The "July" babies are here!

[Kentishgal]

Here goes...

giraffe888 congratulations! I'm sorry you had extra complications- that's frightening for you all - I hope you're feeling better. Njoy your special time. Yes this hot weather is really difficult with a newborn! Our baby has got a rotten cold already so just keeping inside with her to leep her cool and keep an eye on her.

Giraffe888 huge congrats, well done you and baby Jude! What a lovely name and glad everyone is safe and well. Sorry to read about the complications, I also lost a lot of blood in the c-section and you do feel better each day with the iron tablets and stuff. Don't forget to drink lots of water, especially in this heat, I found that really helped.

The weather is making me quite anxious, the baby doesn't seem to enjoy it and I'm constantly worried about over-heating. She likes the little handled fan we had for hospital but sleeps for shorter stretches and is more fussy. We can just about keep the temperature down at home to 28C, but tomorrow is going to be hellish. ☹️ Haven't been venturing out to keep her out of the sun as she's so fair and potentially a bit ginger blonde.

@StargazyDrifter I’m paranoid about the heat and baby too. Our bedroom was 28 degrees last night. Jude doesn’t seem too warm though, he slept in a sleepsuit last night and seemed fine in that, he didn’t feel too warm. Surely this is the hardest time of year to have a newborn?

Agree, this must be the hardest time to have a tiny newborn. At least with the cold you can add more layers!

I can't do anything to get the temperature down at ours despite having blinds down, a breeze at night etc and it got to 30C indoors late afternoon. ☹️

LO seems fine also, maybe a bit sweaty at times, but I don't really know how she's taking it. Must be exhausting as it is for us.

Astrid has been in just a vest and nappy for the last few days and nights. Tried tucking her in with a muslin but she soon kicked her legs out of it so clearly was comfortable without it! We've hunkered down in the coolest room in the house and just chilled out (as much as possible in the heat). It's hitting 39 apparently tomorrow and I can barely cope in 25 degree heat so not looking forward to that at all. Hope everyone is doing well!

@Giraffe888 huge congrats on the birth of Jude! Love the name and hope you're doing okay!

jxtina86 yes we've just been nappy and bvest in this weather too. Had planned to try and do a few outings and lunches before my husband goes back to work but just felt it was too hot so we've been staying at home as much as possible. I think this is much harder than my end of November baby - we had far more skin ti skin snuggled under a warm blanket whereas this time I worry I'll overheat her so we've not had as much skin to skin.

Interesting about skin to skin, I got far less milk expressing today and have been wondering why, since I've been trying to make sure I drink lots and lots. Maybe it's the less frequent skin to skin!

So I've got to take Astrid out tomorrow for an appt - husband is back at work so I don't want to take the pram as I still get tired easily and pushing it does kind of tug on my c section scar still. However she now fits the baby carrier which I'm more happy with on my own (been trying it out around the house). But I have no idea what to put her in clothes wise - just a short sleeved body suit? Maybe some socks to protect her feet from the sun? I'm just conscious of her arms and legs in the sun. Am I over thinking this?! Probably am lol.

jxtina86 I've just been taking her out in short sleeved vests - the midwife said to me today to just keep her in a vest or if it's over 23 degrees at home she's fine in just a nappy. I think my ergo 360 has a sun hood - is that a possibility? Otherwise, I know it sounds odd, but can you take an umbrella? I was asking my Malaysian friend the other day how they coped with babies when it was hotter there and she said they take umbrellas everywhere!

@Kentishgal didn't even think of an umbrella! My common sense has clearly left me due to lack of sleep lol. Sorted :-) just glad it's going to be cooler tomorrow- 26 degrees sounds like a dream compared to today's 30 something!

jxtina86 I know - I'm looking forward to cooler weather - this is unbearable - it's 32° in my daughter's room at the moment. stargazydrifter I thought my milk was increasing (I mean very marginally - so up to 10-15mls a day) - but today there has been less: for me I think it's a combination of dehydration and lack of skin to skin. I've gone dairy free myself which hardly seems worth it for a teaspoon or so a day, but i just feel some antibodies are better than none 😏

I agree some will always be better than none, especially when very tiny. But I have also found myself wondering when the whole thing becomes more of a diminishing return. Pumping is really hard. 😞

I know, I totally agree stargazydrifter - this evening I have been pumping for ages and literally had about 5 drops - it's a bit disheartening! I'm using a hand pump but have an electric one arriving tomorrow. I bottle fed my daughter so I guess I'm feeling that I should at least try to get whatever milk I can out this time. But I will stop the moment it becomes stressful as it's not worth it to me.

