Valentines Babies, 2013!

[Jo_Bean]

Bless them! So gorgeous! You must be so proud

How are you feeling now?

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

oh dragon, they are perfect. Congratulations xx

 

[DragonflyWing]

Doing ok, pretty sore still. I slept through my last pain medication time, and I'm paying for it now! Getting up every 3 hours to pump, but my milk hasn't come in yet, so I'm getting either a few drops of colostrum or nothing at all. They tell me it should come in within the next 2 days or so.

We should get to hold the babies later today! I can't wait.

 

[DragonflyWing]

Sorry, double post

 

[Kim2012]

Congrats Dragon .The babies are too cute for words!!!! Really really adorable

 

[Jo_Bean]

That's going to be an amazing moment when you get to hold them!!

 

[munchkinlove]

Thanks so much! We are all doing well so far. Got to see both babies smile today! I'm going to try to get some good pictures soon. The NICU is so dark that it's difficult. They are so freaking cute, like little tiny dolls

Here's what i have so far:

Gunnar
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/DragonflyWings/IMG_20121220_132545.jpg

Lilja
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/DragonflyWings/IMG_20121220_131121.jpg

coming from a NICU nurse......they look great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im glad to see they are doing well.

 

[Kellen]

Dragon, your little ones look amazing! They are so adorable. I'm glad that you will be able to hold them soon. Sorry you are in pain, but I'm so very glad that everything turned out okay. This just makes it more real that pretty soon a bunch of us will have live squirming babies in our arms.

 

[DragonflyWing]

We held them last night, and it was amazing! They are so tiny, they feel weightless. I'm pretty sure it helped my milk supply, because I went from getting 1ml per day to 40ml in 3 sessions

Going home today, and woke up in the night crying because I don't want to leave my babies. That's going to be hard.

 

[wamommy]

Going home today, and woke up in the night crying because I don't want to leave my babies. That's going to be hard.

Oh, I'm sure Did they give you an estimate as to how long they'll have to stay in the NICU? How often do you get to come in and be with them? I'm so glad you got to hold them

I was up all night the night before last with contractions... I stood in the shower at 4:00am trying to get them to stop with hot water. I sobbed and sobbed, thinking I'd ruin everyone's Christmas, since the girls' presents aren't even wrapped! Finally at 9am they stopped and I was able to sleep for a couple of hours. I tried calling my midwife's on-call line, since they are closed on Saturdays, and waited ALL DAY for a call back. They never called. I figure if the contractions don't come back I should be ok? I might call or go in on Monday, if they're even open. For now I'm trying to take it super easy, but DH has been in an awful, awful mood the last few days and things are very tense and stressful around my house. All I have to do is get through Christmas, right? Then I can rest...

How is everyone else doing? Any plans for Christmas?

 

[helena]

Oh wamommy, sorry to hear about they contractions, and you not getting called back! That is terrible. Cn you not call the maternity department at e hospital direct if you are worried?
Tell DH to pull himself together.
I woke in pains on Friday night at 4am! I also was thinking about the kids presents I haven't started wrapping yet. I made a mental list of 3 gifts DH would have to wrap and give them, and the rest could wait until new year if I ended up in hospital. Luckily the period type pains faded and I slept again. Did you have lots of contractions? I would go be checked out mabe, if you have time today....
But I guess of no liquid has come out and the pains have stopped and baby is moving ok, you should be ok...maybe it is jus stress. Quickly get the wrapping done then relax. Are you at home on Christmas Day? We are, it's just us 4, so I am hoping to make it as easy as possible. The boys aren't bothered about Christmas dinner that much, so as long as it is nice ish me and DH will be happy. W have turkey, roast potatoes, Veges and English Christmas pudding and cake. But at least there are no visitors so who cares if the roast potatoes aren't as crunchy as they could be?! Ad who will care if the pudding is microwaved?! Not me.
Facing the shops this morning to collect our turkey though...supermarket on Christmas Eve could be horrendous but a least I have already done the bulk of the shopping.

