March 2008 births

[MarchNowFebMum]

Welcome March Mums (and late Feb/early April Mums!) from the March 2008 threads.

1 handed typing! scuse me.

shoshe must be busy with tori's bigger kid...had a text last night to say tori is now the happy new mum of Lucy Anna born by emcs at 2049 on the 26th weighing 10lb!

another big baby for march. they had a great 1st night, sleeping and feeding well.

Thanks Ladies! Boobs have been marginally better this morning so hoping we're starting to turn a corner, but if not I'm definitely going to look into the nipple shields.

Congrats Tori!

Aaargh, so very tired!! Yesterday I had a bit of a melt-down. I haven't had more than 3 hour's sleep a night since LO was born cos she seems to think night time is awake time and can be awake between feeds for up to 3 hours at night, just looking around and blinking at stuff, but howling if she's put back into bed. VERY ANNOYING and I've been doing lots of late-night movie watching and bouncing on my gym ball while she looks at the world!

Anyway, yesterday I was just so tired I couldn't function, and DD1 was really playing up, throwing tanrums left, right and centre, and wetting herself on purpose. I completely couldn't cope and ended up howling on the floor. And was so close to thrashing DD1 I nearly called social services to take her away for her own good! Luckily we made it through the day, and I got an OK night's sleep last night so I feel a bit better today.

The first few weeks of a new baby really are ridiculously hard, aren't they?

Derah sending hugs. I cannot believe how you forget inbetween babies how hard the first few weeks are. I have been reading my diary from when DD was born and its all coming back now. I had forgotten how obsessed I was about getting her to sleep through the night. Now I remember why!

My DD has mostly been ok but she has starting scratching her arms and legs until they bleed. She did this before when her sleep routine was unsettled and we think its stress related.

I feel awful because I should be enjoying DS's first few weeks but all I want is for time pass. Hormones to settle. Him in a routine. Bleeding to stop. Getting my strength back...

derah, hang in there! can dh do a feed so u can get extra sleep?

have been having v lazy two days, all parenting intentions out the window - feeding laying down, letting her fall asleep on me and lots of dummy use. it's been a restful couple of days for me but am now paying the price as she doesn't want to sleep in her own bed. damn!

welcome lucy and thomas...

Hi - I can't believe I've made it to 'the other side'!

Matthew was born on Saturday at 12.45am. He weighed eight pounds. Labour took six hours from waters breaking to delivery - so no time to put on TENS machine or anything else on birth plan. Used gas and air. Had second degree tear but am taking lots of arnica tablets to help with healing.

Feels really strange to be a parent - I always feel like I'm winging it because I have no idea what I'm doing!

Milk supply is taking its time to come in properly so I'm topping up with formula to keep up Matthew's fluid intake. He has jaundice so had to spend one night under that horrible phototherapy machine in the hospital. He screamed the whole ward down all night because he had to lie there naked, cold and with a horrible mask over his eyes and head - I just wanted to take him home and cuddle him.

MNFM your two days sound very like mine! I have also been making use of her vibrating chair for the 'evening scream'.
I'm trying to express what's left after each feed to give to LO after she's finished the next one - she always seems to finish the bottle even when she has had enough boob. amazing how much less milk i have in the evening. It's an awfull faf though, with all the sterilising etc. It all takes so long I can't imagine how I am ever going to be able to go to baby groups - may just have to stay at home!
Congrats to PQ and hello Matthew.
Poor Derah!

Hurray!!!

Text from Turtle to say that Pascal Roy born 3.03 am weighing 7.7lb!!!

Well done Turtle and welcome Pascal!

GO turtle!!!! Big congratulations to you and Mr Turtle, and welcome to the big wide world 'baby turtle' xx

Today was much better, thanks ladies. I was too tired to sit up in bed feeding last night, so I just lay down, put LO on the boob next to me at midnight or so, and woke up at 6am!! Don't know if she slept through as well or fed during the night and I was too passed out to notice! But a lovely 6 hour's solid sleep has me feeling human again. I'm beginning to think that co-sleeping might be the way to go but DH isn't keen cos he thinks we'll never get LO into her own bed again.

Congratualtions PQ and welcome Matthew!

Hooray to Turtle too.

Winky - sorry your DD is having problems. How old is she? I'm sure things will settle down for all of us soon.

MNFM - DH can't feed cos I'm still exclusively BFing. I'll start expressing soon though. But even when DH takes LO after a feed to settle her and let me sleep, he gets too irritated if she won't stop crying and just loses his temper!! So I get her back and have a grumpy DH as well!! Sigh......

