October 08 - The Here and Now.

[CantSleepWontSleep]

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.

Hi all. We are having a time of it aren't we?

csws I know what you mean with big milky burps, DS managed to hit his playmat today from my lap some distance away but I have frequent clothes changes. We invested in tumble dryer on Sunday which has been a god send this week! I have not tried gripe water yet, we are on Colief this week and it seems to be starting to have an effect.

Today we have developed loads of dirty nappies, not too worried as yet but if they are still runny tomorrow am I may give the doctor a call.

I havent had much time to post this week. I have been feeling really sorry for myself. I had to lock myself in the bathroom the other day just for some peace.
Is anyone else randomly crying? I dont suffer from depression normally and do not think it is PND but I really do think that I am feeling the strain of three children. Four if you count the particularly unsupportive DH.

I hope everyone else is getting on ok.

Myjob, it sounds like your brushes have gone. It will cost loads if you get an engineer in but if DH/you can do it they cost about £2 from diy shop.{smile]

ronshar I had random crying a lot first two weeks. better now but still some but not as much. I wasnt depressed either. you dont have to feel "sad" or depressed to have pnd. talk to you mw/gp

That's good news about the colief lozza. I know lots of people who have had success with it before, but sadly it didn't work with dd. Gripe water is more of a quick fix to bring up wind at the moment it is given, rather than any long term cure.

Ronshar - do you have any other family or friends to help? I don't think you need to be prone to depression to get pnd, and a supportive dh I'm sure would help to avoid it, so for you.

myjob - I will have to start doing bedtimes (and everything else) by myself soon when dh goes back to work in Dublin. I have no idea how I will cope either, esp if ds is still 'unputdownable'.

Thanks ladies. I do feel generally ok. Not despondant or anything like that. I just think that I didnt expect to feel so crap.
It is a build up of everything. From the horrendous after pains which felt like I was giving birth again, to the bleeding nipples! I found the girls so easy that this time it is all a struggle. Things do seem to be getting easier. William is feeding better, he has put on a little bit, 1oz, so he is obviously getting enough.
Enough of me moaning.
Star, how is your public BF getting on? Do you have a resturant or cafe that you go to regularly? Try and feed there first. find a corner table and sit facing the room. No one can over look you then and if you have a baggy top or cardi on top then most people will not even notice what you are up to!! Once you do it the first time then it will soon become normal.
CSWS, does DD cry every time you put her down? Does she like the swinging chairs?

DS cried for 40 minutes trying to latch on last night andcouldnt do it. horrendous.
DH came out and told me i should just givehim a bottle... nice "support". i see a bf counselor but he always latches on fine at those times!

Oh Star, that sounds familiar. My DH really struggles for the first month or so. Jealousy is perhaps a bit harsh but I think we forget that they feel so useless while we are feeding. Also as this is your first It will take DH a bit of time to get use to being left out.

Does DS have a favourite breast? Try to get him a bit calmer and then just hold him close to your breast so your milk drips onto his mouth. it will be enough to get him interested while not causing more stress by trying to latch on. Does DS get wind, because that could cause the shouting and make it hard for him to want to feed! Hope it is better today
William latches no probs to left side, nightmare with right side! No idea why

Pistachio, I put it down to having one boob bigger than the other. Almost bigger than poor Williams head.

I think you are right. Too many hormones going crazy.

Popping over from due Oct thread to ask you..... quick survey:

Which did you find more tiring end of pregnancy or dealing with a newborn.

I am in week 39 of 3rd pregnancy and don't feel that sleepy at night but by 6pm after kids play and tea I have no energy and am so grumpy putting kids to bed as just want to SIT on my own and not cook another meal for me and DH.

My friend who had babe in July says she foudn end of preg more tiring than having newborn.... I just can't remember from the other ones.

Mind you my Mum and MIL are coming for a week or so after babe born so the first bit will be a doddle.

Mmmmm have now read the last page of this thread and clearly havign the newborn is waaaaaaaay harder. Oh well will enjoy the peace while I have it.

Might ask neighbours daughter to come over in afternoon from 4.30 - 6.30pm to help out, yes that is what I will do, she will like the pocket money and it will keep my sanity.

