August 2016 - early arrivals to the newborn cuddles & graveyard feeding shifts

[rumisyum]

So many August bus babies have arrived already! Anyone else fancy a chat during night feeds or wondering what to make of the contents of tiny nappies? Might as well get comfortable...

Had a terrible night with dd last night. She has been cluster feeding from about 8pm, the odd snooze on my lap. Just couldn't get her to fall asleep. It was 3:30am when she finally fell asleep. She went through to 7:30, the only small relief.

She's feeding again now! The midwife is coming to weigh her again today, if she hasn't gained weight I will be astounded!

Biscuits sorry the toilet training has regressed, I've no experience of this but have heard it's fairly common for toddlers to regress with this. Is it worth puting him back in nappies/pullups for now till life settles back down for him?

That's an epic feeding session Owl! Hope the weigh in goes well!

Yep, I believe regression in toddlers is v common when babies come along. It's tricky to know what to do. I think we will just do whatever is least stressful for him and us. He goes to nursery three days a week so we'll see what happens this week (widdling on the floor only started on Thursday) Busy washing machine though!!

Huge hugs to everyone having a tough time with partners. I don't want to sound obnoxious, but DH has been amazing. We were in hospital with DD as she hasn't been gaining weight and then vomited up some formula feeds. DH was incredibly supportive and once we got home yesterday did all the overnight feeds so I could get a proper sleep. I feel so much better today although he's now knackered so it's my turn to look after him.

Well, we have had to come into hospital for observations as baby has lost another 10g since Friday. We've been seen by 2 doctors who are not overly concerned, now we have to hang around all day and let them observe me feeding.

She's only lost 10.2%

While typing nurse has come and said we can go home, fabulous!

Oh Owl sorry to hear that you're going through what I had to go through last weekend. It's more then frustrating when you're trying so hard but everyone in the medical field around apart from the doctors who seem to roll their eyes at midwifes is panicking over a small amount of weight loss and then suddenly they let you go! Yay to letting you go though! Have they checked for tongue tie out of curiosity?

So, it turns out that I'm not that experienced with no2 after all That grunting noise I keep hearing is actually her trying to poo! She had a massive poonami at around 5am and just now after 30 minutes of grunting. At least I now know what's going on! Downside of these poonamis is they're like explosions on her clothes, blankets and sheets Hope this is normal too!

Soya in my porridge didn't taste too bad today! I can totally handle that. I had two friends visiting with cakes that I couldn't eat I forgot to inform them of my diet changes but to be honest they didn't really bring lunch so I had to give them food anyway. Really odd considering one friend said she would bring lunch. A few sausage rolls, cheese wrapped in Parma ham and feta cheese triangles is hardly lunch. I would have starved lol

Just out of interest is anyone receiving odd choice of clothes items from friends and relatives? I really really don't want to sound ungrateful because I am so grateful but I'm receiving a lot of cute summer dresses size 3-6 months that will fit DD when it is probably snowing Do people just get caught up in the sales or something? Or maybe not think about sizing? I didn't have this issue with DS. Maybe it's just a girl dress thing!

YY to out of season clothes! It's such a shame, lots is going to be wasted. I'll layer up where I can. Not one person has bought us anything in newborn size so we're really short of clothes at the moment! Will have to go shopping I think.

Owl sorry you found yourself back in hospital but glad you're out again.

Pear i have a lovely recipe for sultana loaf that's dairy free if you want it.

Thanks pear and Bella. I remember having to do a mothercare run when ds was born for more clothes. We are ok this time, although some outfits are more 'male' then others!

You could try swapping some of the clothes for a larger size maybe?

Hope the weight starts to go on soon owl for all of your sales last thing you need trudging in and out of hospital. Hardly conducive to optimising yourself physically for a BF baby...

I've stated placing some gifts straight into my regift box, ungrateful if may seem but as this is our third boy we have a lot of bits already. I remember mothercare however being really good at accepting returns and swapped some bits for bigger sizes when the others were babies...

Thanks what. Dh says they checked for tongue tie in the hospital, she certainly seems to latch on ok.

Sorry that bit was to answer pear.

Yes good idea! One wise friend has given me the gift receipt so I will exchange the size as I love the dress but it's thin cotton and 0-3 months. It would be better to wear from Spring onwards so maybe 6-9 months would be more suitable! Always hard to tell though because of some shops being a bigger size then others. It's Cath Kidston. Anyone know if their children clothes are big?

