisfies an immediate hunger (don't often get a lot of time to prepare food) seems to be unhealthy for you - or in my case that is true. Grapes, apples or bananas just never hit the spot the way chocolate, crisps or toast do.
Anyone got any simple meals or snack suggestions that will satisfy my hunger? I have on a couple of occasions made myself the equivalent of a packed lunch - although we don't go anywhere. When I have some free time in the evening I make a sandwich to keep in the fridge so that the next day if 1KB is having a particularly bad day I can just eat while she feeds or sleeps in my arms.

It takes a village

They say it takes a village to raise a child and that may well be true and useful but when everyone in the village has a different opinion it can be bewildering and overwhelming. Thankfully these opinions have not been forced upon me but with so many options it is difficult to know what is best:
Breast feed or not
Top up with formula or not
Dummy or not
Own room or our room
In her cot or our bed
She is colicky or not
Give her gripe water, colic drops, fennel tea or not
Feed her on demand
Don't over feed her
Let her nap for long periods
Keep her awake
On most of these points I don't care I will follow instructions and there in lies the problem. There are no instructions and if you take one route there are hundreds of opinions and experts to tell you why they'd do it differently. You have to do what is best for your individual child and if someone would just tell me what that is I'll get on with it.

Reflux

We think 1KB has reflux - this is what the health visitor has suggested or rather asked me if that was what I thought was wrong. We're going to the GP on Monday although I'm not really expecting much more of a diagnosis. I'm getting the impression that infants and their digestive systems are quite the mystery.
I thought all babies were sick  and perhaps she was just greedy and took too much food. However as time has gone on and we're just not able to extend the two hour period I'm getting more and more resentful. She wouldn't need fed every two hours if she kept hold of some of the food I gave her and didn't throw it all back at me. All over her clothes, soaking numerous bibs and muslins, my clothes and our new carpet. 
I'm now realising that perhaps it isn't normal to lose that much of a feed and her screaming and writhing an hour after being fed is perhaps to do with her stomach churning and not simply that she hates falling asleep.
We've been prescribed infant Gaviscon which we happily started using - after figuring out how the heck to actually give it to a breast fed baby. But she immediately became constipated and the writhing in pain from stomach acid was replaced by straining to fill her nappy. The dosage instructions say that for her weight (luckily she has no problem with her weight gain) she can have 12 sachets a day - we've reduced her dosage to 2 sachets a day and she is still bunged up. We're giving tummy massages and hot baths to try and help her along. The two sachets unfortunately don't seem to be cutting out the vomit so we need to up the dosage.
Hoping the GP might have some advice that isn't simply different medicine to help with the constipation - there is a lot of advice on what you can and can't give babies but in my experience they'll give you plenty of sugar filled medicines. Or maybe we may need to decide which is worst constipation or vomit.

Ground hog 2 hours

1KB is on a two hour cycle. From about 7am she eats, plays, screams and sleeps in a two hour cycle - sometimes on a really good day we can stretch it to two and a half hours. You could almost set your watch by her. She will appear to be sleeping soundly but bang on two hours since her last feed she will begin to stir. If we go out for a walk or in the car she will sleep for longer however I don't always want to go for a walk every two hours.

I need to do something to elongate this cycle but I've no idea how - any suggestions? I feel like I'm living in ground hog hour over and over again the same happens.

Sing a song

I'm running out of songs to sing to 1KB. Songs with small actions are good. Our current favorite is the hokey cokey however after the 25th time a day it gets a little grating even if 1KB still smiles when I start. I hope it is a smile and not a grimace. She made her feelings clear when I sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow - she started screaming when I started singing and stopped screaming when I stopped singing.
What do you sing to your little ones or what songs can you remember from your own childhood?

Alien abductions

I have a theory that a least some of the reported alien abductions are from new parents. For a few weeks there at two in the morning by the blue/white light of the night light, with huge black eyes and oversized head you could mistake 1KB for an alien. Sleep deprivation could play a factor too though.

2012

A new start should be all about looking forward but instead I thought I'd start by looking back to the year that was 2012. 

Great minds clearly think alike because Gaynor from Our day by design posted a 2012 round up a few days ago. I promise I had already started drafting my own post before I saw Gaynor's.

January - nephew turned 2

February - went to Murrayfield with #2 and her boyfriend to watch Scotland vs England 6 nations match. Work was crazy crazy busy.

