November 2012 - babies are here at last

[StuntNun]

This is the post-natal club for graduates of the November 2012 intake.

[DesperateHousewife21]

Same here, just expressed a tiny bit off each side to relieve engorgement and got 4oz. Think if I expressed both fully I'd have got double that.
It's nice to have it there so I can do ds' bedtime and dh can feed Q if needed.

We went for our first proper outing today, I was getting cabin fever so we took them out in the double buggy for the first time, Q wrapped up like a Xmas present! It's completely knocked her out though she's been asleep ever since, changed her nappy to wake her up for a feed but she wasn't really interested!

[blonderthanred]

Horsey mine also does his tummy time on my chest, I haven't tried the playmat yet as he just hasn't seemed ready although he is more alert this week. He also seems to have some good neck strength.

We've shown him the mirror and he is quite taken with his own reflection (who can blame him ). Other than that it's just lots of chatting and a bit of singing - when we can find time between changing, feeding and sleeping!

[ValiumQueen]

YW that is impressive for 5 mins! You should be very proud of your norks!

alamaya would you regret having a third more than not having a third? No need to decide just yet. Try to enjoy your baby and keep your options open. I have just had my third, and know I am done. No doubts. My family is complete.

[YellowWellies]

Cheers ladies - am limiting pumping to one 5 min session a day which is enough to produce a night feed for DH to give. And I think it is to do with forceful let down as he often looks a little startled drowning when feeding so am going to limit to one nork per feed and block feed 3 hrly as suggested. Ta mucho!!!

[ValiumQueen]

I did the school run and was not late! Yay! I let DD1 push the pram home and she was mega chuffed.

[horseylady]

Stunt he spends ages on his tummy on me!! His head holding skills are good, he's very strong. I'll try on the playmat too though see if he likes that too. He's just quite happy being cuddled, crawling up me to my sholder and lying there. He loves the sling too!! And sitting in my arms.

[Alamaya]

Ladies. My Son is now 10 days old. My miracle natural baby after needing IVF for my daughter. Would you believe im sad its my last baby and feel a yearning for number 3. OMG hubby would kill me if he knew i was writing this. lol.

Reasons why i shouldnt

1. For the love of god hes not even a year yet
   
2. We have a 3 bedroom house. Kids have own rooms. No room for a third without sharing.
   
3. My Labours are getting quicker. Last one born at home. Not sure if i could deal with a fright like that again.
   
4. My bladder prolapse would probably freak at a third.
   

Ok must keep reading that list lol. Im so sad though i feel like i miss my newborn already and hes still here.

[ValiumQueen]

YW bloody typical eh? Never heard of over supply. I think it would be more like he is getting too much fore milk if he is having both breasts at a feed. do you offer both boobs? if so, I would try just restricting to one breast for say 3 hours, before swapping if he is on a constant feeding session. If in a nice pattern, just offer a new boobie each time. I do not buy the advice to stop pumping. The body will produce enough of the right type of milk for your baby according to its needs, so if someone has twins or feeding a toddler and new baby, they will each get what they need. It is very clever, so I think your GP is wrong stop pumping if you want, but continue if you want to build up a supply for the freezer, and keep him used to having the occasional bottle. Bottle= time for mummy to do what mummy wants.

Good for you eliza.

horsey I agree about getting air to the wound. It is just really hard to find the time to do that with other kids and all the feeding. I think you will feel so much better being back riding. I hope it is not painful for you. As to playing, it is important not to overstimulate baby. Just talking to him, letting him sit up a bit and watch what you are doing, going out etc is plenty. A bit of tummy time will help with wind too. DS had his first tummy time play today and promptly threw up!

[StuntNun]

Oh I forgot YW my DS2 had green nappies, probably due to overactive letdown, and when they cleared up it stopped from one day to the next so you may see a rapid improvement. You might want to look up block feeding as well but it might not be so helpful in your circumstances.

