September Snugglers 2016

[psychochick]

Psych- I had those shooting pains. They didn't last long, but I read that they are related to getting ready for lactation. Some ladies said if you squeeze them, you might see liquid come out, but I never tried that (too squeamish!)

Hahah really?? It's way too early for lactation! I can't really squeeze them anyways without it hurting, nothing's coming out yet when gently squeezing hahaha

 

[Sweety21]

Xan, psycho and campn, thanks gals. I try to wear loose bra but, it's not helping.

Campn, how do I use cabbage leaves? just put it there?

xan, glad you are feeling better. I have some hope then. I am in my 18th week so hopefully it will go away.

psych, I have same things. It randomly comes and it hurts alot.

 

[Linzalora]

The breast pain sounds dreadful, ladies. I hope it goes away soon for you. I have been getting severe nipple pain- it'll turn blue, purple, black and hurt. It happens when I'm really cold or if I lean my chest against something for a while. Strangely, it's only my left nipple. But what y'all are describing seems to be a much larger area.

I had my scan today! Baby is doing great, all the tests were normal, and measurements were perfect. Heartbeat was 136. Only thing is, silly baby had its legs stubbornly crossed! It was wiggling around a little, so we hoped to get a better angle... But nope! It settled right back down into the same position. I might have to be team yellow by default if I have a very modest baby!

 

[MummaMoo]

Hopie, hope your scan goes well today! I'm sure it'll all be fine!

Linza - funny how you've got yourself a modest little baba in there!

Sweety - no help with sore boobs I'm afraid, I just wear a bra when I have to (when I'm out or at work) them as soon as I'm home, off it goes and on goes the comfy soft bra. At week 21 now, and mine seem less sore and achey, so perhaps they go through a point of preparing for baby and once that's done, all is good again. Maybe it's milk ducts expanding/filling with fluids ready to hold the colostrum. It wasn't until third tri that I expressed a bit of fluid. Re: cabbage leaves, I think you just stick one in each cup of your bra. I never actually did this when I was breastfeeding Sophie but it was recommended all the time.

Yesterday was the first good day that I've had in ages, regarding feeling well. I actually felt like working, which had been such an effort lately, so I took full advantage. Knew about it last night though and went to bed early, fell fast asleep straight away!

Uni, hope everything is OK. And with you too, Mari.

How is everyone planning on feeding their babies? And how did you feed with previous babies? Here, I breastfed Sophie for 5 months. I SO wanted to do it for longer but she wasn't an easy baby. We followed the advice of "let her feed on demand, set her own little routine" but it didn't work for us. She wouldn't feed for long enough to fill her belly without falling asleep, then she wouldn't sleep for very long because she'd wake up hungry and we were in a vicious cycle, so at 5 months i decided to completely switch things up, set a routine and gradually got her onto formula. I was also too shy to feed in public so was very tied to the house. This time, I want it to be completely different so as long as baby and I can breastfeed, I'm getting out there as soon as possible to build up my confidence, and also getting a routine in place much sooner. That's the plan anyway!

 

[Sweety21]

Thanks Mumma for letting me know. I had colostrum come in dry icky kind of state somewhere at 25-28 weeks. Don't remember having so much pain last time.

I breastfed dd for 18months she wasn't easy too but, I managed to bf her exclusively for 9months and then give her other semi liqud food along with breaatmilk. I wanted to feed her till she turns two but, got pregnant (ended in bo). So, I stopped completely. I miss bf her but, she took it very well.

I am planning to bf this one too for atleast 16months but, also gonna give baby a bottle asap because, dd never took bottle till I stopped completely bf her. It was really hard to bf her she was really a bad eater too.

 

[xanzaba]

I really hope to breastfeed until at least 6 months. I will have to go back to work at just over 4 months, but plan to pump. I know it can be hard, so I'm not putting huge expectations on myself, and I know I might have a fussy baby.

