AUGUST 2010 - welcome to post-natal :o)

[CherryPie3]

I know I'm not around a great deal lately but we don't yet have a PN thread - so here we are.

Love to all xxx

:)

[Chulita]

14 hours? [boggles] at least the dummy worked, Sam won't take one despite me trying at least 3 times an hour since he was 3 days old... I've heard of massive cluster feeds though (never experienced one) so I think it is normal. Poor you though, have some extra icing on your slice of cake.

Sam's still up, he doesn't shut down til gone 10pm every night, leaves us with no evening at all. Bearing in mind he's either sucking my finger or feeding, I don't get much done...sooooooo frustrating!

[weehector]

I don't get anything done full stop these days. Alastair is 2 weeks today - we managed a walk to the marina today & an hour outside in the sun but we've only been out the house 3 times since we got home 10days ago. I've forgotten what the inside of a supermarket looks like. I think I might make a trip to the supermarket & baking a chocolate cake tomorrow the first step in my rehabilitation back into society. DH & I both feel completely alienated from real life at the moment despite a steady stream of visitors...have no idea how I'll cope next week when I have no one to share keeping on top of things...how do you guys with more than one or on their own cope (starshaker - you must be superhuman).

Sorry for such a succession of me posts btw..just not processing properly at the moment & been iPhone only for a while. Will try & get a grip soon.. x

[Emster30]

ditto to starshaker being amazing. cannot fathom how she does it.

massive sympathies on the 14 hour feed. this too shall pass and all that... so glad to hear he took a dummy, james won't. last week every night we had epic 4-5 hour feeds every night which i think was a growth spurt, but it has eased off now.

my right nipple is still scabby and bleeding. just occasionally we get a good latch but mostly not, and he pulls off a lot. ow ow ow. the left is pretty much fine now. am still taking painkillers daily - can't be good.

[MoonUnitAlpha]

I'm very impressed with your determination in the face of bleeding nips and marathon feeding sessions ladies! My ds is not interested in a dummy at all either unfortunately, despite my best efforts.

His thrush nappy rash is not really clearing up yet, using the anti-fungal cream since Thursday. Has anyone else had any experience with this? He's in cloth nappies, we only use cotton wool and water, change nappies immediately and try to give plenty of naked bum time, so I'm not sure if there's anything else we could do. Do you think we should be applying metanium or some other barrier cream as well?

[Alicetheinvisible]

Hello

We are still breastfeeding!! Sorry, but F is 12 days old now and after the first weekend of crying out in pain, expressing my own blood and F bringing up blood clots i really didn't think we would get this far. I even fed him in Starbucks today - right in the middle as nowhere else to sit. I felt sick with nerves about it tbh, but didn't really have any other option, so just put a blanket over my shoulder and F's head.

The breast feeding counsellor gave me a load of Lansinoh sachets and they have completely healed all the cracks in my nipples. They said to not let your nipples dry out at all, keep them coated in Lansinoh and covered with a breast pad and they have healed really well. Would urge any of you BF to find a BF group, just knowing they are there has helped me keep going with the BF.

I don't mean to sound patronising at all (so sorry if it comes across like that ) but wanted to let you know what has helped us.

My scar is still quite sore, not taking any pills anymore, but i am still very aware of it. Despite DD being an emcs i didn't feel sore afterwards, my scar is much wider this time though.

[Emster30]

brilliant, well done alice! bfing in public gets easier every time...

[bouncingblueberries]

Go alice that's brilliant! So pleased for you - both for continuing to bf and doing it so publicly!

moon there may be some thrush lingering in the nappies - if you dry them in direct sun that should kill it off. not sure if napisan would kill thrush - but might be worth checking it out? hth

[bouncingblueberries]

also - try waitrose baby bottom butter - works wonders

[neenz]

Alice, well done! I found the lansinoh really helped me too. I never bother putting a blanket over us when BFing in public - I always wear a vest under my top so I pull the top up and the vest down so the top is covering the top part of my boob and resting on the baby's head, and my belly still is covered too with the vest. No one has ever said a word to me apart from positive things and I have BF'd in public A LOT!

