December 2007 - Santa's come early for some of us...

[Housemum]

Thought I'd start off the new thread as I've never started one before - congratulations to those of you who are on here now - hope I'll be joing you in the not-too-distant future!

Aw what a shame, but best to be safe and looked after isn't it.

My first walk was exactly the same, felt like my bits were at my knees by the time we got home...

Yes for sure, and in the end it was good we were in hospital, because she got stuck cause the cord was round her neck twice and they had to intervene and get her out quick and then bring her round as she was very floppy and needed all her airways clearing happily she picked up very quickly and her stressful birth does not seem to have affected her as she is so mellow and chilled.

hi guys
here at last!
millicent kate born 21/12 06.35 by CS.
home yesterday.
in short, they decided to augment as i had a fever. I asked for an epidural before the drip was attached which i was given. Held off from using it too much initially as contraction pains not too bad and i wanted to be able to push. Was told off by MW for not using when they started to get sore. Used the max but still getting sorer. MW kept saying it would get better. She burst my waters (apparently mine that had gone were not the fore waters) as i was still only 1cm dilated. Then contractions quickly became unbearable. After 3 hours of this, the anaesthetist gave me amuch stronger dose through the same line. Drip was turned off. started to get better and MW told me it had worked. But worse again when they turned the drip back on. Then, after 7 hours of screaming agony, they resited the epidural. Instant and complete relief. Examined and STILL only 1 cm after 11 hours drip. I asked for a c section which was performed straight away.

The relief when the second epidural worked, i can't tell you. The fact that i had effectively no pain relief for 11 hours. THat BLOODY MIDWIFE. I was weeping with relief. and actually though i might not die. phew.

Now, starting brestfeeding, that's another story! will catch up with you all now

Blimey Suey, what an ordeal for you. How nice to have Millicent here now with you after all that. Congratulations!! The AN thread is a little quieter than PN but that's because we are busy feeding/ changing/ mesmorised by our babes! Congrats to Amani too.

Hello there!!! Finally made it over here, was quite a wrench to get off ante-natal thread but lovely to see all you familiar 'faces' over here with the bouncing babies .

My birth story is here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/1370/444632?stamp=071223185620 and photo's of Dexter on my profile.

I'll have a good read through all your posts and say a massive HAPPY XMAS to everyone. Catch up with you all properly soon..Can't wait til we're all over here

Hello everyone, congrats on your new arrivals, can I join in? Had a little girl called Stella on 10 December- a bit of a surprise as her due date not till 2 January. My first LO. Had an easy labour - six hours- but then a pretty rubbish first 10 days in and out of hospital trying and trying to breastfeed but always getting it wrong, and sleepy baby getting smaller by the day (lost 15% of her weight, so we had to stay in). In the end I came down with an evil stomach bug probably picked up in hospital, and couldn't eat a thing or stop crying, so one night back on the ward throwing up into a cardboard bowl lifted my head and said "THAT'S IT, I CAN'T BREASTFEED ANYMORE". I feel so terrible about it; we tried for ten days and I just didn't have the mental or physical strength to keep it up. I'm so jealous of you talking about it! - am I really the only one to have failed so quickly? Anyway now she is on formula she is thriving and I am recovering my sanity and even left the house today for a walk! Happy Christmas everyone.

very envious of thoseof you with sleepy babies. Millie is very wakeful indeed, particularly evening and until around 3am. I hope tonight will be different as my milk came in today, so she shouldn't be so hungry and at least i can now give her what she needs.
Good god, brestfeeding is hard. I have really small nipples so am using nipple shields and have had to express my colostrum into a syringe as millie gets too bored sucking to wait until it gives her something. I still have to give her a bit by syringe to start her off and get the milk flowing, but then, with a bit of comfort and perseverence she will latch on and will suckle for 15 mins to 1 hour depending on how many rests she takes for a nap. I only seem to be able to get her to latch on in rubgy ball hold. Have bf consultant coming at the end of the week, so will pass on any tips.
Gald to be home now as DH is being ace- has taken millie off me loads to let me sleep- even at 2am last night when she was inconsolable.

Hi wobbegone...don't feel too bad, it happens to a lot of people and there's always some guilt attached. Happened to me last time with my DD1 and now awaiting arrival of DD2 any day (due 22/12). Another of our Due in Dec group has had a very very hard time (her threads are on the Breastfeeding section).

Suey, OMG about the epidural!! You put such faith in these people and they let you down...glad wee Millicent is doing well though.

Hello and Merry Christmas to all the Dec07 mummies, hope to join you soon

Merry Xmas everyone!

Is anyone else finding BF a challene?

I'm finding BF really tiring and painful. DD was born on Sat and we bought her home on Sun. First two days of BF were fine, then from Mon everytime I BF DD2, the first few sucks are soo painful and thereafter it's ok. Is this normal? To top it off it seems like she is permanatley on the breast. On Mon night she was on most of the time from 9pm to 3am and I hardly had any sleep and I have to admit that last night when the pattern started to repeat itself I gave in and gave DD2 formula (I felt so bad). Today aswell it seems like she has been attached to the breast best part of the day. Feel so tired and nipples feel sore....anyone out there who can offer advise?