I think that's true... i am much more tired now. but if i had a toddler, would have been more so in last weeks. what's with everyone going overdue? that was what I wanted!

ronshar I've just come on to say the same, been very teary and short tempered for no reason this week, 6 weeks down the line thought we'd be through all that now. having three has been totally overwhelming and seems such a bigger jump than from one to two dcs. It honestly feels like my first again - exhausted, not enough hours and emotional at the most stupid things. ds also remains asleep all day - nothing I do can keep him awake for more than his feed so then I worry about how I'll get through the night as well. have spent the last few nights on the sofa as ds just wouldn't settle upstairs in his cot.

on another note my csection is really bothering me. I'm in loads of pain, its like the pain about two days post csection and am starting to panic that I've pulled all the internal scars apart. I had very very limited info about post c-section care - basically no lifting or housework for two weeks post-op and do the tummy exercises. but am wondering whether this should have been longer.

sorry, needed to put that down somewhere

Flum - I think it depends on how much help you have. I've had more help since having ds, so would say that end of pregnancy was more tiring, but dealing with dd (2.8) post birth has been very wearing!

I totally agree with pistachio's last sentence .

Hugs to those of you that need them - sounds like a fair few of you at the moment.

My exciting news today is that we have daylight back in our living room again, after having the back end of the room blocked off for 3 months - hurrah! Lots of cleaning for dh to do tonight though, whilst I sit and hold ds.

Hi all,

sorry i've been away for 24 hours - sounds liek others have had a tough time too. Joe slept for a total for 1 whol hour yesterday. Then hv insisted on waking him to give him vitamink which he had have by time 6 weeks old (yesterday) as missed 2nd dose when in hosp. She then panicked me by saying, "is he not smiling yet - they usually do by 6 weeks" My reply was that he has not had much to smile about!! Now worried that he is not smling and i know i shouldn't as he was a bit prem.

DH then went out leaving me to put both dcs to bed - myjob, i can totally empathise, you can't put one to bed whilst the other is screaming -aaahhh.

Joe did not settle until 1am after feeding all evening and then ds1 came into our room at 7am and was promptly sick all over the floor, not one bigh pile oh no, he has to run about throwing up little piles of sick in about ten places so i spent all morning trying to find it all and then clean it all up and our room stinks!!!

Twinnklytoes - if i remember right, its 4-6weeks of no lifting and 4 weeks of no driving. I remember feeling the same after my section and i think the pains are a sign that its healing but check with gp if you're worried. I still have my post c-section leaflet somewhere i can send it to you if you want it...

Star - my dh mentions gicing a bottle when things are tough and yes you do have feeds where its shit. You are probably more relaxed when bf counsellor there that's why he latches on perfectly. I use to do relaxation and tell ds1 to calm down (more like me in fact) when i had trouble latching him on, and pistachio's right, it happens to us all.
Ronshar - i weep over all sorts of stupid and not so stupid things - hormones are great aren't they?

Big hugs to you all - as CSWS says - this phase will pass!!!!

Evening
twinklytoes sorry you're having a rough time, 3 does seem very overwhelming at the moment for me too, and DD is only 6 days old and I'm already worried about coping. It's even tougher if physically you're not recovered yet as well.
We've had tears here today too.
The midwife came yesterday and my uterus is still not back where it should be, this was the problem with the bleeding in hospital and the drip I had after DD was born. Apparently they can only monitor it for 10 days which is kind of the deadline for contracting fully. The good news is I've got 4 days to go, the bad is that I may start bleeding very heavily at any time and would have to go straight to hospital!They didn't say what happens after 10 days if it's still not OK so I'm assuming it's horrid .
I really expected to feel better by now after a "normal" delivery.

I'm still bleeding like a horrible period at 3 weeks post birth... is that normal? I usually have really light periods, lasting only 2 days, so this is new territory for me... but it's bright red blood, filling 2-3 pads per day still (in 24 hour period). mws haven't been phased by this. One is coming tomorrow so we'll see... but any of you had such bleeding at 3 weeks post birth?
Got most recent blood test back today as well. Hb is at 6.8 It was 8.5 just after birth and had lost 450ml blood... apologies to the squeamish on this one!

and i'm taking 2 sachets of spatone and 3 iron tablets 3x day already and eating baby leaf spinach and drinking orange juice for lunch and dinner and lentils once per day! frustrated! Oh! and Floradix once per day!