May 2013 thread our new and not so new arrivals

[BeauticianNotMagician]

Hi ladies

Just thought we could all really do with this. Rather selfish a its mostly for the thousand odd questions I have and things I'd like to share/ vent that no one else would understand.

We've all been together so long I even talk about you all to DP

Terra I can't wait for half term to be over either. I just can't get a good routine going. I'm not looking forward to walking to school and back twice a day. Well I don't mind if its warm not so fun if its raining.

Seven I was adamant I would stop at 3 but I could really see is with just one more. It would have to be thought about though due to money. At the moment wouldn't have room for them all either bit we are hoping to extend this house. Also I would leave a few years age gap.

How long has everyone's milk taken to dry up. Day 13 here no pain at all but my boobs are still leaking. I don't remember it taking this long before

Ladies that are breastfeeding .. How the hell do you do it discreetly with massive knockers ... And advice wud be great xx

shelly have you got some really stretchy vest tops? I would double up and pull one up and then the other down (so one either side of boob). This time I've bought a bf cover. I got a cheap one off eBay an I have to say its rather beautiful fabric. It just means I don't have to worry about what I wear. But you can certainly do without. I think you just have to accept you will flash someone at some point and just be confident about it! In a just 'don't care' mentality.

I can't wait for half term to finish either. So DH can clear off. Anyone else sick I the sight of them? He goes from being really helpful to a needy naughty child in seconds and I'm sick of the bickering. I wouldn't mind, but he's not even sleep deprived!

Shelly, I wear stretchy vest top and then floaty top over it so vest top pulls down but also covers tummy and floaty top covers everything else. I also feed looking in the mirror so I feel confident. But as nofork says not caring is helpful. Round my way bf is v normal which helps as well.

JoJoMaman has some fab breast feeding vests which hold your tummy in so you look all slim. I wear them under a tshirt then unclip the vest top on the side I'm feeding and lift up the tshirt. I flash v little that way but usually have a pashmina type scarf with me in case I'm somewhere I feel v self conscious.

I just visited a friend whose baby is 3 days old. It made my little A look big!

I'm dreading he end if half term because I will have three school runs a day: 9am, noon (for DD2 pick-up) and 3.30pm (for DD1). Each time it's a 15 minute walk one way. Then on Tues, Weds and Thurs DD1 also has after school clubs I have to drop her to and pick her from. Between those walks and cooking I can't see any break plus how on earth will I get DS in a good nap routine or get him used to his cot??? He will live in his pram or in the sling. DH keeps pointing out its only for half a term as DD2 starts proper school in Sept but that's easy for him to say.

Arti I've heard babies don't really remember routines as such til they're about 3 mths so I'm hoping I've got 3 mths to do whatever keeps me sane, then worry about a routine. dD would only nap in the buggy and she gave up naps at 18 mths and was down to 1 nap at 9 mths so i've resolved to not think about naps this time round. It drove me crazy trying to organise it, it was more stressful than her not sleeping. But with 3 school runs a day you will certainly be busy! Roll on sept!

Shelley, I have mahoosive knockers!
I'm wearing my usual underwired bra, I just cannot get on with non wired bras or nursing bras.
I'm wearing mock wrap over dresses/tunics with leggings or denim skirt and tank tops with cardigans..
I lift my boob up basically... It's working fine... When I'm out and about, admittedly, not been out much yet, but I pop a muslin over my bulging boob.
I wear a stretchy Lycra bed bra at night. But I just can't bear my boobs in non wired bras.
I've worn underwired bras all throughout the pregnancy and throughout the other 3 pregnancies and nursing period.

Arti, I used to do the 9am, 12pm and 3 pm school runs when dc3 was ickle. He slept brilliantly in the buggy in those early days. It was sooooooo restricting though, but it was manageable, especially if we stayed nearer home and school. It was a pain when we nipped out to town or to see people.
My dc3 (now 2yrs 3mnths) is starting Rising 2's Preschool from September, so I'll be going back to 9am/12pm/3pm school runs again. But he is doing two days at nursery, so I won't be doing it 5 times a week, just 3 times.
We've reduced week time after school activities to twice a week, Tuesday and Friday. And swimming is Saturday morning now.

