BFPs after IVF - part 3 (babies start arriving)

[HopefulllHolly]

Hi all,

SENSITIVE CONTENT - discusses pregnancy and birth after infertility

Continuation of previous threads for anyone with a BFP following IVF. This thread we should have some of us giving birth!

@anniestar12
@dippyduck19
@fluffyted
@leaf86
@loup87
@natty2
@thepeachgoose
@always28
@edf

Hi everyone - starting another thread! Will post the link in the other thread in case others still want to chat but for now have only added people who have posted more recently. 😊

Another quick update from me to say that I've just done my first colostrum harvesting session and I got 1 little drop from each side. I found it so bizarre though and I'm still so freaked out and blown away that I wanted to share this with someone lol

First of all, I'm pleased that I re-watched the NHS video before starting, the one where a lady demonstrates it on herself, because I realised that whatever instructions we got in the antenatal classes using a knitted breast or a diagram, just wasn't enough and definitely not the whole picture. Secondly, I just found it so bizarre to have something coming out of my breasts for the first time in my life. I didn't expect to feel like this. The whole experience was a trip into the unknown, with feeling the breasts, trying to work out where milk ducts are, what kind of pressure to apply, and the baby was moving at the same time so couldn't quite work out whether there were any contractions happening. I guess that there's that fear in the back of my mind too, that I might be sending myself into labour😅

But anyway, it was a good exercise in trying to get myself familiar with my new breasts and work out how to hand express in case I ever need it in hospital as well

@ThePeachGoose Well done that’s amazing! I tried so hard to get some but never could but I can imagine it will be so helpful to be so informed when you feed! Breastfeeding is wild! I absolutely love it but it is hard work, can be painful (the let down pains and when you are waiting for them to wake up for a feed - OUCH), and just really foreign as a first time mum. I shot Goldie in the face the other day - actual sprays of milk coming out of me because she was being fussy as she was overtired and wouldn’t stay on 🤣 I bet you’ll do great when you get there!
So pleased you have got your living room all done so you can rest the next few days/weeks - despite all my sorting the amount of time you spend sat down feeding and rocking baby you definitely notice all the stuff still not done and it drives you crazy! So I’m glad you did it! 😊
Goldie is changing every day now - she’s really alert and I feel like her face changes daily - she’s really filling out and is super alert, it’s lovely to have her staring back up at you!

@ThePeachGoose well done! It’s so surreal, isn’t it ? I remember the feeling of my first baby latching for thr first time and the weirdness of how much they clamp down. It’s a strong suck! Then the weirdness of literally feeding them from my body. 🤯
I hope you’re soaking up and enjoying these last few weeks as two. I can’t remember if you’ve said already, but do you have a date yet?

@HopefulllHolly sounds like Goldie is thriving and you are nailing the bf. God yes, the letdown pain and nipple pain - ouch. Breastfeeding for us is much harder second time round. Baby girl has reflux and colic and my supply is very high - it’s causing her to have really bad wind, makes the reflux worse and she comes off the breast very unhappy. We’ve been trying to work it out with some block feeding (using one breast for a period of time, then the other - I’m not sure if I’ve even posted about this already) but then I think it reduced my supply too much. It’s all been a bit tricky!

In terms of updates on our side, Iris is 7 weeks now, but still quite similar to her adjusted age (which is 3 weeks). I guess I wasn’t expecting that for a “barely” premature baby, I feel like I’ve been in the newborn phase for a gazillion years! I can’t wait for her to start smiling and to become a bit more interactive. It’s been so special having a baby in the house again and I have been soaking up every little detail as I know how fast it goes. It’s still been really hard though and a particularly hard transition to two. We haven’t quite nailed one parent taking both kids yet, so we both feel that we’re just tag teaming, exchanging babies, and that there isn’t much space for us. It also feels like no one ever gets a break and the sleep deprivation is killing us (neither sleep through). I hope I’m not moaning too much, I don’t want to seem ungrateful - I’m so so happy. I just didn’t want to gloss over the hard bits either. It can be so incredibly hard, and it’s a bit of a headfck when you have wanted it for so long!

