October 2017: Babies are here!

[Nessalina]

There's been a flurry of new arrivals on the October thread, so here's somewhere for us to share the excitement and terror of our newborns!!

gimble DS had a lot of mucus when born and it sounded horrible, like a really bad cold and as if he couldn’t breath properly! Broke my heart. It’s cleared up a lot now.
nessalina 3.5 hours is quite good, we’ve kind of maxed out at 2/2 and a bit hours, but I feel OK with that so just hoping he starts to sleep a bit longer once milk supply is sorted! :) as you say, no rhyme or reason!!

Hope everyone is getting on ok, I'm definitely in the 'too busy/shattered to MN' phase
M has decided that she would like to eat every 1.5hrs please. Don't worry about sleeping mum, sleep is for wimps

Same @Nessalina , my DS is just eating constantly, think a lot of it is just nuzzling and comfort. Lovely during the day, novelty wears off at night though!

Thanks for the mucus advice everyone. Ive had a crazy and difficult 24+ hrs. Midwife came to visit as usual and told us to go to a and e as Dexter had jaundice and because of a few other red flags from his birth he has been treated with antibiotics for a possible infection, though none has been found yet in any of his tests.

All of this conincided with my mature milk coming through, only 36 hrs after giving birth and having a 3rd degree tear, I hadn’t had lunch or slept in the daytime and was on the edge of passing out and of course on top so so worried about my little man. And obviously being back in hospital is no fun. We were so happy that we’d got discharged and were home.

Anyway sorry for the negativity. Luckily D is in good spirits, isn’t showing any signs of infection, is feeding well etc despite being poked and prodded all over the place. I knew they said parenting would be tough but I wasn’t expecting all of this at once! Got an amazing nurse tonight though who is just so lovely.

Aww @GimbleInTheWabe that's tough Milk arriving always brings on the baby blues, and you've got a LOT going on, so be kind to yourself and get as much rest as you can Sounds good that Dex isn't too poorly - they just can't be too careful with newborns, and hopefully being back in hospital you'll be well fed and well looked after!! Xx

We were discharged today- yay! D didn’t have an infection to start with but so glad they were so cautious with him, even though staying in hospital for 4 days was pretty miserable.
Now the hard work starts! Had no sleep last night, hoping for better tonight!

Good news @GimbleInTheWabe ! Being at home and getting no sleep is still better than being on postnatal with no sleep, at least in my opinion!
M has a cold and is a snotty sniffly noisy little thing! Poor pet, she's done some good sneezes, but obvs can't blow, so she's super congested. Seems ok in herself though, no temperature, feeding ok, so just have to keep an eye on.
We were discharged from the midwife service today, so it's all Heath visitor from here on. Weighed in at 7lb 10oz, up 7ox from birth weight so that's fab. Not a surprise as she's a greedy monkey! All the boob, all the time

How often did the midwife come @Nessalina? Sorry your LO has a cold, does that affect her latch when feeding if she can’t breathe much through the nose?

I've got my first health visitor visit in the morning and I don't know why I'm so nervous. I never was with the midwives!! For some reason I have a fear of them

@Greentrees, don't be nervous. My health visitor is lovely. I've actually had a few extra visits at my request for reassurance.

Yeah, she's dropping off the boob a lot @GimbleInTheWabe so she can catch her breath. It's a bit frustrating for both of us, but luckily my nipples seem to have toughened up a fair bit already, so we're managing.

I had a midwife visit on day 2 at home, day 3 at home to be weighed, heel prick test at hospital day 5, then saw midwife day 15 at the surgery. HV popped over on day 8, and she's coming back in a week or two. She's very nice

I had MW out on days 4, 5, 6, 8 and discharged day 10, then HV the next day (she’s coming back again in 10 days) -she’s really nice. We had a breakthrough with sleeping last night, although it could have been a blip! Went down after a big feed at 10pm and slept til 4am!! Then had a feed and slept again to 7am this morning. I actually feel like I’ve had an amazing nights sleep....not expecting a repeat of that tonight though knowing my luck!

I thought the mw was supposed to come a bit more... I’ve left 2 messages on the voicemail line as I had to let them know that dex was discharged but no ones got back to me.. Feel like I can leave the house as they’re bound to turn up when I’m not in!

Also, anyone else who had a tear/stitches been brave enough to look yet? I had a look down there today and it wasn’t as bad as I thought but I feel like my cervix still looks quite low. Obvs it’s only been a week since I had the stitches so hoping things lift up a bit been doing my pelvic floor exercises too.

Please tell me everyone else feels totally overwhelmed with anxiety about their LO? I don’t know if it’s because of the stay in hospital but every little thing makes me feel so worried that something serious is wrong.

Today D has been really sleepy but has still fed well and lots of wet and dirty nappies. He has had waking periods, maybe he’ll just be up all night. Doesn’t help that I’ve not seen this mw, I’ve left them another message so hopefully they’ll call me back tomorrow.

It's not just you @GimbleInTheWabe , I'm constantly worried that something's going to go wrong, even though there's no reason that it should! We're following all the guidelines and she's doing really well, but I still have moments of irrational panic. SIDS is so rare these days, but it's never far from my mind. It's not even better with her being our second, although I guess I'm more aware that I'm being a bit daft to worry so much Its totally normal parent behaviour!!!

