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October 08 - The Here and Now.

996 replies

CantSleepWontSleep · 13/10/2008 08:31

The story so far....

10th Sept (Due 1st Oct) - loulou33 - Boy - Joe Louis David - 6lbs 12oz - Induction due to rhesus sensitivity, G&A.
12th Sept (Due 6th Oct) - iuseantiageingstuff - Boy - Fred William - 8lbs 13.5oz - Induction due to high BP.
14th Sept (Due 14th Oct) - twinklytoes - Boy - Samuel - 7lbs 4.5oz - Em C-Sec due to grade 4 PP.
16th Sept (Due 8th Oct) - Ksal - Girl - Emma Rae - 6lbs - Just beat induction for PE!
20th Sept (Due 8th Oct) - kookiegoddess - Girl - Reya Marie - - Induction due to OC, epidural, 3rd degree tear.
21st Sept (Due 5th Oct) - myjobismum - Girl - Naomi Caitlin - 5lbs 10oz - Fast and furious hospital birth.
22nd Sept (Due 10th Oct) - Lozza70 - Boy - Sander Gene - 7lbs 5oz - Em C-Sec due to raised BP and high ALTs from liver.
27th Sept (Due 1st Oct) - accessorizequeen - Boy twin - Felix - 6lbs 8oz -
27th Sept (Due 1st Oct) - accessorizequeen - Girl twin - Bridget - 7lbs 7oz -
1st Oct (Due 29th Sept) - WombFor1More - Boy - Harvey James - 8lbs 13oz - Homebirth, no pain relief.
2nd Oct (Due 4th Oct) - annwoo - Boy - TBA - 8lbs 7oz - Amazing birth!
2nd Oct (Due 30th Sept) - sambrads - Girl - Brooke - 7lbs 9.5oz -
2nd Oct (Due 12th Oct) - star6 - Boy - Quinlan - 5lbs 15oz - 36hr labour, ventouse and stitches.
2nd Oct (Due 8th Oct) - Alexa808 - Girl - Tienette - - Planned c-sec
3rd Oct (Due 5th Oct) - rosebury - Boy - Austin - 9lbs 2oz - Delivered at home by dh!
3rd Oct (Due 6th Oct) - Bethoo - Girl - Maia - 7lbs -
3rd Oct (Due 6th Oct) - hoff - Boy - Oliver - -
3rd Oct (Due 19th Oct) - MrsTittleMouse - Girl - - -
4th Oct (Due 2nd Oct) - 1sttimer80 - Boy - - -
4th Oct (Due 30th Sept) - Aubergenie - Boy - Stanley - 7lbs 12oz -
5th Oct (Due 29th Sept) - plusonemore - Boy - Alfie Thomas - 8lbs - Induction, epidural
5th Oct (Due 2nd Oct) - MrsBish - Girl - Rachel - 8lbs 8oz -
5th Oct (Due 4th Oct) - hedgepig - Boy - Oliver - 6lbs 3oz -
7th Oct (Due 23rd Oct) - Emmsy1 - Girl - Amy Louise - 5lbs 12oz -
7th Oct (Due 2nd Oct) - snowymum - Boy - Rowan Michael - - Home water birth
8th Oct (Due 6th Oct) - ronshar - Boy - William Dexter - 7lbs 11oz -
8th Oct (Due 20th Oct) - 07mumstheword - Girl - Freya Mae - 7lbs 12oz -
8th Oct (Due 16th Oct) - moodywren - Boy - Hayden - 6lbs 9.5oz - Homebirth
9th Oct (Due 27th Sept) - Pidge - Boy - Arthur - 8lbs 14oz - Homebirth
10th Oct (Due 1st Oct) - CantSleepWontSleep - Boy - Duncan Elliot - 8lbs 4oz - 4 day induction with 1 hour established labour!
11th Oct (Due 3rd Oct) - usuallytooshytochat - Girl - Megan Leah - 8lbs 2oz - Homebirth with ambulance crew!
12th Oct (Due 4th Oct) - pistachio - Boy - Thomas Fraser - 10lbs 2oz - Homebirth.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
myjobismum · 10/11/2008 20:39

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star6 · 11/11/2008 07:49

csws while on the phone with my gp getting results from ds' jaundice blood tests, I asked her about your ds' poo She said that sounds ok and is prob due to change in diet and should soon settle... she's not the best, but hopefully some reassurance?

cute, smudgey
I just swaddled ds really tight and he's settling amazingly well... ON HIS BACK! maybe he's finally realized that having his hands out is a major disruption to his sleep!! no, i don't expect it will last, but it's a start. we're back to a nice sleep from 8pm-1/2am then up every hour or less for feeds... but he will be 6 weeks on thurs so prob the growth spurt.
Nipples still sore. I think it's def thrush. Very pink and sore and cracked and shooting pains in the breasts getting worse by the day.
Anyone have the name of an oral medicine for thrush? I'll just go buy it since gp won't acknowledge it.

