November 2011 - early birds, just in time and late to the party, all welcome!!

[TwoJackRussellsandapumpkin]

Hi all,

just starting up a post natal thread for all the due in November peeps on the antenatal forum and anyone else who would like to join in too, hoping to see my arrival by the end of the week, so officially an early bird I hope :)

I've had the same left boob issue and it has miraculously healed up after trying a new lying down position. Just lie down with head propped, on bed or sofa, and then place baby on top with legs going down in direction of your legs. Then let them do the latching really. It really took the pressure off and let that one particular chewed up area heal.

snoozle I'm glad you are feeling better and receiving support.

I've been up all night so far as she won't settle. She has been asleep most of the day after having her heel prick test done. She now won't settle at all. She latched on well but generally is just there for about 15 minutes. I'm very very tired as this is day 6 with very little sleep. I'm battling to keep a cold sore at bay and my bruised bits are sore still.

She has also just filled another nappy that I have just changed. I laugh Everytime though, as they always seem to be loud and explosive farts!

Ah well sorry for the moan but its lonely at 501am. I still adore her though

Oh never poor you! I was up for hours with an inconsolable Amaya too. The patting on pillow trick didn't work! But the sling did...

Hi all

Hope you are all well.

snoozle glad to hear you've been to docs and getting some support, I hope it starts to help you deal with your anxieties.

cali constipation is horrid but the relief after a no 2 is immense, DD had been struggling to poo, not constipation but it was like she didn't know what to do IYSWIM. One trip to cranial osteopath where he worked on her gut and I could hear the popping of bubbles and she has gone from going every 3-4 days to every day - the best £40 I have spent on her! Well worth a thought for anyone with unsettled babies. It also helped DS.

smiling great news on the tongue tie - it must be lovely to have that fixed so you can get on with good feeds!

I was wondering if any bottle feeding mums could tell me how much your LO has at 10/11pm feed (if you do one) - we have started a bottle of expressed at that time and she takes anything between 1-3oz and for the past 4 nights has then slept until 6/7/8am. I, of course, am chuffed but in absolute agony when I wake from overly full breasts - DH had to actually pass her to me this morning as I was so full. I am just wondering if she even needs a 10/11pm feed as I get the impression she is not bothered by it!

Hi to everyone else, got to get dressed and do my hair while DD is sleeping - I love white noise!!

Thanks Cali I'll try H&M this week.

never William is the same - only poos in clean nappies and has a thrusting fart mechanism to put a sideshow farter to shame! they are sometimes so explosive he ends up with poo at his neck.

Never made it to the bf clinic, he has been feeding since 5am - 6.3 hours! He has had 2x 30 min breaks in that time. It's exhausting and nipple isnt getting recovery time.

Hi all, have finally made my way over here and am sharing my birth story. It is long and rambling so feel free to skip it, I have found it really helpful to write it out as everything felt a bit of a blur really!

So I'd gone to bed on Thursday 24th feeling a bit uncomfortable but nothing that suggested an imminent labour. I'd spoken to my SiL on the phone that afternoon and agreed to keep my legs crossed as 25th is my nephew's birthday. At 4am I woke to go for a wee and whilst sitting on the loo suddenly realised I was getting period type stomach cramps. I sat there for a while and had a bit of a 'uh oh' moment, but thought it's probably nothing so I'll try to go back to sleep.

Got back into bed and DH had woken up and asked if I was ok. I said I thought I was having contractions and he was awake then to time them (quite excited bless him, being a week overdue was playing havoc with his punctual tendencies!)

So contractions were coming every 5 mins and lasting 30-40 seconds so I called the birth centre. The MW listened to me through a contraction and we agreed as I was coping ok I'd call back again when the contractions were 3 mins apart and lasting a minute. I got up to put my TENs machine on and have a bounce on my ball whilst DH had a shower. It was nearly 5am by now and I called my Mom to let her know.

For the next 40 mins I used the TENs and breathing plus had a hot shower, which all helped me through contractions. At just before 6am the contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes and lasting a good minute each time. DH called the birth centre as I was curled over a pillow on the bed in my 'happy place' just dealing with contractions. They said to come in but to go to maternity triage as the centre was full. We got a cab and arrived at the hospital at around half 6.

So we were sent to the waiting room as all of the rooms were full. I was less than impressed and took myself off to sit on the toilet as it was the most comfortable place to sit. I lost track of time at this point but it felt like not too long and I started getting a pushing urge, which I couldn't really do much about and I was making some interesting noises with each contraction! After about 3 of these a midwife came at the insistence of DH and got me into an exam room (I walked as couldn't bear to sit in a wheelchair)

On examining me, all hell broke loose as she shouted to the other midwife that I was fully dilated and the baby was ready to come. They got me off the bed and into a hospital gown and my waters broke pretty much all over the place.

