Mums/Moms after Recurrent Losses (MARL) - Come join us!

[wookie130]

Yes, Dairy...hang tight. Sending tons of that this is a nice sticky one!

 

[dairymomma]

Starry-having a compassionate doctor is huge. I love my kids dr because she's so 'go with the flow' and let's ME make the choices instead of pushing things on me. She's calmed my fears over my PPD affecting my kids and is generally just an amazing dr. My kids love her and even shots don't scare them because of it.

AFM-trying to be positive. Lines were still darkening today so I think I'm going to be done with the daily tests and go to every other day now. I wish I could just stop but I have all these cheap tests that will expire before I could use them again if this pg goes full term so I'm trying to use them up.

 

[Starry Night]

Sounds like you're just being economical.

I'm glad the lines are getting darker.

 

[dairymomma]

Of course. I can't just throw them out without peeing on them, right? I could give them away but what's the fun in that?

 

[wookie130]

Oh, Dairy. I was a pee-stick ADDICT, particularly during my first pregnancy. I was horrible. I actually started collecting them in a Ziploc baggie. I think the final count was somewhere in the upper 30's. I was better during Ozzy's pregnancy, but not by much. I finally have thrown the bags of peed-on tests away. I was a pee-stick hoarder, I'll tell you. It was INSANE.

Good ol' PARL, I tell you. What's insane to one, is merely a PARL mom doing what she does, you know?

 

[dairymomma]

Wookie, I've gone through $45 worth of pee sticks in THREE days at one point. That cycle I think is the only one I totalled up my hpt expenses and it topped out at $75. I wasn't into buying cheap ones yet either...Now I stock up at the $store and only use FRERs to confirm. And yes, I save them too. I currently have 3 FRERs, 6 midstream cheapies, 6 $store cheapies, and 8 opks on top my water heater. That's where I have my stash. The only reason it's not double that amount is because I got rid of all my bfns.

 

[ginny83]

my stash from B is still in their little spot on my bookcase. DH suggested I might want to throw them out now, but just not really for that yet. I am terrible with them - when Id get a bfn I'd have to throw them in the bin and then made sure I put rubbish on top, otherwise I just wouldnt stop trying to check them! you know just in case a second line decided to pop up an hour or two later lol

 

[dairymomma]

Oh yes. I keep mine because I like watching progression and then once I stop testing, I go back and look at them because I love the feeling that comes over me when I realize yet again that I'm pg. Awww... I think it keeps me somewhat sane in the first tri too to see those lines. DH is a bit grossed out though. "That's why the bathroom smells like pee!" he says. Uh, no. The bathroom smells like pee even though I clean it every other day because we have a little boy who can't aim...There's rust stains on our water heater to prove it. (The heater is right next to the toilet and you can tell where DS has 'splattered')

 

[Starry Night]

I only had easy access to FRERs so I didn't go crazy testing, but I still have the test I got the bfp for my DD sitting on my dresser. I put all 3 bfp tests for my son in a little baggie and am storing it in his memory box. I don't care. It means something to me. Especially as the positive tests are the only real mementos I have for the ones I have lost (though my first I did get a scan of it alive and well to cherish forever).

My oldest has started to grind his teeth lately. Don't know how long he has been doing it but I noticed it a few days ago. Not sure how to get him to stop either. He seems to do it when he gets excited or bored.

 

[vietmamsie]

hi! Its been a long time!

Dairy - congrats! I am holding my breath for you... I hope this is a sticky bean!

Ginny - welcome!

Lee - you brought up something I have been thinking about a lot -weaning from breastfeeding. I hope we make it as long as you have, but also know that sticking it out long term can lead to even more dependance on the boob. I wish you the best of luck and please let us know how it goes!

Lucy is doing good! She is a mover and really really active, so I am pretty much busy sun up to sun down. She is finally sleeping on her own for naps (at least the first half, until she wakes up and will only go back to sleep if I nurse her) but that at least frees up a bit of my day, and allows me to do house work while she naps and focus on her when she is up.

We sort of went backwards with food. She doesn't eat much. Pretty much fruit is the only thing that actually goes in... I try not to get too hung up on it, as she is a HUGE milk drinker, but I think I am starting to feel ready to cut back a bit on the milk as her first birthday grows closer. I have been getting horrible migraines since Lucy was born and my doctor thinks that it might be hormone related and thinks that once I wean, they might go away. I am not ready to wean, but would like to know it was a possibility. Right now it is not an option at all as she eats so little.

