Ttc first baby catch up with our babies!

[Fivebyfive2]

Just putting this on in case anyone wants to catch up? We're all at different stages, so might be able to help each other out?

@Delilah7 @RanchoRelaxo @MrsR16 @thumper59 @trashkitten10 @Bostonfern @crossfitgirl sorry I know I'm missing people, I'm blaming newborn brain!

I'll leave the link on the 'pregnancy' catching up thread xxx

[Fivebyfive2]

@thumper59 @MrsR16, how did your little ones get on today? Joe proper screamed and went sooooo red in the face, made me cry so I'm glad my mum was there! He had his calpol straight after, had a big feed when we got home and is fast asleep now. Hopefully he'll be OK this afternoon /tonight. Pic attached, my big brave sack of spuds 😍

[thumper59]

@Fivebyfive2 Bless him ❤️ well done joe!

Freddie cried for about 2 mins, they said he doesn't need calpol this time and he's fine to be honest he's just having a nap at the min. I cried so much the first time! Kept getting flash backs and spent the day crying. This time wasn't too bad I had a little tear. It's their sad little faces and when they cry actual tears 😭 i can't remember it having any real effect on Freddie,he had his calpol at the intervals they told us to give him it and I believe he slept as normal so hopefully it won't affect joe and you'll have a good night 🤞🏼xx

[MrsR16]

@thumper59 oh bless Freddie! I'm glad he seems ok 😊

@Fivebyfive2 Our appt's not until 16:15... I'm dreading it! I know he'll be fine, but it's still not nice for them! Joe looks perfectly happy there!

[Fivebyfive2]

@thumper59, glad Freddie is doing OK xx

@MrsR16, hope Ethan was alright?

Joe had a mas massive crying fit between 2 and 4, but seems a bit calmer for now. Hoping he's not too bad tonight.

[MrsR16]

@Fivebyfive2 he didn't do too badly... he's very sad at the moment, but hopefully he'll sleep well tonight. Due his next dose of calpol at 20:15 and then again 4-6 hours later! He's having Daddy cuddles at the moment and is suffering with hiccups 🙄 😂 xx

[MrsR16]

@Fivebyfive2 how did Joe do overnight? Ethan woke at 2 and then 6, so normal feed times! Xx

[MrsEG]

Morning ladies! As most of you know I had the twins this week; they are finally out of me! 3 days postpartum and I still look 7 months pregnant though!

Thanks to so many of you sharing your experiences with your c-sections too - I honestly walked in to mine with no fear and found it all amazing.

We got discharged last night and got home at 8:30 so basically went right to bed and oh my word, what a rotten night we had - they would not settle at all. Only stopped screaming if one of us picked them up. I also experienced the day 3 hormone dump in spectacular fashion yesterday afternoon and haven’t stopped sobbing since. Tell me that goes fairly soon?! And yes if anyone has any sleep settling tricks let me know. They were barely feeding, refusing the breast completely at times - they just wanted to be held. Anyone who pumps, I think my milk has come in this morning - can I get pumping right away?

I have the health visitor today too; hoping she won’t mind I’m in my PJs as I have no plans to get dressed!

[Fivebyfive2]

@MrsEG, welcome to the thread!! So happy to see you here and omg the boys are just perfect 😍 Glad the c section went well and you went in feeling positive.

Joe was really unsettled the first few nights at home, I think it's that home is so different to the hospital, it's another change for them? Fingers crossed they get more used to everything soon.

