Due November 2023 - chapter 6

[Spareincoming]

Definitely missed people but hopefully they find the post…
Please tag anyone else!

@spareincoming@Pinkplantcase@leeanneD11 @LilmissCa@FlyingHighFlyingLow@Psqueak87@spanglesj@BabyBabyBaby123@Houseonthehills@GreenAventurine@reememberly@Cegbee@DollyGx@38andtrying@JD90@travellingislife@mldn@sb86@TMI2000

@Nov2023 I'm 37+4 and to be honest have been having horrendous mood swings/irritability for the last month or so and a definite increase in hormonal emotional crying/feeling upset in the last 2 weeks. I think a lot of it is the combination of hormones and anticipation! It's super draining though and my poor DP and DD both like to sarcastically complain about how mean I am 🤣 absolutely dire insomnia definitely hasn't helped either!

@JD90 Sounds like a rollercoaster! I have only had a couple of days like this. Poor you having weeks. I think I am just going to bunker up with my decaf coffee and a good book today and hope it passes

@Nov2023 that sounds like a very good plan to me! I will be attempting to chill out and catch up on sleep but know I'll just be stressed and anxious all day dealing with my school refusing teen 😴

@Thack yes I'm eating more and always seem to be very thirsty!!

@JD90 Good luck! Hats off to anyone managing another child or teenager and the end of a pregnancy. I am. counting my blessings to be off work and able to chill while I can!

soooooo… I feel really sick and I’ve got diarrhea. Apparently this could be an early pregnancy symptom?? I’m 37 weeks on fruday but my first came 2.5 weejs early and I’ve been having lots of period type pains and cramps. Lots of thick discharge too. I know it’s a bit early but I’ve been feeling shit for 10 days with the period pains etc. I’d love to get this baby out sooner rather than later!

anyone experienced similar before going into labour?

I've been feeling sick for a few days , just started to get the loose stools I'm 37+3 and the period type cramps wow!!! And I've got swollen feet too All night I had them and some this morning but have eased off and I'm so tired . Is this a start for us both I have a section booked for Tuesday so wondering if he decides to come on his own or wait it out . I would love to hear other people's experiences too. Xx

Our little baby George joined us yesterday, following an ELCS, all went well, blood sugars normal, and we're doing well with establishing feeding. Why does no one talk about after pains?! We're back home and enjoying new family life with DC1!

Congratulations @Crazybrowncow! After pains passed relatively quickly for me, hope it’s the same for you. They can be so sore but they’re doing good work at least!

Aw amazing. Welcome George!

Day 9 here and my milk came in night before last. I’ve been trying to gather some milk (colostrum?) in here and this is all I’ve managed after trying twice for an hour in total. I’ve syringed it into her mouth but am I fighting a losing battle here?

Shes still very tiny so I don’t want to put her on my breast as I like seeing how much formula she has had.

Im still really proud of the small amount I’ve collected though haha.

@GreenAventurinee i remember expressing after I had my twins at 34 +2. I really struggled the first couple of days to get anything in the syringe. You are doing great!
I remember my midwife advised Fenugreek supplements to help boost supply. I saw a big difference after a few days of taking them.

Also big CONGRATS to all on the birth of your beautiful babies 💙🩷

@Crazybrowncow congratulations on baby George! 🥰 I literally never knew or had ever heard of afterpains until a few days ago!! Hope they pass soon for you 🤞🏼

@GreenAventurinee Exciting! It depends what your aim is really, if you want to be able to combi feed or switch to breastmilk then you’ll need to have baby on the breast to stimulate supply or you’ll need a hospital grade pump and have a plan for pumping every few hours. It’s supply and demand you have to be taking milk out of the breasts for more milk to be made, especially in these early days as your body is learning how much milk producing tissue it needs to ‘turn on’.

Does your midwife still visit? Or is there a local breastfeeding drop in clinic? They’ll be able to help with pumping etc. usually ‘Milk coming in’ means your body has switched from making colostrum to making breastmilk.

And there are so many babies now!!! Congratulations all 😁😁

I’m 38+4, my first was born at 41+1. I think this baby will be a bit earlier than him but I probably have a week or two to go. It is very nice being off work now especially as DS is in nursery for all his days still!

Congratulations @Crazybrowncow and @Psqueak87 on your baby's arrivals ❤️

Congratulations @Crazybrowncow
How are your pains now? Mine were intense but over within a few days. Much milder with DC1.
How is your biggie getting on with George?