Moonunit, my DD had thrush and terrible nappy rash and metanium helped a lot. We are in cloth nappies too. Three in cloth! (although I do cheat with disposables at night with the baby and when we go out)

Weehector, what about a sling? Daniel loves going in the Baby Bjorn if he is a bit whingy and it leaves hands free for other things. 14hr feeding session not unusual but he may just want to suck, and he has taken the dummy so maybe that's what it was. That will give you a break which is good. I am pro demand feeding but if you can get a 2 or 3hr break between feeds then it gives your boobs time to get full and hopefully the LO will take a nice big feed that will keep him going for another 2-3hrs. It's a bit of a catch 22. Sometimes D feeds every 30 mins tho!

Re routine: (times approx!)
5.30am - Daniel feeds
8am - I get up, get DTs milk which they drink in their cots. I get shower and dressed, then get DTs up, change nappies
9am - make DTs breakfast and feed D.
11.30 - DTs lunch, feed D and then DTs nap 12-2 (me and D go for nap too)
D feed on and off in afternoon, about every 2-3hrs
5pm - DTs tea
6pm - bath for Daniel then DTs.
6.30pm - stories for DTs, feed D (DH home then to help!)
7pm - DTs bed
I feed D on and off all day as well when he wants it! And he still stays up with us in the evening and I take him to bed with me at about 10pm.

[kcoffin27]

alice well done with the bf
My scar still hurts too and Ruby is 5 weeks, I dont remember i being this painful last time :(

weehector I know whart you mean about not getting things done, Baies are so time consuming. I have given up worrying about what the house looks like Iagree starshaker must be superhuman :)

Since I had Ruby I have had a bad knee which has been getting worse, I kknow I didnt knockit on anything toi make it start hurting. I thought it odd since it has only been painfull since having Ruby, so I went to the docs, and he felt it and said that it has been twisted, probably from the hospital by moving me from bed to another bed :( It is total agony. Doc gave me some anti inflamantarys (sorry mis-spelt). So what with the knee and my scar hurting still after 5 weeks im feeling really down :( I get no help from dh for night feeds (i bottle feed) it makes me so mad how he can say he doesnt hear her, but goes on about being ired all the time as if he has been up with her :( And then on top of all that I have both ds constantly proper fighting, and they both have a cold, hope Ruby doesnt get it. cant wait till school next week :)

Sorry for the rant. Hopw everyone else is doing ok. For the table I am giving a nice big chocolate cake, enjoy :)

[Alicetheinvisible]

Kc that sounds pretty tough

My scar doesn't hurt but i am aware of it iyswim? i did drive today and have a little ride on my horse It was completely fine, if anything it is my boobs that made it difficult

DH back at work tomorrow not sure quite how we will cope, but have already decided tomorrow's dinner will be jacket potatoes

[soontobefatnat]

Hi all, not sure if anyone's checking this thread much anymore, so will quickly post on both - I went into labour at about 2.30pm on Sunday and by the time the MW arrived at 8.00, I was 5cm and could get into the pool. Felt so great! Eli Albert was born at 3.24am, somewhat unglamorously on our bathroom floor - the MW made me get out of the pool as it was slowing things down. He came out in a real rush in the end, with his hand up by his head... OMFG. It hurt so much, I have not forgotten! Unfortunately ended up with 2 tears and lost 1L of blood, so ended up transferring to hospital at about 5am for stitching etc. Feel well chuffed to have had the birth at home tho. He's amazing, and I think we're doing OK with bf for now... Keeping fingers crossed. Still wobbly on my feet and in a bit of pain downstairs, but all worth it. Love to all the recent new mums, plus the ladies still waiting. Will be back in the land of the living soon! X

[soontobefatnat]

PS, Hector, just scanning this page... 14 hours?? SO, SO much love and sympathy... Cannot imagine and feeling really nervous for when my milk comes in...

[MoonUnitAlpha]

neenz and bouncingblueberries - thanks for the tips! We're miles from a Waitrose unfortunately but I'll try to get to the chemist for some Metanium tomorrow and leave the nappies in the sun for a bit!

