Dashing through the snow... One escaped early, which December baby is next?

[HoneyMum21]

Getting the thread ready when all the Christmas puddings start making appearances...

[EggNogMichelle]

Fed him at 11pm and he still won't feed now, screaming again for the last 45mins, his voice has started to go horse. DH has taken him upstairs, I'm starting to look fraught. Annoying thing is he his rooting for my nipple, then spitting it out without sucking... They are dripping with colostrum they are that full. Going to call the local MW helpline if still not fed by 6.

[MaMaPo]

Eggs, and here I am with opposite problem - still. Bloody. Feeding. She gets tired and confused and has trouble latching on, but manages and then here we are again - round and round in circles. After this I might try more concerted effort to put her down - up to now I have just been going straight back to feeding. But I'm so exhausted.

Eggs, that sounds really tough. Good luck.

[EggNogMichelle]

Mamapo this is going to sound terrible, but I am relieved I am not the only one struggling. I knew it would be hard but didn't expect poor feeding, refusal to be put down, persistent screaming all at the same time in the middle of the night, they really do pick when you are most vulnerable!

[MaMaPo]

I know just what you mean, eggs. It's very badly designed - put a woman through a difficult labour (everyone's is difficult to an extent), then place unbelievable demands on her. I'm finding myself forgetting that I had abdominal surgery 4 days ago and need to be careful of the wound - I'm constantly bending, picking her up, getting in awkward positions. Bloody ridiculous.
My husband has had a good nights sleep though. Fat lot if good it does me though.
Haven't had a visit from community mw yet - they're definitely getting a call in a few hours.

[PurplePidjChickIsNotTheMessiah]

Congratulations Stacey

[EggNogMichelle]

When were you discharged home Mamapo? They have to visit with in 24hrs, they balled up the communication with me, com MW being told I was still in hospital on Friday so wasn't seen until yesterday, an incident report is being submitted! He has been asleep for a hour now, but still not eaten for 7hrs so going to brave waking him for a feed, wish me luck!

[SeymoreInOz]

Congratulations Stacey!

Sorry there are a few of us feeding all the time. DS is stretching his feeds out a bit since my milk properly came in, but there are still long periods at night where I'm feeding constantly or being used as a human dummy! I've got enormous cracks on both nipples.

DS is sleeping on me now so I thought I'd post my birth story:

The first "sign" of labour happened at 11pm on Sunday night. I'd been sat on the sofa talking to my mum on the phone for about half an hour. When I stood up my back was really sore on the left side, I thought I'd been sitting funny but I could only relieve the pain with hard rubbing. It passed eventually and I got into bed around midnight. I started drifting in and out of sleep around 2am because of a few painful BH, but I'd had that for weeks so thought nothing of that either!

Just before 3am I felt a snapping sensation and knew my membrane had gone. I got up and put on a pad and made myself a huge bowl of cereal. The gradual trickle of water turned into a bit of a flood so I called my MW who was luckily in the birthing centre already. She asked me to come in for monitoring. DS had a good trace but I only had 3 mild contractioms so I was sent home at 4am to get established. The MW said to come back when the contractions were 5 mins apart.

DH called a taxi at the front desk, it took ages and while we were waiting the contractions got more painful and were around 10 mins apart. I was tempted to just go back to the birth centre but I was hoping to see the DCs when they got up. Eventually the cab got us home at 5am and I spent the next 2 hours huffing through contractions every 10 mins until the DCs got up. I was able to tell them the baby's coming and we're off to the hospital when suddenly the contractions ramped up to every 2/3 mins. DH called another cab and I was really vocal on that journey. I could see the driver giving me nervous looks but I was in too much pain to tell him my water had already broken!

I was admitted back into the birthing centre at 7:20am, I was 6cm dilated so got straight into a lovely hot birthing pool and was handed the gas and air. The contractions were very intense and although I tried not to, there was lots of "I can't do this." And "I want an epidural!!" The midwives were lovely and encouraged me to make as much noise as I wanted. At 8:19am DS was born into the water, a little bit shocked by the speed of delivery, so he had some oxygen while I held him in the pool. I honestly thought we might be having a girl, so he was a lovely surprise. I called my mum in the UK before they'd even delivered the placenta. Not long now till she gets to meet him!

[WeeJo08]

Congrats Stacey! Welcome to the world Ethan! I'm heading over to antenatal now to read your story! :)

Am sitting here expressing. Have just fed her some expressed milk & some from me, so she seems to have settled again. Totally agree about the feeding difficulties - I'm having a problem with Claudia's latch, it doesn't seem very effective and then she just slips off, then cries and it's really hard to get her back on again. I am also doing exactly what I said I wouldn't do and beating myself up about the formula - I know (on the logical side of my brain) that that's what the paediatrician told us to do in order for her to gain weight but I now feel myself getting quite worried about it, even though I am weaning her off that and trying to express/feed her my milk as much as possible. I always said I would try my absolute best but if things didn't work/circumstances dictated then I would just go with the flow....which I'm not. I should be happy that she is gaining weight and seems happy - not being cross with myself. Can't help it though. Aaaaaarrrgghhhh!

Sorry for rant. Hope everyone else has managed to settle now :)

Spotty Keeping everything crossed that you & Felix for get home today!

