March 09 - The spring babies have sprung

[jollyjoanne]

Thought I'd start us up a post-natal thread for the new mummies of March 09 (or thereabout!)

Morning all

I had a FANTASTIC night last night!!

I got a Grobag for L yesterday and she slept like a log! I wonder why I never got one before!!

She slept 5 hours sleep, then fed for 20 minutes and 5 hours again!

Will go and catch up on the thread now!

grinningbee

Dear god NO. we only managed once after dd2 was born and i ended up pg again. Anyway dh is a the consultant on wednesday about the 'SNIP'.

We have been lucky with DS as he drinks milk like dd1 (dd2 hated milk and would scream though each fed while i forced 5oz in). And he sleeps at night like dd2 (dd1 didn't sleep through until she was 2yrs). He has his last feed 6.30/7pm and then goes through until 6am. Although i do give a dream fed at about 1am.

grinningbee it's a no from me too - I am sound asleep when dh comes to bed, and he is sound asleep when I get up in teh morning. When we are awake we have either Rosie or dd1 with us and I just can't bring myself to get up to anything with Rosie sleeping in eth moses basket next to me! So.........looks like we'll have to wait another 5 months or so!

Don't worry about the squint. You only have to take notice if they squint when they are really focussing - i think from around 1.5years. As someone who does have a squint and where it runs down both sides of my family, I am very alert to it with my dd's. FWIW my squint became noticeable when I was 2yo. And don;t worry about doing anything special for her development. Talking (even if not to her) and cuddles are all they need at the moment!

Grobag's are the best! Glad it worked its magic spooky. I reckon they are like a light swaddle for bigger babies who like their hands free, and keep them at just the right temp.

stripey - glad you're back with us

Speaking of saddles, DH is off work for the next three days, WHA-HOOOOO!

Off to get the contraceptive implant fitted on Wed, you can BF just fine with it apparently.

Oss I worked for a 'specialist' women's charity (if you know what I mean) so if you need anything just yell. [email protected].

babies can breathe through cellular blankets!!!!!!

I fully swaddled Rosie in a cellular blanket - being a baby who likes her arms free I think a bit of wriggling ensued as I could hear a lot of grunting and some wee shouts. I have one of those breathing monitors so I wasn't too worried.

Popped in just to check her - and she had wriggled so that she had her head under the blanket (2 layers) and her feet were completely blanket free. She was perfectly happy (I think she was grunting because there ie an air of baby poo in the room) and sleeping soundly.

But - eek! I think it will be grobags for daytime naps from now on!

I'm supposed to have a blood test today or tomorrow and I don't want to go. , I realise that seven weeks ago I gave birth but I know I'm not anaemic (I'm really not - no symptoms at all) so I don't want them to poke me with a needle...

After being really awake since friday during the day she hasn't done anything but sleep eat and grumble this morning! I didn't expect babies to be so changeable. I keep thinking ooh, so her routine is this now and then she goes backwards and forwards.

I'm pleased her sleep seems to have two modes it switches between at least. Neither of them involve sleeping all night but at least they're at regular times!

What is dream sleeping?

Not dream sleeping, sorry dream feeding??

just say no to teh blood test - I'm sure they can't force you law. I wasn't tested for anaemia so it obviously isn't a standard thing.

Dream feeding is when you wake your baby up at around 10.30/11pm (after they've been asleep for at least 3 or 4 hours) to givethem a feed. In other words you don't wait for them to wake up because they are hungry - you wake them up. It is meant to help them sleep longer through the night - so you will hopefully get a good stretch of sleep from around 11pm until 4amish - and eventually that stretches out until the morning.

Some people do it by hardly waking the baby up (hence dream feed). We do it by waking Rosie, changing her nappy, then feeding her.

It worked for us with dd1 - we did it for around 5months until she really wasn't up for any milk at that time and was sleeping thourgh till around 6am.

Ach, bollocks. Think have got carpal tunnel syndrome Another dr appt needed. Feel like a bloody hypochondriac! I mentioned before the problem with the sore hands, well, the tingling and numbness has kinda gotten worse and is radiating up my arm, esp left, and I think that's what it is. But I seem to remember having bouts of this before and it did get better, but just been on internet (I know, bad move) and all the symptoms sound like mine - and it's a permanent problem too. Rats. Anyone know anything about it?

Sorry, this isn't very baby related is it?

No, it's not standard it's because they thought I had anaemia when I was PG (although I didn't, it was a low iron count which isn't the same thing) so they want to keep an eye on it. I am still bleeding a little bit (mostly where stitches have torn again) so I think I will go just to be safe but at the same time I know it's 99.9% that I am fine!

