2014 April Rainbows

[ebonymama]

THANK U LADIES,

for all the positive vibes and good cheer....

congrats to all the ladies on their arrivals......lindsay thank GOD lil one and u are doing ok now....

below is a lil snippet of DD ...named her Samuella Harmony Ramcharitar...

 

[Karinama98]

Ebony - awwww. She's precious.


AFM: Had my 39 week appointment today. Things are progressing which my OB was happy with - now 2 cm dilated, 50% effaced (I wasn't effaced at all the last time she checked), and she's in between position -2 and -1 right now. We scheduled another appointment for next week Friday, and she said if for whatever reason the baby's not out by then, she wants to schedule me to be induced that Sunday or Monday. I reallllllllllly want avoid being induced like you wouldn't believe....so....

I took after Kasey's thought process about having my membranes swept today. My doc was all for trying that out. OMG....OMG...I thought her checking my cervix was painful....nope, this was just a bit more on the pain scale. But like I told her, I'm sure the pain from that isn't nearly any where near giving birth. LOL She did warn me that there would be some slight bleeding after, which there was. Weird to see blood for the first time in 9 months ago. But I felt like I was a "walker" from "The Walking Dead" leaving the office. I've been sitting for an hour now, but I'm curious to see if I can walk straight again when I go to lunch here.

So we'll see if this membrane sweeping helps start things. She'll try it again next week if I'm there and see what happens.

 

[Kasey84]

Ebony- She's adorable! Hope you're both doing well

Karina- Love your nursery I keep meaning to post some pics as well. I find myself going in there at least once a day and just looking around...it's almost surreal!

I'm so glad to hear things are progressing for you. Hope that continues so can avoid an induction! Keep us posted

I'm going to ask for a sweep next week at my apt if baby hasn't arrived by then. I found the cervical check uncomfortable too so I can just imagine what the sweep is like. I kind of think of it the way you do...it can't be any more painful then labor and delivery!

I think I'm losing my mucous plug bit by bit and had some brownish discharge since yesterday. Hopeing these are good signs that baby will come soon and on his own!

 

[Lisa85]

Linsday, Congratulations and I'm so glad you are both doing well now. Must have been a scary for a minute there.
How are you and Rowan going at home?

Kasey, Hopefully your getting close since you are losing your mucous plug.
i bet your OH is upset he can't take time off with you and LO as well. Glad you have people around to help you.

Karina, Hopefully that gets things moving and you don't need to be induced. Can i ask a silly question that i probably should know... what does effaced mean??
Looks like you're all prepared with your nursery. If you anything like me you will end up with everything in the lounge room and not using the nursery just yet. Now 4 weeks later I'm considering moving the change table back into the nursery and resuming normalish life!!

Ebony, What a cutie!!! Get back here and talk mamma with me when you're feeling up to it.
Tell me how she's going and how you're going?

KLmenke, Hoping for a smooth birth for you!! I think we are all realises how amazing our OH are at this time! My dad can't stop complimenting how much my OH has looked after me and our daughter.

All you ladies with newborns I'm keen to talk baby when your feeling up to chatting... i know i wasn't for the first few weeks but I'm here when you're ready!!

AFM - Elena slept 6 hours straight the other night!! she's the best baby in the world. I was with my family all yesterday and they kept saying you're so lucky she never cries. She pretty much slept the whole day while we were doing lots of things.

My nan passed away 2 days ago. Im so happy she got to meet Elena a few times. She actually passed away maybe 15 mins after we all left from visiting the other night. We all knew we may not see her again so we all said goodbye and that we loved her so i think she knew it was ok to let go. She wasn't able to talk to us that day but she opened her eyes a few times and knew we were there.

Heres a photo of me, elena & nan about 2 weeks ago when she first met her great granddaughter and the last time we saw her in fairly good health.

 

[vietmamsie]

Ebony- she is beautiful! congrats!

Lindsay- another scary birth story! so glad you are all doing better. hope your recovery is going well too.

lisa- i had bought some shaper underwear before, but nothing fits now. have no idea where to find dome that fit in vietnam, so i might just wait til i loose some weight and can fit into what i have. actually have been feeling much better... today has been a real turning point for me. I feel almost back to normal and even cooked dinner! Even though it was the exact opposite of the birth I wanted, I have been very lucky with a speedy recovery and havent had any of the scary side effects I was worried most about (spinal headache, etc)

I would love to chat more, but I feel like I have so little time to do anything these days... Lucy feeds on and off all day and has to be carried, yet hates the sling... Not much time for myself these days! But enjoying every minute of it. DH loves her so much and asked me why we didn't have a child years ago! I had to remind him of our history! But now, when I reflect on my past miscarriages, I just can't help but see them as meant to be,... I was meant to have THIS baby and i can't imagine my life without her!

