TTC and Beyond!

[CantHrdlyWait]

Have a good weekend Katrina!

My baby shower is tomorrow!! We are doing it early as i'll be 30 weeks on Sunday. We are doing our babymoon next weekend and then my mom is going on vacation a week or so after that and she will be out of town for two weekends, so we decided to do it this weekend. I'm not real fond of a lot of attention (i.e. everyone staring at me while I open gifts) but I guess that's what I have to do! I hope we get some stuff we actually need!

 

[goldstns]

Rachel where did u find brewer's yeast? I can seem to find any...stopped at 2 places.

 

[wavescrash]

Thanks Nikki and waves. I was just curious if she should be doing more at this point. She's def more alert each week and she's staying awake longer but she sleeps soooo much. She's such SA diva too. It's so funny. She has to have her arms out when she's swaddled. But you have to unwrap the swaddle part before you feed her or she freaks out. I had to pad her bed for her so she would sleep at night. The list could go on lol. She's a diva. And kind of bossy. And ahhh I feel good. Two nights of decent sleep. Ellie and I went to bed around 11:30, she woke at 2:30 ish to eat, then slept till 6. Doesn't sound like a lot but she was up every hour. I felt like a zombie.

Yeah, I'm worried she sleeps too much or I'm not doing enough to engage her or interact with her but it's hard to do when I have to deal with Hannah as well. I try to put Leah on a blanket on the floor (back and tummy time) but she tends to just get fussy within minutes. And on top of that I spend the entire time making sure Hannah doesn't step on her or kick her in the head (because she comes very close every 3 seconds lol.) I'll sit with her on my legs on the couch, feet propped on the table to keep her elevated/eye-level and talk to her, kiss her cheeks, stretch her arms up and down and whatever but I really feel like I'm just helping her fall asleep more lol.

Leah has never liked to be swaddled. She prefers her arms out so we just tuck a blanket around her legs in the rock & play sleeper. We've had a few nights in a row of decent sleep but I'm not sure if it'll last. Last night she went 7 hours between feedings and the night before she went 9 hours between feedings. She only wakes once in the middle of the night now and then once in the early morning.

 

[goldstns]

Happiest mommy over here!! Snuggling in bed with Alia!!!!

 

[CantHrdlyWait]

Almost passed out at work this morning.. I didn't have enough for breakfast and before I knew it, I was sweating so much, and I was SO HOT. I felt like puking and passing out and had to slouch back in my chair. It was awful. I got that fuzzy white feeling behind my eyes like I was going to pass out. This is the 2nd time this has happened. I've had issues with low blood sugar making me feel sick, but this takes it to a whole new level.

I feel okay now, i've been shoveling food in to make the feeling go away. Urgh.

 

[brunettebimbo]

Britt be careful.

Urgh looks like AF is on her way. Have had loads of creamy CM which is weird just before AF but I guess my hormones are out of whack with it being my first cycle since MC. If this spotting turns to AF it means my LP has dropped to 11 days

Even though we weren't trying this month it is still really gutting.

 

[TTCaWee1]

Nikki - vitamin world. If there isn't one by you, you can order online.

Waves - kinda jealous that you got to sleep that long! Isn't that a long time to go between feedings though? They told me Ellie needs to eat every 3-4 hours, 5 at most at night. Maybe that's not the norm? Lol she eats every 2-3 though

Waves/Nikki - how many oz do your babies eat per feeding? Ellie eats 2-3 oz

At the drs for our weekly weigh in. Hoping to be 7#

 

[RobertRedford]

Nikki, I get brewers yeast at whole foods.

Britt, please be careful!

Rachel, cracking up at little miss diva ellie, but loving it. so sweet.

Morgan, I meant to post yesterday but was slammed at work. Thinking of you and sending so much love to you, your family, little miss Marley. She is soo lucky to have the sweetest little angel baby brother keeping an eye over her for the rest of her life. You are one strong momma!

amf, still only lurking pretty much. its a nice break. thinking about all of you though. One of my good friends is going out of town this weekend to surprise another friend of ours for her bday in texas, so I am staying home with her 2 year old. Looking forward to a weekend staying busy with her. My body feels 90% back to normal now. still nauseous here and there but its manageable, and my boobs are sore but it is fading. Worked out for the first time this morning since the d&c and it was sooo good to get some cardio in. My ex hubs and I are going to a counseling session on Tuesday. More for closure but i am still looking forward to it.

