Mid June and July Firecrackers Group Due June/July 2017!

[Girly922]

Wow, so many births!!

Huge congrats leson on your yellow bundle turning pink, she's adorable!
I'm counting on another week yet, that way I'll be pleasantly surprised if baby comes sooner but no signs as of yet. We've been on a 2 mile dog walk this morning, and planning on an Indian takeaway and an early night tonight Lol.

Congratulations aliko! He's a cutie!!

 

[Mummafrog]

Aww wow look at all these beautiful babies coming earthside!! well done mummies. It's amazing to have shared this journey with you and to see/hear about the end result

Don't worry girly I'm still waiting with you haha *hugs* niggles as usual and plug every day but no baby yet. My mum is here staying with us now which is lovely. We're extremely close and she'll stay for the birth but then go so we can have bonding time and other visitors. Not much to report really.. just sore and waiting. Loving reading this thread xxx

 

[second.time]

Wow, lesonde, congratulations on your beautiful girl! What a sweet surprise. I love Joan as a middle name, such a classic.

Congratulations, aliko ... what a gorgeous head of hair your little one has.

Sending a lot of positive vibes to those of you with births still ahead of you; I hope you have wonderful experiences.

 

[DobbyForever]

In before long play by play

Pre-Game Day
SO and I BD on Tuesday, and about 5 hours later I had what I thought was my bloody show. Went to L&D for reduced movement/bleeding, but everything was clear so I was sent home and continued to bleed for 24 hours. Things were sooo sore, the dogs super clingy. As we went to bed the night before, SO asked if I could have my water break at night or would baby be more convenient and I said it's a toss up lol.

Early Labor
I woke up at about 7, went about trying not to disturb SO as usual. At 8:30, I felt a gush as I got up to pee and it seriously looked like I sneezed in my pants lol. As I thought, "Huh, that's odd. You'd think I'd have a contraction if I'm losing so much plug this morning," I had my first contraction. I was surprised that the first three were painless and 8m apart then they quickly turned to 5m apart with mild discomfort. L&D said I needed to wait until 2-4 and my pain, but two contractions later literally floored me. So I called and begged to go in. We stopped by the store on the way, and SO was trying not to laugh as I was having contractions in the store. One guy overheard us talking about waters breaking and laughed and said that doesn't happen and we were like no no I'm in labor lol.

Triage
I'm 6cm and 100% when I get there at 11:45. I was coping pretty well up to this point, but the triage room was too small to use my hall or anything but they were so full I needed to stay in triage for over 20m. I realized the pain was only going to get worse, so I did the prudent (for me) thing and asked for an epidural. They said it would be an hour! So I begrudgingly took the iv pain meds, and then next thing I knew I was in a labor room getting my epidural

Active Labor
Epidural was bomb dot com. My mom massaged me while I got it, and oh man. It was good. I was downright giddy. I couldn't feel s*. It was like, "Oh my that's a big contraction!" "Is it, I felt nothing tra la la".

Transition
They were busy af so doctor came back at 3:10. I was 9cm. Came back 6:10, I had an anterior lip. Got the shivers and urge to push not too long after, and was running a low grade fever. So they have me Tylenol and once my fever was gone they checked and the lip was gone. My mom was annoyed because they wanted until he was +2 to push. We suspect because they were busy.

Delivery
Three practice pushes and his heart rate dropped so I had to wait an hour to try again. Pushed once and the gyn immediately told me to stop pushing because she was not prepared to catch. He was out in one push after that. I tore. Didn't get the degree, but I noticed she was stitching a loooong time. My mom said he came out so fast that things went flying everywhere, and I tore all they way to almost to my anus =/

Baby facts
18inches, 5lbs 3oz
Blood sugar is stabilizing but they still want to check it several times today
Temp dropped to 96 so he was under a warmer for an hour after skin to skin
I passed several clots
No latching, no colostrum production, on a high cal nicu formula

 

[Weebles]

Whoa, two pushes! Do they have you set up with a pump? If not I would be adamant about getting one, it really helped me with my milk coming in (as DD had a pretty useless latch at first). Is he in the NICU?

