Pregnant (IVF) Worriers/ Warriors Part 5

[MrsHY1]

Hello ladies! Come and find me!

Congrats motor! Hope you're back together very soon x

caip!! how are you? fat? how many weeks?

Keep - me too - back in for phototherapy just as those hormones kicked in. Torture by NHS!

Congrats motor! I hope you will be back with your boy very soon. x

Hi keep! Now 36+3. Fat (where did this bum and thighs come from?!) But doing ok. 4 days left at work and getting excited now! How are you?

oh wow caip that's brilliant! gosh doesn't time fly.... we are well. 4.5 month dd who is gorgeous and smiley and adorable

Motor so pleased the birth was not the terrifying experience you were expecting. how is miniMotor this morning? Any news when you can be reunited? I hope you are coping ok, it won't be long until you are all together.

Anyone else what Sports Relief last night? I had to turn it over, it was just too sad. I get so much more emotional since having DTs, I was in absolute floods of tears. I used to be a real stone heart and not emotional at all. Now I have to have man size tissues on hand most of the time.

Motor I've said on Fb but I hope that mini motor recovers soon and stays in your arms where he belongs. How awful for you to have to be parted from him. Are you feeling ok physically?

Congrats Caip! Not long to go. Hello to euro as well. I hope you are ok?

We are on our second night of wake ups. 3 times last night and twice tonight so far. Shazlett is having such a hard time at the mo. After an epic sleep on Thursday night she has been so unsettled. Yesterday I tried to get her to nap in the cot but no chance. In fact not much napping went on at all. I'm still worried about feeding. We are down to about 3 mins on the right and 5-6 in the left and no amount of coaxing will get her to take more. Tomorrow I'm going to commit to expressing after every feed to make sure I have milk to top her up with and also keep my supply up. Hopefully there will be a MW at the milk spot on Wednesday. She wasn't there last week. Does anyone have any words of wisedom ? At the moment feeds are ending in tears for both of us.

Shazza- it's totally normal for the feeding time to get quite short by the time babies are NNNs age because they are big enough to take it in in gulps and they get v efficient at expressing it with their tongue. Please don't stress about it, Pangolina feeds for about the same time. The not napping is probably not related at all - maybe the 4 month sleep regression?

What fairy said.

Is she teething?

We have discovered that if we give Ringlet Calpol she's full of manic energy for two hours afterwards. She has a horrible cold so I've given her a dose at bedtime these last two nights and she's then been bouncing about until 9pm. It can be the artificial sweeteners apparently. No more Calpol anyway.

I agree. shaz I can't remember what made you start worrying in the first place? she's put on loads of weight, all is fine. you can't force her to feed, just keep offering it to her. try not to make it stressful. re top ups, when would you give these? beware all that expressing might make your supply mental. I have concluded the feel of boobs is not related to what she's drinking, it seems random to me.

and yes, it's a very normal time for sleep to go to shit. ours still is. we were 'only' up at 12, 2.30, 5 last night... I am trying to work on her needing boob to get back to sleep in the middle of the night.

We are having a terrible morning. Shazlett woke maybe 4 or 5 times in the night, I lost count. She has been awake since 6 and screaming pretty much non stop since 9.30. DP is with her now giving her a bottle as she must be starving since she hardly ate anything at 6am. I'm expressing to hopefully get some more milk for later. At least we know she is eating if she has a bottle. I will keep offering the breast and see what happens. I don't feel too worried if she feeds for 5-6 mins but she tries to come off and suck her thumb after about 20 secs. The rest of the time is spent with me taking her thumb out of her mouth and putting her back on the nipple with tears in the process.

Maybe she is teething. How would I know? She didn't poo for 3 days then did one yesterday but not that much. I suspect it is wind as well. This morning she has just got herself into a state and is extremely tired on top of everything. I feel so stressed. I feel like I'm failing her. I don't understand why she has suddenly gone off Breastfeeding.

Keep, my boobs feel so soft. I don't know how there can be milk there. I'm expressing now and squeezing out maybe 20 ml. I read on kellymom to express for no more than 20 mins but I find that I have to do double that to get a decent amount.

Sorry girls. I feel very low today.

