October 2012 babies - we meet them at last!

[YompingJo]

Getting thread in place in readiness!

Hi lovely ladies so behind with all the postings but just read all your lovely comments you are all so supportive and kind. Runs of to cry
planktonette both had a rough start but hopefully soon it wil be a distant memory.

BF proving diffiicult as he falls alseep roughly every 5 minutes and my milk only just fully in I think added to him being a large baby im a bit all over the place as having to formula top up. Also has a very red sore bum.

On the upside so glad not to be still pregnant!

Argh my Mum's here. I just need a bit of space to breathe...what is it with mothers? I know my mum has MH issues but she's so much easier to deal with when I'm not hormonal and sleep deprived....suppressing the urge to bury her under the patio at present.

My boobs have been engorged for a week. They're bloody painful and it's a bit miserable, they actually keep me awake at night (DS2 is good enough at that all by himself). My letdown reflex has already sped up and we're getting covered in milk at each feed. Feel like a right cow moaning about it, when fjord is having exactly the opposite problem - I sincerely and desperately wish I could send some of my milk supply your way It's so bloody unfair that some people struggle to make enough and others struggle with too much. It makes DS so miserable and windy and writhy.

angelico I am loving the stupid noisy sheep so much. If shhh works with your little one then white noise is likely to as well. He got us 10 blessed minutes to eat lunch with DS1 today, where without the sheep one of us would've had to bounce him around madly to stop him wailing.

Elpis how the hell did you get breastmilk in your LO's eye? DS has a sticky eye - it's really yucky - but try as I might with my rivers of milk I can't get a single blessed drop in his actual eye. DH thinks it's hilarious and keeps threatening to get the video camera Reckon I could get a high pressure squirt in his eye...

Anyone else's DP going back to work on Monday? I am trying not to go mental with fear!!!

crazypaving My boyfriend is going back to work on monday and I think I have so far changed one nappy and have no idea how to do it :(

My mum is coming up though (my boyfriend's mum is really hard work, but my own mum is really easy) so I am not alone though...

squid i was exactly the same with nappies with ds1!! don't worry you'll be fine - if i can do it you certainly can! hooray for good mums.

nb dh still changes all ds1's nappies on weekends [cheeky mare emoticon] although i fear that will change now with 2 ds to deal with. boo.

Well didn't I lern something today. DS is an excellent feeder, but gets dreadful wind after each feed. I thought 'eh, he's a windy baby - worse things happen'. But the community midwife was by today, and she said it was probably the latch - she showed me a different hold, and boom! No wind.

I haven't had time to practice and get it right yet, but it was a real eye-opener -clearly I have more to learn than I thought!

Oh my gosh firstbubba you're not going to believe this -

You know how our babies were both born on 2 October and were both in NICU with an infection for the first week?

Well I just saw your photo on the Facebook group, and you put a lovely photo of your baby Jamie...

MY BABY IS BABY JAMIE TOO!

Clearly our babies are psychically linked and will grow up to be BFFs

Crazy that is great to know about the sheep! I am ordering it tonight - thank you! My sis got me the little glow seahorse and it is lovely and soothing but stupid thing only plays for 5 mins at a time and then goes off. Think Ewan goes for 20 mins. Sympathy on the milk spray - sister is the same, she's like a water cannon! Can you express your milk? I would love to express some so DH can do some night feeds but find it quite sore.

Squid you will get the hang of the nappies in no time - I was amazed how quickly it comes together, had only changed one in my life before bean arrived :o Am definitely noticing a fast learning curve with baby stuff! Really glad you will have help from your mum, makes a huge difference if there is someone calm and sensible there.

On OHs going back to work - I cried every day last week thinking about DH going back. It is so shit they have to go back so soon. He's been back since Tues but it's been okay because MIL here. It's when she goes I will really notice the difference but hoping I will be slightly more mobile by then - can walk a bit more now but pushing buggy is a bit away yet. Still it's only been 2 and a bit weeks so possibly being a bit ambitious. Friend had CS, pushed buggy after 4 weeks and it really hurt so she waited till 6 weeks.

