September 2021 Babies - Thread 9 The final countdown....

[Mamabearwhere]

Hi ladies. Starting our final thread! How exciting.

@bubbles1st do you have your latest list of due dates to add to here?

@MrsMcNtobe brilliant!!!!!! I'll be keeping an eye on your progress

@Suma2021 I’ve had braxton hicks for months now and they pretty much feel like bump goes rock hard, I get a slight head rush and sometimes can be really uncomfortable borderline painful. The last few weeks it does feel like I’m about to pee myself with each BH too. Midwife said all sounds normal and just body’s way of preparing.

Congratulations @CherLW and @2021mumma sorry if I've missed anyone. I gave birth 2 weeks ago. Just battling BF at the moment. It's actually much harder than I thought. It's the not knowing how much he's having and lots of different opinions that's made me feel inadequate recently. How are you @Kirky658 we have birth on the same day and my boy spent time in neonatal and I was away from him for a few days. We're home now so trying to settle into our new environment. What's happening with you? Also @AdventuresAwait what's happening with you?
I wish everyone all the best on their journeys. Its definitely hard. And if the support isn't there from MW and families, even harder. I look forward to hearing about everyone's experiences. It's been really hard to stay in touch here because I've been so busy. But hope they'll be a day soon when I can catch up properly. We definitely need this group and each other. X

Congratulations @Sillysocks998 xx sorry to hear that breastfeeding is difficult. I know many who struggled and some said it suddenly got easier so hoping this happens for you very soon. But you should never feel inadequate, you're doing amazing. Glad to hear you're home now. How's your little boy doing?

I'm doing OK. Trying hard to stay on top of the GD and feeling tired as it's been such a busy summer but I'm feeling pretty good. Booked in for a c-section on Thursday! Getting nervous. Hoping for a relaxed few days beforehand xx

Congratulations @Sillysocks998 hope you and your little boy are both well

Congratulations @Sillysocks998! Hope you and bubs are settling in well at home! In regards to the breastfeeding, I remember getting about 2 or 3 weeks in and wanting to quit every day, it was so much harder than I thought! It does get easier, could you request a visit from a health visitor who specialises in breastfeeding? They do have a special name but I can’t remember it now!

@AdventuresAwait not long to go for you now! Hope you have a relaxing last few days! X

Thank you @Squibble84, excited to meet our little girl but getting more and more nervous about the cesarean section each day. Trying to focus on the excitement as we finish the last few bits xx

Congrats @Sillysocks998 🥰

Thank you everyone. We're both doing OK. But there's so much more to do now. I'm doing formula and BF. I wanted to exclusively BF but maybe when my nips stop stinging and milk will come in more.
@AdventuresAwait I had a C section. I had a epidural and spinal. Hardly felt them going in, there's quite a bit of prep before hand and you'll have various people around you doing things to you. But it's over fast. Enjoy it, I know mad to say that. It's a beautiful experience. My body breast down was totally numb. And the numbness lasted 36 hours approx. The incision pain is felt after 24 hours once pain relief wears down and that does feel like a burn but with pain relief can be managed. I'd have a C sec again. 2 weeks later I'm still feeling incision pain. But relax as much in hosp as you can. I had a play list during it. And also get you MW to take pics. I have pics of baby coming out and his first few minutes of life. I'll treasure forever in photos and in my mind. A definite for everyone, take photos and I recorded my first meeting with him too. ❤️

@Sillysocks998, thank you for sharing your experience, it's really helpful and reassuring..I can't imagine feeling numb and am just hoping I'll be ok with it and not freak out! I will try and enjoy it. Great to know about photos... I've been saying how I would love pictures of her being born. Exciting!

@Suma2021 I get Braxton Hicks now too. I find a pee and a walk around helps. Bump.goes really hard for a bit while it passes.

Many congrats to mamas who've had their little ones.