Oh and she is 4 months today.

shaz she won't have gone off bf. and you probably can't express because you're tired and stressed. she may be overtired so not sleeping or eating properly. if I were you I'd have her finish the bottle then have dp take her out in the pram/sling/whatever to make her sleep. you rest, drink tea, etc. once she's not knackered you can try feeding her again.

remember that article dildals sent to us. 4-5 months is a v difficult time for babies, and therefore for us... I may sound calm but was whinging to mrshy just yesterday.

tis what we are here for x

Totally agree with keep. Try to relax and not force it. She'll be fine even if she doesn't eat much for a few days. Pangolina sometimes devours both sides, sometimes only one, it varies. And sometimes she just wants to sleep or look around! You're bound to have v little expressing after an unsuccessful feed.

Thanks girls. We went for a walk DP had her in the sling and she slept. This afternoon she had a bit of milk from me and we had a couple of lovely playful wakeful hours while we tidied up ready for the estate agents photos tomorrow and shazlett happily sat in her chair. We had music on and were all dancing and she was laughing.
Fairy and keep I'm going to take your advice and not get stressed at mealtimes. It's no good for either of us. If she only feeds for a couple of mins I'll keep swapping her over until she gives up. Otherwise I'm in danger of creating a negative association with feeding for her. I think that tomorrow we will take a 'nursing holiday ' and get cosy on the sofa, skin to skin, wrapped in a blanket and she can nurse when she wants to. I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully that will help both of us.

I keep trying to remember that she is a person in her own right. I know that sounds silly but sometimes I forget that she is not part of me. This morning she was clearly in pain for some reason and I couldn't help her. I hope we have a better night but I'm going to try to let go of control like I had to in the early days. If she wakes then fine. We will rest during the day. If I don't have expectations of sleeping through the night then hopefully I won't get frustrated with her. It's not her fault. She is having a hard time at the moment and it's my job to stay calm and help her through it.

shazza the nursing holiday sounds lovely, I'm tempted to do the same just for the fun of it! Glad you were able to relax this afternoon. It really sounds like sleep regression to me. Her brain is suddenly that much more switched on and it takes a while to get used to it. You are doing all the right things!

Thanks fairy. The nursing holiday is what is recommends when you are experiencing issues with BFing. I can't wait. We are going to watch some of my musical DVDs.

kip would be so restless!! but it sounds fab x

Oh my goodness, definitely 4 month sleep regression over here. Every 1 hour and 20 min wakings. This is the 3rd night so hopefully we will get away with the 2 weeks part of the 2-4 week suggested window!

I'm quite pleased as I'm writing this and getting her back off to sleep without the boob. Seems to be working. I'm following fairy's advice and doing nothing different. Just holding and rocking her gently.

This too will pass........

On a positive note she was 7 mins on one boob at the last feed so she can do it is she wants to and if the boob is left long enough to fill up.

Ok scrap that had to give boob in the end after my neck was in shreds from all the scratching and clambering. I need to do her nails again.

poor shaz! we were 11, 2.30, 5. exhausting...

You poor things! Babies really haven't read any of the books have they?!

Shazza teething would usually involve dribbling, red gums, chewing her fingers, pulling her ears. They can teethe for weeks on and off before a tooth comes through.

The nursing holiday sounds like a good idea. Can you do naps skin to skin? Under a blanket of course but I found that helped Ringlet settle down. Sometimes they have days like this and you never work out why.

I know it's hard having broken nights, I've had them for a year now but it will pass. To compensate I go to bed early to compensate and negotiate a lie in at weekends. I can't actually doze when ringlet does as she's always on me but I can sit and just rest. I also have very low expectations!

Shazza I really feel for you. It seems like you have had a better day today. Hopefully you and Shazlette will have turned a corner.

keep sounds like you are having a tough time with all the night time wakings too. Does kip settle easily after she wakes/feeds?

I have had a tough time recently too. E has been really unsettled, grizzles and cries most of the day. I don't know what is wrong with her. I don't think it is her teeth as no red cheeks or sore bum. She hasn't pooed today but isn't pulling her knees up. I have tried cycling her legs and rubbing her belly when she has let me. I don't know if it is a development milestone as my Wonder Weeks says she could be coming up for a "leap". My DM is on holiday at the moment so I have had to cope on my own, I know I rely heavily on my parent as they are just around the corner. But typically this is the first time I have really needed them. To make matters worse DH has to work away later this week so it will really be only me. I am feeling quite upset and down about it already, he has said he will try to change it but I would feel bad if he did especially as E may be back to normal tomorrow