--Lion Cubs - Mummy and Baby Group!-- We are all One Year Old!

[Sam_Star]

Hi ladies :wave: im coming to you live from the hospital bed!!!
Just a quick update really to let you all know that Elinor had her diaphragm surgery this morning and all went well!
I've been really emotional today i think it was the shock of the surgery being so soon as i was woken up at 8:30 to be told that she was going down at 9 so i rushed to NICU to see her and they were just putting her in the transport incubator then they took her downstairs so i rushed after them to say goodbye and watch them put her in the ambulance which was really hard and i just stood there crying and then went to my room to wait for the news.
So i waited for about 3 hours i think and expressed some milk, as i was taking the milk down they were wheeling her back so i got to see her straight away!!
I spent a little while with her then came back to my room and cried non stop for hours i was just so relieved!!
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

 

[Mary Jo]

Awwww, Sam, so glad Elinor's operation went well, that must be a big weight off your shoulders. What's next for her?

Shadow, I did see the man whose brother had died - but just came over all "flaming X Factor sob story AGAIN" with it. It IS sad, of course... but I hate the way there's always someone strategically placed to tug at the heartstrings, and they always make the finals but don't win.

Pips, I don't know how we got AE to sleep in the cot, it has been a bit hit and miss (same with the moses basket). When we first had him home, he wouldn't tolerate either of them but a few days ago (maybe a week, I don't know, time is blurring into one!), he was suddenly ok and took naps. Maybe just keep trying with Sam... have to say, it's sometimes hard at bedtime when he cries because it would be so easy to take him into bed and cuddle him to sleep and we'd all have peace and quiet, but I have to be determined and not do that, I've told myself it's off limits now. And if he is fed before bed (we're supplementing with formula after he has the boob, because he's not getting enough breastmilk - as long as he's getting *some* I am ok with some formula, it's working for us at the moment anyway) and he is comfy (am still getting my head around his needs, simple though they are, and he can be crying for a little while before I think to check his nappy, duh), then there's more chance of him dropping off. But sometimes he is just alert and not wanting the sleep, in which case I don't get sleep either because I have to sit up and cuddle him or let him suck the boob (for comfort, I am sure, if he's recently been fed).

Last night, he didn't go to sleep easily but once he had a clean nappy, finally, and was fed, and then was changed and had the sheet changed because he did a sick, he did sleep and didnt wake till after 6am! So we all had close to 6 hours, which was pretty amazing. But I don't expect that again, even though on the whole the first 2 weeks have been easier than I thought they'd be - I had in my head visions of terrible, terrible times, of baby never ever sleeping, crying constantly, never being able to soothe him... but it's not like that. Sure, sometimes he's harder work than other times, and I have the hugest of respect for women who bring up their babies alone as I think I'd have cracked up having to do this without Chris, but mainly Adam is pure joy to us, a dream come true, worth every strained nerve and stressy moment

 

[tmr1234]

Sam glad Elinors operation went ok hope she recovers fast for u

sorry to hear some of u are having feeding probs. i can say when i gave up expressing on tues i didnt feel gilty at all that may make me seem a really bad person but i was slipping in to getting pnd as i was crying all the time couldnt talk to any 1 would shout my self in the room for hrs with just me and lucas every time he cryed i did to i couldnt handle my older son and my oh was no use at all still isnt. My oh was makeing me feel bad about giving up as he thinks all mums should BF but i seid hes a bloke how the hell can he know what it is like. Any way after giving him FF i have been happer hes sleeping from 10pm untill 3am and going back down at 3:30am and waking at 6am as it is only me that will do the night feeds or any feeds at all i dnt mind him waking at them times. hes going 4hrs in the day as well so only cryed 1s sins tues so seem to be getting bette just wish oh would help me out even a tiny bit.

Sorry for the rant girls.

 

[joeyjo]

Hey girls:

Samstar - glad to hear elinor's Op went well. Thinking of you all.

All going ok here but this morning has been a weird one. George didn't feed vey well when he woke about 2:30 so he woke again about 4. Again he didn;t feed well and kept crying and straining - he seemed really uncomfy in his tummy and I had to keep trying to ind him. He did some loud farts + pooped, changed his nappy and then finally he did a huge burb and I got him to settle again but he was up for nearly an hour. Then he woke at 7 and we had the same uncomfy attitude, barely fed, crying on the boob and only managed to get him to settle sleeping on DH's chest.

I think my boobs have filled more and he's having trouble latching so taking in more air. will have to try hand expressing I think before putting him on.

