Jan 2012 - Higgs Boson Gang pt1

[Oeisha]

Link to antenatal thread for convenience

Not a very good title, but it will suffice 'til we fill this one in record time!

Congratulations to all that have popped so far!

I'm doing a lot of face gazing myself. I love when I spot a smile. And there have been a few times she laughs in her sleep.

The suspicious faces are hilarious. She's still a little cross-eyed looking.

She's really putting on the weight too. I don't know the weight but she's gotten a double chin now and big 'i ate all the cake' cheeks. She was very scrawny when she came out first.

We had our discharge appt today. She has put on about 10 oz which I'm really pleased with. She's up to 6lb 13 so should nearly fit her clothes soon!

Happy with my scar healing too but said the earliest they will sign anybody off to drive is 4 weeks :( OH is back to work on Monday so I hope it warms up a bit so we can get out and about in the pram.

Re: faces. I swear Abi smiles. Full on eye smiles, and the occasional rye-grin.

parsley good news ont he discharge. I'm finding the pram amazing awkward round shops. Too many of them put stupid bloody cardboard things in the way...

If you can't fit a pram, on the whole you can't fit a wheelchair...not good.

Anyway, if anyone else has any experience with PND then, I've posted on the AND/PND pages. I'm pretty much sure that it's PND I've got. This isn't normal and I'm petrified that I'm not going to be taken seriously. Have a drs appt tomorrow. Hopefully they'll help me put a plan of action in place.

Any ideas if there's meds they can give me that will dry up my milk? If Abi gets the hang of formula there's no way in hell I can keep expressing...it's so upsetting it's unreal.

Parsley - I got signed off to drive at 2.5 weeks... the mw did it...

I'm thinking about talking to someone about the birth. I just feel like I need to keep talking atm, esp to someone neutral. Guess I shouldn't have waited til the mw discharged me to come to that conclusion, huh?

cakes my MW said that only the GP could do it. Must be different for different areas. I was pushing for it a bit as I knew you were signed off early and OH goes back to work on Monday so I thought it was worth a punt.

oeisha I'm sure they will take you seriously. MW, GPs and HVs all seem very sensitive to PND from my experience. I've been questioned repeatedly every time I've seen anybody and they have questions they need to answer on it in your discharge book.

I've noticed the same pram issues in shops too We went on a test drive to M&S when i went to get my nursing bra fitted and there were only some displays I could get through. It was a bit like a maze to find the only way through to the fitting room !

cakes you should still be able to get access to the MW counsellor at the hospital I think. They offer to go through the birth if you need it.

cakes If it's any help, the MW I saw on Thurs said I could make an appointment with either a senior MW or a consultant to talk through the birth - it kind depends on the birth mind you, in that if I find I'm having trauma associated with the spinal and the weird reaction, then it might well be best to have a consultant and possibly an anesthatist appointment...but they will kinda make that decision.
Also, you can have the review at any point in time. A friend of mine had hers after about 18mths, when they were considering having a 2nd child, but she was petrified of tearing again (3rd degree, very grey baby thanks to snapped cord).

oiesha aromatherapy can help dry up milk. Make a massage oil using peppermint, sage, lemon balm or oregano essential oils and massage your boobs with that.

drinking sage or mint tea too.

The old fashioned way was to take epsom salts.

i also think going on the pill can help.

Did you ring your insurance company? They're the ones who need the assurance and ours said gp or mw. Maybe gives yours a call?

So... The plunge has been taken, ' relations' have been resumed. Was a bit nerve wracking, more because of body confidence issues than anything else, but then I didn't get anywhere near a vaginal delivery... Dh was wonderful though, kept reassuring me I was sexy and he loved me etc. was a but disconcerting when the needy cat joined us in bed though and snuggled up to me mid-deed!

The insurance company want a doctor's sign off - though I'm sure a MW would do. It's no big deal as long as the weather perks up. I'm only a mile from the town centre but at the top of a hill. As long as it's not icy I can walk to the town/ shops/ doctors in 15-20 mins and it's good exercise.

Mind you OH is fairly insistent we can't go out in minus temps anyway - LO has no chance of getting cold in the bundles I have to wrap her in... :)

Crikey cakes! My DH isn't going near me for quite some time...simply because we're not in the same room most of the time, and I'm guessing my sexy episiotomy isn't all that healed yet.

As for the cat, bless! I feel so bad about 'abandoning' mine...

fish Thanks for those tips. Snufflix has taken to the formula ok the last 2 feeds, so hopefully she'll be fine.

