Waddling Whale Baby Club

[GastonsWife]

A place for us ladies to carry on our discussions now our little ones are here 👶🏻. Hope you all find this ok!

Congrats mycat and dirty dancing! Great news

Sounds like you had a tough time mycat that's the one thing with labour you just don't know what way things will go

We have had a stressful couple of days. The public health nurse was out 3 times, last visit yesterday to measure Conor's head and she said she was concerned with the growth in the circumference of his head. Said it could be nothing or worse case fluid on the brain?? Said she would contact the baby clinic in the morning and get their opinion.

I totally freaked out and went to an out of hours doctors who then referred us to a&e which was so scary with a 2 week old who doesn't have any vaccinations surrounded by poor little children vomiting and with diarrhoea.

They took bloods and urine (that was fun trying to get Conor to pee into a cup). Gorgeous doctor said she doesn't think we have anything to worry about and they got a different measurement to the nurse 38cm versus 34cm. Nothing showed up in his bloods and glucose and calcium all fine. Still said to go to the baby clinic.

Have an appointment tomorrow at 12pm when we were meant to have his 2 week check up and they said to bring lots as will be long day as only one doctor on. Meant to get the tongue tie procedure done tomorrow evening but will just have to play it by ear.

Conor is definitely teaching me that I can't plan things like I was used to. Fingers crossed all will be ok tomorrow. Such a worry

Gosh that sounds really scary and stressful peanut hope you're ok

Ah yes that's right KittyKat we did didn't we!

peanutbutter how are you managing during the day with baba that won't be put down? Our wrap has been great today but can't use that all the time and shee literally becomes inconsolable whenever we try and put her down finding it tough and dreading the nights.

We got the Hana stretchy wrap and it works well - think they are all pretty similar though to be honest. peanut we plan to also get a buckle type carrier for going for walks etc.

Gaston our cord fell off yesterday but as others have said we were told to watch out for it becoming smelly - I'd maybe check with midwife

Tried to go out for a walk round the block today for some fresh air - E cried the whole time she even seems to hate being in the pram! I also found it surprisingly tough both on my stitches and just in terms of feeling weak with the anaemia I guess.

Can't believe she's a week old today doesn't seem that long as we not long got home!

Feeding is getting a bit better, managing to get sone longer feeds out of her so hopefully they will then start to space out a bit more. At the moment she's feeding about every hour during the day, sometimes two hours, and then basically constantly on the boob in the evening and overnight til about 5am. How does that compare with others?
Hoping things will settle down soon as you say mycat

off to give baby first bath now... eek! How's anyone else got on with baths?

What a nightmare experience peanut, hope that today's appointment goes well!

Marmite We are just taking it in turns to have her. Which works for the moment, but obviously won't when DH goes back to work. Hopefully she begins to settle a little better before then!

Just realised forgot to say big congrats to dancing earlier!!

Things on the sleep front seem to be improving - she managed to go in the sleepyhead for a full three hour stint this morning. Progress!

Congrats Mycat and dirtydancing

Sorry things were tough for you mycat but hopefully you can put the behind you now.

Peanut that sounds really stressful. Hopefully it turns out to be nothing. Good luck for your appointment today.

Gaston our lo's cord fell off yesterday (day 10). It's been a tiny bit weepy but I think that's just where it broke off and the last little bit is healing.

Marmite - I found that feeding just suddenly clicked and we seem to have it sorted now (although I'm not confident in doing it in front of visitors or in public yet). My lo seems to do a few short feeds a day and then a few 20minute feeds. She was weighed again yesterday and she has regained her birth weight again despite having dropped by 7oz just a few days ago.

She has developed an annoying trick of projectile seeing and pooing every time we change her, which is getting a bit tiresome. Is anyone else experiencing this? She gets very upset during a nappy change and I'm wondering if it's because she's so worked up. Sometimes we end up getting through several nappies in one change just trying to contain it. My DH is threatening to get us boiler suits and kitting out the nursery in floor to ceiling plastic to contain it. How can something do little produce so much!?

So...the internet has a lot to answer for. My DH, apparently inspired by the internet, decided to draw 'comedy' eyebrows on my poor baby with my eyeliner.