So my question for you experienced mommas - I am still nursing Lucy to sleep. It is the only thing that works every time. I have tried to change up the routine, but it just doesn't work. She also still wakes many times in the night and although sometimes I get her back to sleep with a back pat and a cuddle, I am usually too tired and just give her the boob. I guess I just need to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel here - someday she will sleep more, some day she will not need me to fall asleep. Right now I am totally ok with it, but I don't see how this could be possible to keep up LONG long term...

 

[dancareoi]

hi! Its been a long time!

Dairy - congrats! I am holding my breath for you... I hope this is a sticky bean!

Ginny - welcome!

Lee - you brought up something I have been thinking about a lot -weaning from breastfeeding. I hope we make it as long as you have, but also know that sticking it out long term can lead to even more dependance on the boob. I wish you the best of luck and please let us know how it goes!

Lucy is doing good! She is a mover and really really active, so I am pretty much busy sun up to sun down. She is finally sleeping on her own for naps (at least the first half, until she wakes up and will only go back to sleep if I nurse her) but that at least frees up a bit of my day, and allows me to do house work while she naps and focus on her when she is up.

We sort of went backwards with food. She doesn't eat much. Pretty much fruit is the only thing that actually goes in... I try not to get too hung up on it, as she is a HUGE milk drinker, but I think I am starting to feel ready to cut back a bit on the milk as her first birthday grows closer. I have been getting horrible migraines since Lucy was born and my doctor thinks that it might be hormone related and thinks that once I wean, they might go away. I am not ready to wean, but would like to know it was a possibility. Right now it is not an option at all as she eats so little.

So my question for you experienced mommas - I am still nursing Lucy to sleep. It is the only thing that works every time. I have tried to change up the routine, but it just doesn't work. She also still wakes many times in the night and although sometimes I get her back to sleep with a back pat and a cuddle, I am usually too tired and just give her the boob. I guess I just need to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel here - someday she will sleep more, some day she will not need me to fall asleep. Right now I am totally ok with it, but I don't see how this could be possible to keep up LONG long term...

Hopefully I can offer a little help. I have 4 children, my youngest is 18 months and am still BF as I can't bring myself to stop!

I think the route of everything here is that Lucy is having too much milk.

From fairly early on, I would BF Caitlin on an evening and would top her up with formula to make sure she wAs properly full.

The weaning at 6 months wAs gradual from baby porridge and moving up fairly quickly to 3 meals a day.

When this happened I stopped BF in the day, just sticking to mornings and evenings.

Cutting down on the milk will hopefully encourage LUcy to eat more. Caitlin loves roast dinners, which I mash up together with gravy.

If she is eating more solid food, she will be getting fuller, which in turn will mean more likely to sleep through. However, on the occasions she does wake, try not to BF. Caitlin still wakes occasionally now and it can take 2 hours to settle her, but I still don't BF. Its hard work, but worth it in the long run. (Many years ago I remember a work colleague telling me her about her daughter waking in the night, out of habit, for a feed. She stopped giving her milk, but instead put water in a bottle and gave her that. She soon stopped waking in the night!)

When my DD was around 12/13 months I stopped BF on an evening. I had also moved from formula to cows milk and she still has a bottle of this before bed.

I now just BF when she wakes in a morning, before giving her , her 2 weetabix for breakfast.

I haven't managed to get her onto fruit, but I'm working on it. She has snacks of breadsticks and crackers. She also likes buttered toast cut into pieces.

So, to sum up, I really think you need to try to cut back on the milk, which hopefully will encourage her to fill up on more solids, which should help her sleep better. Hopefully!

I hope this is helpful

 

[petitpas]

Great point, Danca! When I started to cut down on feeds J pretty much doubled what he was eating.