Any electric breast pumps people recommend? I have a Tomme Tippee hand pump but just hurts too much and hand expressing doesn't seem to get anything out other than a drip or two.

Had a cry this evening at 7pm (also known as cry o'clock in the Angelico household). Hadn't cried for a few days but I had a nap this afternoon from 5pm and woke at 7pm to find it dark. The days and nights are all blending together, just felt totally exhausted and disorientated like it was the Twilight Zone. It all feels surreal. DH and MIL were so great about it and comforting, made me sad thinking about mum and how I wasn't allowed to blame pain or hormones for anything after 8 days We're barely in contact at the minute other than her sending a text yesterday to 'jokingly' complain about MIL staying till next week as mum was supposed to be up helping. Yes because I really trust her to do that at the minute...

Late Late show on in living room - DH and MIL just called me in to see a couple with TWELVE kids The youngest is 2 weeks old. The woman is a hardcore Irish mentalist mammy standing there with a big grin on her face surrounded by her thousands of offspring 2 weeks after giving birth while I weep and wallow in self-pity after having one ...

Planktonette - cross posted. That is so sweet about the Jamie twins!!! :o What was the magic hold / latch? Our MW was just like oh yes babies get wind

Am making the face a lot tonight. Clearly am in a cynical frame of mind

angelico - I have a which.co.uk membership. they have three 'best buys' - the medela swing, the medela mini, and one I can't remember. The BIG ones in neonatal ward are also medela. Sooooo, I think medela is the way to go :) I bought the swing (I've got loads of milk so I thought the mini would be a false economy) which was expensive at £100 but im planning to donate to the hospital, so it should get a decent work out...

Have you got a breastfeeding group near you? AFAIK they can be a bit militant, but very good if you've got a specific problem. I will go to one if I can't re-create the magic hold by myself. Re. Hold, there was millimetres in it, so hard to give tips!

Planktonette have BFing groups nearby but can't drive yet so will have to wait a couple of weeks. Was just looking at the Medela swing there :) Looks good! Sister really likes the Spectra 3 one but Medela seems a better known brand and apparently they have good re-sale value - although like the ideas of being able to donate it too! Do you find it sore? I find hand expressing useless and really sore and the hand pump is sore too and doesn't seem to get any milk. Maybe it's just me! Don't want to spend £100 only to find my boobs are no use at expressing

crazypaving Try dabbing a cotton earbud in the river and then waiting until his eyes are closed. Then run it along his eyelashes.

He's very excited right now. But then I'd be pretty thrilled if my cord stump had just fallen off, I had a pristine nappy on and was lying on a part-cashmere blanket.

I keep DD's cord stump in a little box in the bedroom. Have threatened to make her look at it unless she eats faster.

I've had three breast pumps ...

Tommee Tippee manual - cheap, but gives you RSI. Tommee Tippee electric - Christ, that was awful. Assembling it was like building a washing machine from scratch and to my horror it started sucking milk into the piping - God knows what would have happened if it had got into the motor. Medela Freestyle - expensive double electric pump that was a marvel when i went back to work. I could express 300ml in 20 minutes while on my Blackberry. So I'd definitely recommend Medela.

Btw, if you start expressing it's often best to have a go in the morning, when you usually have more milk. It also helps to either have DC next to you or at least think about him/her - I used to coo over the pix of DD on my iPhone to get a faster letdown at work.

Good tips Elpis

My sleep pattern is fucked! Slept soundly from 5pm to 7pm and am now wide awake even though bean is fed, swaddled and relatively settled. Typical!

That night was hardcore, and she's crying again....SAVE ME!

same here wantanorange.... just feeding every 30 mins and griping in between sine midnight :(

I feel like i must be doing something wrong :(

Ditto. Shes really unsettled in the early hours. She wants to latch on, but then feeding doesn't make it better so she gets really cross. I wish she's take a dummy because I think she wants to suck for comfort, but she does not agree!