 

[Lallie81]

Maternity leave here is only 45 working days which works out to about 2 months so it was really tough but I managed to exclusively breastfeed my son for 6 months and stopped completely just after his 1st birthday. I hope to be able to do the same this time round, in many ways it was so much easier as all I had to take out with me was a feeding cover rather than all the bottles and powders etc.
I didn't manage to teach myself to feed whilst he was in the sling/carrier though but I hope to do that this time as I think it will be a life saver. My friends tell stories of feeding whilst doing the supermarket shop! I think that's a genius use of time!!

 

[campn]

Sweetly- You just cool a green cabbage in the fridge after washing it and put them in your bra. I don't wear a bra unless I'm going out.

Mumma- I plan to hopefully BF this baby. I breastfed DS for 19 months but it was traumatizing in the start. He wouldn't latch so I had to exclusively pump every 2 hours even at night for 6 weeks, and I had pneumonia, yeast infection on the nipples then had to have my breasts biopsied for cancer. He got better and better over time so I'm glad I didn't give up cause it was so easy to just put him on the boob anywhere and at night when you're too tired. Really hoping an praying this baby is better and latches right away cause I want to breastfeed for 2 years this time. I really loved breastfeeding once it worked cause it was our private down time and I had oxytocin flying over the roof and it helped me lose so so much weight.

 

[hopie2015]

Linza- congrats on the perfect scan!! So happy for you. Funny about baby being modest!

As for feeding, I also plan to bfeed the first 6 months. I'm clueless though and from what I've heard I am sure it will be a challenge!

Xan - thank you so much for the kind words and encouragement. You are so sweet! It has been quite a few months but I am so glad to be feeling happy and human again!
Mum-- thank you! Scan is late today and dear God am I a nervous wreck!! None of this pregnancy feels real to me still. Just want baby to look okay and if I stlll have worry of placenta issue, I can deal with that. If all goes well today, I think maybe then it will?! Thanks all again!

 

[psychochick]

linz: haha modest baby wants to keep it a mystery. Glad that all the measurements are perfect though, that's the most important thing. Do you know when your next scan will be? I would definitely die of curiosity if my baby doesn't cooperate at the anatomy scan!

mummamoo: This is my first one but I was definitely hoping to breast feed. I am definitely a little apprehensive because it seems like everyone has some trouble with breast feeding. I think theoretically it would be nice to finally use my breasts for something for once, but I would totally be open to whatever works for the baby.

campn: the cabbage trick is interesting! I'll try it too next time I go shopping for groceries haha.

Guys I think I just felt the tiniest kick last night! It lasted for 5 seconds or so and was like a pressure point that was moving like the baby was stretching its leg against my stomach. It lasted long enough and felt different from gas!! DH was already fast asleep and I woke him up just to tell him I think maybe I was more encouraged to feel for movement after my appt yesterday where the gyno found the heartbeat but kept having to follow it because the baby was moving so I was more convinced that the baby was in there and was active.

 

[aidensxmomma]

Hopie, hope your scan goes well today! I'm sure it'll all be fine!

Linza - funny how you've got yourself a modest little baba in there!

Sweety - no help with sore boobs I'm afraid, I just wear a bra when I have to (when I'm out or at work) them as soon as I'm home, off it goes and on goes the comfy soft bra. At week 21 now, and mine seem less sore and achey, so perhaps they go through a point of preparing for baby and once that's done, all is good again. Maybe it's milk ducts expanding/filling with fluids ready to hold the colostrum. It wasn't until third tri that I expressed a bit of fluid. Re: cabbage leaves, I think you just stick one in each cup of your bra. I never actually did this when I was breastfeeding Sophie but it was recommended all the time.

Yesterday was the first good day that I've had in ages, regarding feeling well. I actually felt like working, which had been such an effort lately, so I took full advantage. Knew about it last night though and went to bed early, fell fast asleep straight away!

Uni, hope everything is OK. And with you too, Mari.