Aaahh the 3 day hormone dump, I remember it well! To be honest I was very up and down for about 2 weeks once it hit, buuut I think part of it was because it was over Christmas. It sounds daft but it just hammered home how different everything would be now Joe was here and I felt so overwhelmed. But honestly, just take the small wins (nappy change with no wee cannon etc) and take all the help /support on offer and one day you'll just realise that you haven't cried in a few days 🙂

Don't worry about health visitor. Mine arrived while dh was at the pharmacy, I was mid nappy change and in my pj's. She didn't bat an eyelid, I'm sure they've seen worse 😂

@MrsR16, glad Ethan is doing well aft the jabs! Joe was a bit out of sorts but seems better this morning. He needs to do a poo though 😳

Ladies I'm well chuffed, I found a chicco balloon bouncer on gumtree, seller lives 10 mins away from me and it's £30 instead of £70 new, has hardly been used. Love a Fri bargain 😀

[TrashKitten10]

@MrsEG lovely to hear from you although sorry you're feeling rotten and had a bad night. Apparently the first couple of days babies are in a bit of a sleepy stupor and lull us into a false sense of security that they are wonderful sleepers. Then around the time you get discharged it all goes to pot and the truth comes out. Our first night home from hospital was horrendous too, I'm sure DH would have taken Daisy back given half the chance ☺️

I think what helped me is remembering she had been in my lovely cosy womb and trying as much as possible to create a sleeping environment close to that. Swaddling can really help them feel that warmth and closeness and Daisy much preferred her smaller pram carrycot (suitable for overnight sleeping) to her bedside cot to start. They've been so used to being squashed I think a big open space is daunting. Make sure they are nice and warm, keep the room dark and try white noise. And if all that fails-which frequently it will- I tried to remember the fourth trimester and remind myself that I was all Daisy knew and all the comfort she had and it's no wonder she wanted to be close to me and feel my warmth and smell when that had been her entire world for 9 months. It doesn't make the sleepless nights any easier but at least you're reminding yourself it's all pretty reasonable behaviour for a tiny baby.

For what it's worth Daisy had times she would only sleep on my chest and I was sat in exhausted tears trying and trying to get her to settle down in some form of safe sleeping vessel. Now I can't get her to snuggle on my chest for love nor money. The nosey little madam hates being face down and creates terribly having her view restricted. Sometimes now I really miss my little newborn snuggles (admittedly not at 2am). They do grow up really quickly and your gorgeous boys will get there with their sleeping. You're doing a great job x

[MrsR16]

@MrsEG oh you're so welcome here! Yes, the hormones get better 😊 although my sister had her 14 year old Labrador PTS yesterday and I got horrendously upset about that... the health visitor won't care about you being in PJs and if she does, I'd be requesting another one! She'll want to see you being comfy. Sorry you had a rough night! 4th trimester with two babies must be difficult! Don't worry about over cuddling them - they're still getting used to this brand new, loud, cold world! You're doing amazingly well and the boys are just gorgeous!

@Fivebyfive2 Ethan had an epic poo... he makes a face and a certain noise when he is pooing, so I knew exactly what was going on 😂 Friday bargains are the best!!

[Fivebyfive2]

@MrsR16, Joe had his big poo last night, while dh had him and I was in bed 😂 How's Ethan doing?

@MrsEG, hope you're all getting on OK and that it went well with the health visitor xx

Joe had his first 'happy bath' today! No crying and even did some smiles and cooing 😍 We're hoping this means he'll start enjoying baths now, which would be nice! Here he is in his new vibrating chair... He looked really confused at first, but then started to enjoy it 😀

[MrsR16]

@Fivebyfive2 oh bless him, I bet DH loved that!! 😂 Ethan's doing ok. He's quite sicky today, which isn't much fun. Been through 3 sleepsuits already! (Yes, I still keep him in a sleepsuit unless we're going "out out") 😂

Yay for Joe's happy bath!! That's wonderful when they realise they're not actually being tortured by going in the bath 🤣

[Fivebyfive2]

@MrsR16, we keep Joe in vests and grows alllll the time!! They're just so much easier for nappy changes etc and he always seems comfy in them 🙂

[MrsR16]

@Fivebyfive2 I think the jabs might finally have hit Ethan... he's slept a lot this afternoon, so much so he's missed a feed!! 😂

[Fivebyfive2]

Well! We took Joe to the drop in weigh clinic today, he is 10 pounds and 3 ounces 😀 Soooo pleased!!