I'm a big fan of slings! I have a wilkinet that's shaped a bit like a baby bjorn but with ties rather than clips - so it's a bit of a faff to get on and off and we only use it when going out to the shops etc. Also have a close carrier that's super comfy for me and ds, and really good for using around the house as you can leave it on and just out the baby in/out as necessary. It also has a breastfeeding position that I expect will be very useful for breastfeeding in public, though I haven't tried it yet.

I'm totally demand feeding at the moment, but DS has made a bit of a routine for himself - he tends to feed at 11pm, and then sleeps til around 3am (sometimes 4am!), feeds and then is up for the day at 7am. He sleeps and feeds on and off during the day, but always seems to have a long 3 hour sleep from about 11am. From today I'm trying to engineer a bit more of a vague routine in that I'll wake him after two hours sleep in the day (except for him three hour sleep from 11am), feed him and try to keep him awake for about an hour til I put him down again. Hopefully it'll evolve into something more structured later!

kcoffin - can you wake your DH if he doesn't hear her? My DP will also sleep through the baby crying in the night, but we have an agreement that I do the feeding (am breastfeeding so fair enough he can't do that) and he does the changing. DS always wants changing after a night feed and at least if I wake up DP to go and do it I get to go back to sleep quicker. If DP needs a full nights sleep during the week because of work then he has to sleep on the sofa - which has the added bonus of meaning there's enough space in bed to co-sleep with DS and I can feed him lying down and snooze through it.

[girlsyearapart]

hello all.

dds1 and 2 have begun sharing a bedroom this week aaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggh!

cue much running around/late night playing.
They went to bed an hour ago and I can still hear them

dd2 is also now in a bed as she was doing the leg over the bars manouevre so safer to put her in a bed.

Tilly is doing well has put on nearly 2lb in 5 weeks so on the 50th centile I think.Her skin looks a bit clearer since starting on the hypoallergenic formula and I'm still bfing as reluctant to stop though am going to try expressing for a week or so until we know whether it is diet affecting her.

so any top tips re expressing? never done it before..

chulita (i think it was) my friend's son had tongue tie and ended up having 2 ops which totally sorting out the breastfeeding problems so worth a try.

I also have a dh who can sleep through a crying baby- last night I told him I'd been up for 2 hours with the baby and he looked totally suprised..

[LittleMissSnowShine]

Birth announcement

Dara Christopher Gerard, born 12:07 on Mon 30th August

Labour was epic! Kicked off on Saturday morning at 7am and no baby until 53 hours, a whole lot of pain, opiates and a pretty extreme episiotomy later lol But he's perfect!!

Been giving breastfeeding a go, he's very drowsy tho so it takes forever to get him started but apart from taking ages it's going pretty well. Soooooo glad to be on the ante-natal thread now!!

[Bubbabear]

Hey everyone, just found the thread & caught up a bit. Aidan has just fallen asleep after his feed so will be quick!
Sex: yes have been brave & all was fine if a touch sore. Was 3 and a half weeks after bubs arrived plus I'd had stitches after 2nd degree tear! DP wasn't pleased abt using condoms as I'm not back on the pill yet but after I mentioned potentially having another newborn come June he soon popped to the shops lol

Aidan will be a month old tomorrow - eek! How did that happen??? Have decided to not wake him for 3am feed now as sometimes he is still snoozing when I get up to do his bottle. Fingers crossed he sleeps until somewhere near vaguely morning - wishful thinking emoticon! He is turning into right little milk monster & quite happily has up to 5fl oz some feeds :)

Can't remember what else I was going to say / comment on so I will bid you all a (hopefully) good nights rest x

[Alicetheinvisible]

Congratulations littlemiss (can't remember if i have already said that or not ) F likes to sleep a lot too, so can be difficult to get the milk into him during the day.