I am having major milk supply problems as I wasn't with DD for the first week of her life 24 hours a day. Not sure they're going to be resolve-able so I am trying not to feel too guilty about the formula top ups I'm using and it may soon develop into excl FF. Hoping to hang on to at least one breastfeed a day!

Really interesting to read about everyones experiences, will post more when I can as my little angel is about to wake up. I could just watch her sleeping/feeding/gurgling forever, she is so fascinating!

brilliant news about pascal, was worried for turtle if she went much more overdue!

i honestly dpon't think co-sleeping/dozing etc has any long-term-overattached-to-you issues at this early stage. all they are needing to do is learn how to sleep and that day is different from night. i do it as my sanity/exhaustion levels require. i plan to phase it out for settling himself in own bed once GG gets to around 3-4 months. teach him one thing at a time...

had an OK week, mum here helping, finding some aspects of the help a bit of a trial, but grateful overall!

oh and if another sodding HV/hearing test/BCG type person tells me to make sure i sleep when baby sleeps despite having foisted an appointment at their convenience on me almost every day this week, I will lamp someone very hard soon! i bluidy would if you'd let me!

so saying, i am making use of mums last day here to get a local cut and colour this morning. ds1 in pre-school and she will bring gg round when hungry. magic.

we also went for a DOUBLE APPT TO OSTEOPATH on tuesday oops sorry caps lock. twas very interesting. when giving history to her, mentioned what a sucky baby gg is (uses dumy to go to sleep, where ds1 spat them) and she said she coudld see why...it applies negative presure to his skull and helps him relieve compression from birth. she showed me how his head is actually parallelogram shaped from birth, with one skull plate more depressed than others. it was also good to hear that he has full rnage of movt in the arm that was stuck and floopy at birth. its tone is weaker than other side, but will recover. overall GG loved his treatment - he came off the boob and was so wide eyed with it. has actually been sleeping a bit better, going off much easier now. this cranial osteopathy also helped ds1 BTW, if anyone looking for help with colicky/unsettled babes. jut 2 treatments for ds1, gg will need 4 to help his shoulder and more shaped head along.

she also found a noticeable tilt in my pelvis and in just one treatment i am already rolling less as i walk. will go back for another couple myself.
ttfn, time to do pre-pamper feed!

good news derah. hopefully you can express soon. sanam did two five hour stretches last night, so people are happy around here today!!

am so glad for turtle and pascal...pq, good work onthe quick delivery. and i think we are all winging it!

Just popping in to say hello. I decided not to come on here for a few days after reading about feedme's sad news. I was sitting at the computer in tears reading about it. I just couldn't believe how life can be so cruel sometimes. I had to give Luke an extra big cuddle afterwards.

Luke seems to have settled well into breastfeeding and so have I. We are on a 2 stop strategy during the night at the moment but last night turned into a 3 stop strategy. Sometimes he'll go 3 to 4 hours during the day between feeding then at other times he'll want feeding every hour. My nipples have cleared up after initially being quite bruised and chapped. For anyone that is experiencing this I used the lansinoh cream after every feed on them, and whilst it hurt feeding Luke they cleared up pretty soon.

Right I'm off to have a shower before Luke wakes up for his next feed.

Yay! Managed to put some pics of Luke on profile page.

Aww Timmy - he is gorgeous! The DSD's look smitten too.

I had my hair done this morning - highly recommend if you have a couple of hours to spare. I feel all gorgeous again! Health visitor came today - what a faff that is, she was here for bloody AGES and the community midwife was here when she arrived so been a busy day chez Heels.

How old does baby need to be before I can start going to things/doing stuff? Am finding being at home a little boring but don't wanna go out too soon (she is 12 days old) if it's not recommended - I forgot to ask today! I've taken her for walks and lunch but would like to try a baby group or two.

Well hellooooo, lovely lady mamas! So glad to finally join you on the other side. What a very long time ago it seems when I was pregnant (8 days, actually!). And boy oh boy was it worth the wait of being 2 weeks overdue.

Everything I've ever heard about being a new mother is true: from the overwhelming, makes you want to cry fierce love for your little one, to the "I can't imagine life without him". It's all so very true!

Keep meaning to write my birth story, but the Griff Monster is a hungry little hippo, who tends to feed every 2-3 hours, it seems. So sitting down to gather my thoughts is a little tough! Long and short of it is we are both lucky to be here; I had a placental abruption, he was in distress and it was the most "emergency" emergency c-section my doula has attended in her 8 years on the job.