How is everyone planning on feeding their babies? And how did you feed with previous babies? Here, I breastfed Sophie for 5 months. I SO wanted to do it for longer but she wasn't an easy baby. We followed the advice of "let her feed on demand, set her own little routine" but it didn't work for us. She wouldn't feed for long enough to fill her belly without falling asleep, then she wouldn't sleep for very long because she'd wake up hungry and we were in a vicious cycle, so at 5 months i decided to completely switch things up, set a routine and gradually got her onto formula. I was also too shy to feed in public so was very tied to the house. This time, I want it to be completely different so as long as baby and I can breastfeed, I'm getting out there as soon as possible to build up my confidence, and also getting a routine in place much sooner. That's the plan anyway!

I didn't breastfeed my DS at all. He went straight on formula, which was difficult because he was having problems with it and we struggled to be able to switch his formula. When we were eventually able to, it was smooth sailing though. With DD1 I started exclusively breastfeeding her from birth and that lasted about 3 months. I ended up getting depression after I had her and in order to go back on my meds I had to switch to formula feeding. I tried breastfeeding with DD2 as well but I started noticing symptoms of depression again plus she had bad reflux. We switched to formula around 3 weeks.

With this baby, I'm debating whether or not I want to try breastfeeding again. On one hand, I'm really scared of ending up with depression again. I've struggled with my mental health even before I had kids and breastfeeding seemed to make things worse ( I'm guessing it was because of the hormones). But on the other hand, my mental health has been stable without any medication for a couple years now and my situation is completely different than it was when I had my older 3 kids. So I'm undecided. I've been trying to decide for my entire pregnancy so far and I'm still no closer to deciding.

 

[campn]

Psy- Don't let the stories scare you away, I've heard more success stories than struggle stories although mine was so bad at first. I wish I read more about bfing and not just assumed it'd be this super natural thing cause it wasn't. It took learning. I say as long as you educate yourself, have good support and work with a lactation consultant a lot while at the hospital you'll have no problems!

Also I blame myself for letting guests budge in right away and hold DS for so long while he should have been on the boob so we both can work on it. First time mom mistakes. I thought I had to please my inlaws.
Yay for feeling kicks!!


Aiden- I'm so sorry it caused you depression, I have a friend who always was depressed but I think for her it was mostly postpartum depression. I got depressed once I stopped breastfeeding, all those feel good hormones were no longer there and it was a very huge shift for me.

 

[x-ginge-x]

I breast fed my 10lber for 8n1/2 months, pretty proud as my mum didn't breastfeed, it was hard but so worth it, lots of people said they 'couldn't' but yet when I said did you actually try most said no or that they had latched once or twice and it 'hurt' so they stopped, none ever asked for help either. If you want to go ahead and try I had even bought a box of formula but it never got opened!

 

[amantila]

I am definitely planning to breast feed the little one once he is born. I will be on maternity leave for 12 weeks and will try to pump/breast feed when I go back to work. Campn and everyone else who shared their stories...I'm really grateful that you shared about the struggles you faced with bfing. I thought it would just come naturally and that I would know what to do and the baby would know what to do. At least now I will go into it more open-minded and know that it may take a bit for everything to go smoothly. Hopefully I won't get frustrated knowing that it may take some time and practice!

I've been very cranky today. I just felt very...pregnant. That's the only word I can think of to describe it haha. I'm just tired and my back is achey (I gave tests all day today and corrected them while students were working, and I think being hunched over my desk all day bothered my back a lot). I just felt like a pile of blah today...achey, tired, big, on the verge of peeing my pants all day. It's hard to get a bathroom break as a teacher. Sometimes I have to leave my classroom with kids in it when I really can't hold it even though I'm not supposed to leave them unsupervised. I just tell them if there's an emergency in the two minutes I need to go to the bathroom, go get the teacher across the hall. In my last school it was so much easier because teachers didn't mind opening their doors and keeping an eye out for the kids. Everyone teaches with their doors closed at my new school. It's weird.

Hoping this blah phase goes away quickly. I had so much energy yesterday...where did it go?