Need to have a bit of a moan. Last night was a bad night, F was making a lot of noise in his sleep (he does sometimes) DD woke up a couple of times, i was too cold but kept waking up drenched in sweat, my boobs leaked loads as F not feeding long enough before falling back to sleep, and i have suddenly started bleeding again after having a couple of days of nothing. Just today F is 2wks old and DH is back to work and i have just found out that my phone will not charge.

[Aussieng]

Ah Alice - glad to see from the other thread (it's all a bit confusing at the moment isnt it) that you are feeling better.

Waking up drenched in breast milk with your nightie going crusty = NOT GOOD! Chulita recommended lilypadz a little while ago - have you tried them? I got some specifically for at night and they are good - I just keep a soft cloth nearby for when I remove one for the 3 am feed as there is usually a little pool of milk in them.

Congrats (again - got to say it on both threads) LMSS and welcome to the newbies!

Our routine is pretty nuch dependant upon me getting up at 7 am in which case it is as follows:

7 am(ish) J wakes up si I sit up and feed him in bed

7.45 up, loo change nappy, head downstairs

8 - 8.30 baby in bouncer chair as I have some breakfast and express, milk, try desperately to keep J awake a little longer so he naps long enough for me to shower, get dressed, brush, teeth, hair etc

8.30-9.15 - J naps in moses basket or bouncer chair, I dress etc

9.15 - 9.45 quick feed for J, change nappy dress J in day clothes etc wrestle into car seat/ stroller etc

9.45 - 11.30 morning activity (coffee morning, doctor, health centre mums group, shop, errands etc

11.30 - 12.15 head home, feed nappy change, settle for nap.

12.15-2 J naps, lunch for me, rushing round like crazy person fitting in chores, occassional lunch dates etc

2-4.15 rouse J, nappy, feed, cry/play etc

4.15 - 5 - work really hard to persuade J to have a nap (usually by popping him in his pram and taking DH's post and appointment cards to post box)

5-6.15: Play with J, short feed, naked tummy time

6.15 - 7 Daddy time with J - bath, bed clothes on and bottle feed

7-10.30 Sleep in moses basket - more chores and occassional chill out time for me!

10.30-11.30 wake, feed,nappy,feed, put J to bed in cot.

11.30 - offer up prayer that J will go to sleep quickly and wake up at 4 am and only 4 am for feed. SLEEP


If I don't get my act together and get up at 7 (J and I can happily, snooze, dream-feed and snuggle until well after 9) then the day is just sooo much harder - especially getting J to nap and he then ends up over-tired and grumpy and his evening sleep gets pushed back by an equivalent amount to our lie in and he is a grumpy terror!

[Alicetheinvisible]

I am impressed at having a routine with such a young baby!

Was looking at the lilypadz, but found the reviews not great and at £15 for something that only lasts 12weeks or so i had decided against them. Have got some Avent washable ones to use and have disposables for back up. May get some lilypadz for night though if you think they are worth it.

We have basically been doing what needs to be done and keeping DD's day as close to normal as possible but leaving extra time to do things in case F wakes and wants feeding. Hoping he will just slot in with our general routine eventually. Bit more sleeping at night wouldn't go amiss, but we are not doing too badly. Funnily enough, despite DD stopping her naps completely around two months ago, she has been napping more since F has been here, which has been a bit of a godsend tbh!

Jacket potatoes for dinner, figured even if today had gone completely tits up i could at least chuck some pots in the oven

[mrsZaC]

Hello all,

Sorry it's been so long, well over a week now since I last posted... Nieve and I got home yesterday, the most amazing feeling ever, the last 24 hrs have been really hard work, she's been wanting the breast all the time and just won't let me sleep. The midwife was round this afternoon and got her to latch on and take a feed without the shield, as they are now hurting my nipples like mad as she isn't latching on properly with the shield. Even though she fed for nearly an hour she still wouldn't settle, the only way to get her to is by letting her sleep on my chest and even then she wakes up after an hour. I've come so far but just about at my wits end, after a tearful conversation with my mum I'm just about to give her a formula feed just to get her tummy full to bursting so she and I can get some sleep. I'm just so upset i thought things were going ok, just feel like a big failure. I've spend the last couple of days typing up my birth story so I could post it in a oner, as you can imagine with a baby at my breast 24/7 I haven't had much time to do anything. So anway here is my birth story....