Hope everyone else is doing well and the new mamas and the mamas with new babies are happy and healthy ❤️

@ThePeachGoose well done on getting colostrum, it's soo hard to harvest but great you're managing!!
Sounds like you are ready too! Enjoy what time you have left. Can't wait for your little one to arrive!

@HopefulllHolly sounds as though you and Goldie are doing amazingly well and glad your dog has settled too!!!
They change daily!! I get what people say now about to cherish every day as they're not small for long.
Am in the same boat with maternity clothes and wondering what to do with them. Reuben is also out growing his newborn clothes, don't know whether to sell or keep. We have another embryo in the freezer but am undecided as to whether we will have another!

@Leaf86 well done on surviving, I imagine it's soo difficult with 2 little ones! The sleep deprivation has got to be the most difficult thing and if your older one doesn't sleep through, that must be tough!!! But you'll get there am sure!

Not much to update from my end. Reuben is coming up to 6 weeks. We are still refluxy, colicky and constipated! But rather than being a daily occurrence we have a few good days followed by a bad day, and the witching hours (or 3hours!) are reducing so hopefully we are coming out of the most difficult stage. Last night we had 2 hours of crying, was fed at 9pm, asleep by 10pm and slept through til 4am! Was bliss to get some solid sleep. Not sure how long that will last though!

He fights sleeping in the day too and constantly wants to be held so not getting much done but am trying to my to enjoy this as I'm sure he won't want to be cuddled all day once he's on the move!

We are also starting to get some proper smiles too! It's lovely when he reacts! Today we've been singing nursery rhymes and lovely to see him reacting to my (awful) singing.

Have my 6 week post-natal check next week so hoping to be signed off to drive. Will be nice to be able to get out during the day, have more of a routine and hopefully he'll sleep in the car / pram when out!

Possibly TMI but just got my first postpartum period. Have had postpartum bleeding for 4 weeks and was thinking I'd have more than a 7-10 day break before it started again!

Hopefully everyone else is doing ok!

@HopefulllHolly getting any colostrum truly is a process. You need to do it correctly, be relaxed, be warm, be hydrated, be patient… I’m getting better at it and find it less weird every day, but I reckon it’ll be useful later on to know how much those external factors can influence your breastfeeding experience. But even with all that, I’m sure that my breastfeeding experience will still be a steep learning curve full of aches, ups and downs lol You made me chuckle at the thought of spraying Goldie in the face with your milk. I’ve seen similar stuff in some breastfeeding videos too and just couldn’t believe how strong the flow can be! Awww so sweet that baby Goldie is starting to be more alert. It must be really precious to get to watch her grow every day, and see her do new things and discover the world around her.
Thank you for reassuring me that putting the time and effort into fixing our living room was worth it. I’m very pleased with it now :D

@Leaf86 haha yeah, I’m pleased that I’ve started to process and get used to the idea that something can come out of my breasts. Then next week I’ll need to process the other half, which is that this thing coming out of my breasts will be what the baby eats. Truly surreal and bonkers, and I’m sure that all of the practical things like latch and suction will feel just as bizarre.
Yeah, my c section is booked for the 28th so in about a week I’ll get to experience that first latch, crazy stuff
Sorry to hear about the baby having reflux and colic! I don’t know if this is helpful and obviously I haven’t tested this on myself yet, but the NCT lady told us that our bodies produce enough milk for twins right after birth so best to feed from one breast at a time, then after 6-8 weeks the breastfeeding becomes established and more fine tuned to the one baby. Also feeding becomes more efficient so the sessions should get shorter around this time. It sounds like you might be in that window and if the baby gains weight, produces the right number of diapers and is generally happy, all should be good - but I’m just passing on what she said!
Must be tough to have to remember 2 ages essentially for milestones vs physiological needs. And of course finding the rhythm with two children. I don’t think that you’re complaining too much, it just really is that hard! I believe you! I’ve seen it in everyone around me when the second baby arrived and all of them were very much wanted. Hope that it will get easier with time and do ask for help from families for a bit of a break. Lots of hugs!

