March 2008 births

[MarchNowFebMum]

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

welcome home turtle, both your real one and this virtual one! congratulations on your happy arrival!

congrats turtle glad to have u on the dark side!

here's to the two arlo's! my family still can't pronounce sanam's name ;.)

wow jfly, we dont know any other arlos, we nearly called ds3 arlo but it doesn didnt fit, but it def suits ds4 we got it from arlo guthrie, son of woody guthrie, both musicians as you know

i am sat here rocking the car seat with my foot, Rudi is tired but wont give in to sleep.... think i shall take him to bed in a mo, but i want to enjoy the peace, quiet and tidiness of the evening whilst all the elder three are in bed.

its bizarre that when dp is at work in the evenings in some ways its easier and the house ends up tidier? have to say i am glad that it is the easter hols tho, no mad dash to get the boys to school, am also glad that when they go back i only have to do it three days per week, the school said i could send the boys full time for a bit if it would help when i have a new baby, but tbh it is ok having them at home, and i dont fancy doing the mad school dash five mornings a week.

seriously tho this evening i have done loads, got elder three to bed, washed up, swept up, mopped flr, bleached sink, with Rudi in sling, and now in the car seat, i never got anything done when ds1 was a baby, its amazing how much more organised you get once you have more than one, well not organised but i think you maybe multi task more and get a bit more efficient at whizzing round and getting things done. def a case of doing little and often tho, cant let housework etc build up or it becomes a nightmare and its also great that ds1 is now old enough to help out, i got him to hoover his and his brothers bedrooms today

yay i have a sleeping baby, gonna do some internet shopping and then head to bed i think.

health visitor coming tomorrow, cant remember what they do exactly, weigh him and sort out his red book i guess?

take care all and congrats turtle

HVs are put on this planet to (a) keep you awake with weirdly timed appts and then (b) tell you to sleep when your baby is sleeping.

yes mine did, red book stuff, and loads of leaflets for local area things and reviewed what imms to get where and when.

Thought I'd join in. Aaron is now 13 days old - can't believe how quickly it has gone, and dh went back to work this morning. But, I've managed to do the school run to take dd1 to school, so just dd2, Aaron and I at home. He's being a complete sweetheart so far. He's very relaxed, is feeding really well and went for 6 hours between feeds last night - can't believe how lucky we are .

I think its definitely true what you say 3madboys, you have to be organised or at least so much more efficient at doing things when you have more than one. But I do think its more to do with the fact that we have already adjusted mentally to the intensity of looking after young children.

Anyway I am currently loving have a newborn baby again. And although I kind of promised dh that I would never ever get broody again, every now and then it crosses my mind that we'll never do this again .

We did the whole red book/form filling in last week. I have a different HV again, and for the first time I really like her. Probably again because I'm more confident about what I'm doing and less paranoid at every slightly negative thing said to me.

I've arranged to have a labour de-brief next week, has anybody else had one? I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm hoping it will put some things that happened into perspective .

WHWD, i had one for ds1's birth when we were planning ds2 last year. They asked what questions I had, took notes of that and then read through the notes noting what I remembered and answering the q's i'd had as much as possible at relevant points. I also got an apology, which is what had been missing up to that point (for inducing me needlessly after flase high BP reading) and was told how many of the relevant pieces of kit (fat arm BP cuffs) they had since bought and where they were deployed, to reduce chances of it happening to someone else. They offered me copies of the notes, but I didn't want tot ake it any further and declined this, wanting to put it behind me once I knew they had reviewed their practice in the light of my experience.

Best outcome for me.

I am with you on the GULP, first day alone front today...mum has gone home. SO far so good, but did it *have8 to coincide with clocks going forward so getting up at 0630 was actually getting up at 0530?? Grr.

I have just learnt how to put photos on the site so have popped a few on, will update how things are going little later on DS needs a feed.

MELT, ooooh look at them always turning and moving into each other, OOOOH

Sounds like it was useful then MB. I was also induced with prostin gel, told that everything looked very unfavourable and that we were probably in for the long haul. Then very suddenly about 4 hours later, had a huge contraction, that barely stopped, and I ended up begging my midwife for pain relief - I was offered paracetomol!!!!!! After lots more begging for help, she examined me, still unfavourable - completely devastated. Another hour of almost constant contractions and in sheer agony and tears, she gave me pethidine (no idea why not gas and air but I wasn't in a fit state to think clearly at the time). She examined me about 90 minutes after the first exam, and I was 9 cm dilated . Up until this point I was on a ward in a bay of 4, 5pm so loads of visitors around. Then taken to delivery suite - changed midwife - felt comfortable and relaxed (as well as you can be in labour at least), and most of all supported by lovely midwife, and beautiful baby popped out after two pushes. From start to finish about 3 and a half hours.

