October 2013: Newborn snuggles and waddles to the finish line

[FeministInTraining]

Stats sheet here

New arrivals here

Key:
SC - still cooking (pre EDD)
SFW - still f*ing waiting (post EDD)
OWT - on way to theatre (CS)
IP - induction in progress
SWIL - somewhere in labour
LIT - lost in transition

Oh and on the lochia/bleeding front, mine went at around day 10 but came back a couple days after. still now at 4 weeks 2 days I am wearing a towel but more pinky mucous then blood.

taking I am pleased you managed to see a GP today and have got some antibiotics. Mine were effective almost straight away and I didn't have any night sweats/shivers the night that I started taking them.

haylebop I'm glad it's not just my baby who can urinate for England! She often needs calming down with a quick feed after a nappy change, so it was a vicious circle we got ourselves into when she was filling a nappy, feeding, filing a nappy, feeding etc etc, when all I wanted to do was go to sleep!

I'm pretty sure Ailla was cluster feeding today from 9am until about 4pm. If it was then it was quite nice to not have it going on in the early hours! I never seem to be able to get her milk drunk anymore which annoys me. Anyone else have this issue?

Hi all

There isn't enough hours in the day at the moment, in between feeding this little person takes all my spare time up. My washing machine has never seen so much action

Untitled I have crying episodes daily, I'm so overwhelmed at what I have to do on a day to day basis I literally haven't showered today scumbag or what

Shooting about dh checking emails dp has been working also albeit from home it is tough when I'm
Left to look after a baby tidy up the house and do all the washing etc. Although on an emotional level he has been fab when I've been crying.

Clapham I was at your point where I hated the human race I really really hope that things move along for you asap

Taking I hope that the mastitis clears up soon.

Bfeeding is tough my daughter or 'angry bird' as we have nicknamed her was 9 lb 11 when born she is now 9lb 4. Mw said she needs to feed longer to get the hind milk. Dp and I off to a bf clinic at Liverpool women's tomorrow.

Roofio have you heard of puddle ducks? I've heard great things about it and am planning to take Alexandra if you fancy it let me know...

I'm enjoying a nightly glass of red wine it's lovely to relax with dp and Alexandra in her rocker and enjoy some chilled out time together.

My mum has been up lots to help out and is coming every other day the support is fantastic.

Sanji I hope the induction progresses asap. Good luck

To all those with a child/toddler and our new babies omg you have my
Upmost respect I can honestly not see me having another baby. This is tough... How do you do it? You are amazing in my eyes

Love to all on the bus have a nice evening x

I'd be fed up too sanji hope next induction stage is quicker for you.
orange I'm the same re weightloss, I've lost less than the baby weighs
Trying to do nice sleepy feed for baby B but he keeps pooing requiring nappy change and more boob to settle! If I switch to ff how will I settle him without sticking a boob in his mouth?!
flyer am sure your little girl will put on weight quickly now you've got feeding under control a bit, definitely a good idea to go to the support group though. How is your dog with her today?

Sanji i hope things get moving for you tonight- they say a lot of labours start at night...

can i have a little AIBU rant? i am so desperate to give our little Madam a name- with which i can not only announce her arrival properly to friends and family but also to bond with her.
DH is really distant from her still- fair enough as he's still working and trying to keep his germs from her. Meanwhile I've been with her every minute and feel really close- to the extent that I'm really comfortable with one name now (in my head). I've been chipping away at gently suggesting it to DH but he's slow to agree, wanting to read thru every other possibility before he agrees (not that he's looked at a name book since the weekend!) I let him be last night as he was snotty and absorbed in the TV but this evening (I even waited for the advert break ) he turns round nd says he wants to look at it over the weekend.
WTF?? what's more important- our childs name or Grand F-ing Designs???!
I've been through so many names, created a shortlist he liked, and with good reasons eliminated others and proposed the one i like best that, importantly to me, we have no associations with, and what does he say tonight? 'Ok, let's just damn well call her X' like that's a great story to tell your daughter. I'm livid. He's not making the remotest effort, which whilst amusing at first now pisses me off.
The name? Thea (i think all our shortlist are already on this thread) I do not want to call her Bree or Tiffany (an aussie seems to have different points of reference to me) I love Thea- she is Thea to me now. Whether it's short for Dorothea, Theodora or just Thea, I love it, especially the suggestion of a Gift from God.

Sorry- real rant. But I'm gutted (and my milk's due in). Please- any tips on persusion tactics?????

Thanks roofio yes those are the drops I am on. I will call dr tomorrow.