His feeding has settled down a bit, doesn't seem as, fussy. I'm hoping we've pushed through, so I'm keeping everything crossed we can continue with The Plan...

The Plan is to continue mostly breastfeeding (except for 8pm to 1am where he has bottles to give me a rest) until his 1st few jabs are done at 16 weeks. Then we'll start gradually swapping him to formula so that at 6 months he'll be formula fed and we can start giving him bits of food etc as well. That should (in theory) coinside with him going into his own room and having a much better routine. Am I being naive trying to plan like that, do you think??

[stormtrooperjulian]

@MrsEG how are you and your beautiful boys doing now?

@MrsR16 I still have Dex in a sleepsuit unless we're going out and he's 19 weeks, no point fussing with an outfit if we're just at home, and chances are he'll throw up on it at some point anyway

@Fivebyfive2 nice work on the weight gain Joe! The Plan sounds like a good goal to aim for but don't get too attached to it in case you have to change things.... Babies aren't always willing to stick to a plan ☺️

Dex has been ill for the past few days and is still in his sleep regression. DH has been away for the weekend but luckily my sister was able to come and stay to help out. I'm exhausted 😑 I can't take much more of this sleep regression, it's killing me

[thumper59]

@MrsEG just seen on the other thread your back in hospital hope your ok- for sleep settling we found a dummy helped loads with Fred! And we bottle fed from the get go. Hope your doing well- they're beautiful.

@fivebyfive2 glad joe enjoyed his bath!! Little cutie 💙

@stormtrooperjulian hope the sleep regression passes soon, he is just gorgeous 💙


Freddie and I haven't been upto much, I got a baby carrier and a jumperoo for him at weekend. He can't quite bounce in it yet but enjoys 5 mins here and there looking at the toys. He is grabbing everything now! We've also started putting him to bed for 8-8:30 and he is sleeping till 5, having a bottle then back down till 7:30 Ish which I am loving! the weather is horrendous so we've been having a lazy week so far!! Here's another little pic of us wearing matching tee's. This is getting a really bad habit now 😂

[MrsEG]

@thumper59 Thanks for checking in lovely!

Yeah we ended up back at hospital via A&E on Sunday morning - they were such minor issues on the surface (very sleepy all day Saturday, demons that evening and just struggling to feed, cool to touch Sunday morning) but my instinct said something wasn’t right. Turns out neither of the boys had been able to feed properly at all - their blood sugars were really low and they were very dehydrated and we were all admitted right away. It was horrible - I felt horrific as I felt like I’d been starving them without realising.
They had a few days of fluids/glucose and antibiotics and improved every day and finally yesterday morning came off the drips. We spent yesterday focused on feeding and turns out both boys had tongue ties which have now been corrected. They really seem to have come on leaps and bounds in there - back at home now and hoping it’s just all over and will soon be a rotten distant memory.
I had a very hard time in hospital - think a mix of really blaming myself, the boys not being well, being completely confined to the ward for days etc and I spent most of yesterday just crying and couldn’t stop. I had some amazing support though and have some home visits tomorrow and Friday.
For now just so pleased they are better and home again. It’s totally knocked my breastfeeding confidence though and tonight we’re going to just use formula I think so I can be sure how much they’ve taken in. I pumped a lot in hospital but today I’m not getting much at all - so not sure how that will pan out!

Anyone who does bottle feed - talk to me about sterilising! Do you use a fresh bottle per feed, even if they don’t finish it? If baby is still hungry once bottle is finished can you top it up?! It’s my only concern for the evening now. Other than how tired I already am haha! But they’ve slept so much better in hospital so fingers bloody crossed there’ll be more of the same tonight!

[thumper59]

@MrsEG please don't beat yourself up. Your doing fabulous 💙 you was never to know they wasn't feeding properly and your mummy instinct kicked in which is amazing and you did what was right for them, be kind to yourself your doing fantastic!!

