Due August 2021 - Welcome to the World!

[PurplePansy05]

Welcome to the chattiest birth club on MN! Newcomers always welcome 💐

14 gorgeous new babies have joined us already, welcome to the world 💖💙🥳

@Smurf123 - Welcome to the world, baby Sophia 💖
@wimbler - Welcome to the world, baby boy 💙
@Jessicapebbles - Welcome to the world, baby Ebony💖
@Inmypjsagain - Welcome to the world, baby boy💙
@PurplePansy05 - Welcome to the world, baby Leo Alexander 💙
@WinterBabyof89 - Welcome to the world, baby Rosie 💖
@Winecoffeeteamum - Welcome to the world, baby Emily 💖
@Ready2020 - Welcome to the world, baby Rowan 💖
@Magik01 - Welcome to the world, baby Isaac 💙
@Hoares3 - Welcome to the world, baby Ellis 💙
@Daffodil21 - Welcome to the world, baby Elliot James 💙
@sarah13xx - Welcome to the world, baby Freddie 💙
@Biscuitcat - Welcome to the world, baby Rowan 💙
@Whatshouldbemyusername - Welcome to the world, baby Arya-Nyah 💖

Counting down until we welcome 20+ new arrivals:

@MrsB2019x - Induction w/c 9 August, Girl 💖
@Dia12 - EDD 8 August, Girl 💖
@Aaaaa1519 - EDD 13 August, Girl 💖
@Angelesque - C-section 16 August, surprise 💛
@lucyrp - EDD 16 August, surprise 💛
@livingwithbees - EDD 16 August, surprise 💛
@BertieBotts - EDD 16 August, Boy 💙
@WolfMother - EDD 17 August, Boy 💙
@Caz1226 - EDD 17 August, Boy 💙
@Millymay13 - C-section 17 August, surprise 💛
@RandomCatGenerator - C-section 19 August, surprise 💛
@Smallbean27 - EDD 19 August, surprise 💛
@Sheisfee - EDD 19 August, Girl 💖
@Alittlexmasmagic - EDD 22 August, surprise 💛
@LottSE20 - EDD 22 August, surprise 💛 @notinthestarsigns - EDD 23 August (but likely to be brought forward induction/C-section), surprise 💛
@Fran919 - EDD 25 August, surprise💛
@Ava50x - EDD 25 August, Boy 💙
@ame88 - EDD 28 August, Girl 💖
@HopefulB - EDD 29 August, surprise 💛

It's officially THE month! Watch this space! xx

Oh and @lucyrp a regular midwife may not be able to determine a tongue tie, especially if it is a posterior one. Is there a specialist feeding midwife or lactation consultant you can ask?

@Ava50x predicted to be 7lb 11 on the day I was due to have my section but I was convinced he was less than that. I wasn’t uncomfortable or anything and just couldn’t see him being a big baby! he ended up being 8lb 5 so not too far out but still big!

@lucyrp she is adorable! And such a good weight as well! Hope Evelyn feeds soon so you can get into the swing of things, fingers crossed for you x

@sarah13xx you did well to go so long without a wobble lol. Try not to stress about messaging everyone about updates and thank yous, they should understand that you have a two week old and sleep is sparse. Glad your other half is supportive once you said, hope he helps before you get to breaking point next time though.

@Jessicapebbles Ebony is sooo beautiful. 🥰

@HopefulB congratulations on baby Chloe! How was your birth, did you have a good experience?

@biscuitcat how are you getting on without the nipple shields? That’s amazing that she’s managed to help and it’s worked for you. Hope you get a better night tonight. Maybe it was just because Rowan was unfamiliar with just the nipple?

@Mmr224 congratulations!! That’s a good weigh, what did they think the weight would be by the scan? They are very unpredictable aren’t they?! 😂

@Inmypjsagain goodness knows then, maybe it’s just my baby that doesn’t like it 😂 he just doesn’t look comfy, will persevere with it though. Was tempted to get the toy bar as well but it’s so much money!!

@Ready2020 I’m EBF. So far it’s actually going really really well. Isaac got weighed yesterday and he’s now 7lb 15oz (birth weight 6lb 7oz). I’m so so proud of us both, proud of him for being able to feed and me for doing it. But it also makes me sad that it didn’t work out with my first son. I do know I produce a lot of milk and my let down is really strong, a lot of the time he will unlatch himself when the let down is happening and I end up straying him in the face 😂😂 I’ve actually just brought the Elvie catch today as I thought I may as well collect all the milk from the let down rather than panicking and shoving a muslin over my nipple to save his face lol. I’m also pretty impressed with the Elvie pump as DH is giving a bottle in the evening so I can get an early night.

Isaac is only going two hours max between each feed so it’s tough going and the tiredness is very real. We will see how we get on once DH is back at work next week, hopefully he will be able to go longer between feeds then? 😱

All of us whether we are EBF, combi or formula feeding are doing a super job keeping our little humans alive. Every single one of us should be super proud of ourselves.