Ok.. typing with a nursing infant across your chest is much harder than one would think! (oh yeah... BF has been going really really well. We are so lucky!)

Good Luck to those still waiting... you are almost there! get ready for the best thing in the world! motherhood is amazing!

 

[Karinama98]

Lisa - effacing just means how thin your cervix has gotten, which allows the head to pass through when you're fully dilated.

AFM - so....apparently the membrane sweeping worked. Started having contractions at 8 pm last night about 15-25 minutes apart. Went to bed around 11 pm and then was woken up a few times in the night by some strong cramps/contractions. Come 6:10 am they were happening often so I woke up and we started tracking the times.....5 minutes apart, 4 minutes, 3....

DH called our physician office and talked to the on call doc. So, we've been here at the hospital for almost 2.5 hours. I've almost doubled my dilation since yesterday and the contractions hurt like hell at times. Looks like Amber might be on her way today! Wish me luck....we'll see if we can do this drug free!

Oh, and DH has had a slightly anxious look on his face all morning but he has been awesome. Love that man so much.

 

[Kasey84]

Lisa- I'm so sorry to hear of your Nan's passing. What a beautiful picture...so wonderful that they got to meet!

I can't wait to talk motherhood with you when this baby finally arrives!

Vietmamsie- I'm so glad to hear that recovery and BF is going well!

Karina- How exciting!! Can't wait to hear of Amber's arrival. Good luck and keep us posted!!

 

[Lindsay109]

Iceprincess, I look forward to hearing how your home birth goes

Lisa, Elena is just too cute! I love the photos you've been posting . I'm sorry to hear about you nan, but glad she got to meet Elena while she was in good health. We are doing quite well since being home. Managing a bit more sleep and breast feeding is going much better here.

KLMenke, any updates on baby's arrival? Hopefully she will arrive before your induction date!

Kasey, that's too bad that your DH won't be able to take time off after baby arrives, but good that you'll have lots of help from family and friends. I have to say I am really surprised with how little I am able to get done in a day. Looking after a newborn is a full time job!

Karina, I live the nursery photos! Sounds like your sweep was effective, looking forward to hearing your updates!

Ebony, Samuella is just beautiful!!

Vietmamsie, Rowan is the same way, feeding on and off all day and the last couple days, wanting to be carried all the time. I think I spend most of the day sitting on the couch with him,with no shirt on lol

Anyway, here's a photo of my little guy

 

[Kasey84]

Lindsay- What a little cutie!! Glad to hear all is well with you

 

[KLMenke]

I just love seeing all the pictures of the lo's! They're all so adorable and make me that much more excited to meet ours!

No updates here. I have my 39 week appt on Thursday with a different Dr since mine was double booked all week since she's leaving town. So I'm kinda bummed about that!

I will be working until I go into labor, so I'm hoping that will help get things going since I'm on my feet all day. Fingers crossed she comes on her own. Sounds like everyone is doing well!

 

[vietmamsie]

Lindsay - he is so cute! Ha! I have a feeling our days are very similar! I rarely have more than my underwear on! Really trying to take in all this snuggle time.. this stage will be over before we know it!

Cord fell off last night (sort of early, but doc visit proved that all looks well!) so she is officially in cloth diapers. I think we will continue disposables at night until we get it all down. but have been really happy with the switch so far!

More pics...

 

[Brieanna]

KLMenke-I can't imagine working until the actual day, hopefully lo shows up soon so you can "rest", lol.

Kasey-that sucks that OH can't take off for lo. Newborns are hard work and believe it when they say to nap when baby naps, even if it is for just 15 minutes!

Iceprincess-I hope your water birth works out great!

Ebony-A pretty name for a beautiful baby!

Lindsay109-Beautiful pic! I cant believe how much they change in a week. Mine still hardly opens his eyes!

Karina- I love the nursery! Keep us updated about the lo! Sounds like it won't be long!