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 thank you! So sweet of you to say that. About one week left aaaaaaaaaa lol
Sorry to hear that Reuben is also struggling with reflux, colic and constipation, poor little thing! I’m pleased that the nights vary a bit between good and bad though. Gives you a bit of a break to recharge your batteries and sleep for the next chaotic night.
I hope your postnatal check goes well next week and you can get back in the car soon. Oh lord, cannot believe you already got your period! That’s so unfair lol

Hi everyone.
So lovely to read everyone’s updates both with babies and still in the final stages of pregnancy. Good luck with C-section later this week @ThePeachGoose 🤞

On my side, we are 3 and a half week in and it’s going fast! We’ve been lucky that baby is quite good, she’s still just sleeping and feeding all the time! She has some short alert times looking around but not for very long just yet.
She does cluster feed every evening / late afternoon which kind of enslaves me for a few hours each day, and she hates being put down so she is held and carried a lot. Shes also a cot refuser (despite us having the lovely snoozepod with fancy mattress etc!) so me and her co-sleep at nights and DP is in the spare room. It seems to work okay, but I don’t love being alone all night - but we just got to do what gets us all the most sleep. I will keep trying with the cot, but don’t have high expectations as none of my other babies slept in a cot 😬
By far the hardest part of having the baby is juggling her with her big sister who is 3. Like @Leaf86 says, it’s hard work having a toddler to manage alongside baby and it means it’s mostly one parent per child so less help for me! We can’t ever leave them alone as big sis wants to cuddle/touch/carry/poke/kiss the baby constantly!! And last week was half term so we had them both all week, and we ended up doing some days out / soft plays etc which I think was probably a bit too much for me so soon post C-section. Luckily nursery is back open today so I can have a restful week this week.
We’re still having loads of visitors to come meet the baby. But next week my DP has to go back to work so then I’ll be alone and I think visitors will fizzle out so I’m feeling a little anxious about next week and having to start being alone with baby all day. I think I’ll just plan some small bits like walks with some NCT mums. Feels a bit early to start the baby classes just yet, but I’ve been making a list of all the classes I’m thinking of doing like baby massage / baby cinema / post natal yoga etc.

Keep the updates coming, love hearing how everyone is getting on x

Hi everyone!! How are we all?

Sorry I've been gone for so long. And sorry I've missed so many updates & babies being born!!
Congratulations to every single one of you who've had your little bundles of joy and I missed it and haven't congratulated you on 🩷🩵💖💙

I hope everyone is well and enjoying their babies / looking forward to their imminent arrival!!
Good luck @ThePeachGoose for your c-section, sending you lots of happy, positive & peaceful vibes!

@AnnieStar12 the cluster feeding sounds a little exhausting but loving at the same time! Aww bless you, it's hard when you have a "Velcro baby" - I hope you manage ok when your other half goes back to work and you still get all the visitors popping by to help. It can be hard enough with just one baby so I can really imagine how hard juggling your little one & a 3 year old is, bless you - I hope you're doing ok! It will all smooth out soon, I'm sure. Each week gets easier or maybe we just get better at adapting 😅

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 we are in a similar place!! I hope you're managing ok? Have you been given anything for the reflux?
We've been given Gaviscone to try for 2 weeks and then hopefully Omeprazole at our 8 week appointment. I feel you on the reflux, colic and witching hour!!
Last Sunday we had 8 hours of non-stop crying, and a few evenings last week of non-stop crying and it was so hard.

