Sept 08: How do we like our eggs in the morning? Fertilised, or completely and most definitely unfertilised?

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

A brand spanking new thread where we can chat about the state of our eggs, SWI, our veg patches and any other topic we fancy

Oh Fanny he is gorgeous. I want another one now!!! Your DD looks so like C!

Nurses, especially night time ones can be real t**ts. Hope she felt really bad and awful.
I remember when I was struggling with feeding C and they sent a nurse in to syringe feed C donated breast milk at 3am and I asked for reassurance that I wasn't a complete failure and she ignored me! I then started to cry and she still ignored me (that was my darkest night).

Anyway, don't dwell on it - just enjoy this precious time.

Fanny He is lovely, and so is DD. How much did he weigh he looks tiny
Sorry you had a bad nighttime nurse. I'm sure they are told that new mums are lazy and to make them do it all themselves. I hope you made her feel rubbish and she learns some empathy.
Glad you are back home and hope you can move around a bit now.

I can't wait until Sept, I want a cute pic of Robyn meeting her little bro/sis

Congratulations Fanny, he's so cute. Does he have a name?

Congratulations Fanny!
What is it with nighttime staff - everyone seems to know there's lots of crap ones but just says "oh, it's the agency" - well don't hire the same ones again then!

Apparently there's some football stuff happening.

Nighttime staff are evil IME.

So I was pretty evil to them second time round and made them do all the nappies. It was like I had "Don't mess with me" written on my forehead" .

Cheerio for a bit ladies - we're off to Scotland tomorrow till Friday. Been packing all day and C's been a star and been all lovely and cuddly and very chilled out.

Fanny hope things are going well. Looking forward to hearing all about it when I get back.

xxx

Congratulations Fanny!! What an idiot maternity assistant, disgusting to think that she feels it's ok to treat people like that, especially when she must know that all post-labour mums are severely hormonal, shattered and in pain.

Well Elizabeth is potty training, she started it herself during the hot patch 2 weeks ago as I had her in the garden with no nappy on. She's pretty much 100% with wees (except she always wees on the floor if she's watching Something Special - I'm thinking of banning it!!). Unfortunately though she thinks it's hilarious to shout 'POO POO' just as she's pooing, then turning round to point at it and laugh some more whilst shouting 'POOOOOOOOO'. It does make me grin but I wish she'd try to give me at least a little warning!! I'm being patient though because I know that it was only last Sunday that she actually realised that poo came from her bottom - watching it plop onto your patio will apparently do that!!!

Congratulations Fanny! I echo the call for info on birth weight and name if you're happy to share it! At least that horrid nurse had the decency to be embarrassed once she saw the wheel chair! Such cute photos, esp of dd meeting her bro.

lolli I'm impressed at the potty training. Still my 3yo wees in her pants on an almost daily basis. Trying not to be at her about it. The closest ds has come to showing signs is when I checked his nappy while he was playing, by just looking down the back, and without pausing for a moment in what he was doing, or looking up to me or anything he just said 'no poo'. I cracked up, but he was right!

Fanny he's gorgeous, OK that did make me feel a teeny bit broody

fanny a beautiful boy! hope you and the family are settling back home ok.

He is adorable Fanny, tells us more!

Fanny congratulations - he is gorgeous.

Hopefully am back from Wedstock. Don't know if you're still looking for somewhere but the campsite in Suffolk was lovely.

Really pretty little spot surround by trees and with a couple of lakes. Just the right size for the older kids (not DD) to run off - I hardly saw DS all weekend. There are two gypsy caravans on site, one of which the bride and groom stayed in.

Facilities are good - lots of spots with electricity, they allow caravans and tents to all be together; good shower and toilet facilities, good kitch area with lots of sinks to wash up, a huge fridge freezer and huge BBQs. They also have a family bathroom.

BIL got married in a small clearing within a circle of trees. It was a really moving service - very special with all the kids involved.

They hired two marquees from the site - one for dancing and the PA system and one had all the booze in it. They made a massive campfire which we all sat round. They also laid on a big screen TV so those who wanted to could watch the England game. During the day they hired caterers who did a BBQ and buffet then in then evening SIL's dad (she's half Indian) made the most amazing samosas and currys - absolutely fab.

We all had the best time and we're already talking about having a family camping trip in July.

All is going well so far, apart from insanely sore nipples. He was 8lb 3oz so not small at all. In fact I look at him and think, no wonder I was in pain, I had that enormous thing inside me! The big shock is seeing DD next to him - she is from the land of the giants!

He's a darling and hardly cries, but gets very upset after feeds curling up his legs and looking very pained. I asked the midwife if it could be related to the painkillers I'm on as I know diclofenac is not good for adult tummies, but she didn't really know. I'm cutting back just in case.

His feeding is very different to DD's and it's like I'm having to learn how to do it all over again. Part of the problem is he was so enthusiastic in the first 48 hours my milk came in really quickly and in great volume. But he now doesn't want to feed much - max 5 mins at a time - so I seem to have all this production with nowhere to go. My breasts are quite engorged and rock solid so the latch is very hard for him as he can't really get a full mouthful. It's agony at times. I've had the latch checked 3 times and all seems to be correct, but I feel like he's biting my nipple off. Any suggestions?