Merry Xmas Everyone!!

Hi Amani, yes is perfectly normal to feel brief amount pain/discomfort for first few moments of latch on, but then it should stop hurting, if it doesn't it means the latch on isn't quite right, so you should ease LO off the boob and try again. As far as I know there is no hard and fast rules for how long they feed for, I'm finding Kaesha has days where she feeds for long periods and others where she seems to just want 5-10mins snacks, my M/W just told me to let her take the lead, guess that's the joy of feeding on demand.....!

I got brill book on breastfeeding called Bestfeeding by Mary Renfrew, Chloe Fisher and Suzanne Arms it's absolutly brill and has really helped me.

Lots of festive hugs everyone

Hello - Never posted here myself - I am the dh (so I'm told) - so forgive the instrusion.

My wife wanted me to let you all know that she gave birth this evening at 5:45 to a baby girl weighing 6.45pnds. She's pretty healthy but the baby came the wrong way round (as opposed to upside down) - I forget the technical term - I'm too tired. Anyway she's in hospital for the evening under observation, but I'm taking her home tomorrow at 10. No doubt she will let you know any progress when she's ready.

Take care of yourselves
dh

congratulations thingamajig- a Christmas babym, how wonderful. I hope you get some rest before you take your wife and baby home!

Happy Chrsitmas everyone - hope you are all having a lovely Xmas. Evie has slept all day, but I am now worried as no dount she will not sleep tonight!

What did you all get? I got some new bed linen. the other dds also had a good Xmas - they were very excitied!

I am feeling much better and my boobs are less sore as they are less full of milk.

amani - no advice, but just to say I TOTALLY sympathise. Having the same experience, especially the 9pm-3am thing, so hard I am struggling with it, and don't have any other DC to take care of - hats off to you for managing with two! People keep telling me it gets easier...

Congrats to our new arrivals, a few xmas babies I note, .

Amani the first few sucks do hurt, (the let-down perhaps?) but should be painless after that. TOTALLY recommend the cabbage leaves for sore nipples. I've got the avent cream & kamillosan cream but nothing soothes like the leaves!Have absolutely no advice about the feeding times. I'm trying to get Louise into 3/4 hr routines, and seems to be ok so far, but babies feed differently don't they? She goes at the first breast for about 15mins until she stops then has a rest for 5 mins (I sometimes change her to wake her up) Then offer the other breast which she feeds at for about 10 mins until she falls asleep, that usually lasts her for 4 hours, if it doesn't I only give her the one breast until next feed time.

Wobbegong, please don't be upset about not bfing. You have not failed anything, you are feeding your baby the best way for you both, and daddy gets to feed too . Way too much pressure is put upon mothers to do EVERYTHING the right way. There is no right way, only what's right for your family unit. I can see the pressure as it's often a question asked by outsiders, as if it's got anything to do with them. I've been looked down upon FOR bfing. Happily I have a F U attitude to others opinions and try and trust my own judgement. You're doing great honey, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

Hi everyone

Moving over to this thread now that i've got my baby!

Was due 17th, on Sat 22nd got some stitch and pains in the afternoon then at 1am had an excrutiating pain in my right side which made me jump out of bed yelping. Hospital said to come in for monitoring and pretty much as soon as they hooked me up to the monitors they saw the baby was in distress, his heartbeat dropped to 65 then went up and stayed at 198. Had to have emergency cs under general as no time to waste and out came a lovely wee boy. Luckily they got him out in time and he did really well on the apgar scores but had to spend 2 days in neo natal to sort some breathing problems.

Got home yesterday at lunchtime which was perfect.
After having a vaginal delivery first time round I'm finding this recovery a totally different experience. Anyone have any tips?

Bfing is going ok, Amani - had similar thoughts but going to try and persevere for a week then intorduce a bottle of expressed milk at 11ish to ensure I get a block of sleep.
I know it's not recommended but he sleeps for 2-3 hours if he's in with me so that's what we did last night and I felt much better and took him back this morning for another 2 hour nap. Helps him take a bigger feed from me too.

Can anyone answer - after a CS when did you go out to the shops? I am desperate to get the wee man a couple of bits and I would have DH with me, don't intend going for long walk just from car park into shopping mall to one shop then home!)

Hope everyone is doing well, will try and catch upl

Glad you're feeling ok Loucee, Finlay is a lovely name, and a good weight.

Hi everyone and congrats to all with your new babies - there are so many now, it's lovely to see you all appearing over here.