Owl ahh that's good that they don't think she has tongue tie. My DD still had a good latch but what was happening is that she got tired quickly because her tongue movement was restricted so she fed short feeds too often which in turn meant she was getting more fore milk then heind milk because I was switching to often to avoid my nipples falling off!

We haven't had too many out of season clothes sizes, but u think boys clothes are perhaps slightly less seasonal in nature? We have, however, had a lot of size 0-3 months size clothes, mainly baby gros, to the point where I don't think we can possibly use them all. Am changing some for bigger sizes as fortunately most people have given us a gift receipt. My sister has also visited today and given me a huge bag of boys clothes of sizes up to 18 months which are in lovely condition. I need to resist the urge to buy anything for DS so that I actually benefit from all the kind gifts, but it is nice to sometimes choose some of the clothes your child wears, isn't it?!

We had a surprisingly good night last night after our big day out at the wedding. 2 fairly long sleeps with an hour awake feeding at 3am. Sure we are due a terrible one now...

I need to decide when to start using my reusable nappies. I can't remember when we started using them wth the girls, at the moment DS is going through so many disposables in a day - so many poos! I want to start using my washables, but equally don't want to have eleventy million to wash a day! Is anyone else using reusable nappies, or used them before?

Sorry for not replying to everyone, on my phone and can't manage to scroll up and down and remember what people said!

I love it when you hand over the baby to DH and then she does a big poo so daddy has to change her Night night everyone, I'm off to get my 2hrs sleep

Hello! I'm going to read through the thread and catch up with what everyone's been doing but I thought I'd just post quickly to mark my place and say hello. I'm also trying to keep myself awake for a bit. It's night 2 of parenthood and we're still quite bamboozled. She happily sleeps alone in the daytime but come evening she won't be put down. I'm doing a shift while OH sleeps and then we'll swap.

I had a day of mild cramps which turned into regular contractions, steadily getting strong and frequent. I did as i'd been told in the antenatal classes and waited til the criteria before ringing the midwife. Unfortunately she didn't seem to believe/understand where I was at contraction wise and advised to stay put as the hospital would send us home etc. Bad move as about 15 minutes later things really ramped up and then shortly after that it was too late to call a taxi and get to hospital. OH was fantastic and got prepared to deliver her at home, talked through by the 999 dispatcher. The ambulance turned up v quickly with some sweet sweet sweet gas and air, and they decided to try and get me to hospital before she arrived. We then had to stop the ambulance on the way as she was crowning and they thought they'd have to deliver her. Things stalled and so we carried on to hospital. She was born about 20 minutes later! As you all know, the feeling after her head came out and then the rest of her tumbling out with the next contraction was the best and most relieved I have ever been. She is 6lb 2 oz and has a lovely mop of hair. I've got a bad tear and lots of stitches. Just avoided it being 3rddegree and pretty awkward... phew.

She's not feeding much at all which I'm hoping is just the normal sluggish day 0/1 thing and she'll pick up a bit tomorrow. It's very stressful!

Plimsoles that sounds terrifying. I had a quick labour too but fortunately I was in hospital or dp wouldn't have made it. Are you having lavender baths for you're stitches? It's been really helpful with mine. Although she's four days old tomorrow and I'm still having to take regular painkillers so still quite uncomfortable.
Pear I love that too. Just handed dd to partner as was just sooo tired. Managed to get 3 hours of sleep before he brought her back and feel like a new woman until 4am
Lots I feel like our bad night will be today too. She's been so settled during the day but this evening has been regarding the sleepyhead as some sort of torture device and screaming the moment she's in it
Owl hope the weight gain goes more smoothy. She's only just over 10% so try not to get fed up

Hmmmmm I'm a bit worried DD is 3 weeks old tomorrow and my bits down below are still pretty sore and tender I am now wondering whether this is normal. Just had 1 paracetamol that was in my bedroom to try and take the edge off the swelling. Not fun at all It probably is normal but I just don't remember how long my recovery time was the first time! Still, I have to remember it was only a short time a go that I was sitting in theatre being stitched up

Plimsolls Congratulations on your baby girl arriving safely but oh my what a story to tell! It must just feel so serial looking back at it all now! I hope things settle for you soon as it is rather exhausting having a newborn who doesn't want to be put down!

Urghhhhhhh I'm feeling much worse after my 2 hour sleep tonight

After lots of googling I see that it is normal to still be sore at this point. Grrrrrr for long recoveries!!!

plimsolls your delivery sounds really stressful for you, so sorry that happened, frustrating the midwife didn't believe you on the phone.

pear have you done more walking which may have aggravated pain? Maybe some regular ibuprofen and paracetamol over the next couple of days and some ice packs might help being the swelling down?

