sept 2014: babies are here (or coming soon!)

[allisgood1]

Even though dc3 is end of August, thought I'd start a sept thread :-)

How are you all doing?

dS1 is 9 dats old. Feeding well and surely sleeping well but it's hard to know as I keep falling asleep at night feeding him!

Ella what were your periods like?? Sorry for tmi but how do you check it??

Im terrified of heavy bleeding due to pph's. Came on last night and after the whole shit we can dtd I was worried about how heavy its going to be.

I really don't know what we're going to do about contraception. Apparently there are some pills I now can't have as I had obstetric cholestasis in my pregnancy. I don't want an implant and the injection doesn't agree with me. My HV said it's unlikely I'll be recommended the coil as I only have one baby. Not really sure what that leaves! Condoms I suppose, and we both hate them :(

kitkat two weeks is impressive. I'm nearly four weeks post labour and still feeling nervous. I did have a 5cm episiotomy though. I also lost my sex drive in pregnancy and can't wait to get back to normal! Just feel nervous, I need to be much calmer first!

Yeah honeybear it wasn't as bad as I feared it might be. I was a bit anxious beforehand as I had a second degree tear in labour and had stitches, so wasn't sure if two weeks would be enough healing time but it was really fine. We just took it gently though. Was nice actually to be together and not have giant pregnancy bump in the way! xx

Oh and welcome Septemberbabies. Congrats on the arrival of Felicity. xxx

Welcome September Babies Congrats on your baby girl. Are all your children September Babies (just being nosey!)

Haven't DTD here yet and it's 8 weeks since Jessica was born on Sunday. I have no interest in it lol also sleep deprivation isn't exactly helpful for feeling in the mood. Getting a bit worried tbh what if my sex drive never returns? ! DH isn't pressuring me at all though. Poor guy.

I want to have a go at giving Jessica a bottle of EBM just to see if she will take it. Can anyone advise me on whether I can sterilise the pump and a teat then take it to bed with me so I can use them in the morning or do I have to keep it in the steriliser until I am about to use them? I have a cold water steriliser.

Sorry to hear about your hospital stay Ella and hope everything turns out ok for your little one LH x

ella I did think it was odd. I'd never heard that before either. I will just speak to my GP at my 6 week check.

I'm going to talk to the gp about getting sterilised when I go for my 6 week check. Don't want any hormonal contraception as it really doesn't agree with me and don't trust condoms. Havnt stopped bleeding yet (2 weeks today) so no rush just yet.

showme I haven't stopped bleeding yet either and DS will be 4 weeks on Sunday. Hopefully it'll stop soon. Getting bored of it!

Wow Kitkat, v impressed with 2 weeks. I'm 2 wks tomorrow and still quite a way from getting there ( epipstomy and also flare up of bruised sacrum ) not even thought about contraception yet but know pills won't work as I'm crap @ remembering to take them.
I've got a few questions if anyone can shed any light, I'd be most grateful
So today my post partum blood loss just got rather heavy again after being v light for past 3-4 days, should I be worried? It's day 14 today.
Also expressed breast milk, midwives hav all said to not give it from the bottle and feed DD exclusively from the breast Until she is 4 wks old. This means DH can't help on that front which is sort of an issue as tonight my back has been hurting so much I'm currently laid up in bed as I was in tears from the pain , if I go to the GP they will give me opioid painkillers which will mean I can't BF. When has everyone else started giving their little ones EBM from bottle?
Sorry for the long post . Feeling rubbish and waiting for analgesia to kick in

Topmammy - your pump etc doesn't even need to be sterilised, just washed in hot soapy water. It will be fine prepared & ready for you to use later.

Zan it can get heavier then light etc for a while. Have you done anything extra today?? My bleeding got heavier after I did too much cleaning.

If your filling a pad in an hour you need to seek medical advice.

Top that sounds fine

Well, the past two evenings and nights have been so much better and I'm feeling almost human again! We've made two changes. First, started her on infacol two days ago and she is certainly less windy and fractious. Second, (this one I'm rather about!) is we tried her with a dummy, and she's taken to it well and it gets her to drop off to sleep. She only really has it for a couple of minutes before she is zonked and it falls out. I was really apprehensive about using a dummy when she's not even three weeks yet, but sleep and sanity needed to resume! I am worried about disrupting her feeding, but so far it doesn't seem to have had any negative impact on us. Just need to hope it continues in this way!

Majorly impressed that people are having the energy and inclination to DTD! At the moment a 2.5 week old baby is our contraception

Zana, you can take co-dydramol and breastfeed. It *may make baby sleepy but you can still feed (I did--three times!). Alternatively you can take co-codamol and dicofenlac together which is actually quite effective and safe when feeding. Sorry you're in pain

I probably tried to be a bit too normal on Thursday and did too much. Going to have myself a v easy weekend with DH @ home and do as little as possible!
Teameponine we started DD with a dummy on night 3! First night at home I managed about one hour of sleep, and felt like a total zombie! My sis in law suggested it, her exact words were "ah, she's making a total fool out of you, just give her a dummy and you'll get some sleep!" It's worked and I feel so much better for the sleep it affords me, and feel better equipped for everything else(a lil embarrassed I'm relying on it too though)
Glad I can take stronger pain relief, very much hoping this flare up calms down soon.
Mumsnet has been a godsend, thank you all! xx

Zanashar - my bleeding has changed a couple times this week, it went bright red and then darker and heavier (baby is 19 days old today). Midwife I spoke to on the phone said I'd done too much and not something to worry about unless it gets very heavy. Dr Google freaked me out on that one

We are going to use condoms for the time being, the pill make me feel really sick, and I don't fancy the coil, and won't want to leave it too long before trying for DC2, so don't really want any of the longer term solutions!

