October 2005 Babies.....

[nervousmum]

....thought i'd better start a thread as there are currently 4 of us, with several more to follow!

Joey is now 4 days old (where did the time go?!?), and is doing really well. He actually managed to sleep through with just one feed last night, though i must confess i cheated and had him in bed with me (at my MW's recommendation!) as he was so fretful the night before.

Looking forward in the coming days and weeks to welcoming the other members of the Oct 05 antenatal group to this post-natal club, so i won't feel like Billy No-Mates, talking to myself

I don't have time to read the thread! Which is a shame because I'm sure there's lots of good stuff about my current obsessions, such as:

• sore nipples
• baby who parties all night and sleeps all day
• how to lift and carry after a newborn with a caesarean scar
• how to take mega iron (for post partum haemorrhage) without getting horribly constipated

Does anyone else miss being pregnant? I miss it terribly. I love having dd here - she is such a delight - but she's not the same baby as the one in the bump! also miss having a lovely firm belly (current one is NOT giving Victoria Beckham a run for her money). Am going to really miss getting seats on the bus...

I'm finding the transition from pregnancy to parenthood quite shocking. I wasn't ready! I know I had nine months but I still found the two days of labour birth and early parenthood very sudden and startling.

Poor Evelyn has a cold, she's very snuffly and miserable today. Last night she wouldn't settle, but finally got her asleep and happy around 11:30 and she woke for her feeds at 4 & 7. She's pretty good, goes down almost straight away after a feed. Usually she sleeps all day but today she just seems clingy, bless her.
Health Visitor coming on Fri to weigh her again, looking forward to seeing how much she weighs now!
Yesterday went shopping in another city centre and because I wasn't sure where I could feed her quietly (not up to breastfeeding in public yet) so I expressed 5oz and she guzzled it, then had a top up from me in the pub car park about half an hour later before me and DH had dinner, so I have no idea how much she takes on a normal feed!!

rebecca got weighed again today - 7lbs 5.5oz... 2oz gain on birth weight - not bad for 6 days old!

Thank goodness half term is over - another 30 minutes before tribe returns home. Bliss today! But tonight it will be Halloween madness no doubt.

Yes, breasts are pretty big here too and I wish I could keep 'em for ever instead of the empty crisp packets I seem to end up with (sorry if tmi).

Baby certainly sleeps a lot during the day and is ALWAYS soundly asleep when dh returns home so he's convinced it's all a piece of cake and he's coming back as a woman! (Conveniently forgetting the downside of it all.)

Much to my astonishment, I almost delivered on time as my LMP date was 13 Oct, scan date 12 Oct (don't know why the consultant bothered to alter it by one day) - went into labour 12th, baby came early hours 13 Oct - giving dh time to watch the England match first. Not as prompt as Hester though!!!

Feeling very smug at finding time to look at Mumsnet during the day despite it being my first day looking after Alice and dd1 alone. Alice is sleeping in the pram and dd1 is playing with her garage without constantly pestering me to play with her so I at last have 5 minutes to myself!

Sympathy to all those with cracked nipples, mine have healed up nicely now that Alice is feeding every 3 hours instead of hourly. Sorry to disappoint those of you looking forward to the 10lb sleeping miracle, but she is not sleeping for more than 3 hours at a stretch despite being 9lb 15oz at birth, so likely over 10lb by now. Dd1 also took 3 months to start sleeping 6 hours between feeds and she was a big baby too.

Stitches are pulling a bit - they're meant to be dissolvable ones but I can feel a bit sticking out, not sure how long it will take to disappear - anyone any idea?

Was planning to go out to the park for some fresh air , even have Alice in the pram, but it's tipping down with rain now, so I suspect I've got a long afternoon ahead, playing with Lego until dh gets back at 6. Still, might be lucky and get some more MN browsing done...

Ponto

Trice & lexie, thanks for your sympathy, unfortunately I don?t have anyone to ask for help!!! Dp has 3 brothers and I have a brother, all my friends? work and pil would be more useless than useful!! [violin playing emoticon]

Elf, great picky J&R mummy ? great weight gain!