March - niece was born, celebrated husband's big birthday with a weekend on the edge of the Lake District.

April - a quiet month we had a visit from the in-laws.

May - found out that we were pregnant, took a train to the South of France, spent a week in France with my parents not telling them I was pregnant, battling morning sickness and not eating cheese, pate or drinking wine (they didn't guess I was amazed).

June - Good friends got married in a field in torrential rain, we camped. I was very tired and very sick. Did Race for Life with my sisters and Mum - resisted the temptation to tell them we were pregnant (we'd agreed to wait until after our first scan).

July - Had 12 week scan and finally told family and friends that we were pregnant, told work that I was pregnant and they'd need to find cover. Went to see an Olympic football match. Celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary.

August - My birthday. Went to London for the weekend those that could did Go Ape and those that weren't allowed watched (I sulked). Spent a week up North with the in-laws.

September - Had 20 week scan. Celebrated the arrival of a friend's baby boy.

October - Another quiet month.

November - Celebrated a big birthday for my Mum, we had a photos taken (my Mum is obsessed by getting photos of us all), went for a cookery lesson (twice baked cheese souffles yummy) and had a half day spa.

December - I spent a lot of time at the hospital being monitored due to issues with my blood pressure. I finished work for at least 9 months. After much deliberation we headed up north for Christmas.

1KB

I haven't blogged for quite some time. So long in fact that while I've been away I have managed to be pregnant and had a daughter in early January without any mention gracing these pages. The pages that kept me sane through wedding planning but felt too public for my journey to starting a family.
However I'd like to start writing again. I also find myself in need of a community to support my sanity as my world changes so dramatically.
Being how I like to be mysterious/protect some anonymity I'll refer to my daughter as 1KB within these pages.

Saying something

I started reading my blog from the beginning. It is embarrassing. I have a strong desire to delete all the posts. I'm so far resisting the temptation.

Olympic Fever

Like the majority of the UK and I expect other parts of the world (although I hear your coverage hasn’t been brilliant) O and I have been caught up with Olympic fever the last couple of weeks. Things are starting to slow down over the last couple of days simply because a lot of the sports have finished but we’re still choosing to watch the sports we know little about or turn the TV off rather than watch something that isn’t Olympics related.

There have been a couple of stand out moments for me so far in the games that have really touched on what sportsmanship/womanship is really about. (In reality there have been a huge amount of stand out moments but these have really stuck with me).

Kirani James of Grenada, the 400m runner, who won gold Grenada’s first Olympic medal however it wasn’t James’ sprinting ability that I admired most it, was his attitude and behaviour after one of the heats. Where despite winning the race he immediately turned to one of his opponents Oscar Pistorius and asked to swap name badges something I’ve never seen done at the end of an athletics race. I’m sure you’ve already heard Pistorius’ story but if not you really should look it up. The fact that he was allowed to run at the Olympics was a mammoth feat in itself. Interviewed on his victory and his journey through to the next round James was asked why he’d wanted Pistorius’ name badge and the young athlete spoke of the honour it was to race against him and that Pistorius’ was a legend in their event and he had wanted the name badge as a souvenir of the momentous day when they’d been able to race against each other.

The second moment came just last night, I’d rushed home from my Pilates class and had come sprinting up the stairs just in time to watch Bolt and Blake run the 200m final. I’d debated just sitting in the car and listening to it on the radio as I knew it would all be over in 20 seconds and I definitely can’t run that fast. However I did make it to the sofa in time and got to see the race. After the race we watched as the three Jamaicans did their laps of honour and took in the adulation of the crowd. Bolt performed his usual antics and they mucked about as team mates who have all just won medals can. It was a hot night and the windows were open to try and get air circulating through the house. Our downstairs neighbours were having a family gathering and we could hear strands of their conversation as well as the grand kids playing on the lawn. It was then I heard the young boys saying to each other – “You be Blake, I want to be Bolt” “Ok now it is my turn to be Bolt”. Inspire a generation – right there and then. Ok so they were soon back to playing with their football but for a moment they realised that football wasn’t the be all and end all and that they have been able to witness sporting legends.

There have been less pleasant standout moments but they have involved male rowers/cyclists and their incredibly tight shorts. However to go into detail would just demean the point of this post!