October 2007 - the golden piglets have landed

[Mumpbump]

I couldn't find a postnatal thread - not sure if I am just missing it with post-childbirth brain! Anyone else around??

hi all, just managed to get dd1(oo its weird having to do the 1 after dd)to bed and grab something quick to eat.its going to have to be a me me me post i'm afraid as i'm exhausted, but will give quick recap. thought my waters had trickled in bed at 3.25am on Fri morning and when i went to loo they gushed and i started getting contractions at about 4 so my mum came round, got dd tready for school and got to hospital about 9am with contractions irregular but mainly every 10 mins, got ab's into me then mw wanted to break my waters and examine me at about 4pm, she said i was only 3 cm and tried to break my waters properly (only 1 set had gone before apparantly), but couldn't so a senior mw did it and the contractions got worse and i asked for a epidural but mw said i wouldn't be dilated enough, even though i knew i must be to need one that quick, anyway finally got one in, it didn't work, they'd missed bits, but then i was ready to push, was pushing for an hour but she wasn't moving anywhere, at some point they tried to relocate my epidural, but again bits where missed, so they started talking spinals and c sections, but i just kept pushing even when they left the room, she finally moved down a bit more, and doc said she'd try venthouse suction, she pulled, i pushed and it came off the head! so she did an episiotomy(sp) and used the forceps and she was finally out, it was such a relief! i had a lot of stitches but felt better than i did even after dd1's birth, where i'd felt terrible and even managed to bf her. didn't sleep on Fri night, got a couple of hours last night, so i'm shattered. got home at 3pm today after picking dd1 up and have just been trying to sort stuff out, dd1 has been a nightmare, very jealous, pretending to be a baby and 'sicked up' all over my friends legs (strawberry kiwi juice) and just wont leave Shannon alone, she keeps bloody carrying her around and wont leave her to sleep, started getting quite mad with her actually. so now i think i've got most of the details down and will be going to bed very soon, sorry for the rambling, i just kept writing!

congrats to mrsF, Orange and Polar, srry to not mention everyone and big thanks to Inzi for keeping people updated and also too to winnie and HM, i had to text just inzi in the end as my phone was running out of charge very quickly!

Evening all ... dd (that feels wierd!) is in her crib asleep, so I thought I'd come and say hiya!

Feeling better today - think the abs have kicked in - I'm not being reviewed now until Wednesday, and if the infection's not cleared, then they'll review and possibly take me back into hospital for iv abs [sob]! Hopefully that won't be necessary though!

bad news is that dh has come down with d&v, and is now lying of the sofa in the front room (it's a sofa bed), and that's where he's been isolated to: mum and dad came over this pm - mum was coming to cook us Sunday dinner, and they were giving ds his birthday pressie - a cardboard rocket - it's about 6' tall! It was lovely as dh had gone to play cricket (indoor), and they looked after Rhydian while I went for a nap with Mairwen.

Hopefully I won't get this bug too!

Alice, I'm well impressed at you going to Pizza Express - it's all I can do to walk to the bottom of the road at the moment!
I can sympathise with the nipple pain - mine are recovering now - but Mairwen feeds a lot in the evening too - last noght she fed from 530 - 1130, then from 1 - 130, then from 2 - 245 (I felt like sobbing at that point!), then from 5 - 630 ... then she slept til 930 (thankfully!)
I'm going to have to get ds ready for school tomorrow as dh will still be incapacitated - not really looking forward to that!

J20 - sorry to hear you had a bad time of it: hopefully you'll heal quickly and the novelty wil wear off for dd1 soon!

Right, I hear the squawking of a small girl upstairs - I think my boobs are required!

Night all!

Hello everyone! So pleased to see some other people here!

J2O - ds1 is the same, keeps wanting to pick Joseph up. Only problem is that being 18 months old, he isn't up to it physically and has no idea about how to do it! Very frustrating for all of us...

EJT - hope that you get better soon - what infection do you have? I had an infected episiotomy last time (sorry if TMI) and it was bluddi awful. The good thing was that the AB's kicked in really quickly. I can't imagine how you're coping with your dh out of action though. You must be a Trojan!

