July Mamas! 101 Due in 2015! ! 37 babies born 23 boys 14 girls <3

[RaquelDee]

Can I get some boob advice from those who are ahead of me or have done this before? How do you know when your milk has come in? My boobs now look massive but I think I'm still just producing colostrum. How long after delivery did it happen for you?

 

[hollyw79]

Raquel, my milk came in like 2 days after. Generally w a vaginal birth, it's about 48 hrs later. C section can take 3-5 days. I'd say if they feel full and heavy, it very likely did come in.

 

[hollyw79]

Meant to add.. Livvy, I probably will Co sleep the first year and move her sometime between a year and a few months after depending on her personality and how things are going. I Co slept with my daughter Scarlett for 17 months. She's 2 1/2 now. 17 months was a bit too long.. So I'm guessing it will be like 14 months. We shall see!

 

[hollyw79]

I'll post this another few times just for those who may have missed the post..

But we have the Facebook page up and running just pm me if you want to be added!

 

[countryblonde]

Raquel my milk comes in later day 4 or 5 don't really remember. They will be rock hard at first. Also if you are sure just express a little, will be more white instead of yellow. You should also feel a difference when you are feeding cause you will start to have a let down

 

[k4th]

Livvy - was he passed around a lot at your relatives? Maybe he just had more awake time there & so was exhausted at night. Not necessarily a good thing for him - although wonderful for you!!!

Raquel - my boobs went rock hard when my milk came in. It lasted about 12 hours & they were so swollen that latching was difficult at times. Mine came in on day 4. I now need breast pads/shells as I leak between feeds!

Afm - we're doing well. Ds feeds about every two hours in the day but has been going up to four hours at night. He's a bit fussy in the evening so I think he wears himself out for the night. Last night he fed every 45-60 minutes on both sides from 5pm to midnight! But then slept from midnight until 6.30am!! I didn't - I kept waking from 4am wondering whether I should wake & feed him or not in the end I didn't, just because he'd fed SO much the evening before. Does that sound like the right thing to do??

 

[hollyw79]

I think that's right k4th.. Unless your little is dropping tons of weight, let them sleep at night!

 

[Livvy]

K4th - he was held a lot, but mostly while he was sleeping. I think maybe he was more settled because he was held more?

Holly - Slade was pooping every single time he ate! It's slowed down a little now though... But I only changed his diaper once last night, and he had wet through by morning. :/ I guess I'll need to change him more often or get the overnight ones.

 

[Jrepp]

Breast feeding hasn't been going so well here either. Little man dropped over a pound in the day and a half from leaving the hospital to his check up. We had to supplement an extra ounce of fluid after I fed 20 minutes per side. My milk was a late bloomer though.

 

[RaquelDee]

Thanks for the advice about milk - it is definitely in now, the rock hard boobs were the give-away. Finding feeding a little painful so probably need to work on getting a better attachment. She screamed the place down between midnight and four last night, feeding sporadically but insisting on it every hour. Hoping tonight will be better, but am going to grab some sleep earlier so that if she does it again I'll be a bit better rested. Finally going home from hospital tomorrow, which will hopefully help.

 

[k4th]

Raquel - ds found attaching difficult when my boobs were rock hard. Try expressing just a little before feeding to get a better latch. I also kept watching you tube videos of latching whilst I was feeding - just to compare what I was doing to what I *should* be doing. I think we might have got it now (touch wood!!!!). I'm sure you'll feel better when you're home in your own bed too

 

[katangel90]

Jeremy has finally come into this world!! 8/7/15 8lbs 10oz 20.5 in. Everything went as smooth as it possibly could go!! Doctors nurses and the rest of the staff was amazing. We get to go home today! Can't wait for my own bed!!

 

[Alea]

Congratulations and welcome, Jeremy!

 

[k4th]

Katangel - he's beautiful!! Congratulations

 

[Rach87]

Congrats kat!

 

[MKHewson]

Breast feeding hasn't been going so well here either. Little man dropped over a pound in the day and a half from leaving the hospital to his check up. We had to supplement an extra ounce of fluid after I fed 20 minutes per side. My milk was a late bloomer though.

Anderson lost about a lb, we will back to birth weight by his one month. As long as there are wry diapers, poos and they are not lethargic then i really feel you don't need to worry. Everything catches up.

 

[LuvallmyH]

Congrats to all the mamas & their beautiful babies!

Haven't posted in ages. Been adjusting to life with 8 children. Also, Hawkin was born with a few issues & it has been a long month! He was born with a lip tie, anterior and posterior tongue tie, a recessed chin and high palate. All of those things combined were a disaster for breastfeeding. I'm happy to say that we worked very hard. He has had lasar surgery for his ties & he had therapy and the chiropractor twice a week from birth. He is 100% breastfed, and through many long nights of finger feeding with pumped milk, lots of stress and crying (on my part,) and many ups and downs, we never had to use a bottle or formula. I'm very proud of the both of us! He is an absolute joy!