Lisa- I am so sorry about your nan. It is great that she and Elena got to meet. I am sure that it was very special for her. 6 hours of straight sleep would be so nice now, hopefully my lo will do that!

vietmamsie-I love the pictures! I can't wait to start cloth diapering, but we haven't got a washing machine for our new house yet. Glad to hear bfing is going so well! I understand about multitasking and its amazing how many things you can actually do with a baby attached to you, lol. After my incision heals a bit more I am going to try baby wearing too and see if I can actually get more done than just feeding and changing a baby. Our house looks terrible! Oh, don't give up on baby wearing. dd hated it at first but after she could hold her head up she started to love it.

 

[Karinama98]

Hi all....

Firstly, Lisa - I meant to say in my last posting that I was sorry to hear about your nan. You'll have great memories knowing your daughter was able to meet her before her passing. Never take that for granted and cherish it always.

So...the birth story. I guess to say first with it that my labor was almost 16 hours long from start to finish. I really, REALLY wanted to try to do a drug free labor, but like many women, they change their mind. At hour 11 with almost no progression from 4 cms and trying to relax using the whirlpool, I told my nurse to give me a narcotic, which she said would limit the pain to about 40-60% of what I was feeling and would last about 2-3 hours. Cool I thought.

But then an hour later I was told the doctor I was working with wanted to break my bag. The RN did let me know that once this is done the contractions would most likely be worse even with the narcotic so....did I want an epidural? I asked if it was an option to get it after the bag was broken because I really wanted to try to fight through it all. I was told that was okay to do, so I waited to see how the pain was.

I kid you not...the first or second contraction after the bag was broken was the worst pain I have physically ever felt in my life. It was so bad I would break down crying when each contraction started and I begged for the epidural. Once I got it, I was in great shape. It wasn't fully placed in the middle of my spinal column so I was able to still feel the contractions come without being told from the monitor (they didn't mean for that to happen, but actually it worked out pretty well).

Before the epidural I as at 5 cm, then literally after the epidural I moved to 7 cm. Fifty-five minutes later I was checked again and I was fully dilated. The nurse then told me they were going to have me wait an hour before any pushing would happen. I laid in bed in a half sleep daze.

There was then a shift change for the RN's and at 7 pm the new RN started working with me and DH in relation to me pushing. Trying to push when you can't really feel anything is super weird. I guess before I even started pushing she was only about a half inch from making an appearance - that hour did really allow her to make her way down apparently.

So one of the first few times I tried pushing her hairy little head made an appearance. I have never seen DH get so emotional about something so quickly. He teared up, smiled and said he was going to watch the entire process. The RN ended up having DH help hold up my one leg whenever a contraction would come and I would usually try to push 3-5 times with each contraction.

After an hour and 15 minutes we got to a point where the RN called the doctor in to help with the rest. With my last few pushes, the doctor did let me know things were starting to tear and she needed to do a small episiotomy because otherwise the next push would actually tear my clitoris, which she said would be worse pain than the episiotomy. Again...thank God for the epidural.

But with my last contraction (an hour and 45 minutes into it) before she was born I could see the top of her head when I looked down. With one big push I got her head out and then the rest followed - no additional push to get the shoulders out. She had so much waxy vernix over her it looked like someone caked her with lard. But she was placed on my stomach right away and DH and I just broke down crying. She was so beautiful. For me I cried hard because the moment I looked at her she looked like my dad looking back at me. After we evaluated all of her physical characteristics, my side of the family has the definitely dominant side of things - she got DH's chin, but she got my eyes, ears, hair color (for now). Oh, and yeah, those 25 weeks of chronic heartburn definitely turned into a full head of hair.

I did see the doc starting to stitch me up and take care of things. She then said, "Okay, good job. You're all set." I was puzzled because I was waiting to be told to push to get the placenta out. Apparently at some point it came out unbeknownst to me. LOL

Since having her, we are now home less than 48 hours from her arrival. BF'g has been up and down. I worked with a few different lactation consultants and RN's to learn proper technique - something I'm definitely still struggling with, and her struggling with in learning. The "Baby Blues" have definitely sunk in since she came into the world, and I can cry over looking at her, mentally realizing what ours lives are going to be, feeling like a failure about the breast feeding stuff at times, etc. Hopefully it won't last long because I can't handle the up and down emotions already.

But we're home. She is perfect in every way. We're going to get our dogs from my in-laws tomorrow because we wanted to introduce new things to her slowly - today was letting her get use to the house, which she is in contact wonderment about.