A little update from me:
My little Arabella is 6 weeks old now!! (7 weeks on Thursday!) these weeks have flown by.
She is a dream!!! She loves her sleep (like her daddy) she's such a happy, chilled out baby except when she is colicky or refluxy. She didn't actually cry for the first 3 weeks she was alive!! Like not once 😳 not even for milk, she just would wake up and make little grunts at me 😂 but she soon found her lungs!
She has severe reflux so our bottle feeding routine take 1.5 hours!! Which is the only downside (if we can even call it that).
The first 3 weeks I was back in hospital on / off because I kept gushing blood (not sure if that's what you'd call it!?) it was scary the first time as I was alone when my partner went to the shops and I stood up and the blood was basically pouring out of me. Turns out I had blood clots left in my womb after the c-section and they were making their way out but I had to go to hospital every time it happened to get checked out.
Then the last few weeks Arabella has developed reflux which has made feeding hard but she's a little trooper and now we are on gaviscone she isn't in too much pain unless she has a coughing fit and gags on her milk - which is scary for me I must admit. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make her better! She also might have a cows milk protein allergy (blood in her poo) so it's all fun and games with the formula feeding 🙈
We've changed to Kendamil so it's more gentle on her tummy until the GP is definite it's an allergy, then we'll have to change her formula to dairy free.

I hope you're all well & enjoying lots of cuddles 🥰 or waiting patiently for your little one to arrive! Xx

Hi everyone! Hope you’re all enjoying the slightly spring like weather with babes/waiting for babes!

@Leaf86 Oh god those breastfeeding issues must be hard! I don’t even know how you diagnose oversupply - there’s symptoms that I have that could be oversupply, very strong let down/forceful letdown or reflux. It’s a bit of a minefield! Hope the colic calms down and you manage to get your supply in control. I’m scared to mess with my pump or anything to check my supply - Goldie coughs and splutters on one boob, the milk will spray at her when she loses the latch, she has mostly quick feeds and can clamp down on my nipple really hard. Her poops are normal but very regular and she does get a bit uncomfortable after feeds but not regularly. So could be literally anything! I might go see a lactation specialist - I’m not sure! She’s putting on weight nicely and it could just be normal. My boobs aren’t engorged or anything like that - in fact they feel totally normal and soft, they are just bigger (a nice novelty for a small chested person!). How did you diagnose your oversupply?
Sorry to hear about how hard the juggling babies is - it’s not moaning at all! Realistic! I’ve had lots of conversations with my partner about how hard it must be for parents with more than one! I hope you find your rhythm soon, and hope baby starts getting a bit more grown up and interactive! It’s lovely when they start smiling and catching your eye. ❤️

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 Sorry to hear about the colic, constipation and other bits! It must be so hard! The crying Goldie does really upsets me and I get quite overwhelmed when it goes on for long periods (witching hours aren’t fun!). So good to hear you got a good stretch of sleep! We’re managing around 3 hour chunks but because I slept so badly when pregnant it actually feels like I’m getting loads! It can sometimes take a good couple of hours to get her off to sleep though.
Lovely that Reuben is recognising and reacting to you! I think Goldie has just started smiling at me - it feels quite early as she’s only 4 weeks old but she holds my eye contact and gives me really big smiles especially in the morning. I’ve cried every time 🤣 even cried looking at her tiny perfect little finger nails yesterday. What a wreck!
Really annoying about your period! I think maybe not breastfeeding can bring it sooner? But would have been loads nicer with a bigger gap before it started! I’m still spotting - only small amounts but still there. Looking forward to it going as I feel like I am just a walking breastpad/sanitary towel at the moment 🤣 they are annoying!!

@Fluffyted Awww Arabella sounds wonderful with her lack of crying at first! Sorry to hear she’s struggling now. My friends had a baby with a milk allergy and it was awful how long it took them to diagnose her. Stressful! Hope it’s better on the kendamil! Scary how much you bled! I’m sorry that must have been horrible. Glad to hear it’s nothing serious!