Dragon - oh so nice to hold your babies. What a christams present!!! You will be able to visit a lot of the day if you want to right? It's best you rest as much as possible so that you can have energy for all the milk you will soon be requiring. Being a dairy cow ( no offence meant!) is hard work - lots of rest, water and food for you this Christmas. I remember when my first son was born the nurses in hospital took him away for 1 hour in the night so I could sleep. I was in tears on the phone to my husband feeling like a terrible mummy, I hated being away from him. So I can't imagine how you must feel being away from them all night!..but I know my emotions were so tense because of the hormones..so try and remind yourself of that, the best thing you can do is get well and rested.
Hormones post birth are a killer....with my second I was heart broken about not being with my first son at night..I was sobbing like a baby looking out of the window towards our house. Then when I made it home my father in law made a rude comment about my tummy and I went to my bedroom, called my mum and howled. Truly heartbroken uncontrollable sobs. It wasn't post natal depression, just incredibly sensitive for about 6 days.
S you test up dragon, look after you and the hospital will look after the babies. You will all be fine and they will be keeping you up all night before you know it!!! Xxxx

 

[SierraJourney]

Oh my goodness---off for a few days, and what excitement! Dragon, the babies are SOOOOOOOO cute!! I can't imagine having to leave them---I know that must be so hard! I hope you get to visit all of the time!

wamommy and helena---contractions already?! That's scary! How are you both doing now? I'd be crying my eyes out in worry and stress, too! Wamommy, tell your DH he had better straighten up! I know from my experience right now, I need my DH to be as sensitive and helping as possible.

I've been doing pretty good (knock on wood). . .the main complaint is that whenever I do *any* cleaning, my belly cramps and aches so much that I'm out of comission for the rest of the day. It's really hard to get anything done that way!

I'm heading to the in-laws for Christmas celebrations today. . .We are gonig to DH's step-sister's house for a few hours, then to his mum's house, then to Christmas Eve service at their church, then to his Aunt's house after that----and then a 2.5 hour drive late tonight! I know already that I'm going to be exhausted, but I don't want to dwell on that because I don't want to be the grumpy pregnant lady! It'll be a lot of fun---and some of these relatives haven't even seen me pregnant yet!

Tomorrow DH and I celebrate Christmas ourselves in the morning, then we head 30 minutes to my mum's house to be with my side of the family. I'm really looking forward to everything!

So. . I might be off for a couple of days, but I will try to keep checking back in. Take care of yourselves, ladies!!! And enjoy your holidays!

 

[Jo_Bean]

Happy Christmas to you all, I hope you have a fantastic time and I'll 'see' you all in 2013 when we get to meet our little babies!!

 

[DragonflyWing]

Merry Christmas everyone

The babies are doing great...now that my milk is in (getting 4 oz per pump, yay!), they're getting exclusively breast milk, no more formula. They are both getting 25 ml every 3 hours, so right now I'm already making enough to feed both of them. I'm so proud of my boobs lol . Lilja barfed on me tonight for the first time today Hehe, I'm sure the first of many.

As for me, my pain is much better today. I walked around quite a bit today, going to rent a pump and then visiting the babies, and I'm feeling pretty good. Not too tired, either, although I have to sleep in a recliner since it's not comfortable to sleep flat yet. My belly had gone down so much, it feels SO weird not having my bump anymore. I get a little teary every time I look in the mirror and remember that I don't have my babies with me all the time anymore. I love them more than I can even believe but I want them to be safe in my belly a while longer. *sniffle*

Here's a picture of my 5 day post partum belly. The bottom part is still swollen, but the top is pretty much as flat as pre-pregnancy. I haven't weighed myself yet, I'll probably do that tomorrow.

 

[helena]

Glad all is ok dragon
And congratulations on the vomit hehehe.