 

[Mimiso]

Sam, glad to hear that Elinor's operation went well. It must be hard for you right now especially with not having her with you but you have done so well and coped brilliantly. This is now the final stage and soon you can take her home. Massive hugs to you

Sorry that some of your LO's are having problems feeding, winding and pooing - it will all settle down with time. I eventually bought some infacol as my little madam was ocassionally having problems winding. Shadow I am with you on being physically exhausted, with me it's mentally as well as I am not getting enough sleep at night. It's not so much that she wakes up at night, I am such a light sleeper so any movement she makes I wake up. I think I will have to try your co-sleeping technique as it sounds brill.

MJ - sorry to hear your tear is bothering you. When I had my first son I also had a tear and my HV told me to blow dry down there about twice a day to enable the stitches to dissolve quicker. I tried it and dont really know whether it worked or not as had nothing to compare it to but you could always try. It is really uncomfortable, mine started hurting at first and then progressed to itching towards the end - cant really say which was better as very difficult to scratch down there in public. The itching was awful too. But it is all worth it to have our precious bundles

Pippin congratulations on your new arrival Sam, hope you managed to get him to sleep in the moses basket

Tmr - sorry to hear you were getting the blues. I have been feeling that way too but slowly starting to feel better. Sorry OH made you feel bad about BFing, at this time any criticism just makes us feel worse because we are so tired mentally and physically. As long as you are now happier that he is on FF and he is happy too.

Oh and have to mention that my nearly 11 year old is so fab, he is helping so much to look after Mimmi - like now for example. He is my little mini rock

GTG to tidy up the house now

Got visitors coming down today so have to tidy up the house. Wasnt very keen on the coming down but they are my OH's brother and wife and have been putting them off from coming down to see the new addition

 

[grumpymoo]

Hi ladies :wave: im coming to you live from the hospital bed!!!
Just a quick update really to let you all know that Elinor had her diaphragm surgery this morning and all went well!
I've been really emotional today i think it was the shock of the surgery being so soon as i was woken up at 8:30 to be told that she was going down at 9 so i rushed to NICU to see her and they were just putting her in the transport incubator then they took her downstairs so i rushed after them to say goodbye and watch them put her in the ambulance which was really hard and i just stood there crying and then went to my room to wait for the news.
So i waited for about 3 hours i think and expressed some milk, as i was taking the milk down they were wheeling her back so i got to see her straight away!!
I spent a little while with her then came back to my room and cried non stop for hours i was just so relieved!!
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

so glad Elinor is doing well Sam. what a time of it you must be having. dont know what planet i have been on but only just read about Elinors op. sending you all lots of hugs x

 

[bun-in-oven]

lol @ bun, my bowel movement was terrible after I gave birth. At least you managed to get it out. Surprised you could flush it though

when i had brandon-li my mum helped me off the bed and took me for a shower and a couple of days later OH said to me, yeah and i cleaned your poo up off the bed! i waqs like OMG!!! i poo'd again dont think ill ever give birth without it happening!!

Have any of you ladies had a visit off the witch yet? brandon-li is 5 weeks old today and not even a sign!!, not sure if its beacause i was breast feeding for a week though, and because of my infection!!

ay could you imagine some of us posting a before our LO are 2 months old!! ill shut up now hey ladies xx

 

[bun-in-oven]

any of you suffering with your backs after your epidural? mines not good feel like i need to stretch it all the time, they did tell me the risks whilst i was in labour, i mean ffs when your constantly contracting you couldnt really care! lmao. when she was telling me i just went "yeah whatever just do it!" and she said "YOU NEED TO KNOW THE RISKS I CANT JUST DO IT" hmmmmm, anybody think i was asking her to take my pain away!! tut

 

[ShadowRat]

Ooooh Sam, I'm so glad Elinor's op went well: What's the next stage then? here's hoping for a smooth and speedy recovery for your little lady

MJ, glad you managed to get Adam to sleep in the cot! I hope it gave you a better night's sleep without the fear of squishing him!

tmr- your OH sounds like a bit of a nightmare, but then I guess he is a man and they just can't be expected to understand what any of this is like for us ladies.... (No offense, Carter! Some men are definitely more sensitive and understanding than others ) Sorry to hear about your blues too- sounds like you made the right choice to switch to FF if it was making you so miserable breast feeding.

Pips, I do hope you can figure something out with Sam and the cot / moses basket soon sweetie, I have to say I've been sleeping much more soundly since Vince left our bed! Although I don't think theres any real problem with co-sleeping if you're careful, it sure is hard to properly relax with a little person in the bed!! Not sure that I can give any advice for getting him to settle in the cot / basket either, but with Vince it did seem to help him having a curled up towel-sausage sort of cradling his head in the cot. We also give him the dummy to fall asleep with, and although he spits it out after a while, it definitely helps to calm him enough to go to sleep.

Mimi, I hear you on the relatives thing!! There are certain relatives that we've been putting off seeing since Vinnie was born, some people just drain your energy with their presence, don't they?! Hope it's not too painful for you with the in-laws!!

