Sept 08 - newborns, milk, nappies and all the rest ....

[Sassafrass]

Hope noone minds me starting our post natal thread now that the babies are arriving so quickly.

Arrivals!
28-May - Johnworf ? Katherine, 1lb 8oz
30-June ? KashaSarrasin ? Felix, 1.39kg
26-July - Jenbot - DD, 3lb 6oz
11-Aug - Crabby - Lilah 2.34kg
13-Aug - Sassafrass - Katie Rose, 7lb 2oz
20-Aug - Sunshinemummy - Effy Marilyn, 6lb 3oz
22-Aug - Talia1 - Anna, 6lb 2oz
26-Aug - Jenpet - Samuel, 3.166 kilos (about 6lb10oz?)
28-Aug - Potxola - Lorea, 7lb 6oz
31-Aug - Digitalgirl - Alfredo, 7lbs
1-Sept - Debithescot - Andrew, 8lb 10oz

Well Meglet you've made me feel better anyway as I suspect I will also have 2 stone to lose! I think it will be a while before I worry about dieting - I remember the early days last time and food was a very high priority with all those night feeds!

poxtola I was just thinking the same thing. Although it's not an exhausted tired (yet!), but I'm just very sleepy. I haven't even left the house today and have just been pottering about. My major achievement was going to say hello to my guinea pigs and putting them out in their run. Apart from that I've been on the sofa watching Sky news reading the papers.

Meglet, I can't wait to go back to the gym either. I had been going for about 6 months before I got pregnant and hade gone from a size 20 to 16, so I'm really keen on getting back on track and losing some more weight. Haven't been at the righ weight for me, for about ten years, so it's about time.

Potxola, I'm pretty tired, especially in the afternoons. I look back on when I only had one child and it was so much easier dealing with the newborn stage then. DD1 started preschool this week though so she'll be there every afternoon which is great for both her and me.

We had a mini breakthrough today with Katie sitting happily in her rocker watching me build a lego zoo with dd1 for almost 20 minutes. Usually she starts crying within 5 minutes of me putting her down.

Starlight - congratulations. I'm now 13 days overdue!

Starlight - I have very irregular cycles, and have been known to go six weeks on occasion so it varies. For that reason though, I don't think we can be sure about my dates. Also I had a miscarriage, followed by one period before conceiving again, so who knows what kind of crazy trip my cycle was on at that point??

Congrats Starlight!!! How'd your labour go?

Update from me - am fully breastfeeding now (with the midwife's approval, we have stopped all top ups) and have also stopped expressing so that my body can adjust to Alfredo's demands. I don't seem to have a problem with supply so it was definitely worth the hard graft. Feel like I've got half my like back!

My only problem now is learning how to read Alfredo's feeding cues and when to leave him alone. Spent 7 hours today (from 8am - 1pm) trying to rouse him from his contented slumber to get him to feed because I thought you should NEVER let a baby go more than 5 hours without a feed. Turns out, if they've gorged themselves beforehand (Alfredo had 3:30am feast where he fed for an hour and a half - pausing only to do a great big poo!) then it's perfectly acceptable to leave them to sleep until they wake up hungry again. There is soooooo much to learn.

Each lesson is learnt the hardway too, but afterwards I think 'Well, I know what to do for next time'.

Can't wait till I'm a BF pro and am happy to leave the house and feed on the go. At the moment it still takes anything from 20 minutes to 2 hours to get him to feed (clearly I've still got a lot to learn ).

Actually looking forward to having visitors this afternoon, I've been putting everyone off since the weekend.

Digitalgirl you rock! I've just read your update on the other thread and I am so pleased for you that you've had this breakthrough. You've certainly worked for it but you are proof that determination and persistance pays off. Well done and enjoy it!

starlight (i posted this on the antenatal thread but here makes more sense so have copied and pasted) I know exactly what you meant about feeling like you were being silly when your contractions seemed fine. I had the same thing. Between 3 and 6 am when I was in labour I was so bored and felt like a fraud when my contractions were every 5 minutes as they didn't seem to be getting any closer or any sorer. They weren't that sore and I was being to think I was imagining them being proper contractions or thinking that they would stop. But then ds2 was born at 8am so they must have been real! Also I had the same thing with my waters breaking, couldn't believe how much of an explosion there was!
And I can't believe you got the midwife to show you her embroidery- I keep thinking I should look at my stitches as noone has seen them since they were done but I can't bring myself to look.

oh and I really wish I'd asked to read my notes afterwards, esp as the last stage was so fast that I can't remember very much about it.