I think I have given my baby wind b? eating too much broccoli poor little thing.

Pink I am struggling to stop calling the baby little bean/bean which is what he was when he was inside me and get used to Thomas. Definitely good to have a name to get used to and bond with. (untitled , one of my little crying episodes was that I loved little bean more than Thomas...) Thea is lovely, no tactics to suggest but I hope DP talks to you about it soon and you can finalise a name.

Do partners come to breastfeeding groups with you? I am not very good at those sorts of things in my own. He is worried men won't be allowed with all the boobs on show.

Pink these men and names ! I had issues with dp and a boys name luckily we had a girl and that's the only name we agreed on. It is frustrating when they just aren't sure yet they don't come up with any suitable alternative names they like either! Sympathies. We chose Alexandra and I wanted her middle name to be Grace...he wasn't convinced.

Anyway I made an appointment to register the birth (we were able to do it at the hospital) and informed him we'd have to chose a middle name asap! He gave in and said "oh just go for Grace" so she's registered as Alexandra Grace. I got my way in the end

Also pink I forgot to add Thea is a lovely name

orange I took my dp along to bf clinic with DS. The counsellors actually seemed really pleased, as support from partner, family etc is really important to successful breastfeeding.

pink, if I were in your position I would make it clear to dp that I have a very strong preference for the name, and so unless he feels equally strongly about an alternative that I would like my preference. Also, agree to leave it until the weekend, but set a time to talk and decide and stick to it. But then I am not at hormonal day 3 milk coming in! Or, just go and register her on your own .

Is there any news from mon on facebook?

Good luck Pink you have my sympathies with getting ur dh on side with name, I'm having major issues with narrowing mine down to a shortlist b4 I give birth! I text him at work yesterday and he replied he didn't care anymore (he's narked that I've gone overdue and he's still working!) Twat! Fwiw love Thea, (but also love Bree it's DD2's middle name) I'm tempted with Beatrice if this ones a girl as love Bea as a nn xx

Thanks bowlful

jelly that was a bit insensitive of the MW!! Mine is about 5"

clapham so glad to hear Bp is a bit lower and no protein today. Have you an appointment to check it again? All the plotting..I'd call dr tomorrow to book an appointment and tell them the Bp is really freaking you out and could they please sweep as you are panicking it'll go higher etc

taking sorry you were so poorly last night. Glad you went to the dr! Which anti b did he give? They are fantastic at giving the wrong one for mastitis!

sanj hope you are SIL as the wait must really suck. How many labour rooms do they have there?

flyer good luck tomorrow. Are you feeding just from one side? I've always just kept putting mine back to the same side.

roo my guy is impossible to get milk drunk as he pops so much I'm always changing him. He poos in his sleep it seems AND when he is eating :/

pink I love Thea. Fx he decides he likes it. Isn't he on ML? I'd get him sat with the book tomorrow to come up with a better name by first thing Saturday or go with Thea. 5 weeks today and still 'nameless' as still applying for it. DS1 was named at exact ally 5 weeks. Naming is tough.

I was going to ask if anyone was sick of changing nappies as I'm almost always stood changing.

LO has been cluster feeding from 6pm - ouch!!

Really hoping he wants to sleep soon...

pink - Thea is a lovely name so I hope you get your way and that DH starts bonding soon!

Morning all. Still here, still no induction in progress, delivery unit still busy. Still FED UP!!! The gel has worn off now so the erratic contractions I did have have completely gone away. I can't go home as might miss slot and once an intervention has begun they like to keep you in. Missing my son. 40 + 11 today.

pink if he has no strong opinions and doesn't want to discuss it then she is called Thea! My DP had a clear favourite for a girl, which I like too, but no strong opinions on a boy. He agreed a boys name from my short list as he'd already used his fav boys name on DS.

Morning all. SC here at 40+6 and getting fed up. I haven't been catching up much because I've been sulking in front of the TV or going for walks wanting things to start NOW... I'm booked in for a sweep tomorrow but don't think they'll induce me till next week.

to those who are having a rough time of it.

pink I think Thea is a beautiful name and there's a lovely story to tell her of how you spent time together when she was born and the name just fitted her so I wouldn't worry too much about the story to tell her... I've also heard of Thea being shortened from Althea and Anthea if either of those appeal.

Ug, rough night here, Emilia up from 2 until 5, constant feeding and pooing. Fairly sure she was very windy - I had garlic kievs and beans last night, which is more likely to be the culprit?

sanj sorry to hear you induction is going so slowly - you must be so fed up. I would have probably lost it by now, patience is npt one of my strong points! Hope it all gets going for you soon.