Went to GP this morning. She wants me to just keep going. I'm sleeping ok and generally getting through the day ok (albeit with crying and feeling fucking terrible mentally), so we're going to see how it goes. Got an appointment in 2 weeks. Hopefully I will feel more stable by then, but I can feel a bastard migraine coming on now and this was exactly how I was with my previous bout of serious depression. Ah well, too much to do to be in bed with a migraine. Will see how it goes.

Sorry you are feeling low oeisha, I have no advice I'm afraid. Just treat yourself to something nice every day. Could this be why I'm 12 and a half stone.........

Re the driving after cs...... I've been driving a week already. I thought the insurance thing was a myth? I'm 4 weeks post cs now and have no intention of stopping. I can do it fine.

Sex [confused[ what's that? Well done Mr & Mrs cakes! I really don't remember the last time we dtd. Definitely pre October when the pgp got worse.

Hugs to oiesha, just take each day one at a time x

oiesha Sounds like it could be a long 2 weeks for you. Please don't leave it if you're not improving but it may be that with awareness that you are depressed it may start to feel betteron your own. Don't underestimate sleep depravation for making you feel utterly rubbish too. Eat lots of feel good foods fish, fruit and veg and olive oil-adopt a mediterrean diet that helped me loads when I was down.

Well done cakes, i want to have sex too but doubt very much it's going to happen with the still flowing lochia. It's shit, I'm so fed up of it.

The MW told me that the lochia will flow each time you feed as the uterus contracting will cause a bit more to come out.

parsley if only-it hasn't stopped :(

Well things weren't quite as finished lochia wise as I thought, but oh well! Was more concerned about the crepe belly

Bedroom relations began for us too - 5 weeks post c section as I too got nowhere near a vaginal delivery. I suppose it's the one good thing about a c section - no alterations down below!

Thanks MissRee regarding the water advice. I know he isn't dehydrated going by the wet nappies but he strains a lot (goes beetroot in face and moans) so maybe he is slightly constipated. He does 1 poo a day (has been known to do 2) but they are mustard-yellow and loose. In fact, they leak out of his legs quite often.

On a matter not baby related, we have snow!!! (Just south of York!)

Freya strains and goes red but I just assume that because she isn't screaming as well, she's not constipated provided her poops are pretty wet!

Abi does the "expelling evil" red face...curls up and everything. They're all very wet though. If she looks like she's really struggling, or I can feel the gurgles in her tummy (usually left side) she likes a tummy-rub (little clockwise rubs all over).

I remember the last DTD...about 30mins before my waters broke.... Not gonna forget that one...

Sex??! Not likely... Wouldn't want to go ruining all that nice stitching down there... Mind you, I am still only 16 days post-birth.

Quick question to BF people: do any of you use a dummy? Roo tends to get quite restless and sucky of an evening, but when I feed her more than about 3 times in succession she seems to get distressed,cry, thrash about and throw lotsof it back up undigested. So have bought a dummy and used it this evening but don't know whether to continue. Probably overthinking this - DD1 never had one and we were stuck with the thumb for 7 years, dD2 had one and we were shot of it by about 6 mths. But am interested in other people's opinions/experiences.

Oh, and does anyone else's back ache like crazy from carrying LO around?

butterfly we have about one feed a day similar to that - the time of day varies, seems to be wind/poo related and usually involves a bout of hiccoughs half way through. I'm wondering about a dummy - in fact the new guidelines for SIDS seem to recommend a dummy after about a month and wean them off it later as they think it may help reduce the likelihood of cot death - not sure why though. I'll see if I can find the link to what I was reading.

YES!!! Bloody back killing me! Never knew an 8lber would be so heavy (he was 6lbs 6oz at birth 5 weeks ago!)

And regarding dummy - I was told when BFing that a dummy not suitable before 4 weeks as they could get nipple confusion. I think William got 'dummy confusion' as he never took to it when BFing but when we switched to bottles, sometimes likes it - not when he wants to sleep though. He isn't a sucker (he was when BFing though - a reason to come off it cos he was on breast up to 8 hours in one go. Wouldn't settle when too him off!!!)

abeautifulbutterfly don't blame you regarding the sex thing. If I had had a normal delivery, I think DH would be out of bounds for a year!!!

Glad everyone else seems to have strainy babies with beetroot red faces but loose poos. Glad William is 'normal'.

PS: Dh doing the feed and put to bed tonight whilst I have a bath! Yeah!!!

Baby cakes gets bad wind and only fucking a finger would soothe him, do against my principles we occasionally resort to a dummy because it eases his pain and how could I deny him that just because I hate the look of the things? He's never had nipple confusion, even with ff bottle feeding in hospital, guess he likes his grub too much, however it comes!