@ThePeachGoose Good luck with everything on the 28th! I am so excited for you. Sounds like you’re ready and very prepared now. Nothing beats meeting your baby after so long. Just magical. I wish I could relive it every day - soak it up and get the team to take as many photos as possible! And make a note of what song was playing when baby makes their entrance! All stuff I didn’t do but regret! Can’t wait to hear all about baby xxx lots of love! ❤️

Thanks for the well wishes, everyone. We actually had a pretty eventful weekend on our hands, with my waters breaking early on Sat morning, and strong contractions following - I thought that it only happened in the movies like that! But no, I went into labour and while waiting for the other c sections before me to complete, l basically got to 5 cm dilation relatively fast, and then from 5 to 9 cm while being rushed down the hallway from the MAU to the birth centre as baby had gotten distressed with how fast things were progressing. All that on just air & gas, pretty insane considering I wanted to avoid labour altogether with my c section. And since I was almost at 10 cm, obviously the midwives were asking me whether I didn’t want to go through with it all vaginally, but I stuck my heels in, I wanted my c section. I was pretty terrified of the prospect of going ahead as I had lost control of my body and could not get it to stop pushing anyway, so I probably would have teared all the way to my brain lol

Long story short, waters broke at 3:45 am and our little Sophia was born at 11:45 weighing 3.2 kgs. She’s adorable and absolutely perfect. It’s already been about 3 days now and somehow having a newborn feels normal to us.

Sophia was born with a tongue tie unfortunately and, despite trying every bf position under the sun and every midwife in the building tried to help us latch, it’s becoming more obvious that she’ll need to have the procedure done but it can’t be done until day 10 in the NHS. She’s a happy clam now that we got a nipple shield though, as she is able to feed as she pleases. The hand expressing skill truly came in handy as well while we were trying to figure it all out, as she did not starve. But the issue around the feeding might have brought on some higher levels of jaundice. Once we introduced the nipple shield, gave her some formula too, the trend went into reverse so we’ll be released home today. It was nice in hospital as we had a private reserve, and truly our own little bubble, but we feel confident and ready in our skills now to be going home.

On my side, wound pain has been controlled pretty well with painkillers, wind has been minimal (only had peppermint tea once and chewing gum twice, otherwise lots of water snd fruit, and the maternity gave me Laxido a few times too. I also had my bowel movement last night so I think I’m leaving the hospital in pretty good shape!

Good luck to @Always28 today!!! Hope your c section goes according to plan!

@ThePeachGoose whoa!! Congratulations 🩷
sounds like baby was eager to get out! Hope you have made it home and all settling in okay x

Good luck sorting out the tongue tie, my older daughter had that very obviously at birth and nipple shields and formula top ups got us through those early weeks too. We also had long wait times at the hospital to get it sorted so we got a private lactation/tongue tie person to come snip it at home. But it was scary having it done so in hindsight we should maybe have waited until the nhs appointment came through. But it was all good in the end and I breastfed for two years with her so I’m sure it’ll all be sorted before you know it x

Omg @ThePeachGoose what a whirlwind! She must have been desperate to meet her mummy! Huge congratulations! Hope everything is going well so far and you’re settling in to your new life together ❤️

@ThePeachGoose ah I was just coming on to wish you luck for today! Congratulations on the birth of your little girl! What a birthing story, glad you are both doing well 💕

It's good they picked up on the tongue tie early. Our boy is 3 weeks today and it was only picked up last Friday, despite several trips to the hospital as he wasn't gaining a lot of weight. We're on a wait list too but also seeing a private consultant on the weekend to potentially get it resolved early. It's been quite stressful as we're now on a strict feed/ pump and top up schedule- feeling like there's then very little bonding/ play time between 😢
Good to hear it worked for you previously @AnnieStar12

@Fluffyted @WhiskeyInTheJar33 hope your little ones are doing ok with colic/ reflux? @Fluffyted how is your bleeding now?

