Due end of January 2022 - Thread 3

[spttc]

New thread before we run out!

Who is up for sharing a little pic?! Hope all the new mamas are doing well and those still waiting, not long now!!

@Alle1991 I'm still waiting too! Feels like forever waiting for her arrival!!

@Luckymamma adorable! Love those chubby cheeks 😍
Here is Evan at 10 days old (he's now 15 days old)

Hello all, nice to see a couple more arrivals! I’m sure more will be popping along very very soon 💖 good luck to all who are just about to pop! @Luckymamma I bloody love baby knitwear - gorgeous knit choice! We gave one similar but a cardi 😂 @Trinacham just gorgeous gorgeous 💖

Here is baby Hugo. 4 weeks tomorrow! I’ve been combi feeding since yesterday. Breastfeeding is so hard!! I wasn’t convinced he was getting enough milk from me. Feel conflicted about it but making my peace with it- my worst nightmare is him being hungry! With breastfeeding it’s so hard to know how much they are drinking. His latch is diabolical aswell, his new nickname is ‘Chomp’ 😬 my nipples are so thankful for the bottle!!!
xox

@sjxoxo thanks! My sister in law in an incredible knitter, we have so much lovely knitwear!

Beautiful babies both you and @Trinacham

Combi feeding is fine! I breast fed all of mine with the odd bottle thrown in! As long as you and baby are happy doesn’t matter! Xx

@sjxoxo I’m also combi feeding, mostly breast with bottle top ups where needed! Really wanted him to take a bottle and it’s the only way I can get any sleep!

@Sunshine8888 I hear you! What formula are you using? Have you had any issues with confusion over nipple/bottle. I tried a couple of different bottles which he wasn’t keen on but we’re using an elhee bottle now which he happily takes. I think bottles have been made easier as I was using nipple shields so for him it’s kind of the same but I think the shields have made breastfeeding harder in the long run as he has such a bad latch- I think due to the shields! xo

We tried a lansinoh bottle as that’s one my dd2 liked, and he seems ok with it. Took an oz of formula yesterday. I want to express too but so far haven’t had a chance!! He does love the boob!!

Little girl is finally here after a very traumatic labour at 41+1! Absolutely no signs whatsoever until I woke up with continuous cramping at 2am yesterday morning then started having contractions about every 10-15 mins. Had a bath and they ramped up to every 3-4 mins so we headed to the hospital. I was 4cm at 7am and was up to 8cm within 2 hours. Waters went.

However, baby was back to back so the intense pressure I got was causing my body to push without my control. Which then ultimately caused my cervix to swell and I dropped back down to 6cm, from 8cm. I was in agony and the gas and air wasn't touching the sides so tried pethidine which just made me super sleepy, but still in intense pain. They ended up moving me from MLU to labour ward, and hooked me up to the monitors. Baby's heartbeat keep dropping and staying low so a consultant was called, was going to have an epidural to stop my body pushing involuntary and it was decided to rush me off for an emergency c section instead. Baby wasn't playing ball once out so was looked after by paediatrics initially.

But now all is well and she is a healthy 8lb.1 and was born at 4:56 yesterday afternoon. Feeling very sore and exhausted, on the postnatal ward at the moment - she's also been breastfeeding for the past 3 hours this morning, so exhausted is an understatement!

Congratulations on the birth of your baby girl @winterbabyrose.🥰
I'm sorry to hear you had a traumatic labour, I hope you are both doing well!

Well done @winterbabyrose . Big congratulations on your labour, you gave birth to a beautiful new life 🙂. Wishing you fast recovery.

My little girl was born today at 10am (41+3) ,after an induction started at 7p.m. yesterday by pessary. That made my contractions every 2 min, and were very intense so they took the pessary out after 2 hours from the start. Got all the pain medications possible as I started pushing involuntarily since being 5cm dilated. Eventually epidural was a blessing, best decision ever made. In the end needed forcep delivery due to Dotty not being happy during pushing.
Glad she is happy and healthy 8lb8 girl 🥰

Hope others that are still waiting will meet their loved ones soon

Congrats @winterbabyrose and @MamaDaria. Hope you both get home quickly and can recover there.

