March 2013- here we go....

[Oodsigma]

Welcome old & new to the other side!

I'll start with a stats list!

Ood -ds 7/3/13, dc4! Elcs

If anyone wants to add any more details feel free!

Am ok as long as I don't do much. Been out today and legs are weak without the crutches. Have the haematoma pain under control but v obvious if I'm late with pain killers.

Tongue tie clip was no problem at all. He didn't like having fingers in his mouth, but didn't seem to notice the actual cut and was asleep within about 1 min of them finishing!

Also saw bf co-ordinator at hospital finally and she was fab. Went through all my meds, checked options on some additional aids - have the option on a strange bag to hang round my neck with formula in and tubes which attach to my nipples! Will have a think about that one...

But he did a 40 min feed in front of her, and she reckoned he was latched OK and swallowing. One thing she did say was that some babies like their feet touching sonething which he seems to. While he hasn't got it totally instantly and will still sometimes refuse point blank, he has done another 40 min feed yesterday evening, and an hour this morning. And I'm pumping as I type (one handed!) and am still managing one of my better yileds (c 20mls) so am feeling quite good ATM.

Plan for today is to go shopping with DH pretending he's not there, so I can practice managing on my own with him there as training wheels as it were... wish me luck!

Pudtat - great news about the bf for you. Its great when they finally latch on and get on with the feed. I have really got into breatfeeding rythym now and am so glad i just got on with it in the first week and a half through the terrible pain.tbh looking back i am suprised and proud of myself for sticking with it which is a nice feeling. Now bf is really wonderful and pain free - a positive bf experience here for anyone perservering.

Does anyone have any experience of donating breastmilk to hospitals? I can express 200ml in 30-45 mins and there are only so many litres i need to have as back up in the freezer! Incidentally how many litres back up is it sensible to store if anyone has any experience of this?

No idea on storing although it last a while.
I wanted to donate but there was no where to donate when I had dd1 and then had a blood transfusion with dd2 so no one wants my bodily fluids now!

ha ha rainbow, just the 10 x difference then!

All much better here. Baby on the mend and doctor happy with progress and I am doing better. The mum who said you feel as well as your sickest child has it right. On the bf, yes you can donate to the hospital neo natal unit. I am also freezing some as I generate a lot, I think linked to my thyroid but I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep it up. Find it exhausting. Either way it's fine though. My first was mainly formula after a few days of trying and he s fine.

Glad you're feeling better Eig & well done on the BF Rainbow. Still finding t tough going here but currently persevering with just 1 FF a day as the BFs seem to settle her so much better, not sure how long I'll stick it if it doesn't get better though. Got teary eyed about it with DH when I had to do mammoth feed just as my lunch arrived (we'd gone out for a treat) & I'd only fed her 1hr before then she fed for 75mins plus moved head away few times flashing me to the restaurant!!!

Ood, glad its becoming more manageable. not overdoing it is tricky to reconcile with life with a newborn, but i hope youre getting the rest you need.

Did you get your night if, Stormy?

Good to see its not all doom and gloom where BFing is concerned, I think it's grand that people have persevered and come out the other side. And to have an excess! Wow, Eig, fantastic that you can donate and help preemies etc.

SoYo you have my sympathy. I'd be in tears in the situation you describe. BFing is seriously relentless at times isn't it?

My lad's just had his first growth spurt, so we've had a couple of unsettled nights and he's truly outgrown his newborn clothes now. His hands are like shovels! He's starting to look more like a yummy baby and less of a scrawny newborn, I love seeing how he changes day to day.

Woke up yesterday with glue ear & today unable to breathe due to congestion. Just what I need!
Though DS was up three times last night, fed him 20 mins ish& straight back to sleep. He's asleep now too. What a star! ignores the night before when he wouldn't settle at all

I did, plonko, and it was amazing! Got a good twelve hours in bed, and though I woke up at 7am, I was able to roll over and go straight back to sleep. Now that's a luxury. And her dad managed perfectly fine, bathtime involved less screaming than usual and he's got a lovely photo of her posing with a ukulele. She's got the hand positioning and the grumpy face down perfectly, so we'll make a rock star of her yet.

Glad everyone's got something positive to report. Would comment on each individually but I'm a bit hungover and so have no more brain power than usual despite the sleep.

Yeah to all the progress! Hoping for an uneventful Easter at my parents by the sea..... Dd is asleep for now, hoping the boobs get a rest until 10.30!

Rainbow, I think it keeps for ages in the freezer, google the Kelly mom site for all the storage info. Worth keeping it though but they do think the milk develops as they do ....ood probably knows more if she is tandem feeding. ood I think u deserve a medal for managing that on top of everything else!

Three months in the freezer, I believe.

Sorry for lack of updates everyone is sick here!
And with my ds3 really sick and clingy he has made me sick and after days of feeling sick flu like feeling and nursing struggling as my throat is raw to be told I have tonsillitis!!!! Great!!!!!
So now with all the germs baby seems to have a cold and I'm not to worry unless she becomes distressed ermmmm great just over a month and she's sick and I can't give her anything!!!!!!