I have formula fed from birth, I would make up a feed and once it's made up it is ok for 2 hours. After that you have to get rid of it and start again with a freshly sterilised bottle, if Freddie finished and was hungry I would just make a new feed up in the same bottle, I don't know if that's technically right or not, as long as you are using the hot shot to kill any bacteria that may be in the formula I don't see why it would matter xx

[MrsEG]

@thumper59 Thanks hun. I’m gonna need to buy a lot more bottles hah! Thank god for Amazon prime. I just found using bottles in the hospital so much easier - DH and my mum could help with all feeds etc, I could see how much they were drinking and it just took that bit of pressure off me. I don’t think Ruairí minds one bit but I do notice Conor rooting for the boob sometimes :(

It was weird how instinct kinda took over! DH was very much ‘I can’t believe we’re at A&E because our babies feel a bit cool’ but he was full of apologies once we were admitted! I am just so glad they are okay now. Very anxious and watching them like a hawk haha, but feeling a lot better.

Another question - what do you all actually do with your newborns?! They sleep so much of the day but when they are awake/alert I honestly don’t know what to do with them other than have a little chat while they have a look around the room! I just feel they’re far too young for play mats and things?! Perhaps once I am a bit more mobile post-section I can start getting us all out on some long walks!

[thumper59]

@MrsEG I breast fed for a whole of about 3 mins in hospital. Freddie had a bottle from the start really but still rooted! So don't feel bad it's just because he can smell it on you 😌

Speaking as a mum of a whole squawking 3 month old (😂) I would say just take it easy with newborns they don't do much! Try to get in as much rest as possible (hard I know!) and just cuddle them and make the most of them being so small and sorta quiet. I felt bad like I wasn't doing anything with Freddie when he was first born and scared he would be bored (newborns don't get bored 😂) but i now wish I'd of used the sleeping time as time for me as now he always wants something to hold, something to look at, something making a noise and he's only getting more and more demanding by the day! So cuddle them when you want and when you can put them down do something for you xx

[TrashKitten10]

@MrsEG Like @thumper59 I would make a top up feed in the used bottle as long as it's straight away. The midwife told me to get rid of the bottle after an hour at room temperature so I was happy to reuse as long as it would be drunk within that time frame. Definitely get a big stash of bottles or you'll spend the whole time at the sink washing the buggers. You did really well to breastfeed for as long as you did, especially twins. I struggled massively to breastfeed, despite initially being really determined to. After just two days of it in the hospital, not being able to express even 0.1ml, no midwife able to latch baby on I was in constant tears and felt my mental health massively declining. I did think that I would combination feed but to be honest just settled into formula feeding and felt SO much better and happier. She was content, she slept and we've not really looked back. Breast milk may be best but it isn't more important than a happy mum and baby!

[stormtrooperjulian]

@thumper59 aww he's so cute! Sounds like he's sleeping really well too, thats great.

@MrsEG oh now how stressful for you! I'm so glad you listened to your instincts and got your lovely boys checked out. You shouldn't blame yourself, you're doing an amazing job. For the first couple of weeks after the birth my hormones were all over the place, I'd burst into tears over nothing at all. It passes, you'll feel more settled soon. How are you and your boys doing now?

[Fivebyfive2]

@MrsEG, how are you and the boys getting on at home? Xx

Joe has decided that sleep is for the weak I think ☹️ He fights it in the day and is still only going down for about 2 hours at a time at night. He does do a lot of smiling in between though and has started really looking at things. I was feeding him last night and he kept looking up from my boob to stare at the bedside lamp 😂

It's Friday ladies! Happy valentines day 💜 Anyone got weekend plans?? Xx

[Fivebyfive2]

Morning ladies! Happy Weekend 🙂 We were going to go for a meal last night, but Joe seemed unsettled all day so we stayed home... He was absolutely fine all night, sods law! Did any of you guys make it out the house??

Also, girls that bottle feed regularly... Do you always make up the feed fresh or does anyone do in advance /use ready made/have a prep machine?? Just trying to get some ideas, as Joe gets super hungry super fast now and is still having moments when he's refusing the boob ☹️ It's a tad stressful, especially at night or when I'm on my own!! Xxx