July 2017 #6 - labour here we come

[nat2311]

I think this is how you make one?

@Seahawk80 your wee man is so cute, congrats! That's amazing that the consultant went straight to c-section, I had high forceps and rotation with DS and it was not a good experience.

I did the whole exclusive bf with DS but I'm seriously considering introducing a bottle of formula at night with DD. I'm right in the middle of dealing with horribly cracked and sore nipples, I forgot how awful it was! I would've thought that since it's only a year since I stopped that I wouldn't be back to square one but unfortunately the skin seems to have returned to pre-breastfeeding tenderness. I expressed from the right for a day (most sore side) and put hydrocortisone on, feeding only from the left and it seems to have helped a bit. But expressing just doesn't cut the mustard, I was starting to worry I was getting engorged so I'm back to feeding on the lhs again.

On switching sides I generally just alternate boobs between feeds but with this sore nipple crap I'm a bit all over the place.

Sleepwise the difference between no 1 and 2 has been awesome. She actually sleeps in her crib! I had to cosleep with DS for months/hold him for every nap but this little lady will happily sleep on her own as long as I have her propped up. I don't know myself

We're in cracked sore territory here too. Proper toe curling but I'm able to grit my teeth at the moment. I'm probably going to introduce some expressed milk soon but less worried about how much I can pump and more about bubs taking a ruddy bottle 🙊

Dd1 was an intense feeder (hourly for the first six months and three times waking a night) so far this one is far more chilled out but it's early days yet so not getting too complacent 😂

We've got all her appointments, registry etc booked in and we're going to head out for lunch Wednesday so I can get my first public bf in bloody ages out of the way.

Though tbf .... I may have hammed up my "concerns" to dh to blag a fancy lunch out I'll quite happily feed anywhere nowadays. #nofucksgiven but don't tell him that haha!

glitter the first time I took DD to church she was about 3 weeks old or something like that, so all very new. It was the summer, so lots of people away... they'd only gone and arranged the chairs in a bloody circle . In at the deep end... !

Oh wow! At least at church though, you know God has your back 👌🏼

Yeah, it was my front I was more concerned about though

😂😂😂😂

I've been lax at keeping up with the thread for the past few days! @Seahawk80 - already said on the FB group but congratulations again on the arrival of gorgeous baby Hector, and thank you for the recommendation of the Gro swaddle/snuggle - in fact I just signed up to their website yesterday (they're offering 10% off) and that was one of the items I've been planning to add to my cart.

@Mawita Bless you, I'm glad they're not overly concerned about the heart murmur and the jaundice seems to be clearing up. How was your 7 o'clock checkup? Hope you've been able to return to the comfort of your own home with baby Shea.

Thinking of you today @nat2311 and hoping everything is progressing well 🙏🏻

@rhodes2015 I don't like unexpected guests at the best of times... that would drive me beyond nuts!!

I'm glad so many of you seem to be settling well into the rhythm of things @Notyetthere @glitterglitters @LuciBee231015 ...and on the cracked nips topic @Twixes - my midwife recommended using Lanisoh daily for several weeks BEFORE giving birth... I know it's a bit late for you girls now, sorry 🙈 but has anyone else tried this and found that it works as a preventative and not just a cure?

Not much news on my end; Baby Z appears to be waiting for his daddy's situation to be sorted before deciding when to make a move. His case is being heard by the military appeals committee tomorrow, so fingers firmly crossed for some good news regarding his level and possibly even a delayed start date (wishful thinking on my part perhaps) 🤞🏻

DH and I also decided that now really is not the time to move house, with everything so up in the air... The contract on our apartment was due to expire on 19th August but we went ahead and renewed it today for another year. It makes perfect sense - it's a fully furnished and serviced hotel apartment, all our stuff is there already, I'm familiar with the area and friendly with the staff... plus it's a 3 bed/4 bath so plenty of space for us and a newborn. Baby Z would benefit more from the space and private garden/pool of a villa from 1 year+; it's not that important in these early months. It's settled me down a bit, knowing the exact surroundings I'll be going back to and being able to picture precisely how we will set up Baby Z's room.