Alicet - I am having a similar experience with feeding Joseph and am going to post in the bf section to see if anyone has any suggestions. Ds1 was always a very "focused" feeder, but Joseph fusses and feeds really irregularly which means my nipples are getting sore when he is feeding a lot. I'm also worried about whether the irregularity of his feeding will adversely affect my milk supply. The worries of being the mum of a newborn, hey??

Joseph is STILL sleeping loads although he seems to be awake for a couple of the hours in the morning and about 40 minutes to an hour at 03:00 am! He also spent about an hour awake this afternoon so I am guessing he will gradually become more wakeful. The only stressful thing is that he seems to have to have a screaming session/feeding frenzy just before he goes to sleep... Still - you can't have everything, I guess!

Alicet - just thought that when my breasts were really engorged when my milk was coming in and Joseph was having problems latching on, I got a manual breast pump and just took a little milk off so they weren't quite so rock hard and difficult to get on to. Have you tried doing that or expressing a bit by hand?

Have just created a public profile thing with a picture of ds1 and ds2 together and posting to see if it comes up...

mumpbump - what beautiful children you make!!

I have a uterine infection - ABs have sort of kicked in, as in my abdomen is not nearly as sore as it was, but I still feel like I've been kicked in the stomach!

This morning was interesting ... dh still laid low with bug, ds slept in, and dd needed feeding just at the time when ds has to be taken to chldminder's ... it ended up in the longest feed I've done: 7am - 7.45am (quick break to take ds to CM) 8am - 10.45am)

I'm being a lot meaner about making sure that dd feeds for a more extended period of time - ds was like your lo, mump, and I didn't know which way was up! I'm afraid I've changed into a woman who will wake a sleeping baby!

Right, off to have a shower ... that's the thing I didn't manage earlier ... and sleep seemed more important!

Goodness knows how you're all coping with toddlers too ... you have my unending admiration!

Hi there ladies!

Mump - gorgeous pic of the 3 of you!

Re the breast feeding - yesterday I took to expressing 3 oz off the breast he was due to feed from next and giving him that before letting him bf from the breast - that meant he could then latch on OK. Seemed to work - yesterday evening he only fed for 4 hours (as opposed to about 7!!!) and snoozed a bit during that which gave me a bit of a break. And during the night he slept for 2 and a half hours twice as well as a couple of shorter ones which means I don't feel too awful now. The engorgement is getting better and he has put weight on (OK only an oz but better than nothing!) so feeling a lot better about it all. Going to express again this evening I think (helps me to know what he's getting when he seems to be so hungry!) but otherwise bf as normal.

Been using nipple shields too as my nipples are really sore - used them a lot with Sam ans both boys feed fine through them. When they are healed I'll try again as normal.

Ejt - I'm with you on making sure they feed properly! When Adam falls asleep on the boob I wake him by changing his nappy then put him back on to make sure he has a decent feed and isn't just snacking. I let Sam get away with this far too much and consequently was feeding him all the time. Won't be able to get away with that once I have to look after both of them although its a good 6 weeks away till that will happen...

Hello everyone else - J20 hope dd1 is calming down - sounds pretty tricky at the mo for you honey.

Off now - Sam has just woken up so we're going to go out and do something nice as a family. Managing stuff much more than I thought - having said that park and pizza express did take it out of me a bit as I was a little more sore and uncomfortable yesterday. Just really want to make sure we do fun stuff with Sam and he gets really bored staying in the house all the time. I do walk VERY slowly though! And everything is only about 10 mins from my house so all good...

Will try to be on later if Adam gives me a long enough break between feeds!!

Ejt - meant to also say that I hope dh recovers soon and also good news that you're feeling less sore...

hi all, sorry just a quickie, had a hard night and not even managed to fit a nap in today, well, i fell asleep but the phone woke me after 10 min, sorry, noy really got the energy to type much else.

ejt and mump-your little ones are gorgeous, Shannon is all blotchy and as dd1 put it, has a goblin head well, its nearly gone down now but it was very stretched after the venthouse and forceps.

good idea about changing nappy and putting lo back on, will try that as Shannon is feeding for 10 mins, sleeping, then wanting more after 30 mins today and it is agony grtting her latched on the first couple of minutes.

will try to get back on later, thanks for all the congrats and sending my love to you all x x x

Hmm - probably won't post for a while now - ds1 seems to have developed chicken pox plus dh has a bad blister which I suspect is infected so is similarly worse for wear. I rather think this week is going to be trying!

