From Spotters TTC thread to BFP! Success at last!

[Chloe597]

When I started I would get about 2-3 oz from each boob each time I pumped. It increased to 5 oz on the right and lefty stayed at 2-3, except in the morning when I could get more. Now my supply is dropping again. I remember gabby drinking 6 oz of Bm in bottles pretty early on and it surprised me how much could fit in her. Have you thought about how much Stella will drink?

Great news, jods! I have heard baby can flip all the way up through 37 weeks, but after that it's much less likely.

 

[Sbmack]

Thanks, ladies! I've only pumped yesterday and today so far. I did it after the first morning feeding and got around two ounces on each side. I have no idea how much Stella will eat. She feeds pretty quickly, but she's gaining a lot of weight so who knows. My dh has tried twice to give her a bottle and she hasn't taken it yet. She wasn't really hungry at the time so I'm hoping she will take one soon. I really hope she's not one of those babies that won't take a bottle!! Not sure how that will pan out when I go back to work.

Yay for your LO moving Jods!! Stella was transverse until 30 something week too!

 

[MrsPTTC]

I’m back ladies, so sorry I’ve not replied in a few weeks! I usually manage to read up once or twice a week but the thread moves so fast I forget what everyone had said so don’t reply until I’ve got plenty of time and the laptop is easier. I type into a word document and then paste it onto the site!

Sb sorry to hear you’re having a hard time with reflux and gas, Penny had colic it was awful. We used gripewater then something called colief which you either give them before bf’ing or put in their formula to help break down the lactose, it worked a treat for Penny. As for when we started her in a routine think it was around 7 or 8 weeks we started putting her upstairs to sleep in her moses, read her a story, feed then bed. We didn’t bath her every night at first, just every other. Also put on her “Ewan the dream sheep” which has white noise and heartbeat, womb noises and red glowing tummy, and put the blackout blind up. She started sleeping through around 10.5 weeks…But bearing in mind I was mixed feeding til 11 weeks then went onto formula only, I’m positive that helped too. Stella is gorgeous! My milk supply was crap, I only got 3-4 ozs out of each boob and only managed to pump around once or twice a day. My new niece wouldn’t take the bottle and they changed the type of bottle/teat and she took it no problem!

Chloe my brothers are the same I’ve no chance of being an auntie through blood anytime soon! I don’t think my older brother wants kids and my younger brother just likes to play the field! He works away Mon-Fri so would find a relationship very hard anyway. He’s talking about emigrating to Australia too, boo!! Yay for Gabby’s teeth! Penny has one at the bottom now and think the other one is coming through. It’s a bad time though, very miserable and crabby! Ha your photos are fab Chloe! Sorry to hear you’ve got to go away by yourself hun…

Yay Jods good article! I didn’t remember that you found out you were preggo on your other babies due date, that’s lovely

Daydream Harrison is just adorable!

Hi Gobolino :wave: Congrats on having a baby boy! We never DTD once since I found out I was pregnant!! He wouldn’t go near me! but of course he wanted me to do him ahem, favours….Yeah I had more cm, think it started end 2nd tri, early 3rd tri.


Here is Penny’s halloween pic x

 

[daydream]

Baby P is so adorable! Glad things are going well. I hope those teeth pop through soon so that you can get on to happier times.

H had croup this week, this kid.. with his hernia at 5 weeks, roseola and now croup that sent us to the ER he really is giving us a run for our money.

 

[Gobolino]

Agree!!!! Baby P is really sweet!!!! Beautiful pic! And had a good laugh about your DH's petition for, ahem...favours!! Hahaha Cheeky sods! Not a bad idea though...

 

[MrsPTTC]

Thanks ladies

Daydream remind me again what was his hernia? Penny has an umbilical hernia, only recently diagnosed though I knew something wasn't right with her tummy button early on. Going back to drs in a few weeks to make sure not getting bigger (as I thought it was but now not so sure) but if no change he said we'll just keep an eye on it & it should go away on its own

x

 

[Sbmack]

Hi Mrs. P! Penny is getting so big. She's gorgeous!! I hope everything is ok with the umbilical hernia.

Sorry H had the croup this week, Daydream!

A friend just gave us a sleepy bear that plays white noise. It sounds like when we listened to the heartbeat at the dr's. it shuts off on its own and then come on again if there's a cry! It has helped a bit, but she's still only really sleeping for two hours at a time. We got a four hour stretch two nights ago...I'm hoping she'll do it again soon.

 

[daydream]

MrsP - His was inguinal, it's where there's a hole into the groin area, those require surgery. He had a small umbilical one, but that's healed itself, which I think most do. The doctor said they don't do surgery on those until the kids are like 2 or 3 or later. Most go away on their own, I hope P's does as well!

Sb- Sorry the sleep is hard to come by right now That bear sounds really neat! I hope she works her sleep out soon. I think within the next few weeks things will naturally change on their own. Just remember, don't just up right when she cries, we did that at the beginning so he got used to needing us to sleep

 

[Sbmack]

Thanks, Daydream. I think we have been jumping up too soon. I've noticed that she will often whimper sometimes without it leading to full on crying. The bear is great because it calms her sometimes without waking us I wouldn't mind waking up so often if she went right back to sleep, but she often takes a while to settle down. Not to mention that we are supposed to keep her upright for 20 mins after each feeding, which is pretty difficult at night.

 

[Chloe597]

Girls, I am a horrible mom. Gabby fell out of my arms today as i was standing up from our rocker/recliner and fell right on her forehead and shoulder. Luckily it was carpeted. DH made me feel even worse by yelling at me, as if i had done something negligent or did this on purpose. I wasn't distracted by anything, nor did i have anything else it my arms. She just slipped right out. I cried more than her, she cried for maybe a minute. I was off and on for about an hour. She gave me lots of hugs tho so she must not hold it against me.

I survived my time away, as did DH. I'm super glad to be home now tho.

Penny is adorable! She looks so much older than the last picture! Sorry you are having a rough time with the teeth. Did Penny get a fever with them? Gabby just had a fever so i'm wondering if more teeth will be popping through. She had a high fever last time she was teething, and I haven't figured out if it was a coincidence or not

Daydream, sorry to hear about the croup! what were they able to do for him in the ER? I hope he is better! Poor thing has been through a lot!

SB, its still early for sleeping more than a couple hours at a time. I found that Gabby would sleep 4-5 hour stretches if she was laying on me or DH at night. ALso swaddling and playing the white noise i think helped a lot. I swear by the white noise machine, even tho DH hates it.

 

[Sbmack]

Oh Chloe, so sorry that happened. You are not a bad mom because of it though!!! I'm sure you were hurting more than her.

 

[daydream]

Chloe - You are not a horrible mom! It happens, and Gabby is just fine! I'm sorry DH reacted that way.

They gave Harrison steroids in the hospital to help his airway and a concentrated cool mist vaporizer treatment.

And yes! swaddling and white noise got us through those early months.

We had our family pictures done today and Harrison was in SUCH a good mood. I can't wait to get them back.

 

[daydream]

Oh and added a WTT ticker. I'm just DYING wanting another so badly, but trying to be patient..

 

[jodspods]

Chloe you're not the first and won't be the last! Don't worry about it! Your DH was wrong to have made you feel worse but as long as Gabby is ok (and you as you will have got a fright) that's the main thing!!

Oh daydream WTT...do you think you will manage to wait that long? I've always been sure id like a big gap between (there's 5 yrs between me and my little brother and we get on great) but who knows how ill feel after this one arrives!!

34 weeks today and off work on a weeks holiday! Off to celebrate our 7 year wedding anniversary today and hopefully purchase a changing bag!!!

 

[Gobolino]

Girls, I am a horrible mom. Gabby fell out of my arms today as i was standing up from our rocker/recliner and fell right on her forehead and shoulder. Luckily it was carpeted. DH made me feel even worse by yelling at me, as if i had done something negligent or did this on purpose. I wasn't distracted by anything, nor did i have anything else it my arms. She just slipped right out. I cried more than her, she cried for maybe a minute. I was off and on for about an hour. She gave me lots of hugs tho so she must not hold it against me.

I survived my time away, as did DH. I'm super glad to be home now tho.

Penny is adorable! She looks so much older than the last picture! Sorry you are having a rough time with the teeth. Did Penny get a fever with them? Gabby just had a fever so i'm wondering if more teeth will be popping through. She had a high fever last time she was teething, and I haven't figured out if it was a coincidence or not

Daydream, sorry to hear about the croup! what were they able to do for him in the ER? I hope he is better! Poor thing has been through a lot!

SB, its still early for sleeping more than a couple hours at a time. I found that Gabby would sleep 4-5 hour stretches if she was laying on me or DH at night. ALso swaddling and playing the white noise i think helped a lot. I swear by the white noise machine, even tho DH hates it.

