July 2017 #6 - labour here we come

[nat2311]

I think this is how you make one?

@Gooseygoosey12345 they were happier with today's so allowed to go - as soon as there's a gap I'll get a scan if not it will be Monday. More monitoring tomorrow. Just trying to keep my paranoia under control now!

@ButterflyFree glad baby z was just testing you! They like to keep us on our toes!

Luci bless you with the night shift. I was also up at that time but didn't check my phone. I have got a cocoonbaby which we put inside the snuzpod and baby seems to have taken to it. We removed the strapbelt thing as Lil Notyet kept on being woken up by the Velcro on it but also no chance of her falling off as she is contained by the snuzpod sides. We also use it downstairs as it is light and easy to carry around the house. Maybe worth a try with George as it imitates the fetal position. But yes that sounds like cluster feeding which will pass.

At 16 days old we seem to start falling into a night routine that I hope to improve but I am happy with at the moment. We go up to bed with baby at about 10-11pm, feed baby to sleep and hopefully she is sleeping by 11.45pm. She will then stir at about 3-4am, I will change her nappy, feed her and put her back to bed. By then my boobs are full of milk so off downstairs I go to express which takes me about 30-40mins to empty both breasts. I have toast and a cup of tea while I expresss which I like; my little moment of solitude. I will then go back to bed and I might feed her again at 7am in bed where she will sleep till 9-10am.

I have not pinned down a day time routine yet though. She is currently sleeping and has been for the last 2hrs but she normally sleeps at about this time.

Glitters amen to cuddles on the sofa. That is a great position to be in. Newborn cuddles are yum. I will try and savour all of them as I'm sure they won't last.

Nat glad they are monitoring you and hopefully putting your mind at rest.

Butterfly Baby Z playing tricks on you. Glad you are reassured.

That's good news @nat2311 but I know what you mean about the paranoia, bless you. At least they're keeping a close eye on the situation and I'm sure your senses are heightened even more too, so you will detect anything that might require checking sooner rather than later. Baby Z is proving to be a little rascal already, obviously getting that from his dad 😂

@Notyetthere that sounds like a wonderful routine you've managed to establish already; very impressive. It's nice that you keep it flexible but at the same time have sort of fallen into this nighttime pattern. I'm so glad it's working well for you after the inevitable early hiccups. Any improvement yet on the Bell's Palsy front? Can't believe it struck you at this time. I hope it's not causing you any distress - it will clear up 🙏🏻

Ooh @Notyetthere that sounds like an awesome night routine. Long may it continue. I would t worry too much about day time. It's hard to pin them to a nap schedule prior to 6 months I found. Too many things happening.

Literally dosed up as much as possible with these after pains. They are horrific even holding her makes me all awwww which triggers it. Tummy is going down though so obviously working.

I think she's meant to be weighed tomorrow but I've just been told, very vaguely "someone will call". I know the NHS is a but stretched at the moment but they're putting a lot of faith in my observations which, when you're a bit sleep deprived, may not be the best.

Random thing I noticed today, Cerys has a birthmark on her eyeball and it's heart shaped. How cool/random/unusual is that? Also her name is literally "loved/beloved". Serendipity?

@nat2311 that's great! Glad to hear they're on the ball :)

@glitterglitters I've never heard of a birthmark on an eyeball before, that's pretty amazing!

Eyeball birthmark sounds really cool! How cute :)

I agree on the daytime routine, I found DS finally settled at about 5months when I introduced solids, he was like clockwork by 6 months.

I was hoping DD wouldn't have reflux like her brother but I'm pretty sure she's got it too. She puked up a load of milk last night and has had a few small spit ups today. I also noticed she won't settle in her crib directly after a feed but will if I hold her for at least 45 min to allow her to digest most of it. God I hate reflux, I'm so jealous of those mothers that can feed their babies and then lay them down to sleep afterwards! I hope I'll be better able to cope with it this time as I know it doesn't last forever.

DS came into hospital today and met DD for the first time, he was quite off with me which I found a bit upsetting :( but I've decided I'm definitely going home tomorrow, I don't want to be away from him for any longer! DH thinks I should stay in til Monday and rest here for as long as I can but I'm pretty bored at this stage (there's only so much Wimbledon I can take) and tbh I'm feeling pretty good! Having a section is nothing compared to the absolute car crash of a birth and recovery I had with DS!!

not sounds like a nice little routine especially if you can go so long without feeding from gling to bed. Ds was every 1.5-2 hours even in the night for ages and ages. I never had a daytime routine which i loved because it meant i could do whatever i wanted amd be flexible and hed sleep most places...although im just not one for believing in routines tbh that in itself has pros and cons. Cant imagine espressing at that tjme although the alone time must be nice. Peaceful and you get to have a warm brew lol

twixes im sure ds will come round. Its a big change. Maybe he just misses you, hope you get to go home soon of thats wha you want xx

glitter birthmark sounds cool.

Currently playing the switch boob game where you feed, fuss, swap, eat, repeat eleventy million times

I'm here too 🙋🏼

Will be more most of the night I'd say. Feed George until he is milk drunk then in the Moses he goes, 5mins later he's crying to be comforted again. That goes on all I Ge until about 8am 👍🏻

Yep definitely cluster feeding. @LuciBee231015 you'll be pleased to know it doesn't last long. Their bodies process it all so fast, by the the feed has finished they're hungry again. Dd is grunting in her crib next to me. I'm just having a few minutes of non-sticky time.