In so many ways it should have been a wonderful experience, and I feel that if the midwife had a) believed that I was in labour, b) responded to my need for pain relief more sensibly, ie G&A and c) moved me to a more private room if available, it would have been near on perfect.

I feel really disappointed that my last experience of labour was like this, when I feel that it had nothing to do with anything physical but more to do with the lack of support and empathy I received from my midwife. I think I would just like an apology - I know the labour was far from text book, but from what my community mw said, induced labours are rarely 'textbook' anyway.

Also having pethidine so close to him being born, may have been the cause of his excessive sleepiness - he wasn't interested in feeding for the first few days, and resulted in quite a big weight loss. Big enough for Drs to want him to be given formula milk - I needed alot of support from great midwives to convince the doctors that this wasn't the best thing for him.

If Aaron had been my first baby, this could have ended so differently - may not have ever wanted to have other children and may have given up breastfeeding within first 4 days due to so called medical advice.

Oh dear, I've gone on a bit - sorry for saga, will promise to do shorter posts from now on!!

lord, you shouldn't shorten your posts when you have something so important to say. i would say, if you want an apology, tell them. hospitals mostly won't apologise for anything unless asked usually, as it sounds like an invitation to sue I guess? you sound like you worked your way through some proper adverse circumstances there, damn well done to you. xx

Update from Preggersagain! Millie has been in and out of the hospital on dialisis (sp??) machine for a couple of weeks - I am not clear on the reason but might have been jaundice as billarubin was mentioned! She's home now and doing well, as is Carys, so PA, hope you are all on the mend and we'll see you on here soon!

Makes Sanam's hideous case of baby acne fade in comparison. Was upsetting me but only because of vanity reasons!

Off to get baby passport photos....

have put a pic of iz on profile. will try and come on later to catch up when oldest two are in bed. iz full of snot so wants carrying round!!

I think my husband is insane. He so wanted LO to be born on his birthday and due to hospital "waiting til I was ready," (read:til they felt like delivering) he missed it by a couple of hours. So upset is he, that he is out to register him on the 26th rather than 27th. He has looked into cheaty ways of getting away with it and I just want to scream. I have kind of made my peace with the appaling treatment we were given and am trying to enjoy my baby, but I can't believe DH is being such an oddball. My baby boy has positional talipes and tongue tie, which are far moe important things to be focussing on this week than selfish birthday requests, don't you think? Or AIBU?

Back again, sending good wishes to preggers.

It must be a thing with Millies the second day we were home a midwife came to check on the babies and sent us all into a state of panic, we already knew both babies were jaundice and that Millie was more than Harry but the first midwife did not seem too bothered as she was eating well and pooing and weeing ok. The only thing we were worried about is she is quite a sicky baby and kept been sick after some feeds not after all but some and quite a lot of sick.

Anyway this other midwife come and informed us to take her to ~A & E to hav e some bloods taken to check her billyruben, she then changed her mind and called the peditrician on a ward to meet us at the hospital and informed us to go straight to the ward to meet the doctor instead of A & E as it would take to long to be seen there, she told us it was not urgent but to get to the hosptial within the next few hours which to us meant it was urgent, we had to take both Millie and Harry as i was breastfeeding so could not split them up not that we would have done.

After the blood tests which were horific she screamed and screamed we were sent home and called later on to state the results were ok.

I was breastfeeding to start with but had to change over to formula as i was absoultly exhausted, over the night i waqs just sat up in bed all night breastfeeding one than the other not having any sleep, we changed to formula on my third day and my emotions were not quite steady for the change as i was so set on breastfeeding them for as long as i could.

We changed back to breast again for two more days than i had to resort to formula but my mind was set that way than. My breasts ever since have been like pamela andersons and are killing me still in so much pain with them, it is tempting to put the twins on just to release sa little pressure.

Both twins are doing well although Millie seems to be quite a sicky baby, she is sick after feeds, not after every feeds between 2-4 times a day, she was sick with breastmilk and formula two types, she is pooing and weeing ok and seems fine in herself but this is a little worrying we have tried her with infacol to see if it was trapped wind but this does not help.