AFM, Monday was a scary day. Most of the family have been down with a fluey thing and A started with red eyes and a bit of a cough on Sunday, too. I was with wondering whether to take A to the GP in order to be allowed to give her paracetamol (only normally allowed from 2 months and she wasn't quite 7 weeks old yet) when I noticed that she was making a strange grunting sound with each breath. I decided she would be best off evaluated in the hospital's triage rather than by our GP. By the time we reached the hospital I was getting quite concerned. Her eyes just kept rolling back. The triage nurse said she thought it was bronchiolitis but when the paediatrician saw her she put her straight into resuss. Her temperature was 39C and an alarm was going off because she was tachycardic with a heart rate over 200. She kept throwing her arms out with an exaggerated startle reflex. The doctor said that the grunting was because of the fever and it was not bronchiolitis. She feared meningitis or sepsis or something. I told her about the family members with flu type symptoms but she had to treat and test for the worst case scenario. A was being admitted, they put a cannula in for IV antibiotics and they would be performing a lumbar puncture right away. By that time the calpol they had given early on started to work. A's heart rate normalised and she was looking around and getting upset with being poked and prodded. I gave her her first feed in five hours (she'd never gone that long between feeds! ).
Over the next three days they kept an eye on her temperature, which went down very quickly, as well as her heart and oxygen rates. All stayed well. I found out that they had three babies with confirmed meningitis on the ward even though it is unusual to have just one. So basically, they were being super cautious.
Finally, today (Thursday) the results of all the tests came back and were all ok. Dh also finally felt well enough to leave the house and came to pick us up. We surprised J by picking him up from nursery. He was so happy and I got the best cuddles ever!
So, scary at first but feeling lucky it wasn't something sinister.
Sorry, I'm too tired to write more. Good night!

 

[wookie130]

Petitpas, how freakin' scary is THAT????? You poor mom. I truly feel for you. I've also had my fill of hospitalization stuff this year with my son, so I do feel your pain, although your situation sounds a lot more serious than it was with my baby. Eeek! I would have been terrified!

 

[petitpas]

Sorry, that was a bit of an essay. I'll edit it and make it shorter.

But yes, quite scary! I'm especially shocked that we didn't even realise how bad she was when it happened. Then, it wasn't even the mention of meningitis that scared me because I truly thought she had the same bug as hubby but rather the mention of sepsis. A close friend of mine died of sepsis last year

 

[Starry Night]

I'm so glad your baby is OK and it wasn't anything more sinister like you said. Illnesses in our LOs is already so upsetting but when the doctor mentions scary words its a whole new level.

afm - DS had his autism diagnosis yesterday and we see the doctor for the results next Thursday. It's going to be the longest week of my life. I could tell the examiner was a bit confused at one point because he was sending some mixed signals. So I really don't know which way it's going to go. Children's growth and development is so fluid at times. Since his last assessment a month ago he's suddenly decided to be responsive to his name. I used to have to call his name a zillion times to get his attention. Now he responds nearly every time. He only ignored the examiner once during the test but responded right away the other time. He's also essentially decided to become potty-trained after battling him for 7 months. He acts like it's his idea too. I'm thinking that if he does get a diagnosis he will be considered high-functioning. There are a lot of things he can do on his own (dress himself, brush his teeth, etc) and he does seem to understand a lot of things. Language/speaking is hard for him though.

And DD had the biggest explosion poo I've seen from either of my kids yet. I came to get her after her nap and I found the foul stuff everywhere. Maybe others have seen worse, but this was new territory for me. It was on her sheets, on her blankie and on all sides of her breathable bumper. I was just glad none had gotten on the walls (I've heard stories). I'm so sick of poop....

 

[petitpas]

Oh my word, a true poonami! where do you even start with the cleaning?

Fingers crossed for the autism assessment. That's great that DS is evolving and learning so much suddenly

 

[wookie130]

You never know, Starry. Perhaps he's just got a language/speech delay, or better yet, he's one of those kids truly marching to the beat of his own drum, and believe me, that's usually a GOOD THING later on in life! I'll be checking for updates on here. Good luck!

Ugh, yeah, the poop. My son always blows right out of his pants when I have him in his jumper. LOL!!! I've had some poops that fire right up to his neck. Ack!!!

As far as weaning goes, my son is 7 months, and we've been trying purees with him since he was around 5 1/2 months. We usually only manage to do it once daily, sometimes twice. It is not going well. He doesn't like veggies, and finds peas particularly yucky. He has already learned how to avoid spoon-feeding like an old pro...shaking his head, hiding his face. LOL! We also do baby-led weaning, but that isn't going much better, and he just doesn't even try to pick up food, or get it to his mouth. We began BLWing with Hannah when she was this age, and it never went that well, either. Purees were the way to go with her, so that's why we decided just going straight to them with Ozzy. Hannah would eat anything and everything, and Oscar is far more finicky. Ugh. And cups? We have yet to figure this out with Ozzy yet. He LOVES his bottles, what can I say? And at nearly 7 months, he is 19 lbs!!! He's HUGE! Oh dear.

