OCTOBER 2024 BABIES - Thread 5

[CluelessInLondon]

So I guess this is the one where all of our babies will be arriving, eek!

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@shldv the ice sounds like a good idea! X

Congratulations on all of the new babies. Enjoy those snuggles.

My due date has been and gone too. I also feel like the baby is so so low now that I don't understand how they are being kept in. They are also very long so have their head in my pelvis and feet in my ribs which is not the most comfortable...can't wait to be able to bend in the middle again! Focusing on planning a treat for myself for every day I am over (because I deserve it) which is helping take some focus off the waiting. Usually only a little thing like a long bath or a nice pudding, but planning to go out for a nice breakfast at the weekend and a couple of other bits if baby is still being a pickle. The waiting is hard though. Hopefully the weekend will bring a little influx of babies for all of us.

Our girl arrived on 3 October at 41w+2. Labour took from 7am Wednesday morning to 7pm Thursday evening. I had extremely irregular contractions throughout but it birth still turned out to be everything we wanted it to be and I have positive memories of the experience. She measured totally average throughout pregnancy and arrived at a relatively chunky 3.98kg (8lb 12oz) to our surprise. She has been doing really well so far with feeding etc.

The hardest thing is sleep as she really won't sleep anywhere other than in someone's arms/on our chest, so we're only getting very very short stints in her cot at night or moses basket during the day, and then she's wide awake and crying and won't go down unless she's fed again. We're managing, but it's definitely not sustainable so we'll keep trying to put her down from time to time. We also live abroad and have little support so we're like two zombies just trying to figure things out, but I can't believe it's been 8 days already!

It has been really reassuring in the middle of the night to come back on to the forum and see lots of babies being born.

I think I outlined the 12-step plan from my midwife earlier in the forum but I didn't even get through it. I think of everything I tried to naturally induce, nipple stimulation had the most effect but you really need to do it for long stretches. I also had a sweep the day before but my cervix was really far back and the midwife didn't think it had done much. Hang in there to everyone who's past it and getting impatient!❤

@sorchanim congratulations!!! Xxxx

@sorchanim congratulations! Hope you are healing well, everything you e written sounds totally normal but I know it's hard x

@sorchanim congratulations!

I had my first sweep yesterday, a bit uncomfortable but was ok, I have another appointment on Tuesday so will have another one then.

Went for a walk earlier and was having stabbing pains down there but they stopped as soon as I got back home. I hope something is starting to happen but don't want to get too excited! 😂

@sorchanim bless you, it really is relentless then nights with a newborn. It does settle a bit eventually. Like you DH and I always persevere with putting them in their beds over and over again overnight and sharing the night work.

I am still absolutely full of cold (day 4 of it) and now DH is as well. Just desperately praying baby holds on until we are both recovered, or at least until I am! The exact same thing happened to me before my last October baby was born as well, luckily they were very late so I had well recovered in time. Then DC1 and DH both came down with a terrible viral illness about two days after DC2 was born which was terrible too. Hopefully this way we will all be healthy when baby arrives if we've all been ill just before...or maybe that's wishful thinking...I much preferred having a summer baby with DC1! From a germs perspective it was so much easier and better.

Hi all! Congratulations to all the new mummies and safely delivered babies. So exciting to see all the announcements.

My little man is a week old and 2 days now and completely nocturnal. He won't settle unless he's attached to my boob or skin to skin. It's exhausting. Thankfully he's a really good little eater. I'm both nursing and pumping and my husband is able to give him a bottle in the night so we can tag team sleep. We're using Lansinoh bottles with a Pigeon SS nipple. So far he's showing no confusion or preference. Fingers crossed it stays that way!

@Oct24 . We're 2 weeks and 2 days too! My girl has good and bad days sleeping. For the past few days she's only slept about 4 hours at night, waking hourly which has been very difficult - lots of tears from me! But last night we had 2 3 hour sleeps and I feel like a new woman!
I'm also v lucky with the breast feeding - it's going really well and she's a above her birth weight. I'm contemplating starting to pump to but I don't want to rock the boat with everything going so well. My health visitor said give it a month.

Congratulations to everyone whose babies have arrived over the last few days - I've been offline for a bit concentrating on my little one and I don't know where the days are disappearing to!

@2doggos I've developed really bad haemorrhoids since giving birth - they must have been there in pregnancy but weren't bothering me so I didn't even realise I had them, and then they went enormous after birth. I didn't notice them for a couple of days until the swelling from my stitches went down and then I was in absolute agony - it was like walking around with a golf ball clenched between my bum cheeks! Thankfully they are shrinking now with using ointment, and I'm religiously doing pelvic floor squeezes during every feed.