DH only told me yesterday that just before ds2 was born the midwife was just about to say something when I gave 1 push and he came flying out all at once. We reckon she was about to tell me not to push on the next contraction as he was nearly there. I wonder if I had done that and he'd come out a bit slower if that would have made me not tear.

digitalgirl thats really great that you've got the feeding sorted. It won't take long for you to feel confident about doing it in public. And once you've done it once it'll be a doddle. I fed ds2 at the rugby on Sunday with a group of lads sitting behind and in front of us. I wouldn't have dared do that with ds1 at 6 days old but I didn't care. The boys behind might have got an eyeful but hey, I'll never see them again so who cares!

ahhhh!
i am sooo friggin fed up with visitors!

i've said no, i've refused to take myself and the child to the living room and i've barricaded us in the bathroom about 4 times today.

in other news, i remembered something from my childhood today. i remembered that when people used to ask me what i wanted to be when i grew up, i would tell them i wanted to be a cat.

i think i remembered this because whenever my son unlatches he licks his lips like a cat. i want to call him el gato.

Eandz, good on you for saying no, people should take the hint and actually leave you in peace when asked though.

Digitalgirl, wonderful news, I'm so pleased that the breastfeeding is working better for you now.

eandz visitors are a nightmare. We haven't had any as I got in a big strop about it this time. My family have popped round to help with DS and the housework (so I can still wander about looking skanky in my Primark nightie) but nobody has just popped by to see the baby and have cups of tea. I think it's made us much calmer this time.

DD's belly button 'stump' dropped off yesterday. I'm glad its gone I can pull her nappies up high now, they were getting a bit leaky.

ooh! noahs umbillical chord thing fell off last night. i didn't save it. (my fil thinks i should have...eww!)

you have surfaced, eandz! and well done for barricading yourself in your room.

ok, serious question you guys.

how much milk is the average per breast per feed?

i want to know what to aim for in the case of needing to pump...if i have to. so far we're doing marathon feeds, i guess it's because he's a big one.

I didn't keep the stump either- gross.

We've not had many visitors, my mum was here for a week (and my day for 3 days of that) and we've had a couple of others pop in but not many. DH goes back to work next week so I've been asking for visitors in case I get lonely (not sure how I'll be lonely with 2 children in the house but never mind).

DS1 suddenly started calling ds2 "little sunshine" yesterday, we have no idea where it came from but is very very cute.

Babies also like to breastfeed just for the comfort it gives them. I just let Katie feed whenever she wants to though and don't bother distinguishing between if she's hungry or if she needs comfort. She can have whatever she wants while she's this little I think =) Evenings tend to be spent on the sofa feeding constantly.

This evening she actually fell asleep on her own on my lap without either breastfeeding or lying on my chest! I do love it when she falls asleep at teh breast with that very sated look on her face and mouth wide open. There's something very sweet about it.

the baby is feeding quite often but very irregularly. sometimes every 3 hours, sometimes every hour on the hour....so i'm just wondering if i'm producing enough milk?

does fenugreek (don't know the spelling) really work?

that feed pattern is normal normal normal at the moment Eandz. As long as he is not jaundiced and not go more than 5 hrs between feeds he is doing fine.

the best way to 'measure' how much milk your baby is getting is to see what and how much comes out the bottom end. Honest.

You may want to bookmark this page and read it and the links to it when you have the time. and come back to it a few times, over time.

and if you are paranoid and obsessed like i was as a new mum, you may also want to print of this page

Fenugreek really does work but I wouldn't bother with it unless you really need it.

Babies do feed really irregularly. Katie can go from feeding once every two hours to suddenly wanting a feed 3 times in an hour. Just let your baby feed whenever he wants too and your body will know how much milk is needed.

morning all i've graduated..........BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT We have a girl, our beautiful daughter arrived 12/9/08 weighing 7lb 5 1/2oz, her name is Jessica.

Birth story.... went to bed thurs eve feeling really fed up and crabby fell asleep but woke at 2ish with really strong period pains rang the hospital at 4am as every contractions every 3 mins, told me to go straight over, was checked over and i was 5cm so went through to labour ward. Using gas and air i got through the pain and needed to push at 7.30ish and she was born at 7.41am. The experience was 100% better than my previous delivery. I now have a gorgeous son and a beautiful daughter..... Totally blessed!

Haven't caught up with the whats going on yet....will do later....hope all is going well for all you mummies!