TTC#1 - Second wave grads thread - The Third!

[FXSkip]

Hello all, kicking off another thread for the TTC1 crew... check in below if you please!

I'll start - Skip here, got my BFP somewhere around TTC1 thread 27...? Or 28. I'm currently 29, and EDD was 30th August - come on babyskip!!

@glitteryvibes I'm so jealous of anyone who went early! I actually went into labour yesterday, but the contractions slowed as soon as the midwives arrived so I sent them away so I could sleep. Now I've had a few hours shuteye I'm hoping things will kick off again - my waters haven't gone so they aren't pressuring me to go into hospital/be induced but will see how I get on today. Currently bouncing on ball with tens machine on pretty bored!!

@Starmist congratulations on your arrival, be patient with your body while it heals, I know it's maddening but you'll get there. Sorry to hear it didn't go to plan but you and LO are healthy and that's all that matters in the end x

Congratulations starmist and beautiful bouncing baby Dexter! L was going to be Dexter right up until he was born! So definitely excellent name choice! I wrote a little list on the last thread about my EMCS recovery tips if you x an locate it. But most of all, REST, I ended up bleeding (for 11 weeks) and with severe anaemia because i coukdnt/wouldn't rest properly, and then with a stinking infection. Put your feet up, be waited on and enjoy the newborn amazing snuggles. Best feeling ever.

Keeping my fingers crossed things start up properly skip

Yay great news on your cute Dexter starmist sorry you had a rough birth and hope your recovery is swift so you can get out and about like you are raring to!!!

skip hope you haven't bounced off that ball!!! Fx you will progress more soon!

I did pregnancy yoga tonight and got stuck in a position...bending to standing - either baby was in an odd position or my ligaments had a freak out!!!

How you doing @FXSkip? X

Congratulations starmist! Hope you recover quickly 😊

Thinking of you skip, hope you are now cuddling your little one 😊

Thanks, but unfortunately I'm currently in the labour ward hooked up to a syntocinon drip! I went into labour on Tuesday, but after 8 hours contractions died down. They were intermittent all day Wednesday, before picking up again Weds night. Called the midwife, unsurprisingly contractions eased off again. Intermittent again, until waters broke on Friday, but still no good contractions, finally this morning contractions but also meconium so I was transferred in and hooked up. Hopefully will be smooth sailing from here on out - I'll let you know!! Thanks for thinking of me xx

Hi all, sorry for being quiet recently, I've been trying to get to grips with having a newborn in my life! It's incredible but also such a steep learning curve! Baby Amity is now just over 3 weeks old. In some respects I can't believe how quickly it has gone but then in others it seems as though we have known her for much longer already

stsrmist I know I said this on the August due date fb group but congratulations on your beautiful baby Dexter. I remember all the stress and worry you had after your 20 week scan. I hope you can out that well and truly behind you now that your gorgeous son is here and well 💙

fxskip sorry that your labour hasn't progressed quicker. You'll have your baby in your arms in no time now (maybe even already!) I can't wait to hear your update. Sending stretchy thoughts your way. I feel I should reiterate my feelings about the epidural - please don't feel bad for having one if you need/want it. It was definitely the main contributing factor to me enjoying my labour!

missy I loved doing pregnancy yoga. Getting stuck in a position sounds a bit scary though! Hope you weren't stuck for long! I'm looking forward to taking Amity along to some post natal yoga classes. Think it will be a couple more weeks before I tackle that though as I'll need her to be happy getting through a class without too much feeding/crying!

Amity has just finished feeding so I'll stop my catch up for now but am looking forward to going back through the thread to hear all your news and will reply later! Sending love to everyone!

@FXSkip oh Skip! Sorry to hear it's been a tough few days for you. Hoping everything has moved on the right direction now and you have your gorgeous baby in your arms!

Lovely to hear from you too @Musicgrrl. Glad to hear all is going well with Amity. Keep us posted when you get chance.

I'm over 27 weeks now and it all is starting to feel alot more real, time is moving more quickly but at the same time I can feel myself becoming more and more excited to meet baby bluebell and have her make our life complete.

How is everyone else doing?