Attached are a few pictures. Sorry for the long post. Hoping everyone is doing well!

 

[Lisa85]

Karina, Congratulations! What a cutie!! Love hearing all the details. They sent you home very quickly.
I think the breast feeding issues is what i struggled with the most and what made me cry the most. My tip would be to see as many lactation consultants as you can but at the end of the day BF is not worth your sanity. If you're so upset and unhappy it affect the baby and you and your DH. In the end BF wouldn't have worked out for me anyway even if i wanted to but i was so much happier after i stopped and accepted that i couldn't do it.

Brieanna, how are you going at home?

Vietmamsie, cute pics!! Elenas cord mostly fell off at about 5 days i think.
All this stuff they tell you about c section leaving you bed ridden for ages is crap!! i was pretty good very soon after as well.
You will get more free time to come on here as time goes on. For me everything started to get pretty easy around 2 weeks.

Kasey & klmenke, hoping its your turn soon!!

Lindsay, i was the same for the first two weeks... nursing bra unclipped in my nana looking shape wear!! Very attractive! haha

AFM - Elena is 5 weeks tomorrow. She's always been pretty independent girl and would sleep well in her bassinet without needing me but she's starting to be awake more and more and getting a little more fussy. Fussy for her though is nothing bad. She's such a good girl.
Last night we got a 6 hour sleep then awake at 3am then fed and fussed around till 430am and then back to sleep till 830am. She's the best!!

baby wearing my princess at a party!

 

[vietmamsie]

she is beautiful! thanks for sharing your story!

don't worry.. the baby blues go away. mine only lasted a few days. Dont beat yourself up about the bfing... you both have to learn and it takes time. invest in good nipple cream and try different positions... we have totally different ones that work for us now than what we used at the beginning.

 

[vietmamsie]

lisa- love the baby wearing! so far lucy loves the mai tei style carrier, but not the sling. think i may try it again later today so i can get some things done... one handed typing is tough! We have an egro too, but i think she is a little small for it for now!

c-section recovery has been a breeze to be honest. Since day 7 i have felt nearly like my old self... i can sit however i want and do pretty much everything pain free. still on a bit of pain meds, but thats only for internal pain, not external.

a bit upset about my flap, but it seems to slowly be going down, day by day! cant wait to be able to start a diet in a few weeks!

 

[vietmamsie]

oh yeah... cloth diapering has already ended! we only got one size covers... they don't work for newborns! the second cover i used was way too big and we had our first blow out... all over my leg! will give it a few more weeks before we make the full switch. in the mean time, we can use disposables and two of the smaller covers.

 

[vietmamsie]

wow - sorry for so many posts! But question... Are you guys feeding like all the time? I think we are hitting 20 feedings a day. Sure some are pretty half hearted, but she seems to be draining each boob every other hour or so. I just want to make sure this is normal! She is pooping and peeing tons, so I know she is getting enough milk...

 

[Karinama98]

Yesterday after I posted Amber got so much better with BF'g. She fed well at 8 pm, but then wouldn't so much at 10 pm so I pumped what I could get an syringe fed her (mom and dad just wanted to get to bed was it lol). Got up at 1:30 am and 4:30 am for feedings and she was in complete control both times. This morning we've had a hard time waking her up and she half BF'd from one breast, but it was about an hour worth of work trying to wake her up to no avail. I ended up pumping the rest (which apparently I sucked getting one of the cups on because I had colostrum all of my side and didn't realize it lol). But she took the rest via syringe ok.

So far we average 6-8 feedings a day. She didn't have too many dirty diapers yesterday, but we also know it was her first day adjusting to breast food, so her digestive system is a little out of sorts.

Overall...was happy to get about 5 hours of sleep last night. She slept decently after the first feeding. Thankfully DH helped with her the other times she was fussy.

 

[Kasey84]

Karina- Congrats! What a little beauty!! Thanks for sharing your birth story. Glad your both home and doing well, though sorry to hear your struggling with BF and baby blues. Seems like these are things that a lot of women struggle with postpartum. I hope this improves for you soon!

Happy to see that everyone else seems to be doing well also

AFM- I'm 2 days from my EDD and no sign of baby yet! Can't wait to see my OB tomorrow to see if there's been any further dilation/progress. Cross your fingers for me ladies...I can't wait much longer for this baby to arrive!