Interesting about dream feeding though, thank you, Mols does 11-4 most days but I might try it at 7 when DP gets us to see if she'll sleep after that for longer... (usually we start the night with change/feeds at 11, 4, 7, 8.30, 9.30, 10.30 then it gets less frequent through the day.)

Eeep, DH is being invited into work for a 'chat' about a new job (no longer nights, lot more money). I'm pleased for him but worried about what this means for my leave with Gabe, as DH wants to get a nanny. This would put paid to me being on mat leave as there would be very little reason in me staying off.

Yes I know this is all a little premature but meeep! I don't want to leave my babies yet!

Oooh! Good luck Lumiere! That makes a change in the 'current climate'! My DH is looking for a promotion too so fingers crossed.

See if he can have the better paid job and you still stay at home with the bambinos for a while?

slick As DS1 has additional needs, am only coping at the moment because DH is on nights, so wakes at 3pm and helps look after the boys, does baths and bed etc. He's also able to get up early sometimes to give me some time off. With Gabe feeding almost constantly it's impossible otherwise!

I think If he gets it we'll need to get a mother's help or something in for a couple of hours instead. I do definitely want to go back to work, just not yet! With DS1 I went back when he was 16w, but he was with DH so it wasn't so bad. This time I want to stay off at least til Gabe is 6mo.

Well, it?s a red-letter day: Rhys had his first bottle. I expressed 4 oz last night and my mother gave it to him today. He didn?t even bat an eyelash ? went right on the attack and took about a minute and a half to guzzle the entire thing and then fell into a two-hour nap coma. I think I?m going to need bigger bottles?

Though I can?t see myself doing this regularly ? expressed another bottle?s worth to get mom through my dentist?s appt tomorrow and it still bloody hurts! 3cute, it?s a manual pump ? I was actually wondering if an electric one would be less painful. Hadn?t thought of hand expressing, but will read up on it. slick, you?re so right about the udder thing. How decidedly unpleasant. meep, thanks for the tip about lansinoh before and after and no air drying.

We did get some disturbing news today, though ? Rhys had a physical therapy appointment to check out his neck issues (very reluctant to turn to the left), and the therapist said we were right to be concerned ? that his head is flattening on the right and that he?s behind the curve in controlling his head movement. (grinning, I know exactly what you mean about not having a clue about what?s normal at age X)

So she gave me a few new ways to carry him, told me to do at least 15 mins of tummy time a day and referred me to an osteopath in the hopes he can sort things out. Trying not to worry too much?

Welcome back, stripey. We?ve missed you!

Got back in the saddle last night. It was a bit painful at first, but not as bad as I?d feared. And (TMI) I was actually pretty surprised not to feel more saggy and baggy, if you know what I mean

corgi my dd1 had the neck turning problem too. She got stuck inside me for a long long labour and came out very squint. She only looked to the left and therefore had a flat head on one side.

The physio told us to roll a sheet/muslin up and put it under the side of her head she favoured to help her look the other way.

We also went to a cranial osteopath who was brilliant. She said that her jaw was also out of line.

You can still see the slightly squint jaw when dd1 is tired as her mouth goes squint. But apart from that she is fine. She does have a bit of flat head on one side but as her hair (slowly) grows in you don't notice it. She can also move her neck both ways

We struggled with tummy time. She hated it. You could probably do a search on here and find posts from me worrying about it. I evetually gave up trying because she got so upset.

She never crawled or rolled over (which was great because i could just leave her sitting somewhere and she didn't move) and ended up bum shuffling about then walking. So they all get there in the end and in their own ways.

Hope Rhys sorts himself out soon. I got very stressed about the whole thing - but it was all okay in the end.

Argh - I keep trying to rid the house of chocolate (by consuming it of course) only for more to appear. I am so weak willed.

Corgi - I have a manual pump and it really hurts me - much more than feeding. in fact, as a result I hardly express. I'll probably do some for next week as we have to go to a meeting at dd1's school-to-be (yikes) but will probably do it over a few days and only do a couple of ounces at a time so it doesn't hurt too much. Sorry to hear about your worries with Rhys - fingers crossed it just needs a little bit of sorting to put right.

Had to go to a funeral yesterday and as a result of being in the car a lot Lara slept for almost a solid 5 hours during the day. I woke her up to feed her just before the service but was otherwise comatosed. Thankfully she'd been awake for about 4 hours before hand and then stayed awake for 5 hours afterwards so it didn't impact on our night (well, no more than usual !!).