Hope your hubby gets better soon, EJT, and can help you out. Coping with a newborn whilst fighting an infection is not a laughing matter, that's for sure!

Alicet = we'll have to compare notes on how to keep active toddlers occupied! Took ds1 to Jo Jingles this morning and to the park in the afternoon, but there still seemed to be a lot of him just hanging around the house doing not much. I guess the upside of him having CP is that he probably won't be as active as usual...

J2O - I really would try to make sure you get sleep which is easier said than done, I know. I never napped much during the day with ds1 and feel so much better this time around as a result of having had a nap pretty much every day. Hope your dd1 is understanding and that you have a better night tonight!

Mump - yes any advice would be appreciated!! We took the boys to Ikea this pm - Sam had loads of fun pushing tables with wheels on and climbing on the furniture. And they had a fab restaurant with loads of toys in. Don't really know how dh persuaded me to go - not really what I felt like at the mo! He is wanting to sort lots of outstanding stuff out while on pat leave - think I need to reign him in a bit!! However we did have fun once there and I did walk VERY slowly! Sorry to hear you have your hands full - will be thinking of you.

J20 and Ejt - Thinking of you both xxxx

Think my boobs are needed so must go...

Mump and Alice - I think the electronic babysitter would be my standby ... at least for the first few mad upside down weeks!

DH thankfully back to full fitness now ... he's cuddling Mairwen at the mo', allowing me some down-time!

I went into town yesterday (but it's a very small town where I live!) - Mairwen has a gammy eye, so I picked up a scrip from the doc, then went to the butcher and baker as we'd not managed to go in over the weekend due to all the vomit! I walked very slowly ... but am suffering a bit (a lot!) with both coccyx and spd pain today - think I may have overdone it slightly! Infection pain is not subsiding as much as I'd like - think I may end up with another course of ABs ... [boo]!

Unfortunately, we'll be off on our expeditions again today: the tap of the kitchen sink has broken (very actually, I've always hated it!), so we'll be off to B&Q later to buy a new one - and some bulbs to plant in pots ...

J20 - hope you are managing to get some sleep ... I'm also one who doesn't take easily to daytime sleeping, but I've decided that I either do that or go to bed at 8pm every night ... last night I was in bed before Rhydian!!

Have a good day all!

Hello ladies - typing one handed as I bf...

Well last night was much much better. After a monster feed at 9.30 Adam slept from about 10.30 till 3 and then about 4.30 - 6.15! Then for another couple of hours from 8.15. Feel so much better! Know too well this doesn't mean we have it sorted but even 1 good night is fab! In case it was something we did rather than fluke which seems more likely I will share... Rather than let him feed all evening we had about an hour and a half before the 9.30 feed of cuddling him and letting him suck my finger (dh took a turn too!) He seemed pretty happy with this and he had had 2 good feeds in the 3 hours or so before so knew he wasn't starving (so much easier now boobs have gone down a bit and I can tell he's getting it!). When I then fed him he sucked like mad harder than ever before and was really sleepy after. Then put him into bed with me. So going to try same again tonight!!

J20 another tip my mw had for making sure they feed enough to sleep for a decent time is to strip to their nappy. Worked for us but at the expense of being harder to settle so now i'm just taking him out of his grobag.

Ejt - sorry to hear youre not recovering as quickly as you might but great your dh is feeling better.

Sam is at nursery today so been for a lovely leisurely lunch with dh while Adam slept! So great to be able to do nice stuff like that!

So its going well for us - bound to have a shocker tonight then!!!!

Hope all going well with you all x

hi alice - glad to hear you had a better night -I was in bed so early lasy night (we all were) that when dd woke for a feed at 10pm, it felt like the middle of the night! Feeds are still taking 1 - 1 1/2 hours, but are pretty well spaced out.