Every time I check this thread there's new little babies popping up!(or out!)

Congrats lesonde and aliko!

 

[PrettyInInk42]

Congratulations to all us moms who've already had our LOs. And best wishes to all the moms still waiting.

So, what are the things that we're really enjoying and what are our struggles right now?

BD and I took Alex to his first Dr appt. Everything looked good, except he'd lost more weight than they'd like to see (8lbs @ birth, 7lbs 10oz @ discharge, 7lbs 2oz @ appt), so I'm now being told to BF him every 2 hours, even if that means I need to wake him up cuz he sleeps really well and for quite a while. I think I got him latching properly now and my milk has definitely come in, so hopefully he'll have put some weight on at a follow up appt on Wednesday.

As for things I'm enjoying, it's so nice having BD around. He likes holding Alex and talking to him and is always asking if I need help. He has yet to change a diaper, but that's mainly cuz I would feel bad asking him to do that. Even my mom hasn't changed a diaper. lol. But ya, it's so great watching him step up and become a dad.

 

[DobbyForever]

I have Kaiser so you call a hotline and they get the pump to you within a week BUT because he was having latch problems and thereby had a "medical need" I got a hospital grade pump while I was there and get to keep it for 6 months. The other one I can keep for a year.

Congrats new mommas! It's baby timmmmeeeeee

Pretty glad to hear that you and BD are enjoying Alex . Don't worry too much about the weight, he'll put that back on. A lot of my friends on here had babies who just kept losing weight the first week or two thenbthry plumped up

Hoping to join you on the milk front, my boobs are killing me today so hopefully we'll see something in the next day or two

 

[lesondemavie]

My little girl was a pro at latching from day one...so much so that she wants to be at my breast all of the time. She sleeps for 3 hours at a time during the day, but she cluster feeds at night. It was a bit tough the first night, second night was easier, and tonight is a bit tough again. Not stressful, just exhausting. Pretty sure my milk is starting to come in now though so I guess that's the upside. Despite her success we couldn't get a wet diaper so we supplemented just a bit with formula, and it worked. Turns out she was just a little dehydrated, so as soon as my milk comes in we should be fine.

Tonight is our first night at home, and we ended up with the pack'n'play in our room. The cluster feeding would be too tough otherwise, plus my recovery is a bit harder than expected in ways I never imagined. With Charlie in a crib in our room, that means our cats are locked out of the room and sure enough they have cried all night - much longer and louder than Charlie.

I also love to see DH with Charlie. He is so in love and she already looks at him like she adores him. It's the best. He's such a big help. He took her for 3 hours last night so I could sleep, and he changes all the diapers so I can go to the bathroom and take care of myself. I haven't changed a single diaper yet!

So glad to hear you other first time moms are doing well pretty and Dobby! Now to wake up DH and see if he can get Charlie down in the crib so I can get some sleep. When cluster feeding she doesn't usually last long in the crib, but I have to try.

 

[Weebles]

Lesonde, my DD cluster feeds as well, not something I ever remember my son doing and it's very tiring. She is also still a little confused about nighttime being for sleeping.

Dobby, fx your milk comes in!

Pretty, I was made to feel really guilty about the weight DD dropped but it's normal. They should really use two different charts for the curve, one for formula fed and one for bf.

DD has started smiling real and wonderful baby smiles. Like light up her face, melt my heart kind of smiles. I want to get a picture so bad but then I'd have to look away to get my phone and then it'd be gone and I'd have missed it. It will have to wait but man oh man, she makes my whole day.

I'm on my last four weeks of maternity leave and it looks like I won't be able to extend it. I'm pretty emotional about that but what I can do instead is drop my hours down to 32 and that way I'll not have to work more than 2 days in a row before having a day off. For now it will only temporary but if it's something we can manage long term with our finances I'd like to talk to my boss about doing it permanently.