 

[CantHrdlyWait]

Thanks ladies.. I usually eat plenty, but I ran out of cereal this morning. It was quite scary.

RR- Glad you are starting to feel better!!!

 

[wavescrash]

Waves - kinda jealous that you got to sleep that long! Isn't that a long time to go between feedings though? They told me Ellie needs to eat every 3-4 hours, 5 at most at night. Maybe that's not the norm? Lol she eats every 2-3 though

Waves/Nikki - how many oz do your babies eat per feeding? Ellie eats 2-3 oz

Well her last bottle usually winds up being before Hannah goes to bed or around dinner time and it's another hour or two before she goes to sleep for the night. Then we get Hannah to bed and unwind/watch an episode or two of Sons of Anarchy and then go to bed. I wish I were getting 7 or 9 hours of straight sleep though lol.

Leah's ped said from 8pm-8am, let her go however long she wants. My cousin told me with her son (he's 9 months old now) that his ped has always wanted her to feed him every 3 hours but that's because he was underweight (still at 9 months old, but he has other health issues as well.) So maybe they want you feeding her like that, even at night because she's a preemie and maybe (I don't know if she is according to the charts or not) underweight herself?


On average, she's taking 5oz every 4-5 hours. When she went 7 hours last night, she took 6oz at 4am. The amount/how often they eat isn't as important so long as they're getting the appropriate amount in an entire day. I think right now, Leah should be getting 24-28 oz in a 24 hour period... I could be a little off on those numbers but as long as she gets the normal/expected amount in a day, it doesn't matter how many oz she takes at each feeding or how often the feedings are.

 

[wavescrash]

I'm so over this postpartum nonsense.

So 3 days ago is when the horrible cramping/heavy bleeding started. 2 days ago it picked back up & I passed that huge piece of placental tissue and went to the ER. That evening the cramping eased big time and the bleeding slowed down drastically. Everything I've read says that once they remove the retained tissue (via D&C or you pass it on your own) your cramping and bleeding should almost entirely subside. And like I said, that evening it did.

Well yesterday midday I started cramping again (nowhere near as painful as the other day but similar to contractions & very uncomfortable) and bleeding heavily. Not soaking a pad an hour so not hemorrhaging but lots of bright red blood. I also started passing smaller dark red blood clots pretty frequently. It's continued into today with the constant cramping (very uncomfortable, mildly painful) and the heavy red bleeding with lots and lots and lots of blood clots. Some big (some were the size of a large strawberry) and some smaller.

The ultrasound showed lots of blood, clots and debris (not sure what "debris" is referring to because if there's anymore retained tissue, I would hope they'd go in and remove it instead of letting it sit to cause an infection) but nothing concerning. I just don't get why it would almost entirely stop after I passed the placental tissue and then start again, very heavy and bright red blood with all these clots especially at 5 weeks pp. Now I'm paranoid they overlooked something or downplayed something.

I was supposed to go get my HCG rechecked today but don't have a ride or babysitter. I'm going to see if they're open tomorrow or if my mom will babysit Hannah overnight on Sunday so that I can drive Tyler to work on Monday morning and do it then.

I know common sense says to call my OB and ask what they think but they already downplayed it the other day when I was in the ER (I mean, questioning if I'm pregnant again when I said I couldn't be) and they almost never take anything seriously and will likely just tell me it's normal PP bleeding because you can bleed up to 8 weeks pp. I just don't think you can start actively bleeding at 5-6 weeks pp. I'm out of pads until Tyler gets home around 8pm tonight (I recently used my last one) and have gone through almost an entire roll of toilet paper from the frequent bathroom trips due to the clots/bleeding... I just feel a random gush and have to go to the bathroom because there's a lot of blood or I'm passing more clots.