 

[vietmamsie]

petitpas - scary story! I hate hospitals. I am glad you are all on the mend.

Starry - good luck with the diagnosis. Once it is official, you guys can move forward and get him the additional support you need.

ahhh, baby poop.... I think I have been pretty lucky. Pre-solids she pooped just a little every diaper - about 20 a day (so happy we had cloth, we would have gone broke otherwise!). But we only ever had a few blow outs, nothing too bad. Now on solids she is a once a day morning predictable pooper 90% of the time!

dancareoi - great advice! Thank you! I agree, she drinks too much milk. She LOVES the boob. We nurse anywhere from 5 to 8 times a day and about the same amount at night :X I just give her what she asks for.... She literally will come up, sit in my lap and yank my shirt down these days. The days that she drinks less, are the days we are busy - out and about and on the go. Those days she just has milk before naps and bed. Days we stay home she is bugging me all day for milk! How do you guys start cutting feeds? Just redirect her attention? Or should I give her a solid snack when she asks for milk? What about the whole baby-led approach of trusting what your baby asks for and just giving them the milk? I try to avoid giving her milk before solid meals, but if she is really hungry she will freak out, throw all the food on the floor and cry until I give her a milk feeding. After the feed, she will usually take some solids. But that only happens a few times a week. I try to have meals right after naps when she is not hungry yet.

Oh and on the big baby note... at 5 months Lucy was already 20 lbs! She hasn't grown much in the past 6 months weight-wise, just 2 pounds.

 

[dairymomma]

Don't know if I've updated for a bit as baby brain is kicking in but I had phenomenal numbers as of Tuesday (doubling every 32 hours) and was feeling pretty good only to have a scare Wednesday evening. Cramping and pink discharge the night before I was leaving on a long weekend. Called the dr right away Thurs morning though and I had my hCG and progesterone checked on my way out of town. They came back good. Progesterone is best it's EVER been and hCG had doubled from Tuesday so it helped calm me down. No other scary stuff (yet) though I'm expecting it because I'm not lucky enough to have a one-fer when it comes to bleeding in the first tri. Had some discharge today and been feeling a bit off (not really crampy but REALLY aware of my uterus) this afternoon but the discharge was yellowy/tan so normal and I'm still feeling MS a bit so confident nonetheless. Will schedule a scan when I get back but being as I'm only 5 weeks, it'll be at least a week before they'll get me in for the u/s. Just chillin' til then I guess.

Petit-how scary to have that happen. I can only imagine how terrifying it would be to be in that situation. Glad it's okay now though.

Starry-glad the appointment is over with and once you get the diagnosis, hopefully your son will get the support he needs. I have a couple of cousins on the spectrum and while one is severe (needs 24 hour care and monitoring, volatile temper, and will likely end up in a care home at some point), the other is very high functioning. He'd be able to live on his own with minimal help but he's still at home for the moment. I'm not sure but I think he's going to college?

On the poo topic, Rita has had a few blowouts but she's all over the board otherwise. One poo might be hard, dry marbles that make her cry when she goes and tell you she's def constipated but than her next poo 4 hours later will be anything from watery with curdled milky pieces (typical newborn poo looking stuff) to peanut butter consistency to soft formed clay-like poo. Her dr isn't worried though and suggested eliminating a few things to see if that helps. It seems like dairy can make things a touch worse (she quit spitting up when I took her off dairy based formula) but she's still got GI issues. It's getting better now that she's eating a bigger variety of foods though and I introduced a kid tummy-friendly probiotic.

 

[Starry Night]

dairy - glad things are looking positive so far. I hope things continue to progress as well. Good luck getting a scan.

My DD had problems with her bowels for awhile and I think it had to do with the formula I was putting her on. I had heard bad things about the reduced-lactose formula by Similac but I had coupons so I went ahead with buying it for awhile. Bad idea.

I'm switching to a bigger diaper size so I hope it contains the blowouts a little better.

We see the doctor this week to get the results from his assessment. I have no idea if we'll be getting any sort of official word on a diagnosis or not. I am still learning towards him being on the spectrum but it would definitely be on the higher end. I almost want a dignosis, to be honest, because it would explain a lot and I've been feeling so much guilt about his issues.