 

[DobbyForever]

Weebles good luck getting it adjusted! I love his smiles though I know they aren't real lol so yay for legit ones

I'm struggling hard but thankfully mom has been over both days. He has been great but i also got hit by the long stretch of leave me alone I'm sleeping then cluster feed madness. Longest three hours of my life. I ended up downstairs since once I caught on this must be cluster feeding I wanted to be by the fridge plus SO was clearly just as frustrated so I figured only one of us needs to be sleep deprived. And the dogs come home today so ffs who knows how they are going to just make things worse

 

[Maries_s]

Congratulations to all the girls who already have their LOs.

Pretty: you can pump a little bit of breastmilk and substitute one of his feeding for the bottle just to make sure he is getting something. However, I wouldn't put to much worried about it as PP mentioned they're going to put weight anyway. That happened to me my DD.

Leson: you are so lucky!!! My DH only has changed 3 diapers and only has fed him for one time at night to let me sleep for 4 hours (that happened yesterday). My LO is almost 3 weeks old.

To all other girls: are you planning to make a schedule for your LOs? What about the feedings?

 

[Gagrlinpitt]

So we are finally home from the NICU and it's been a bit rough transition. My cat has been up my butt since I got home and it's been really difficult to deal with that and peanut. Thankfully my mom is here from Florida and has been such a huge help. I didn't expect to ever feel like this but I think I've decided to stop pumping and just use formula. Since peanut was in the NICU and they supplemented formula, I have a horrible let down and my Boobs are so engorged they hurt... I'm stressing myself out over this because she isn't latching and I think I've decided to let my milk dry up and I'll just use formula... I'm sure I'll get judged but I need to do what's best for me and my peanut.

Dh has been absolutely wonderful about changing diapers and taking feedings. He is so obsessed with her and loves holding her.. is so cute!

 

[DobbyForever]

Gag I'm about to be there with you and say f* it all. He's not latching becTse even with the first flow nipple and paced feeding he gets frustrated on the boob as it takes 20m to get 5mls when he wants 30. It's so much easier on the bottle. But they want me to use a nipple shield with a tube taped to it attached to a syringe and get him latched and syringe feed him via the tube and she's using two hands, I'm using two hands, my mom is using two hands and I'm like I don't have 6 hands to make this not work!

Re schedule I would like him on one when the time comes. He's still on a schedule now. He eats every two hours starting at 5:45amish

We have another newborn appointment for weight check on Thursday as he's under 5 lbs. . He's lost 5% since birth but she said it's ok because he was small so his percentage sounds higher as every ounce is such a huge part. But he lost 4 oz in 24 and now at 85 hours old he lost 1 more oz. But he did have a seedy poop the other day which she said means he is getting my milk! Either from what little latching he is doing or my painstaking pumping and mixing it in to the formula

 

[PrettyInInk42]

Maries - I decided to manually pump last night, and was surprised I was actually able to get 2oz out of it. So, I've already used some of it at the end of one of Alex's feedings today. Actually, BD was the one that fed him and it was so cute.

His digestive system seems to be functioning better today. He's already had a couple really good pees, and pooped 3 times. One of the times, BD was holding him and said it felt like he beared down, so I peeked in his diaper, and saw a little, but said we should wait to change it in case he poops more. Well, one minute later, he had a really loud, liquidy sounding BM that scared the hell outta BD. It was hilarious. lol

As for schedule, nah. At least, not right now. I'm gonna focus more on getting his weight up and letting my vaginal stitches heal. lol

In other news, completely out of the blue, BD volunteered the info that he likes the name Winter for a girl. Hopefully this means the baby floodgates have been opened.