That sounds really sensible @ButterflyFree especially with all this other rigamarole going on. It'll give you lots of time to adapt as well and you'll end up having a much better idea of your needs (if he's walking, really nosey, a climber etc).

Fingers crossed you'll have an answer on dh's situation soon ❤️

Hoping @nat2311 is ok!

Nips wise a lot better today. It's quite normal to have horrendous cracked nips around 3 days-couple of weeks. Their mouths are small, everybody is learning and it takes time. I think a lot of people see the "it shouldn't hurt" thing and automatically assume something is wrong/broken/doesn't work but it's just a case that it will take some adjusting. Lansinoh, lots of air to them and a bit of bm (plus get latch and tongue tie checked) it'll should be right as rain soon enough.

And hate to break it to you @ButterflyFree but Ive been lansinohing for about 4 weeks beforehand as my boobs were sore 🙈

Lol bold fail

Wishing nat good luck today!

lally brilliant link there, will definitely be using that! thanks for replies, I definitely need to set some boundaries with my immediate family.
No visitors today thankgod! Someone knocked on the door this morning at 10am, I was about to lose my shit then realised it was the hermes delivery man. He can be excused, he had an asos delivery

That's good news butterfly I'm glad your feeling better now you know where you will be! And you can really enjoy looking for somewhere to live next year perhaps, when everything is sorted. No need to rush and stress yourself out your apartment sounds amazing!

not lol at love island!

I'm a week overdue tomorrow. I'm just telling myself it's an induction for me now next week.
Had some really weird tightenings the past few nights which break my sleep and period cramps in the day but they don't lead anywhere.
Midwife tomorrow. I'd love to have a sweep but I just can't forget about last weeks.

Thanks @Twixes and @ButterflyFree - glad you're feeling a bit more settled. Good luck tomorrow!

Your apartment sounds lovely @ButterflyFree, we were in an apartment for the first year and a bit of DS's little life and it was perfect- everything on the one level, no stairs to navigate; it was like our own little cocoon. Admittedly it was a two bed, two bath and prob not nearly as big as yours but I loved it and didn't miss a garden at all.

Nips also doing a bit better here. I only gave the very sore boob a break for about 16 hours and that seemed to help a lot. Not sure if it was the hydrocortisone but in any case I'm back feeding on that side.

I know they say every baby is different but so far she's quite different to DS! Sleeps way more and is a much more efficient feeder, I think I fed him constantly for 5 months! Maybe it's a boy thing? She was a whole lb lighter so maybe she doesn't have the same appetite or calorific needs as him.

She also loves having her back patted and her head stroked, he was never into either of these things!

Anyone else with an insatiable appetite? I was hoping I could start a diet asap but that doesn't seem at all possible with the crazy hunga on me. I'm pretty sure I didn't even have time to eat anything after I had DS and lost all my baby weight because of it, it was awesome! I was kind of banking on that happening again and have been stuffing my face for 9 months!

Thanks for the link @Seahawk. We're popping to mothercare in a bit and they sell those there so will pick one up for sure!

Hello all, lovely to see so many beautiful babies have been born since I last checked in.

My little girl is now 5 weeks and, touch wood, seems to be thriving. We had a bit of a bumpy ride with her arriving at 36 weeks, losing too much weight in the first few days, back into hospital on day 5 due to weight and jaundice, then a couple of weeks of very slow weight gain. Thankfully she now seems to be making up for lost time and has started to put on quite a bit so fingers crossed it continues!

What I found difficult during the hard times was various professionals making me feel like I wasn't good enough. They didn't mean to, but in my hormonal state it was easy to feel that they thought I was a bit crap!

I've joined the gang! Baby Evelyn was born yesterday at 11.50

I'd had diorreah the night before and had the usual 4.30 am urge to wee only it was a bit more pressured than usual. Thought it might be early contractions or bad BHs so ran a bath -had several contractions in the bath so got out to have a walk around to relieve them but not being in the bath made them worse so I had another bath...then I needed a poo 500 times but it was actually 500 contractions on the toilet but I still believed every one was a poo.