I'm anxious about breastfeeding. I'd love to manage it. But definitely need to research into it more xx

@Sillysocks998 I remember having to tuck my feet under the coffee table and every time my daughter latched on crying as my feet lifted the table in pain!! People are so full of “if you do it right, it shouldn’t hurt”. Sorry, that’s BS. My nipples needed to acclimatise to someone sucking on them every 2-3 hours!
I can recommend jelonet if they are damaged to help the healing process.
I also suggest getting all the support you can - get to your nearest breastfeeding clinic and get them to check the latch. Plus, check for tongue ties. Hospitals are HOPELESS at identifying tongue ties and it can make a massive difference.
My daughter had a tongue tie cut at 6 weeks and I started expressing for one feed a day. That made ALL the difference in my journey. I stopped dreaming of buying formula and my nipples healed up pretty quickly 😉🤣
I didn’t like not knowing how much I was feeding - so I used to time the feeds, so at least I had an idea of how long she normally took each day.
And at the worst of my pain, I popped shields on just for the first minute of the feed when her suck was really fierce. It’s not “recommended”, but it just allowed my letdown to happen without me crying too much!!
We went on to feed exclusively for a year - and it was so easy in the long run, so it was worth the early pain… even if it was never ending at the time. 😊

if you intend on breastfeeding I would speak to your community midwife now about breastfeeding clinics and whether they are being held at your surgery now, they used to be a drop in kind of thing at mine. Once there you got to meet other mums and the midwife would check baby's latch, be able to advise of different positions, how to get them on and off the breast etc. If this service isn't available and it might not be due to rising covid cases I would find out about whether there is a breastfeeding specialist midwife at your hospital who can see you before you leave hospital, this midwife will be able to check for tongue tie and check latch, give you support. Some hospitals have drop in breastfeeding clinics too where they will observe your baby having a feed and will be able to re position if baby needed.

If neither of those services is available to you I would find out if there is are breastfeeding advisor's or doulas in your area who can help and have their numbers on standby. You would have to pay for their services but it is worth it if you are determined to breastfeed and struggling to get help elsewhere.

You could also speak to your health visitor as some are trained further in terms of breastfeeding and may be a good help.

From my own experience I would say time is of the essence with breastfeeding, if you need help get it sooner rather than later. If the latch is incorrect or baby has tongue tie breastfeeding is painful when it doesn't need to be. It also impacts on whether baby is actually getting a feed.

By now I meant have this info somewhere to hand before your baby arrives ideally!

Thank you so much @SillyBry and @Sceptre86 for the BF advice and tips and sharing your experiences 😊

@Sillysocks998 36 hours numb? Could you stand up or move around at all in that time or do you just have to wait until the feelings back? My little one has made absolutely no movements so it might be a c section for me in the next couple of days. Im getting my head round the OP, mainly because of you ladies here that have had them and given great feedback, but the thought of not being able to move weirds me out a bit.

Its so nice to see all the stories, even if the births werent as planned, slowly everyone is getting to meet their babies and after 9 months chatting with you all through every step its so nice to see/hear!

Hi @Scotti84 you can't stand or lift a leg. But because you're so numb u do just go to sleep. U have to let it pass. The recovery is hard yes but if you've help it can be OK. Xx

@SillyBry
Yes it's so painful today. I think he clamped down hard yesterday. I'm only starting to understand how BF works. Sounds mad. So I hope I still have a chance of having lots of milk. I've got shields but not yet used. I'm just using lanolin at every opportunity, hot showers, hot compress. Just hope this pain is worth them being healthy and receiving all those BF benefits that are hard to ignore. I'm supplementing with nutriprem 2 as well. In terms of help the neonatal nurses do come round for the baby but I've had no MW or hv since giving birth. I can imagine how hard last year was with Covid for those who gave birth with no support.

@Sceptre86 unfortunately I'm only really learning about BF now. So I'm hoping I have t missed the boat entirely. I appreciate your post however and hopefully one of the other ladies can benefit much earlier. I don't think hell from hospitals is always realistic and sometimes listening to too much advice doesn't help either. You just need someone to tell you how it works. Rather than being told to express 8 x a day, feed 8 x a day and look after baby and yourself. It's not realistic.

@Scotti84 I was only numb 6 hours and walking after 12. It may differ with epidural top ups and EMCS. Mine was just spinal anaesthesia.

Hello.
Is anyone suffering from pregnancy insomnia?

I am 38 weeks in 2 days and it’s bad..getting up at night and don’t know what to do with myself 😴😏

Also congratulations to all the mommies and babies 🎉🎉🎉💖

I have my membrane sweep on Tuesday ,so hopefully I will meet my little girl very soon 🙈😳❤️

@Noodles4Me ok, thats a massive difference. Hubby is only allowed in for a couple of hours a day, I'm not keen on the idea that i cant do much and need to rely on the nurses to look after baby. Especially as here they like to keep you in 4 or 5 days after a c section.

Hi ladies, has anyone been getting cramps around the bum area? These are quite mild - can't be contractions can they? I'm just under 38wk now

@Krista1991, I'm 38+3 & hardly sleeping at all! Just wide awake all night... 😒