Tanya

Hi all.

Well I have really bad periods meaning that they last 7-8 days. 3 of those days I cannot leave the house just about because my periods are so heavy that I have to change every hour, on the hour if not sometimes sooner because wearing both "plugs" and "surf boards", I still leak. My cycle is generally 23/24 days long and if I'm really unlucky, I get a 15/16 day cycle. I have had 3 kids and last month because I often get my periods twice one month and once the next and then twice again etc, I went to my doctor just about ready to have it all ripped out because I was getting so depressed from them. She did an Iron test which came back as 20 so I was low but still within normal range being 15-200+ and she suggested I go see a gyno to talk about having a mirena IUD inserted. Well I did mid last month (19th June). What I would like to know from other women out there is if you have had similar problems with your periods and if you had the mirena installed and how it all went. I know it's only been a couple of weeks but I've had more spotting and blood stained mucus days than nothing at all in that 2 weeks. I am currently on my 5th consecutive day of spotting with the stained mucus now and want to know how much longer it is going to last? Anyone had similar experiences and what happened. I must also mention that I also had an ultrasound done by the gyno before inserting the IUD to rule out polyps as this can cause problems too. Was all clear of that. The gyno never mentioned anything else though in the report. When I got home though I read a copy of the report myself and it said that I had a prominent left ovary due to a cyst on that ovary measuring 3.4cm x 2.6cm. I have had an ovarian cyst rupture back in 2002 on my right and that hurt. Obviously I'm prone to ovarian cysts, this being my second but the gyno never mentioned anything, should I mention something to my doctor or leave it if it's not "broken" as such!?

Thoughts would be appreciated ladies and thank you very much in advance.

Regards, Tanya

I have a 3 year old daughter (middle child of 3 girls) and she drinks SO much water. She even guzzles it down at dinner time and wants more. We limit her water intake at the dinner table because we don't want her filling up on fluids. She's then happy to wait till dinner is finished and then she will ask for more water. I guess I have a couple of questions regarding water intake. Firstly does anyone else have a child that just keeps wanting water? She is otherwise very healthy little girl and we make sure she eats healthy too. She's very happy to inform us that lollies and chocolates are not good for you and we shouldn't eat them. But the amount of water intake she has worries my sometimes, could there be an underlying medical issue that we don't know about? I have never brought this up with my doctor before but I'm thinking maybe I should. My other question is that, can too much water give you looser bowels. I believe it can but my hubby seems to think otherwise. I only know this from my doctors making sure you drink plenty of water during pregnancy to keep the constipation at bay. I think my daughter is drinking too much water and giving her much looser bowel movements, does anyone think this is true or not?

Please no rude comments and thank you in advance for your answers and insight.

regards, Tanya

Mum to 3 girls: 5 year old with special needs, 3 year old and a 17 month old.

Hi all,

Well my daughter is 5 years old. She was diagnosed with Williams Syndrome at age 2. It's been a rough road here and there for us but we are learning to take one day at a time with her.

Recently back in January she started school. We are hoping to have her at mainstream school full time but took the advice of the special school she attended for kindy to go 3 days mainstream and 2 days special school. This worked great for 2 weeks. By week 3 however, all was not rosy! She really went off the rails and started to play up big time at mainstream to the point where she threatened to run away after the teacher already caught her once. It was so upsetting for us that week. After consulting with the special school again, we have dropped her hours back to just 2 hours mainstream school with one on one aid support every Monday and 4 days at Special School with the end result of hopefully increasing her time gradually at mainstream over the year and easing her into it. This last 2 weeks though, she has been great. We as her parents have also decided to treat her as though she has ADHD/ADD as WS people are prone to it so we decided to change her diet after getting comments back from mainstream that she was a totally different child after having some rice crisps that had a particular "natural" colour on them. We have since seen a dietitian who has also suggested we put her on an "elimination diet" which we will be starting next Monday. In the meantime though we have cut out all artificial preservatives, colours and flavours and already we have seen a huge difference in her.

