July 2007 - yet starting in June!

[Jamantha]

Well, I can't see a post natal July 2007 thread, so will start this, even though Charlotte, my DD was born 4.5 weeks early in June. I'm sure the other July ladies will be along soon enough.

Have had 2 nights at home now. Yesterday afternoon was fairly distressing as Charlotte wouldn't latch on, and if she did she wouldn't suck. But have got loan of electric pump from hospital, and support from midwives and now managing with comination of breast, expressed and formula milk, sometimes all three in the same feed. Finding it quite emotional, with all the issues associated with feeding one's baby, but trying to stay calm as found out yesterday that getting self into a state doesn't help anyone.

Dh has just gone out to get some things we're still missing, and I'm putting my feet up for a bit. Phil & Ted has just arrived so we might try a stroll down to the ante natal class tonight!

Any how, hope there are lots of lovely birth stories to come from July ladies, and that we can swap advice, give each other moral support etc over the coming weeks and months.

Had a visit from the HV today. James has put on 9 ozs in 11 days. he is now 11. 01 !!! Must be the hour long snacking hes doing!!

That's fantastic Emmyb! Also had a weigh in yesterday and LO has exceeded birth weight. It's certainly put my mind at rest in terms of the bfing.

Hope everyone on here is doing ok.

hiyall! Im joining you now from the other thread.

Well, last Saturday I woke up with a wet sensation and kept going to the toilet - I thought my blasdder had totally given up the ghost. Slowly, it dawned on me that my waters might have broken. Phoned the hospital who said I should come in and if it was my waters I had to stay. Well, still hadnt packed!! Then dh and I had to decide how to organise childcare - it was 4am - my mum lives an hour away and his mum couldnt lift DS out of his bed so as I had no contractions I drove myself to the hospital and then Dh came later. Turned out it was my waters only next time we checked they had turned yellow and then green, which meant that by whatever means the baby had to come out that day. The consultant checked me internally and I was very unfavourable but he was really laid back and knew I really wanted a vbac so he put me on the drip for three hours and siad hed be back and if there was no change then the baby would be out by lunchtime. I couldnt believe it - after yapping about wanting the baby I couldnt really believe I was going to really meet her!! Three hours later and no change so it had to be a section. I was deadly disappointed but the fluid was still bright green so out she had to come!! 2 hours later, out she came - my beautiful little girl - 8lb 5oz and a teeny tiny (compared to my other 2) 48 cm. We're calling her Clare Rachel. I asked the dr if my husband could watch her coming out and he offered to let him cut the cord, which he did. He said it was exactly like watching a cow being operated on (he's a farmer!!) O yes, she was born on teh 14th July, 9 days early.

So now we're home and she's bfing well, waking every 3 hours or so, and such a wee dote. Although today she hung on to my boobs like they were going to disappear and they are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sore at the moment.

Totally doing a happy dance at not being pregnant anymore

just reading MMN about mastitis and wondering if I have that - had it with DS but cant rememeber symptoms - Im quite shivery today - isnt that one? Must go off and google it

congrats to whompingwillowinthedewmeadow!

hello to all.

General question regarding night bf-ing; when do you nappy change? If i do it inbetween boobs then I know there's more chance ds will have the second boob (and therefore sleep longer) but he might fill it up again. Is it best to wait?

In general how do you get LO to have the second boob if they've fallen asleep?

Hi theprecious

I tend to change (well DH does.. if I'm honest!) either before feeding or between boobs. Considering how many nappy changes newborns are supposed to have, I have been worrying that she's not being changed enough, but then she always seems quite comfy... think I could be a slummy mummy!

Has anyone given lo a dummy yet. james is now two weeks old today and ive just given him a dummy tonight. He constantly wants to be at the breast even when hes been feeding for 40 mins. He is very hungry and feeding every two hours but today and yest he wants to be on all the time. I hate dummies but Im hoping it will stop him wanting to suck on me all the time. DD had one till she was three so I have used one before but i cant remember how old she was when I started. Do you think its too soon??

anyone else got sore nipples? trying my best to get her to latch on properly, using lanisoh, sitting al fresco boobies when I can and they're still bloody sore.

ooo interesting about the amount of nappy changes for newborns - how many is that? I didn't know there was a recommended amount.

My sore boobs have gone, I am pleased to say but WWITDM, you have my sympathy. Took about a week or so. Hot baths / showers helped me.

