Due February 2025 - Thread 5: IT'S TIME

[UrbanSquirrel]

Creating this as a space to continue the Feb 2025 chat - quite frankly it's all starting to feel very, very real right now!

How are you ladies doing with collecting colostrum? I still can’t get anything and I feel some level of guilt as all the ladies from my nct class were successful at getting some :(

@ThisLimeDeer I didn't collect any and baby is one week old today 🩷 and we have been breastfeeding just fine. Try not to worry.

I just wanted to say congratulations to you all. I had my little boy in February last year and I keep seeing how active this thread is so I'm guessing some babies are being born. I was induced but it ended up in a section and now that whole time feels like a dream, when my little boy is with other babies you can't tell what way any of them were born, they're all the same but with their own personalities.. If you have any questions about February babies then feel free to ask too.

@ThisLimeDeer I really wouldn't worry. With my 2 older boys it wasn't a thing to collect colostrum, they were born and you fed and that was it. There big and strong and healthy. I'm only doing it this time in hope to bring things on quicker, so totally selfish reasons

@ThisLimeDeer i haven’t been able to collect it either and couldn’t with my last pregnancy. I don’t think it has any bearing on how successful BF will be as I’m still breastfeeding my toddler! Baby will get all the colostrum they need from you in the first few days and there’s always the option of a tiny bit of formula if you really need it. Most people I know who were successful with colostrum harvesting ended up throwing a lot of it away…

Thank you for the reassurance ❤️.

@ThisLimeDeer I haven’t even tried. Here in France it’s not a thing. Was wondering if it might be most useful for sections primarily? Is there more delay for the milk to come or sth?

I wouldn't stress. I never did it with my 2 boys and I breastfed both of them for 2 years. I plan to do the same with this one.

@ThisLimeDeer if it doesn’t work I wouldn’t stress it. A study showed that of 300 women the average colllected was something like 1.7ml not the huge amount you hear off.

id be keen incase baby’s sugars are low in my circumstance but any recommendations for kits?

Thank-you @MaiaForEmperor ❤
@Piluka how are you doing now?
Touchwood I'm feeling a bit brighter, taking it day by day as I honestly felt so hopeless at weekend, nearly suicidal. Since then I've had a bit more sleep but also feel like maybe a lot of it was hormones. Knew that hormonal flip would be intense but hasn't appreciated how much so.
Got a perinatal mental health team referral and lots of support from midwife team. My birth experience wasn't great either and that with the stressful pregnancy, and new born trenches all just overwhelmed me I think! Currently dealing with a tiny baby with suspected colic and silent reflux but started colief today and touchwood he's quiet enough in his beside me cot.
Hope everyone else is doing well.
Sorry @Hhdxx your having a stressful time of it! I had my section at 37+3 because of PPROM. For us baby ended up in neonatal for a couple of days due to fluid in lungs. Had to have high flow air, iv fluids, antibiotics etc. But I've been told there's plenty of babies born that early who are totally fine. Also ofc it was far from ideal him being in neonatal it seems like an issue that was relatively simple for them to deal with. Sending you lots of love and wishing you a positive experience.

@ThisLimeDeer have you tried asking your midwife about it at all? I had tried a couple of times unsuccessfully since this weekend, after a hot shower, massaging first, comfy in bed, watched some YouTube videos first as well and got absolutely nothing, I was worrying about supply.

I saw a midwife today (keep seeing different ones) but she was amazing and first said if I wasn't getting anything then just stop and don't bother, but I said I had leaked into a bra the other day. She then asked if I wanted her to show me, so I got my boob out and she showed me how to squeeze it so I actually had a couple drops come out! Turns out I was squeezing too far back on the breast and also not firmly enough.

Try squeezing the bit of your breast that's skin (not nipple) but just around where your nipple is, and firmer than you think, I managed to get some this evening. Not lots at all, about 0.25ml and that's from both breasts but I'm taking it just as good practice for hand expressing - like everyone's said here (and I googled it earlier with my next worry being not getting enough out 😂) it's definitely not a necessity and doesn't say anything about how well we can feed after birth.

I tried hand expressing, just gave me hand cramps 😂
So I used my breast pump and managed to get 9ml in about 20 mins.
Gave me a lot of cramping so I got excited but then the cramps stopped. Damn it 😂

@SBelfast thank you for letting me know. Were you able to hold baby?

I've still got leukocytes in my urine and now nitrates too. It seems like one thing after another. I'm on antibiotics but they don't seem to be doing anything. X

Thank you for the tips! I will try again tonight. I did try to ask the last midwife I saw but she wasn’t interested at all in giving me any advice. I’ve said this my entire pregnancy but my experience with the community midwives has been absolutely shocking. I’m grateful for every midwife I’ve come across at the hospital though, they gave me a completely different level of care.
i won’t see anybody until my c-section now though. Anaesthetist tomorrow and then it’s go time! I’m so excited! I bought formula in case I can’t hand express, I feel nervous to use my pump as I don’t want to start labour before my c-section 🤣.

@Hhdxx yes got to hold him during section and then for a few hours after as they assessed him. They tried their best to do things like skin to skin, colustrum and heated incubator beside bed before taking him up to neonatal.
There's a good chance you'll not have that experience and yours will be a lot better. In Neonatal I got to hold him also, they are very good with enabling the contact for bonding to benefit both you and the baby.

For those worrying about colustrum, I was told at a breastfeeding workshop it's not really recommended unless you've risk factors like gestational diabetes. So I'd not worry about it if not, doesn't mean anything if you can't express any before birth and as someone else said if you don't need it you'll probably end up throwing it out. I needed it in the end but the nurses and midwives helped me express it in hospital and doing that kept me busy while baby was in neonatal, helped me feel productive!

Posted in FB, baby Amelia born early afternoon. Very content. C section so milk not through yet and my goodness I forgot how horrid hand expressing was! For any c section mamas to be, so long as ok with your midwife maybe start this before birth. X

Fantastic, congratulations!!!! Beautiful name ❤️ hope you're feeling okay!

@TTCagain85 Congratulations!! She is gorgeous 🥰. Hope your milk comes through soon for you.
I'm starting to try to collect some today 🤞🏻🤞🏻 xx

Congratulations!!

I couldn't get any milk hand expressing in hospital so formula fed (part of the plan anyway) but I did find my milk came in pretty quickly so fingers crossed yours does too! Hope you're recovering OK and enjoying the newborn bubble!

Congratulations 😍

So many babies now, not many left to go now it seems 😃

Good morning everyone
@TTCagain85 congratulations here too
@bumpkin34 😱 there must be a few of us still to go no? On fb there is a post about overdue babies. I’m 39+2 today 🫣 midwife is coming in an hour to do some monitoring. need to get dressed and make the bed at least 🤭 it’s a cloudy day today and it doesn’t help me get active when it’s like this.

Congrats @TTCagain85 😊! @bumpkin34 think there's still a fair few to go (I'm 39+4, waiting patiently!) - there's about 130 in the fb group just some less active than others 😊

@Kumquat89 They pushed my section back to 27th so think I'll be one of the last!
I'm not ready yet to be fair so quite happy for him to stay tucked in place a bit longer! Xx

Congratulations @TTCagain85 !!!

I got the date for my c-section this morning!! It’s next Thursday (13th Feb) so almost a week to go still. I do hope with my gestational diabetes I’m seen in the morning and I don’t have to wait too long but we shall see what happens…
I have my Aneasthesist appointment later on today so I guess we will find out a bit more :)

Still one of the ones waiting for nature to take its course 😅
38+2 and absolutely no sign of baby coming anytime soon, hoping he does come naturally as not to keen on being induced 🫣