January 2013 - New year arrivals welcomed into the world.

[PricklyPickleInAPearTree]

As a few of us have popped early I thought I'd start us a post-natal thread.

Happy how Charlie has slept five hours before but he made up his intake thru the day....I felt guilty but refreshed at same time

I have a velcro baby...

Exhausted does not even cover the way I feel.

Dh goes back to work tomorrow, ive got to do no sleep, dd1 to pre school and sort dd2..

Is anyone else hallucinating at night from lack of sleep? When I wake up I think baby is on me or under the sheets. And then I see weird faces in her cot!

Birdies I do I'm currently on 1 n 1/2 hours im absolutely knackered n shakey jakey from it

Yesterday was a nightmare on my boob every hr til 2am!! Todays been better. Im not hallucinating, YET, but im doing the head nod when my eyes want tio shut. My boobs healing too thank god. Its still swollen at times and im scared of getting mastitis or the milk running out but i have a couple of successful feeds off it a day other times he finds it hard to latch on cos the nipple is too hard so i give up n go the other side. Breastfeeding is not as easy as i thought it would be!

birdies I remember exactly that from DS, I used to jolt awake thinking he was on top of me. It was awful, you really have my sympathy. Am quite blessed that Rory actually sleeps but there is plenty of time for that to go wrong!

Also had torrid time getting breast feeding established with DS, my mantra was one day at a time, get to one week, get to two weeks, etc and that really helped. I agree though lora it was a shock that it was such bloody hard work and bloody painful - really unfair after going through pregnancy and childbirth.

Thanks ladies, it's getting easier to think about now. I'm just glad she's here safe and perfect.

Definitely agree that breastfeeding is hard work. I've been in tears each time for the last few days. I had been feeding her in the rugby ball position and its been agony. This morning I tried it with her lying across me and its a relief. Hoping it lasts!

Dh calls it black cat syndrome, where you see little black shapes in hallucinations. Ive been getting these today really struggling to get through.

I so desperately wanted to breastfeed, unfortunately because of the codiene with drawal dd made her mouth so sore she couldnt latch on, now she has colic im so gutted as its not so common with breastfeeding

I was hallucinating from lack of sleep in hospital, really surprised at how common this is. things have improved a lot now but I still dream I am feeding and when I wake up I am not sure if I have just fed her or not. sleep deprivation can be used as a torture method so we are all doing really well to cope

lora can you express from your bad boob to keep your supply going?

Naf all sleep here either.

I remember from DS1 the dreams I had that he was still in the bed, still on me, under the duvet etc, usually accompanied by horrendous sweats. This time I'm not getting the dreams, mainly because I don't get as far as REM sleep before I am woken by DS2, usually about every 20 mins-half hour. Last night from 12.45 when DH came upstairs with Daniel I slept somewhere between 3.30 and 4.30am and been dozey-awake since.

I am going to get a dummy today to see if tha improves matters.

I can never express a lot out the good boob never mind the bad boob its weird, whenever hes on it he seems to get what he wants though its weird.

Wow pascha we resorted to a dummy 5 days in i think! 0well done for making it this far! Mum said some babies just comfort suck so dummys are a godsend for me. If he dobt want it though i dont force it and its definatly clear when he wants real food :-D

DS1 was a model newborn, Lora, woke for feeds, back to sleep, few night wakings, very placid, self settled from very early on. Its been a bit of a shock to have a clingy, screamy, unsettled non-sleeper this time round.

Hello lovely ladies!
Well I finally have 10 mins to write up my birth story - creepy it is so scary how similar mine is to yours!

Ok so had a sweep at 9.30am on weds morning, started having regular contractions almost 2 hours later and by 4.30 I was on route to hospital contracting every 3 mins.

When I got to the hospital I was examined and told I was only 1-2cm which I flat out refused to believe as I was in agony (and also because I gave birth to dc1 on my own at home as he came so fast - so kind of thought I knew my pain threshold when it came to labour)

Then baby's heartbeat dropped and i was taken down to delivery, examined again to be told I was 3cm, I was in horrific pain and was literally BEGGING them to help me, I knew that something was terribly terribly wrong, I just knew

I felt like nobody believed me, but even the midwifes were baffled as I was contracting every minute ...... Then this is when it got scary, they totally lost baby's heartbeat I was crying my eyes out an screaming for them to get baby out and help her, a team rushed in and wheeled me down to theatre for an emergency csec ......... But literally as soon as they were putting the anaesthetic mask on my face to knock me out I started pushing!!!!!

