December 2011 - Worp speed 5 to sleeping and smiling

[BeeMyBaby]

FairyBayleaf DC1 EDD 6th Dec BORN 29th Sept Albert Elwyn 2lb 14oz
Tjuice DC2 EDD 21st November BORN 7th Nov Amaya Rose 3kg
Sevensevenseven DC2 EDD 20th Dec 25yo Southwold BORN 21st Nov Eva Rose 5lb 4oz
Girlwiththemouseyhair DC2 EDD 24th Nov Maggie Juliet BORN 25th Nov 8lb 9oz
YBR DC1 EDD 22nd Dec BORN 25th Nov (girl) 6lb 3.5oz
LittleBlueBoat(Cheeptrick) DC2 EDD 5th Dec 29yo S.Yorkshire BORN 26th Nov Hope Brynn Frances 8lb 9oz
Kri5ty DC1 EDD 13th Dec 26yo Manchester Boy BORN 29th Nov Saul Harrison 6lb 13oz
LauraSmurf DC1 EDD 3rd December Girl BORN 30th Nov
BeeMyBaby DC2 EDD 29th November 25yo Scotland BORN 1st Dec Safia Hawwa 7lb6oz
SoTiredOfTheWheelsOnTheBus DC2 EDD 7th December BORN 1st December Boy 8lbs5oz
Iggly DC2 EDD 2nd December South London BORN 2nd Dec (Girl) 8lb 1oz
Girlsyearapart DC4 EDD 6th December BORN 3rd Dec (Boy) 7lb 7oz
HoneyLovesCake DC1 EDD 2nd December Cornwall BORN 6th Dec Rocco Kaleb 8lb 14oz
Mmmmcheese DC2 EDD 25th December 32yo BORN 7th Dec (Girl) 7lb8oz
Itsybitsy08 DC2 EDD 6th December Boy BORN 9th Dec Kieran 8lb4oz
Msbuggywinkle DC3 EDD 13th December 27yo BORN 10th Dec Miranda 8lb6oz
OiMissus DC1 2 December, 39yo, Horwich, Bolton BORN 10th Dec (Boy) Alistair Jude 9lbs
jigglebum BORN 11 Dec Freya 7lbs
Pludophtherednosedreindeer (plupervert): DC2 EDD Dec 10 (Kent) BORN 12 Dec Helena 8lb 6oz (3.8kg)
NorthernChinchilla- EDD 19th December, BORN 12th Dec, Boy, 7lb 7oz
Jomouse DC1 EDD 2nd December 35yo London BORN 14 Dec (Girl) 5lb 8oz
Tyelperion DC1 EDD 3rd December 27yo Windsor BORN 14 Dec (boy) 9lb 8oz
KateM77: DC2 EDD Dec 10 34yo BORN 16 Dec Daniel James 8lb 6oz
BennyBenBear DC1 EDD 5th December Manchester/Bolton BORN 18 Dec Oliver Stephen Bolton 8lb 9oz
Kiteflying DC2 EDD 7 December 44yo Australia BORN 18 December (Girl) Lulu 8lb 14 oz
mopsytop DC1 EDD 25th December BORN 19 Dec 6lbs 11oz
AWomanCalledHorse DC1 EDD 22nd December BORN 21st December 7lbs 6oz (Boy)
Figgygal DC1 EDD 12 December 30yo Bath BORN 22 Dec Daniel James McMillan 9lb 4oz
Kitty5824 DC1 EDD 21st December 33 yo Manchester - Don't know BORN 23rd Dec, Boy, 7lb 14oz, Sebastian John
Aethelfleda DC3 EDD 27th December London BORN 3rd January, Albert Thomas William 8lb 10 oz
hawthers DC2 EDD 22nd December London 33yo BORN 28 December 7lb 4oz (boy)
LittleMissFlustered DC3 31st December BORN 6 Jan (boy)
hopeful1 BORN 6 Jan Noa Francie Kate 10lb 3oz
MissRee BORN 12 Jan 12 Freya Violet 7lb 7oz

Placing an order for a haddock for Dh. Been feeding ds2 for an hour and he just won't settle, feel like my nipple has been chewed off and Dh suggests if I relax then ds2 might relax and go to sleep. He says whilst lying down in bed with pants on his head to keep the light out which I need on in order to bf. Grrrr

Wow hawthers

remibd your DH that a) he provided sperm and 50% of DNA and if he's not more supportive you will give him 3 bottles of EBM and a baby, and he can do a 6 hr nightshift and see how he likes it

B) also remind DH that you have a oerfectly servicable spare bed/sofa/floor/bath/car and he's welcome ro sleep therewhile you are up doing the work.