I went out with my sister today with Isaac for a cake and coffee which was lovely. I feel like this time I aren’t as anxious about him crying or wanting food as I was with my DS1, I feel like I just don’t care what people think this time lol.

@Daffodil21 prep machine is such a lifesaver, I have one upstairs and downstairs!

@Whatshouldbemyusername good tip, will give that a try! I’ve been putting a clean nappy underneath then taking the wet one away so I have the front of the nappy ready to close over if he starts peeing on me. I’ve found he seems to only choose to do it when I’m in the middle of cleaning a particularly dirty nappy and don’t have another hand free then just to make matters worse I realise he’s peeing everywhere too 😂😭

@Magik01 yeah definitely, I’ve just started ignoring the in-laws texts about his every move. Hopefully haha, he will be getting forced to set an alarm for the last feed of the night this time so he doesn’t fall asleep before it then I should get a decent stretch of sleep before he’s up again

@Inmypjsagain Aww thank you! Ebony is such a sweetie! Darcy absolutely loves her thank you, she has cuddles about 300 times a day and is very attentive to her. The other day in the car, Ebony was crying and Darcy said “Awww it’s alright Ebs!” (She’s 3 and has speech delay so this was a huuuuuge achievement and I definitely cried!)
Yeah we went through the docs, just trust your instinct! Another full day with no sick today!! Xx

@Ava50x predicted weight at 38 weeks was 6lb 10oz, sonographer said by 39 weeks was looking at 7lb 4ish. He was born at 39 weeks at 6lb 7oz.

First DS they predicted 5lb dead on at 36 weeks, born at 37+1 at 5lb 12oz. I always take the growth scans with a pinch of salt :)

Oh @Ava50x your post did make me laugh, the big pregnant hulk is exactly how I felt a month ago! Big hugs. The final weeks are hideous. You're nearly crossing the finish line though

Re weight, DS was 8lbs 12oz so on a large side, as estimated due to GD. I was told at 37+3 (I think, although I can't remember now when exactly the final scan was) that he'd be over 8lbs so the estimates proved pretty accurate. However, his AC was supposedly equivalent to 42 weeks gestation and IRL his belly has always been small. HC was also on a larger side, IRL it's average size. His legs, however, were equivalent to 39 weeks and are in fact the only part of his body that I can tell straight away is long and I see it from his clothes. Go figure 🤷🏼‍♀️ xx

@Ava50x at 36+5 weeks they predicted he was 6lb7. Born at 39+4 at 8lb 14!

That's so lovely @Jessicapebbles 🥰 I had this warm, fuzzy feeling reading your posts about your girls ❤

Forgot to say earlier too, we found the right nappies for Leo - Mamia for the win! Combined with Mamia Sensitive wet wipes. Nappy rash is gone, bum is looking beautiful and thanks to your advice on this thread, we no longer have leaking accidents! It took taking the frilly bits around the legs out, tightening in the front in V-shape and changing the brand. Still in size 1. Thanks a million for your tips!!! xx

Can't remember the lbs / oz conversion now, but he was predicted at 3860g at 39 weeks and then was born at 3470g at 40+3.

He is long though. 54cm at birth which is huge. So I think the measurements were skewed from that.

@PurplePansy05 we’re still on pampers but planning to move to the mamia ones, heard they’re really good. Was well impressed the mamia version of water wipes are sold in huge boxes at a fraction of the price of water wipes

@Ava50x Both my babies have been pretty spot on re weight -- my first was IUGR so we had a lot of scans at the end, and he was definitely very underweight when he was born, no chubby cheeks. And with my second (normal growth thankfully!) they estimated he'd be about 3.5kg at birth, which he was. They did say you never really know until they're born though.

@Ready2020 EBF here and it's finally not painful to feed at just over a week -- I damaged my nipples the first night and it wasn't until my breast fullness went away that I could get a good enough latch for them to heal properly. They healed really quickly once I'd got a better latch. I'm so relieved as it was excruciating until then! Have you had a lactation consultant have a look at how things are going? Often just a couple of small changes can make the difference between painful and painfree breastfeeding.

@Daffodil21 its been very tough so far, I had a midwife out last night to help me and she said we're both doing the right things so jot sure why she can't latch. The same midwife came today to do our home visit checks and we fed a bottle of formula which managed to make her sick up all the mucus she had in her tummy. I bought some nipple shields and she had a good feed at 8pm for half hour, she woke at 1 so tried feeding her again then and she fed for 15 mins but hasn't gone back to sleep so fed 10ml of formula through a syringe and hoping she'll go down now.

@WinterBabyof89 oh my that's so weird !

@Ava50x umm I'm not really sure, she seems to be feeding okay I think with shields would that still be the case with a tongue tie ?