Baby Nieve

Well here is my birth story..

"My idea of baby?s birth was a chilled out hypnobirthing almost lovely experience, totally in control and everyone knowing my birth wishes etc. etc. as expected, nothing went plan...

DH got home from 2 weeks away offshore on Tuesday night, after getting jiggy (as you do when your DH returns) I awoke at 2am Wednesday with very very wet pants, I put a maternity pad on and that was soaked through within 1/2 hr! Well I thought this might be my waters but no contractions so I thought I would let DH sleep and tell him in the morning, the idea was that I would sleep too, but I just couldn?t. Eventually when DH awoke we phoned the hospital, they said to come in straight away for assessment.

We went to hospital 9am Wednesday morning to be assessed, they confirmed it was my waters and I was a mere 1cm dilated. They booked me in for an induction at 8am the next day (induction was NOT part of my birth plan) I said I wouldn?t want to be induced unless it was vital and I would rather try other methods first, anyway I was sent home to see if things would kick start on their own. DH took me out for lunch near the flat which involved a walk in the park, I was getting pains which I realise now were contractions but so mild I couldn?t recognize them as that. After a few more walks and hanging around all day I was definitely contracting, they were not very painful and coming between 3-7 minutes apart sporadically. Things were taking a while to kick off but at 12 midnight they were coming 5 minutes apart regularly, I phoned after 2 hours of this (as directed by the hospital) and was told I didn?t sound like I was in enough pain and to phone back when i couldn?t hold a conversation!! Well I wasn?t impressed, I just wanted to go to hospital and get roomed in, I was getting very restless and uncomfortable at home not even knowing how far along I was. In the morning we decided to keep my 8am appointment even though it was obvious I was in labour thinking that it might at least get me examined. Well we went to our appointment, waiting in the waiting room for over an hour (contractions now coming 4.5 min apart regularly and more painful by the minute) I then got moved into the induction ward, still not knowing what was happening. After an eternity they came to talk to me about what had been happening but didn?t tell me what they were wanting to do and still I waited and waited for someone to come and see me. The nurse came to check my blood pressure etc. but kept fobbing me off when I asked what was happening. I was getting so fed up being in a ward with the curtains shut and not being able to move around, just a bed to lie on and I was sooo uncomfortable, I just wanted to get into the pool as planned and get on with things. After 5 hours of waiting around we decided to walk down and grab some fresh air, well things kicked off as soon as I started walking around and contractions where coming on VERY strong and painfully less than 2 minutes apart for a minute each. Poor people in WH smith didn?t know where to look when I was dangling round DH?s neck moaning with the pain. We eventually made it up to the induction ward where they still didn?t seem to give a monkies, they left me another 1/2 hour before suggesting i go for a bath, (probably the 5th one that day!) i got in but I was super uncomforable and trashing about all over the place, I was so worried about what was happening I had no idea how dialated I was or anything. After hearing my screaming in the bathroom they eventually came in and said I needed examined. I was examined at said I was 7cm dialated, but no room in the labour suites so I would have to wait in the ward, there were 3 other women waiting to go aswell and we were stuck in with these poor women waiting for their labour to progress and hearing us screaming in agony! The room was hot and uncomfortable and I kept trying to pull my gown off, I was so confused and well frightened, I had no idea what was going on. After what felt like an eternity they were ready for me in the labour suite - FINALLY! after a long walk round with my hanging round DH?s neck we got ourselves into a labour room at 5pm. I was told to get on the bed as I needed antibiotics (since my waters had broken over 24hrs ago) and an EGC monitor - neither of these were in my birth plan as things i wanted but i was so exhausted I couldn?t argue with them. After some persuasion I took gas & air and started to progress well with the labour, I felt much better being somewhere where I knew that I could give birth and be watched, at this point my mum arrived and was just brilliant, DH went out for a rest and mum coached me on. After what felt like 5 minutes the midwife started to rush about as she realized I wasn?t making it up and baby was coming! turned out it was the front water membrane which I was birthing and they thankfully managed to break it before it exploded all over the room. After that her head was right there and i started to push her down, the midwife warned me that she needed to be born within the 2 hr mark as she was getting antibiotics through me and would need to go up to special care straight after birth. To be honest this didn?t register with me as my body wanted baby out! pushing was progressing well and when she was almost out I was asked to hold back one of the pushes so that we might just make it under the 2 hrs... My little darling slipped out 1min after the 2 hr cut-off and DH announced we had a beautiful baby girl at 6:50pm.