CantSleepWontSleep · 11/11/2008 08:10

Thank you star . Hoping to get to hv clinic this morning too, but depends how busy it is, as we need to leave in time to get to osteopath.

Ds was hysterical last night, and we could hear huge amounts of acid coming back up into his throat. Was worried what might happen if we left him in that state, so gave him some infant gaviscon (not supposed to be used under 1 yr without medical supervision), and it calmed him down within a couple of minutes. Not sure if he has silent reflux or was just reacting to something else I'd eaten.

star - was it you who mentioned a clicking sound when feeding? It is mentioned here.

OP posts:
myjobismum · 11/11/2008 10:21

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star6 · 11/11/2008 10:45

myjob I'm not strong that's the problem! They stick to my breast pads and since already cracked, just get more cracked... tried no cream tried with cream (lansinoh)... nothing is working! Can't keep thrush treatment on long enough. Started making it a regular occurence to let DH give him a bottle of expressed milk each night so that my nipples can have a little break. It's what I look forward to every single day... those 3-4 hours when I know I wont have to feed and my nipples can rest. I know that sounds horrid ofme. sorry
Seeing bf counselor again Thursday afternoon.

csws hey anytime... I'm on the phone with the dr a lot I worry a lot about ds - better safe than sorry!
I hope osteopath goes well. We still do'nt have our appointment!

Feeling really low today. A close friend has done something that is really bothering me and I am trying to just focus on ds and not let it get to me. Have a sore throat now, too... not sure how to protect ds from it.

myjobismum · 11/11/2008 10:54

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annwoo · 11/11/2008 12:06

Have stolen 5 minutes to come and say hi. Hope everyone is surviving. Haven't been on mn for ages but things are starting to calm down slightly.

However, dd (no 2) is teething at the moment and has flu to top it off so we are getting no sleep.

Baby doing well and is really calm and has brought a certain amount of harmony to the household as the other two toddlers are constantly concerned whether he needs his chair, headrest, blanket etc. It is very sweet to watch.

Star -read your post, I also had a really bad time bfing 1st son - I used to sweat when he cried for a feed. Also found nothing worked for cracked nipples until a friend told me to hand express some breast milk onto the nipples and let them air dry. It really did work. I also expressed to give myself a break. Gosh I really feel for you.
It does get better.......

Haven't had time to catch up with the rest of the posts but
hope everyone is doing ok (ish).

Ekka · 11/11/2008 12:54

CSWS I hope that all goes well with your appts & that they can bring some relief to Duncan (& you).

Star can your bf counsellor suggest anything for the thrush? I know that when I was having issues bf my dd my bf counsellor wrote a letter to my doc asking him to prescribe something to help increase my milk supply. Could yours do the same for thrush medicine?

DD is at the childminders today & I'm marvelling at the spare time I have. Ok, so Matthew is feeding a lot & wants to sleep in my arms, but I'm far more relaxed than I was with dd so can enjoy it more. Even found time to start soaking the fruit for our xmas cake (though whether I find time to make the cake itself is debateable!). Going to get Matthew weighed this afternoon, I hope he's had a reasonable gain, dd was so slow to gain weight it was a bit depressing....

Poor dh still hasn't had a chance to take any paternity leave due to his workload & is getting up 3+ times a night to deal with dd so is knackered. Bless him, he is really great, but I'm worried he's trying to do too much. He is going to have Friday off though, so hopefully will get some rest.

Hope everyone else is surviving the sleepless nights & general craziness that is life with a newborn

Aubergenie · 11/11/2008 13:06

Afternoon - Just grabbing a few minutes to say hello before DS wakes up for a feed. He's in the sling at the moment so I've got free hands to type.

Sorry to hear some of you are having such a tough time. CSWS - good luck with the cranial osteopath. I really hope it makes things better. You must be feeling very worn down at the moment. Star - I hope the BF counsellor can sort you out - you're doing really well to keep going while it's so uncomfortable for you.

DS has got a cold and phlegmy cough at the moment, poor thing. We've both had horrible colds that just kept coming back so it was only a matter of time, really. I don't suppose there's anything I can do. I'm trying to keep him close to me in the sling and feed him up, but I imagine he's too young for any cough medecine at 5 weeks?

Honeymoonmummy · 11/11/2008 13:17

Hi all! Poppy Grace was born at 2.30am on 5 November weighing 6lb 15oz, she is absolutely beautiful, had a COMPLETE nightmare labour which I wont go into now, only got home on Sat. I am breastfeeding and thats going ok except I'm constantly feeding and she will sleep on me or on the bed next to me after but wont settle in her moses - any ideas??? Also, what newborn photos/ memorabilia stuff do people suggest to do before she starts growing??