She slept loads earlier. Fil is brilliant but both my children seem to get narcolepsy when he cuddles them. 🙈

Broke a new record tonight!!! I put him in his Moses at 1:40 and he woke up at 3:10 for his next feed! 👏🏻 A solid sleep for over an hour!! Wooooo!!

Night shift checking in. Doing the boring bit of winding baby. I get impatient sometimes and put her down only for her to burp immediately after with the obligatory sick. Gah! I have to hold her for at least 15mins before I can put her down.

Twixes and Glitters thank you for the daytime tip. Basically just play it day by day and see where I end up. I am not too bothered about and I try not to make solid plans for the day so that I am flexible to do what I want.

Butterfly the Bells palsy is still there. All the reading that I have done so far points to the fact that it might take a few days to weeks/months before things are back to normal. I also found out yesterday that babys great nan also had it when she had FIL. Took her weeks to make a full recovery. I am being hopeful though and more positive than I was at the beginning of this week. I just have to be careful about what good I order as the more fiddly liquid food falls out of my mouth. I also found it difficult eating a salad on Friday as the mouth doesn't open properlyto get all the foliage in.

Linda I am going to put baby back to snuzpod and then off to express now. I wouldn't have chosen to express at this time but j kind fell into it as my boobs are rock solid and rather painful to sleep with at this stage. I express to give me some relief.

Luci yippee. Long may it continue to improve! And it will.

Brought baby in with me at about 2:40 and she's just woke for a feed (well I woke then she did). Feel like a new woman. Though need to keep trying to crack getting her in her crib. Thankfully dh and I are both on the same page with cosleeping etc so we do what we need to get by.

Hi all,

I am day 7 of hospital stay. Have had a bit of a rough time and getting cabin fever/baby blues.

Baby Shea is jaundice and after a brief but very scary/depressing stay in NICU he is back with me under the blue lights to get better. They took him off them 2 days ago with the hope that he would start fighting it on his own but his levels went back up yesterday do we are back to square 1.

Also pediayrician popped in yesterday as I took my first walk outside of the hospital and casually mentioned to DH that she could hear a heart murmur...

He just panicked and didn't ask any questions imagine how please I was when I came back to those news!!!

Sorry for moany post struggling but will keep on fighting.

Just have to keep remembering he was almost a premie and still needs some cooking

not night time (early hours ) is a great time to express and it must be nice havjng a little stash so you can have a break at another point. If you want to stop expressing at that time you could slowly reduce how much you express so that they dont make as much at that time
My right boob was sore this morning. When ds1 had some it felt like he was sucking on a bruise. Im dreading a newbkrn getting on it

Oh @Mawita heart murmurs in babies are very common and often correct themselves as well.

As for jaundice, again most babies get it to a degree but Shea is in the best place for them to make sure he's ok and fix it all.

Please try not to worry (easier said than done I know) and every day that passes you'll appreciate taking him home that much more. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

mawita 7 days in hospital is enough to drive anyone insane let alone everything else that youve had to deal with. My dh woukd probbaky be vague on the details too. They often don't ask the things we'd ask!

And like @mynameisntLinda my dh would be the same. He listens, panics and then doesn't get any pertinent information.

@mynameisntLinda if it makes you feel any better my milk has just "appeared" and I'm a bit full but not engorged as of yet and just a bit of toe curling as she practices latching. So far (touch wood) so good and a lot less traumatic/tricky than #1.

I.e. No violently coming in at 3am like last time.

Hi everyone- baby Seahawk arrived Wednesday ! It's a boy! We've called him Hector. He is adorable and so chilled.

Birth was pretty traumatic - exactly what I feared would happen. After 24 hours they could break my waters but didn't have a room. Had to wait 12 hours while at first having regular but mild -moderate contractions which slowed down and then stopped. They broke my waters at midnight and have us a room but said we couldn't have a dedicated midwife until 4am - this was midnight. Really painful contractions started straight away so I had some diamorphine which made me feel really spaced out. Contractions were every 2 mins and I went from 3cm -8 cm in 4.5 hours. I wasn't getting and rest in between contractions and they suggested either. Drug to slow them down or an epidural so I had an epidural. I was fully dilated by 8am but baby's head wasn't far down enough. It didn't come down so we tried directed pushing with midwives but he was also in a back to back position. Went to theatre to try ventouse / forceps but consultant said I'll be honest, 90% this will end up being a c section - so shall we just do one - it's what I'd recommend. By that point I wanted it to be over and she knew what she was doing. I wish I'd pushed harder for an elective section over induction as I knew the baby's head was a bit high and I could have had it straight away rather than exhausted after 2 days of no sleep.

I've been trying to catch up on posts in between cluster feeds! Congrats to everyone and good luck to those still to go. Even though things didn't go that well for me it was totally worth it and it's already a blur!

Oh wow @Seahawk80 that's a full on birth. He looks so happy and contented considering!!! Love his name too

Make sure you take lots and lots of care of yourself, it sounds like you've processed everything quite well considering though.

seahawk congratulations he is beautiful and what a gorgeous name!