I'm going to go to my Welsh lesson tonight ... taking Mairwen with me obviously - it's the second year I've been with the same people, and they all know that I intend doing that ... big test will be on Thursday, as I intend going to choir! (brave or stupid? Not quite sure!!)

love to all ...

Good on you ejt for keeping up with everything! Have to say I'm much less self concious about bf in public than I was last time - just think 'deal with it' really, while trying to be as discrete as possible

hey everyone-huge congrats!
hope the first few weeks are going ok, ryan is just over 4 weeks old. feels as though it has flown by and we are doing great. to all!

Hi all!
Sorry not to have been around; inundated with visitors and adjusting to my new beloved plus dealing with the stitches and mastitis and horrendous piles (all that pushing)...not to mention the fact that the internet bombed out on us...
anyway at least I can find you all again... I've missed you ...
congratulations to all of you on your gorgeous little ones...
I'll be back tomorrow I hope

Hiya Floria - lovely to hear from you!

The stitches are the least of my painful bits - I've overdone it a bit in the last couple of days, and the spd has come back to haunt me ... add that to a uterine infection, coccyx pain - and today's new ailment, a uti, and the wholoe of my pelvic area hurts!

Am now on another lot of ABs ... if I jump (if I dared ) I'd rattle!

hope everybody is well!

Hello Floria! Great to hear from you! You sound really well despite all the treats of pregnancy and childbirth!

Ejt - hope things start to improve soon oney. Sounds like you're having a rough ride too... How did the welsh lesson go?

Mump hope ds1 and dh are feeling better soon - the thought of having to deal with all that AND a newborn fills me with dread! Thinking of you...

J20 - hope dd1 is calming down a little and dd2 is letting you have more sleep. Sending you big hugs - you must be superwoman doing all this on your own!

Well Adam was back to sleeping for 2 hours max and taking over an hour to settle between feeds last night. Oh well, such is life. BF going much better so all in all things are pretty good for us so mustn't grumble! Visited a friend who had a little boy yesterday too - funny being back on the same ward as a visitor!

Hello everyone else!

Oh EJT!!!
How dreadful for you! And I thought I had it bad!...
At the moment I'm feeling ok..ish. We tried a walk with the dog this morning but needed the tens machine as soon as we got back... the whole downbelow area is still very tender but half of that I now discover was my own fault; apparently the stitches and the piles made me afraid to use the loo, which caused constipation... for a week! (I know, TMI! )Now things in that depatment have been sorted (could have done with some gas and air though!!!)everything is a lot better...well, at least I don't feel like I'm about to have a prolapse!!!!

Alex is just gorgeous; I still can't believe that he is mine and keep expecting someone to arrive at the door and say "that's it, your time is up"...apparently I made my mw Diane, and her senior Glenys cry I was so over the moon besotted from the moment I held him (though I think it was me saying how much his grandad would have loved him that tipped them over the edge. Unfortunately the poor darling has dreadful colic which means we have long sessions of screaming when he really just wants to settle down to feed..we have tried coelief, dentinox and (at the mws suggestion) a tiny tot of gripe water, but nothing seems to work...however I have just read something online about the possibility of excess sugar in breast milk not being properly digested and fermenting in the bowels causing the bloating, pain and gas so I'm back to watching my glucose levels for the next couple of days to see if that makes any difference to him...

I've had a text from Apricott:

"baby boy arrived 4.22 this morning. Everyone worn out but fine. Details to follow. A x

fab news - congratulations to everybody in the Apricott household!!

Congratulations Apricott!!!
So glad all is well.
Looking forward to you joining us here and hearing all about your new arrival.

Hiya all,

the PILs are coming for a visit this afternoon ... MIL was very restrained when they came last week - she even asked before grabbing Mairwen ... there is hope! Let's hope that her good behaviour continues today!

oh, and the health visitor has just been round to do an initial visit: Mairwen now weighs 7lb 5oz ... she's gained 9oz in 11 days ... am a very proud mammy!

aha found y'all at last!!!!!!!!!!