CantSleepWontSleep · 11/11/2008 14:01

About time honeymoonmummy! Congratulations .

star/aubergenie - when you have a cold your body makes antibodies to fight it, and these get passed on in your breastmilk, to help your ds fight it too. Clever stuff eh?

Well ds has gained 3lbs in a month, and now weighs 11lbs 4oz. At least my milk is doing some good as well as the harm!

H/v was great. Was upset by another patient who was seeing the nurse just before I went in, as he told her that he wasn't waiting in the waiting room because it was too noisy for him. The only sound in there was from ds crying . H/v has made appt for me to see GP (not the one who believes that there's nothing wrong with a baby if it's gaining weight) tomorrow, and is coming out to see me at home a week on Monday to see how we are doing. She reckons GP will prescribe gaviscon and give a paed/dietician referral if I ask for it.

Osteopath then did what she could, but reckons we need to sort food intolerances/reflux before she can assess whether there's any point in another appointment or not. She does now have a homeopath working with her, who she thought it might be worth seeing, so I have an appt with her next Tues. No idea if homeopathy works, but not prepared to rule out any options at the moment.

Gave ds some gaviscon when I got home, as he'd been refluxy and crying all morning, and he just zonked out on his tummy in basket for 40 mins (long enough to make and eat lunch) and he's now just had a feed and is crashed out on my lap (will prob only last for a few mins until he's sick or acidy again, but nice nonetheless).

On an entirely different subject, I just had a mouse charge across my kitchen and disappear down the side of the fridge in the utility room. I told dh, who set a trap using one of dd's choc coins as bait. 5 mins later the same mouse strolled across the kitchen with the choc in his mouth . Dh now found where he got in (due to ongoing building works) and has hopefully blocked it off, but we still need to catch any that are in already!

OP posts:
rowanmac · 11/11/2008 14:53

Honey moonmummy, congrats, try and get a newspaper from day she was born, forgot with this one as ill but got one for DS. Anyone got a paper from 16th October lurking in a recycling bin, happy to take it off your hands (will pay of course).I am slowly winning with moses basket at nearly 4 weeks, need to try to get baby to fall asleep in it and not on you or will wake up, can take hours. anna still not keen after 4am feed but ok other times, sorry got to go to collect ds.

star6 · 11/11/2008 15:38

csws I was laughing so hard at the image of mouse running across your floor with choc coin that it frightened ds while feeding! Hilarious image!
Thanks for the article. sounds like me some of time... then other times feel like there's no milk at all!
Thanks all for sympathies. myjob thanks for being so supportive!
ds was on his tummy for second nap! but rowanmac no idea how to get him to go to sleep by himself! BUT he was only drowsy when swaddled this morning and went to sleep in there... so maybe!

Question: how to tell if expressed breast milk has gone off? been in back of fridge 4 days... that's limit i know. I dont want to taste it. It;s slightly more yellow in colour than more fresh one...

star6 · 11/11/2008 15:49

hey - I forgot to tell this in my birth story.
After 29 hours I got hte epidural. My friend from work text me and I text back "epidural is a blessing". She (who has never had kids and knows nothing about childbirth/pregnancy) was on her way to work and announced to some colleagues that I had the baby and named the baby "epidural"

CantSleepWontSleep · 11/11/2008 15:49

Taste it? 8 days was limit according to those sites I linked recently.

OP posts:
star6 · 11/11/2008 16:06

what is it meant to taste like? dont like the idea of eating something that came out of my body...i know i know baby eats it...

rowanmac · 11/11/2008 19:45

Back from nursery run and cooking tea. Ds en routeto bed DD winding up to go.
what works in this house is routine.dunk them in the bath at 7pm then quiet dark room for feed and into moses basket. Can't BF in dark so switch off lights on my knee. into basket usually asleep by then so wait in room until wakes again approx 20 mins then settle them again, repeat and repeat until settle self then can leave room, rpt at subsequent feeds (without bath!). With DS didn't start doing this until 8 weeks and spent 2 nights on floor next to moses basket, started with DD at 2 days and time to settle is dropping. I never leave them to cry and feed on demand. she now settles after 8pm feed and 1am feed but still an effort at 5am so still ends up in bed as I have to get up at 7 and I need some sleep!

my great find is a premaxx sling, mcare sell them but got mine from bump2three as better colours. DD settles in it almost straight away and hands free for DS. Better than front carrier IMO as head doesn't flop about and dead quick to load her into.