How is everyone else getting on?

Awww @ThePeachGoose huge congratulations to you!! Wow your little lady was so eager to arrive, bless her 🩷 and a beautiful name too!! How are you finding things? I hope your recovery is going well. I hope you're not in too much pain.

@HopefulllHolly I know!! Bless her. They take ages to diagnose things with tiny babies don't they! It's so hard to see them struggle & in pain.

@Natty2 so I'm 7 weeks post c-section now and the bleeding has only just stopped. Last week it got lighter slowly but surely each day and then this week nothing, so far! So bled for the entire 6 weeks! But obvs that could have been to do with the passing blood clots too!? 🤷🏻‍♀️ but also could have been my period mixed in!? Who knows! I got so used to wearing my huge chunky maternity pads, I feel a little lost without them!
How are you doing?

A sad update from me: Arabella was rushed to hospital by ambulance on Thursday at midnight because she was choking on her milk. The paramedics were great and took us to the children's hospital - we are still here and have been admitted because it turns out my beautiful baby has whooping cough! 😢
She's not doing too well at the moment, bless her. They're started antibiotics but the dr has just told me she's in a serious condition so I'm desperately praying she turns a corner soon.
She's currently being fed through a tube into her stomach (through her nose & throat) and it's being monitored 24/7 until she is better.

Not sure how she caught whooping cough as I was vaccinated at 20 weeks pregnant and as far as I'm aware none of our family have had or have whooping cough. But she obviously caught it from someone.

She also has no symptoms other than a cough for the past 8 days - not the traditional "whoop" type cough and I went to the Gp 3 times about it last week and saw her health visitor and a trip to A&E and all of them just said "it was a viral cough and wait it out".
Now here I am watching my poorly baby struggle and fighting her biggest fight.
Always trust your instinct Mummy's!!! The paediatric doctor said that my instinct is the only thing that got her a diagnosis because I was so persistent, anxious and sure something wasn't right so they investigated and low & behold she's really poorly xx

@ThePeachGoose oh wow! Congratulations 🩷 Little lady was eager to get out! Hope you're both doing ok.

@Natty2 glad the tongue tie has been picked up and now you can get it sorted. I'm wondering if Reuben has TT. Am going to speak to the HV this week and see what she thinks. He's still colicky and refluxy which I wonder if it's down to an undiagnosed TT.

@Fluffyted how scary for you!!! Poor Arabella. She's in the right place now getting the care she needs. Wishing her a speedy recovery!

Hope everyone else ok x

@Fluffyted Oh my gosh how awful for you and baby Arabella - I hope she’s turning a corner. That sounds so scary - sending so many hugs. I can’t imagine how it must feel seeing her all hooked up on tubes and knowing you knew something wasn’t right and not being listened to - especially when baby is so small.
I spent 8 hours in the hospital (with what turned out to be bad baby acne in her eyes thank god, I thought it was herpes or something awful) and it was hell. I didn’t stop crying. In those moments you really do feel so scared and helpless as you can see they are so small and defenceless. It’s really the worst feeling in the world so I’m sending you so much positive thoughts and love! ❤️ Please let us know how Arabella gets on.

@Fluffyted just seen your update. Im so sorry you’re going through this. That sounds really scary. Thinking of you and your baby x

@Fluffyted OMG I’m so incredibly sorry to hear that your baby has whooping cough and that it took so many tries to get it diagnosed! The whole process from choking to ambulance to tube feeding must have been so scary! I’ll be thinking of baby Arabella and hoping she gets out of the danger zone real quick. Poor little thing!

On our end, I thought we had a great start in life with little sophia and we did everything right to make sure she was feeding, plus we had so much extra support, but she still lost 11.2% of her birth weight by day 5, so long story short we ended up in hospital overnight on Thu, due to elevated sodium levels (basically she was dehydrated and that can be risky in babies). We did an intense regimen of bf + formula top up every 3 hours and in the end, I’m pleased that it was spotted and we learned how to overcome it, because it felt like we came back home with a different baby. This one no longer minds sleeping in her own cot, it’s bizarre! So now we can actually sleep when she sleeps and it’s been so sweet. Due to the circumstances on the day, I chose to top up with formula while in the hospital, but I’ll start pumping tomorrow to replace the top up with breast milk as I feel like I’m undoing all of the good work I’d done so far on breastfeeding.
I think that I had a great c-section recovery so far, but all that went out the window when we stayed overnight in the hospital. I couldn’t not tag team it with my husband and I ended up lift her up loads, putting her down, positioning myself in bed with the baby in arms when you’re supposed to push yourself around with the arms, go out of the ward to bring stuff and so on. But the midwife I’ve seen today wasn’t too bothered by it all.

thanks @AnnieStar12 ! I was this close to booking a tongue tie snip at home this weekend, but a series of events that got us to the hospital meant that we spoke to an infant feeding specialist while there and that has been so useful in deciding how to approach this whole situation. The specialist recommended that I get a pump and try to increase my supply naturally before the tongue tie snip as once it’s done, I’ll have to bf exclusively and there’s no turning back, so I need to make sure that my supply covers the baby’s needs. My pump arrived and I’ll start expressing from tomorrow, so we’ll see how this goes. My NHS appt for tongue tie came through for the 19th and the specialist also gave us a recommendation for a private place. Hope all is going well on your side!

@Natty2 oooooh sorry to hear that it took so long to diagnose the tongue tie and that you’re dealing with the intense feeding programme too. We had a loss of 11.2% from birth weight at the day 5 appt and not sure what made the midwife recommend that we see a doctor, but we went to the kids a&e and ended up staying the night due to high sodium / dehydration. That was so hard as we felt we were doing everything right, but there’s always stuff you can’t control e.g. when your milk supply comes in fully, how efficiently the baby feeds and so on. That’s when we went on this strict feeding regimen of bf + formula top-up every 3 hours (I wanted to pump but i felt that after waiting around in the a&e for hours, i wasn’t gonna have much to pump overnight as I had barely eaten and hydrated). I got a pump now though and I’ll start tomorrow in order to replace the formula. Do you have any learnings to share with me from your own journey?

@Fluffyted how is little Arabella doing? I’ve been thinking about you two and I really hope she’s much better today 🤞🏻

@ThePeachGoose huge congratulations! What a hero - basically got to pushing stage and also had a c-section! Hope your recovery continues to go well. Well done on sorting out the feeding, that must have been a bit stressful having to go back in. The initial settling-in bit where they drop weight and you’re trying to establish early latch skills etc is really quite something.

@Fluffyted oh my goodness, so sorry to hear Arabella has been so poorly. I’ve been thinking of you and her a lot. I really hope she’s turned a corner. 🤞🏼 Please keep us posted.

@HopefulllHolly just on your over supply question,basically my signs were: frequent engorgement (which is common in the early days but not so much 7-8 weeks in), significant leaking (I would wake up in the morning and my whole t shirt was soaked), leaking from the other boob in copious amounts when feeding from the other, forceful let down. If I pumped, I could get 200ml in ten mins from a hand pump. I had been in touch with a lactation consultant so she helped diagnose. I had a forceful let down (like you) with my first, so I think you can have that and not have an over-supply. It’s basically when the milk volume your body is making is not being consumed / needed by the baby, but the body is slow to pick up the signs and keeps making it. 😂

@Fluffyted hope Arabella is on the mend. Have been thinking of you both.

A little update from me - ended up taking Reuben to A&E on the weekend as he was choking on his milk and became quite sleepy. I couldn't even get 1oz in him and he hadn't fed for 8hrs despite me waking him and trying. He was checked over and everything ok. Doctor said he has reflux and prescribed omeprazole. Pleased we finally have something as GP wasn't convinced when we saw her few weeks ago. Said all his symptoms were normal for a newborn but gave me infant gaviscon to see if it helped but actually made him worse.

The reflux doesn't particularly explain why he was soo sleepy but he seems back to his normal self now so hopefully just a one off!

I have been terrible at keeping up with this thread the last few weeks. But it is so lovely reading through all the baby news!!

I will read properly and send a more thorough reply to everyone but this is a quick message to say we had our planned c section on 25th Feb, which I was terrified about, and we had a baby girl weighing 6lb 4oz. She’s doing really well, and my recovery is going well too (I was so scared of something going wrong due to all my scarring and adhesions, and the fact I nearly died after my previous emergency c section). This time was so different and the section felt quite natural with how they did it, and was just a really lovely experience.

Now trying to suss out how to get a bit more sleep so I don’t hit an all at 4pm every day!

@Always28 congratulations on your baby girl!!! So pleased she arrived safely and you're recovering well.

Congratulations @Always28 I’m so pleased everything went so smoothly and calmly. I feel like the universe owed you this kind of experience after the last one.

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 so sad to hear about little Reuben. No baby should have to see the a&e so early in their life! But not being able to feed your baby for 8 hours sounds truly scary. I’m pleased he got diagnosed properly and you went home with a treatment that actually worked.

I’ve been quite terrible at replying and updating the group myself. I guess we’re all busy with our little bundles of joy.

We had another weighing on day 15 and the baby was still 80 grams off her birth weight, but the midwife wasn’t too concerned and booked us for day 19 too. But now we’ve been told to relax our feeding plan a bit, and make it more responsive to the baby’s needs in terms of when to feed and how much. The birth weight thing is quite something indeed, you’re right @Leaf86 I feel like this baby is a bottomless pit that eats all the time, poops and pees and somehow doesn’t even put on 20 grams a day 😆 but anyway, hopefully we’ll get there on Thu.

We’ve also seen a lactation consultant and it looks like our baby has a severe anterior tongue tie, poor thing. It’s surprising that she’s been feeding so well on the nipple shields. We did the breastfeeding with a weighing before and after. Then on Friday we have an appointment with a surgeon paediatrician who will hopefully do the frenulotomy on the spot and we can breast feed properly and without nipple shields, though honestly they’ve been such a blessing.

As part of the prep for the procedure, in an effort to increase my milk supply, I’ve bought a spectra pump and my god I hate it with a passion. Does anyone else use it?

@Always28 congratulations!

@ThePeachGoose sounds like baby is doing OK, hopefully she ll reach her target weight soon. Why do you hate the soectra? I was thinking of buying one but would love to hear your insight.

I have a scheduled c section for 2nd April. Final 3 weeks!

@Faith2024 oh tough to say as I’ve only tried the one pump and I might just dislike pumping in general lol
I need to pump after every feed, so every 2-3 hours, to increase production. In the beginning I was going too hard and shoving the flanges into my breast to achieve higher suction, especially as it would be so easy to lose the seal if I didn’t. Because of that, I have to hold both flanges in place the whole time; there’s no hands free and I doubt that a bra will do a better job at that. Settings are also confusing and not explained anywhere (speed, suction) and all of the videos seem to have Spectra pumps with settings in a different format. Either way, I tried to mimic their settings with no success and then I found my own combos that work. But I’ve had sore nipples in the beginning and I was convinced the flange size was wrong, yet the adaptors I got were even more shit. So now I’m back to just using the standard flange size, not shoving the flange into my boob for higher suction and using it on low settings. I’m not getting a lot of milk at each session but I’m hoping that the act of pumping at breastfeeding time will increase production.

With that said, other friends of mine also had spectra and loved it, others had medela or momcozy. I was given a choice in hospital between spectra, arlo and medela and chose this.