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.

JKS I have had exactly the same experience with my lochia!. Seemed to be tailing off a few days ago, but yesterday went for quite a long walk, and now its back to bright red bleeding and needing to use thick maternity pads again. I managed to bleed all over the bed, and the bathmat (lovely). I don't think its anything to worry about though.

What are lillypadz?

Right, thought I might share my birth story while I still remember!

We went to the hospital on Thursday morning for my pre-booked induction. The usual obs were done and the registrar came to examine me. at this point I thought that he would then tell me the results of the examination, Bishops Score etc and we would discuss whether or not the induction would work. However, this isn't what happened, he went straight into inserting the Propass suppository thing without any discussion. I was shocked and a bit upset at this. Dh tried to calm me down by saying it would be ok and just to let everything carry on. But the more I sat there thinking I went from upset to angry so i spoke to the midwife, explaining that this wasn't how I was expecting everything to be happening and I wanted to know what the dr had thought when examining me, before deciding on continuing. I was then allowed to remove the Propass until the Dr could come back and speak to me. When he did he was very apologetic and said he shouldn't have presumed I wanted to go right ahead. Made me wonder if he had actually read my notes, but hey! My Bishops score had reached the dizzying heights of 4, he recommended I continue with the induction, but I wasn't so sure. I asked what my options were and he said continue today or come back on Friday too start again as they don't induce over the weekend. So we decided to carry on. Propass reinserted I settled down for the long wait.

At about 11pm on Thursday I went to the loo and the Propass was almost falling out. MW had to reinsert it which was quite frankly one of the worst experiences in my life and hurt like hell. MW said she thought my cerivx was softening and getting shorted, so things were happening. After that I started getting cramping and lost the rest of my mucus plug and I thought I was on the way. The girl that was induced at the same time as me was taken to the labour ward at 2am after her waters went. I was jealous!

Woke up and cramps had gone and I was feeling quite comfortable. Time came for another internal, this time Dr said nothing had changed since the afternoon before. To say i was gutted was an understatement. Options offered were to try another pessary int he hope it would dialate me enought for them to break my waters to bring on labour, leave me over night with out anything to see if anything happens of its own accord or consider a CS. I didn't want another pessary after the pain it caused so I agreed to be left overnight with a view to them breaking my waters first thing if it was favourable to bring in contractions. If that didn't work then CS for me.

6am on Saturday came the time for my final internal and I already knew the CS was o the cards. I'd had a great nights sleep with no twinges . Dr confirmed there was still no change to my cerivx and went off to arrange my section. Lunchtime was to be the time so the rest of the morning was spent getting ready!

At 11am I was walked down to the labour ward to wait for theatre slot. DH went off to get changed into scrubs. Now DH is a big guy, think rugby player, not sumo wrestler and came back wearing what can only be described as a blue skin suit! Trousers and top didn't meet! Face like thunder he was not best pleased they didn't have scrubs to fit him! I tried not to laugh, that didn;t last long! And before too long he began to see the funny side too!! I was then taken away for my spinal, which wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be. Just a lot of pressure. As that began to work DH was led in and sat down beside me and about 10 minutes later DH was asked if he wanted to stand up to watch our son come into the world. Blair Thomas was born and screamed until we were wheeled through to delivery. Apparently the whole labour ward heard him! My BP was extremely high during the operation which surprised them becuase your BP is meant drop. It stayed high enough for me to be kept on the labour ward for observation until it came down. It took a while and only came down when I got to hold my little man for the first time. We had a lovely snuggle and he started to feed with a little assistance from the MW. Mum and dad then arrived just as I was going back up to the ward.

Post natal care was very good bar one particular MW, btu I wont get into that here.

All in all a bittersweet experience, but I'm strangely positive by it all! If you have made it this far well done!! I'm nearly falling asleep writing it with my little man snuggled up on my chest after his feed!

Cycle - do let me know how your gripewater experiment goes - my little one has gone from quite a calm being to a rather unsettled one, even after a huge feed - definitely not still hungry but horribly grizzly and difficult to get to go to sleep, ended up in with us again overnight and yesterday would only sleep in sling - am wondering if it's bowel related, as the cries are intermittent rather than constant and there is lots of leg wriggling and pushing them straight out, angry red face. Tends to stop if I pick him up.....Anyone else have pearls of wisdom for me on this?!?!

Well the gripe water seemed to work last night before H went down but we've had another night of screaming no matter what I do.

I've managed not to cry before now but last night I started to as I walked him around the flat. Nothing seemed to work, he went down at about 10pm, he woke at 1am, went back down at 3.30am, woke again at 4.30am (started to cry) DP took a still screaming H at 5.30 and I slept through the screaming until 7.30am. It's now 9.20 and he's just gone down in the new swingy vibraty chair we got yesterday.

He was fed about four times, threw up about five times, changed four times, I'm feeling awful and like a useless mummy.

Please tell me this doesn't last forever...

Cycle you are not a useless Mummy. Have a big hug.

It really doesn't last forever. You should have seen me at 11pm last night. I was sitting in bed in floods of tears, feeling so tired with G feeding yet again. poor Dh bore the brunt of my crying but he just wanted to go to sleep! I got really cross with him that he could just go to bed when he wanted and I had this little baby totally reliant on me. I literally felt like getting in the car and driving off so DH would not have the choice but to look after G. I was even talking about going to buy some formula. To top it off G slept from 11:30 till 3:30 but then dd woke screaming at 1:30 and of course DH slept through it so I ended up getting up with her for an hour. I could have woken DH but she only wants me when she wakes so we would have had more screaming and tantrums if he had gone into her!

I fed G at 4 then settled him by 5 and then was woken by dd wanting to get up at 6! arghh!

You are not alone Cycle. I'm no expert but do you think perhaps H could have reflux? have you spoken to Health visitor or tried gaviscon? I know others on the thread have had babies with reflux so sure they would be more help than me.
try to nap today if you can. I'm still sitting in bed in my nightie cuddling G and waiting for him to produce his first of many poos of the day. Can hear his little tummy gurgling ominously.

Lis thanks for posting your birth story.

I got excited last night when F slept from about 7.15pm till 11.30pm (when I thought it might be wise to feed him & change him, hoping he'd continue the sleeping). But, he then only slept for an hour at a time all night.

On the plus side, this meant that I finally learned how to feed lying on my side so I could keep sleeping this morning.

The biological nurturing does seem to have helped his tummy. So we'll continue that, at least.

Halfway through my toast - he's awake again. How do they time it for when you want to eat?!

Well we had a good night - 1.30-5.45 and then 7-9, but it's now 2.30ish here and M hadn't slept properly since 9. He's either been feeding, needed changing or wanted holding... Of course DH sodded off to do Something Very Important this morning and wants to go to the gym tonight. I've ended up crying because I just wanted 5 minutes to get dressed or even put my bra back on (because M had taken to coming off the boob, sprawling on my chest and refusing to be moved) and I couldn't have it :(

JKS & Jen I've also had another wave of lochia - went to the GP who sent me for bloods to check coagulation and scans to verify there was nothing left behind but everything's fine, I just keep bleeding and passing quite big clots. No wonder I'm feeling exhausted. And there's next to no chance of resting!

Listen, I'm on number 3 and I had a cry in the depth of the night last night. M would only settle slightly upright on my arm right next to me. Cute but....

And then at 5am both boys were awake for no good reason, they did settle until 6 but

Remember your hormones are still all over the place and trying to settle down, go easy on yourselves :)

And the Dads do need reminding to step up to the job of being Dads, as least DH is pretty good, 3rd time around

Just been to vote with M in a sling, she seemed happy enough in it :)

Cycle you're not alone at all! Though I am in awe that you've only just reached crying point. I'm in tears most nights or even worse when I can't get S latched on in the middle of the night and he's screaming I've been known to snap at him (because 'Won't you just flipping cooperate' really helps with a 4 week old... ) I actually think crying it out helps me, I feel much calmer after wards.

Daisy S does this sometimes, I think it's trapped wind or 'brewing' the next poo. I've found that he prefers to be upright (over shoulder/on our chest/propped up on our arm) or letting him have some nappy free time so that he can bring his legs right up seems to relax him a bit. Though this is a risky strategy with little boys and towels are always at the ready!

S also likes to suck when he's uncomfy. He doesn't comfort suck on the breast much (I think because of my oversupply of milk it's less comfort more a barrage of milk) but it's times like this I've found having a dummy very useful otherwise he'd suck my little finger till it's wrinkly!

Petal they know when you're wanting to eat. I'm sure S knows when I'm putting my wheatabix in the microwave, he always wakes up/starts grumbling, doesn't when anything else goes in the microwave, just my breakfast!

Yes, they certainly do know when you are about to eat. How do they do it?

Just heard my soup go ping in the microwave, cue huge farty, squidgy bottom explosion from G and he has really done himself proud with an up the back into his hair poo! Put me right off my carrot and coriander soup it has!

Hahaha! Jen, that's cheered me up no end.

Thanks ladies, I feel better for the rant. I did shout 'What do you want?! I can't help you because I don't know!' as I was crying, good to know I'm not the only one who has lost it

After posting H had a micro sleep but I managed to put him in the cot and although he stayed awake and whimpered a bit at tummy issues I could lie down in bed, rock the crib with a toe and get a bit of rest.

Got up again when he had an enormous poo. H wanted to feed loads but why oh why is today the day all my Internet shopping came at once?!

H finally went down at about 12.30 as I took him off the boob for the fourth time to get the door for a delivery man. Put him in the swingy chair and he finally went off to sleep and two hours later he's still there. I've eaten, dressed, expressed milk so DP can help out if i need him tonight and taken yet another delivery: flowers from DP as we've been together 11 years today

I don't know if it's reflux or not, the vomiting isn't always projectile and I have a lot of milk in there so I wonder if he's just getting too much and that's what comes back up. I'll ask at clinic on Monday. I just hate that he's so distressed, he's either asleep or screaming at the moment, I feel like I should be able to make it better (I'm aware I'm being silly, but I can't help it).

Aww, hugs to all, seems we've all been having a time of it. Cycle we also have the vomit after most feeds, not projectile just some regurgitation. I'm also planning to ask about it on Monday when we go for 6 week check. To go with this I'll also ask about the snuffliness which seems to some and go - sometimes she sounds like Darth Vader other times you have to really listen to hear her breathe, and today she's developed a cough to go with it. But she actually seems generally fine and happy, otherwise I'd be at the doctors or phoning the health visitor. I did manage to go out for lunch with my friend and her 6 month old and was reassurred it was all normal.

Yes I've lost it with T too - last night I shouted 'please will you just tell me what the matter is!' at him when he wouldn't settle in his bed. Not helpful, but it is hard to be rational at 4am!

JKS - yes DH is much better this time around, I distinctly remember him saying 'what do you want me to do, I haven't got boobs' when we were going through this phase with DS1. Needless to say that didn't go down well

Cycle - which chair have you got? We are seriously considering a swinging/singing/vibrating one to go in the kitchen so that I can at least get meals sorted for myself and DS1 without having DS2 clamped onto me!

Chilli -that does all sound ok. T is very snuffly, especially in the mornings, but he's not actually got a cold I am sure.

Hi everyone, am just emerging out of the newborn bubble and finding time to catch up on mn. Scarlett was 2 weeks old yesterday. Can't believe where the time has gone. So far she is still in the very sleepy baby camp but I'm sure I'll be joining you all in the next week or so in the crying baby camp. She can't stay this sleepy forever, more's the pity!

Thought I would post my birth story too while I can still remember it. So the day before having Scarlett DH went to work as usual. At about 9am I started getting massive pains in my lower back and the urge to poo but when I sat on the loo the pain was excruciating so I'd end up rocking on all fours on the bathroom mat. I'm guessing in hindsight that maybe S was turning or engaging as at the 38wk check she was back to back and she wasn't when I arrived at the birth centre in labour. Whatever was going on it was bloody painful so I called DH to come home from work. By the time he got home I had found that rocking on my side on the bed eased the pain and there was still nothing defineable to time so I felt a bit stupid that maybe I had misread the signs.

Nothing much happened the rest of the day so at teatime I dragged myself out with DH for a walk hoping it would restart things. It did get contractions going but very irregular and not painful enough that I couldn't walk or talk through them. I went to bed that night thinking I'd wake up and everything would be gone. Woke up around midnight having contractions that were painful enough and close enough to start timing. By 9am contractions were about 3-4mins apart so called the birth centre for advice. They advised to come in.

Got settled in the birth centre about 10:30am, had a fantastic midwife who was so chilled and hands off it was brilliant. She knew I was doing hypnobirthing so was very happy to just let me do my own thing. She did one exam when I arrived and I was 3cm but she was so lovely about it giving me the option not to have it and explaining they wouldn't send me home regardless of how dilated I was, which was what worried me about having VE in the first place.

After another 2hrs or so I got in the pool and within a couple of contractions wanted to start pushing. Spent about 45mins pushing and had S in the water. I had originally planned on having G&A but don't know what happened, kind of thought I should save it for later thinking the labour would be longer so didn't end up using anything in the end. Must be clearly mad. I did end up with a 1st degree tear along the scar of the episiotomy I had with DS. Was given the option to leave it or have a couple of stitches and opted for the stitches because of where the tear was and am glad I did as haven't had any problems. Compared to the massacre that was my fanjo after DS this is nothing! So all in all an amazing experience. I really thought after how awful things were with DS (failure to progress after 18hrs, syntocinon drip, epidural, failed ventouse, episiotomy and forcep delivery) that it wasn't possible to get even close to my birth plan. Was still in shock when I did and got to go home from the birth centre 7hrs after S was born. Still can't quite believe how good it went.

So, here I am on the other side, ready to talk all things baby...

Caramello your birth sounds lovely. I had a water birth as well and it really is amazing how much relief it gives isn't it?

S also does the snuffly thing, but he doesn't often go too quite...he's a heck of a snorer takes after mummy

Had to go see the GP as was so sore in my breast and have now got a course of antibiotics for Mastitis. Here's hoping it gets it sorted, at least feeding is getting easier today so I know I'll be able to feed through it. >determined face

Go Beetle Really pleased you have drugs, mastitis is the pits!

caramel - that does sound lovely :) Enjoy the sleepiness while you can!!

Caramel - great story :)

Well DH has charged off to a late night chemist for me as I've got constipated and got really upset about it. Bless him, what he doesn't really need to know about his wife and has had to hear over the last few weeks....

Meanwhile i hope he finds the laxative over the counter & it works asap on me. Combined with the extra lochia & being up most of last night i'm not the most positive person to be around right now.

Hey ho, this too will pass.....

Lovely story Caramello, nice to see you here again , I was thinking about you only the other day

I hope the anti-biots do the trick Beetle, you may want to think about taking some acidophilus (sp?) while you're on anti-biots. It will reduce the chance of getting nipple thrush, and also passes through your milk to baby. Just an idea for you to consider

Your lochia sounds normal to me JKS. I really do hate the lochia thing, it's like a bloody insult if you ask me! Your fanjo has stitches, your boobs are hard and leaking, your emotional and to top it off you have blood loss as well and never feel quite clean. Or is that just me?!!