@GreenAventurinee all milk you give us great, well done for giving it a go! Great advice from @PinkPlantCase . Get skin to skin with bab, express little and often and let them have a go on the breast at the end of their bottle. You'll know they've had a good feed and they will associate breast with feeling full.

If you struggle with latch then it's not too late! I had to bottle feed DC1 to begin with. I used nipple shields to help them to get milk from me. They were early and small so it was less of a leap from a bottle teat and a few weeks later they went direct to breast. I second the advice to get help or join a group, early support is helpful.

I needed some advice on the following please ☺️ Baby is exclusively formula fed & 2 weeks old. It's my first time formula feeding 🙈

1. At 2pm feed she is desperately hungry and doesn't have patience to wait for nappy change first. So after a feed when I change her nappy she wakes up and is wide awake for the next 45 min or so. I noticed if I don't change her nappy she is more likely to go straight back to bed. What do you suggest I do? She only has wet nappies at night.

1. We were trying to get her into a day time routine of sleep 1.5 hours and awake time 1.5 hours including feeding. She's a struggle to wake up during the day. MiL said she's never heard of such a routine and baby's should be allowed to sleep for 3 hours and then feed. Any thoughts?

1. Midwife said she doesn't have a tongue tie but health visitor who just visited said she does, and I'm not surprised as my previous DC had it too. She makes a clicking sound when feeding, and seems to take her milk in small chunks rather than a full feed. She is also very gassy (especially at night) and makes grunting noises. She hiccups at least 3 times a day, but each time the hiccups are around 50-60 times which is very distressing. The hospital have said if they do cut the tongue tie, because of the waiting list, it won't be until early Dec. Should I go privately instead and get it done now?

1. She's been on Kendamil and she's been constipated for the past few days. We've had to pull her legs up when she's distressed and then she's managed to do a poo. Any ideas of this is normal or what we can do?

Thanks in advance 🙂

@JoyApple hoping to hear some replies to this. My little boy is 15 days old and just been weighed by midwife. He is 0.7% above birth weight and she said this is what they are looking for but I got the feeling she expected him to have gained more. He tends to cluster feed for random periods, MW thinks he is just not finishing his feed but he is impossible to get him to eat anymore. He just either stops and falls asleep or will not suck. Sometimes he sucks but doesn't actually take anything in. He also has a minor tongue tie which we were told was so mild it was unlikely to have an affect but now I'm wondering if the tongue tie is stoping him taking the full feed?

@JoyApple have yet to have my baby but have been there with 3 others kids so hoping to help you out a bit…

1. change nappy 10/15 mins before feed is due, that way you won’t be waking her up as such after her feed to do nappy change and she might settle for a nap straight after feed.
2. i would agree with midwife on this. Baby is 2 weeks old. Routine should be there for feeds/nappy changing etc but I wouldn’t expect a 2 week old to be awake for up to 1.5 hours in between feeds. Sleep is good for them.
3. one of our twins had tongue tie. Like your little one she was struggling to get a full bottle into her at once and it would take while for her to finish compared to her sister. We had it clipped when she was 10 weeks old and it made a huge difference in her feeds. We paid privately (rep. Of ire) and it was worth every cent.

Hope this helps in some way 🙂

Thanks for all the advice re breastfeeding. I wanted to combifeed as she’s gotten used to bottles now.
The midwife has just been though and baby is still only 5lb 8oz at 10 days old so I think I’ll just persevere with the formula as not to confuse her now. She is so little and I feel more comfortable seeing how much exactly she is taking - even though it doesn’t seem very much!

@Katiec1 thank you, that was very helpful.

@Oreopie it's difficult to know isn't it what is causing what. We had another midwife out today who said she doesn't think she has a tongue tie as she can lift her tongue. So I'm confused now. She suggested we try moving up from size 0 teat to size 1 and using colief in her milk, as it's easier to administer than infacol (which I agree is a pain!). She also recommended once baby is used to the new teat not to pace feed as extra air can go in that way. It seems there's conflicting advice and it's hard to know what to do. I suppose there's trial and error.

I always thought colief was for lactose intolerance rather than an alternative to infacol ... I wish we could just give gripe water from birth...

@JoyApple I used colief for DC1 colic and it worked miracles. Fingers crossed for you. x

@Crazybrowncow thanks! I've just ordered some Care Co-lactase (as Colief requires waiting 30 min after dropping in the bottle).

I've also asked DH to pick up some detinox. Going to try that tonight and see if it helps.

Has anyone had swollen feet ? I'm currently 37+4 and I've got massive feet but not swollen hands, could it be cause I'm doing to much walking or is it something else xx