September 2020 7 - babies are arriving!

[sianyflewog]

Just making this ready xx

@OrDis I had this this week (I was 38+4) and went for scan the next day...all was fine. Spoke to a couple of mums in my NCT group and they had had the same! Hopefully it'll be the same for you too!

Great news @MooseWL It took me a week to get use to not working but loving it now although impatient for the little one to arrive

Thanks @WillowT! Just been notified it’s Monday afternoon so thats good. I’m not overly worried- she’s been measuring big the whole time... she’s probably just ran out of space to grow anymore 🤣🤣

Congrats @Sunshinexx95 and @ShiningStarz! Lovely news. @ShiningStarz stay in as long as you need don't get kicked out if you're not happy!

@OrDis mine slowed right down based on tape measure but midwife said it was because baby was engaged. 9lbs 8oz showed she was correct 😅

Saw tongue tie specialist yesterday and she diagnosed it before really looking in his mouth! Anyway she did the little snip and I'm getting ready to try him on the boob tonight as expressing is a grind in the nighttime! Going to have my first drink whilst doing it to make me relax!

Hope everyone is good. Not long for some of you now 🤞🤞🤞🤞

Just back from my pre-op appointment and the dreaded Covid test - it was absolutely fine. Wish I hadn't got myself so worked up about it!

Just when I thought I was ready to go it was picked up that I have previously had MRSA... cue panic from the staff. I've now been put on 'eradication' therapy and have to use a wash, nasal cream and throat spray for the next 5 days 🤦🏼‍♀️

It also means I'll have to be last on the theatre list so they can deep clean the theatre after me!

On the plus side I'll apparently get a private room - small mercies!

What a bloody day 🤯🙈

PS) MRSA was caught at the same hospital 10 YEARS AGO!

Congratulations @Sunshinexx95 and @ShiningStarz ! Had a grizzly boy on my hands the last few days so not been checking the thread, lovely to catch up and see your babies here!

@MooseWL enjoy your leave, time to relax now!
@ChipsAreLife lucky you, enjoy that drink! What are you having? I cant wait to have a glass of red, and we've already some champagne in stock 🥳
@LatteLover12 when is your c section? Can you head in later, knowing you will be last on the list?
@OrDis I havent been in your position, but it seems like the way they measure the bumps is not so accurate. At least you don't have to wait long until Monday and you get to have a sneaky peak at your baby 🥰

It's on Wednesday!

My hospital asks you to go in at 7am if you're in the morning slot or 10.30 if you're in the afternoon.

Knowing my luck I'll do all this antibac showering and then not get my private room 😂 I might be persuaded to stay in an extra night if it's peaceful in there 😴

@OrDis I had the growth scan due to measurement drop and it turned out baby had dropped into pelvis hence the drop in measurement, think it's really common so hopefully nothing to worry about but reassuring to get the checks anyway xx

Congratulations @Sunshinexx95 and @ShiningStarz lovely news xxx

Hi everyone, thanks for the well wishes.
Well in NI my local hospital let my partner stay in c section recovery until I got a bed in the ward. That was pretty much from 8am-3pm and he was allowed back at 7 for an hr.
Today it was one visit for another hr.
From tomorrow however, they are banning partners / birth partners etc due to COVID. Just the worst situation to be in. Really feel for you ladies that will have to do this without partners.

Sorry to hear that @ShiningStarz when are they letting you home?

@ShiningStarz Ohno that’s rubbish! Hope you’re okay.

Hi everyone, I get home today so I'll
Be able to catch up on the msgs later.

BF was going ok, last night though baby was not getting satisfied and it was after 1am and I couldn't put her down. I was exhausted and eventually gave into an aptamil ready made feed. She settled and slept.

I'm now thinking about expressing my breast milk and using the ma'am bottles alongside aptamil feeds. Anyone have any advice?

Hi ladies. Quicknupdate from me, was admitted and induction process started last night due to high bp. Ive had a balloon catheter fitted and they will try and bresk my waters today, the syntocin drip to kick start contractions. Its all a but scary on my own but they have been kind xx

@ShiningStarz expressing is reeeeeeeally hard work and time consuming. Obviously if it's the only option then that's great to go with that so she at least gets your colostrum/milk but I would avoid it if you can just purely for the faffing around with sterilising and the amount of time it will take to express, then feed. Whilst your still in hosp get all the help u can with latching on etc first rather than jumping into the aptimal so soon if it's not what u wanted. Mine found it difficult to latch one side so wasn't getting much, but now 8 days on and cracked nipples later we're really starting to get somewhere and I'm so glad I persevered through the painful/difficult bit. I did express by hand from the really sore nipple for a day and found it took ages to get just 5ml, no way I could do that long term, you'd need a really good pump for long term expressing xxx

@emma278 good luck with everything today. I hope the staff continue to be kind, don't hesitate to ask when you need their help, that's what they're there for! Hopefully won't be long before you have your little bundle to tell us about xxx