Seven, your DH's boss is a chauvinist. Make sure DH knows this!

figgy, mixed feeding is just that: it diesnt matter if some days you give an extra bottle. Boobs are clever things and if you just ketp offering sddidional boob when it suits you, you' ll maintain a supply.

Morning ladies!
oh dear! There are some silly DHs (and bosses) about!
Re hawthers point about the light. I needed the light on at first, but I don't anymore, however, since he arrived we sleep with our door open and thenlanding light on so that we can check on him. We need to get a good night light instead. So, what do you others do/is there a particular nightlight you can recommend?
Now, back to sleep. Z z z z ! (especially you LOs! Give your mummies some sleep.

Are chocolate biscuit fuelled night feeds ok? Dint want to get into a bad habit but boy was that taxi (haven't had a taxi biscuit for years) good

Oi, i just put a 12 watt bulb in my normal bedside lamp, it does the job well! I left it on at first but now just switch it on if I want to check on her. It doesn't bother me, I can sleep through it, but disturbs my husband's sleep a bit so it's easier just to switch on when required.

Minimopsy just slept from midnight to five!!!!!! Amazing! That is the longest she's gone between feeds. She was grizzling lot earlier, maybe she tired herself out. She's now feeding quite well at the breast which is nice as the past couple of days she has just been falling asleep at the breast. I am having similar probs to you Figgy. I just cannot imagine getting her back to the breast 100% but you jar never know, will persevere for now.

I sent Dh up to the spare room at 2, f finally asleep at 3 although obv up again feeding now. Dh is usually very supportive but has come out with some right corkers recently. Think he has forgotten the massive role that hormones play in this baby business.

Tmi alert I stopped bleeding on about day 5 which is pretty early I know. I mentioned this to the mw and she said perhaps they had a good clear out in my cs and not to worry. So i've just got up to d/w f and felt wet down below, went to the loo and there was masses of fresh blood. surely this can't be a period already? But if its not should I be worried that the bleeding has started up again. Not sure if its relevant but I am exclusively bf ing.

figgy oh god I'd love a chocolate biscuit right now....

Don't know about the bleeding hawthers. Mine comes and goes but it's been 4 weeks and it hasn't stopped yet. I'd be inclined to give your midwife a ring just to check.

Figgy I cut a tiny bit off the millionaires shortbread I made earlier and scoffed it at 5 am! Then I felt really guilty. It was only a tiny sliver but 5am is no time to be stuffing my gob with biscuit!

Thanks mopsy will call in the morning and see what she says. It's day 17 if that adds anything to the mix.

Am resisting the chic orange I know if in ny drawer. Surely a reward for being up at this time is not too bad...

I gave in and ate a normal sized bit of shortbread. B.A.D. !!!

But I started feeding her at 5:20 and only just finished at 7:00 (breast followed by bottle top up) and now have to express for at least 30 minutes so I don't feel TOO guilty!

She fed for 30 mins at breast but then guzzled 140ml formula. How can she be getting anything from breast? Even when she fed all day on wednesday she was starving and practically inhaled a bottle after 4 hours solid on the breast. Not sure what to do... I have milk but she can't seem to get enough.

Just marking place.

Colic is just fantastic isn't it?? Finally managed to settle LO down, he's been screaming since 8pm.

I am taking antibiotics in the middle of the night and have to eat with them so bought some of those new belvita breakfast biscuits and have been scoffing them. Makes me feel slightluy better about it! Might end up eating them for breakfast too as I find it hard to find time for breakfast otherwise.

Whoever was asking about nightlights, we have one on our angelcare monitor. But if you want to think ahead and buy a nightlight that if useful durimng toddlerhood we recently bought a groclock for DS and it is amazing. You can program times for daytime naps and morning getting up and it changes from blue stars to yellow sun when its time to get up. It keeps DS in bed until he sees the sun so no early morning getting up! Obviously at this stage there would be no point programming it but you could just use it as a general nightlight for now. Definitely recommend it for anyone with toddlers! DS loves waving night night to the yellow sun!