I will not lie, the whole experience was pretty horrific, but I?m convinced that if I had gone in to hospital when i phoned and allowed to birth in the pool in my own space it wouldn?t have been half as much painful and traumatic, as it was evident that as soon as i felt safe and had my own space to birth the pain subsided and I was able to birth her easily.

I felt really let down by the whole experience, although it wasn't their fault that the labour ward was full I just felt abandoned and stuck on some kind of conveyor belt pigeon holing me into a labour that I hadn't planned or agreed to. It was obvious as I was handed from person to person that non one bothered to read my birth plan or take the time to be aware of my birthing preferences.

As most of you know, following the birth I was kept in for almost 6 days in hospital. My little girl wasn?t getting on with breast feeding at all and was having trouble latching on. She lost too much weight an they had to keep us in until they could see a significant improvement. I have to say next to labour this is the most traumatic and hardest thing I?ve had to do in my life, I think since last week I?ve had about 12 hrs sleep which makes everything so much harder. I started off having to hand express into a cup, which was not nice, getting out about 1ml at a time at first (this took about 1/2 hour to collect) and feeding it to her through a syringe. This progressed to 2ml until finally they suggested I bring in my hand pump. She still wasn?t latching on properly and we progressed to 5 ml and then 20ml syringes, at which point we had to think about how we wanted to move forward, she had by this point managed to latch on for 1 full feed and 2 half feeds but only sporadically and most of the time she got so worked up and upset that by the time she eventually latched on she fell asleep and the whole cycle would start again. I cried my eyes out when it was suggested that she would need a formula top up, this was to get me one ahead with expressing. DH fed her the formula as it was far to upsetting for me to watch after all my hard work, however I quickly forgot about this when she took my expressed milk no problem on the next feed. She was feeding from a teat with her top ups and the midwifes felt that she was getting far to used to this so we started to feed her with a cup. By this point most of the people on my ward were leaving, on day 4 I saw 4 car seats coming in and out the ward and all my ward buddies leave, I was very weepy that day. They then moved me into what I can only describe as the presidential suite! this was a turning point for us as we had our own space and I could chat to her when I was feeding and get some sleep between feeds. The midwifes were still having trouble getting her latched and taking a full feed at the breast, but we persisted and she was making progress all the time. Finally we tried the nipple shield and amazingly she took to the breast no problem and has done ever since -hallelujah!!! We finally got out yesterday and it was the best feeling in the world EVER! she even showed off and just before we left latched on without the nipple shield for a full feed!

Since being home she has been very unsettled and I?ve been feeding her non-stop, she won?t leave the breast and I?ve had no sleep at all, but I?m just so glad she?s feeding well and hope she will settle soon"

[cakeywakey]

Evening all, just a quick dash on to say hi and mark my place. Sorry to read that some of us are having a hard time.

We had to take Erin back into hospital because of jaundice and weight loss, staying in overnight for observation. It was frightening and upsetting for us and DD1. It shook my confidence quite badly but I think I'm getting back on track now.

I sympathise with everyone with sore nipples, I appear to be a snack bar at the moment and boy am I getting sore. Going to slap on the Lansinoh. I keep mine in the airing cupboard as it's easier to get out of the tube and spread on when it's warm .

Take care everyone, these weeks are going so quickly!

[LittleMissSnowShine]

Congrats on Nieve, mrszac!

My birth story in brief...