Mamapo Do try to rest when you can....a caesarean is major surgery!! If DH got a good night's sleep then maybe today you can get some rest during the day?

[Bellaboo123]

mama and eggnog is there a breast feeding drop in clinic you can go to? I did and also called the 24hr midwife number and found then both really helpful.

Try and get some rest today, no doubt you're feeling like zombies.

Anyone any thoughts on when I could start combining expressing? It's just that I'd like DP to be able to be involved? We've got a really good latch (touch wood) and seem to be established feeding...is it too soon after a week?

[WeeJo08]

Bella I don't really have any advice, only what I've done - I've been expressing since Wednesday & am finding it quite hard BUT I think that's because Claudia hasn't had a great latch & has been a bit confused because she had to go on the formula for a bit.

[Honeycantthinkofanxmasnickname]

bella Dash had bottles in scbu then whrn we and home we had a week of just BF then introduced bottles of expressed milk. Hth.

weejo don't know if it might help but when Dash was having trouble staying on the boob the scbu nurse gave us a nipple shield which really helped as it gives them more to get hold of. Maybe worth a try? (If recommend the medela ones- the kiddicare website has them with free next day delivery)

[Bellaboo123]

Thanks honey I may give it a try - gulp!

[EggNogMichelle]

Called the 24hr midwife at 7.00, they were very reassuring, apparently it the screaming and sporadic feeding is the babies was of getting me to produce more milk (evil plan!). It gave me an odd inner strength to put him in his Moses basket and ignore him, only picked him up since to offer boob and change his nappy. Bella I'm going to look into the breast feeding groups, our local sure start is fantastic with lots of support available.

Seymore the pool is amazing isn't it, I hadn't set my heart on using it, but so glad I did.

[MaMaPo]

Eggs, sounds like they were helpful. Hopefully he has calmed, managed to feed and you're now asleep!

My little miss deigned to fall asleep on my chest at about 6 (after lots of attempts to put her down) and slept for 90 mins with me,
Then almost another 2 hours lying on my husband! So I at least got some sleep. He's about to call the hospital to inquire about the community mw - I was discharged on Friday about 7pm so they're late if there's a 24 hr scheme. I did give birth in a different borough than I live, as a private patient, so maybe that had an impact.

Meanwhile, she feeds again...

[WeeJo08]

Thank you honey I think I will have a look on the Kiddicare website this afternoon then - might just get it anyway and then if things improve a bit and I don't use it then that's fine, but at least I'll have it.

Bella and Eggs My friend recommended one of our local breastfeeding groups to me last night - going to try one this week I think, she said it was super. The same friend also gave me the contact details of a lactation consultant that she used as she had problems for a long time (baby had tongue tie that took three times to get sorted)

[Honeycantthinkofanxmasnickname]

I would say go for the small size. I tried a medium and was far too big for baby mouths!

[WeeJo08]

Thank you :)

[EggNogMichelle]

We are eating again!!! It's every hour and very weak for 10mins at a time, but the resulting wet/poo nappies has relieved my anxieties.

I have pâté, Brie and champagne for my tea!!!

[SpottyTeacakes]

We only feed for ten minutes at a time too I wish he would do a good twenty!

[Bellaboo123]

Omg I must have a greedy Hutson my hands...we feed for min 30mins to 45mins...perfect for MN-ing lol

Glad things seem to be settling all round.

spotty did they let Felix go home?

[Bellaboo123]

Guts...bloody auto correct!

[SpottyTeacakes]

No not until tomorrow! The doctor who said we could go today got it wrong. At least we're in a room together though and the nurses are leaving us to it. I keep going down to the nursery though because I'm lonely

They do weighing tonight so I'm a bit worried that he will have lost weight and they won't let us go! He's only been feeding 3-4 hourly

[MaMaPo]

Good news all-round for everyone - except Spotty, for today anyway, but I have my fingers crossed for some healthy weight gain.

Little C has had a good day - managed the proper milk-coming-in pretty well (although maybe it's not done? Breasts are large and heavy and full, but there's no sensation of 'milk coming down'... maybe that comes later? After my dreadful night I got another couple of hours of sleep.

Wow, these hormonal changes are insane, right? At the moment I can't think about the birth or my husband without getting into complete floods of tears. Weird - it's not sadness or anything definable, just strong emotion. My husband has dealt with me with aplomb as I lie on the bed next to him sobbing and telling him he has to understand how much I love him.

Deep breath. Maybe I'll regain some form of sanity tomorrow.

[EggNogMichelle]

How frustrating Spotty, but at least he has progressed well, good luck for the weigh in.

We were feeding for 45min+ every 4hrs but just from last night, he has started 'grazing' with a couple of big hour long feeds. My boobs have gone rock solid, thinking that means the milk is here, it's literally pouring out, Felix has it all over his face by the end of a feed, and I have it down my belly, we look a proper mess!

Tomorrow is day 5, I'm waiting for the hormone induced break down to start, luckily my SIL is visiting tomorrow, she will look after me! Think DH had his hormonal breakdown today, threw a tantrum because we didn't have our usual roast chicken lunch!

[WeeJo08]

Well Spotty, how did the weigh in go for Felix?