I got 7 hrs (broken) last night as went to bed at 9pm and she woke for her morning feed at 7.30. It would have been 8 hrs but she was awake from 2.30 - 4.30. Have to admit I don't actually feel better for it but then I am a mass of infections at the moment!

hawthers not sure about bleeding, worth asking MW but I was told the only time to worry if if you pass big clots (ie the size of a plum) or if you are still bleeding significantly at 8/10 weeks so I wouldn't worry too much.

mopsy, a breastfeeding counsellor told me once that babies often look like they are starving when they get a bottle because they assume the flow will be the same as from a breast so they suck really strongly. maybe worth a second opinion as I have never heard this advice since, but it seems logical?

mopsy don't know what to suggest about the milk. Does she still want formula after a full bottle of EBM?

AWCH that sounds awful! Not sure how I would cope with colic. Although I have heard tales of people going for long drives imn the middle of the night to get their LO to sleep!

oi, we use a moonlight nightlight for the Dds to get to the loo: its a soft green light: is too low-light for a nappy change but oK for feeding.

moonlight link

mopsy, at this age our LOs are starting to feed for longer and take larger amounts: breast milk empties from the stomach within 30 mins (much quicker than formula, which sits in the stomach for a few hours) so minimopsy may well be getting 100ml plus of your milk, which is then completely absorbed within 30mins, leaving room for that formula.
As a comparison with my baby, "feeding" him usually takes anything between 10 mins and 60 mins depending on the time of day: for a linger feed he will literally feed off one boob, them the other, then the other, then the other, then the other, and will seem hungry again 5 mins after he's burped. So I do think minimopsy is getting your milk fine, but you're just seeing the difference in baby's behaviour when she has a quickly absorbed BF and a slowly absorbed FF. both are fine, as long as that weight is going up and she settles after feeds you're sorted!

(and you may be sick of advice by now but you could seek out a Bfing counsellor to check if she looks like she's latching well: its easier to tell if you can demo a feed IRL).

AWCH ouch! and I thought I'd had a harrd time with DS screaming from 5-9pm. Feeling human again today as we then had a pretty good night. I got 7 hours sleep in total . Have been dosing DS up with infacol and last night put a rolled up towel under the head end of his basket so that he slept on a tilt. It seemed to help him settle down again after the night feeds rather than the usual upset and extended feed / wind / grizzle cycle. Could of course have just been a one-off!

Re night lights. I just have cheap ikea ones in the kids' rooms, which do the job. I have a lumie alarm clock which is supposed to help with SAD because it simulates sunrise leading to the alarm going off. It means you can adjust the brightness on the light on it, so I've been using that for night feeds in our room.

clock

Morning! I have a happy baby! She had a feed at 11, then slept in her basket until 3am, had another feed then slept again until 6.15. I'll buy some more lactose-free milk today as it comes in a small tin then hopefully get a prescription on Monday.

AWCH you have my sympathy. Eva done 19 hours on Tuesday of screaming when we tried to put her down! Thank heavens for the stretchy wrap is all I can say.

Morning! Have just enjoyed my saturday morning bacon butty in front of Saturday kitchen...best bit of the weekend!

mopsy babies will often take more ff top up than they strictly need, as kite said, both because bottle feeding is less work and because formula drips out of a bottle even if the baby isn't trying. To tell if she is feeding efficiently at the breast...look at her ear and temple, you should be able to see a deep sucking motion, there should be a brief pause as her mouth opens wide while she is sucking (this is when she is swallowing) and you might be able to hear her swallowing or see her neck muscles move as she swallows.

seven fantastic! So glad the lactose free has made her happier!

We have the Moonlight too, find it works fine for feeding and nappy changing.

Received my notes from the hospital, and made the mistake of reading them yesterday, then had a bad night 'cos I could not sleep - just kept dwelling on things. I'm hoping to do lunch soon then nap all afternoon, but DH is also knackered so we'll see ...
Half of me thinks I should just pull myself together (haddock on standby) but the bare medical description of my open 3cm deep episiotomy (that was day 5) is both shocking and doesn't tell the half of it. Few people get that I'm still healing after 7 weeks, so I feel a bit alone, esp when someone says to me "... but it's all worth it, isn't it?"

Anyone else get a bout of misery at this stage, or could this be the start of something more sinister (PND?).

Epic post alert:

Birth:

I want into labour on Thursday. I had irregular but strong contractions all day, which started formulating regimented battle plans as evening drew in. My parents picked the kids up at about half nine, at which point try were every five minutes and lasting about thirty seconds. By half past midnight they were every two minutes ad lasting as long as they felt like. I may possibly have decided i wanted to get off the roundabout at this point. I rang labour ward, and as you can probably all chorus, was advised to have a nice warm bath and a couple of paracetamol. Ladies, I'd already had co-codamol of the strong variety, it still hurt. Half an hour later I was back on the phone as they were coming every ninety seconds and lasting between forty five seconds and a minute. Begrudgingly they said I could go in.