Here is his belated birth story:

Spoiler

I had been in prodromal labor for days & even ended up in l&d a few days before I was induced. I was scheduled to be induced Wednesday July 8, mostly because I was in so much pain with my separated pelvis, partly because I have big babies & a big family to make arrangements for, and also because we had a 40 min drive to the hospital & short labor when I went on my own.
We got to the hospital at 7:00am July 8. Went through all the check in stuff & the Dr checked me (still the same 3cm I had been for 2 weeks) and broke my water at 8:30. This was the same Dr who delivered my last baby in the tub & I was thrilled to have him back on the team. We also had the same nurse, Rose, who had been my nurse with the two previous labors. She didn't get to see either girls be born because her shift ended first! We loved Rose! Bonus there too! My doula showed up and shortly after so did Krista. (Krista is the sweetest nurse in my practice. Well, almost nurse. She is still in school. On a whim I asked her if she had attended a birth at one of my last visits. She had not - and I invited her to mine!)

I got on the birth ball - which was fine while I was on it, but agony if I tried to move or get off. It was killing my pelvis. We were talking about relationships and joking around until around 10:30 when I asked to start pitocin. We were hoping my body would start on it's own having my water broken, but no such luck. Anyway - I started contraction almost right away, but they were fairly mild contractions. We carried on having a good time... It was really difficult for me to do anything in the way of promoting gravity because I was basically unable to move with my pelvis. I had unfortunately spent the last month of my pregnancy laying down as much as possible because of the pain. I know that made it more difficult because I was trying to be upright the whole time. I was either on the ball or sitting up in bed. As the contractions started to pick up I decided to stand up and rock back and forth. I would say they started to get really intense after 2:00. I think my perception of how bad they were was off because I was expecting them to be like they were with Haven. Honestly they never got that way. Not to say it was easy - just no worse or easier than my other kids. Apparently Haven was just a special labor of love!
It got to the point that I could not talk through them anymore. My dh looked at me and said "I say she delivers at 4:27!" It was close to 3:30 by then. We decided to fill the tub. I had to be checked before I could get in. You guessed it, 3cm! I wasn't worried because I was stuck at 3cm with the last birth until 30 min before she was born.
I got in the tub just around 4:00 and tried to find a position to relax in. I knew I was getting very close to delivering. I tried resting my head on my arms leaning forward in sort of a frog like position. It felt great for my back. I told the nurses I was getting really close & to let my Dr know. I had a new nurse by then - Rose's shift had ended again! She did decide to stay anyway because I was so close. They asked me to give them a 5 min warning before I started to push! No pressure or anything, right?!
I didn't make a warning, I started grunting and they ran out to grab the dr, lol. I tried to stay in that positon to push, but I just couldn't relax. My dh told me to just do what I did last time. It was hard because the contractions were only like 30 seconds apart & I couldn't move during one. He helped me flip over onto my left side (I have actually delivered all 8 on my left side) with one foot up on top of the tub. So much better! I grabbed onto him & I started to push then. Honestly for me pushing is the worst part. I hate it. Fortunately it doesn't last longer than a few minutes & a few pushes. I also know at that point it's almost over. So, after a few pushes his head came out & although I wanted to wait for another contraction to push the rest of him out, the told me to keep going. So I did. Out he came and they called the time 4:27! Just as dh had said! Hawkin Elwood, baby #8, 8lbs 8oz July 8th. I got to snuggle him for a bit, but we banked our cord blood so I had to stand up for that. Hawkin went right from me to dh. After the cord blood I needed help getting out of the tub because I could not pick my legs up high enough to get out. I scooted over to the toilet and gently delivered the placenta. My dh was great, my nurses were great & my team was great!
I actually walked from the tub room back to my room. Again I needed help getting into the bed because I was in absolute agony from my pelvis. The Dr came in & checked to see if I had any tears - I did not & actually never have had any or an episiotomy.
Next we moved onto trying to get him to nurse. The next chapter of his feeding issues started there - but that's another story!
I had a considerable amount of pain following his birth because of my pelvis. I needed help to go to the bathroom that first night. I literally could not pick my legs up to walk or get into bed. It was awful! It actually took a good week to not be in terrible pain every time I tried to move my legs at all.

I guess all in all, pretty uneventful! So much less traumatic than the last one!

He's really thriving now at a month old

 

[hollyw79]

Congrats Kat!!!

Luv, wow, that's awesome that you stuck it through with bf. I know how emotionally taxing that all is! He looks like he is doing great~ so, so sweet!!!

 

[k4th]

Wow luv - great job on still bf!! That's amazing!!

 

[jbk]

Breast feeding hasn't been going so well here either. Little man dropped over a pound in the day and a half from leaving the hospital to his check up. We had to supplement an extra ounce of fluid after I fed 20 minutes per side. My milk was a late bloomer though.

Anderson lost about a lb, we will back to birth weight by his one month. As long as there are wry diapers, poos and they are not lethargic then i really feel you don't need to worry. Everything catches up.

My baby is named Anderson too