Susi ? what was the weight, did she put some on?

Bbb ? hope you?re feeling better

Hester - NO I do not miss being pregnant, the only thing I miss, is that I have not hold my tummy in again and can?t just let it hang out!!!

Ponto ? same as me, managed ok today with toddler and baby, dp back to work. All up, dressed and fed by 9am!!!! At doctors by 11am!!! She?s given me steroids for my asthma, can?t give me anti-biotics for my chest infection as the only one that is safe fro breastfeeding ? I?m allergic to!! Ds 2 has chest infection as well and has been given anti-biotics.

Doctor was very impressed with me being up and at surgery with 10 day old, she mentioned about 3 times how well I was doing, made me feel 10 feet tall.

Anyway, lots of good wishes to you all, and try and get some sleep - RTL

Hester - everything in your post sums up how i feel at the moment too. And if you find a solution to the constipation please share lol

Bonnie - my HV advised against giving stronger/next stage milk and said just give more. I can't remember why exactly, something to do with their digestive system not being mature enough to handle the stronger stuff yet.

I am absolutely shattered, been house hunting at the weekend, seen so many they all blur into one, can't wait to move as dh is working away from home and if it wasn't for my parents visiting, i think i would go mad It doesn't help that i have a stinking cold and just hope ds doesn't get it and feeling a bit sorry for myself at the moment, snivel snivel.

piggiesmum, it's not fair is it? when you're soooooo tired and run down and you resistance is at its weakess, you get hit with every bug/cold going. Especially this time of year.

I don't know whether its the steriods "kicking in" or the beautiful sunny day, but i feel really good today. ds2 is at nursery (his last week booo), baby's nursing, nipples are not so sore and bowels are moving!!! What more could a girl ask for!!!

Hello, can I join you? I was on the September ante-natal thread but my little one Abigail decided to be a whopping 16 days late and didn't arrive til 9th October. I'm now in desperate need of reassurance from other new mums!

Abigail's currently sleeping about 4 hours between feeds during the day, refuses to sleep at all between about 8 p.m. and 2 a.m., then sleeps again til around 6 a.m. Is this normal? Should I be waking her up more during the day?? Dh is convinced we should be trying to rigidly stick to the Gina Ford routine but I just feel all wrong waking a sleeping baby.

I'm another bottle-feeder - Abigail wouldn't latch at all to start with so I gave her a bottle in desperation basically to stop her starving, then just when I was ready to start trying the breastfeeding again I got an abscess on my back and couldn't sit down or walk for nearly a week.

Hey my lovelies - just dropping in to say this bit is madness and confusion and general upside-downiness but it DOES straighten out, it really does. And you will get a full night's sleep again, just probably not tonight

Did get the stronger milk for ruby and last night she slept for 5 hours straight. I woke up this morning feeling like the luckiest lady on the planet. It was absolute heaven!

Piggiesmum, I'm worried about giving it to her now even though she seems okay on it. Does anyone else have any experience? It does say suitable from birth so I assumed it would be ok.

RTL, you did fantastically well getting out of the house by that time

MP and Elf, hope your little ones feel better soon.

I feel I can really cope with anything today now I've had more than an hours sleep

Bonnie - TJ is 4 weeks old and has put on nearly a lb since the health visitor weighed him last week, he only goes 2hrs between feeds, she has told me to go try him on a stronger milk as she hopes that I might get some sleep that way!!
Piccalilli - welcome! I remember you from the Sept thread as my original due date was 27/9 til my scan which moved it to the 2/10 when I moved over to the Oct thread. I'm sure that someone told me that you shouldn't wake a baby for a feed but can't really remember why, sorry I know that isn't much help! Is Abigail putting on weight? if she was hungry she would wake more I think.

