April 2011-kicking back drinking lactulose cocktails and riding the maternity surfboards

[Petalouda]

Post-natal thread for all the antenatal April 2011 Family!

Share the birth stories, the baby blues and everything else.

when it gets too much.

Makes more sense when I finish the sentence!

Morning ladies,

I am so happy I have the brain power to post today, rather than just lurk, as I finally got a decent amount of sleep last night - meaning I was woken every 3 hrs by just one child crying at a time. Woo hoo!

Stuffed I see you are battling caring for your second reluxer too. Do you find yourself getting really annoyed about it? It never occured to me that DD2 would be unlucky enough to suffer from reflux too and I was so looking forward to having a nice 'normal' baby. I too cringe whenever somebody else picks her up and says how cute she is, just in case she pukes all over them. Happily, gaviscon does seem to be helping her.

I am also fed up of wearing my saggy arsed msternity clothes and have been staring longingly at shop window displays of spring fashion. However, I am determined to lose a stone and will not buy anything until I am a size 14 12 again. Until then, I'll just have to do lots of washing as I only have 3 tops I can feed in (Anybody seen any nice feeding tops BTW?). Unforunately DH seems determined to scupper this plan by buying me lots of Easter eggs that I can't stop myself from scoffing in the night when I wake up to feed.

Welcome Tinwe and Dappleton. Great birth story Frak.

Frakk - in answer to your nipple question. Can you rest that side and express from it for a day and just feed from the 'good' side with syringe top ups? I had to do it with one boob and then the other to allow great gaping holes to heal up. I squeezed a little milk out regularly, and then used loads of Lansinoh and it all healed up nicely.

NANN - I have bought a couple of tops from Fat Face which have buttons down the top half of the front. They are working well for feeding. I'm determined not to buy too much too quickly because I do seem to be losing weight - but I'm back in my pre-pregnancy trousers. It is just tops etc for BFing that I'm struggling with.

H&M do nice feeding tops and they're not too pricey.

Am feeling a bit low today. Am knackered and H is loving daddy cuddles. Whenever he's on me he just wants boob or changing and I know it's ridiculous but I'm so jealous that DP gets all the fun cuddling and I just get screamy baby

H is also in his reusables periodically, I got BumGenius ones and they're working better than disposables, especially at night!

Ok.. so here's the birth story - a bit long!

MW came round and gave me a sweep at lunchtime on the Sunday which seemed to get things started despite only having a bishops score of 5 as soon as she'd done it I kept getting twinges throughout the afternoon roughly about 4 mins apart but no big deal.

At 7.30 my waters went but got the mw round to have a look as looked like meconium in them - there was, so bye-bye home waterbirth, hello hospital bed!

Got to the hospital about 9.30 where they hooked me up to a monitor, contractions manageable but didnt really know what to do with myself as all my coping strategies involved being able to move about so just kind of stood there thinking 'ouch'!

The MW examined me and said I was 4 cm and the babies heart rate kept dippping so they decided to induce the labour and hooked me up to a syntocin drip. Couldn't really move around so ended up on the bed trying to breathe through the contractions but found it really difficult to manage and as baby was a long way off had a pethidine injection and gas and air but gas and air made me projectile vomit. I'm so surprised to find that I hated it! Feeling whacked out made it much more difficult to cope with the pain!

Anyway 4 hours later they checked me again and said oops you are only 1 cm (felt between cervix and vaginal wall the first time) which was a bit demoralising! And that they were turning up the drip. Given that I was already struggling, and obviously had a long way to go I went for the epidural which was amazing. There is no way that I could have coped without it.

I was on the syntocin over night and most of the next day and babies heart rate stabilised but mine was high (>150) and my temp was up and I wasn't passing any urine (thought there might be something wrong with my kidneys) and was being constantly sick so on Monday evening they checked me and found that although I was fully dilated they didn't want to give me anymore syntocin and they also thought that babies head was malpositioned so told me they were going to deliver by C-section.

Baby George was born not that long after at 7.15pm - he had trouble breathing when he came out and they did two cycles of resuscitation on him..(I could hear my heart rate climbing on the monitor the longer it took!!) but is doing very well now little love.

To be honest it was everything that I hoped it wouldn't be but in the end it just doesn't matter. My main thought throughout was just that I really wanted my baby out to cuddle and take care of. C-Section isn't so bad, and at least my fanjo was spared! When one of the MW's visited she said she winced when she saw the head circumference so perhaps it's a good thing he came out of the roof!!

I cannot speak highly enough of the care that we had, especially the MW's that looked after us - because we were in high risk we had one to one care and without those particular MW's I think it would have been a much more difficult experience.

