My leg has gone mad. One of the muscles just above my left knee has been twitching madly all day. I'm not unduly alarmed (slightly too aware of my own mortality at present to be completely calm about anything) as it isn't sore/swollen/veiny but it is rather disturbing. Googlage reveals that muscle twitching is relatively common in pregnancy. Many (loony) hits suggest it's an electrolyte deficiency and so recommend a variety of untested dubious tinctures that haven't been accepted by the medical profession. Sorry, I think the accepted term there is "alternative medicine". Herbal maybe, or homeopathic if you don't really care for correct nomenclature. Or as I said, untested. (I'm not a fan).
What I am prepare to do is eat a banana in an attempt to boost potassium.
*pause for banana getting*
I do like bananas, and they are proving to be a pregnancy wonderfood. I previously found them to be wondrous in their anti nausea ability. Now they provide an simple non-healthfood-shop source of potassium. And they're yummy.
Leg is still twitching. It would seem it takes more than a minute to reach my muscles. Pah!
I have now finished the breastfeeding book by Clare Byam-Cook. I liked it, I am convinced that I want to go for a little bit of breastfeeding, I am also convinced I am not exclusively breastfeeding until 12 months. Nuh uh. I did subscribe to Practical Parenting, my pregnancy magazine du choix, and elected to get a free breast pump. So the intention is there.
The book was good, but I have to agree with the reviews that say its old fashioned. While I agree with some of her views, they aren't quite the party line with regard to weaning and formula preparation, amongst other things. On some things I applaud her sense however, but it is not the most up to date tome. For tips on breastfeeding it is a goldmine, so I recommend it for that alone.
Kaz Cooke's Rough Guide to Babies and Toddlers is both no nonsense and full of up to date advice.
Today I was delighted to receive Christine Hill's "A perfect start". So far, so excellent. "The not-so-perfect parents survival guide" it claims. That's me!
My leg is starting to be sore. I may phone someone in the morning just to check it's normal with regard to blood pressure and being very very old.
Pelvis not good today, walking was particularly difficult and pain was definitely increased. This may have contributed to the mad leg. Don't know.
Showing posts with label Kaz Cooke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kaz Cooke. Show all posts
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Feeding
I've been a-reading about breastfeeding, in a much recommended book going by the name of "what to do when you're breastfeeding and what to do if you can't". The author (Clare Byam-Cook) is very good apparently and so I thought I'd see what she had to say.
By coincidence, the very same day I downloaded this book onto my precious kindle, Julia Boggio blogged that she'd visited Clare Byam-Cook for advice and was singing her praises. Spooky complete randomness, but hey, it could be a small sign of something. A sign-ette that I should be considering the whole breastfeeding thing.
Because of the whole breast-is-best and the lack of support for bottle feeding, I'm slightly evangelical about people who feel they mustn't ever give up on exclusive breastfeeding and are appalled by the idea of topping up. I'm quick to say "it's ok!!!" but that doesn't mean I don't think everyone should give the old breastfeeding a shot.
The book does make both palatable and interesting reading. I do intend to try it again, but even reading the book I am thinking "an hour to do a feed? an HOUR?" and worrying about comfort sucking and similar. Having not succeeded with breastfeeding at all last time, it's a whole new ball game.
I am motivated by how sick O was, I think he may have escaped a lot of that if he hadnt had formula from birth. I don't know that though. I was interested to read that a small baby that falls asleep quickly may not have the energy for a full breastfeed. O was like this and we had to get him faster teats so he could manage to drink a whole feed. While he may not have been so sick, he may not have got enough food and would have been even tireder. Who knows? He's very healthy now.
My reservations are thus:
If I have a caesarean birth, my milk may not be there at all again. The twins didn't even get colostrum and were getting sickly which is why I introduced formula in the first place. I do believe it is perfectly possible to give formula top ups until the milk comes in, but I'm not sure how that works if there's nothing at all coming out of the breast and baby does not want to latch on at all. This is what happened before, and I never went back, it was not suggested even when my milk came in and I queried it.
I am perturbed by the number of breastfeeding mums who do night feeds when their child is a considerable age. Over a year old and still having night feeds!! The twins had dropped all night feeds to the extent that waking again as we approached 4 months was noteworthy and indicative of a need to wean. I feel that I would definitely be topping up at bedtime if night feeds persisted.
Bottles are kind of easy to monitor, I worry that I'd spend a lot of time ineffectively breastfeeding. The book indicates that you quickly get the hang of whether the baby has had a full feed or is comfort sucking, and that if the baby is sated that they will sleep for 4 hours. Two hourly feeds are supposedly indicative of a poor latch or not enough milk being taken.