AFM, last night we replicated the bed-time situation of the night before, and it worked pretty well: After a couple of false-starts when Vincent needed settling again, he slept for 4 and a half hours in the cot I had a nightmare feed though at about 3:30am where everything was frustrating me beyond belief and for no apparent reason I sat in the nursery and cried for about an hour as Vince fell back to sleep after his feed! I really don't like night feeds at all, I just get so stressed out if anything goes wrong and it makes me so miserable! random, eh? But I guess it will keep getting easier, right? Hope so...

 

[ShadowRat]

Welcome to Lisalovesbean and baby Marlow!! xx

 

[Pippin]

Sam honey so glad the op went well. Had a little cry myself when I read it. I can understand your relief lets hope she has a really speedy recovery and you'll both be cuddling each other all the time.

Well last night I had a fairly large break through. Sam came to bed with me as usual, fell asleep and then I ransfered him to the basket and he slept in it till 3:30 then we had a massive feed of and hour then and he slept in it again after a few bed cuddles until 7am then he had a feed in bed with me and we both fell asleep till 9:30!! OMG where did that come from???? I feel weird now as I've had so much sleep, you know when you get used to not a lot and then you actually get sleep good enough to dream in!!! So I feel dead chuffed with my little man and me.

Boobs are massive today so JoeyJo understand about the latching difficulties, he's like WOW where did those nipples come from and the wall that is behind it but he's coping right now thank goodness. It's painful to feed still but we're going through it and once he's latched it's not painful.

Shadow so glad you are sleeping better on your own and for four hours straight. Last night I woke in a panic thinking I'd squashed him but then remembered he was in his basket. It's al going to take a while to get used to isn't it. Sorry about the feeding though, we're bound to have good and bad days, I understand the frustration as you just want it to be peaceful at that time. I think that is why I ended up with him on the boob for over an hour last night just because he'd come of and wiggle with wind but not bring it up. I'm not very good at winding it seems, he does it better lying down.

Actually talking of laying down is it okay for them to sleep on their sides, Sam much prefers this than to his back???

He's in his pram sleeping, fingers crossed he'll stay there.....

 

[Vici]

Ive not joined you officially yet but I do have an update on Imi

Had a very traumatic time last night. Imi is now in SCBU fighting a nasty infection. She had to have a lumber puncture (bless her), they couldn't get her canular in so its in her head and she has pipes everywhere. Waiting on LP results but CRP levels are over 5 times what they should be Will keep you updated

 

[Mary Jo]

Mimi, thanks for the tip about blow-drying my ladyparts... I honestly thought the stitches and everything down there would be better by now, 2 weeks on, and of course it is greatly improved so I'm not REALLY complaining, but from time to time it just hurts! I ended up in the bath at 6am, just to get a bit of relief. I wasn't given any advice on care of my bits when I was in the hospital, they checked them and said they looked ok but as far as I recall they didn't even tell me to keep it clean! (though I do as it's extra sore if it's not washed regularly). One of the visiting midwives has been good, she's seen us twice, an older lady, maybe in her 50s, very no-nonsense, brisk, a little bit "jolly hockey sticks", but lovely with it; she inspected my stitches on Friday and made me look with a mirror as "you need to be familiar with your own body" She suggested salt baths but none of the others made any suggestions, or looked at them, even when I said they were hurting.

Bun - heheheh... I don't think I'm going to be the first Lion Cub Mummy to get knocked up again, somehow... the health visitor asked us about contraception and I was quite plain - I'd need to be having sex to need contraception!! Sex is not on the cards for us right now... and while my SPD is still bothering me I don't think it's going to be in the near future either. I don't actually know what sort of contraception we'd use, because we never HAVE used it - we've been together nearly 3 years and were TTC from about a year ago, but before then I was on medication that I was pretty sure was inhibiting ovulation, hence me never getting pregnant before. I think I'd be inclined to use natural methods, temping etc, as I did when we wanted to conceive, only going the opposite way, to find non-fertile times of the month. I don't want to go on the Pill anyway or have some sort of device fitted, as I don't know how long we'd want to leave it before TTC again, so I'd rather not mess with things too much. I don't think the amount of breastfeeding I am doing would act as a contraceptive, I read you have to be feeding exclusively with no supplemented formula.

Shadow, I hate night feeds as well. They seem to last forever and it's so boring, especially trying to stay awake when you're exhausted anyway. We didn't have a great night last night, Adam would only sleep for 2 hour stretches and was up from 2am to 4.40am. Poor baby seems to be constipated, he hasn't done a poo since Friday and he seemed to be straining a lot and passing quite a bit of wind. And he was making the strangest noises, which worried me - it was while he was feeding from the bottle after he'd had 45 minutes on my boobs - making a wheezy, whimpering noise, like he had asthma or was channeling an upset puppy Then he fell asleep and was breathing normally! I was all concerned that he's allergic to Betty - that would really upset me, if I had to get rid of my furry girl (I'd send her to my mum and dad, I'd never get rid of her entirely, she's been my best friend since she was 6 weeks old and she's now 11 and a half).