Sorry that is so long!! But good to get it all down :)

I have so many questions about how to look after a new baby now!!

lucie that sounds as long as my labour was from waters going to c-section! Sounds like you had a similar experience realising it wasn't too bad and also excellent care. Take care of your scar - leave it open to the air as much as possible - hope it heals quicker than mine has (though it's not too bad now).

Are you and George home now?

NANN I had hoped to escape the reflux with this one but am not surprised. I had originally planned to get T a new carpet for his room when decorating but last minute decided not to bother as DS1 puked so much over his lovely soft new carpet that I thought it a better idea to leave the old one down until later on (just in case) glad I did now lol.
The staydown milk has succeeded in making T constipated, which just makes him more sick so any benefits are cancelled out I think. Have tried The Dr Browns bottle with normal formula and he was still a bit sicky but only when I changed him (lifting bum up to put new nappy under) and only a little so will try it a few more times and decide whether to buy more or not.

Had T weighed today, he is up to 8lb 13, had a look at DS1's red book out of curiosity and he weighed the same at 5 weeks (both the same at birth so was interested to see). Will be interested to see how long the similarity lasts.
I spoke too soon about having good nights, last night was pants.....He woke up at 2 for a feed as normal but then wouldn't go back to sleep so I only managed to get about half an hour kip when he dropped off just before he was due his next bottle, didn't stay asleep for long as he was hungry. Then only had a couple of hours before I had to get up to get DS1 to school....He didn't even let me have all of that.....Me so sleepy!!!!! Knew it was too good to be true lol.
Have got a friend coming over later who is mega broody, I don't know if the visit will really help her, I know it was hard for me seeing babies before DH agreed to having a second and her other half really doesn't want kids yet....I really feel for her!

OK I'm rambling now, must tidy up, really would rather have a nap....wonder which will win out

Oooh, just one more thing (possibly TMI)
The one thing that has shocked me is just how early I got my sex drive back, I was already totally up for it mentally before my body had caught up. Have DTD a couple of times, thankfully no pain or anything. It took me months before I had any interest with DS1. Anyone else been brave yet

lol stuffed now I'm starting to feel a bit more like my normal self I'm at least more up for it theoretically (apart from the worry of ripping my stitches!) and what to do with DS who only sleeps when held at the moment! I think it's because with all the time the baby is getting I'm missing DP.. 4 nights in the hospital is the longest we've gone without sleeping together in a looong time and with both of us trying to settle the baby we haven't even had a proper cuddle since he arrived!

Two questions about raising babies.. George only wants to sleep when held (don't want to co-sleep as bed is too small - we do have a three sided bedside crib which I hoped would be a good substitute) any tips on getting him to settle? I know it's normal for new babies to want to be held, and i'm ok sleep wise as we're catching up in the day but I need to work out a long term solution!
It's also not helped by the fact that he goes on a feeding frenzy at night time.. he seems to want to feed for at least six hours almost back to back until dawn. So we get into bed, feed, he falls asleep after about half an hour, wind him a bit, cuddle and put him down. 2 minutes later he wakes up, DP picks him (to avoid tempting milk scent of mummy) and he's rooting like a snorty piglet on DP... cycle repeats for most of the night.

I know babies feed more at night, but I'm not sure if one problem is making the other worse.. i.e. am I feeding him too often because I know it'll settle him for a little while at least (he does sometimes bring some back up) or is he not settling in his crib because he's genuinely hungry and i'm wasting my time trying to get him to??

Lucie how old is George now? We had the same problem with our George (great name isn't it!) for the first week. Now he is 11 days old and the last 3 nights have been better (having said that, I bet tonight will be terrible)
It is normal initially for them to feed continually at night, as they are trying to get your milk supply up. I only had 1hrs sleep for the first 4 nights and was totally exhausted.

Have you tried swaddling? We have found it really helps. i tend to give George one boob, then change him, then swaddle him and give him next boob then straight into moses basket and try to keep lights low, v quiet etc.
I don't think you can really feed too often, especially in the early days. Its just so hard when you are shattered. My Dh will be peacefully snoring next to me, and also has the ability to sleep whilst George is screaming, so I'm pretty much alone all night and it can be soul destroying. I keep repeating to myself "this too shall pass" and I think we will find gradually that our babies will sleep longer at night, well I bloody hope so anyway!

Last night was a good night, and I had a whole 3 hours uninterrupted sleep, then another 2 hours after a feed at 3am. I'm often on mumsnet at some ungodly hour so if you feel like a chat, just post!