Hi all, she's finally here - 5 days of labour stopping & starting, 8 hours of syntocinon followed by what then transpired to be an emergency c-section. I've lost a lot of blood, she is in neonatal ICU but we are grateful to have her here and be alive. Love to you all and thanks for the well wishes xx

So glad to hear she's here safely @FXSkip but what an ordeal for you and baby Skip!
Sending you both well wishes for a speedy recovery

Oh Skip I'm so glad to hear that you & baby are ok. Thinking of you both & wishing for a speedy recovery xxx

Thank you for your congratulations. It's been an emotional roller coaster over the past few days & I'm so tired but the little man is worth it, he's amazing.

Bluebell he was 8lb 6

Thanks Billy I remember that post but I couldn't find it. I've been trying to strike a balance between resting & doing small bits. A lot of my swelling has reduced today so that's made me feel brighter. Glad to have had the dressing off so I can have a proper shower now yay.

Thanks Music. No wonder he had a high NF measurement, he has quite a chubby little neck!

Hope everyone is well.

FXSkip congratulations! Sorry you had a rough time but hoping you are up and about soon and she is out of neonatal ICU. Hope all progresses well sounds like you deserve it after all that work!!!

Musicgrrl no i wasn't stuck for too long it was just a bit painful and embarrassing felt like a drama queen! Don't know if you had it early on but it was like that pain you get when you go from bending to standing too quick so guessing again just ligaments down there. Had my 20 wk scan the following day so that reassured me all was okay. Little one has big belly, big head and little legs awww. Still in team yellow but it was hard to resist finding out.

Aw congratulations skip, so glad she is here now and wishing you both a speedy recovery

Glad your scan was ok missy , I know exactly the pain you are talking about!

I'm 29+2 and it's going really quickly now! I'm feeling quite heavy now even though my bump isn't that big. Need to start thinking about getting the nursery sorted

Hope everyone's had a good weekend

Hi all, so I'm still in hospital recovering slowly - I can't remember if anyone else has been c-section on this thread so far, if so how bad is the first bowel movement? I am actually terrified!! Our baby girl is still in NICU having seizures and they don't know why. She's latched a couple of times, but I only get about an hour a day with her and she's not always alert enough to try to feed as she's on strong anti-seizure meds. I was expressing colostrum successfully for the first two days but since Monday night I've had nothing at all - I've tried electric pump, hot shower, looking at pics of her, smelling her blanket, being near her - nothing is working. They keep reassuring me that it's normal but I can't help feeling like I'm broken - first a horrific birth and now I can't even feed my poor baby - I just don't know what to do.

How is everyone else doing? Xx

Congratulations Skip so glad she's here and being looked after well and you too! Congratulations on your beautiful baby girl!

Re: pooing. I went once a week for about the first month. Eat fibre and don't worry about it. I lost a lot of blood and had hospital strength iron and the blood clotting injections which also bung you up. Don't worry about pooing, it will come.

Re breastfeeding, I'm so sorry you are having such a difficult time. Keep pumping even if you get nothing off, it's the stimulation which is important, lots of water, skin to skin when you can. Is it possible to have her skin to skin and then get hooked up to the pump, even if she's asleep or drowsy. Get dh to hold the pump on your boob while you nuzzle her? Milk doesn't tend to come in for a few days but it will, please don't worry, don't make yourself ill. You are doing an excellent job, you have not failed at anything, you are both here and will be thriving and well in no time.

Just as an aside, please don't think what's coming out of the pump is what you have, I've never, in 9.5 months of feeding L had more than an ounce of each boob when pumping. Whatever happens, you are amazing, you made a human, you brought her into the world, she is here, you are a Mammy, you are wonderful. 🌸🌹🌷

I re-found you guys!! (Not had much time for munsnetting of late!)
Oh my goodness, so many new arrivals, it's the August baby boom! Massive congrats to all you new mummies and welcome to the world to all the new arrivals!!

