Babies that were due in may 2012

[anti]

I didn't enjoy breastfeeding at all. It stressed me out which then stressed ash out then my OH got stressed and it just didn't work for us. Luckily I have a great milk supply and never had to make it better or anything like that. If you google exclusive pumping there's loads of info. I started out pumping everytime ash fed. I use to get about 4-5 oz at that stage. Now I pump every 4-5 hours and get between 7-9oz. I have a tommee tippee electric pump which I find great!! Now at night time OH feeds her while I pump so that we can get it done quicker. OH really enjoys feeding her as well and I'm alot less stressed and enjoy giving her a bottle. It is time consuming, but alot less stressful for me. I'm glad we made the decision we did as I didn't want to FF but BF just didn't work for us.

 

[zephyr]

wow anti thats quite amazing really!

Sorry to hear about your troubles Luci, I hope that she continues gaining weight!

Well here I am sick again! Though this time I have caught a cold Since having these babies it seems my immune system has taken a nose dive. Yey!

Max has gotten so used to being in his Moby wrap he now cries when I sit down. If I want to stay sitting I have to lift my legs and take 'pretend' steps like I'm walking while holding him at my front......I wonder how long until he realises hes not actually in his wrap and Im not really walking round. hehe

 

[bumpin2012]

Luci: its hard to enjoy bfing when its not working well. I wish I could bf Gabe exclusively, but I just don't have the supply, and he doesn't latch and fed well enough to improve my supply. You do what works best for you and baby. If its formula, pumping or bfing, it doesn't matter as long as baby is getting fed.

I enjoy bfing, so I still give him the boob, followed by 2 oz of formula. Some days he is content after just boob and others he needs more formula.

Anti: I'm so jealous that you are able to pump so much. I pumped every time Gabe ate, and the most I have ever gotten is 1 oz.

 

[anti]

The midwives, health visitors and lactation consultants were all surprised I could pump that much as well. I've just been super lucky that I'm able to. I freeze about 10oz a day as well coz I make so much. I really am lucky I can do it this way as I know loads of women struggle to pump.

 

[wavescrash]

So it's no secret that things with Hannah have been rough. Between reflux, gas and colic... OH & I have just near lost our minds. My Mom is really our only help and while I appreciate all she does, it gets rather annoying at times as well. She constantly is telling us what the problem is and what will fix it. Even if I tell her I already heard or thought of that and tried it with no such luck. She thinks she's a darn baby whisperer or something. I had 2 great days with Hannah and my Mom started telling everyone it was her idea for me to try chamomile tea & that she swears by it. First of all, I only gave her a half an ounce of it and she was already calm earlier in the day before then anyway. I usually just let her go on if that's what makes her feel better.

Anyway, she took Hannah for a couple of nights to give me a little break as I'd just been put on anti-depressants this week for PND/PPD. She had her for 3 nights total. I know I sound silly saying this but Hannah would no settle or sleep for her at all and it made me so happy haha. I mean, obviously I wish Hannah had had a better stay there and slept better and not been as fussy but it was a little nice to see my Mom going through it all and not being able to resolve the issues. In fact, she called me up to see what she should try and one of my suggestions ended up working temporarily.

And even better? We picked her up today and brought her home & she slept the entire time. She slept so long, we had to wake her for a bath and bottle and it wasn't long before she was asleep again for the night. I had to text my Mom and brag a little bit

 

[anti]

Well done waves!! Hope Hannah keeps being good for you!

 

[luci and bump]

Waves- I'm glad your mum got to see how bad Hannah can be, maybe she'll offer a bit more support now. Am happy that she slept for so long too!!

Evie fed for 20 mins, then slept for an hour, then fed another 20 mins, and so far has been asleep for 2 hours and 5 mins! so she must have got enough milk from me Have been pumping whilst she feeds, and have got 3oz so far!! So that will replace at least one bottle of formula it seems to be toughening up my nipples too, as it doesn't hurt so much now
Am currently sandwiched between a sleeping baby and a sleeping OH, so am being naughty and bidding on things on ebay I resisted buying much tiny baby stuff, but now she's 2 weeks old and still fits in it, I can't realistically do a load of washing every day, so she needs more clothes!!

 

[KendraNoell]

A mother's love is through her heart, not her breasts.

If you're resenting breastfeeding I would say go for the formula. Pumping can be doable but its so so time consuming and sometimes you might feel like you're bonding with the pump and not the baby. I gave up on pumping a couple days after I decided I didn't want to breast feed anymore. I formula feed and my child has gained twice as much weight as they expected. He's happy, I'm happy, and honestly it doesn't matter what I feed him so long as he's happy and healthy. If you gave your LO your colostrum that's what has the antibodies in it. So you already gave him the best gift you could. That's how I feel about it anyway. It took me a few days of guilt before I felt like I could get past it.

 

[luci and bump]

I didn't feel guilty giving her formula, but I did feel guilty about how relieved I felt when my OH could take her downstairs for a bottle!

She's not had any formula yet today, she's been latching on like an angel She had a bottle of 3oz expressed breastmilk. My plan for now is, feed her when she asks, pump the other side when I can, and if she is still hungry when she comes off my breast, I'll give her some formula. So far, she hasn't needed formula yet During the night, I find it harder to feed her, I find it much easier in a chair. So I think I'll feed her once, and pump, and then the next time she wakes up, my OH can give her a bottle of expressed milk

Feeling much more positive today And, just about to watch my first ever episode of OBEM!!

