May 2009 - loved-up new mums and/or sleep-deprived zombies this way please

[pulapula]

Here's a nice new thread for us to share our experiences with our new LOs.

I think the nips settle down after a couple of weeks. Mine are quite sore at the moment so hopefully they will not hurt so much soon. The letdown isn't painful for me but tingly and weird feeling and that went on as long as I BF before but doesn't happen as often after a while. The worst is when you are out without the LO and you randomly think how are they and then next thing you know you have wet boobs .

Quick question; what are your babies wearing to bed this evening? DS is in a vest only. DS1 was a winter baby so we are unused to these summer time babies!

dandy I think the sweating is normal. I've had it both times but I've no idea what it is!

Hi there,

I've been very sweaty of late - [nice], which I'm not normally and yup dandy I've been waking up in the night all sweaty too! This week must have been a real nightmare for you Dandy - thank goodness everything is back to normal for you!

Llare - I was thinking of asking the same question earlier - I ended up stripping ds2 to his vest, but it got chilly outside at my brothers so he's now wearing his vest and babygro again - he's asleep as well which is brillant as he's been awake and crying most of the day!

I can't believe some of you can get away with not wearing breastpads - I seem to leak so much milk its not funny and by the end of the day my pads are twice the size when i put them in and smell of sour milk , gonna have to get around to using the breast shells.

I had my 1st when's your baby due question the other day! Don't worry that i was pushing a double buggy and here's me thinking that I only had a muffin top. Caught sight of myself the other day and I look about 4 months pregnant! The weight dropped off me after I had ds1, looks like I'm gonna have to work to get it all off this time

Right I really need to go and do the ironing - the question is can I be bothered!!

evening just had a fabby sleep so now feeding dd and ready for next few hours of feeding. fingers crossed for a better night tonight.

dd is wearing a vest & sleep suit & then with a 0.5 tog gro bag to sleep... seems to be suiting her.

so far tonight is a lot better she fed till 11.25 on both boobs and now up again feeding after us all getting more sleep no formula needed tonight. will need to munch a snack before i sleep as rather hungry now.

dandy what an awful time you've had getting your boiler replaced. i don't think i'd have coped at all.

no sweating here.. but have to admit i'm wearing v little to bed

FiKelly - so glad things are a little easier tonight. FWIW, I can really relate to what you've been saying. DS is not too bad at night (all the while we're co-sleeping!) from about 4-10pm, he just wants to feed or get comfort from me. It is hard work! The last 3 evenings there has been a break about 8pm though when've has slept on DH.

morning

our big news is we've decided dd's name.. it's taken us just over a week and some trailing through baby names etc only to come back to our original favourite! lol

so dd is now Grace.. & yes that will make her Grace Kelly lol but who cares

I must upload some photos to fb later and catch up with everyone else's photos.. something my phone doesn't do terribly well..

will post this on ante natal thread too.

Awww nice choice Fi

I'm taking the DCs to Edinburgh Zoo with DH today. I must be insane...

Fi - love the name, it's perfect !! Really glad you had a better night last night.

Well, it's 9am and i already stink of curdled milk... niiiccee. Going on a trial caravan night away tonight. I may well be divorced by the time we return so wish me luck.

Have a lovely day everyone.x

Fi Grace is lovely. Glad you had a better night.

You know I wish they would tell expectant mums about potential difficulties establishing bf-ing so they can be prepared. It means the first time you come across a problem you think you must be doing something wrong or that bf-ing's just not for you. Personally I think a more realistic approach would help commitment to bf-ing. Rant over!

Dandy what an awful time with the boiler. We have plans to completely re-do our bathroom and I'm trying to persuade DH to do it while I'm on mat leave so H & I can stay at my Dad's for the worst part, and I won't have to deal with work, nursery runs etc while living in a building site. I know it will take ages, too, as he wants all sorts of fancy things & one of his fitters will do a cheap rate, which is great, but means the work will be done as & when.

I feel chirpy this morning as H went over 4 hours between feeds last night And yesterday DH brought steak home & made us a lovely meal, which H slept through apart from a BF in the middle

Spangle- I agree that BF isn't straightforward, and that you are told that if it hurts, then you must have the latch wrong. Well in the first few weeks, your nipples just DO get sore from the constant sucking. I've had this 3 times with all mine, and their latches have been fine- just takes a while for the nipples to get used to it...

Morning

Fi - We had Grace on our girl names list - lovely!

Dandy - we're having a new boiler fitted in about 10 days time. British Gas told us this was the busiest time of year for new boilers as most people are organized to get it done in the warmer weather.

Spangle - couldn't agree more about realistic expectations of BFing. I was lucky in my conversations with friends and here on MN as they prepared me for the need to persist through the early difficullt days. At the same time it is really difficult to get the balance between promoting BF but mums that decide to FF should not be made to feel guilty.

Tummum - good luck with caravan. At least the weather is on your side.

Blotted - zoo trip sounds good. Enjoy!!

MIL & SIL arrived yesterday ok. DH is off to the pub this afternoon with the other NCT dads as another baby has been born from our group. Only 2 more to go now out of the 6.

He's then suggesting we go for pub meal later but wants me to drive home so he can drink. What's the earliest anyone else has driven after a CS? DS is 3 weeks today and I thought I'd need to leave it until at least 4 weeks.