Sorry Piccalilli I mis-read your post!!! its the post baby brain a it again!!
Thomas always sleeps for a lot longer if I get him out in the pram for a little walk, not that that would really help you I suppose as with the dark nights walking around at 8pm wouldn't be great. sorry I have lost the plot today, since TJ arrived my memory and brain function are shot!

Wow, just found out form a work colleague that out of a staff of 14 (4 of whom are male!), i've just had a baby as has my friend who delivered at 30 weeks, and there's another 2 that have just found out they are pregnant! We must be a super-fertile lot of nurses!! Hope everyone's ok. We're still only managing a max of 4 hours sleep in between night feeds, and Joey's currently 11Ib 2oz, so that over 10Ib theory hasn't worked for us either. I'll await the 'over 3 months old' theory with avid interest.. NM x

Iron problems: I'd REALLY recommend avoiding the pills until you have tried to get iron from your diet. When pregnant/breastfeeding especially your body uses the iron from food FAR more efficiently than people think. Things like apricots, red meat, dark meat on chicken, dates, dried fruit - wash down with glass of orange juice (need Vit. c to use the iron). I've been doing this for a month and my iron levels are WAY up again. I can't take supplements because I've torn my arse giving birth and constipation does LOTS of damage. The dried fruit will keep you regular. I'd try dietary change for a month and get your blood levels re-checked. To be honest a handful of apricots/dates and orange juice a few times a day has been enough for me to get my levels up. MUCH better for your body than pills. xx

Just stealing 5 seconds... I miss being pregnant too! Just because I actually had more than a 2 hour window between expresses to do anything - AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!

Has turned into a crazy mad haired hermit lady with huge flumpy breasts and nipples that point in totally different directions and stick out for about 3 inches....

My little fatty's fatter than all your little fatties I betcha! (well relatively speaking, she did start out small!) Not had her weighed this week though, will have to compare after next week ... she's totally nocturnal, it's avoiding DS we reckon... she's very intelligent

I'm constipated toooooo and my nipples kill... but I fit into my skinny jeans so that makes up for everything..

Hope the little ones who aren't well soon get better! xxx

Oh someone asked which breastpump... it's a plain old avent isis, tried loads last time and this one turned out to be the best, even with the added RSI!

I couldn't express my colostrum with it though, it bloody killed and I had to hand express into a bowl (even more glam!)

Expressing - not to be done 24/7 by anyone who wants to be sane

FA - LOL at the mad haired hermit comment! How much milk do you manage to get out? Just curious - I do it once a day for dp to feed at night and get about 3 oz off (4 if i'm lucky) in 20 mins. Although Jess never drinks all of it and half usually goes down the sink!

Sorry crashing from septembers thread to sat hi to piccalili and yokefleet glad you are ok pop in and say hi to all the september mummies if you get a chance as we have been through the stats thread and are starting to worry about those from stats and antenatal threads who haven't posted 0n the postnatal.

hello. agree with morningpaper about the iron - and the other good news is that green&blacks organic chocolate (dark varieties) is a very good source of iron, as recommended by my midwife - the hazelnut and currant one is yumbocious!
picalilli- welcome aboard. beware asking opinions about gina ford as she's either very loved or very hated! personally i would not feel comfortable about going against your instincts. even if you feel you don't know what you're doing, your instincts shouldn't be ignored as they're usually right and they help you do the right thing.
Evie weighed again this am by the HV. FRom being 6lbs15oz this time last week she's now 8lbs0.5oz!!!! still got the body clock of a hard-core raver though. oh well.

lol at my spelling of piccalilli! feels like my brain is wearing a woolly jumper at the moment

Didn't mean to worry you Bonnie. If it says suitable from birth i would assume its ok. I think my hv was specifically referring to milk designed for older babies

piggiesmum - posting at 3.30am!!!! late feed per chane

sorry per chance

typing with left hand, babe on boob

Morning ladies - well I actually feel semi human this morning as I took the HV advice and tried the "milk for hungrier babies" and rather then 2 hourly feeds we went through the night at 3 to 3.5 hourly feeds - I know it's not much but I feel so much better today! Long may it continue..