Loucee - I had a c/s and went shopping with dd2 and dh 3 days after coming out of hospital (eg 6 days after the birth) and felt absolutely fine. I didn't carry anything and in fact 2 weeks after the birth I am still being very careful about what I carry and lift. This is my 2nd c/s and I have found this one a lot quicker to recover from. But they have both been elective and I think generally they are a lot easier to get over than emergency. I don't really have any tips apart from the obvious - don't do too much, don't lift older children etc. Hopefully you will be feeling better soon.

Amani and others struggling with breastfeeding - yes it is really hard work and I would not blame anyone for switching to formula feeding. Strangely I think I have found it harder this time - I have had cracked nipples, a blocked milk duct, engorged breasts and then just before Christmas, mastitis. Oh Joy! I am taking antibiotics so feel better but am only continuing through some sort of wierd stubborn streak. I think dd2 is having a growth spurt as she has been feeding so regularly today, and for longer. At least I hope that is what it is! Luckily for me, she does generally go for about 4 hours between feeds in the night so I do at least get one longish stretch of sleep. However, as she has a cold we are struggling to settle her in her moses basket so she has been in bed with me every night for the last few nights. Much to the disapproval of the health visitor. Tough! It's either co-sleep or no-sleep at the moment!

Claireybee - I have the same chesty cough as you do, it's lasted for ages and has just added to my woes (along with the mastitis). Having a baby in the middle of winter is not to be recommended!

Anyway enough moaning! We did at least manage a nice Christmas day and the house is now littered with toys, chocolates and the endless bibs/rattles that everyone seemed to think we would want for the new baby (to be fair they are all very nice bibs and rattles!).

I hope you all enjoyed your christmases with your new babies.

congrats all on these new babies, aaaw it's lovely!!

If it's any consolation everyone I've spoken to who persevered with BF has said it's FANTASTIC eventually, worth the hard work now. Also, spoken to people who have FF and have happy healthy babies too..so just got to go with the flow and what's right for you both. I'm going to keep going but keen to introduce a bottle of EBM - when are others planning to do this? Or when have you done it with other DC? The books etc seem to say after 6-8 weeks but that seems a long way off at the moment!

Caz, yes i agree that if you can get on with the BF then its really worth it and really easy and convenient once things settle down. BF my DD for 18 months and it was lovely (had lots of probs at the start).

DD wouldn't take a bottle and I tried at 6wks so this time I'm keen to introduce one earlier so I might start DS on one from 2 wks or so , providing he's taking good feeds from me and that I'm not sore from feeds etc. The plan would be for DH to give him that bottle at 11ish so that I can get to bed at 9ish for a few hours.

Hello people - just reporting in quickly as I won't be able to be on here much if at all. With a velcro baby I'm not sure how DH and I would be coping without my mum taking her for a few hours every night so that we can sleep properly. Mum leaves tomorrow....

Frances Jean born 23/11 by emergency CS as you know.

She won't sleep anywhere but on a person - she's like a doll in reverse with the eyes popping open as soon as you lay her down. We've tried back and side (and even front once after much nagging from my mum) to no avail. She doesn't cry at first, but lies there turning bright red with the effort and grunting like a weightlifter as she tries to get out. Eventually (within less than 15 mins) she's sick, and then takes the best part of an hour to calm.

The last two days were awful - colic we think probably due to too many people, too much noise, and just generally too much. Today was spent in quiet, dimly-lit rooms and was much much better. I think she's probably got a bit of reflux too as she's as peaceful as anything after a feed but sicks up a little while you're changing her and then takes ages and repeated proffering of the dummy (which she chomps on desperately) to settle.

We're bottle feeding, to my everlasting disappointment. I won't go into the detail here as I still feel like I'm being caught giving her contraband whenever I feed her, and I don't want to get into any discussions. Suffice it to say that after breastfeeding my dolls as a child the discovery that my body was unable to do this one thing was a very very bad one.

I hope you're all doing well.

Hi thelady - nice to see you on here! Definitely sounds like reflux. I believe that's very common with pre-term babies (although I know Frances was close to term).

Good luck with everything if we don't get to see too much of you.

Congratulationa thingamijig on the new arrival .

Big hugs and thanks to everyone who replied to my query - you won't believe how wonderful it is to get responses.

On the BF front - having still having moments when DD2 will feed for 10 mins, sleep for 5 mins and then the pattern repeats itself for the next few hours (i.e this morning from 6am - 9am). I started doubting whether I had enough milk to sutain her and to see how much she was drinking and I expressed some yesterday night and ony got 1/2 ounce.

Is this right or have I expressed to early or am I genuinley not producing enough milk?

I gave her formula this morning as I was worried she was still hungry after our three hour cycle of feeding on/off, felt so bad, but DH was wonderful and supportive and said he would rather our baby be contented rather than aggitated and perhaphs not having enough milk..

Sorry to ramble guys (am soooo tired aswell), but I really want this BF to work, but feeling down about it as it becoming a bit of a rough ride...

Thelasy - DD2 also has reflux, brings up milk after every feed - been told to rub her back not pat her back after a feed - maybe this might help?