Happy Saturday to you all! And what a beautiful day (by the way E was born to 'Beautiful Day' by the Levellers!) I'd rather be asleep right now, but unfortunately once I'm awake in the morning I just can't get back to sleep even if E manages to go back to sleep!

Congrats matthewandlewismummy and rosielady. Well done, doesn't it feel like between us we're repopulating the planet?!

More babies - we can't wait to be pregnant again! Just hope it doesn't take as long as E - 2 and 1/2 years and one miscarriage (E was born 2 years to the day that I had my miscarriage - very special). Not sure when we'll properly start trying though as I just don't have any libido at all currently. Hope it'll return soon.

I'm so impressed with you all knowing how long your dc has gone between feeds. Everything is such a blur at the moment I've no idea what's happened from one hour to the next!! My poor cat either gets fed several times a day or I shout at him for being fussy and greedy when I actually haven't fed him at all! I hope I'm doing better with E!

Thankyou all for your reassurance re EBM and bottle feeding. I expressed yesterday and dh gave E a bottle with no problems and no problems going back on the breast. Am so pleased.

E has had a cold for the past few days so is grunting like a piglet. Hopefully it's clearing up now.

We're going for a drive out tomorrow to check out some campsites, we're desperate to get our tent out, just need to find a site that suits us that's not too far away. The sites we used to use I wouldn't want to take a newborn!! It'll be just our luck that by the time we actually get round to getting the tent out this wonderful weather will have disappeared.

Hope you all enjoy the weather

x

Ses- with my last section, I waited until 6 weeks to drive. I feel like i could drive now (DS2 is 3 weeks old next Tues) as i don't feel like i've even had surgery, but I think the issue is with your car insurance, so you might need to give them a call. I think you might need something in writing from your GP if you drive before 6 weeks?. I think you need to feel you can jump on the pedals and do an emergency stop. I think your DH should just not drink tonight- there will be plenty more times you can drive in the weeks to come...

Ses re driving after CS. Most people (health professionals and others) have told me it's 6 weeks, so I'd assumed that the timescale was linked to 6 week postnatal check and would be given the go ahead by doctor at that appointment. However have asked both health visitor and midwife and have contacted insurance company and nobody seems able to tell me when I can actually drive. Am therefore quite confused and haven't driven yet despite feeling absolutely fine (4 and 1/2 weeks post birth now). Sorry that's not very helpful, would be interested to hear what others know/ have been told too.

ses with my csection I drove after 4 weeks. My insurance company said that so long as I could do an emergency stop and my midwife/HV were happy, they were happy. So I confirmed it with the HV and off we toddled into the big wide world! It was fine but I did recover quickly from the c-section.

I think DS1 has given up breastfeeding! I'm so relieved but was mightily engorged this morning when DS2 woke me up at 10am for a feed. Ouch. I fell asleep feeding him at 3am and 6am so he ended up between us in bed last night which really shocked me.

We're gardening today. Our garden is a mess after our extension so we really need to get it sorted.

Just a quick one to tell you that my sister had her 12 week scan yesterday and she is expecting identical twins. We are very excited!!!! And a little shocked!

Great news. Congratulations!

Congrats Febes, so exciting to have identical twins on their way. Bet it was a shock for your sister too.

gert- I might give my car insurance a ring later and see what they say as i am desperate to be mobile again. DH is back at work next week, so if my HV is happy with me driving when she visits next Thursday i think i will go for it.

In the guide i was given, it said that you may feel ready to drive again as early as 3 weeks but to check with your car insurance company so guess different companies have different rules.

Blotted Beligan DH is out getting wood and chicken wire for our new chicken house!! He spent all morning clearing space in the garden. How exciting. I will keep you posted on the progress.

Hi everyone,

I suppose everyone is out enjoying the sunshine. I'm going back out in a minute, but the neighbour came round and stole my 2 dcs for a play in their paddling pool, C is asleep, so it's the ideal time to catch up with MN I'll go and enjoy the peace and quiet again and read a book or something in a minute again though.

We all had a lovely day at the zoo, btw. I was knackered from all the walking around in the heat though. I also wished I'd taken the sling, because C wanted to be held half the time.

fi You've had lots of good advise, but just want to add that this cluster feeding is normal. C is nearly 3 weeks and she's finally settling and doing it a bit less and having a bit more time between feeds. Doesn't mean she's settled though; she's one of these babies that needs almost constant holding. As for nipples. The 10 sec toe curling bit is starting to ease for me too. It's still there, but nowhere near as bad as it was. Another week and it'll be gone I suppose.

CAn't remember who it was who commented about having a sleepy baby, despite her being very active in the womb. My dd1 was like that. She was such an easy newborn. She became her old active self once she became mobile though and was crawling at 6m and walking at 10!

I tried C in her own crib last night and not having her with me made me have weird dreams of me accidentially abandoning her. I missed her in a way. She was in the crib until 1.30 when she woke for a feed and I fell asleep with her. It's a start I suppose. I want her to be in the crib by the time DH is home, because I'm worried about her overheating in this weather if she's sharing a bed with the both of us.

gert Hope you've got a nice time camping.

Oh, I can hear her. Better go and have a look.

febes Enjoy your new chickens! We've got sooooo many eggs at the moment. I'm just not fancying anything eggy at the moment. The dcs wont eat eggs, so at 2 a day they're just building up. Maybe I really should make a cake. The problem with cake is that I'll eat it and I'm trying to loose weight!