30 Something and Expecting

[Kitty_love]

We got to bring Blake home on Sunday after 7 weeks in the NICU!!! We were so excited and a little surprised, too. We went to visit him on Sunday morning and the dr said no reason to keep him here any longer, you can take him home today! Good thing we had everything ready for him. He's doing great at home, so cute, and such a good little baby. I'm exhausted, but so thrilled he's home! He's up to 7 pounds yesterday at his check-up - much bigger than his birth weight of 3 pounds 12 ounces.

How is everyone else doing? Premomt? How are you feeling?

 

[DHime]

kitty - CONGRATS! ENJOY!

 

[Lisa40]

Ahhhh kitty. How's things going at home?

x

 

[Kitty_love]

It's great having him home. He's sleeping in my arms right now, so cute! he's so funny when i give him tummy time, too! I'm pretty exhausted, though, he seems to sleep better during the day. not sure if he gets lonely at night, after always having people around at the NICU, or if it's just a bit colder in his room at night? We tried turning up the heat last night, maybe that will help.

How did your little ones start sleeping more at night and being up more in the day? Is it age, or something we should be doing to help him understand day/night? I know it's still pretty early, he's 8 weeks (even though still a week from due date), just curious about your experiences.

 

[Lisa40]

I think it's mainly age to be honest kitty, our LO started differentiating at about 8 or 9 weeks if I remember rightly, your LO may take a bit longer i guess with them being early?

I was told to take LO out as often as possible in the daylight as that would stimulate chemicals that let them know it's daytime
enjoy those little cuddles though, Isla is well over 17lb now the little chunk!
xx

 

[Jazavac]

For us, everything started working out when I decided to co-sleep, which I think was about three weeks into his life, or so. I don't remember anymore, to be honest. In the beginning, due to all the crap from the hospital and my insanely long labour, I was too tired and, therefore, too scared to lay by the baby.

From the first night of co-sleeping, I got him to sleep all night, pretty much. We go upstairs to his room (we share the bed there) at midnight and don't come back before 8-10 in the morning. I'm breastfeeding, so we do wake at night, but it's easy, since he's right there by me.

 

[DHime]

I love cosleeping.
How is everyone doing?
so I was out for a while. Little man pulled out his tube and then caught a cold which earned him another week in PICU. Yay

 

[Jazavac]

Aww, poor little guy.

I said it already in Coco's journal, but I'll say it here, too - he's sooo adorable!

 

[Premomt]

I have been using cotton flats and the other night I put a home made insert in and OMG it smelled horrible! I am not sure why... IDK what it is made of I think either hemp, bamboo or cotton. It smelled like weed though! Skunky and nasty! I'm not sure if it needed stripping or is just nasty smelling overall.

ha just posted this and realized I was meaning to post it in Jaz' parenting journal lol!

So I'll continue here and say that:

Isabella Claire is now two weeks old tomorrow! She was born underwater Jan 26 at 6:56am and weighed 7lb 5oz and was 20.5 inches long.
I've not been able to update anywhere on here but I've been reading journals and lurking

I'm gonna try and get a parenting journal started ASAP and post our birth story!

 

[lilosmom]

CONGRATS KITTY AND PREMOMT! Hope you're both enjoying being moms. We've been struggling the last few weeks with colds and flus and just last night had our first trip to emergency to confirm our little lady has an ear infection. Puts into perspective what you moms with premature babies are dealing with and my heart goes out to you even more. Three hours at the hospital last night was more than enough for me and I got to just take her home, fill a prescription and spend a few days at home now cuddling back to health my poor baby. You moms going back and forth must be exhausted. Sending hugs to all of you, hoping to update some pics soon. Would love to see some more on here as I can't seem to find the time to read everyone's journals. Take care ladies!

 

[Premomt]

https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/parenting-journals/1724971-our-little-water-baby.html#post25337691

here's my birth story and parenting journal!

 

[Jazavac]

Off to check your journal, Premomt! Huge congrats!

lilosmom, I hope everyone gets better soon.

 

[bunda]

premomt: re the stinky inserts, I do remember reading that this can be a sign that you may be using too much detergent. Try running them through a wash with no detergent. Or stripping them with dish soap. And maybe halve the amount of detergent at the next few washes to see if that helps.

 

[Jazavac]

I've noticed that pretty much any and all natural inserts and liners (cotton, bamboo, hemp) stink, whereas the MF/pull items just don't. I use barely any detergent and I've even washed the cotton things with none at all. No change in the stinker department.

 

[bunda]

hmm weird. Mine don't stink at all. Neither the bamboo nor the hemp.

I have a front loader and use a non-biological washing powder for sensitive skin and give an extra rinse before the wash cycle, halving the amount of detergent recommended on the box. And we live in a hard-water area (could it be that?).

The inserts are air dried (indoors, usually). This makes my hemp inserts very crispy (like floorboards, if anything) but no stinkiness.

 

[Premomt]

I use a CD safe detergent (rockin green) and use their formulation for treated water (classic rock)
so far my 100% cotton flats have been fine. I stripped them all before bebe was born, and have since been doing the following:
rinsing with a sprayer, spraying with Bac-Out, washing with just a hot wash and extended rinse.
I have been seeing some stains remaining so I asked the gal I bought them from how she avoided the stains and she said a warm rinse before the wash. So I have changed to loading the washer (front loader) starting the cycle, and pausing it for a bit once its agitated. then finishing it off with an extended rinse and spin.
So far so good, but I've not used that insert since the one time. but my diapes are doing ok otherwise.

 

[wookie130]

I say a cold pre-soak BEFORE your warm wash...warm/hot water tends to lock in stains, rather than remove them.

 

[Kitty_love]

Congratulations, Premomt! Glad you were able to have the birthing options you wanted. Thanks for posting your story.

 

[Jazavac]

hmm weird. Mine don't stink at all. Neither the bamboo nor the hemp.

I have a front loader and use a non-biological washing powder for sensitive skin and give an extra rinse before the wash cycle, halving the amount of detergent recommended on the box. And we live in a hard-water area (could it be that?).

The inserts are air dried (indoors, usually). This makes my hemp inserts very crispy (like floorboards, if anything) but no stinkiness.

Front loader here, as well. Hard water, non-biological washing powder, CD safe. Using probably 1/14354353 of the recommended amount.

I've tried both air drying, as well as the dryer. I think I forgot to mention in my original post - nothing stinks when it's dry, it stinks when soiled. Bamboo, cotton or hemp plus urine... headexplode. Ick.

Our cotton diapers all have stains from the breastmilk poo. I'll throw them out in the sun as soon as the weather takes a turn for something less wintery, pretty much. Pocket diapers are mostly stainless. They get pooed on, of course, but I guess the non-natural fabrics simply don't stain as much.

 

[bunda]

Oh the stinkiness when soiled. Yeah, there is a waft of ammonia when I take the lid off the nappy bin. Luckily I only get a whiff of it when removing the nappy and when getting them into the machine. I am dreading the full-on human faeces we'll get once he starts taking on more solids. BF poop is so benign.