 

[DobbyForever]

Pretty how much are you feeding him? I was told today I'm overfeeding him and that at 7 days they should be eating 1.5 oz, and right now he should only be eating 20mls (about 2/3 oz). She said I can't go back because I already overexpanded his stomach, but not to increase it for the next week+

Yay for the possibility of a second

 

[Flueky88]

Gagrlinpitt I just wanted to say don't feel guilty. I had a nurse make me feel bad for supplementing. I'm not letting my daughter go hungry!! I never got engorged breasts, I feel like something is wrong with me. They do hurt if I go 6 hours or more without pumping. I'm pumping 8 times a day so that's not an issue any more. It's a lot of work and I couldn't do it without DHs support/caring for V while I pump. Anyways, you just take care of yoyr daughter and do what's best for you and your family I'm sorry but I just had to say as I feel FF gets frowned upon.

Marie I just go by when DD is hungry, no schedule. I do try to have very low lighting at night to kind of let her know we are more chill at night versus bright lights, lots of noise during day. I try not to keep it completely wuuey at night as I don't want her to only sleep if completely silent.

Lesson awesome about C taking to the boob so well.

Pretty nice to hear your dream of a girl isn't dashes

 

[Gagrlinpitt]

Gagrlinpitt I just wanted to say don't feel guilty. I had a nurse make me feel bad for supplementing. I'm not letting my daughter go hungry!! I never got engorged breasts, I feel like something is wrong with me. They do hurt if I go 6 hours or more without pumping. I'm pumping 8 times a day so that's not an issue any more. It's a lot of work and I couldn't do it without DHs support/caring for V while I pump. Anyways, you just take care of yoyr daughter and do what's best for you and your family I'm sorry but I just had to say as I feel FF gets frowned upon.

Marie I just go by when DD is hungry, no schedule. I do try to have very low lighting at night to kind of let her know we are more chill at night versus bright lights, lots of noise during day. I try not to keep it completely wuuey at night as I don't want her to only sleep if completely silent.

Lesson awesome about C taking to the boob so well.

Pretty nice to hear your dream of a girl isn't dashes

Thank you so much for this.. I usually don't care what people think of me but this has been weighing on me pretty bad.. my step dad who's an obgyn told me that he gives me permission to stop pumping if I wanted to.. so I stopped today. My little girl will be just fine with formula as both my dh and I were formula fed.. I'm just excited to have my little girl fed and full.

 

[DobbyForever]

I'm so glad your dad is supportive. Do you like Adam Ruins Everything? He did a piece about destigmatizing formula.

Afm I had a little hope in the pumping department. I only pumped 5ml this morning, but just now got a solid 20. I'm not sure how I'll pump in the dark and have decided not to wake A at night and let him wake me. He's usually good about it. Just frustrated trying to keep his body temp right. I feel like he overheats often but I'm scared of him being too cold since his blood sugar

I also caved and took the napper from the pack n play and put it in his bassinet he sleeps so much better in it because I can't swaddle him correctly.

Anybody have cures for edema? I feel like my feet are going to fall off soon

 

[Gagrlinpitt]

I'm so glad your dad is supportive. Do you like Adam Ruins Everything? He did a piece about destigmatizing formula.

Afm I had a little hope in the pumping department. I only pumped 5ml this morning, but just now got a solid 20. I'm not sure how I'll pump in the dark and have decided not to wake A at night and let him wake me. He's usually good about it. Just frustrated trying to keep his body temp right. I feel like he overheats often but I'm scared of him being too cold since his blood sugar

I also caved and took the napper from the pack n play and put it in his bassinet he sleeps so much better in it because I can't swaddle him correctly.

Anybody have cures for edema? I feel like my feet are going to fall off soon

My ankles are pretty swollen too.. I just put them up as much as I can...

 

[Flueky88]

Gagrlinpitt no problem. I just felt like you needed some support. We are do what's best for us. Yes DH and I were also formula fed and we don't have any disability or intellectual problems because we weren't BF.

Dobby time and hydration. It was unsightly but time was the biggest thing for me in getting it gone. I forgot how long it took now though. Also, things happen we don't intend. Sometimes you have to do things to keep your sanity oh and congrats on your pump volume increase