Babies who don't have bottles may have problems taking a bottle for water and later on for juice. They may also not like a dummy and - I may be making this up - might look to the breast for comfort instead. Hmm. On that last point, I am reminded that I didn't offer the twins a bottle if it wasn't obvious that food was what was required, so I guess I wouldn't put them to the breast unless I genuinely thought them hungry.
Oh I don't know. I want to try, even if it's only for the first few days.
A small part of my brain is hoping baby comes the week before my caesarean is due and arrives naturally. Is that mad? Does that mean I'm really after a VBAC? The risks convince me no, so why the secret wish?
I'm even contemplating baby led weaning. Whether that holds out when baby is starving, I know not.
I'm going all soft. Kaz Cooke's Rough Guide to Babies and Toddlers arrived and while she's not at all of the you-must-obey-the-rules-of-naturalness she does make suggestions that make me think, well, it might be OK...
By coincidence, the very same day I downloaded this book onto my precious kindle, Julia Boggio blogged that she'd visited Clare Byam-Cook for advice and was singing her praises. Spooky complete randomness, but hey, it could be a small sign of something. A sign-ette that I should be considering the whole breastfeeding thing.
Because of the whole breast-is-best and the lack of support for bottle feeding, I'm slightly evangelical about people who feel they mustn't ever give up on exclusive breastfeeding and are appalled by the idea of topping up. I'm quick to say "it's ok!!!" but that doesn't mean I don't think everyone should give the old breastfeeding a shot.
The book does make both palatable and interesting reading. I do intend to try it again, but even reading the book I am thinking "an hour to do a feed? an HOUR?" and worrying about comfort sucking and similar. Having not succeeded with breastfeeding at all last time, it's a whole new ball game.
I am motivated by how sick O was, I think he may have escaped a lot of that if he hadnt had formula from birth. I don't know that though. I was interested to read that a small baby that falls asleep quickly may not have the energy for a full breastfeed. O was like this and we had to get him faster teats so he could manage to drink a whole feed. While he may not have been so sick, he may not have got enough food and would have been even tireder. Who knows? He's very healthy now.
My reservations are thus:
If I have a caesarean birth, my milk may not be there at all again. The twins didn't even get colostrum and were getting sickly which is why I introduced formula in the first place. I do believe it is perfectly possible to give formula top ups until the milk comes in, but I'm not sure how that works if there's nothing at all coming out of the breast and baby does not want to latch on at all. This is what happened before, and I never went back, it was not suggested even when my milk came in and I queried it.
I am perturbed by the number of breastfeeding mums who do night feeds when their child is a considerable age. Over a year old and still having night feeds!! The twins had dropped all night feeds to the extent that waking again as we approached 4 months was noteworthy and indicative of a need to wean. I feel that I would definitely be topping up at bedtime if night feeds persisted.
Bottles are kind of easy to monitor, I worry that I'd spend a lot of time ineffectively breastfeeding. The book indicates that you quickly get the hang of whether the baby has had a full feed or is comfort sucking, and that if the baby is sated that they will sleep for 4 hours. Two hourly feeds are supposedly indicative of a poor latch or not enough milk being taken.
Babies who don't have bottles may have problems taking a bottle for water and later on for juice. They may also not like a dummy and - I may be making this up - might look to the breast for comfort instead. Hmm. On that last point, I am reminded that I didn't offer the twins a bottle if it wasn't obvious that food was what was required, so I guess I wouldn't put them to the breast unless I genuinely thought them hungry.
Oh I don't know. I want to try, even if it's only for the first few days.
A small part of my brain is hoping baby comes the week before my caesarean is due and arrives naturally. Is that mad? Does that mean I'm really after a VBAC? The risks convince me no, so why the secret wish?
I'm even contemplating baby led weaning. Whether that holds out when baby is starving, I know not.
I'm going all soft. Kaz Cooke's Rough Guide to Babies and Toddlers arrived and while she's not at all of the you-must-obey-the-rules-of-naturalness she does make suggestions that make me think, well, it might be OK...
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Other people's words
Weeks: 23+3.
Time remaining: 15+6
Ooh! That looks better written down. I'm so on the home run.
I'm a bit appalled by my own spelling/grammar/writing at the moment so I'm reading more by people who can write.
More pregnancy books: I love Christine Hill. I got a sampler kind of thing free with a baby mag earlier in the year which has the "best of" her pregnancy and parenting books. Her style is fab, just my cup of tea, not preachy and you-must-be-a-natural-mother-or-you-will-be-cursed at all. I have the sample of her pregnancy book on my Kindle to try and ascertain how samply the sampler is and I think the netmums book may be returned post haste to the library and swapped for Christine Hill's previous edition. Well, I'm past the scary bit and past halfway, I can't really justify buying a pregnancy book.
I pretty much know what happens from here on in: regular urine and blood pressure tests, chat with consultants at 34 weeks and then at 39 weeks I'll have a little girl taken out from my tummy.
Meantime I'll get vaster, steckier and less able to move and will spend from mid august on in a state of readiness expecting to go into labour at any moment.
But I'd still like to see what Ms Hill says about it...
As I haven't had the baby yet, I feel completely justified in new baby user guides. I already have Gina Ford, Dr Spock, the Baby Whisperer, the hideously-not-me Dr Sears, my favourite Kaz Cooke, the Baby Whisperer and the charmingly old fashioned Miriam Stoppard. All 6+ years old. On order is a used copy of Christine Hill's A Perfect Start, alongside the updated Kaz Cooke.
I have been following the blog of the awe inspiringly lovely Julia Boggio, which she has written during her pregnancy and birth of her first child. Unlike yours truly, she retained the ability to form proper sentences while cooking her baby. Today's blog is fabulous, not least because it reassures that disposable nappies aren't at all bad. Rather than stealing her words, I shall point to her blog at
icarriedawatermelon.co.uk
I'm a reader not a writer
Time remaining: 15+6
Ooh! That looks better written down. I'm so on the home run.
I'm a bit appalled by my own spelling/grammar/writing at the moment so I'm reading more by people who can write.
More pregnancy books: I love Christine Hill. I got a sampler kind of thing free with a baby mag earlier in the year which has the "best of" her pregnancy and parenting books. Her style is fab, just my cup of tea, not preachy and you-must-be-a-natural-mother-or-you-will-be-cursed at all. I have the sample of her pregnancy book on my Kindle to try and ascertain how samply the sampler is and I think the netmums book may be returned post haste to the library and swapped for Christine Hill's previous edition. Well, I'm past the scary bit and past halfway, I can't really justify buying a pregnancy book.
I pretty much know what happens from here on in: regular urine and blood pressure tests, chat with consultants at 34 weeks and then at 39 weeks I'll have a little girl taken out from my tummy.
Meantime I'll get vaster, steckier and less able to move and will spend from mid august on in a state of readiness expecting to go into labour at any moment.
But I'd still like to see what Ms Hill says about it...
As I haven't had the baby yet, I feel completely justified in new baby user guides. I already have Gina Ford, Dr Spock, the Baby Whisperer, the hideously-not-me Dr Sears, my favourite Kaz Cooke, the Baby Whisperer and the charmingly old fashioned Miriam Stoppard. All 6+ years old. On order is a used copy of Christine Hill's A Perfect Start, alongside the updated Kaz Cooke.
I have been following the blog of the awe inspiringly lovely Julia Boggio, which she has written during her pregnancy and birth of her first child. Unlike yours truly, she retained the ability to form proper sentences while cooking her baby. Today's blog is fabulous, not least because it reassures that disposable nappies aren't at all bad. Rather than stealing her words, I shall point to her blog at
icarriedawatermelon.co.uk
I'm a reader not a writer
Monday, 6 June 2011
9 months of reading fodder
I am reading my favourite pregnancy book again, having unearthed it in a decluttering session (nesting?). It is The Rough Guide to Pregnancy by Kaz Cooke and I think it is marvellous. It doesn't presume loads of cash, nor does it promote natural birth et al as the be all and end all of parenthood. My copy is a bit out of date with regards to maternity rights and what not as it is the 2001 edition, purchased a good two years before I ever attempted to become pregnant. Broody, moi? There is another updated edition from 2010 which I would wholeheartedly recommend.
This is informative and down to earth, as well as being an amusingly good read. It has a semi-fictional (names/backstories are fictional) diary throughout which reads like that of a normal girl, unlike the nauseating "Emma's diary" which mostly beggars disbelief that someone so wholesome managed to become impregnated in the first place.
For checking symptoms and alleviating concerns, there is no better than the oft mentioned What to Expect When You're Expecting. Any worry or curious symptom, it's in here, along with reassuring statistics as to the unlikelihood of any complication arising. There is an iPhone app that accompanies the book which is probably the best of the free apps for pregnancy, but it's a bit lacking in comparison to the book.
For straight facts, the Pregnancy Bible is invaluable, full of photos of stages and things that are of much fascination to a first time mother and much less so apparently to a second timer (a fact corroborated by other mums).
I have many other books but those are the "key" texts. Most of the others are woefully old fashioned (hello Miriam Stoppard), terrifying in their negativity or guilt inducing with their strong opinions on what is "best".
I have Netmums' "Your Pregnancy" out from the library and while useful, it expresses such statements as "If you decide, as some mums do, that's there's no way you want to breastfeed, or if you're in the tiny minority of mums for whom it's an impossibility (because of prior breast surgery, for example), then bottle-feeding will give your baby all the nutrients and calories he needs to thrive as long as you follow the the formula manufacturer's instruction to the letter and are scrupulous about hygiene".
Because clearly, if you are neglectful enough to "choose" not to breastfeed, you're obviously a bit slovenly about the whole thing. Breastfeeding mothers who express aren't reminded about hygiene. Nuff said.
Also "much as you probably hope and imagine you won't be one of the mums that ends up having a Caeserean delivery..."
You get the picture. I don't feel the need to be judged by a book.
I have the Mumsnet (I don't know the difference, no) guide on Kindle - oh how much easier to read without a bulky book to accommodate in my discomfort - and I found it more palatable but not really groundbreaking. If you have a kindle though, gets yourself this one. Other ones I've read on kindle have been rather HIDEOUS and wayyyyy too American. No offence to Americans in any way, but the whole pregnancy experience appears to be a different thing altogether, from the constant cervical prodding and 8 week dating scan to the very nature of US medical goings on. Issues such as "do you pay $800 dollars for an epidural?" are kind of alien.
I've definitely touched on books before. My memory isn't what it was and I've read a lot more since I mentioned it earlier on. Or maybe I just thought it before. I dunno, I don't REMEMBER things. I'm PREGNANT!!
Much later I'll think about baby user guides. I need new ones this time, obviously. I have Kaz Cooke's Kidwrangling, which is ace, but missing, and she's subsequently written (2009) the Rough Guide to Babies and Toddlers - an updated version of Kidwrangling I believe - so that's on the way. Come on, I resisted the updated version of the pregnancy one, I'm doing well! I'm a big fan of Rough Guides, I used to consult them in the (preparenthood) days when we had passports and travelled abroad.
Local holiday today, no school run, no work. Sooooo much better.
This is informative and down to earth, as well as being an amusingly good read. It has a semi-fictional (names/backstories are fictional) diary throughout which reads like that of a normal girl, unlike the nauseating "Emma's diary" which mostly beggars disbelief that someone so wholesome managed to become impregnated in the first place.
For checking symptoms and alleviating concerns, there is no better than the oft mentioned What to Expect When You're Expecting. Any worry or curious symptom, it's in here, along with reassuring statistics as to the unlikelihood of any complication arising. There is an iPhone app that accompanies the book which is probably the best of the free apps for pregnancy, but it's a bit lacking in comparison to the book.
For straight facts, the Pregnancy Bible is invaluable, full of photos of stages and things that are of much fascination to a first time mother and much less so apparently to a second timer (a fact corroborated by other mums).
I have many other books but those are the "key" texts. Most of the others are woefully old fashioned (hello Miriam Stoppard), terrifying in their negativity or guilt inducing with their strong opinions on what is "best".
I have Netmums' "Your Pregnancy" out from the library and while useful, it expresses such statements as "If you decide, as some mums do, that's there's no way you want to breastfeed, or if you're in the tiny minority of mums for whom it's an impossibility (because of prior breast surgery, for example), then bottle-feeding will give your baby all the nutrients and calories he needs to thrive as long as you follow the the formula manufacturer's instruction to the letter and are scrupulous about hygiene".
Because clearly, if you are neglectful enough to "choose" not to breastfeed, you're obviously a bit slovenly about the whole thing. Breastfeeding mothers who express aren't reminded about hygiene. Nuff said.
Also "much as you probably hope and imagine you won't be one of the mums that ends up having a Caeserean delivery..."
You get the picture. I don't feel the need to be judged by a book.
I have the Mumsnet (I don't know the difference, no) guide on Kindle - oh how much easier to read without a bulky book to accommodate in my discomfort - and I found it more palatable but not really groundbreaking. If you have a kindle though, gets yourself this one. Other ones I've read on kindle have been rather HIDEOUS and wayyyyy too American. No offence to Americans in any way, but the whole pregnancy experience appears to be a different thing altogether, from the constant cervical prodding and 8 week dating scan to the very nature of US medical goings on. Issues such as "do you pay $800 dollars for an epidural?" are kind of alien.
I've definitely touched on books before. My memory isn't what it was and I've read a lot more since I mentioned it earlier on. Or maybe I just thought it before. I dunno, I don't REMEMBER things. I'm PREGNANT!!
Much later I'll think about baby user guides. I need new ones this time, obviously. I have Kaz Cooke's Kidwrangling, which is ace, but missing, and she's subsequently written (2009) the Rough Guide to Babies and Toddlers - an updated version of Kidwrangling I believe - so that's on the way. Come on, I resisted the updated version of the pregnancy one, I'm doing well! I'm a big fan of Rough Guides, I used to consult them in the (preparenthood) days when we had passports and travelled abroad.
Local holiday today, no school run, no work. Sooooo much better.
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