I was told in hospital to have regular paracetamol and ibuprofen, regardless of pain. And that was without a tear so not desperately surprised you're sore Pear Sorry though. It makes everything harder.

plimsolls goodness! Congratulations though :) Hope there is less drama now!

Am on my phone, with a sleep deprived crap memory so apologies to everyone that I have missed.

DD went nearly 5hrs between feeds yesterday BUT it was from 5pm until shortly before 10pm. So she then fed every two hrs all night to make up for it :( Think my lesson is learned and I will wake her after c3.5hrs if she does that again. I would rather the long stretch was at a better time of evening/night.

Flying solo today. C10hrs to go!

Hey mamas, I'm really bad at posting on here, on the Facebook group a fair bit more I'm afraid, but miss some of you ladies that aren't there!

Hopefully finally getting signed off by the MW today, we are already over birthweight, but she asked if I'd like to stay till 28 days because of all the medical stuff and I said yes. I find it reassuring when I've got myself all paranoid about her breathing etc as she makes terrible noises at times which is linked to what's going on with her heart stuff...

So, a quick catch up, we've been back to London, had her heart rescanned, heart is as expected, works great, but the arteries DO go round her trachea. We're going back in about 8 weeks to have the broncoscopy and MRI done to see what the compression levels are and if she needs surgery. I've been on super alert and anyone with a cold is banned from being near her (including MIL, still yet to meet her granddaughter, but I don't want to risk it, so she'll just have to think I'm an unreasonable awful DIL!) waiting on further appointments for her kidneys and bottom, but aside from that, she's doing great. She's so strong! Lifts her head like a baby tortoise all the time! Even rolled in her crib, which panicked me so I bought a sleepyhead yesterday as there is no way she could roll back.

Had some issues with flat nipples and resorted to using nipple shields, which worked great, but not an ideal long term solution (though kept me breastfeeding) but yesterday I got a 'latch assist' by lanishoh and we've been feeding without the shields since! I'm beyond happy!

So hopefully the weigh in goes well today, I'd really like her to get up to 8lb so we can use the baby bjorn and 8.8lb so we can use the grobags!

Good to catch up with what everyone's been up to, congrats to the new mamas! Too many to tag but amazing work all!

Plimsolls how stressful for you. I had similar with my DS 3 years ago, nobody believed me. We ended up being blue lighted to hospital in a blizzard but all was well. This time round I was much more forceful and I have to say the midwife was fantastic, even when I went from 2cm to fully dilated in about 20 minutes! I've been told that next time "a robust plan will need to be in place." I have NO idea what that means but I made it very clear there will be no more babies probably.

Pear how miserable for you. I think I was offered codeine to go home with, is it worth asking about some stronger pain killers? When we're they last checked?

Fizz great that your DD is doing well, you sound so calm about it all! Well, as calm as you can do on an Internet forum! Fingers crossed for the weigh in, we're still not up to birth weight but only on day 12 and going the right way (at last!)

Biscuits how frustrating! We're still having to do 3 hour feeds due to jaundice anyway. Hope your long stretch moves to a more convenient time soon! I'm also flying solo today, although DS is at preschool until 12.45. In a fit of insanity I promised him we could make cakes this afternoon...

Can I ask those of you that had their baby early, are you feeling really off-kilter? DD was only 3 weeks early but I'm still feeling really all over the place if that makes sense. I hadn't started my mat leave (though had taken a week of annual leave when she arrived), I didn't get chance to do all the stuff I was planning. We were half way through decorating both children's rooms so the house is a right mess! I hate feeling so disorganised.

Also, how do I join the FB group?

Yes Bella. It has got a bit easier now that we're past the due date but I did feel distinctly dumped in at the deep end when DD arrived (36+3). I hadn't finished work and there was various jobs at home I had wanted to do. But it's getting to the stage where we just muddle through each day/week, enjoying the enjoyable bits and surviving the hard bits.

Am trying to get organised to take DS out on his bike this am. Fresh air will help us both I think. Cinema this afternoon so hopefully the day will pass quickly and easily and happily!

Glad it's not just me! The morning she was born DH and I we're ringing family and friends and saying "guess what? Baby has arrived! I don't suppose you could nip to the shops and get...". fortunately everyone really rallied round for us.