Called the hospital who asked if it was my first, they obviously thought i was being a wuss and suggested I give it an hour and take some paracetamol and call back if it's unbareable and they'd take a look at me.
I gave it an hour and the contractions were coming every 3 or 4 minutes so we went to the assessment unit (very dramatic -contracting in the car and from the carpark to the hospital!) where I had some more contractions on the bed and couldn't answer any of their questions cos I kept contracting whenever it came to an answer, the midwife was about to check how dilated I was when my waters exploded on her! Baby had pooed in them (nice) which put them in a flap so made me more in a flap, I also had high blood pressure. She then checked me and I was 10cm so she said let's get you to delivery suite -they got me a wheelchair which I managed to poo myself in on the 10 second walk to delivery suite -I'd always imagined that'd be devastating but I was in too much pain to care! Got on the bed and immediately needed to push -managed a bit of gas and air before she came shooting out, it was really hard to control pushing once she'd started to crown. In fact I don't recall actively making myself push at any point it all just happened to me if that makes sense.

I needed some internal stitches and she stuck a finger and a pain relief tablet up by bum which I was NOT prepared for! Nobody mentioned that insult to injury! Jokes on her though I'd pooed myself.

Labour was more painful than I'd anticipated but seeing and holding your baby for the first time is as magical as everyone makes out. For anyone yet to go through it my top tip would be to brush up on your breathing techniques and remember them -they were invaluable as a coping strategy. And be prepared to lose ALL your dignity.

Loving the poop honesty! Dh had a sieve at the ready with our first haha. Genuinely wasnt bothered aboit poo at that point lol
Sounds like it was all pretty quick. X

Lol at the pooh. I don't even know if I did this time 😂

And that suppository

Ouch

Oh and congratulations!!!! She's gorgeous @Flappergirl86 xxx

flappergirl well done and massive congratulations she is beautiful!! What a lovely name.
I've been really scared about the pooing thing but glad to hear you didn't care! Thanks for sharing.

Flappergirl such a gorgeous baby and a lovely name. Great story too, I appreciate the poo honesty - is it ok that I laughed reading your post?!

Good to hear from you Kits and glad your little girl is doing well. Sounds like you're doing a wonderful job.

Congratulations @flappergirl86 - she's gorgeous! And your birth story made me laugh too!! So much poo!!

SO much poo! Why aren't people more honest about how much poo labour involves!? And the poos she's done after have been pretty spectacular too. Between the two of us we're a force to be reckoned with. X

Congratulations @Flappergirl86 on the arrival of baby Evelyn - she's beautiful 💕

But the poop though 😱😰 the idea of losing control of my bowels during childbirth fills me with absolute horror... I'm quite a prude when it comes to my own bodily functions - DH has never even heard me pass wind 🙈 Maybe the ONLY positive thing if he can't be at the birth is that he wouldn't have to witness such a delight 😅

When I mentioned it to my mum she seemed quite disgusted by the suggestion and insisted that it's 'not normal' to poop when giving birth, and that she definitely didn't do it. I suppose she said it in such strong terms to try and reassure me, but it actually made me more nervous in case I do and she's already made it clear that it's 'not normal' and 'disgusting' 🙄 It's perfectly normal but I've heard that many women don't realise they've even done it, and the midwives are so accustomed to it that they simply clear up the evidence before anyone else has a chance to notice!

Flapper Congratulations on the arrival of your little girl. She is lovely. Sorry but I had a little laugh at your birth story. Your little digs at the midwife. Lol. I also had the painkiller up my bottom after the stitches but dignity was already lost by then that I didn't care. I can also remember the overwhelming need to poo; that is all dh remembers me saying to the midwives for hours - begging the midwives to allow me to push the poo out for hours but I wasn't fully dilated yet.

Kits it's great that you have checked in and given us an update. Glad things are looking up.

flapper wow that's a lot of poo! Congratulations on baby Evelyn she is gorgeous! I didn't actually poo during my labour, I had dihorrea at the beginning so think that got rid of it all before I started properly!
I would second the breathing too, that really got me through my labour.