Skip so sorry to hear you and baby are having a tough start. We had a similar difficult start with us both having bad infections from the birth and baby marmite needing tests etc. She at least was with me rather in the nicu, but we had similar problems with breastfeeding at first - she was just too poorly to be interested in trying to latch. Please try not to worry about the feeding too much, the fact that you've been able to express some colostrum is an amazing start for her and as Billy says, expressing is really no indication of how much milk you can produce. Hopefully baby Skip will be feeling better really soon and once you can get her on the boob your milk will kick in. Baby marmite barely fed for the first few days - just expressed colostrum - and lost loads of weight. But as soon as she started to feel better she started to get interested in actually latching and my milk really came in then. Do they have any idea what could be causing the seizures or still not sure? Thinking of you and hope you're both doing ok

Baby marmite is 20 weeks today - can't believe it! More and more like a little person everyday. Her new favourite thing to do is roll around all over the place, back to front, front to back! And she loves completing 180 turns on the baby gym! She seems so grown up now!

Billy! How you doing? Can't believe L is 9.5 months!!! Are you still off work? How's it going?
I remember you saying you and a few of the other earlier grads from our first preggos thread ere on instagram and shared lots of baby stuff on there. I finally got round to setting up an account today! Would be great to see how all the other grad babies are doing! I just need to figure out exactly how to work it now

Hope everyone else is doing well, looking forward to catching up properly. Love to all!

Skip congratulations but I'm so sorry that it's been such a hard road so far. Sounds like she's being well looked after. Thinking of you.

skip hope they work out what's going on and thinks start getting better for you soon. Your not a failure. Sometimes these things are just out of our control. Please don't be too hard on yourself.

Thanks everyone for your replies - having a proper cry in my little hospital bed!! So I pooped and thought I was dying but then survived. Not looking forward to the next one but at least I know it's survivable.
Baby is off for a scan today to determine cause of seizures and then there is talk of her going into an open cot rather than an incubator which will be amazing! Thanks for sharing your experiences with being poorly after the birth, I'm getting a lot of conflicting advice and it's making my drug-addled brain even worse!! How are your babies so grown up?!?! Xx

Hi @FXSkip
I'm so sorry to hear of the continued struggles. I hope they can find the cause of the seizures and put a stop to them very soon.

Argh, the first poop thing is so good of you to chat about as it's a topic (along with the bleeding after birth) that I don't think is talked about so much but is so good for people to know about. I hope you feel ok!

Sending you lots of love x

@marmitecheesetoast hey marmite!!! How are you? Can't believe your baby is now 20 weeks old!! That's gone so quickly!

@OhOurBilly great to hear of your update too. Where did 9.5 months go?!?!

Just nipping in to send best wishes skip, I hope they can find out what's going on & things really start to improve for you and you're both feeling better & on the mend soon.

That's great that she might be getting put in an open cot skip. You are doing so well, it's hard enough being a new mum in these early post-birth days as it is, without everything extra you've got on your plate. You are stronger than you think, take one day at a time. Let us know how the scan goes. Also, good work on the poo!! I was on iron tablets for anaemia after the birth and everyone tells you how constipated they make you...what no one seems to say is that for some people they can also give you horrendous diahrrea!! Which is not fun either especially when breastfeeding, I got so dehydrated I had to stop taking them.

Speaking of other things no one talks about after birth but really should... prolapse. It turns out I wasn't as unscathed by my emergency forceps delivery as I initially thought and I've recently suffered one. Feeling pretty shitty about it. And I did my pelvic floor exercises religiously! (But got a bit lazy with them lately, thinking I was far enough post-partum for it not to be important, plus doing a bit much exercise and having a cough...) apparently it's really common, especially after an assisted delivery, but no one had talked to me about it at all. So do your pelvic floors ladies!!!

Hey bluebell! 👋🏻 Not doing too badly thanks, aside from the above, plus the 4 month sleep regression - living in a state of sleep deprivation! But baby marmite is super cute so her mischievous smile makes it all better (most of the time! ) How are you doing? Must be getting near for you now? Exciting!

@marmitecheesetoast ouch! The good news is that prolapse can be put back and you are not destined to a life of it - but yes get those kegels done! My teacher recommended this to me, but I deemed it too expensive however I would be reconsidering if I'd had any pushing at all. epi-no.co.uk

Got to be honest, although the recovery from a badly complicated c-section is horrific (I still can't really walk, and I can never carry a baby to term or attempt a VBAC) I am still slightly (very slightly) smug that my lovely foo-foo is intact. I mean, I'm too traumatised to even consider DTD but still.

Got to go and get scan results. Will finish later! Xx