I walked in the room to catch him and he'd already started to panic that he couldn't get it off!

Blooming childish husband!

Haha kitty oh dear!!

Thanks kitty and peanutbutter Yeah We've had some improvements in feeding and sleeping a little now which is making a big difference to sanity/emotion/tiredness levels!
Main difficulty at the moment is baby marmite not wanting to settle back in crib after feeds/cuddles. We've got a Ewan the sheep but she doesn't seem overly impressed by it

I can't remember who it was but someone recommended the My Brest Friend feeding pillow on here the other day, DH went and picked one up for myme yday, it's making a massive difference to shoulder pain for me!

How did Connor's appt go peanut

At mw appt yday we are back up to only 3% off birth weight now! but some of my stitches have opened up which is freaking me out a bit

Kitty that made me laugh. My oh decided it would be fun to do hide and seek and then say boo to the baby while using a muslin cloth to hide his face. Conor was only a week at that stage and he got such a fright

I'm having a nightmare at moment. On Wednesday night Conor was very irritable for hours and was very warm on his front and back. Checked his temperature and showed 39 so I freaked out. Checked again it showed a normal reading. Stripped him and did it twice again and was showing 39 but then the thermometer started acting up so we couldn't be sure. It's the braun ear one which they told us they don't recommend for newborns.

We brought him to the children's hospital near us. Waiting an hour to be seen and then they checked him and no temp but due to his age they wanted to run tests. So the poor thing has had more needles, antibiotics, blood taken and they did some lumbar puncture thing on his back to check for meningitis. They told us to leave the cubicle and we could hear him screaming down the corridor. Feeling like an awful mother as we have put him through all this most probably because of the thermometer.

We are still in as it's a minimum of 48 hours since admission so could be tomorrow morning. It's crumlin hospital in dublin and you should see the facilities - they are shocking. The breastfeeding / expressing room is a dirty, tiny room that has other items stored in it. Staff are amazing.

Haven't changed my clothes or showered since Wednesday so I've just come home to shower and change.

Only good thing was that we were due to go back to the baby clinic yesterday to check on Conor's head and what the concerns the public health nurse had and I mentioned this to crumlin so they did an ultrasound on his head and everything is fine. We both were balling our eyes out as we were convinced something was wrong!

He's only 17 days old and I've never felt as much joy, worry, stress and cried as much. Plus me and oh have had many cross words which I know most of it is down to tiredness and stress.

Just want to get home and enjoy him. The guilt over bringing him in is big for me as it's all been unnecessary.

Hope you all and your babies are doing great!

That's hilarious Kitty! Although I just mentioned it to my DH and he was straight onto google - maybe not such a good idea.

Ewan isn't doing much for my little one either, although her sleep is definitely starting to settle down a bit.

Peanut I'm sorry you have been through so much already. I'm sure that it's weighing so hard on your mind, and not helping the the facilities in the hospital aren't great. But take heart that he's in good hands and having the right checks done. Have my fingers crossed for you that everything comes back clear

Hi ladies, joining you all on here as our baby girl arrived on 3rd May. All is going well & we're adjusting to life as a foursome pretty well.
Feeding is going relatively well however my poor right nipple is shredded. There doesn't appear to be any latching issue I've just been told it will " toughen up " over time. Have been giving that boob a break and hand expressing from it today to help it heal.
Peanut it sounds like you've had a really stressful few weeks. I hope that things settle down for you all from here on in.

Congratulations Lion.

Peanut - I hope everything is ok with Conor and that you get the all clear and can go home.

Peanutbutter - here's the link:
www.viralblasts.com/29-funniest-babies-with-drawn-on-eyebrows-this-is-the-funniest-thing-ever/
If your DH is anything like mine then don't show him! I think my DH felt really guilty though. He was very sheepish afterwards. He just didn't think it through.

I hope everyone is getting on ok with their little ones.

Thanks Top! Won't let us out until tomorrow! Here since Wednesday! Bloods came back normal and they have taken the thing off his little hand which i hate to look at! They still want to monitor him for 24 hours!

Can't wait to get home! My sister and niece and nephew are over from the uk so they got to see him for a little bit! Oh was meant to bring my nephew to the wwe last night so my brother brought him

Congrats iamalion not sure I like the sound of the advice you were given for your poor boob!