 

[amantila]

Aaaaand there's a parent out for my blood right now. Her son didn't turn in an assignment (it was two days late) and then he finally tried to show me that he completed the assignment from across the room. I asked him to bring it to me so I could check it and he didn't want to. Finally got him to bring it to me, saw it was crumpled as if it had been in the trash, he had used white out to cover up another student's name (which I could see who it used to belong to through the back), and he wrote his name on top. I immediately said, "This isn't yours," trying to give him a chance to fess up and admit that he made a mistake. He adamantly insisted it was his work. I said "Do not lie to me. This is considered plagiarism and it's unacceptable." I told him I'd be writing an office referral for discipline (standard procedure in my school). I wrote home to let his parents know about what happened and that I planned to refer him to the office for discipline. She never responded to me. He ended up getting an in school suspension (decided by the office).

She wrote to me fuming today and cc'd the principal because I didn't tell her about the cheating or the suspension. Apparently the office never told her about the suspension and she was upset (understandably), but she was angry at me for not telling her! I politely explained that I wrote to her regarding the incident two days ago and told her that I planned to turn it over to the office for discipline. After that all discipline was decided and handled in the office. Blah blah blah.

This is why you shouldn't communicate through email. I hate having parents who are upset with me...it's not fun. Just trying to do my job :[

 

[psychochick]

aman: Actually I think email could help with this like if everyone used emails, you can bcc the principle and others so they have record that you had informed the parent. I guess you could do it along with a written letter home. But emails give a better paper trail imo, and emails timestamps don't lie, whereas it's harder to show exactly which day you sent a letter if they insist they didn't receive it. I use a lot of email for communication so that's just my opinion. But either way, I think it's weird that the parent would be upset at you. She should have expected her own child to fess up about what happened at school. I guess I should remember that when I become a mom hehe..

 

[campn]

Aman- I feel your pain. I'm only 18 weeks and a few days and so exhausted and achy. I'm so dreading the third trimester cause it was bad enough without having kids at home I have no idea what I'll do. Probably cry every day.

How old are your kids at your class!? Being a teacher must be a tough job it's almost like being a politician you don't want to anger anyone, and I know how mean parents can be! Maybe just ask to see the parents or talk on the phone? I'm not sure how it works but my teachers (mostly) really wanted to do their best and I always appreciated that. I'm sure she knows you're doing it for her son's sake.

 

[amantila]

psychochick: I think it's usually a lot easier for parents to be angry at the teacher than at their kid. And yes, emails have time stamps so I can't get in trouble for not contacting her (I have the email record in my sent box), but she can claim she never saw it :[ If I had spoken to her on the phone, she would have definitely gotten the message. Although I suppose that could be denied too. I guess there's no foolproof way to do it :[ At least I was able to forward the principal the email I had sent originally so they know I'm not bsing them.

I'm going to be the most unpopular mother with my children. I think I'll be super strict and I'm never attacking a teacher without knowing the full story first and knowing with 100% certainty that my kid is being wronged somehow. If my kid gets in trouble for something at school, my kid will be the one I'm upset with...not the teacher.

 

[xanzaba]

Linz- congrats on the good scan! Our little guy was hopping around everywhere- with his knees closed. If we didn't know the gender, I'm not sure we would have had found out.

Psycho- congrats on the kicks.

Amantila- I'm sorry you have to deal with those kind of parents, but it sounds like you did everything properly. Some people respond with anger when they know they (or their kids) are in the wrong. I hope it gets resolved soon.

I had a blah day yesterday- I was so looking forward to 20 weeks, but then yesterday I thought "I'm only 1/2 done". Last night I got a great night sleep, and got some exercise this morning and I felt much better. I hope that you feel better soon.

 

[amantila]

campn: thanks. I have no idea what I'll do in the 3rd trimester if I already feel like this! I am in awe of you expecting mommies that are already taking care of little ones. I don't know how you do it.

It was a freshman class...so 14-15 year old? And I think I've done everything I need to do so far as far as the parent issue. I'll wait and see what happens tomorrow and probably talk to the principal about it if things don't seem to go in a better direction. Hoping it will blow over and that she wrote the email in the heat of the moment when she was upset! For the record, I totally understand her being upset that she didn't know about the suspension. I just wasn't the person who made that decision and it wasn't my job to tell her (I didn't know until the morning of his suspension anyways when they called asking for his work). Hoping the office takes it from here and works it out with her.