@Magik01 she had a feed earlier with shields so hoping that means we're getting somewhere

@lucyrp fingers crossed 🤞🏼

I’m having a bad night, so far he’s been wide awake for two and a half hours and I’m getting to the frustrated stage of tiredness.

@Magik01 Evie has been awake since 1 and we've managed a 15 min feed with nipple shields and I've given 10ml of formula via a syringe as she was wanting more but no colostrum seemed to be coming from my nipple. Can't wait for my milk to come in

We've had the tv on in the bedroom as background noise too so she's less likely to wake and the sky box has just decided its had enough and has disconnected from the main box 😭 I don't have the energy to re connect and not enjoying the silence

@lucyrp can you turn on Netflix with your phone at all?

OH brought DD up much later than usual so our routine is out a bit but I did get a sleep for a few hours which was nice. I tried to take my time getting DD down after 2 feeds and nappy change but she's still doing her awake but noisy thing. I got my newborn sleep bag today and it's much better than the others I had. I feel better with her in it.

@Magik01 deep breaths. Take a walk around with him? Has he settled much now?

@lucyrp try downloading a white noise app on your phone, the one I’ve got had the option to choose cafe/outdoor noises as well as the typical white noise etc it’s called white noise+ and the icon is a purple colour. Saves you getting out of bed!

@Ready2020 he’s just fallen asleep! So I’m going to get some sleep while I can. Hope you and @lucyrp manage to get some as well

Going to bed after a 6.5 hour shift now off to get some sleep. Just wanted to share successes as I can't stop smiling.

Fed LO 3 times in 6.5 hours but after every feed she fell asleep in basinet. This is HUGE! She's been sleeping on me and daddy in the last 2 weeks. So during the day yesterday we tried to transition her abs she settled well. The night was what I was concerned about but she's made me so proud!

It's a new day - we've got this mummas ❤️

Hope you managed some sleep girls! I was feeding between 3 and 4 too, had DS in bed and was dozing off with him - DH was awake and watching us for safety. Then I did another feed at 5am which DH slept through, but I was fully awake and now feeding again. I also fed him at 10pm and midnight last night. This seems to have worked nicely for us. We were asleep by 10.30pm and despite the breaks we're both feeling ok. DS is sooo hungry, gulping milk every time and filling up 0-3 clothes 😱 I hope his weight gain increases now 🙏🙏🙏 Have a good day, everyone! xx

@lucyrp they said the same to me - good position, good nipple shape 😳 but he just can't do it. We allllllmost had a vague success yesterday but didn't actually happen. He will latch with a shield but the feed takes ages and he still needs a formula top up. So now I just express so he has a full breast milk feed without a top up a couple of times a day and the rest is formula. I'm not long to stress about it, there are definite advantages with how we're doing things (mainly that it's not all down to me!). You'll find what works for you, either way your baby isn't going to go hungry and will be getting all the nutrients they need.

@Whatshouldbemyusername that's brilliant!!!!! Hope you get some rest now after your long night shift.

It's the last day the in-laws are here today. I'm planning on skipping today's outing and staying home (they can take baby with them). I just want a few hours in peace to sleep/do nothing. I don't know why but I was genuinely struggling to just stand yesterday when we were out so im going to skip it today!!

@RandomCatGenerator sorry hobdisgram yet - I'll take a pic later and post it x

@Magik01 and @lucyrp I hope you managed to get some rest in the end? The long relentless nights of staying awake are so hard, so sending you strength to get through them.
After the struggles we had with the constant cluster feeding and the intense pain in my nipples we started giving formula (we had planned to use formula to supplement what I was able to give but I was sobbing in pain and had to give up) and DS has slept really well since. He’s been waking between every 1.5 and 2.5 hours for a feed then goes back to sleep almost straight away. I’m sure this won’t continue, but I’m definitely appreciating it right now.
With regards to feeding I’m now having to decide whether to persevere with expressing so we can combination feed, work hard on trying to go back to EBF, or to go for just FF. All options have positives and negatives about them and I don’t feel in a strong enough emotional state to make the decision.

Not a good night for us! No matter what I did he wouldn’t settle in his crib. We bring him upstairs in his moses basket (still asleep) then wake him for a feed at 10:30/11. He basically woke himself last night, took the feed, nappy changed, tried a very light tommee tippee swaddle bag for the first time, went to put him down in his crib and he instantly cried. Had him in and out it sooo many times. Another bottle, another nappy change, took him out the swaddle bag, tried leaving him in there and putting my hand in to reassure him.. nope! Then when I couldn’t take anymore he was sick everywhere 🙈 It went on til half 1 til he eventually fell asleep. When he woke for his feed during the night he was an angel and was straight back to sleep. I need to find some way today of stopping that happening again 🤦🏼‍♀️