Anyway, it didn't really feel all that dramatic on the day somehow, but thinking back it could have gone so very wrong, very quickly. Thank God for a great team of midwives and doctors. I must say, even with my initial reservations about Chelsea, they came through with amazing care.

Recovery is slow and steady, but feeling better every day. Griffin has been an angel and is so placid and calm, which means our adjustment has been manageable.

He's BFing like a champ, even after a day in NICU, so I'm so pleased and relieved about that. I'm a massive 34J , which is horrifying, but at least the boobs are doing their job!

Sorry for the tome. Will check back soon. Oh, pics of Griffin on my profile.

Congratulations JFly!

Do any of you keep the central heating on at night? I worry about my little one getting cold

I do worry about her being cold but have a room thermometer that I have checked in the middle of the night and it doesn't get that cold with the heating off all night (hits a low of about 17 for me). From a cot death perspective I was told that it's better for it to be cold than hot and that it's not necessary to have heating on at night.

Hello Griffin, well done Jfly - sounds traumatic!
PQ - our room is about 14 at night , thermometer is always on 'blue'. DD's swaddled (v g mothercare 'miracle sheet') and I put a cellular blanket on top, she's always cosy as anything when I unwrap her in the morning. I would be nervous of swaddling in a warm room / summer though. MW said if the back of the neck feels warm they are warm!

hello!
my mom arrived last night and she and DH have taken Hero out so I could have a shower... I've washed my hair- luxury!

I've been lurking here, v glad to read that most of you feel exactly the same as I do. 12 days on and I'm absolutely shattered but love being a mom.

LO is in a light grobag with a longsleeved vest at night, but our place is very warm. I'm so proud of her as she seems to have cracked the night-is-when-we-sleep problem and wakes just to feed! However, that means she doesn't sleep much during the day, but I'm not complaining!!

Lots of love to you all. Hope to catch up properly soon.

hooray have finally got on the pc, been a diff week with dp back at work and i have had mastitis ds4 finally has a name tho, at the grand old age of two weeks we have decided to call him Rudi Arlo some relatives are unimpressed but hi ho, we like it.

on the whole life with 4 is ok, tho i am knackered, feeding every 2hrs at night and often more during the day, Rudi gaining weight nicely, he didnt really lose any, was 11lb 5oz the other day.

on the whole he is a great baby, sleeps loads so i can get stuff done with him in the sling or car seat, but he can be a really faffy feeder, but have realised its when he is tired and the best thing to do is take him up to bed, lie down and feed him where its quiet etc.

anyway hope everyone is well, congratulations and welcome to all the new babies, hope everyone is recovering well and enjoying their time with newborns, i am trying to focus on enjoying it as it will prob be my last time, dp thinks 4 is enough....

jaw on floor KERTHUNK! at you managing all this 3MB! i hope the mastitis is getting better +++

rudi arlo is gorgeous. especially love arlo, don'[t think i've ever met or heard of arlo before.

right, my turn with colic howling babe...ttfn

3madboys - LOVE your middle name, but I'm biased as my little boy (born 20th March) is Griffin Arlo Edward (DH insisted on three names)! What's your Arlo after? DH listens to Test Match Special and there's a commentator named Arlo White. DH liked the name and that's where we got it. Only other Arlo I know of is Arlo Guthrie, the folk singer. Many questioning glances from people when they hear Arlo, but what do they know?

The very short version (before I run off to bed to attempt to sleep):
Went into labour Tues eve, very chilled, went to bed at 12 with 5 min contractions that had gotten easier, woke up at 530 in a bit of pain. They really got going in the morning and by 10 had midwife out. 3cm. Cx carried on and by 3 or so I was really really going for it and yes, 3 cm still. Had evil sweep and things went a bit full on. No break inbetween cx which were making me vom and at 630 midwife said baby's heartbeat too erratic so off to hospital "just for monitoring". HA. After a few more hours with him back to back and having AROM finally got to point where choice was epi or cs. Had epi, got to 10, was made to wait 2 hours before pushing. He got stuck as had hand by head and cord round neck so had ventouse for a minute then asked to do it myself and POP out he came. Unfortunately had to have episiotomy to get bloody ventouse in. Grr. So anyway, he's lovely and although I wanted a home birth, it looks like it would have ended up in hospital no matter what. Ho hum. He's gorgeous, though.