The electric pump is definitely more effective at getting milk out, so you might get a bit of a boost. Fingers crossed!

I think BF is the least enjoyable part of this for me so far. I'm already looking forward to giving up. Even the 5am wake ups are ok. Does your older daughter wake up at night too, still? Just wondering how that works, does it take two people? I can't quite contemplate a second one right now, but I suppose we might one day.

Just to say, our beautiful baby boy, Harry Thomas, arrived on 18.7.19 . He is amazing. I ended up having an induction and was in labour for around 20hours but he arrived via c section as he was too big back to back!

The first week has been a whirlwind of emotions but it’s amazing being parents.
Congratulations to anyone else who have any their little ones recently, xx

Congratulations @Meg1389 what did baby weigh? X

BF is relentless on an evening for us. He feeds constantly all night

Congratulations meg1389 - hope you're recovering well. stargazydrifter no generally she doesn't wake at night, but sometimes (if she's not well, has a bad dream or, as this week, she was too hot) she will wake and then we try to get her back to sleep in her bed but quite often she'll want to get into our bed. But even if she does get up, she just goes to the loo and then just comes into our room and climbs into our bed so she doesn't really need our input - the worst bit is that she then stretches out and tries to kick one of us out of bed!! We planned a smaller gap (obviously things often don't go to plan do thet) but, in hindsight, 3.5 yrs is actually ok because she is a bit more independent. I secretly would like another but I think we're getting too old and we probably couldnt afford to send a third to the school we want etc- plus two fit more easily in the car (how do those of you with more than two cope?!...our dog is already looking concerned that he might end up in the roof box)

@Giraffe888 baby weighed 9lb 7oz! We were always prepared for a big baby as I had growth scans at 30w, 33w, 36w and at 40w, the plan originally was to induce me early ish so baby didn’t Get too big and near the 10lb mark. At 40w they estimated baby weighed 8lb 14lb But they then was going to let me go 12 days over before inducing me and I think he would of been around 10lbs then. I went a week overdue in the end as I went in with reduced movement at 40w +1. Hope that makes sense.
Recovering from a c section hasn’t been as bad as I anticipated, getting stronger each day I just can’t walk very far. Hope everyone else is doing ok! Xx

Is it OK to join this thread if I wasn't on the antenatal thread? DS was born a week ago. He's DC3 but at the moment I'm feeling completely thrown in at the deep end, I must have blanked from my mind how hard it was with the first two....

Hi, can I join? My boy was born on 18/7/19 by c-section weighing 10lbs 5oz

Hi @teddyreddy and @fuppy! Hopping over here from the antenatal thread. Baby Audrey is 10 days old today. She's doing really well and we are lucky Touchwood that breastfeeding is going well so far as I know so many struggle in the early days.

I am still coming to terms with her birth and get teary when I think about it, sometimes made worse by well-meaning visitors being all 'well, she's here now and she's healthy so that's all that matters!' we are going to go for a birth debrief at the hospital in a few months I think, I know my hormones are still raging at the moment.

Hello teddyreddy and fuppy ! thedust I really feel for you, those comments are so frustrating and whilst people mostly mean well it is just a totally lack of understanding of the impact and trauma. I couldnt face the debrief with my first and finally went for it 3 and a half years later when I was pregnant this time - by that stage I'd spent 3 and a half years crying about it and then panicking during my subsequent pregnancy- it just felt too late and being pregnant I wasn't in the right frame of mind. So personally my advice would be to leave it a period of time to get over the initial shock but don't leave it until you're expecting again. I know everyone is different but that's just how it felt for me. Ironically what I think has helped me finally come to terms with it is my planned section going so well this time - like I've finished on a positive note! I hope you're ok and you've got some support.

@kentishgal really glad to hear your 2nd birth was a lot more positive, did you have an elective c-section because of the trauma or other reason? I think I could make an elective a really positive experience, a lot more control and preparation. DH is being amazing, although I think he struggled a lot too the first few days while I was just off my tits on the drugs and adrenaline, the impact of the trauma didn't really hit me until about day 5. It's like piecing together the pieces of a really drunken night out when we talk about it!

thedust that is a really accurate description of how it was for me too - the debrief helps fill in the gaps of your long drunken night out!! My elcs was totally the opposite - I felt very sober and remember everything! I had an elcs as my uterus ruptured last time so had an emergency, two transfusions etc - you're not allowed natural birth after a rupture. I know it's not the same for everyone but it was very positive for me. Hopefully you could opt for an elcs next time if you felt it was right for you - you could discuss stuff like that at the debrief too. Also they sent me a copy of my notes after the debrief so you can reflect in your own time.