Whomping
Mine were very sore/bleeding for the first week. One in particular. I just made sure lo position was exactly correct each time tummy to tummy. Also he fed on the better one for the first 5 mins so he was more gentle on the sore one. I massaged the boob first so some milk was let down before he latched on. The midwife showed me how to do this with a clenched fist, with the knuckles move down the breast towards the nipple with quite a lot of pressure. This all helped me.

Hello ladies! After a week of not being able to get near a computer I am joining you from the ante-natal thread .

Our little daughter Orlena Jane was born at 12;20am on Saturday 14th July. She weighed in at a healthy 8lbs and is, of course, absolutely gorgeous!! We had a bit of a difficult labour/delivery, with my waters breaking quite early, at 8pm on Thursday evening (12 July). We went to the hospital for some monitoring, then as the waters were clear I was sent home until I was in established labour. I must admit I was surprised at the amount of fluid coming out - everytime I had a contraction, more was squeezed out. By 5am on Friday I had my TENS machine strapped on and coped quite well until about midday when I was convinced I must be in established labour, but after another trip to the hospital discovered I was not dilated at all!!! I couldn;t believe it! Anyway to cut a long story short, I couldn;t take the pain anymore at 5pm so back to hospital where I screamed for an epidural, which was the best thing ever!!! Turns out she was back to back and had the cord 3x round her neck. After 1 hour 45 mins of pushing she was extracted by ventouse then whisked off to neo natal due to a few difficulties. She was brought to me after 2 hours and was trying to eat her hands! She went straight to the breast and stayed there for most of the night!

Breastfeeding has gone downhill from there though and after many tears - more from me than her - I am expressing and giving formula.

Going to a cranial osteopath tomorrow to see if she needs any treatment. Poor little thing also has a cephalhaematoma.

Gotta dash but am looking forward to catching up on the thread and joining you all.

having had to wake DD fpr every feed for first few weeks, I sympathise with those having problems feeding sleepy babies. Tricks we've used include rubbing nose, flicking ears, tickling feet, or tummy if desparate, and wiping face with cold, damp cotton wool. Now I find that the movement of swapping between boobs heps wake her up enough to restart ig she's asleep by end of side 1, and if I do a bit of winding in between then that heps too. Often have to keep nose rubbing during feed though, an d if she falls asleep before I think she's finished on first boob, I turn her round as if to off er 2nd, then straight back round and she latches back on from where she fell off and keeps on going.

Congrats to all new arrivals btw - sorry should have started with that

Hi - congratulations everyone on the new ones!!! Its great to be on the post natal area isn't it.!

Am a bit late joining here - Theo was born on the 13th July after waters breaking at 1am, syntocin drip at 11am as not progressing, epidural at midday ish as was very sore, and then Theo emerges at 3.56pm - A wonderful enjoyable labour!!! . Placenta got stuck and was bleeding so went to theatre for manual removal but all is well now .

Feeding started slow but is going well now. Except he has a definate preference for my left boob. He seems to latch on so much easier and stay for longer. I'm always relived when its the turn of the left one . Generally he's doing really really well though

I haven't read much of the thread but for night times, I tend to feed on one side then when he appears to be done, I change his nappy and then offer the other side. The change just seems to wake him up enough to tackle the other one and then I get to sleep a bit longer in between feeds. It seems to work for us for now anyway.

Can I ask about nappies? Is anyone using real re-usable nappies and is really pleased with them? I want something that is nice and soft and not too big when on. If anyone has a recommendation then that would be great!

chooster - we're using diddy diapers and finding them great

When we've finished the one packet of Nature disposables, and finished with meconium, we will be on muslins, nappy nippas and snug wraps. After that we have birth to potty nappies. They have booster inserts dd only ever uses at night and we can use those just in a wrap too.

another general question: dh goes back to work tomorrow. Boo hoo, with the c section I have been a lazy cow!

Am a first time mum, how much do other mums go out? I'll get delivery supermarket so don't need to shop, and can't drive. Should I aim for am excursion everyday?

welcome new mums.

hi theprecious, i find i need to get out every day or 2, but am lucky DH is still off work and can drive me/push pushchair. Now its 4 weeks since my c-section, i am sure i could do more walks, as my recovery has been better than i imagined. I'm even off out on weds night- leaving DH at home with some bottles of EBM.

emmyb- i gave DS a dummy from day 3 as i realised he was a very sucky baby, and sucks when he's tired as well as hungry. We hope that in a few months he'll be able to find his thumb like DD did when we took her dummy away at 5 months.

as for nighttime nappy changes, we rarely change DS, in case it wakes him too much. It's amazing how much disposables can hold! am i a bad mum?! we used to always change DD if soiled...but now take the eady option.

pula im with you on the nightime changes unless he poos

oops just poster on wrong thread.