@sjxoxo, I’m using MAM bottles and SMA organic. All good so far and no nipple confusion. Midwife said to me that’s a myth. Oscar’s latch was bad at first but we’ve been working on it and it finally no longer hurts to feed him 😅

@winterbabyrose congratulations! Sorry you had such a tough time. Be kind to yourself as the exhaustion is so real!

@MamaDaria congratulations! Hope you're both well.

@sjxoxo no one tells you how hard breastfeeding is! Fed is best at the end of the day.

How is everyone else doing?

@winterbabyrose & @MamaDaria congrats!! 💐💐💐💐 totally agree with you that epidurals are magic 😂 I felt the same! Biggest relief of my life. Enjoy your little ones!

@BobbleWobble1 yes no one mentions how hard it is!! I’ve been pumping & getting more volume so I think quantity is increasing, my mum said there’s always a lag in what they want and what you are producing as they have to stimulate you to make more so that makes sense! So I’ve been trying to fill him up with formula whilst pumping extra to increase the supply.. he’s taking 150ml bottles every 3 hours now at 4 weeks so I’m not sure I will be able to meet demand but trying my best. I thought many things would be challenging but I thought breastfeeding would ‘just work’!!! LOL Xox

@winterbabyrose@MamaDaria congratulations!

I managed to beat my induction, contractions started early hours Monday 7th, went in to find out I was only 1cm dilated and told to go home and take painkillers.

By 3am I was in the bath with intense contractions so went back in for some pain relief, when they examined me I was 8 cm dilated! (Wasn’t sent home this time!)

Sophia was born at 10:36, weighing 7.4 (not the 9 plus baby they thought) lost 1.4 litres of blood so needed to stay in hospital for the night. Back home now and loving life, she’s just so perfect and worth the wait!

@Alle1991 very well done 😀 Sophia is gorgeous!

Totally agree, babies are so worth the wait 🥰. Setting my focus on all the wonderful moments while they last, despite many challenges and pains.

@sjxoxo
That might be stupid question, but how do you know youre not meeting the demand?
Its just the begining for us and my nipples are sore. Trying to improve the latch, so hope it will become pain free soon.

@Alle1991 congrats!!! She is gorgeous. Beautiful name! Xxx

@MamaDaria I suspected it because he was grizzly- he was feeding constantly on the boob, especially the evenings, everyone said ‘it’s normal it’s normal’ etc and yes it is normal but I just had a guy feeling he wasn’t satisfied. He seemed to be full and finished, then 15 mins later he’s looking for boob again. The second thing that confirmed it was his weight gain was slow weeks 2 and 3. Which I thought was odd because he was always on the boob- That is also normal for some babies so it is a bit guesswork. Plus they do it to increase your supply. End of week 3 I gave him some formula over a weekend to see how he got on with it and he was much calmer.. less grizzly. I could tell he was ‘full’ and he was more settled. So I started combi feeding and then his weight gain has really sped up so I’ve continued. The risk in my mind is that my supply will drop so I am also pumping lots to help keep supply up. Then I am giving him as many bottles of breast milk as possible then a formula chaser bottle if he’s wanting more- I’m doing that now with an aim of building up some stock in the fridge of breastmilk so we can reduce the formula and use the breastmilk more but it’s cat and mouse to build up stock 🤣 It’s a bit guesswork with breastfeeding quantities. The other thing that I’ve found reassuring is that even with pumping I can see how much milk he is drinking Xxx

Congrats to all the other babies on this group! I finally had mine 10 days late so he's a week old. Maximus (Max) ... I know we have another Max on this group too 💙

My labour and birth were something else!! 24 hours with stop start contractions for days before that. I laboured at home right up until pushing on no drugs as I had planned a homebirth... I was transferred in because my boy had meconium in the waters combined with a high heart rate towards the end... I later found out his hr was fine but my midwife was incorrect that the hr should be lower due to his gestation... anyway I loved the entire labour it was nuts and I was euphoric on pain 🙈 but never talk to me about contractions in a speeding ambulance and needing to push but being strapped to a bed 😭

Ended up in emergency section. Gutted not to mention I had to go back to hospital for an underling infection and stayed daaaays!!!

