Graduated Elderberries. Thread 9

[Cavort]

The over 30's expecting or just had their first baby.

Oh my Quod! Massive congratulations! So happy for you :)

How are you both doing? Names? Big smiley hugs blessings to you

Wow Quid didn't even realise she was en route! Congratulations. Hope you are Ok after 32 hours Looking forward to a pic. your news has put a huge smile on my face shit I'm now 2nd in line

Quod obv

Oh quod!! Amazing news! So bloody happy for you

Alex - Miles couldn't have delayed clamping due to being transverse breech, and it did him no harm so please don't worry about it. Yes it's the ideal to do it, but generations of babies were fine without it (including, most likely, all of us). It won't affect her now and she will be just fine. I'm surprised they didn't do it as I was told it was pretty much policy now; maybe there was a reason and they wanted to check her out, so couldn't do it?

And please don't worry about the birth, I can't tell you the number of friends who narrowly avoided emcs whose babies heartbeats were dropping with each contraction. Must have been terrifying but I think is surprisingly normal.

Sophia isn't a difficult baby; she's a newborn baby. She won't be like this in a few weeks. Miles went nuts every single time we changed his nappy; now he loves it. As people on mumsnet always say; this too will pass. Hugs.

Oh god I sent hugs. That's forbidden on MN isn't it. Maybe because I know Alex in real life it's allowed?! please don't report me to MNHQ

Hold on did you push her out in three contractions Alex?!!! Bloody hell!! Superwoman or what?!

wow massive congratulations quod!

Oh wow quod!!! That seems very fast from where I'm standing lol
Massive congratulations!!!! Need name and photo ASAP!
Welcome to the sleepless club!!!!

Can we have a pic quod? So excited about the latest batch of berries

quod!!! Amazing news, congrats!! Two berry daughters in one week! Can't wait to hear the name and a pic!

Yes janey three contractions - no pressure or anything! I pushed soooo hard I was worried I'd pass out, the panic of the falling heart rate worked wonders for motivating me to puuuuush!

Enjoy staring at her in fascination quod x

I wonder if they say things like that to make women push under pressure - same happened to my cousin. She'd already been pushing for an hour and was told she had 5 mins tops before they took her to theatre... Out baby came!

Not in my case as it surprised them as much as me! Just before they were talking about getting me to theatre because they thought I'd never get there and she was struggling, and then they actually checked the cervix to see it all dilated and a full head of hair! She'll have ponytail soon haha!

wow huge congrats quod!! so exciting!

Awww, massive congratulations Quod and a huge well done! Looking forward to a picture. I only had a little 6lb8oz tiddler and now she's a 91st centile bruiser so don't worry, she'll soon catch up!

Alex we couldn't have delayed cord clamping either as due to bradycardia she had to be checked by a Paediatrician immidiately after birth. They explained this beforehand though and I was happy that it was more important that she was checked over. I assume your situation was similar but they should of explained. At 11pm (and at only 9cm dilated) I was given an hour to push baby out before being taken for EMCS and she was born at 11.57pm.

aww yay, congratulations Quod!!

alex I didnt get delayed cord clamping either as his heart rate was irratic and kept dropping through the floor so he was whisked to be checked over asap. Nobody really told me anything as it was all done as an emergency. He is totally fine though, probably the healthiest baby on our ward.

Congratulations Quod! I am so thrilled with your news!

26 weeks thunder, that's almost there!

Alex I think I probably have a lot of the same issues as you. We had a very very pressured delivery after no progress for hours, meconium in the waters, heart decels and a syntocinon drip to try to get things done in a very limited time frame with EMCS hanging over our heads. Consequently entire birth plan went out of the window, baby was rushed off to be checked by neonate paed, no delayed cord, no immediate skin to skin etc etc and I am quite sore after ventouse and episotomy. However, looking back on it all I can't pick fault with anything that happened - everything was necessary when it was happening, if not ideal, iyswim?

I am now engaged with the early bf struggle. Got her to latch on for a bit today but it's quite high pressure - I have suddenly realised that she doesn't eat if I don't get BF right!!

quod, I'm so sorry you had a tough birth, I think a fair number of us had to throw the birth plan out of the window and roll with the punches on the day. But we all have healthy little bundles to show for it so I for one count that as a success. Sounds like you have a great attitude towards what happened on the day.

The first days of BFing are really tough, it does get easier though. I never achieved it I'm afraid, I am however still feeding him expressed milk by bottle 5 weeks in, I never thought I would get this far so see this as an achievment. Just work day by day and appreciate the small successes, be proud of yourself for each feed! In the first few days they need very little so dont panic if feeds seem short.

Congrats again!

Quod my birth story reads very similar to yours but I also feel the same that rather than feeling disappointed in the way things went, I felt very well looked-after and happy that all the less-than-ideal aspects were all necessary and in our best interests even though it meant my birth plan went totally out of the window. At the end of the day we all want our babies delivered healthy and safe and that's what we've all got. With regards to episiotomy, my advice is to stay tanked up on as much ibuprofen as you can safely take for at least the first week. For me, I could feel the ibuprofen wearing off and the difference in discomfort levels with compared to without it was huge. And good luck with the BFing, it sounds like you're doing everything right.

Argh I've been breastfeeding for four hours with some short breaks in between and every time I put her down in her bed she burst into tears! The only thing that will stop her crying is going back on the boob! Is this normal?! I'm so tired. She did sleep earlier in the day so maybe I should have slept then - feeling a bit sick from tiredness! Maybe I should swap to bottle if this isn't normal?

Yes, sleep when she sleeps Alex. Night and day go all topsy turvy for the first couple of weeks so just grab some sleep where you can. It does get easier I promise.

The feeding thing sounds totally normal to me - from what I remember of those first crazy few weeks I literally couldn't get anything done as I was constantly feeding, burping or rocking. Personally I found it tough to trust he was getting enough milk as I had no idea how much he was or wasn't taking, but you just have to trust it. If you're really worried you could try expressing to see how much she is having, but it took me ages in the early days to express enough for one feed (hats off mother!) so that's all I could manage each day. But he clearly was getting enough so if you can just trust she's getting everything she needs from you - and the best she can possibly have from you.

Quod I agree you seem to have a really positive outlook in what sounds like a pretty testing labour. The meconium must have been scary. As you say you're both healthily out the other side of the experience now Also hoping bf is going ok. Jealous of the newborn hugs!

Question for other mums... Has anyone got AF back yet? I think you might have cavort? No sign for me which is fab but just wanted to check that was normal?

Oh and Alex the four hour thing is cluster feeding - google it - totally normal