Star6 DS needed to tightly swaddled to sleep but used to wiggle hands free so used to wrap him from armpits down! which worked . DD hates being tightly wrapped so we are in sleeping bags.

got to go the sleeping babe is now screaming and burrowing for food

SmudgeyDoodle · 11/11/2008 20:18

yay honeymoonmummy. Big congrats.sorry yoy had a tough time and hope you enjoy being at home together.DD has caught the phlegmy cough/cold thing too Aubergine. We've been to the drs today because she is only 10 days and wasn't really feeding because she can't breathe. (I had to express because thought I was going to explode and managed to get 2x5oz so feeling very This is already our 2nd trip to drs as she had a manky eye at 3 days which apparantly was Strep so they said to keep a close eye on her as that can sometimes lead to a chest infection. She threw up lots of phlegm earlier and seems better since but I'm not looking forward to tonight. CSWS glad the HV was supportive and hope that you all find some ways to settle Duncan. Star you are doing really well to feed when so sore. I had about a week of that last time and was just about ready to give up. Hope breastfeeding person can help. Also LOL at your baby called epidural. There are some unusal names but..... Ekka did you get your cake made? I'm meant to be making chocolate brownies but sat here typing with an awake DD on my knee whilst DH is cooking tea! We swaddle DD when she is going to bed and do the up to the armpits bit too. It really seems to settle her. (for now at least) Right tea is ready, got to go.

myjobismum · 11/11/2008 20:44

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hansnava · 11/11/2008 23:01

hi all
sophia is feeding none stop it feels like. in a week shes gone from 7lb4oz to 7lb 11oz. she also seems to have grown loads too shes only three weeks old and i feel like she gonna be 18years old before i blink lol.

hope everyone else is doing well

ronshar · 12/11/2008 09:29

Morning all.

I have to say that Rowan's routine is pretty much the same as mine. Except with DS he doesnt seem to want to comply. We were at HV clinic yesterday, William now weighs a very healthy 9lb 14oz. So he is obviously keeping in more than he vomits up. Although HV was surprised that we are still waking 2 hourly at night. She said at that weight he should be more than capable of sleeping for at least 6 hours! The HV offered the opinion that it may be the only time DS gets to feed in peace and quiet. She has a point, with 2 elder sisters poor baby doesnt get much quiet time.

CSWS. I really hope things are getting better for you & DD. Keep telling yourself that it will work itself out soon.

Star maybe you need to turn up your heating and spend some naked breast time. Nothing like exposure to help healing. Also have you got the washable nipple pads. They may not stick to your nipples as much??

hedgepig · 12/11/2008 09:30

star the name epidural is growing on me! it's just such a pity we registered Oliver on Monday so we can't change his name now

star6 · 12/11/2008 09:54

lol I will never let her live that down! But she has a valid point... "epidural is a blessing" sounds like I'm talking about a child if you don't know what an epidural is
I want to try ronshar and rowan's routine. How does the baby settle himself, though? Here's what I do (and I KNOW it's wrong, so sorry in advance for being a bad mommy): Feed... ds always falls asleep (when tired) during a feed. Then put him chest to chest and wind him. Then he's so heavily sleeping (whenever he is), I transfer him to the moses basket either swaddled on his back or just on his tummy (depending on if he's heavily sleeping enough to swaddle or not). He doesn't just lay there awake and then go to sleep... what do you do exactly?

I use washable breast pads... they still stick. But not as much.

jenwa · 12/11/2008 11:18

honeymoonmummy congrats to you and your new baby. have you got one of those baby books as you can write every detail down in it, memories, birth stories, scan pics etc? You can get from mothercare. Paper Idea good, sorry rowanmac not got a paper from then.

smudgy was it you who also had a 3rd degree tear last time? Just wondering if you have any discomfort there from this time? I never tore this time just a graze but feel like the scar tissue is a bit uncomfy, mainly when going for a poo sorry tmi!!!!

Phoebe doing ok, she had feed last night at 7:30 and slept til 12:30 then 330 then 630 so not too bad, night before was better but then I suppose she still is only 2 1/2 weeks old! just want my sleep back!!!!!

ronshar · 12/11/2008 11:38

Star you are most certainly not a bad mother. Too be honest I would have given up breast feeding weeks ago if I were going through what you are. If baby sleeps happily the way you are doing it then dont change it too much. Try to stick to fixed bedtimes(within reason). The only thing I would change is perhaps not winding chest to chest. DS always goes to sleep if I put him that way. I have to sit him on my lap and hold him over my hand while rubbing his back, for ages!!!
Some babies really dont like self settling. Some will always need to be held, stroked, rocked, sung to etc. Luckily I cant sing for toffee so I dont encourage the singing of lullabys.
You also have to be strong as babies and children can sense weakness at a hundred paces. If you give in and keep getting baby out of cot/basket then they know that eventually you will give in and they just have to wait it out.
If you can find anything written by Dr Tanya Byron, she is a genius. You may have watched House of tiny terrors. Fab programme. It is easy to watch and pick up lots of little tips to help your parenting skills improve. Tanya writes with alot of love not so prescriptive as some of the other parenting guides.