Joseph Anthony born 23 July at 7.45 am 8lb 3oz. oww

pula, I am amazed at the nappies. I remember my little sister's nappies 20 years ago, they had to be changed all the time whereas now they hold so much without ds complaining, in fact I change him more than he whinges about as I feel bad.

thanks for replies re: nighttime and getting out.

congrats JBL!

Hi all & congrats.

Evelyn Grace was born on 8th July at 17:12hrs, weighing 7lb 3.5oz. No pain relief other than TENS (which wasn't even on half power I later discovered) and a bit of G&A. Oh and 2 paracetamol while sat on the loo delivering the placenta naturally! This was a planned hb and everything happened really quickly once my contractions started at noon. My waters had broken the night before at about 8pm although no real contractions - just a few niggles.

I was adding a post to this thread on 9th July, but got sidetracked with a nappy change. The mw then turned up and didn't like the sound of Evelyn's cry (too high pitched apparently) and checked her breathing rate. This was faster than it should have been so she called the hospital and arranged for us to see a paediatrician in the Special Care Baby Unit. Unfortunately Evelyn Grace was admitted to SCBU and had 5 days of intravenous anti-b's for Group B Strep. She also became very jaundiced and just narrowly missed having to undergo a blood transfusion - thankfully the light therapy worked and she is much better now. We all came home last week. As DH says, she was just letting us know how it is going to be from the start. We planned the hb to avoid having to be in hospital for ages and risk of infection (obviously now know I was a GBS carrier). She then has her first trip in the car to the hospital whereas most babies have the first trip coming home from hospital! With DH's awkwardness and my stroppiness (sp?) we're in for some fun!

Whilst I know we had an awful first week, it really does make you appreciate how lucky you really are. She is beautiful and although she was very sick, she was also one of the healthiest babies in SCBU. She was also the heaviest I think. Evelyn is doing really well now and when mw weighed her yesterday she was 7lb8oz. . It was the proof I needed that she is actually feeding well. It's so difficult to know when b'f'ing. Sometimes it does seem like she is just feeding constantly for hours. We usually either change her nappy before the feed, or part way through (usually at night).

We're also using reusables (Tommee Tippee Cotton Bottoms - £125 for birth to potty pack on their website) and they seem really good. Although with all the rain yesterday and my inability to work a tumble drier we ran out of inners and I ended up using a couple of disposables. Seem to have made her bum sore though.

Sorry for the long post.

Hi all,

Welcome to all the new bambinos and congrats to their wonderful mums!

I'm feeling much better reading about your nightime nappy routines - I'm the same! My LO is oblivious to her nappy. I guess I'd change if she was getting a sore behind.

I have a question about EBM (which is probs a reeeally stupid q): do you have to reheat expressed milk or can it be 'served' at room temp? Many thanks!

Chooster (congrats! ) - we have a load of totsbots lined up and hope to start using them in the next day or so (she's in Nature disposables at the mo). Will let you know how they are.

Dewmeadow - I also had cracked/sore nips for first week. Lansinoh, hot showers, bit of expressing when they were rock hard, and constantly adjusting the latch helped me a lot. Must do some alfresco boob action myself

Also - has anyone got any breastfeeding top recommendations? At the mo our excursions have been timed so she feeds at home, so discretion is not something I've perfected yet Just looked at the JojoMaman catalogue and they have a decent range, but wondered if any of you ladies have roadtested these or any other discreet bfing tops? I'm heading to Ireland next week so would like to avoid scaring my aunties by wapping my boobs out every 5 mins.

Take care everyone

hi to all and congrats to new mums and babes.

Sorry, can't offer BF top advice. I've fed in public a few times now, but using the "pull the tshirt up and wrap a cardigan or spare blanket round my middle" technique. Once DD is latched I think this just shows a little bit of flesh above the nipple - I don't like to pull the tshirt back down too far or I can't see if she's maintaining a good latch and suck. I try to do all this tucked away in a corner and/or with back to the crowd so as not to flash too much. Taking her to a work event tomorrow, so bit more daunting in that people may have more interest in us than passing strangers do and also my managers will be there.

congrats to MM - glad to hear LO is OK. Sounds like a very scary first week.

BF tops, I bought mine from H&M - cheap cheap. I have been using a shawl round my shoulders to hide baps, and periodically going "Micheal Jackson" with the shawl over both of us to check ds is OK. Has worked alright.