At home now and starting to feel better. Currently pumping. Milk machine!!

Max is amazing!!

PS he was 9lb 2!

Hey ladies, I've missed so much! Congratulations on all the births I've missed! Mila was born on the 29th Jan at 41+2. I was booked for induction at 41+1 by DAU was busy so didn't go in till that evening with a plan that I'd be taken to labour ward the following day to have my waters broken but my forewaters decided to go naturally that night on DAU. I was given till 7am for labour to start which it didn't so was put on the drip at 7am. First intense contractions started around 7.30/8am and I gave birth at 9.31am standing up. It was a totally euphoric labour with gas and air for a little bit. I felt the whole process and told the midwife she was crowning and that once her head was out I could feel her shoulders etc. With our twin loss in the first trimester they call the lost twin a "sunset baby" and the survivor a "sunrise baby". Being in my room on labour ward we started with outside being dark and as labour started the sun was rising and when she was born the sunshine was beaming in through the windows which will stay in my heart. Our midwife was lovely too and didn't interfere or check me, just told me to listen to my body and if I need to push, push. Mila's been great although she's nocturnal and has been suffering from silent reflux the past week but she's on baby Gaviscon now.
Hope everyone's enjoying their bubbas

Meant to say she was 8lb5oz and I did have a second degree tear however the healing this labour has been sooooo much easier than my DS's labour 10years ago with no tear!

@sociallydistained I can't believe how long he kept you waiting with all the tightenings! Congratulations and pleased you're finally on the mend now

Thank you!

How has everyone dealt with the emotions? Wow day 3 and 5 I was crumbling! I've had so many messages of support I am overwhelmed! Yesterday was our first real chilled day just feeding, sleeping and being with not much outside interference (although he had his hearing test which he passed). I tried him in the sling for the first time too which he loved, slept for ages.

Feeding is intense! My boy lost weight on day 4 just breastfeeding and I felt terrible: little did I know milk takes long to come in after a section and I wasn't keeping up with his need. I felt terrible!! Started express and formula top ups whilst I build my supply which took intense effort and round the clock expressing. I'm still doing this now (expressing right now) but definitely getting there and each day he has more feeds exclusively at the breast. Feeling so positive about this but wow I see why people struggle and give up, I was close!

Congratulations to all the new mums! Is there anyone left waiting now?

@sociallydistained I had a similar experience with emotions the first time. I think in hindsight a combination of a tough labour, everything being new and the exhaustion is a pretty poor combination! Be kind to yourself. For me, it's been managing 2 that's been tough as I just feel there's not enough of me to spread around. I know it will get easier but everything is worse when you're tired.

Massive respect to those of you pumping round the clock. Remember it's the worst of both worlds in terms of how much work it is for you. I learnt that the hard way first time.

Does anyone else have the distinct feeling that they don't have a clue what they are doing?

Dd is just over 3 weeks now and she just doesn't sleep. Unless she is in my arms. I have had 4 hours sleep in the last 48 hours and am slowly losing my mind.

Obviously she is wonderful and I love her to bits but why won't she sleep???

@Zonedoutallnight I feel like I’m winging it every day and hoping for the best

My little one isn’t sleeping great, well she sleeps great during the day but just doesn’t settle on a night, when she does settle it’s on me and is wide awake as soon as I place her in the crib.

I think I’m on about the same amount of sleep this week, I’m holding my eyes open during the day and night

I’m praying it gets easier and she starts sleeping better