AUGUST 2022 (Thread 4)

[Beth262]

New thread

@Isonthecase sounds awful, full sympathies!

@Isonthecase Sorry you're feeling so rough, though how lovely of your little one to come and tuck you in, you've raised a sweetheart.

Any chance it could be labour D&V? Unless you know where you might have caught a tummy bug I'd consider it likely!

@CoalCraft sad to say my husband had a slightly funny tummy so probably unlikely! Will keep everything crossed though 🤞 I don't know how you coped with this and labour, amazing 💪👏

And he is a cutie, he's just brought me his favourite teddy too 🥰

Congratulations to all the new mummy's!!

For those struggling with breastfeeding... I found the "rugby hold" really helped after my last section. Its tough but you'll all be doing a fab job don't be hard on yourselves ❤️💙

@CoalCraft congratulations what a Labour story to tell that's for sure.

Even though am only 37 weeks and 3 days am so ready for this baby to be here had a few pains and oh could this be it over the weekend but nothing so far struggling to walk at times with back pain etc and knowing they are so far down also am waking up 5/6 times a night in pain turning and having to pee a lot! X

Congratulations to all the arrivals! So many babies 😍. Question to anyone who had a pre birth health visitor visit, did they look round the house? Our bedroom is a nightmare at the minute trying to get it all sorted before baby and we've got the health visitor tomorrow morning! I'd really rather not be sorting it until 10 tonight because I can't get up there until the little terrorist goes to bed and we didn't have a visit with him because covid so I've no idea what to expect. It was meant to be done the last 2 weeks but thanks to chicken pox stopping toddler from going to childcare I've not had a chance typically!

@Passthetena I had the pre visit she didn't look around the house I was worried about the same was really just a touch base make sure verbally we had everything in place and to talk a bit about postnatal depression etc

baby Luke arrives on Monday, somehow managed to make it up to 5lbs 1oz and is seemingly ok without the nicu! We’re still in observation but Tentatively get to keep him ❤️. Kinda mind blown someone entrusted us with this! Thank you all so much for your support over the last 9 months. I’m currently feeling incredibly lucky. Sending all the new mums and mums to be so much love x

Arrived* one day I’ll manage a phone post without a typo 🤦‍♀️

@madeleine85 amazing news congratulations he is beautiful 💕

@madeleine85 Congratulations, so happy Luke is out safe and staying out of NICU, long may that continue!

@madeleine85 that's the best news, you must have been so overjoyed! Congratulations.

And congratulations @CoalCraft too, quite the rollercoaster few days but brilliant that baby's here and already at home.

We're having a little neonatal inpatient stay as baby hadn't been feeding as well as I thought and lost too much weight. Waiting to see if the doctor says he needs a tube top-up but he's doing really well with the expressed milk and formula so far and is a much happier baby then this time yesterday so definitely on the up.

@SantiagoSister How are you doing?

40 weeks have now been and gone. Have another sweep this morning but not got any expectations other than pain 😭 Considering taking paracetamol before hand… they seem to really hurt me for some reason but I think it’s because my cervix is usually far back and I’ve had a few rough attempts so not relaxing enough. Oh well, worth a try! Hope yours was successful 🤞

Congratulations @madeleine85 and wonderful news he made it over the 5lb mark!

Sorry to hear you're in @Mufflette , sounds like baby is doing well so hopefully home soon 🙂

First sweep due to today, but they said that last week too. I am not looking forwards to it! Hoping the bug has helped things on a bit 😅

40 weeks today for me, he's getting too cozy in there it seems😂😭
I was hoping that losing my mucus plug a few days ago would have meant he was ready to go but nope!😂 Everything is just really uncomfortable now, I hope he starts making his way soon.

Hi all,

My July baby was born on 6th August after being induced two days before. My labour was long and ended up in a failed forceps / category 1 c section, which was pretty scary but she’s here safe and we have been at home a couple of days now settling in.

@Unknown6 i have been okay feeding my little one but I find she does sometimes latch, sucks for a couple of minutes and then falls asleep. I’m finding it most difficult trying to hold her without resting her on my leftover bump as it puts pressure on my insides which already feels sore. We have been doing a couple of formula top ups at night to ensure she isn’t going hungry but I’m definitely keen to drop them!

Just back from my 39 week midwife appointment still no changes she's still as low as she can go without being engaged we were discussing being induced in a couple of weeks time I really don't want to go down that route feeling a bit disheartened today now 😔

@makingabebe , I get the red screaming face. Just had health visitor over and she said I'm doing the right things and even if we only end up with 10ml a day it means baby is getting fed.