D&S the wedding sounds fab!

Fanny I had exactly the same reaction when I had DD. DS came to visit and, whereas before he'd been my baby, he really wasn't anymore - he seemed huge!

FP you might want to check this with a bf counsellour as I know expressing isn't generally recommended for the first few weeks(Starlight might be able to help too) but I was so engorged by day 4 that I started expressing off 1floz / 40ml-ish to make it easier for dd to latch on, not to empty the breasts or stimulate more milk but to just stop them feeling like bowling balls and to give her some grip on my nipples! It was a faff cleaning the pump for just a bit of milk but it took the pressure off and filled up the freezer nicely. DD still piled on the weight so I didn't mess the supply up. I think there's a fine balance between easing the pressure and stimulating them to make even more!

star feel free to contradict me if I am spouting rubbish .

Fanny I also would sometimes express an ounce or so off to relieve engorgement and make it easier for ds to latch on. I would pump and dump though rather than faff with sterilising!
Hope you get to the bottom of the pain killers/tummy pain ishoo. How are you coping with reduced levels of pain killers?

D&S that sounds like a great wedding! Quite similar to my brother's which was last week - a marquee at their farm. We had no football or campfire though! Unlimited booze and bouncey castle were a hit instead

Fanny - if he feels like he is biting your nipple off then the latch needs adjusting.

Like others have said, express some off before a feed - hand express it down the sink if it's easier. Then put ds on.

If the pain continues he's got into a habit of feeding a certain way and you'll need to adjust his latch. After a feed if your nipples are in anyway distorted (a classic is lipstick shaped nipps) then the latch needs adjusting - even if it looks ok from the outside.

The wind/pain problem may also be because you've got a fast and plentiful supply and it's a bit much for him at the mo (they can take air down and splutter a bit when it's a fast flow/let down) If you think this may be the case then lean back a bit when you feed him so gravity slows down your flow a bit - although that probably isn't very easy after a c-section.

Also keep an eye out for nipple thrush. People who have had sections are more likely to suffer from it because of the IV antibiotics they are routinely given after the op. Of course this doesn't mean you will get it, just keep it in mind

Oh, and yes the wedding sounded lovely D&S. Did you enjoy Suffolk?!

Where is mamamuffin?

Fanny, he really was big!

I had a similar issue with engorgement and the latch. I found what worked best for me was to hand express some extra milk in the shower, just enough to soften them up. This was also very useful in avoiding blocked ducts and mastitis.

You'll have to let me know how DD reacts to a new little one. This is what I think I'll worry the most about when the new baby arrives.

Thanks for all the good advice. After reading a bit of stuff on line today I'm thinking it's a fairly classic early days supply/demand engorgement problem, which lines up with what you are all telling me. I hadn't realised until now how easy I had it with DD!

Must admit I'm a bit terrified to express in case it increases the supply. Thankfully he is taking longer feeds today and I don't feel quite so engorged so hopefully we'll soon be in sync with each other. Interesting about expressing in the shower - after my shower today I had fountains flowing out of each breast, so maybe that is the way I'll go to start with, just to ease things a bit.

The GP phoned today to see how it was all going. In the past I have found her so much more helpful than the local HV and BF advisor, so I asked about all of this. She said a lot of the same things as all you wise women, and also suggested like ILTMIMI that he may be taking in air if the flow is fast and his latch isn't ideal. She also said tummy ache is often an early days thing with feeds going straight through because his tummy is still so tiny.

So I've learned a lot, and will be absolutely persistent with improving the latch until we get this right!

Fanny It sounds like you are having fun and enjoying your little man.
My friend has a really fast letdown and for 3 weeks her LO would only nipple feed, she started expressing quite early and found it helped great with engorgement and made it easier for LO to drink. She is now 12 weeks old and has almost doubled in birth weight from 8.8 to 14.15.(It took Robyn about 6 months to get that big)

Robyn's cough and wheeze has almost all gone so the antib's have kicked in.
Had a scary time in the car today. we were off to Manchester and about 40m mins in she started wailing and had wriggled out of her straps. we pulled over and adjusted everything but she leans over to one side and slips her shoulder out then pulls the straps off her shoulders. On the way back we tied the straps together so she couldn't do it but I'm not sure the best way to go as if we had an accident it would be harder to undo her.

Fanny good to hear your GP is good and nice of her to phone. It took me ages to get used to ds2 feeding much quicker/more efficiently than ds1. ds1 took literally hours to feed some days but ds2 was always finished in about 15 mins. I spent a few days stressing that he couldn't possibly be eating enough as he wasn't feeding as long as I'd been used to.

Debs - M does that ALL THE TIMe, I'm forever stopping to put her arms back in and pull the straps as tight as possible - no solution I'm afraid.

What were you doing in Manchester?

Picking up a huge Mamas and Papas Duette pram with double everything. Won it on Ebay for the bargain sum of £85