Gosh I have a couple of days off the internet and so much seems to have happened.

Welcome back stripey so glad you are still here with us.

Mae is getting settled into a sort of routine (as normal - I'm probably going to regret this tonight) but for the last few days she has fed about 10pm, gone to sleep about 11ish and not woken till 4am then had a small feed (probably the aforementioned - dream feed) and then slept till 7am. At last I am starting to feel a bit rested. And my body is almost waking up on its own at 4am.

As for the bed action 9 weeks later and still no fun. I was all up for it, but DH thought it was a bit funny becos Mae is with us and she makes lots of noises even when she's asleep, which can be a bit distracting. But for the last week or so I have had an infection that is refusing to clear up and I really should go back to the doctors but I'm not keen on some doctor prodding around down there.

Starshine sorry no personal experiences of expressing advice as I was pretty rubbish. But I know that other people told me that in the morning when generally you have more milk was a good time, that you need to keep the baby around to encourage the let down reflex or if you only feed off the one boob then to express from the other.

Fearless again just wanted to say the same as everone else all babies develop differently. Mae smiles but doesn't grip things or make any attempts to touch things like other babies her age seem to. And although she is fascinated by the tv she doesn't always seem to focus properly, again pooor eyesight here so that may be an issue, and I have two deaf uncles so again a little paranoid about her hearing so I may be on here looking for advice on that when shes a little older.

Slick is carpel tunnel when the nerves in your hands start to draw your fingers down? When I was in hospital a few years back I was on a ward for day patients and almost all of them were having the tendons in their hands cut / loosened. It seemed like minor surgery and they all went home the same day.

Laumiere good luck for your DH, and hope you manage to find a childcare arrangement that suits both of you.

Corgi I hope the suggestions for your LOs neck work. I was a bit worried Mae could have had this problem but it seems to have resolved itself. She always used to sleep with her head on one shoulder (presumably the position she was in when stuck inside me). But she still has a bump on the side of her head where the forceps were used which is getting a bit annoying.

Sorry for the loooooonnnnnngggg post!

Corgi My DD1 had a smiliar situation when she was first born where she always laid with her head to the right. And it was really quite flat on that side. But I also remember reading at the time that 75-80% of babies do favour one side for the first three months. The doctor queried the way she lay at the 6 week check and I did tell him that I had read this statistic and he hadn't heard that. He didn't seem unduely concerned but I think looking at her head back then she was borderline for having plagiocephaly but she's developed absolutely fine. If I look at her head from a birds eye view, it looks like a squint rugby ball! But you would never notice it to look at her. Good advice from Meep tho. I'm sure there can be all sorts of reasons - my friend's wee boy couldn't lift his head to feed properly and he HATED being in his car seat, eventually she took him to an osteopath and he had a compression in his neck (from the long labour) and he set about gently eeking that out over time and he was absolutely fine.

Well, FB only woke once to feed again last night so he's going down at 9.30ish, waking at 3am and then sleeping (sort of) until 7.30ish. I can cope with that! Long may it continue! I actually just lay him on his front for the first time today for a minute and he did have his head raised but it was if he was thinking, "er...what exactly am I meant to do here...??"

Laumiere I hope you manage to get something sorted then. Let us know how you all get on!

Jolly Yes, it's when there is a compression on the nerve in the wrist and can cause numbness and tingling in the hand that can radiate up the arm too. (I have all of this) but aparently left untreaded can get quite bad. I'm a bit worried about it as I still have years of lifting the wee ones yet, and everything I do, I realise how much of a strain I am putting on my hands. I'm hoping that it will get better as I have had bouts of it before, but I think I will need to speak to the doc. Afterall, it could be something else. (She said hopefully!)

Hi girls.

Any candidates to hold my hand? Had been cramping on one side and bleeding. Visited the doctor this morning, my hCG levels were sky high. He suspected ectopic pregnancy and sent me in immediately for an internal scan.

Turns out the babies, both of them, are absolutely fine.

I promise I'll try not to drop any more bombshells after this!

Congrats Loliaja your going to have your hands very fall.

By lolianja on Tue 12-May-09 14:56:12

Returned from the hospital (some hours ago, but was too far in a state of shock to even call my parents, never mind go near a computer).

Had an internal scan - no ectopic pregnancy. They couldn't find anything to attribute the bleeding to, just "one of those things". Same story with the pain. The elevated hCG though... there was an explanation for that.

The baby is just fine.

So is its twin. [shocks]

Cross posts.

Have you got over the initial shock yet.

I think so. It'll probably come back in a second wave though.