I guess my question to all would be, with so many children these days being diagnosed with ADHD and ADD and other various behavioural disorders, would you be willing to change your child's diet in order to avoid medications or would you just put your child on medications and hope for the best, forgetting that putting a child on meds doesn't mean it will fix them as it could very well be the food we feed them that set them off and the meds and diet end up fighting inside your child's body! After reading so much information and talking to this dietitian, it is frightening to realize how much "they" add and process our foods that are actually suppose to be "natural". I know what we would do, and we are doing it. We want our daughter to be able to attend mainstream full time because she is not special school material, it has yet to be confirmed with an IQ test later this year, but we have been told she is only mildly affected with WS. We strongly feel that amending her diet will help with her already short attention span and behaviour but those who know a WS child or person, know that they are beautiful human beings that are so loving and affectionate, that's what we want to shine through, not the behaviour. So what does everyone else think, diet change or meds?!

No rude comments please and any personal experiences in this area, I would love to hear. Thanx and sorry it's a long one and I have put it here in Pregnancy and parenting as this is where I am most of the time. Thanx

Hi all, well I have a tank full of mollies and some babies that they haven't eaten of course! and also a clown loach who keeps my tank clean and eats unwanted snails. It's due for another clean again, probably tomorrow once my kids are out of the house at school and daycare and someone mentioned to me that there are rocks you can buy to put in the bottom of the fish tank that maintain the correct levels in the water and also neutralize it. I really can't remember what it was called, I don't think it was flint rocks but they keep coming to mind. Does anyone know what pebbles/rocks I am talking about? Thanks in advance.

I just wanted to know what other mums find that makes there little one happy at snooze time. Even at bedtime, my 14 month old loves her little bear and only recently she has started to really give him a little hug which I thought was just so cute so I had to take a picture of her this afternoon. It's just a little scented bear that my sister gave me like 5 years ago for my first who never really took to it, nor did my second but my 3rd just loves him. I often put a spot of Lavender oil on him to help relax her and help her sleep at night too and she loves the smell.

So what do other mum's out there do as little creature comforts for their little babies at that time when they really don't want to go down for a snooze or bed?

Here is a couple of pictures of my little girl, Juliette cuddling her bear and I think if she knew how to pucker up, she'd have kissed him too.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u102/Nadena_200...

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u102/Nadena_200...

Thanks in advance, Tanya xx

Hi please help me someone. I'm going crazy trying to figure out how to get a photo of my own as my avatar on here. I have noticed that others are using a photo of their own and would like to do the same. Please can anyone give me some step by step instructions before I loose my hair!! Thanking you all in advance and please real answers only are appreciated.

I am at a loss as to what I can suggest to help my good friend.

She is 34 years old and already has a little 9 month old girl. She and her husband want to have another child close together in age so she stopped breastfeeding her baby at about 5-6 months. As I know this happens, she still got her period as normal but never fell pregnant.

She has been to see her OB and has had an array of tests done, ultrasounds, blood tests and other test that I can't remember, her husband has even had a sperm count done to rule any problems out with him, (got the all clear). Basically, they have confirmed that she is definitely not ovulating even though she is still having a period every month with about a 25 day cycle. The doctors have not been able to give her a medical reason as to why she is not producing the hormones needed to ovulate. She is a little over weight but certainly this didn't stop her from falling pregnant the first time. Her first pregnancy did result in a miscarriage at about the 10 week mark. However 2 months later she fell pregnant with her now 9 month old. She's due to go back and see her OB in mid December. I'm guessing he will suggest hormone therapy but she really is not keen on this avenue as they are associated with breast cancer and her mother died from breast cancer so she is at a greater risk already without adding hormone replacement to the equation.

Is there anything else anyone out there can suggest her trying to stimulate her hormones to kick back in. I just feel so helpless not being able to help her. I know she watches my 3 little kids and wishes for another. She's extremely happy that she has her little girl and she's a great mum with her but I do think she wants another so badly. I've seen her hold back tears at times when we chat.

Please is there anyone that can suggest anything. Thanking you all in advance for just legitimate answers please.