Arti, forgot to say, baby can sleep in the buggy in the morning maybe.. And then come straight home from preschool and sort lunch out for your older daughter, then feed baby, and pop them in the cot for the afternoon.
You'll just need to be stricter routine wise for the afternoon.. Maybe see people and do stuff out of the house in the morning, then stay at home for the afternoon.
Get a slow cooker and pop dinner on in the morning...I do packed lunches the night before, and make them for all the kids.so, lunch is fairly quick at home.

Also can't wait for husband to be back at work now. Need to get back into our routine and it's difficult with him being home. He has been so good getting up with DD1 tho so I can get a bit of rest.

Hello,

Could I join in please? Have a 10 day old first baby and haven't a clue :(

Hi Kranky.. Welcome. Even though this is no 4 baby for me, I can honestly say that I don't have a clue sometimes!
They're all so different!
My baby is 10 days too.... How are you getting on?

Uh feeling horrid today

Don't know if its flu, exhaustion or mastitis on the way but got and. A hey all over, woeful!

Kranky I am on ds3 and he feels like my first again as I have a 7 year age gap. Come on here with any questions or just to vent that's what it's for

Zorra Sorry you are having a bad day.Hopefully tomorrow will be better. If it helps any I'm having a bad day now too.

Had such a lovely day at next door neighbours BBQ. However,DP had 10 bottles of cider/beer and he always gets a lil irritating when drunk. When we got in I moaned at him for being a bit funny and he said I spoiled his day. He asked what he had done wrong and I couldn't answer it was just little comments that annoyed me when there but I can't actually remember. Now I question whether I over reacted. He has huffed off to bed and I'm sat downstairs crying. Once again ill be doing all the night feeds and Ive had to have the baby all day. Obviously I don't mind that and I'm not interested in drinking at all at the moment but DP moans that I don't give him a look in with the baby. He always says this when he's had a couple of drinks and then when I say ok take Teddy DP stands there with his cider in hand and says no your alright.

Grr it's probably just me and my stupid hormones

Oh gosh, DD2 has D&V, I'm terrified we will all get it and DS is so tiny. I also suffer neon emetophobia (fear of vomiting) so this is really hard. How on earth do you clean a house of suck with a baby who wants holding all the time???

Aww beaut sending hugs & hope your feeling better today ... If its any consolation DP went out friday to wet the babys head ... Well he must of frikin drowned her because he rolled in at 2.30 am while I was feeding her then stayed in bed till 3pm yesterday n spent the rest of the day tellin me how tired n rough he felt ... He promtly got a shut the f*#k up because I can not be responsible for my actions xxx

Thanks MissLurkalot and BeauticiannotMagician

It's been really really hard, I still feel very teary and low which isn't helping matters. I just don't know what baby needs when she cries. And it seems like she is really sleepy all through the day and then in the evening time wakes up and just won't settle. I had bad PGP from early in the pregnancy and I actually think the last couple of days were harder than the months of no sleep and severe pain :(

Kranky I'm on dc 3 and after an 11yr gap feel completely out of my depth its the first time I've BF and I'm constantly wonderin if I'm doing it right etc my dd is also very settled during the day and a lil monkey all nite ... Hopefully it'll start getting better soon xx

arti my other two had it when we came out of hospital so I know how worrying it is. Just try to keep her away from the baby as much as possible, and if you're BFing he should get some immunity from it anyway.

beaut sorry DP isn't stepping up. FWIW it works both ways, DH wants to be involved and does half the night feeds, then gets arsey and moans like anything about how tired he is and how he can't cope working on so little sleep. Most frustrating thing is he does it because he wants to be involved, I'd rather be more sleep deprived than have him constantly moaning and being grumpy.

Hi kranky the first couple of weeks are the hardest. DD1 is only 18 months but they're all different, sometimes I still don't know what she wants.