If I were filling a pad an hour I could go back to the ER, no problem but since I'm not I feel like I'm stuck. All I know is I'm over these cramps and the constant bleeding and clots. I had light bleeding and NO passing of clots my entire postpartum experience up until this week when I started passing the placental tissue.

 

[CantHrdlyWait]

Amanda, if you are worried, i'd go to the ER no matter if you are filling a pad or not. It's certainly something that you should go in for if you are not feeling okay about it. I've never had a baby, but it does seem strange!

 

[wavescrash]

Thanks Britt. When it all started happening the other day, I had posted on my local mom group on FB to ask if anyone else had a similar experience (in case it was normal with a c-section and I just wasn't aware of it) and a postpartum nurse had commented.

So I asked her about what I just posted here & she said without physically assessing me she obviously couldn't say much (which I expected) but said it's not normal and suggested I go to another hospital (the one she works at) as it's in a different hospital system entirely. I'm just feeling torn because I know the logical first step is to call my OB and see what she says but like I said - they already told me everything is normal and not to worry unless I'm filling pads within an hour. I just anticipate being told the same thing. And I'm sure OH is going to think I'm exaggerating seeing as they already told me everything looks okay the other night.

 

[goldstns]

Rachel- at ellies age Alia ate 3oz ever 3hr. Now she does 4.5-5 oz every 4 hr. At night shell go 7-8 hr. When feeding formula (like Leah/waves)babies go longer at night at a younger age...so I think Leah is fine. And my guess is once Ellie is at bit of a higher weight they will say to just feed when she's hungry. That how Alia is.

 

[goldstns]

Robert - dh went to whole foods yesterday and they didn't have it. So I called the whole foods near my work and they didn't have it either. My mom works near a sprouts that claims to have it...so she's bringing some home.

speaking of "dh" ... Irl I was taking about my husband and almost said "dh" instead of husband....oops

 

[jury3]

Waves-Definitely go if you aren't feeling sure about it or at least call. Sorry you have to deal with all that!

Rachel-The brand I got was the circo brand. However, I think our's might be slightly bigger than a normal sized pack n play bc it's the twin bassinets...Looking at reviews online there only seems to be one that fits ours and it's the Graco brand...cream is the only option...boo! You will probably be ok with just the circo brand though.

Britt-I hate that too! I hate having parties where I'm the center of attention...I am not the kind of person to show a lot of emotion, so anytime I get a gift I have to put on a show to let people know I like it. It's so hard sometimes! lol Especially when I have to do it over and over again at something like a baby shower!

Nikki-Lol I do the same thing...I've almost said DW before or I'll start to say other abbreviations. I've had to catch myself several times.

 

[TTCaWee1]

Waves - my guess is that since you passed the retained tissue, your uterus is now going to finish shedding. Esp if you still had an elevated hcg, your body probably thought is was still partially preggo. That is totally just a guess. I'd say to give it a day or two unless you are soaking a pad an hour. Don't you have your 6 week pp apt coming up soon? I know mine is next week. AnD I'm hoping to get cleared for some lovin!!!! Although my mom will be visiting so we might wait till she's gone. She's pretty nosey...

Oh - Ellie is 6lbs 14oz. Almost 7 pounds. Super exciting. We don't have to go back until next month!

 

[Disneybaby26]

Waves-I bled heavily for weeks after my D&C and then a full 3 weeks later my hcg was still at 7 and then over a week after that it was down to 3. I remember them telling me that once the numbers get low it takes a loooong time to completely be out of your system.

D&C was a year ago today-spent some time grieving and said a prayer for our little angel baby.

I have a sore throat and feel so achy-I realllllly hope I'm not getting sick. That would totes blow at this point!

 

[TTCaWee1]

Aww sorry you feel crummy Kara. And sorry about today. Isn't it crazy though that we "knew" each other when you got pregnant and went through your d&c??

 

[Disneybaby26]

Thanks Rachel! It really is crazy and very cool to have had us all stick together! So glad little Ellie is growing away!! Her pictures are too adorable!!