March 2010 Mummies!!

4 Hours of Braxtons last night omg EVIL! Especially the ones in my back. Anyone else suffering? xx
 
I still haven't had any BHs! I thought I had one at the weekend, bump felt tighter that usual so got my mum to have a feel and she said it was no way tight enough to be a BH, so :shrug:
 
I didnt start getting them properly till about a week and a half ago hun, so wouldnt worry about it :) My MIL swears she never had any! Lucky thing lol xx
 
I am not sure I am having BH's either, have been what feels like a sore bump quite low down..perhaps this is a BH and I am clueless!
 
Apparently everyone has braxton hicks, some just don't feel and/or notice them. Your uterus is still doing practise contractions though, don't worry =)

I've only just started feeling mine in the last few days. When I say 'feeling mine' I don't mean pain or anything, it means I've started noticing my stomach going hard when laying down at night. That's all ... and not every night either.
 
Apparently everyone has braxton hicks, some just don't feel and/or notice them. Your uterus is still doing practise contractions though, don't worry =)

I've only just started feeling mine in the last few days. When I say 'feeling mine' I don't mean pain or anything, it means I've started noticing my stomach going hard when laying down at night. That's all ... and not every night either.
 
4 Hours of Braxtons last night omg EVIL! Especially the ones in my back. Anyone else suffering? xx

Yep! i've had them since about 20 weeks but just this last week or so they've turned it up a notch and have become more intense. Some days worse than others :wacko:
 
I wish I were still having intense BH, but they have stopped! Now I feel like my body is just giving up or something!
 
I wasn't sure I'd had any BH's, but there are times my stomach seemed tighter and I'm guessing they must have been BH since my LO is almost fully engaged.
 
Sounds like it Seity :) I dont notice the tightenings so much I notice the pain more! xx
 
I've been having crampy feelings for a few days now- a bit like when you've got diarrhea and you feel crampy. Not sure if it's LO resting on my bowel, or something to do with baby/uterus preparing? :shrug: I never had period cramps so I'm not sure what they feel like, could be that I suppose but seems a bit deeper than that. Oh the joys!
 
March Bump Due the 11th :D
Looking for a text buddy too if there are any takers?
 
Hi girls,

I just wanted to post a quick update on how we're doing. It's been a rough first week but hopefully it's all behind us for now and things are on the upswing.

On the first day after the wee monkey was born, they had trouble finding his femoral pulse and took him to get his blood pressure checked. The pressure in his legs was lower than in his arms which is apparently flipped over from what was normal.

They weren't super worried so neither were we but they had to watch him and recheck him a couple times over while we were in the hospital. The concern was that it could be indicative of a heart issue w/narrowed valves.

We got discharged on Tuesday afternoon and we had a follow up appointment with his Pediatrician on Wednesday morning because his weight had dropped rather quickly down to the borderline 10% acceptable while in hospital. Luckily he seemed to have stabilized and showed a small gain when we went in, but they wanted to have him seen by a cardiologist because of the blood pressure issues.

They called into the Children's Hospital in Boston to set up an appointment and as it turns out, they wanted him to come in and get seen that very day so rather unexpectedly we went from a quick pedi visit in the morning to having to drive into town and spend most of the rest of the day while they ran tests (EKG & ECG along with all the other little health checks). After all that, it all came back looking fine and they couldn't find any problems other than a tiny little hole in his heart that is apparently not uncommon in babies his age (born a little early) and no cause for concern as the cardiologist is confident it'll close up and pose no future issues. He said that unless something obvious came up that it wouldn't need to be rechecked until he was 4-5 years old.

All that being done, we thought we were over with it all and could move on. As it turns out, that was overly optimistic. On Saturday morning I noticed that Ronan's color was looking a lot worse (he'd been released with mild jaundice) so I called the pedi's office and they had me bring him right in.

His bilirubin levels had spiked sharply and gone from 8.7 when he was checked on Monday in the hospital up to 23 so they had him admitted to the hospital straight away to begin treatment. While jaundice isn't in and of itself a terrible thing, the whole experience was horribly stressful and traumatizing.

They had to put an IV into him to get fluids in and it took them 4 attempts with his veins blowing out the first 3 times. Seeing that happen to your wee little one and hearing them cry and distressed brings out feelings and instincts that you read about all the time but just can't really understand until it's happening to you. Seeing him covered in little blood soaked gauze and tape was awful.

The next 2 days were spent in a blur of very little sleep as I had to feed him every 3 hrs (from start of feed) and the first day/night I had to express after every nursing to top him up and ensure he was getting as much in him as we could to help flush the crap out of his system. I was distressed at having to give him a bottle, and on top of that to use a pacifier (dummy) to keep him calm in the 'tank' when he was put back in to settle. I was so determined before all this not to do either as we got established with breastfeeding and I was terrified that he'd start refusing to latch (luckily he's proven himself to still be a boobie man just like his daddy).

Because he had a mask over his eyes to protect them from the lights, either myself or hubby had to be awake and watching him at all times because if it got pulled off or moved it had to be fixed immediately, thus the very little sleep and lots of stress as you sat around not being able to do much of anything and keeping one eye on the monkey the whole time.

Hubby was a trooper but the lack of sleep started getting the better of him after the first day as his protective daddy instincts were in overdrive and he was feeling helpless at not being able to do anything about it and then getting stressed any time Ronan was unsettled or having a good cry. I eventually convinced him to go lay down and get some sleep and sort of forgot to wake him up for his next 'shift.' :blush: After he finally did get up, he did a lot better!

Anyway, long story short, this afternoon at lunch time we got the good news that Ronan's levels had dropped and were still going down even after the light therapy was stopped so we would be allowed to go home. Cue much celebrating!