@ShiningStarz I agree with @HugeAgeGap That expressing is hard - it’s the option I’ve had to go with as Wren struggled to latch. We tried a Nipple shield which helped but he was burning so many calories with the effort of BF all night that he wasn’t gaining weight and I’ve ended up expressing to bottle feed and giving him Prescription preterm formula on medical advice.
Benefit is that I get a lot more sleep than I did when he was struggling with BF as we were up for 6 hours feeding and still he wasn’t satisfied and he is gaining weight well now.
However, I certainly get less sleep than I imagine with successful BF. When he wakes at 2am now I bottle feed him and he goes straight back to sleep but then I have to get up to go express and sterilise all my pumping kit. There’s also sterilising all the bottles a few times a day (plus pumping kit every use, so 8 times a day) and if baby doesn’t like cold milk they have to wait for you to warm it out of the fridge while they’re screaming they’re hungry which is pretty tough to listen to. It also means that unless you’re planning to pumping out and about your plans are structured around making sure you’re pumping frequently enough.
It’s certainly doable if it turns out to be best for baby but just know that it’s tough going at times. The doctor said that most women end up abandoning the pumping and just formula feeding when it gets to finding a balance between living life and enjoying your baby vs constant pumping the benefits of Breast milk.

Sorry this is an essay!!

Sounds like a tough night @ShiningStarz I had similar with my youngest. He just wanted to be on me.

My milk didn't come in until about day 3/4 so it felt like he was just sucking on me for nothing but he was fine. My nipples were sore for that first couple of weeks and then it all settled and we fed for 10 months.

I'm going in prepared with nipple shields and lansinoh this time in case this baby is the same.

Good luck @emma278 I hope things get going for you today!

If you start off combination feeding @ShiningStarz, you might find the milk dries up quite quickly. This happened to me last time - I exclusively breast fed for a few weeks, but once I started introducing formula (I did this during the day when I was out of my own house because of my anxiety), within a few weeks there wasn’t enough milk there and he’d spend ages latching on and then pulling off and re-latching for the quick let down. I know it was definitely a case of my milk drying up as my body didn’t even notice when I no longer breastfed him. You’ll obviously have to speak to a midwife on how to successfully combo feed - unfortunately the midwives in my area were all for breastfeeding and would not give any help on bottle feeding other than throwing a leaflet across the desk at me. I’m hoping they’ve now retired in the last 3 years 😂

I also had a night in hospital (night 2) where H would not be put down. He’d feed, suckle suckle suckle, be fast asleep, I’d get out of bed, I’d put him down, drift off to sleep and he’d be wide awake and it started all over again. The nurse told me he was hungry, to keep going and eventually I called her in to the fast asleep baby in my arms, she could see he definitely wasn’t hungry and said to me “He can smell you. Let me swaddle him and move him away” - she pushed the cot a little further from the bed and he slept a good 4 hours. I’m telling you this in case it was the same situation with you last night, as I know how much you wanted to breast feed.

Our first night at home (night 3) he also cried every time he was down because I had put the Moses basket on my husbands side of the bed so that he could easily lift him and pass him over, but H couldn’t sense me as he was too far away. We moved him to my side of the bed, slightly away, and he slept like a dream. He was generally fine from that night on.

Whatever you decide, do what’s right for you. As long as your baby is being fed, she will be fine. Just whatever decision you make, don’t beat yourself up over it (which I definitely did for far too long) - happy mummy, happy baby.

Does she have a name? Xx

Bless you @ShiningStarz it's really hard. But your milk isn't in yet. The best way to get it in is to keep her on the breast as much as possible. When it gets too much give some formula but it can affect supply.

I'm expressing with one sometimes two bottles of formula. Expressing is a faff but I'm in a good routine now. I express every 2/3 hours in the day and night is about 4. I have a Piaek double pump and a pumping bra from Amazon. I get that all on in a minute and then I feed him the previous feed from a bottle when I pump. When he's asleep I wash up my steriliser in very hot soapy water. MW said I only need to sterilise it once a day. I have the MAM bottles which are super easy to sterilise.

I'm still trying him on the breast but he's not very good and doesn't get much. So needs more practice! I'm not sure I'll express for ever I'll go whilst I can. I don't really go anywhere where I couldn't go pump for 20 mins every 2/3 hours so it's not a huge problem for me.

Good luck @emma278 hope it all goes smoothly for you

I meant sterilise my pump once a day 🤪

Also yes good luck @emma278

@Lilice I had a small glass of Provence rose 👌 I could have another but was worried I would fall asleep 😅

Good luck @emma278 that must be hard having to go through it without your partner.
Have the rules in hospitals changed again? My hospital said that husbands/partners were allowed to stay with you during inductions but now I’m worrying in case the rules have changed again.
Ps it’s still me I just added a b to the end of my user name! 😂

Anyone else having trouble with breathing? I was dropping my husband off at his work and I couldn’t even get words out I felt soo out of breath, I started to hyperventilate, think I just panicked because I couldn’t breathe properly. My husband got me water and I sat outside until I was okay. I think it’s just position of the baby and that simple things like going up and down the stairs exhausts me but I’m getting it quite a lot lately.

Just an update that my little guy arrive at 0353 on September 11 9 days late weighting a dinky 7lb. Still in hospital but hoping to leave today