[StuntNun]

YW you might want to check KellyMom website or La Leche League for advice but I suspect the advice will be to stop pumping and just bf until your supply matches demand. If you want to keep expressing to keep him used to bottles then just express one feed a day and try and match the volume to his demand. I'm no expert though so please check elsewhere for advice.

Horsey one problem with putting babies down on their back to sleep is that it causes developmental delay (no long term effect, only short term) so a brilliant thing to do is give them some tummy time each day. It only needs to be minutes, e.g. 5-20 depending on how well they can hold their head up but that would be a great thing to do. You can put baby on a playmat or on your tummy for example.

[horseylady]

Vq and all the other c section mums try to get air to the area as much as possible. And dress like vq said. You can always put tea tree on the dressing or magnesium sulphate if it looks infected.

I plan on sitting on my horse this weekend. See how I feel.

Today is the first day on my own. I was late doing the horses, e decided he needed feeding NOW!! Even though it was an hour before he was due!! So he had over half his feed before the horses and over half his feed when we got back. We then tried to play a bit, but he cried so we stopped and had cuddles, we then went out for lunch with my cousin and her two boys (one 22months the other 12 weeks!) then home, feed e again and he's now lying on me being cuddled and licking my chest. This is his new thing? He was licking me and dh last night!!

So in terms of 'playing' what do two to three week olds need?! I hear conflicting advice. I pop him in the bouncy chair for 5 minutes and on the play mat thing. We have numerous toy things but he's not interested. So apart from cuddling me and me talking to him there doesn't seem to be much more? I guess as he becomes more aware we can do more? I just feel like I'm not doing anything but feeding/changing/cuddling! I'm assured this is all they need!! Agreed?!

[YellowWellies]

Gah so it seems the green poos might be linked to oversupply thanks to all of the pumping I had to do in the early weeks to top up Jonas. Gah.... so now I have too MUCH milk and need to reduce it so he gets more hind milk and less foremilk. Any clues from experienced BFers? :(

[Elizadoesdolittle]

I've just had the midwifes 5 day visit where it seems I had the customary top her up lecture. She's lost 13%. I tried to explain that I wasn't surprised due to the amount of crap that was coming out of her. As DH delivered her she didn't get the usual rub down in which a lot of the gunk is cleared out of her so she kept it in for longer. I'm not going to top up with formula yet. Going to try and fill her up with breast milk as much as I can over the next couple of days and take it from there. I didn't bother digging out my pump as I was so crap at it with DD1 I wasn't going to express but I might have to try again. Goodness knows where it is!

Well it's nice and sunny here so going to head out for some fresh air. DH has had to go into work today do we are flying solo but all going well so far.

[ValiumQueen]

I would love a tummy tuck. Hope I win the lottery.

[ValiumQueen]

Well done blonder sounds like a challenging trip.

DS has not stopped feeding all day since 6. He has had to be put down inbetween times, and has yowled each time, but I had the other two to deal with, and need to eat, pee etc. gonna put him in pram for school run as hopefully he will sleep. He has lots of wind that is not for shifting. I have a headache and BP is up. Not surprising really in the circumstances.

My tip for the day : have your kids when you are young. It is hard enough when young, but I feel so bloody old, and my parents are old too, so cannot do much to help. Mum is 70 tomorrow. I forgot

[blonderthanred]

Just back from mw clinic. L has gained 80g since last Wed. Not as much as I was hoping (he feels and looks heavier) but all in the right direction. And no mention of topping up. Hadn't managed to feed just before leaving as planned so he screamed the whole way through.

Mum and I had some hilarity getting the car seat set up, had been through everything with DH so it should have been fine but at the last minute realised I had no idea how to loosen the straps to get him into the damn thing in the first place! Had to ring DH in the end who told me about the secret clip thing under the seat. Hmph. Anyway managed all the rest of it with minimum dignity loss.

VQ I was going to ask the surgeons if they could manage a tummy tuck while they were down there but for some reason it didn't seem appropriate!