Went for hospital appt on Fri 27th and got a sweep done. SPD pain was crap that night and I woke up with back ache during the night. 7am on Sat 28th (due date!) I woke up and there was loads of bloody show and I started having really intense back ache. By 10am this had pretty much settled into increasingly strong contractions, all in the lower back, coming every 8 minutes or so. Started throwing up EVERYTHING!! Put on tens machine, took paracetamol, tried going around on all fours but by half one decided to phone hospital who told me to come in. Went in and was only 1cm dilated and not much happening in the effacement dept. Gutted!!

Went back home and pains kept coming, getting worse throughout the day, couldn't even keep water down. Went back in to hospital about 10:30 that night, was at 2cm. They put a trace on baby and found heart rate was up at 170 Decided to send me up to labour unit for doctor to decide. Kept me waiting around for 20 mins and then did yet another trace. Heart rate back to more like 150, back pain still really intense. Sent me home with cocodamol. Sleepless night ahead, couldn't sit down, couldn't lie down, just paced, had a bath, threw up, did breathing exercises. Lasted til lunchtime on Sun 29th, went back to hospital, now 3.5cm and fully effaced. Admitted to maternity unit and given omnapon (sp?) injection at about 6pm because couldn't keep painkillers down. Knocked me out til about 12:30, paced for an hour, had another examination at 01:30 and was 5cm. Asked for an epidural but ended up being given remifentanil drip. Took pain away but knocked me out, they had to put me on oxygen, blood pressure spiked off the chart. At some point they broke my waters - meconium stained. Still wanted an epidural but it was too late (they said!)

Cue screaming, pain, pushing for what felt like hours (was about 90 mins). After sleeplessness and no food/water/anything for 48 hours my body finally just gave up, legs and arms shaking, teeth chattering etc. So got a horrible episiotomy, followed by gorgeous baby boy at 12:07pm. 53 hours after pain first started. Hideous!!

So glad to be allowed to go home, still feeling pretty shattered and sore, loads of bleeding/clotting (sorry tmi!), feeling sweaty and weak. Breastfeeding going well but nipples really sore now so going to really focus on making sure latch is working tomorrow. Been using melvita cream but going to give Lanisoh a try tomorrow and see if it's better...

Been reading through everyone's posts, it's such an exciting time for us all!! Can't believe some of you are back at the sexy time already, v impressed. Never want to go near DH again Now, off for 3 hours sleep before Dara starts wailing again lol

[sparkle101]

Good morning ladies,

Marking my spot.

Am very of everyone who seems to have a routine with their baby - I am still trying to work out what to do with this one, and someone seems to have forgotten to give me the instruction manual!

Very stressful first week - Izzy had to be admitted to hopsital as she had lost 12 oz from her 5lb 12oz birth weight and she would not settle - crying all the time and making herself sick. After observation they diagnosed she has a milk intolerance and acid reflux so we are on medication and a new prescription formula milk. Since then she has been like a different baby and has regained all her weight - so hard to take in but glad she is on the road to recovery.

Eeek at mrszac and littlemiss birth stories - sound very long and very scary!

[AnnaAndBump]

Hi ladies,

Just marking my spot with my first post on the post-natal thread! Sorry to hear that your births didn't go exactly to plan mrsZaC and Little Miss, but at least now your beautiful bundles of joy are with you enjoying cuddles!

CellyD - thanks for your advise re winding, it seems to be helping and we also upped the dose to two droppers of infacol.

My DD Nina is three weeks old and reading Aussie and Neenz's posts regarding routine have got me panicking slightly! I started trying to implement a routine as soon as we came home from hospital but quickly realised it wasn't working and moved to demand feeding which has meant Nina is thriving and gaining weight well. When are you all starting to implement routines, am I behind by not trying anything yet? Also what is the consesus on daytime naps re light v dark, noise v quiet.... Nina had daytime/nightime confusion so I keep her nursery curtains open now during naps, but her naps seem to have dwindled slightly and she won't go down without having just been fed and cuddled!

Sorry for the mammoth post but as a first time Mum I am just feeling my way through and want to make sure I am doing the best job I can!!