In terms of contraception I think we are just going to use condoms as I don't get on with the pill and imagine implant and injections would have a similar effect. I'm starting to feel a slight return of sex drive which has been missing for several months but we'll probably wait until after the 6 week check to resume relations! We should get prepared just in case though as HV pointed out that it tends to be very easy to get pregnant when you have recently given birth (at antenatal classes they said this too - that you are more fertile after giving birth and that many women are pregnant again within 6 weeks) and I don't want to do all that again just yet! So make sure you're all careful ladies!

My C section wound has got infected .Had to go GP and have it dressed and on antibiotics - 4 times a day for 7 days! They're a pain too because you have to take them an hour before you eat - like I have the time to be thinking about meal times and such things. Got to go back to GP next week to get it checked again. I just want my body back to normal again! I find it so frustrating not being able to do things still!

I'm trying a dummy tonight. I'm pretty sure he has silent reflux and I've read a dummy can help. Tried briefly earlier but he kept spitting it out. He woke crying every half hour last night, definitely getting worse

Also expressed breast milk, midwives hav all said to not give it from the bottle and feed DD exclusively from the breast Until she is 4 wks old. This means DH can't help on that front which is sort of an issue as tonight my back has been hurting so much I'm currently laid up in bed as I was in tears from the pain , if I go to the GP they will give me opioid painkillers which will mean I can't BF. When has everyone else started giving their little ones EBM from bottle?

zanashar, can I ask why they have said that? The experience I have had is all mine have no issue with me giving it from the bottle. No bottle/nipple confusion going on here. If its an issue over you getting used to it, I can't see why doing it occasionally for night feeds for example would be an issue.

I have to say I find that advice dubious and totally inconsistent from advice I've had (which has been to ultimately do what is best for you and your circumstances).

So today my post partum blood loss just got rather heavy again after being v light for past 3-4 days, should I be worried? It's day 14 today.

Had same thing. No issues here.

I'm going to talk to the gp about getting sterilised when I go for my 6 week check.

ShowMe I could be wrong on this, but I was under the impression that the guidelines for sterilisation, are very much against allowing it for twelve months after having a baby because of hormones/emotions involved which can change after such a life changing event, and can then change again with the passage of time. Certainly I think its discouraged, unless there is a particular reason for it.

I'd be interested if anyone knew anything more about it though, and whether the information I have is correct as I think its an avenue we would be looking at, as prior to having DS we made a conscious decision for many reasons that he'll be an only, and I think its highly unlikely anything will change that.

Red I've honestly no idea, I've never spoken to a medical person about it. I do know that me and dh have spoken about it for a while. I'd ideally like us to both get sterilised but his side is up to him. I'm not happy using hormonal contraception and as dd is our 2nd and I really don't want any more, I'm happy to wait a year and them have it done or however it happens here. I'll report back after gp app. Totally understand what you mean about hormones etc affecting decisions but we'd made this one years ago and I still feel the same. Couldn't take another pregnancy and more than happy with two dc.

Redtoothbrush, no real reason given for 4 weeks. On?y thing I can think is perhaps for cases where BF hasnt been too well established perhaps? I've not found two out of the three midwives I've seen post partum to be that great really ( the last one kept calling me by my bloody maiden name and I just couldn't be bothered to correct her as id already experienced her rather patronising nature @ an ante-natal appt)
Right then! I'm going to start using expressed milk and ignore them! Thank you!

Coolcat & Lilone,methinks we will be using condoms too. I'm rubbish at remembering to take pill. However when I said this to the same midwife who couldn't be bothered to call me by my first name she looked at me like I had two heads!! Saying it wasn't the most effective method really and I should consider something hormonal!
In hindsight I really should have said that it had served us both very well for almost five years and by the way, THIS pregnancy was totally planned. Maybe the area they cover has a higher than average rate of unplanned ones??
Who knows, but I'm not paying too much attention to their silly 'advice'.

Not even thought about contraception - I might just go with celibacy....?!?

Made a total fool of myself today. Barney hadn't had a poo all day and I was beside myself. He finally managed one at 7pm. Must try to control this anxiety.

Mw came yesterday and having gone from 9.3 to 8.1, he is now 8.12 and she checked his jaundice and said well below treatment level. She is c'ing back on Friday to hopefully discharge us. Have HV on Tuesday.

B has done a lot of sleeping and has had masses of feeds today - some much smaller and then 2 where he took 120ml of ff v quickly. I'm hoping that we will have a good night. As it is we are upstairs and he is asleep so that is something. Does anyone else set their alarms for the night so they don't sleep through?

My bedroom thermometer says it's 21 degrees in here. Window opened to cool down.

Also my bleeding had stopped but is back. Mw says doing too much....