Congrats lion! My nipple was in pieces the first couple of days, I was advised to rub a little breast milk on them after a feed and then let them dry off naturally. They can still get a little tender now, but nothing like at the start.

Thanks for the link Kitty. Hilarious, but I definitely won't be passing it on

Congrats Lion!

Oh peanut so sorry to hear this. I can sympathise with baby marmite having had all sorts of needles, drips and a LP while we were in hospital too. They forget all about it straight away it's you who it's worse for. Please don't beat yourself up, at the end of the day you did the right thing by taking Conor to get checked because you were concerned. It would have been worse to do nothing incase something was really wrong. Hope you're ok and great news about the head circumference

I had a really emotional time last night where I was really missing being pregnant! It started in the bath and I thought oh I really miss seeing the big bump kicks and wriggles! Sounds like such a silly thing to say when she's actually here.

Finished my antibiotics yesterday so hoping my poorly tummy will start to settle down now. Going try try another short walk shortly and see how I go...

I've resorted to using nipple shields whilst my poor nips heal. In between feeds they are getting plenty of air time & lashings of lanisoh which seems to be helping. The community midwife checked her latch yesterday and said its great, and that despite NHS advice that breastfeeding shouldn't hurt it often does for the first week or so.
DD has so far been a delight and much easier than DS as a newborn. She's a better sleeper and eater and is very quiet whereas he screamed a lot. I've probably jinxed things now!!
We've tried to keep visitors to a minimum of just close family so far so that DS doesn't get overwhelmed with loads of people coming and going. PILS came over today & despite their promises of understanding that we wouldn't be up for a protracted visit ended up staying for hours. It was trying for all of us. Just a quiet day for us tomorrow thank God! DS is off to nursery in the morning so will use that opportunity to try and rest as much as possible

I feel your pain Lion SiL visited today and also stayed several hours despite me starting to fall asleep in the chair! She also arrived empty handed, not so much as a packet of biscuits!

Ah the whole visitor thing is a minefield!. My parents arrived up unannounced the same day that the public health nurse was visiting and my brother, sister in law and niece. We basically had someone here from 2pm until 8pm. Even though my sister in law is very clued in and has a 2 year old and brought dinner they stayed 2.5 hours and my niece was throwing the clothes they bought Conor on top of him!

Have only had my best friend over and others will visit when oh goes back to work week after next

Brother in law came for second visit on the bank holiday and was clear he was at a lose end so after an hour and a half I said I needed to express!

Got out of hospital today and it feels great to be home!! Conor won't leave our arms a lot but I don't mind after what he has been through

Oh god that sounds like a nightmare peanut! I can't believe can be so clueless, especially those with kids themselves! So glad you're home now and alls well

Hi ladies,
Have any of you second + timers had mastitis? I think I've got it
My left boob went really hard yesterday and now it's all red underneath. I hadn't had any problems with pain up until yesterday, when my little one decided to detach from the boob several times without letting go shredding that nipple. I then fed lesson that side to let the nipple heal but now it seems I've got mastitis.
I've booked a doctors appointment for this morning but I'm reluctant to take antibiotics if I can get it to clear on its own, as I read that antibiotics can make your baby restless and have loose stools.
I just wondered if anyone had any experiences they could share?

No experience of mastitis here topkitty but I hear that it's so painful so I really hope you find relief from it soon

Hi Top that sounds awful! Believe it's very painful! Heard cabbage helps and heat from the shower and hot water on two nappies placed on each boob! Good luck with appointment

Whales don't waddle, they don't have legs

Just sayin

newme - these whales definitely did waddle!

Thanks for the replies lion and peanut. It is painful but I think I've caught it early, so it's not as bad as it could be.

I went to my local breastfeeding drop in session which is run by local midwives and health visitors and they suggested I feed reclined back with DD on my front to help clear the blocked ducts. I've got to feed on the mastitis boob first and then express afterwards to completely drain the boob and hopefully it will clear.

I don't have the flu like symptoms yet so they suggested I could hold off on the antibiotics and try to rectify it myself but if I start to feel unwell I have to take the antibiotics.

Fingers crossed I can clear it.