DS is having a monty sleep this evening, does that mean it will carry on for the rest of the night, or will I have a nightmare night????!!! Watch this space

Happy anniversary Cycle . Have you tried keeping H upright after every feed? Does that make any difference?

There's a programme on at the mo where there is a lady with triplets Of course they are a blessing, but all I can think is 'I'm so bloody glad I'm not pregnant anymore!'

Oh, and has anyone else been enjoying sleeping on their stomachs?? Bliss.

Sending you poo vibes JKS. Glug the laxative with oj to help.

I think situations like this show you how special our dp's are. Rising to the challenge and all that.

I'm watching that show too ILTMIMI. Facinating stuff.

I'm on to sing my DHs praises too. I've been more or less immobile since we got home and he has run around after me and B without grumble. He had been pooed on, spewed on, weed on and thats just from me. All the while making sure I am fed and watered, we have clean clothes to wear. He is currently bathing B after a rather explosive poo. I am truely thankful I have him. In fact I'm off to tell him just that.

Oh I how I wish I could sleep on my stomach! All in good time though!

JKS - meant to say that I had that with my lochia too, it was almost gone and then got quite heavy again for a few days.

ILike - i totally agree, and i'm a total sweat bucket at night too, so every morning i get up and feel really manky. I knew it would happen but that doesn't change the feeling.
Combo of sweat, milk, lochia, worrying about stitches & poo issues = v glam me...not!

MW asked obligatory question about contraception plans.....um, no sex, ever again?!

(i remember someone was saying about having sex again, well the answer from here is a definite no, for the foreseeable i'm afraid, and DH knows that!)

Have got the hang of the pouch sling i think, so off to a playgroup with DS2 & DD this morning as a test. Then, bad planning on our part, I've got to collect DS1 from school this afternoon on my own with all 3 DC could be in-ter-esting...!

I had grand plans to be out of the house by 9.30am...ha I'm still in my PJs, but S has finally settled back to sleep for a bit after being wide awake from 5am! Thankfully we're not meeting people till 10.30ish, emphasis on the ish.

We watched the BBC doc with the triplets as well, amazing graphics and it made me look at S and go 'Wow' quite a few times! The triplet mum is a friend of some people I know (so in the slightly stalkerish way that Facebook encourages ) I feel like I know her and followed her pregnancy at the time from other peoples Facebook feeds.

JKS I predict you will master the pouch sling this morning and then dazzle all with your cool, calm, collected persona when picking up DS1 later on!

Bleurgh......I knew it was coming, especially as not bfing, but doesn't make me feel any happier about the arrival of AF last night....how I despise her monthly visits!!!

We got some gaviscon when we went to the six week check which seems to be helping (not completly stopped the reflux but a vast improvement) but T now has constipation bless him.....much easier to clean up but I feel bad for him. He may be having a harder time passing his poos but the amount has gone up significantly. He was doing one, reasonable sized, poo a day. Yesterday he did at least three times as much (spaced out into about a hundred nappies, at least it seemed like that lol). I can only put it down to him keeping more of his milk in. Makes me glad to be using cloth (mostly). It always feels like such a waste of money when he poos and needs changing 5 mins after putting a disposable on .

The nurse checked my bits at the six week check and agreed that there is a slight prolapse going on but said not to worry yet and give it a few months of pelvic floor exercises, if not any better then make an appointment (I figured that is what she'd say as I did think it was only slight). It seems better than it was when I noticed it so will have to just see how it goes.

LOL at the being glad not to be pregnant anymore....personally I have forgotten how uncomfortable my hips were and how I could do nothing without having to sleep it off (although not able to sleep ) for 3 hours......I'd love to be pregnant again!!! Yes I am clearly off my trolley Even in the middle of the night I have to tell myself "look at yourself...you're knackered...why would you want another one" etc... in the hope of putting myself off the idea. It works for about five minutes then I sit down with T and I think "awwww, I want a hundred of these"