I'm going with 'fed is best 👌' I think I was putting the most pressure on myself! But I have let up on myself now!

@Unknown6 I'm going to try to follow you in terms of letting go of the pressure! I fully agree fed is best. And I'll take each feed as it comes. Baby Quinn is one week old today! So that means I'm doing something right!

Anyone else having problems with community midwives just not turning up?

The they'll turn up sometime between 9:30am and 4:30pm is hard enough, but waiting all day unable to catch up on sleep only for no one to turn up is really getting to me.

Last time the explanation was they didn't know why no one showed up. They discovered some people weren't seen so phoned everyone the next day to see if they'd been seen. No emergencies, just admin or human error.

Waiting today for all important weighing of baby. He triggered the more than 10 percent weight loss due to being born with extreme edema (around 7 percent of his birth weight or more suspected to be that fluid weight). So had to go back into hospital. Thankfully doc listened this time and agreed with some tests baby healthy. So booked in for community midwife to weigh today so that issue can finally be signed off as fine.

It's 20 to 4 and no midwife. The phone number we've been given for them also has no contacts for the midwives or access to their schedules. So no one to contact.

Just so frustrated.

Congratulations @madeleine85 and we'll
Done Luke on bumping that 5lb mark!

@Mufflette hope you are home soon, sounds
Like baby is making up for it all now and has everything sorted.

@ToCaden that must be beyond annoying. And especially if the number to call is no actual help. I've had to go to the midwives since baby arrived which I found a little frustrating on day 3 when really all I wanted to do was not function, but I'm now seeing that having an appt time and going there at least means I knew it was happening. I'd suggest phoning triage and seeing if they can get in touch with the community team, but after being in hospital I can see how different the hospital team and the community teams are - they all seem to be on very different pages.

@ToCaden that's so unbelievably frustrating especially when it's your baby's health at stake. The community midwife did turn up on Sunday (although didn't say what time they would come) and was patronising as I've posted about before. She also said she thought I needed support with breastfeeding and that she'd book me an appointment to see the local hospital midwife team (I thought at the time it was a support group, but turns out that's a different thing). She arranged for this to be on Monday (yesterday). I was nervous about this because I didn't want to be judged again but obviously I'm not going to turn down help.

So we took Quinn out in the car, on his first journey out so a bit more nervous/worried, and went to the local health centre and waited 45 minutes only for us and the receptionist to eventually realise that nobody from that team was there. The receptionist even said, the midwives don't even tell us what time they're coming or how many patients they're seeing etc. She gave us around five phone numbers to try to contact them. We were so pissed off that we haven't tried any of those numbers, yet, and obviously I'd still like the support but it appears I'll have to chase for it. And Quinn was asleep all that time, including the car journey, so we missed out on extremely valuable sleep time for us as well.

I'm back in hospital :( blood pressure too high again!

@Isonthecase hope the sweep went OK today and produces a result for you 🤞 my labour started around 12 hours after my successful sweep.

@madeleine85 85 Huge congratulations on baby Luke! He is beautiful! Thats fantastic that he made it to over 5lbs too when they were so adamant about size and that you're potentially also avoiding NICU. I have everything crossed for you that it stays that way.

@Mufflette and @Unknown6 sorry to hear you're both back in hospital for various reasons. Hoping you're all back home soon.

Hi @Coco9910 that sounds like a really difficult and scary birth. Glad she's here safe and settling in at home. Our babies have the same birthday. DS was born Saturday too 😊

I'm pleased to report that baby Seb and I were finally discharged from hospital yesterday evening. Despite the most straightforward labour and an expectation to be home same day, baby was diagnosed with cutis alpasia where some of the skin on his scalp was missing. Cue lots of blood tests for infection as an open wound which thankfully have come back negative. Although its only small (1cm by 1cm patch), we've now been referred to the plastic surgery team as he may need a skin graft down the line and also potentially for genetic testing as the condition can sometimes be connected to chromosome abnormalities. Things are never straightforward! But we're home now and DS1 is loving his new brother. Though that may be something to do with the new excavator toy Seb bought him as a hello gift 😆

Also just want to thank whoever recommended the Bellababy wireless breast pump. It came today and has changed my life from the first pump! It's so convenient!

For those who are growing increasingly frustrated to meet thier babies - especially those who seem too snug inside - I hope they arrive soon for you x