Midwife told me to try and avoid dummies for first few weeks while getting milk established so i haven' t tried that yet...my supply seems good though (she's gained 8 oz above birthweight by day 11)... ah, i'm exhausted! health visitor coming monday i'll see if she's got any good tips

We had a similar night - feeding basically every half hour. She is a very sucky baby - managed to find her thumb and suck it last night which looked super cute, so I think a dummy may help her settle but going to try and hold off till she's a month or so to get breastfeeding properly started.
I try to keep reminding myself that this is all normal. That the night feeds are really important for establishing milk supply. That she is still very small and the only things she really knows how to do are to feed and cry.
But I'm knackered! She finally settled for a couple of hours at about 7am today.... Just as dd1 got up to start her day!
Mixed experiences of Ewan - night before last he was amazing and we had feeding every 1.5to 2 hrs but sleep in between. Last night not a scrap of difference - but 4 mega poos overnight which I think may have made her uncomfortable.
She is gorgeous though and I am loving the cuddles this morning. Just got to keep going and remember it does get easier!

I reaally feel for you smiley and wantanorange with other kids to look after too! It does get easier then...? :( I feel like i will always be this sexless jellybellied zombie woman not quite fitting in her clothes living in pyjamas bleeding and leaking milk!

elpis chuckling at the idea of using cord stump as a threat!
Breast pump wise think it depends what you want it for. Tried a manual avent Isis last time - sore and not a lot produced, a medela swing - didn't get much with that either but that was early days when was trying to express because of milk supply problems - used to spend 40 mins expressing for 30 mls of milk, would not do that again. Wasn't sore though. Once I went back to work when baby was 5 months decided to splash out on a double electric one - avent Isis duo. Cost loads (about £200) but could express about 12 oz in 10 to 15 mins and meant I could just give her breast milk till she started having cows milk age 1 despite working lots of shifts, being away overnight etc etc.

Yes it honestly does get better! I like your description though squid, I definitely feel like a jelly bellied zombie woman.... But I do still fit into all my maternity clothes just perfectly!

GIRLS - swaddle when they are griping! It is the only thing that works with mini Angelico if we are knackered and want her to go to sleep at night if she is feeling whiny and gripy and just generally fussing for no apparent reason. She fussed from 6pm till late last night and was all set to fuss all night This link is from a blog that shows the Harvey Karp way of swaddling - tight round arms and looser on hips and once you've cracked it escape proof! Bean slept for 4.5 hours last night and another 4 this morning which saved my marbles from disappearing over the horizon...

And on dummy thing - bean will sometimes take dummy, occasionally manages to find her own fingers and it has had no impact on her feeding at all - she goes on like one of those raptors from Jurassic Park - so really don't worry about trying a dummy at least. There is the added cute factor of dummy being a bit hard for bean to hold on to so she sounds like Maggie from the Simpsons when she sucks it :o

BTW Mini Angelico hasn't pooped for 36 hours (except a smear). Previously she was doing 2-3 poops a day. Phoned community MWife and they said not to worry as long as she keeps feeding and wetting nappies. Has this happened to anyone else? She's 18 days old now. We thought that might be why she kept fussing in evening. Still passing lots of wind. Didn't think BF babies got constipated.

Squid I feel jelly-bellied too, ironically more so since some of the fat has disappeared so it's even more... squidgy. Every day I get in the shower is a triumph as far as I am concerned! And also for the peeps with more than one child because you are beacons of super-heroism!!! x

ok seriously, how am I going to manage basic daily tasks with DS1 when I have DS2 who will. not. be. put. down and fights the moby wrap like a demented octopus?? Can I seriously leave a baby less than 2 weeks old to scream madly while I get DS1 his breakfast/change his nappy/whatever? How do I feed DS2 whilst DS1 is throwing himself head-first off the sofa?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh