March 2016 babies! The (hopefully) graduation thread!

[hayleycookie]

We reached 999 posts without making a new thread - woops!

Park your bums and continue the newborn chitter, and due date whinges

Marmite I don't think I said congrats sorry! Congratulations!!

Aah congrats Suz, another one here who is a big fan of the name Sylvie.

Thanks purple.
Last night me and oh slept through our alarms so we did demand feed. She ate at 12am and then woke at 4am wanting more. We did set an alarm for 3 but slept through it oops.
Oh has offered to do the 1am and 4am feed tonight yes! Means I get to go to bed at 11 and hopefully sleep until 7. What a blissful thought that is haha.

How often do you lot bathe your babies?
We been doing once a week on a Friday but thinking of doing twice a week as. Y Wednesday she looks like she needs one.

Thanks beaut and time. His eye's producing horriable green stuff so booked to see the doctor again on Monday to see if it's progressed any further or is just a blocked tear duct. Not worried at all as doctor said he was pleased to have the excuse for another cuddle and didn't want to give eye drops too soon, as it's boarder line for just gunky and potentially bacterial. Just got to bath it lots and get some breast milk in there at each feed. Was told to try to express into eye but using a cotton wool is inspired beaut.

time she should grow out of needing to be swaddled, her arms should stop bothering her once she out grows her startle reflex. You can wean her off being swaddled by wrapping her more losely until her arms are free. Being wrapped up is meant to remind them of being in the womb, but as she gains more control of her body she'll be able to settled with out her arms starteling her. Most of the babies I looked after who liked to be wrapped transitioned smoothly to using sleeping bags.

suz congratulations, sylvie is a beautiful name.

rhubarb what horriable timing, bad at anytime but must be even more stressfull now.

Hope their is no need for drops and it clears up on its own.

Thank you. She already copes with her arms out but be damned if I put her down unwrapped. Was also thinking about the summer and it being to hot. I'm guessing just a vest and a light blanket will be ok or on really hot days just a nappy on.
At the moment she is vest, sleep suit, blanket and thin blanket tucked in. She never feels to hot when I get up with her in the night.

Well my own little Eleanor was born this morning at 11.40 after a quickish labour of about 7 hours! When I got to the delivery suite the midwife examined me about 9.30 and said I was 3cms. She then said the baby was back to back so I got on all fours and hung near the top of the bed gassing and airing my way through increasingly painful contractions. Midwife then came back and suggested I go for a walk on the ward as it could take a while and left the room. I staggered off the bed to attempt to do something and about 2 minutes late my waters broke. Rang the alarm for the midwife and as she came in suddenly felt the urge to push and started heaving myself back on to the bed. About 10-15 minutes later, out she came
Having to stay in overnight but hoping to go home tomorrow. We're having issues with her latching on at the mo which I'm slightly concerned at but the midwives are very helpful. We had exactly the same problem with her sister and ended up having to go down the expressing route so I can see that happening again. Sigh.

Well that was an experience and a half! Baby boy Q born 1:25am on 19/3/16 weighing in at 8 lbs 12 oz.

Had my 2 pessarys, last one at 3:30 am on 18th, waters went pop all by themselves at 10:15 am. By 7pmish was fully dilated and ready to push, baby got stuck and after only 2 hours sleep on the induction suite and no food since 8am I just physically couldn't do it. Midnight comes and doctor examines me - decides on a spinal and forceps delivery in theatre. Now in recovery awaiting the feeling to come back into my legs. Little chunk is amazing though, absoloutly perfect. Was distraught that I just couldn't seem to do it myself but he just wasnt coming out
When I've slept and got home tomorrow i'll read all of your updates and get back to everyones own situations

Congratulations charley and q.

q there is nothing wrong with needing a little help, the main thing is that he is here safe and sound

Congrats Charley and Q!

charley, Q and suz. Congratulations, what a busy night! like the cupcakes and lavender bath touches suz and so quick too. I also like Sylvie but hope you find a name you both love, Sylvie or otherwise. Eleanor is a lovely name with nice memories for me of the best boss I ever had. Not as sure about 'baby Q' though

rhubarb what rubbish news, hope you get a package that makes things manageable. DH is on a 0 hours contract that is resulting in precisely 0 hours over the past few months but at least my job is secure.

indominable couldn't agree more about London commuters, I dont live there though - the tube incident was just at the end of my 2 hour bus/train/multiple tubes commute - another reason I didn't push it past 38 wks.

Congratulations charley and Q! Well done both of you. Was v pleased to wake up to more baby news here today.

rhu that sounds truly crap, as someone else says they are treading on thin ice making someone redundant whilst on maternity leave. Are you a member of a union? I would suggest seeking advice from whoever you can.

Happy Satirday everyone. Hope your weekends are filled with baby snuggles, not too many visitors and, for those still waiting....a bit of labour action!

Congratulations charley and Q!

I'd kind of forgotten about how newborns sleep... or don't. Went to bed at half 9 and got about half an hour sleep until about 2. I'm so achey right now and can't even gather enough energy for a wee. I plan to spend all morning in bed working on her latch as I was just shoving her on in desperation last night and I'll come to regret that I think!

Congratulations Charley! Great story too!

Congratulations Q! Sorry it was a tough one but well done on getting him here.

(I like "baby Q"! Very Bond-y! )

I've decided I don't even want to have this baby any more. I'm so sick of coughing. I've woken up feeling like I've been beaten up, finally pulled muscles in my back, all round the bottom of my ribs. My insides feel bruised and I can't move for coughing

I can't see how I could cope with labour like this (can't breathe steadily or deeply). And can you imagine giving this cough to a newborn? I need to keep him in till its gone.

Do you think there's anything a doc could do? Anything I could take now, or anything magical an anaesthetist could give me in labour if I went to the Big Hospital?

Thanks all! She's managed to latch on successfully 3 times and managed one monster feed and two small ones. She's still quite sleepy at the moment from the birth so am just seeing how we get on. The only thing that's bothering me is being able to manage at home- I've managed to get her latched on with the help of a fantastic health care assistant but am obviously not going to have her around for much longer and I could do with help manipulating Eleanor's head and shoving my boob in her mouth I am worried we won't manage that at home when there's no one with experience around.

Many congratulations to Marmite, Suz and Q. So happy for you all!

We are off on a Stick Man trail this morning and then viewing a house this afternoon.

Hope you all have a lovely Saturday, whatever you are doing.

indom I know exactly what you mean about the coughing - I was just the same during/after swine flu-gate. I drank loads of fresh lemon and honey warm drinks which did seem to soothe the cough, and made sure I had my full 4 times a day paracetamol allowance. Not sure there's much else you can take. Can you have a day in bed today?
It will pass. I also felt very panicked about how I would manage labour, but the cough is finally over and I feel great again now...it will pass.

Thanks magpie. At least mines just the cough and not the whole flu! I'm on the paracetamol now, if only for my pulled muscles! Got a few bits to do today but should manage a rest day tomorrow.

It's the old, I shouldn't have gone to work, I should have slept this off earlier in the week, thing. But.. work... y'know.

Aw so many gorgeous babies being born now, congratulations q, charley, marmite et al, hope you are all enjoying the newborn squishiness!!

Not a lot to report at this end. Bertie and myself discharged from the midwives as he is back up to his birth weight now. Feeding seems to be going really well this time, made me realise how horrific it was with Dd. Still very open minded and will switch to formula if it becomes difficult again, especially if it compromises my relationship with the little man. Does anyone know when is best to start expressing and introducing a bottle at all?! I'm at a wedding (child free) in May and need to be able to leave him with Nanna and be taking a bottle?!

We also has a mini breakthrough last night, 2 weeks old and managed out first full night in the moses basket...mini victory. Slightly grizzly but hopefully means I can get some sleep laying down without Bertie on my chest as my back is in bits!!

Here's my hunk of a chunk!!

indom you sound just like me in the three days before I went into labour, right up until I reaslised I was contracting actually. Had no idea how I was going to cope with labour after sleeping in tiny snatches between episodes of coughing that were triggered by breathing in anything more than a shallow breath or in or out through my mouth. Didn't even think I'd be able to endure a section due to needing to be laid flat. But suddenly when contractions took over I could actually breath and actually stopped coughing. When all the high wore off cough was so much better, still niggling but it felt like my body was actually able to fight it off now. Midwife said eddy was unlikely to catch it as breastmilk was passing on my imunity, his been fine touch wood despite me and dh both spluttering over him.

charley I struggled with Eddy's latch initially this time round, needed help to get him latched comfortably everytime. After 24 hours at home had very sore nipples! A lovely community midwife talked me and dh through what she did to help aid a good latch very slowly and what to look for. She got dh to video her on my phone so we could use it for reference. Dh was then able to support me while getting latched for a couple of days, it really did just require a third hand to get him into position, until Eddy got the hang of what was going on. Good luvk and keep asking for help for as long as you need it.

dobby, thank you, that's so reassuring.

Hope you feel better soon indom, try not to worry about labour too much, I imagine the massive burst of adrenaline that gets released will really help your symptoms during labour at least.

poppins they say don't introduce a bottle till 6 weeks when bf is properly established. With both mine I had to introduce ebf/formula top ups at 5 days and neither of them really had that much of a problem switching between nips/teats, the massive benefit was they were never fussy and will take a bottle of anything from anyone!

Charley have you tried the rugby ball hold for feeding, a maternity support worker suggested this for Cassidy and it just meant I could see her latch so much better, its not the most comfortable sitting position but now she has got better at feeding I've gone back to a more traditional cradle hold. I've been so much more patient with getting the right latch this time round and my nipples are really thanking me for it. Also for anyone with sore nips bloom and blossom nipple balm is amazing, it also claims to encourage baby to suck, Cassidy has got better since I have been using it again but I don't know if its just coincidence. Keep calling the community team out for support if you need it as well.

Hi all,

We changed my peanut's name haha, she's now officially registered as Seren Rose (Welsh for star and her daddy is an astronomer!). We tried calling her the other name and it didn't fit, then this one suddenly did. But thanks for all the previous name love ,maybe we 'll save that for number. 2 if I can ever go through all that again

She was 7lb10 when born, but 24 hours later was 6 12 then 6 10 on discharge. They really weren't happy with that weight loss so it's been a bit stressful and I've had to top up with donor milk and formula.. On the plus side it means she was switching between breast and bottle easily at only 3 days old ( so can be done early poppins!) My milk still hasn't come in and I wasn't sure if I was even producing colostrum, but did get a couple of drops when tried pumping. I thought our latch was working but now have nipple cracks/bleeding :( so seeing lactation people this weekend.

Poor little thing screams and throws her head manically at me tying to eat my entire chest when she's still hungry after taking the breast, I feel so inadequate!! but I just want her to grow so have come to terms with using whatever method that will take!

charley I second mrsells re the rugby hold

rhu so sorry, you do not need that stress right now, hope something works out

indom argh you poor thing! That damn baby just needs to come now, I'm sure adrenaline will get you through labour and take heart that it's likely to be quicker than last time. Sending strong labour vibes to you this weekend

Congrats q charley and marmite yay, welcome to your gorgeous little ones !!

suz I'm with you on lack of sleep.. last two nights Eleanor has wanted to feed feed feed until half 1! She also will not sleep in bednest at all so I've been co sleeping but not that comfortably. And my boobs are so sore from lazy latching at night. Luckily her cluster feeding does mean she has stayed asleep then until 6/7 so managing to get one chunk of sleep (not expecting that to last). I've actually been waking up early like half 5, its really annoying but think my hormones are all over the place and its interfering with my sleep.

Congrats Q and charley! I second mrsells on rugby position for feeding, I seem to be able to latch E on much better that way. My milk hasn't properly come in yet and my boobs are ginormous, the biggest sleep bras I'd bought for post birth only just fit. Based on bras I own I think I'm at least a 32HH if not 32J already so thankful to whoever suggested nipple compresses on here as they are really soothing the pain!

Sorry to hear you're feeling crap indom. If you go into labour however the adrelenine will get you through it. I had annoying tickly cough night before E was born when I was getting cramps at night and suspected labour was starting, was really stressed that it would interfere with breathing during birth but when the time came it was fine. Now cough has returned which is really annoying as coughing with weakened achey stomach muscles is so unpleasant!

DP has taken DD1 to softplay this morning. Was going to try to nap but can't get E off me to sleep next to me so have given up! DP is pretty knackered already from having to keep DD1 entertained and she's been a bit difficult which doesn't help

Ooh just saw your post ffaux lovely name and lovely pictures! Am loving all the cute newborn pics on here

Thanks for all the advice I've just managed to get her latched on in the usual hold and she had a great feed for a good 20 minutes which I was really happy about. She's got a bloody powerful suck, I could feel her drawing every bit of colostrum out! Plus cramping, it felt like contractions all over again!
She has taken from just one breast so far so I'm going to have to work at her to take the other one. I'll also be stocking up on all the creams you have been recommending, I really don't want cracked and bleeding nipples
Feel much more relaxed this time round as well which I think has helped. I'm doing what I can with breastfeeding but I am fully aware there are other options which worked brilliantly first time around and so am not putting myself under pressure to get it perfect.