[ValiumQueen]

blonder not in the slightest

Glad I am not the only one with overhang and ooze, although obviously I wish we all had healed washboard tums. (Dream on VQ)

Just tried DS in wrap. Did ok, just around house. Doing school run with it this afternoon if I can get it washed and dried in time.

[GTbaby]

Worse night so far. In the end woke my mum at 7. Gave her LO n went to bed. Getting a little anxious about how ill cope when I go bk home.

He looks like a little angel now tho. At baby clinic for 4 week check. Appointment was at 11. What is the point in appointments then giving numbers to u as u come in? So if u turn up earlier u get seen before. I hadn't planned on being here so long so didn't bring a feed either. Finally my turn

[Izzybuzzybuzzybees]

I think we may be hitting the 2 week growth spurt mentioned! DS is two weeks today, and its my due date :) he seems to be feeding more regularly.

We did have a good night tho. He slept from 1.30-5 then from 6:30-9 so only up twice after midnight.

DS just fed again even tho only 40 mins from last feed. He now has hiccups and has been sick. Fun and games!

[Iheartpasties]

wierd but nice! it's been ages - and was always off in the distance and now all of a sudden its tomorrow morning!!

dd has just a stinky shite. brill !!

[Iheartpasties]

i'm going to bed soon. i wonder what the night will bring. i had lovelly snuggles last night!

my mum arrives from the uk tomorrow morning! it'll be wierd to see her!

[blonderthanred]

Hope my post didn't sound too flippant VQ, I think you were perfectly within your rights to be pissed off. It's even harder with the lack of sleep though (and even more so with other DCs to look after). I hope your DH is pulling his finger out a bit - and laying off the beer as that is going to make him worse than useless.

I also have an overhang Cat and feel like it's hard to get air to the wound when I spend so much time sitting up to feed or provide comfortable resting spot for L . I have a hard ridge above the wound and a tiny bit of ooze but not too bad. Only thing I've tried to do is have quick cool baths and showers and then spend 20 mins lying flat after - I know it's easier said than done (and easier for me with only 1 DC) but I figure I am going to be more use to L when I am mended. Oh and big, supportive but not tight granny pants. I wear them all the time & can really feel the difference. Asda ones are my preference!

[ValiumQueen]

cat not sure my post was clear enough. Need a picture really! Put a pad on the wound so kinda squeezing skin and fat flat, then strap it with whatever you have to hand, going all the way around your middle, if you can tolerate it. Makes for a funny shape for a while, but may make you feel a bit better. It will also give it a chance to heal. A crepe bandage, wide elastic, sommat like that. gP may have a better idea.

DS is not settling this morning. Not sure why. Probably as I want to sleep. He is gorgeous though, and worth it all.

I do hope you are getting help cat. I think when people are on their 3rd or more baby others tend to think we are coping fine, when we may well not be. I am a bit concerned to hear that your birth experience is troubling you. I believe emotional pain can result in delay of physical healing, and likewise delay in physical healing can increase emotional pain. Please feel free to vent if you need to, either on here or in a PM x big hug. You are doing so very well x

[ValiumQueen]

Thank you for your sympathies. I was a bit angry earlier. DH tries, he just has his priorities all wrong it seems.

cat I also have an overhang and it makes it hard for anything to heal. My wound, 3 weeks in, is still open and oozing in one area. Not smelly though thankfully. I do not heal well at the best of times. With my first section I had more time to care for it, and always had a dressing on it for the first few weeks. This time they said no dressing, but I am putting one on now, and it is healing. Just a sanitary towel pressed up against it and held in place with knickers, a belly belt, whatever you have to hand. Change it at least twice a day and observe ooze. Perhaps you could get proper dressing pads from GP as it sounds as if it might be infected, so best get it looked at. So sorry you have this to contend with too. Does it hurt? Mine doesn't hurt thankfully. You can buy special section belts but at this stage I would not think it worth the expense. I used it last time, but not this due to discomfort with clips and tube ligation.

[StuntNun]

Don't forget the new thread is here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/1611078-November-2012-the-birthplosion-thanks-Peaky