I got into a delivery room and they strapped me to a monitor as there was meconium in my waters. I was there for about 30 mins and straining with every contraction, but having horrible back pain.

At 8am the midwives changed over and the new one came in, asked why 'this low risk lady' was strapped, immobile, to the bed. At that, she got me off the monitor and helped me to kneel on the bed, leaning over the back. She also explained how to push through each contraction and manage me breathing to stay quiet and channel all my energy into pushing. After 3 pushes the head was ready to come out and it was really stinging. The MW offered me G&A but I'd had it before and felt sick so said no. The TENs was still on and was comforting so I stuck with that. DH was great, mopping my brow, kissing my forehead and relaying the MW's instructions, plus generally just cheerleading for me.

I summoned all of my strength and pushed the head out, which was an immediate relief. DH went to look and came back a little moist-eyed saying 'it's got a face!' (to my relief!)

It took another 2-3 pushes for the body to be born and our baby arrived at 0907. After the MW wiped some of the meconium off DH told me he was a boy and I remember being surprised. He was passed up to me and I wiped him and cuddled him but was really conscious of the cord still being attached for some reason. DH cut the cord (he'd always said he wouldn't want to do this) and I got some help to turn around and sit up on the bed. I held him and breastfed whilst the placenta was delivered (my notes say this took 8 minutes!) and then passed him to DH for cuddles whilst I was examined.

I needed a few stitches for 2 tears (one 2nd degree and a graze) and I think the anaesthetic going in was the worst of all the pain. Whilst I was getting sorted out the paediatrician checked the baby out (and weighed him as 7lb 13oz) and DH made a few calls in between telling me I was brilliant and had done an amazing job - he was just great.

By 1030 I was showered and moved into another room and managed some skin to skin time while the baby slept. We were sharing a room as it was so busy, but didn't really notice. We had some time pretty much on our own until my Mom, sister and brother, plus DH's parents arrived to visit at around 3pm.

We spent some time discussing name options and decided to name him Lucas Christopher (Lucas was on our shortlist and Christopher is after DH's cousin, whom we have asked to be Lucas' Godfather). As my labour was so quick (recorded as 5hrs 15 mins in my notes) there wasn't time to get anti-biotics in for my group B strep so Lucas needed IV ABs every 12 hours for 2 days, which meant we had to stay in. We were moved to our own room on the post natal ward at about 6pm and stayed there until we were discharged on Sunday night.

We're now day 11 and I'm feeling good, he's feeding well and not bad at sleeping so things are good at the moment. I'm sure it won't be as plain sailing forever but it's a nice start. We move house a week on Saturday so I 'm looking forward to being closer to everyone, it's lovely to have our own time to get settled but I feel a bit far away from everyone now.

Looking forward to hearing all about your babies and what you have been up to as soon as I can catch up on this thread. I have a feeling it might take me some time

Wow Truff great story - you beat me by 15 mins I had a couple of grazes too, they were the sorest bit I reckon - though I declined the 1 stitch for my wee tear as it was only 1st degree so can't really compare it.

Well William has now fed for about 12 hours solid with very small breaks - I thought we'd seen the worst of growth spurts. Hopefully he might sleep tonight!

pamsco ha ha ha up his neck!!!

Has anyone got any tips to get a baby to change her night and day around?

She is also feeding for 20 mins then I out her down, 10 mins later she is grizzly and won't stop. Any ideas? This is her nighttime routine too :(

Sorry, I started writing my last post this morning and only just finished it which meant I sort of cross posted. Lovely story truff. I'm just writing mine up so that I can put a copy in her own special keepsake along with my note for contraction timings and a copy of the times newspaper.

Sitting here feeding her watching my dinner get cold

Evening all, hope we are all doing ok. Just a small update re Max and his colic or not colic! We have now moved onto gripe mixture from boots and is helping a little. I did buy colief but seeing as though im not expressing i havent quite worked out how to use it yet! He may also have a touch of silent reflux as he spends time gagging and catching his breath, also seems to be a bit muscusy and congested at the back of his throat. Im not too concerned re these things but did get it checked at the doctors just incase i need to go back and plead my case for other medicines or help with Max. He should out grow it all anyway!
Loving the birth story trufkin. Also Pam and ali have you tried ringing any of the breastfeeding helplines.
Glad your feeling better snoozle

TerrysNo2 my LO tends to have anything between 2-4oz between 10pm and 12am (still not quite in anything resembling a feeding schedule at the mo) and he is FF and he still usually wakes again 3-4 hours later for another early morning feed (oh how I would love it if he slept through to 6/7/8am... ). HTH!

Oh yeah, he is 1 month old.

snooze only just read your post but so glad to hear you went to docs to get checked. Hoping the medication is helping.

smiling hope feeding is still going well now for you and lo.

Terry we took ds to cranial wotsit on Saturday. Thought it would be beneficial as he came out quickly. She found a few things like he had an overactive bowel, was slightly twisted and since then he's been settling much better and he is pooing properly (now toothpaste consistency rather than runny as ff). Highly recommended ESP if you had a traumatic labour. free angel similar symptoms to ds but most have disappeared since the treatment.

Ds is a milk monster and is now having 8ozs at each feed. In day every 3 hours, at night every 3-4 hours.

never when you say you feed for 20mins then out her down, are you winding her and getting up wind? Could be trapped wind and is using your boob to soothe?

To everyone who is bf. You are all doing amazingly well, fingers crossed mastitis and sore nipples heal speedily.

Oh my goodness I finally find 5 minutes to catch up on the thread and people are svelte, well dressed and back in the bedroom! 3 weeks in today and I am wobbly-tummied, still bleeding, 1 1/2 stone over pre preg weight and feeling rough, much respect to you lot, I feel like never saying the S word ever again!
Great birth story truffkin, your second midwife sounds like a godsend. And solidarity to all you with cracked nipples, mine has finally healed (nearly) after 3 weeks - such a relief. My right boob is twice the size of my left now but hey ho..
I am having similar issues to never and PamSco, feeding sometimes every 20 mins FOR 20 mins and sometimes that goes on all night too. I've heard that you have less milk in the evening when bf'ing so it can be good to express a bit in the morning and feed it in the evening to top them up for a rest, BUT I also heard that there's more sleep hormones in evening milk so who knows!! And I haven't had a single minute to express any milk with DD awake all day and DS all night. Anybody else struggling with managing a toddler and a newborn? Poor DS just has to cry for it sometimes if I'm bathing/feeding DD.

Moosey After 20 minutes I wind her and she usually does one big burp then thats it. It's odd how quickly things change though as today she has slept most of the morning then this afternoon very grizzly and then when i go to bed for a couple of hours she settles with DP, either in carrycot (he did put her on her stomach for a while and she slept - not recommended I know but she liked it) and then on his chest for a while. Could the smell of my milk unsettle her? I've just fed her and she is fast asleep on DPs chest. I'm hoping for some sort of sleep tonight - fingers crossed for me. She is only a week old today so I guess she has time still to adapt. I'd happily take a feed then a two hour sleep from her. That would be bliss!

Sasunde I have no idea how you are managing the same sort of sleep deprivation and hunger monster and also look after a toddler - bloody nora! Well done you.

Never I think the smell of your milk does wake them up or stop them settling. It's a problem here as my boobs are like giant garden sprinklers!

Going to try and get in to town today - scary. May bottle it and go to an out of town place. Problem is buses won't let me on with my pram as it is a 2 parter.

Lovely story truff and well done!
Yep the smell of milk definitely can wake Sophie or it appears to as she will wAke when I am near her. Conversely it seems to settle her too. Strange things babies!
Ok I am attempting to express.... It's not going well thus far! Haven't quite managed to work out when is the best time and to be honest when I do get chance not to have something attached to me I am unbelievably keen to take it! I find it hard enough to factor in time for a quick bath let alone time to express! Ah well.
Hope all are well in-between explosively farting and pooping babies (know it well) and sore boobies and feeding and colic stuff!
Am off to try and sort out the three washing baskets of clothes and odd socks piled in my bedroom.....

Well, I may be in my pre-preg clothes, but we're back to square one with feeding. Abi is now down to taking 60 ml every 3 hours (should have 130 every 4), screaming at the bottle and vomiting. HV is coming out today, I hope we can bloody well sort this before I loose my rag!

Oh Cali what a nightmare - hope HV can help. H at 5 weeks still feeding roughly every 2 hours but at least he is pretty content.

Voodoo don't know how you are with hand expressing but I've been sterilising a bottle at start of day & keeping in fridge. After between 2 & 4 feeds a day depending on what I'm doing I express off the side that H has just fed from & generally get 20-30 ml in less than 10 mins. In eve I feed h about 8 ish, pass him to DH, empty both boobs and go to bed. So I normally express about 100-120 ml in the day which we top up to 150ml with formula & DH gives in bottle about half 10. As it's only 5 mind here & there & I am only washing & sterilising 1 bottle a day it doesn't seem too onerous. Personally faffing with washing up pump would be too much and as I never know when next feed will be I'm nervous to express a boob that might be needed at any moment by the hungry boy!

Cali I had the same thing with Eddie when he was about 4 weeks old, halved the amount and wanted feeding every 5 minutes, got very dramatic about it with screaming and puking. In the end, I just lay him on my chest with my finger in his mouth for 3 hours, and wouldn't let him feed at all in between. When he spat the bottle out I winded him and gave him one more chance to take it properly. If not it was taken away. I also only allowed him half an hour per feed, because he was taking a bit, resting, having another bit and it was taking a couple of hours to take a full feed. We only had to do this for 24 hours, and the next day he fed properly. He did cry quite a lot that day, but I think it was necessary to get him to understand milk isn't on demand, you have to have it at 'meal times'. Hope the HV has some advice, I'd be interested to hear it, because Eddie does still tend towards little and often, and can be very dramatic with the crying and puking into the bottle.