Sorry for the long post not been on for such a long time.

flying visit...

ouch modsaluk, ouch if you're engorged release pressure this way, stop as soon as you feels ome release and leave it as long as poss before doing it again so you don't encourage supply, i did this when is stopped BFing ds1, was OK, did it onto a disposable breast pad

turtle, sorry to hear your baby health worries and very sorry your dh is not helping with his current obsession. is it his way of coping you reckon? focus on something he might be able to change, rather than everythign else you've had/have going on? not aibu on your part anyway.
wish i could help more.

sorry mods, this way:

'Hand expression
Many women find that hand expression is an efficient way to pump when only occasional expression is required. In fact, when the milk production is not abundant (as in the first few days), it is often easier to get milk with hand expression than with a pump and many women fined this the easiest way to express mature milk as well.
Place thumb and index finger on either side of the nipple, about 3 to 5 cm (1-2 inches) back from the nipple.
Press gently inward toward the rib cage.
Roll fingers together in a slight downward motion.
Repeat all around the nipple if desired. '

hi guys- flying visit- thanks to mnfm for updating- O told me she'd been in touch yesterday- your drapes are looking fab and the stripy silk is lovely (even if O is cursing you because of the stripes!!)

Well i've been a tad busy over the last 4 weeks or so, firstly Carys developed a penchant for projectile vomiting, cue medics running around like headless chickens, but some infant gaviscon has dealt with that- if anyone needs to know any tricks to getting that stuff into a breast fed baby that stubbornly refuses a bottle get in touch

then Millie started, three days after her jabs (yes- i have 3mo babies!! makes me feel all broody hearing about your newborns!!) she went a horrific shade of yellow- it can only be decribed as sunshine, she nearly matched the paint in our utility room it happened overnight, we all trotted of to a&e after dh saying "shouldn't we just ring the health visitor?" ummm... no she's seriously ill. Millie went totally silent in the car and when we got there she was floppy but still bright yellow, she was airlifted 43 minutes later in an incubator with 4 drips going into her.
I arrived in Cardiff with Carys three hours after Millie, by which time she was in an isolation ward/bubble with a nurse constantly watching her and doctors coming every 15 minutes to see what the situation was, throughout her pulse, bp and oxygen sats were good but i went into meltdown- i couldn't help but think it was sods law- they had been so healthy to start with even being so prem- this was payback for the easy time we'd had!

the first set of blood results showed what everyone had been expecting severly high billirubin levels, so she went under a lamp and had yet more drips with doctors assuring us that this would sort it out and then she would be scanned etc to check no brain damage had been done, it didn't, 24 hours later she was still sunny yellow and her billirubin levels were getting higher, cue transfer to Alder Hey by helicopter, me and Carys following behind.

At Alder hey she was seen by a fantastic american coinsultant who diagnosed Cavelepti Syndrome (or something along those lines tbh its still all a blur) of the liver- now to me that was gobbledigook, but in laymans terms is meant that the blood supply to her liver had gone wrong and so the liver had virtually stopped functioning and it was damaging her kidneys at the same time.
He operated that night aned instantly her colour started to look better but he decided to place her on constant dialysis to give her kidneys a chance to recover, it took two weeks of this to improve the kidney function and then a tense few days after she was taken off to see whether the kidneys could cope on their own, thankfully she recovered really well and they have said they don't think there will be any lasting effects as the jaundice wasn't the sort that damages the brain and nervous system.

We brought her home last week and she has slowly got back to her grinning self, the jabs had nothing to do with what happened- usually it shows up within a few weeks of birth but Millie's was late onset, Carys is now pushing 7.5 pounds and Millie is only just below the 6 pound mark which is understandable after the trauma she went through.

Both are still exclusivly breastfed- something that i am incredibly proud of myself for (although its not for want of trying- we've tried everything to get a bottle down them but they have both decided they prefer draught ) so am constantly eating and very tired but at least we have some sense of normality back. I have been banned from work by my staff for a couple of weeks but managed to sneak in earlier before anyone else arrived- had an excuse, needed to pick up some bedding as Carys is getting through sheets and blankets like a trooper!

We are taking the girls to see dh's mum and sister later, they haven't seen Millie since all the drama and they won't recognise Carys!

Congratulations to all those who have had babies, the 11lb + ones are making my eyes water as we speak- more than both of mine put together [crossed legs], i'll be floating around in the next few weeks as sitting at home is starting to make me feel like a battery hen- i need some entertainment and mn is just the thing

That all sounds so traumatic PA, but it must be wonderful to have them both at home again.