When better will check in on everyone but I do hope all the
Breast feeding issues have been resolved!
The no guilt if you need to go onto formula!
Nice weight gains to our lovely babies!
All aches & pains are gone ( ood)
Have all the march babies arrived??? I forget who was left????

leniwhite is still waiting, though from the sounds of it things may be getting moving there. Fingers crossed she'll be joining us soon!

So is Tea (EDD yesterday with no signs yet...)

Still pregnant here sigh and Tea is too (unless something very quick happened over night).

OH keeps bending down and shouting 'get out!' into my groin so really it's no wonder the poor boy is staying put, probably thinks his father is unhinged...

Could be worse. At least he's not shining a torch up there and shouting "Swim towards the light!"

Haha Stormy, I reckon Leni's getting to the point of trying every trick in the book to get LO moving. What's your DD again, Leni?

Too funny leni , we had a really funny couple in our NCT group. The guy asked if he was to use a ruler to measure how dialated his wife was! Had te rest of us in stitches!

Hello everyone, been lurking on ante natal thread for months- just caught up with this post natal thread!

DS(Noah) was born on his due date- 27/3- pretty long latent phase, but once I was admitted at 4cm on 6 am on Wednesday, he was born in the pool 8 hours later! Had a nasty tear, stayed in overnight due to blood loss but was back home next day.

This thread has been keeping me sane since I arrived home. Been weeping all night and feel so guilty about it. BF during my stay in hospital was fine, DS was pretty settled and even slept in that plastic crib thing all night. He seemed really content...

Fast forward to 10pm last night....after a lovely afternoon of regular BF of 3/4 hours and DP and I getting some sleep, I've been having a nightmare and I feel like a failure
Since 10 pm he wouldn't settle off the breast, and was constantly feeding. Constantly!!! after every feed I tried to settle him in Moses basket (which he ha slept in fine during afternoon) but he wasn't having any of it. I checked wind/ dirty nappy/ too hot/ too cold etc but nothing would settle him. In the end, it was a cuddle and the breast that finally sent him off...

And there he stayed, all night... I was so worried he wasn't getting enough, and that's why he was feeding constantly(all common sense and BF classes had flown out window by 4 am) or that I was a rubbish mum because I couldn't settle him in his Moses basket.DP had been brilliant all night, and we jut decided to let him sleep in my arms for the rest of the night. And he is still there....I'm knackered as I've been awake holding him since midnight and feel as though I've done something wrong???

Did I do the right thing? Did he just need a cuddle all night? I know you can't spoil newborns, and I'd much rather cuddle him all night so he slept and was happy (rather than let him hysterical in the basket, which I can't face) but if this becomes a regular thing I'm not sure ill cope at all and he is only 2 days old...

So sorry for the long selfish post- I think I just needed to get it all out?

It's normal to be that emotional.
It's normal for babies to feed feed feed for the first few days that's how they tell your milk to come. It gets less frequent and you will get sleep. And cuddling is normal too, he sill have been tired from bitth in hospital hence the big sleep but now all he kniws is you, 9 minths inside to coming out and no mummy is weird for him. Get dh to do some cuddling so you can rest, make sure you eat & drink loads too ( v easy to forget and hunger/dehydration won't help you)

Odd thank you- your kind words are very reassuring, and you make perfect sense. Especially since I took your advice and got a couple of hours sleep and a shower- suddenly I feel more human!

So you think it's ok to carry on holding him whilst he sleeps in these early days? Or would people suggest I keep trying to put him down in the Moses basket? We have just hired a NCT bed nest, which may help him settle more as he can't see us out of the basket. Anyone have experiences of one?
Been reading everyone's BF/ expressing/formula solutions with great interest. I agree that there is so much pressure to get BF right (even if it's mainly all in my head?!?) but we have to find what is right for us and our DCs

I like to cuddle but its not possible all the time and I like co-sleeping with slightly older babies but worry too much at tinies, I tend to use cot as much as possible at night but cuddle as much as possible during the day. Worked with dd3 but its v much a personal preference.
The fourth trimester is an interesting theory.

Most of parenting is about adapting guidelines/parenting styles to what suits you/your family. While others tell you that you are wrong and you worry while trying to ignore them

I don't know what happened to MiniYo but she's decided sleep is now completely overrated, just in time for Daddy going back to work. For the last couple of weeks shed settled into feeds at 12-1, 3-4 and 5.30 but these last 2 nights she hasn't settled for longer than 30 mins off the boob. Last night between 11 and 2 she fed for 2hrs 45mins. Kept falling asleep on the boob but then if I moved her (even just moved her to different position still on me) she screamed blue murder & rooted until she was back on the boob. I was beside myself by 6.30 & DH got up with her so I could sleep but once he's back at work obviously that's not an option. I'm bloody terrified about this, can't imagine how I'll cope!