Well, HV said to log all the feeds and weigh her tomorrow - as she's "thriving" (I think that's a rubbish word - Abi is so miserable and no growth chart measures happiness...) they don't think anything's wrong (but then again they said that when she lost 14% of her body weight, and again just before she was diagnosed with CMI, so, you know, I'm not convinced yet).
Her "best" recommendation was to give her calpol before feeds. I'm not entirely sure that's a good solution - masking symptoms with pain relief is a classic NHS bear trap!
She did say to take her to my GP tomorrow, and to take her to a different hospital if I didn't feel happy with what the consultants keep telling me here, which I will.

Having said that, Abi managed to take some more just now, without vomit, so I'm hoping it's just her reflux medication needing updating according to her weight. After all, at nearly 7 weeks she should be eating more than 3 oz/feed.

Ali, that's brill, thanks for that! Gives me an idea of what to try. Much appreciated!
I managed to express...... An ounce all day. Am extraordinarily chuffed haha! I so feel that I don't want to express in case she wakes up clamouring for a feed, as she has today. More being awake all day and clamouring lots if am honest. Typically now OH is home from work she's sound asleep of course.
Cali and lizzy, so stressful all this feeding malarky! sounds like you are 'ganning canny' (doing great).
Sophie has a busy day of appointments tomorrow. Got to nip to the baby clinic to get weighed then hospital for her hearing test. Also got to squeeze in a feed and have her asleep for the hearing test and drop OH off at work all before 10.40..... Hmm should be interesting!

Blimmin heck voodoo I feel tired just reading about your day tmw! Hope you are managing to express.

never yes, as others have said your milk can unsettle DD. My milk has nearly dried up but I still cannot settle ds when in bed (I sleep naked) he head bobs and gets increasing irate. Pass to DH and is asleep in mins (on a good day!).

Cali does abi seem scared of the bottle? Apparently a sign of colic (my gp had DD who had v bad colic and basically puked every feed, cried for 8 hours every day starting at 7pm. It does sound, as you suggested, that her Reflux meds need to be upped. Did they warn you this would need to happen when you started on them? You know your lo better than hv, if she is miserable then def go to gp. Bit bout giving calpol before each feed. How will that help her reflux (which sounds like it is back).

Well, my newborn and toddler got to me today. They were in sync for everything (poo, feeds, crying), except naps. One fell asleep when other woke up. Absolutely knackered today. I like to wind ds at least half hour after feed otherwise he possetts a lot. DD hated this today so tmw looks like I will be sitting on the floor winding ds. Have to take my hat off to mummies with 2+ babies.

Wow I don't know how you do it with more than 1! I'm just glad that we can take each day as it comes and not have too much planned that requires proper timing! That said, we ventured into town today as we were registering Lucas' birth (exciting!) and I called into work. Everyone loved him and he certainly had my whole office cooing over him. He had his first tube ride too, so an eventful day

Re: feeding, Lucas is usually good and during night feeds he is quite efficient latching on, feeding and going back to sleep. In the day he has had a couple of days where he just feeds on and off all day with no real pattern. I know he's far too young for a routine, but constant feeding really knackers me out!

I've managed to express a few times and he's taken a couple of feeds from a bottle. He'll take a good 3-4 ounces though and I worry he guzzles too much as it's easier than feeding from the breast, which gives him wind. Still, is useful for when I need a break like last Saturday when my right nipple was really sore. Just missing one feed and expressing instead helped loads.

He's had yellow poo since day 2, like grainy mustard, which I know is normal. Today it has gone much thicker and smoother and smells sweet. Is this ok too? I never realised how obsessed I would become with the contents of his nappy

Yeah, still not sure how to cope with 2 children myself - been fortunate to notbe alone with them yet. I tell you though, the second time makes you look back on the first time and think "why was that not easy? One baby should be easy!"
Anyway, did long post yesterday and not sure what happened to it. Too tired to try to replicate it, or even recall it. In summary, what you all said - feeding is a never ending repition of digestive and boob related misery, sleep is an acheivement if it lasts more than an hour at a time, toddler not loving sharing his mummy, but my babies are lovely.

Moosey Oh no, she's not scared of it - she's starving, going for it constantly, takes the first 40 ml flying, then has to scream down the bottle for the last 20. This evening she was back at it after 40 minutes, taking another 40 or so with a bit of whining between gulps - but she can't bit-feed like that.

Well, into the breech once more - happy, positive thoughts: "This feed will be the one where she turns around and eats to her hearts content!"