My only negative thing is, I had a quick look at my foofy today, and it looks like the bottom of my vagina has detatched itself on one side Not really sure who I should talk to about it! It isn't painful, but its pretty uncomfortable if I sit down too quickly. Evie has the health visitor on wed, think I'll mention it to her and see what she suggests.

 

[zephyr]

Taken about half an hour ago! 7 weeks tomorrow can't believe how fast time has gone.

 

[KendraNoell]

Detached itself?!?! Can you be more specific? Sounds horrid.

 

[anti]

Ashlynn slept in her cotbed in her own room last night. feel like she's growing too big too fast! She really isn't comfortable in her Moses basket anymore. I didn't sleep well though coz I was listening for every little sound.

 

[luci and bump]

Anti- that sounds so scary! I don't ever want Evie to leave our room lol.

Kendra- It looks like the bit at the bottom of my foofy (just before the perinium) looks like its only attached to my labia on on one side. I didn't tear externally though, so not sure if it's the internal tear they told me about. They said it was a small tear though, but this looks pretty big. Not sure if I should go to the MLU or speak to my gp about it? I haven't been told that they'll check me down there? At the moment I look huge down there! I know I'm not quite 3 weeks PP, but there is no way sex would be enjoyable at the moment! I've convinced myself now I'll never go back to how it was

On the plus side, Evie is still combi feeding, but having more breast, just using formula as a top up. My new pump should be here soon She was weighed Friday and today. Friday she was 6lb 6.5 oz, and today she is 6lb 11.5oz!!

 

[KendraNoell]

Hmmm I would think if you didn't tear externally then you wouldn't have that issue... could it be a really big hemmorhoid or just swelling? If you're still "huge" and swollen down there after 3 weeks I think that might be something worth getting checked out. I was in pain a bit after 3 weeks but I wasn't hugely swollen anymore, that went away after a week and a half or two weeks.

As for me, going back to work today. LO only slept from 12:00-3:30, fed him 4 oz and he went back down almost 4, then was back up at 5:30 of course now he's sleeping soundly at 6:30 but I had my alarm planned to go off at 6:15 so no chance of getting anymore sleep this morning. I hope this isn't how it's going to be every day or I won't make it

 

[yazzy]

They are gorgeous zephyr! The time really has flown by, Lola will be 6 weeks on Wednesday and every day fly's by!

Waves sounds as tho you are having a tough time of it. I hope Hannah settles soon, must be awful to figure out how to make her feel better.

Anti you're doing fab expressing all that milk...go you! I'm going to try Lola on a bottle in July or August so my mum can babysit when we go to a wedding.

We had a tough night last night, Lola wanted to feed pretty much constantly and finally went to sleep at 1.30 for 3.5 hours.

 

[frangi33]

I'm back ladies - sorry for the massive absence!

Annabelle Eris was born on the 7th June weighing 8lb 1oz at exactly 42 weeks.

I had to be induced and the birth for me was pretty traumatic I ended up loosing a lot of blood and having failed epidurals and an epiostomy and forceps and then a few days after birth my stiches all split.

However Annabelle is here she is now 12 days old and is such a good baby - she's just gone down for the night in her own bedroom and will wake for one feed during the night and then she usually gets up about 7am.

We're super lucky and I don't know how we've managed it, perhaps its because she is much older than most newborns

Lovely to see how everyone's babies have grown I'm looking forward to catching up with you all, here's a piccy of annabelle at 9 days old:

 

[anti]

Yay frangi!! Lovely to have you back. Sorry about the birth but glad you and annabelle are ok.

I think ash is going through a growth spurt. She's gone from 26oz of EBM a day to 34oz. She's been feeding alot more often and waking more at night. Hope it passes soon!!!!

 

[kwood]

Welcome back Frangi - sorry to hear that you birth was so rough but glad your LO is so great. That is a lovely picture.

 

[zephyr]

Congrats Frangi! shes beautiful

Our little ones had their immunisations yesterday ohhh it was awful! They screamed such sad screams. I cried lol I am so glad thats over with now.
Aria reacted a little bit to hers, she had a mild fever and was sleepy but she is better today. Max just wanted more boobie milk, and was a little unsettled but was fine over night.
We got referred to a pediatrician too so hopefully we see one in the next few weeks, we were told we would probably have a formula prescribed to us, can't believe its taking this long to get stuff sorted though!

 

[bumpin2012]

Frangi! Welcome back hun! I was thinking of you the other day. I'm glad you are recovering, and Annabelle is just gorgeous! Congrats

Zephyr: I can't believe it's taking so long to get this sorted out! I hope you get the answers you are looking for from the peds specialist.

Been having a rough week. In laws finally came to meet Gabe, and mil spent the whole time insisting that I am starving him, because he only gets 2 oz in a bottle after I breast feeds as top up. So a caved, gave him more to make her happy, and the poor boy was vomiting so much. Anyways, all that extra formula meant less time on the boob, and it's now destroyed the small supply that I had to the point where Gabe is refusing to bf. I started pumping every 2-3 hours in Sunday, but I was only managing 3 oz in 24 hours. This morning I was able to pump a full oz out of my left boob! So I'm hopeful that I can rebuild and convince him to nurse again...