I have to say that with all of the effort put into 'clearing his system out' that I've been elbow deep in wet and dirty diapers and let me just say that the dirty ones are explosively so!

We're all home now and have caught up on some sleep with a bit of a nap and are getting settled. I still have to stick to a strict feeding schedule with the monkey for awhile yet to ensure his levels keep dropping, but he's feeding much better now that he's not sleepy and out of it from the jaundice so I'm optimistic once again that this next week will be infinitely better than the last!

If you made it this far in reading my ramble, kudos to you!

Time for a cup of tea and to put my feet up for a bit.
 
Ouch, what a first week indeed! You definitely got thrown in on the deep end of being a mummy, didn't you? Your emotions must have been all over the place. Really hope that now that he's home again things will go well and settle down into a 'normal' family life.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for a better time up ahead for you. Time to actually get to enjoy your little boy fully without the added extra worry and stress =)
 
My emotions and hormones have been running rampant. I swear I've cried more in the last week than I have in the last 3 years, pregnancy included!
 
You poor thing, that is a traumatic first week. I am so glad to here that little Ronan has improved (by the way I love the name!). Here we all are fretting over them in the womb thinking it will be easier once they are here, but that is not so.

I too have been freaking out since my little one is born because she does not want to eat enough. The effort of breastfeeding may be too much for her since she gives up after a few minutes. So far she has lost 12 oz of her original 7lb 2oz. So I think I am going to buy a pump. At the very least she will get the nutrients if not the bonding. It's all trial and error, but I know we will all do just fine as long as we persevere. In the meantime a few tears are perfectly acceptable (I know I have shed a few too).

Keep up the good work, I know Ronan appreciates it even if he can't say so yet.
 
Vegasbaby- at BF workshop the woman said that in the first day of life, LO needs a teaspoon of milk A DAY! It increases a bit everyday, but your LO prob still needs less than an eggcup full of milk a day, so even though she doesn't feed for very long- she might be getting enough. Does she seem hungry when she's not on the breast? Is there a local BF specialist you can call for support? Or try the BF section on here x
 
ahh hivechild what a week! Glad things seem to be looking up, poor little Ronan. :hugs: you sound like your already settled into being a fab mum. Lets hope you can have some nice stress free times now xxx
 
You poor thing, that is a traumatic first week. I am so glad to here that little Ronan has improved (by the way I love the name!). Here we all are fretting over them in the womb thinking it will be easier once they are here, but that is not so.

I too have been freaking out since my little one is born because she does not want to eat enough. The effort of breastfeeding may be too much for her since she gives up after a few minutes. So far she has lost 12 oz of her original 7lb 2oz. So I think I am going to buy a pump. At the very least she will get the nutrients if not the bonding. It's all trial and error, but I know we will all do just fine as long as we persevere. In the meantime a few tears are perfectly acceptable (I know I have shed a few too).

Keep up the good work, I know Ronan appreciates it even if he can't say so yet.

If you have access to lactation consultants through the hospital you birthed at, or can get in contact with someone from the La Leche League, I would highly advise it. I would have found things a lot harder if I hadn't had a few good talks with the consultants early on. They were both informative and helpful, especially with the little things that you can so easily overlook and they were really, really encouraging about continuing with it.

There could be a lot of different reasons your little one is 'giving up.' Ronan has his moments where he's worked up, or needs to poop, and there are times he's a really lazy feeder and as you said, gives up. I've found that stripping him down and nursing him skin to skin and keeping him awake and stimulated really helps during those times.

Anyway, keep trying and please don't feel you need to do it alone when there is so much support available, even right here on B&B in the breastfeeding forum.
 
Vegasbaby- at BF workshop the woman said that in the first day of life, LO needs a teaspoon of milk A DAY! It increases a bit everyday, but your LO prob still needs less than an eggcup full of milk a day, so even though she doesn't feed for very long- she might be getting enough. Does she seem hungry when she's not on the breast? Is there a local BF specialist you can call for support? Or try the BF section on here x

You poor thing, that is a traumatic first week. I am so glad to here that little Ronan has improved (by the way I love the name!). Here we all are fretting over them in the womb thinking it will be easier once they are here, but that is not so.

I too have been freaking out since my little one is born because she does not want to eat enough. The effort of breastfeeding may be too much for her since she gives up after a few minutes. So far she has lost 12 oz of her original 7lb 2oz. So I think I am going to buy a pump. At the very least she will get the nutrients if not the bonding. It's all trial and error, but I know we will all do just fine as long as we persevere. In the meantime a few tears are perfectly acceptable (I know I have shed a few too).

Keep up the good work, I know Ronan appreciates it even if he can't say so yet.

If you have access to lactation consultants through the hospital you birthed at, or can get in contact with someone from the La Leche League, I would highly advise it. I would have found things a lot harder if I hadn't had a few good talks with the consultants early on. They were both informative and helpful, especially with the little things that you can so easily overlook and they were really, really encouraging about continuing with it.

There could be a lot of different reasons your little one is 'giving up.' Ronan has his moments where he's worked up, or needs to poop, and there are times he's a really lazy feeder and as you said, gives up. I've found that stripping him down and nursing him skin to skin and keeping him awake and stimulated really helps during those times.

Anyway, keep trying and please don't feel you need to do it alone when there is so much support available, even right here on B&B in the breastfeeding forum.

Thanks ladies. I went to see my mw today (to get my staples out) and she said that I am getting worked up over nothing and that from what she can tell my milk is in and baby is feeding fine. She did advise that I try to get more sleep (can't argue with that!). She also told me some of the advice I got from the hospital was crap and she was sorry it confused me. I feel much better about it all now. And I too have noticed that skin to skin is encouraging baby on. My goal is to get her weight up in the second week and then I think we will be golden.
 

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