I hope you all go from strength to strength from now on .

oh preggers, I'm crying with relief reading that post - so glad Millie's recovered and well done for acting so promptly in getting her to hospital.

mods -sympathy with you on the formula, my LO is now totally on formula, I was planning to express a fair bit more but I seem to have dried up within a day. Last couple of pumps have extracted a little wateriness. And tbh, I think it was making things worse for me by mixing feeds as now I'm resigned to the ff I don't feel quite so emotionally bad about it all. Ed's still looking at my boobs every so often and making me feel bad enough that way, but once he gets the bottle in his mouth you can't get it out until he's done!

preggers - glad to hear millies feeling better, must have been horrible.

been looking at everyones pics and the babies are all lovely weve got a good looking bunch

turtle - sorry to hear things didnt go to plan and a huge congratulations on the birth of pascal i ended up with a venthouse as well but didnt end up having any tears etc (think it may well be because shes my 3rd and things arent quite what they were down there )

3madboys - definitly agree with you on how much easier it is with your 2nd/3rd etc. with dd1 i could never get anything done yet with dd3 the first thing i did when i got out of the hospital was do the laundry and empty the dishwasher! seem to be keeping on top of everything even though i have to act as ismays body guard as dd2 is determined to tip her out of her moses basket!! little horror! formular feeding also has its advantages i suppose in that she goes longer/ feeds quicker etc. just getting over my breast feeding envy but still wish i was doing it

Had final mw visit today ismay is only 11 days old and i thought they had to come out for longer, hv is out on thursday but to be honest they dont seem all that interested in us. they weighed her and shes now 7lb15 (was 7lb9) so shes gaining well. its all the 4 oz bottles she keeps on scoffing were begining to realise that night time is for sleeping as well. the past 2 nights shes actually stayed asleep between bottles (touch wood)instead of squeaking and wanting to be cuddled and look around. shes begining to wake up during the day as well so we actually get to see her eyes (she didnt open them barely for the first week!) shes also a total wind bag and ive had to change her over to dr brown bottles and start giving her infacol, totally unlike her two sisters who have never had any problems in that area.

any how, hope everyone is well and getting some sleep

preggers again - you astound again - you were always so calm and again you sound amazing. so delighted to hear they are doing well - despite the dramas...and goodness me with the breastfeeding - well done you! I'm glad you are banned from work - long may that continue!
take care and love to all.

Hi everyone!
Congratulations Turtle on Pascal. Really sorry things didn't go according to plan for you and about the tongue tie. Hope you are doing OK.

Sorry i haven't had chance to read the whole thread but will try to catch up soon.

Lucy is doing well and is really placid. Has gone to sleep upstairs in her moses basket in our room at 945 and haven't heard from her since. Bf going well this time round although I had to top up with ff on night 2/3 at midnight as LO too exhausted to feed properly and wanted to feed all night none stop. She slept from 2am until I woke her at 0800 on night 2! and has had a similar pattern all week! Back to ex bf now my supply is good. I have been expressing 5oz after her first feed in the morning and after her last feed in the evening.
I found she sleeps better if I give one of the later feeds in a bottle because she finds it easier to drink and takes more at that time. Seems to work well.

Well done to Preggers, I don't know how you bf twins, its hard enough with 1

hurray, ds2 went down at 7, had two feeds int he night and woke at 6am along with rest of us. so dp and i had evening together for first time. hugely happy about that, hope it happens again soon - had been soothing and settling for last week from 730- til about 9pm, which was lonely for whichever of us was doing it.

Hope you are all getting on well.
Congratulations turtle!
Glad to hear Millie is better preggers, what an awful experience.

Any ideas on how to get a bit of hair out of baby's eye?

I'm feeling much more human - dd feeding every 3 hours for less time rather than every two for an hour! It's so nice to be able to really enjoy her! It's good to be able to get out of the house again too. She slepth from 11.30 till 6.30 last night! It was great but i don't think i'll tell the health visitor, she was rather disproving of my stretching the gaps between feeds rather ruthlessly. but it worked - she's having proper feeds rather than 'snacking' and is much more settled. Silly health visitor turned up 20 mins early yesterday, didn't wait and left a message saying 'maybe you've forgotten that you had an appointment'. Grrrr.
PILs arrive today so I am bracing myself for lots of advice and have foresaken lie in for frantic tidying. MIL did send a marvelous parcel of fishy things from Loch fynne yesterday though so I'm grateful really, she means well!

i am having a dreadful time getting a pic of all 4 of us done for posterity. fidgety bluidy bunch of boys.