Nobody was more surprised than the doctor stood there with a knife in her hand ready to cut me open!!!!!

I pushed twice and out she popped she was whisked away as she wasn't breathing and needed some help, it seemed like a lifetime but in just a minute I heard her little cry and I have honestly never felt so relieved in all my life!

So basically what had happened is my placenta had come away from my uterus, which cut off her oxygen supply, it is apparently very rare and happens in about 1% of pregnancies for no known reason

It was the most terrifying experience I have ever been through, I thought I had lost my little girl and I am really struggling to even think about it without crying, it's worse at night when I'm trying to get to sleep (not that that happens often with a newborn) trying to piece it all together - but i just look over at my previous little girl and remember just how grateful i am that she is here
So after a very quick and scary labour, Darcie Rose was born at 8.10pm weighing 7lb 11oz

xxx

Lollipop, what a frightening experience. I'm so glad your little girl is fine and well.

Birdies and others, not quite hallucinating; but frequently lying in bed, hearing Leah cry and not knowing whether she's due a feed or I've just put her back down after a feed....The funny thing is this happens with DH too; sometimes he jolts up in bed and tries to hand me Leah thinking she needs fed when I've just put her down... Crazy.

The saving grace is that I quite often get a lie-in as DD sleeps in the morning; but it didn't happen today and I'm suffering for it.

Glad to say breastfeeding is going well with no pain. The worst part is when it takes forever to get wind up, making night feeds really long.

lollipop how awful :( big hugs to you. Maybe some counselling would be a good idea?

birdies I was hallucinating in hospital the night of and day after DD's birth. I was so bloody knackered, I felt like I was watching a soap rather than actually participating in life.

Lollipop - that must have been extremely scary but at least you have your baby safe and sound.

My mum is going home tomorrow after being here for a week - is it bad that I'm looking forward to her leaving...? She's been helpful but it's difficult for us to just relax with her around.

Still got to register Bailey's birth... Only have til Friday... I thought it was ridiculous that they gave you 21 days - how could anyone take that long to do something so important, I thought...? Oops.

21 days?!? We have six weeks ro register... Going for the second tim tomorrow hopefully we wont get sent away again. Im decamping all my stuff to upstairs i refuse to spend another night on the sofa!!

Only 21 days in Scotland I think? We did ours at day 6. Hope you're snuggled up in bed Lora, sofa sucks. I am currently lying in bed with a sleeping baby on one boob. I know when I move him off he will wake up . more peaceful like this for now...

we had 42 days to register the birth (we're in England) but if you aren't married then you both have to go to the registry office, so we had to do it while dp was on paternity leave. it was our first trip OK into town and it took us two attempts before we made it.

We have to make an appointment to register ds, first one we could get was for middle of february!

Didn't realise you got longer in England. Stupid Scotland being stupid!!!

Grumpy this morning. Have a sore head and have left Bailey whimpering in his basket for a while because I'm so tired I can't face getting out of bed... On the plus side, mum is going home today.

OK. After 3 I must get up. 1.......2.......3.......

DH has gone back to work today so I've had to do the night n it just me n lo all day so im hiding in bed at the moment

Pascha Happyhow lora sure this will pass change soon at least that's what im telling myself at 2 in the morning

Nancy slept from 2am until 8:00 this morning!

I'm having a bit of trouble with my left boob again. She seems to be latched on correctly, she stays on for as long as she wants, but all my milk seems to end up on the cushion. She seems happy enough when she comes off, so I'm thinking maybe she pretends she hasn't finished when she has. If babies can even do that?!

SIL came round yesterday with her LO, so it was quite nice to practice getting my boob out in front of someone.

Im wondering when this mythical 'it gets better' stage will happen. Nips are so sore today he falls asleep when hes munching and then cries when i put him back down aaarrrgghh. My boob are dripping all over the shop too anf he refuses to go on the bad boob.

Hello all,
Haven't had a chance to catch up on the thread as Samuel arrived on Sat 26th at 4pm weighing 3.87kg. He's utterly gorgeous.
Marking my place & looking forward to reading back through the thread to hear how you're all getting on ...
I suspect I'll be able to identify lots with lack of sleep and breast feeding challenges!