Marijke

Oh no! Wow, I thought I was the only one with this problem! When my children are sick, I sleep with them, too. My son hasn't been sick, yet, and my daughter has been sick twice (the first time she ever got sick was at the end of a hospital stay). So far, I'm really lucky in this regard. 4 months?? Woah, that is early! I bet it was hard for you. Did you end up having to feed her formula or something else? We ended up HAVING to give her formula because she just wasn't taking well to the concept of solids (I also believe in delaying solids, but she didn't really take to them until about a year old, then she totally went for them). That's true. My second pregancy was unplanned. I did not even realise I was fertile at that point.. I was breastfeeding exclusively and on demand, had not had a period yet, and had had a c-section delivery of my daughter (she was breech and the doctor refused to try and deliver a breech baby vaginally - note that, in Germany, breech-presentation is not considered an automatic indicater for a c-section), so I really just didn't think I COULD get pregnant... but I did.. and boom, I've got a son too! He was unexpected, unplanned, but an absolutely wonderful little miracle! (And I was able to have a natural, unmedicated birth with him.) With my first, I had pretty bad PPD and PTSD from the c-section (I'm still recovering, the natural birth of my son has helped me with this a lot, though I've still had some PPD).

I know the feeling. With my first child, I almost went insane with the night feedings. I mean, I would have to get up out of the warm bed into a freezing room (she was born in March, and it was cooooooolllld), go get her and sit down, freezing, to nurse for up to an hour and a half! (A week after a c-section, soooo..) The first time I brought her to bed with me and passed out nursing was the first night I got any sleep! LOL! At first, my husband threw a fit, but then we talked to our paediatrician (whom was pro-co-sleeping and other natural child-rearing practices), and he was able to change my husband's mind. So we co-slept for quite a few months, until... I'm really not sure when. You're from California? I have family there. ^.^ And California to Kansas is quite a move! Are you excited about the idea? (I have never been to Kansas.)

Thank you for the welcoming! I'm from America, originally (The State of Idaho, north of Utah). The name "Marijke" is Dutch, though, and is a nickname a close Dutch friend of mine gave me (it's very close to my real life middle name), and I have gone by it ever since (both online and offline.) I am pro-cosleeping, but had to give up on it when my husband couldn't sleep. It's not because of the noise, or anything, he just can't sleep in the same room with the kids (we tried for months with our first, and then about a mont with our second, and it never got better for him). Unfortunately, this does make it miserable for me in regards to nursing at night. (And my son stopped asking for food at night at just 2 months old.) I'm hoping to continue for a minimum of 2 years as well, and want to let him self-wean. My daughter weaned at 9 months because of an unnexpected pregnancy (which resulted in our sweet little son). I've been looking into cloth diapering more seriously.. When TheGoodMama.com is stocked again, I'm going to buy a couple of her diapers and see how it works out (my mom's suggestion.. and has said she will "sponser" us in cloth-diapering if the children and I like it! I'm quite excited because cloth diapering is something I wanted to do ever since I learned about the fitteds and the beautiful prints - about a year now). That's neat! Is she doing well? And do you know where in Germany they are from? Before I left America, I went to a YSA get-together in... somewhere, LOL! I forgot.. Anyway, they had the a capella group Voice Male performing there, and one of them spoke German (I believe he went on a mission to Germany).

My name's Marijke (say: Mar-EYE-kuh) and I'm (yet another) newbie to this forum (and this website in general). I'm not sure what I'm expected to say about myself. I guess I could say also that I am a woman, mother and wife. I've been living here in Germany for over two years, now, but I am not German myself. Did you know that in Germany if a couple, with differing religious ties, has a baby, the baby inherits the religion from the mother? Anyway, I'm a stay-at-home-mom and am into attachment parenting, baby-wearing, extended breastfeeding, raising children bilingual, and all that good stuff. I would even cloth diaper, if I would have known more about it before I ever got pregnant (can't afford it, now.) I guess I'm here because I'm interested in personal growth and meeting people.