I got to labour and delivery at half one, to e told I was only two centimetres. The midwife was concerned due to the rapid acceleration of my previous labour though, and using that and the fact I would be going home alone managed to convince her senior midwife that I needed to stay. I spent the next hour and a half in agony that was unaffected by pethidine, and vomiting due to the anti-emetic. I had forgotten they make me sick. Oops >_<

Three o'clock rolled around an things tarted to kick off, just as the registrar was plotting to send me down to the ante-natal ward. I was mainlining gas and air by this point, so my memories are vague. I know I was examined and was three centimetres, and knew I then was on my side as it was the only position I could bear and vomit from at the same time. I also know they were monitoring the heartbeat, but couldn't tell you how or how long for. Next I know I'm being told to get back on my side as there was a problem (I was told after that I'd dilated the last two centimetres during an exam, and that the midwife could see the waters and they looked bad). I hadn't noticed I'd moved >_<

My waters broke, and were very dirty, octopus boy was in distress:( Apparently they couldn't get a trace on his heartbeat, and they wanted him out. My body obliged, as from waters popping to birth was a whopping seven minutes according to my discharge summary. Pushing was when I regained my head. The clarity of that first push as the head crowned and sliced through the fuzz of the gas and air was welcome. The second push saw him out. Unresponsive and with the cord wrapped around his neck:( It was 03:35.

He didn't cry. Those few minutes while they resuscitated him are possibly the longest of my life. They had to suction the thick meconium and breathe for him. It worked, and I released the breath I hadn't known I was holding. My notes say his apgar score at one minute was 3. I'm still too scared to google the scale >_<

Sorry it is so long, but it was a weird night. I'll do another later about the nicu/scbu situation, but right now I'm being told its lunch time:)

((((hug)))) lmf, that must have been terrifying. Apgars at 1 minute are quite often low as some babies are slow to get going (my LO dropped points on his one minute apgar due to not getting his breathing established quickly, and so appearing "blue". And thick meconium is never something you want to see. Do post more when you have finished feeding your thriving and healthy octoboy xxx

Ps iff the top of my head, apgars are out of ten: 5 items rated from 0-2 each
Up to 2 points are each given for breathing rate, heart rate, muscle tone, colour, and I think movement. But the point is all these interlink: a baby who's not started breathing yet is going to lose points on colour, tone and movement as well cos he's not getting lots of oxygen into his system: which is why the 1 minute apgar is often low and the score is repeated at 5 and 10 minutes to give baby a chance to respond to early resuscitation.

Wow, that was from some old and infrequently used neurones!!

Oh, and YBR, the honest answer is it's hard to be sure from reading if your mood is definitely depressed, or you are having an understandable reaction to your post-birth health issues: what will make things clearer is getting support and understanding and keeping close tabs upon how you are feeling and chat with your GP. Share with someone in RL if that is possible and do post here if it helps. Do you get pleasure out anything at the moment? Can you see things getting better as you heal and baby gets bigger? Are you being stopped from sleeping or eating cos you feel so terrible? The important thing is that if you really do think you may e depressed to discuss it confidentially with someone (try
A female GP if you have a friendly one at your practice).

Sounds tough LMF, glad things are ok now.

Just went for a lovely walk, gorgeous sunny frosty day! Baby on breast now. She sucks a bit but keeps stopping. Sometimes her ear/temples move and she seems to be swallowing but her sucks are often very quick and short. Her latch looks fine, bf counsellor has looked at it on two different occasions and thinks it looks fine. She has a tiny mouth though so the bf counsellor thinks that might be a problem and things might improve as she gets bigger. I amnot sure as things haven't improved much. At least I continue to try though which is all I can do really I guess. Going to bf drop in group again on Monday and will try another skin-to-skin exclusive bf day on Wednesday and see how we get on.

Struggling to cope today so god only knows what will happen when Dh is back at work. Due to issues with ds1 when he was little, i'm totally paranoid about weight gain for ds2. It's really getting me down and I'm worrying so much about it. Hopefully mw visit on Monday will reassure me that all is fine. Not sure I'll cope if ds2 hasn't gained enough weight, mind you I'm not coping now so perhaps there won't be that much difference...