How are those who are breastfeeding finding it? I'm a bit concerned that my baby wasn't back close to her birth weight at her last checkup - she didn't lose lots of weight after birth but it's made me quite anxious about feeding and being confident that she's definitely getting enough milk. Some feeds she's struggling to latch - sometimes I can tell she's feeding really well and at others she's just nibbling away and it's really uncomfortable. I'm using nipple shields at the moment to help but hoping to wean her off them - it's really difficult though as she can't always latch without them.

@CluelessInLondon hemorroids are the worst I really really struggle wit them

@CluelessInLondon Have you received a call / visit from the hospital lactation specialist? I've had some help with positioning.

I'm still finding breastfeeding quite challenging and painful as he latches on my nipple sometimes and has a really strong suction. The specialist said if they're nibbling use you let little finger to release the suction and try again with a deep latch.

Baby girl decided today was the day at 41+1

Dilated to 10cm then needed a c section as she'd swallowed meconium. I still haven't met her as she's up in NICU because of it, which is breaking me.

Fingers crossed we get to meet tomorrow ❤️

How awful @Kate9423 hope you are reunited very very soon x

@Kate9423 hope you and baby are reunited soon and are both doing well. Xx

@Kate9423 congratulations and I hope you meet your little girl this morning.

@Kate9423 congratulations, I'm sure it won't be long before you meet your precious baby girl xxxx

@CluelessInLondon I am dreading what mine will be like if I have a vaginal birth with the pushing

@Kate9423 ah so sorry! Hopefully you will be able to meet your little one today 🤞🏼

I think I've been losing my mucus plug over the weekend. Went on a big walk yesterday to try and get things moving but still no signs of labour

Ok the sleeping has improved and she's able to sleep in her co sleeper now! We put a heat pad/what bag thing down briefly and let her fall asleep on my arms before transferring her and it's working so far!

The witching hour is real however, and lasts several hours!!!! She's not always sleeping lots in the day which will hopefully improve...

Feeding is going well generally (EBF) but she had a few days where she was slower to gain weight so we're keeping an eye on that. Starting to feel like we kind of know what is going on now the glow of the first week has passed!

@Sara1988 I don't know if I wrote already, but I'm sorry the home birth didn't work out. Sending you all the best for your recovery.

@Kate9423 Hope you are holding your girl by now!!

Can anyone advise? I’ve had on and off period pain for a week. Due date is this Friday. From about 8pm last night I’ve had it all night and still now, but it’s not intensifying. Does this mean anything ?

@Sunandsea13 that sounds like very early labour, but it can be stop start or mild for weeks before it progresses unfortunately. I had similar with my second child, on off cramps for weeks before the labour properly started. With my first child, I didn't have the stop starting, but the early stage labour with them (so 1-4cm dilated once contractions had clearly started) took approximately 20hrs or so.

@Sunandsea13 I think it's one of those things where it could mean something or nothing.

I don't know which TWW is worse?! I had a sweep on Friday and lost big globs of my mucus plug over the weekend and yesterday but then nothing today. Got another midwife appointment today so we shall see! I really hope I get to meet my baby this week 🤞🏼🤞🏼

@LuxeBiscuit I spoke to someone from the feeding team in the hospital before I was discharged and got some advice, and the midwife gave me some advice when she visited which helped, things just still feel a bit inconsistent. Sounds like my issue is similar to yours, she sometimes just grabs the nipple and it's really uncomfortable. I'm trying some different positions to help with the latch - the rugby hold seems to work quite well. I still find it difficult not actually knowing how much she's getting though! Next checkup is tomorrow so I'm hoping she'll have gained more weight this week.

@Kate9423 Congratulations on the arrival of your baby girl - I hope you've been able to meet her and have a cuddle now. ❤️

@sorchanim Sending witching hour solidarity - mine starts anytime between 5 and 10pm, the longest it has gone on is 7 hours!

Hi guys, another October baby born yesterday for us. Was sent for an induction on Saturday morning and he was born Monday early hours. He is beautiful and worth its all. don't be afraid of induction, it's not easy but I've had both now, spontaneous labor and this and there's deffo pro's to both. Wishing you all a safe, smooth labor. Soon as you hold that baby it's all ok 🤍

@CluelessInLondon I was assigned a postpartum lactation specialist and given info on the local breastfeeding sessions in my area. Might be worth checking if there's a centre near you.

The midwife suggested bringing baby to boob but the lactation specialist showed me how to bring boob to baby. Essentially your nipple has to touch the roof of their mouth. I still get a bit of initial latch pain but it's much quicker and better now.

I hope it's improving for you as well.

@02tryingfor02 congratulations on your positive birth and LO.