We're going backwards here, a few days ago she was taking up to 140ml and going up to 4 hours between feeds, the last couple of days she's only been taking around 80ml then wanting another feed after 2 hours. With 2 other DCs I'm getting nothing done and really stressed about not getting the housework done

Kranky, sounds very similar to my baby. I nearly took him back to the hospital the first night as he was beside himself and there was nothing I could do to settle him. Horrific night! The second night he was less beside himself, but still didn't settle well. Then, my milk came in and he just had a milk fest alllllllll night! And I was thinking, fuck, what have we done!!
Then, my milk settled down, he settled own and he began to sleep for aboutish 3 hrs between feeds. Then maybe a shitter night again with him finally settling to sleep at 5am! Then, he's been mostly ok for the past couple of nights. However, I've had god bloody awful headaches.. Would go to bed with one and wake up with it! Lasted a few days. Then, I've got a Uterus infection, so am on strong antibiotics for that. And then yesterday, I'm feeling a real sagging/swollen feeling inside my lady bits, and midwife looked and said its not a prolapse (phew!) but my pelvic floor is really weak! So, I've been clenching my bits on and off! Lol!
I suffered with Pnd with no1 baby, went on Prozac and it was brilliant.. It just set me right again.. Like the hormones just tipped the scales for me, and the Prozac just popped it back up again.
I felt mildly postnatal with the no2 and no3 baby, but I knew what the signs were and just cut myself some slack really, and I managed to ride it out.
It can feel relly lonely sometimes in these early days.. You're not alone... We're all feeling it too.

Baby wise.. Are you breast feeding or bottle feeding?
Day 7-10 is the first growth spurt and they'll be feeding like crazy!
My baby goes spark out around 6.30pm ish, and I'll stay downstairs with him and OH watching tv and chilling. Then we head upstairs at 11pmish and he'll feed like crazy and might or might not settle afterwards for another sleep. No one night is the same really.
Last night was great as I went up with him at 7pm, watching tv in bed and I slept from 9pm to 12pm whilst he slept. Quick feed at 12pmish then every 3hrs.. So I was lucky last night.
You will need to sleep during the day when baby sleeps... Not always possible for me with endless visitors and 3 kids at home for half term hold.
I wish I slept more in the early days during the day, but hey.

Hello ladies. so this is where you are all hiding out. ds was 16 days early knew he would be early he's 18days now and I'm still loved up with him, despite have thrush in my boob. Oochy.

arti do you have a sling?

shelly I bought some cheap vest tops and cut boob holes, and wear a looser top over the top, so belly and most of boob is still covered. I think noforknknife is right in that you need to develop a "don't care" mentality.

Thanx ladies xxx

Already posted on FB, but thought I should post here as well. (Not sure where, so posted in both ante and post natal thread)

Birth story (possible TMI)

So on Tuesday at about 12.30 I felt some of my waters starting to go. Called DH who decided to come home rather then wait. Posted about the colour and was told it could possible meconium. Phoned the hospital and got told the same, so they said to come in. As I got off the couch DH came in and the rest of my waters broke.

Went into hospital and got hooked up to synctocin drip at around 15.00 due to being strep B positive and there being meconium in my waters.

They insisted on continuous monotoring of the baby's heartbeat which was a real pain as they couldn't get it to stick and it took a while before they could do an internal one.

Managed with help of my Tens and natal hyponotherapy. Was feeling the contractions quite strongly in my legs. I can't remember at what time, but eventually I started on the gas and air and at some point I was given iv paracetamol to help with the pain in my thighs and that helped for a while, as did getting DH to massage them.

I was still only 4cm after an hour of very strong contractions and was offered an epidural. They tried and couldn't get it in, something about the needle not being long enough. About another hour later someone else tried and he too couldn't get it in. After that it all becomes hazy, according to DH I started pushing at around 09.00. It hurt a lot and I was rather vocal. Eventually Alexandra was born at 12.33 after a vaccuum delivery. Towards the end I was so tired and I thought I couldn't do it, but hearing the Dr say, just a couple more tries and if that doesn't work we'll have to do a section, made me somehow rally and get the power to push her out. (I am convinced that if I had had the epidural I wouldn't have been able to get her out, as I was already finding it hard enough to feel where to push)

DH was fantastic and stayed by my side. He saw things that he probably shouldn't have, but I couldn't have done it without him!

Suffered a small 2nd degree tear, but am already in much less pain so don't think it will hurt for too long.

Anyway, it was all worth it! She is the most beautiful baby in the world (but I might be a tad biased ;) )

Thanks Shelly DP and I haven't spoken all day

Seven DP is on his paternity leave. He goes back to work tomorrow. I will be doing all the night feeds when he goes back to work as he does such long hours.So last night was my last opportunity for a nights sleep and instead I had him snoring his head of next to me.

DXB Wow you did so well. You must be so proud of yourself.

Kranky Have you tried swaddling your baby at night to help with sleep. It worked really well with my first two