Totally the same gimble I worry about everything. I feel as if I am checking that my DS is breathing like every minute whilst he is asleep....
I was so happy he slept for 6 hours, then worried that he had slept for too long and something was wrong?!? Google can go form being your best friend to your worst enemy very quickly!!
As nessalina says, totally normal behaviour though, it’s natural we worry about them.

Hi All
I'm also constantly worrying! Keep checking he still breathing during the night. Also today he's only done wees & no poohs, although he did about 3 poohs through the night last night. 😳
My health visitor came yesterday & is coming again at 6 weeks & then not until 1 year old. She said there's a local clinic twice a month I can go to for weighing & asking questions. There doesn't seem to be much support especially after first baby. End up turning to google which is no good. My MIL is next door but she's on holiday this week & my OH went back to work today so I've had my mum staying overnight tonight so she's with me tomorrow x

Ok thanks ladies, glad I’m not alone! DP keeps telling me to not let it stress me, it’s fine, etc and I know that’s his way of trying to help but I can’t avoid my feelings.

Up giving a feed atm of course. Does anybody else get insane night sweats?!

@GimbleInTheWabe I'm also up feeding! It's been around 10pm 2.30pm 4.30-5am & 10am plus 3-4 times during day for the last few days. I'm paranoid I'm feeding too much - is this possible? The midwife told me you can't expect routine this early & that the baby rules for first few weeks. At the moment I'm on a massive air bed with my mum in the living room & baby in Moses, while my OH sleeps in our bed - I couldn't settle & wanted to be near him. My poor mum thought she'd give me some rest 🙈
I have been really hot every night since I got home & have to take water to bed, it could be hormones I suppose. 😬
Also Austin was sneezing a few times today & a few little coughs so I'm a bit worried about that. The midwives are at my local doctors tomorrow I might give them a call but since I've been discharged onto health visitor - will they even be able to help-it's so confusing my baby brain can't deal with it. 😬😳xx

I'm up feeding too!  @ButterflyGem you can't overfeed a BF baby, they just take what they need and stop when they're full! So don't worry, Austin will just be helping to build up your supply! M is a gannet, feeding at least every 2hrs in the day, though going 3hrs at least once overnight which is a help.

I've also been getting night sweats @GimbleInTheWabe , I had no idea that was a 'thing', so that's a relief!

M's cold is a bit better - phew! She's so snotty when on her back, makes you feel awful to have to put her to bed!

I had my DD on Monday and she slept quite well the first few nights but tonight she won't settle in her bedside cot at all, total nightmare. I've had no sleep apart from s little bit when I breast fed on my side and fell asleep then woke up panicking if suffocated her! How do people just manage to put their babies down in cots to nap? It never worked for me with DD1 and now history is repeating itself

Back awake feeding for me! Dexter managed to push the covers off of himself so he was just lying in his cot with his little sleep suit on and the blanket and Muslim round his feet!

@SophieGiroux, when I was in the hospital there nurse suggested putting a hot water bottle on top of the mattress where baby sleeps. Remove it just before you transfer them in and then it’s not such a temperature change. It’s been working for Dexter although he’s quite happy to sleep anywhere, worth a shot maybe? The same nurse also said when they first go down if you place a firm hand on their chest it can help then feel secure and help relax them so maybe worth a shot too. What about swaddling?

Glad Ms little most is clearing up, did you use saline solution? I read online that you can just use some breast milk too to help unblock a stuffed nose.

I've got a prescription for saline solution for her, didn't get chance to go today, but will give them a go! She's just stealth-weed all over herself during a change, I have no idea how she manages it - just pitting nappy back on and I realise she's soaked! Better than yesterday's projectile poo sneeze at least
I find when transferring to cot they need to be very asleep already, then when you move them over, make sure bum goes down before head, or it can trigger their falling reflex and wake them up. Then I keep my hand under her head for a moment until she's still. I reckon I'm on a 50/50 success rate with M currently!

Ha ha at least with a little girl it doesn’t go everyone. Dexter’s now managed to wee on himself, me and his daddy. We now usually have to undo the bait and then wait 2 mins whilst he does a freedom pee, something to do with the cold air apparently. Poo-sneeze however.. yikes, that’s not fun for anyone.

So hard to not fall asleep with them on you! I’m trying so hard to not let me eyes close, I know it’ll be into a deep sleep too

@Gimble, I had a labial tear which didn't "need" stitches, but was offered them for "cosmetic reasons". In this midst of having just given birth and being exhausted and having my new baby on my chest I turned them down.

Then after 3 days of it stinging like a bitch to wee I decided to take a look and was in tears on and off for about a week. I have a bit of skin hanging down just to the right of where I wee from. It looked horrendous at first, but as it's healed and the swelling has one down it's much less noticeable now.

Was terrified that my sex life was ruined forever. I mentioned it to the midwife and she said it will probably heal ok, but if it still bothers me mention it to the GP at my 6 week check. They may be able to repair it, but depends on if it is counted as cosmetic or not if it would be free on the NHS.

Now it's healing it doesn't look too bad, so I might just leave it. Took ages to stop stinging though.