Hi Jen he's 8 days - good to hear your George is going down better now! (fingers crossed) So was it just a case of persisting? it's been so hot the last few days that I didn't think it was a good idea to swaddle him, but it's cooler tonight so we'll give that a go. We've been doing 1 boob, change, other boob but definitely seem a good idea to swaddle before the second boob. I know sometimes it's because the crib/moses basket feels cold so at least if he's already swaddled he should be nice and toasty already.

Yes, lucie I had been worried George was going to get too hot over the past few nights, so windows open and swaddled with just his vest. The swaddle blanket we use is only fairly thin cotton.
He has been settled and slept most of the evening so I'm worrying now he is going to be awake and not sleepy for the rest of the night! He has also just done the loudest, most explosive poo known to man..

lucie - he will get there. T was exactly the same and now we are getting him in his own bed for a 4-6 hour stretch most nights (he's 4 weeks old now). That probably seems 1000 years away!
Swaddling has worked well for us too, and you could always try a dummy if sucking seems to settle him.

Right off to bed. DH is leaving me to it tonight as he's got a job interview at 9am, and we've only just got DS1 properly settled to sleep so I've had no evening and feel totally wired and knackered all at once. It was DS1's first day at preschool today which explains him not dropping off - hope he is back to his usual fantastic-sleeping self tomorrow!!

Fingers crossed for all the April babies and mummies getting lots of sleep tonight :)

Hello Ladies,

Just thought I'd pop my head in to let you know I'll be joining you soon! I'm being induced tomorrow, so I'll be a mummy by the weekend! It's a rollercoaster isn't it! I've spent most of today crying, not sure why either!

I should probably be sleeping, but my head is buzzing!

Good luck Lisa. Look forward to hearing when dc arrives.

Sorry typo meant good luck lismca but predictive text changed to Lisa!

Thats ok! it is my name anyway!!

Good luck lis looking forward to hearing your birth announcement.

Good luck Lis!

Weirdly good night last night. H went from 10pm-2am! Pity both DP and I woke up in a panic at 12 thinking H had been kidnapped by the pixies as he'd not screamed. He wasn't keen on waking at 2, but was stirring a bit and aren't you meant to feed them every four hours in case of dehydration? I got him up and he fed while half asleep, which was very cute. Then he went from 3-6, so I'm vaguely human today.

If you'd told me four weeks ago that four hours of semi-broken sleep would be an achievement I would have laughed.

Good luck, Lis. Thinking of you!

Hellish night last night. We figure M only really settles when between DH and I but I get very nervous about that. We're going to reconfigure the bedside cot later but first we're going to the shopping centre! We need food and Mummy needs tops she can BF in but wear a proper bra under...

cycle - we just let T sleep. If H is feeding well and lots of wet nappies etc then enjoy the sleep!

Lis good luck my lovely!

Awful night last night, T awake from 2-5am and produced 3 huuge poo-nappies in that time. Hoping for a better night tonight!!

Good Luck Lis - How exciting you're finally going to get to meet your little one :) Though if you're anything like me I suddenly started crapping myself at the thought of a baby on the way to the hospital... bit late by then! I can understand the tears it's such a rollercoaster but it'll be so wonderful to get to the other side! :)

Well George has been weighed this morning (10 days old now) and he's a bouncing 8lbs 3oz.. up from his birth weight of 7lbs 13 which dipped to 7lb 6 ozs 5 days ag - so he's put on 11ozs in five days if I've worked it out right.... OINK OINK! He does feed constantly through the night though and mw said you cant overfeed a breastfed baby.

What I dont understand is one of my friends was told she was overfeeding her baby formula top ups because he'd put on a lb in a week but my mw said that roughly the same weight gain in fine in a breast fed baby and he was probably just feeding a lot because hes having a growth spurt... so how come one is ok and the other one isnt??

lucie - I think it is just that a BF baby will self-regulate. Some days/weeks they will be hungrier than others but you don't know that they are taking less milk and so you don't worry about it. If you can measure the milk going in then it is very natural to worry about how much the baby is having and encourage them to take the last oz or whatever when maybe they aren't hungry anymore.

We've just had the midwife here too - she's been on holiday and 2 weeks ago T wasn't back up to birthweight. He has gained 20oz in two weeks! So he's 10lbs 4oz now - no wonder my arm is aching when I carry him about!!!

Baby Ike was born in water at home at 15:34 yesterday, weighing in at 11lb2oz. Will post the birth story on here when I get a moment.

Can't believe he is here, I was convinced he would be here next week but he had other ideas.

ILike - congratulations! And a little at the weight - wow well done you! All intact down below I hope?