So we only got a couple of 2-hour periods of sleep last night and are pretty whacked today. Can't have a nap either because we've just had Chris's mum and her boyfriend over for coffee and are off out to my friend's for Sunday lunch (she was meant to come over here but then suggested she could cook us lunch, which sounded like a much better idea!)

Pips, Adam also prefers lying on his side, in fact he is on his side right now, asleep in the moses basket. We always put him down on his back but he rolls straight over. I don't think there's much you can do if that's what they prefer, though I have ordered a thing that will keep him on his back (at least stop him rolling onto his front), for my peace of mind. Adam is a very wriggly baby, he can get across the cot in a few seconds and I want to keep him in range of the movement sensor pad on the monitor.

OK, better get ready to go out for my roast beef and trimmings!!! Hope you all have good days, mummies and cubs!

 

[Mary Jo]

Eeeep, Vici! Hope Imi is ok, she's in the right place though, I'm sure they are taking the best care of her. What a worry for you though. Thinking of you and praying that all is well and she's feeling better soon.

 

[bun-in-oven]

Ive not joined you officially yet but I do have an update on Imi

Had a very traumatic time last night. Imi is now in SCBU fighting a nasty infection. She had to have a lumber puncture (bless her), they couldn't get her canular in so its in her head and she has pipes everywhere. Waiting on LP results but CRP levels are over 5 times what they should be Will keep you updated

was just about to update everyone chic, sending all of you lots of love!!!, btw imi is absolutely gorgeous!!!, i had to have 2 sets of lumer punctures when i was a baby, sending you lots of positive vibes!! xxx

 

[bun-in-oven]

MJ- oh well lmao seems im going it alone ttc baby number 3!! lmao, yes we are considering having our last one asap so the hardest bit is all together, well i would like to OH needs abit more convincing!! xx

 

[Mary Jo]

any of you suffering with your backs after your epidural? mines not good feel like i need to stretch it all the time, they did tell me the risks whilst i was in labour, i mean ffs when your constantly contracting you couldnt really care! lmao. when she was telling me i just went "yeah whatever just do it!" and she said "YOU NEED TO KNOW THE RISKS I CANT JUST DO IT" hmmmmm, anybody think i was asking her to take my pain away!! tut

heh, yes, when the time came I couldn't give a flying eff about the risks/dangers! I did say "you're not going to cripple me, are you?" and he came over all serious and started explaining it all, but I was like WHATEVER, JUST BRING ON THE ANAESTHESIA!!!

my back has been fine though. no problems with anything that I can link back to the epidural (other than my SPD flaring badly when it wore off, but that was because of the position I was in to push, which would have been an absolute non-starter had I not had an epi!) An anaesthetist cam round to see me on the Monday morning after I had him the Sat lunchtime, to fill in a form about my experiences of the epi. She asked how it was - I said F*CKING AMAZING. Any problems? NO. Would I have one again? OH, GOD, TOO RIGHT!!

 

[Mimiso]

Bun and MJ - too right about the epidural. This was my first experience of having one and apart from the SPD after it is the most amazing thing tbh. I have no idea how I coped in my last two pregnancies without it. If I hadnt had the epi then dont know how I would have coped with my SPD this time round. I also had periods of having a backacke but it's all ok now. Like you two I didnt give a flying eff about the risks, I just wanted it and I demanded mine before I was 3cm and got the MW to call the doctor authorising it at 1 cm dilated which he did because of my SPD.

Bun I am with you on trying for the next one already, have been contemplating trying for number 4 already but the prospect of SPD is really putting me off, plus am also thinking about whether I will be able to live down going back to work preggers again

 

[Mimiso]

Vici to you, and sorry to hear about Imi thinking about you both

Shadow on feeling frustrated and miserable- hormones plus tiredness is what does it. Remember on Wednesday when I felt really awfu and cried for hours on end as my OH was not being supportive at all and I just felt fed up with everything. Hope you are feeling better today

Bun - hope I wont be the first August mummy to get a BFP again, AF hasnt made an arrival yet hope not to see her for a long time. Certainly not missed

 

[grumpymoo]

Ive not joined you officially yet but I do have an update on Imi

Had a very traumatic time last night. Imi is now in SCBU fighting a nasty infection. She had to have a lumber puncture (bless her), they couldn't get her canular in so its in her head and she has pipes everywhere. Waiting on LP results but CRP levels are over 5 times what they should be Will keep you updated

hope things are better now bless you. sending lots of hugs