Hun....you're not a horrible mom....most likely you're a great one. I can't imagine the feeling, but I do know that MY mom dropped me on my head when I was a baby, sometimes it just happens. (my elder sis always said that that was the reason I was stupid....don't u just love elder sisters????!!!!)

 

[Gobolino]

Chloe - You are not a horrible mom! It happens, and Gabby is just fine! I'm sorry DH reacted that way.

They gave Harrison steroids in the hospital to help his airway and a concentrated cool mist vaporizer treatment.

And yes! swaddling and white noise got us through those early months.

We had our family pictures done today and Harrison was in SUCH a good mood. I can't wait to get them back.

I hope H is feeling better!!! Sorry u had to go through that!

 

[Chloe597]

Thanks, girls, you all made me feel so much better, although i still feel like crap. I don't want to talk to DH at all because he made zero attempt to make me feel better. I can understand Gabby being priority #1, but to then just ignore me and my feelings after just seems bad. We have not had a great month in general, no BD, lots of stress and just general life stuff getting in the way. Its sad when I would rather sleep than BD. Now that I am stopping pumping, I am hoping my hormones go back to normal and I get back some of my desire to BD. Started my first day of not pumping in the morning, and only going to pump once during work. Next week I move to *hopefully* no pumping at all!

P, i forgot to send my best to Penny for her umbilical hernia. I'm not sure what that is, but I hope it goes away on its own!

Jods, enjoy your holiday!

Daydream, can't wait to see your pictures! I got family portraits a few weeks back. We don't have the copies yet. Gabby didnt smile in any of them except the ones where she is only with either me or DH, because the other one of us was making her smile. She does not smile for strangers. I need to go buy an outfit for christmas pictures, and get those scheduled.

1 year birthday party in less than a week! I'm taking 3 days off of work to prepare!

 

[daydream]

Chloe - Wow I can't believe how soon Gabby will be 1! I can't wait to hear all about the party! Have fun! I'm sorry to hear about you and DH. We all go through those periods of time, I know we've had several over the course of this past year. It's such a big life change becoming parents. I hope no more pumping does help your hormones a bit. How exciting that you will be done soon! I'm down to 1 in the morning and 1 during work.

Jods - I hope I can wait that long! It really is hard to feel that desire constantly, but I ideally wanted three years between my kids so I have to keep reminding myself of the pros for waiting.

 

[Sbmack]

Hi Ladies! Hope all is well with you all and your LO's!!

I Have a question for all the moms that have pumped. I'm wondering how much to store in each bag for the freezer. I know all babies are different, but I'm not sure what size bottles she'll be drinking. Also, when you went back to work were you using milk you pumped the previous day or using up freezer stash or some of both? I've been pumping for a few weeks. I feel like I will have more than I'll ever need. Do you keep it for when they ween and then put it in sippy cups? Sorry about all the newb questions...just trying to figure out a good routine.

Daydream, I know you were donating milk...can you donate it frozen?

Also, did any of you have trouble introducing a bottle? Stella wouldn't take one the first four or five times we've tried. I've stayed out if the room and my DH tried to feed her. She finally took one earlier this week when I was out of the house for a coup,e of hours because of a dentist appt. I was so happy she finally took it. I was so worried she was going to be one of those babies that won't take a bottle. Not sure what i would've done when I go back to work. She drank 1.5 ounces. She's 6 weeks today.

 

[daydream]

Sbmack - Sounds like things are going well! About taking the bottle, I had to use a nipple shield for the first few weeks, so I think that helped H be adaptable. Just make sure you're using a low flow nipple because that best mimics the breast. She'll get the hang of it! Don't worry, she won't starve, just may be a bit cranky.

For pumping for work, I gave the fresh milk and just ordered the freezer milk in the freezer by date. Then when I started getting close to that milk being 3 months old, I started cycling it out to make sure it didn't go bad. That's also when I would donate milk just to clear out the milk before it was bad.

For donating, you donate frozen milk, you have to be screened, which is just filling out forms about your health and medications you take. Then you get a blood test the milk bank pays for. After that you are free to donate, just need to make sure you only donate when: 1) you are not taking restriction medications (you can call and ask the milk bank and they will check them out for you) 2) you did not drink alcohol within 12 hours and 3) no one is sick in your household. What I would do is put a star on milk bags that I knew were good to donate and kept them in the freezer, that way if I ended up with too much milk, I could pick out the "good" bags to send to the donation site. I drove mine since it was near my work, but they will also ship a cooler to you so that you can have UPS pick it up.

It was a very rewarding experience for me. I donated 500 oz total, which per their newsletter equates to 2,000 meals for a preemie.