Baby’s got bite

At the grand old age of (almost) nine months O finally has a tooth! The photo isn’t the best as I was trying to hold him and take it but you should just be able to see it.

Out of all of my babies he is the oldest to be getting his first tooth and you have even been able to see them inside his gums for weeks just hanging around, not in any rush to come through.

I should have realised something wasn’t quite right with him earlier in the week, he’s had slightly pink cheeks and has been chewing extra hard on his thumb. But he has been pretty good, and believe me I have had some horrendous teethers! E used to get a blood blister on her gum with every single new tooth that was about to pop out 😦

So fingers crossed, if this one is anything to go by , we shouldn’t have too bad a time at least with these first front ones anyway. Although by saying that I have now jinxed myself and he will scream for a week straight on the next one, guess I’d better get the cooling teething toys in the fridge pronto!

I have actually been dreading his teeth coming though. He isn’t the gentlest of feeders at the best of times and has often bitten my nipple with his gums hard enough to make me squeal, then him cry because I squealed. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he has gone past that stage, the last few days he has been blowing raspberries and trying to chat with the boob still in his mouth, very messy with the splashing milk but much less biting involved.

What ages have your babies had their first teeth? Or are you still waiting for them to arrive? Let me know your teething stories 🙂

Living with phobias

I’m sure there are very few people in the works who REALLY like bugs, insects, spiders and general creepy crawlies. I’m not that keen, I’d rather not touch one but I don’t go into hysterics if a spider runs across my foot. Okay, I might recoil and let out a little squeal, but more from shock than fear.

But spiders are one of the most common phobias in the world. I can sympathise with those who can’t even sleep in a room if they know there’s a spider in there, or those who refuse to sit on the grass without a blanket in case it crawls on them. Obviously if we lived in a country like Australia or America where there are poisonous spiders this fear would be real but our scariest spider in the UK has to be the daddy long legs with their long gangly legs.

There are some that have extreme phobias like Agoraphobia and Claustrophobia or Haphephobia which is the fear of being touched. Then there are the people who have phobias of what most of us would class as mundane objects, like peaches, spoons or buttons. I find it hard to imagine what goes through a person’s mind to have a fear of these things but I guess there must have been an incident which triggered it.

There is one thing that I am terrified of, actually terrified isn’t the right word but I’m not sure how else to put it. I know this thing can’t physically hurt me. I know it is an irrational fear, which is exactly what a phobia is! But this thing I’m afraid of? To me is an awful abomination of nature, they may be small but their fluttery delicate wings, their pawing legs and their fluffy bodies send shivers down my spine. The thumping noise they make as they fly into objects makes me cringe. Actually even just typing that has made me feel all itchy and nauseous!
What is this evil creature I speak of? Bear with me while I will my fingers to type the word I can barely speak out load without shuddering. I’ll do it quickly:

 

It’s a moth
Actually it’s moths and butterflies.

 

Bleurgh, I’ll leave those words there by themselves out of the way where they can’t touch anything. Yes , those horrid little things that keep trying to attack the light bulbs and dive bomb me when I’m trying to read a book scare the living daylights out if me (they don’t seem to dive bomb anyone else so I guess they do it just to taunt me!).

I am getting better in as much as I still can’t watch TV programs with them in and have to cover my eyes, even block my ears if you can hear them flapping but I can now sit in the room if there is one in there without screaming and running away, it usually has to come within 6 feet of me to send me hiding under a blanket or out of the room.

I still get the dry mouth, the struggle to breath, a racing heart beat and nausea, but I can usually remain composed on the outside even if my brain is screaming to run away. I think having kids has helped, you can’t fling a baby to one side mid nappy change because a certain insect flew though the window! Also I have really tried not to make them afraid of them too.

My husband has spent our entire relationship rescuing me from these insects. I have even had my brother in law come from his house on summer evenings when hubby was working afternoons to retrieve one from the living room.  Even my eldest daughters have become quite adept at catching them armed with a plastic cup and a piece of card.

I wish I didn’t react like this, I would love to go to the zoo and not have to wait outside the insect houses while someone else takes the kids in. I would love to keep the windows open on summer evenings and use the bathroom at night without having to wake someone up to remove the creature that is flapping around the ceiling.

There are over two million people living with phobias in Britain alone and I guess mine is your common garden variety (no pun intended). But what about you? Do you have any phobias? I’d love to hear from you, let me know what it is that affects you, how do you react? Or maybe you have managed to overcome your phobia somehow. Let me know in the comments.