I'm at the end of my tether with feeding. I actually dread feeding times now because I'm getting so stressed. I fed her at 430am she took 10 mins on one breast won't go near the other. Mw says 10 mins isn't enough for her to get the hind milk.

She falls asleep or comes off the boob and refuses to go back onto it. I try everything they've told me too, changing her nappy, skin to skin, blowing on her face , tickling her tummy nothing works.

So I've been expressing to give her extra milk or using aptimal now she refuses to take a top up! My baby will not eat and I don't know what the hell to do.

I actually hate feeding my baby! Because it's such an ordeal and don't know what to do.

Flyer I'm at a similar point. Feeding swings between being merely uncomfortable and painful. Yesterday my left boob was engorged and C had a hard time feeding from it. It seems to have scared him and I've only just got him to go back on that one. I had to give him and expressed bottle in the night to get something in him and relieve the pressure on that side. My nipples are raw.

Going to the baby cafe today, but I can't foresee any miracles and I just don't know what to do anymore. I want to carry on bf - mostly to avoid the hassle factor of bottles etc with ff - but I don't know if I can.

Hey flyer my mum wad always told that 10 mins constituted a good feed - she was shocked that MW expectef me to feed DS for 20 mins each side. maybe LO is getting enough so just not hungry! Unlrss she id failing to gain weight I think you can relax about how long she us on the boob. It is impossible to know how much milk she gets from you - you cant even be sure that expressing for 10 min will produce a comparable amount. I used to streds so much that DS wasnt getting enough from me but he was always gaining steadily. Dont beat yourself up - you're doing great!

MrsH I'm also the same about bf it's easier than ff. Everyone tells me once it comes together it's the easiest thing ever. I also had an engorged boob yesterday as she won't latch on it full stop. I expressed and got 150 ML of milk in 15 mins, impressive work I thought

I've verb referred to the infant feeding team at Liverpool women's hospital we are going at 1130 today.

Mw weighed her yesterday and she was 4.390 kilos when born after 4 days weighed 4.180kilos and yesterday (8 days old) she had gained weight but not enough.

I love her so much and worry so much that she's not getting what she needs.

Morning all, still no sign of her ladyship, the boys are so disappointed. Even after a brutal session of acupuncture last night and she still refuses to come out. I have lost a load more vag snot though, sorry to be graphic but thats got to be a sign right.

sanj, I really feel for you, you must be so fed up. Big hugs to you and hope you get going today.

pink that is a lovely name, use it! I have got to contend with the name choices of my boys too which are based on pokemon and wolfblood characters!

Hope all those with bf probs have a better day. My first was a very sleepy slow feeder. We turned a corner one day after I had travelled miles to a bf group on a bus and ended up not feeding him for quite a while cos the bus broke down. He was really crying but when we got home he fed so well cos he was So hungry and after that he seemed to get it. Not saying that's the solution as it was a pretty traumatic experience.

three blondes, my dh loves bea too as a nn, its on our shortlist.

flyer and mrsh yes, bf is hard, but you would not envy me in the middle of the night trying desperatly to make a bottle and cool it down while H screams in hunger!!! he gets fed in the end but it's horrible!!

flyer as others have said, try not to worry about length of feed -bf babies generally take what they need. If you got 150ml in 15 mins then she could easily be getting 100ml in 10 mins, which is more than enough for a tiny one. BF babies will also have different sized feeds, sometimes they just want a drink and a snack, sometimes a full meal. There is no way the HV knows she is not getting hindmilk, that's nonsense.

Likewise with the weight gain - the numbers they work to are for FF babies, bf babies often gain slower, and in more fits and spurts. Many midwives and HVs are poorly informed about BF, and end up making mothers paranoid that they are doing things wrong. Hopefully your appointment today will be more useful.

It really does sound like you are doing great, and just experiencing the same worries and doubts we all have

Flyer and MrsH, sorry you're both having problems :(
Flyer - if she's actively swallowing for the 10 mins and comes off herself at the end then she may well be an effective feeder and be satisfied. There's no distinct line between fore and hind milk, it's a gradual change during the feed. If she is feeding well on the one breast then she might not be hungry for the other one. Or does she never feed from it?

MrsH - I really hope you get some assistance at the bf cafe x

Bowl - we were also awake from 2 until 5! Constant feeding or screaming, I'm not sure if it's wind/colic or something worse (she has an umbilical hernia which can cause pain, although how you're supposed to differentiate between that and colic in a 2 week old I have no idea) - she is so distressed every night :(