I hear there are support corsets that can help with pain when moving post c section, and help with swelling. I am going to get one to wear for the couple of weeks after the op as I think it would have really helped me last time.

Don't worry about being swollen on the lower tummy, I always was below the scar.

My bump is feeling huge. It's about as big as my second baby on the night before he was born. 5 weeks and 2 days left until my c section date...no wonder I am already getting so many aches!

Had a lovely easy Christmas Day with my family yesterday, although sitting on the floor while my boys opened presents almost finished my pelvis off. Bt t was a nice easy day, stayed home, nice dinner, lots of play and Disney films. Just the easy Christmas I needed.
And a lovely big cheese board once the boys were in bed. So even though i hadnt been able to have a drink (which i did miss!) i felt a bit like a grown up a least once. Yum.

Hope you all had a lovely day xx

 

[Kellen]

Merry Day after Christmas everyone!

I am pleased that your babies are doing so well, Dragon, and that they are able to get all their nutrition straight from you! I would be a mess too if I had to be away from my little one when she arrives.

Wamommy, contractions plus a non-cooperative husband does not sound like a fantastic combination. I hope that everything turned out okay and that your little one wants to stick around inside for a little bit longer.

I actually called off work on Friday because I could almost literally not walk. I guess the baby must have dropped a bit or something. I was barely able to take a step and couldn't get pants on without DH helping. It felt like my pubic area was super bruised and very sore. All I did was lounge in bed and take it easy. Saturday was a little bit better and Sunday was good. However, I over did Christmas prep on Monday and was back to hobbling around on Christmas day. We just stayed in an had our last "alone" Christmas. It was very nice and relaxed.

 

[SierraJourney]

Dragon---you look fabulous! It's crazy how LONG it takes to get that bump and in how fast it can go down! I'm so happy to hear that you're able to feed the babies so well now! That's awesome!!

I hear you ladies on the soreness! DH says I look like an old-lady when I move sometimes. . .my pubic area is SO sore!

The holidays were wonderful, and I am now back at work. My house is a disaster after just throwing things everywhere while running out the door to various parties, etc. So, this week, I HAVE to pick up and clean (MIL is coming over this weekend, so want everything to look good!).

DH treated me so good this Christmas---very romantic and telling me how beautiful I am and that he's so thankful for me in his life. Made my whole year just listening to him! I'm so lucky to have him. Does anyone else have a sort-of melancholy about "losing" that special me-and-you time that you have with your DH? I talked with DH last night about how I'm a bit sad that things are going to change. Obviously, I'm happy to have our son soon and know that will bring TREMENDOUS joy, but I know things will never be the same with DH and I again. And I'm going to miss that.

Also, what is everyone doing concerning visitors while you're at the hospital and when you first get home? I'm going to wait a few hours after birth to let people come to the hospital---because I want to breastfeed and spend time with baby and get myself looking a bit more presentable before everyone floods in. But, are you limiting who comes? I feel like it's going to be SO many people---my mum, sisters, their husbands, my neices, MIL, FIL, SIL, BIL, possibly some of DH's aunts and uncles, and some friends. Will this be just too overwhelming? But how can I say "no"? Also, I feel that my family and DH's mum and dad will want to come to our house very often the first few days after birth. . .which I don't want to deny them their grandson, but I feel I'll be still awkwardly trying to figure out breastfeeding, still trying to understand my baby, etc, and honestly, *I* want to hold him. lol I don't really want to share. . . But I know they will just want to be there because they love us and him. . . so how can I say "no"? And will it really be that bad if they are around? I feel like I'm making a big deal about it when maybe it might be nice to have so many people doting on us? What are all of you doing? Any "rules"?

 

[Kellen]

Sierra, that is so sweet that your DH is treating you so well. Mine is being an absolute amazing man. He gave me a necklace for Christmas that has two hearts that are ringed with diamonds with a pink gold heart inside of them to represent our growing family. Yes, there were many tear split... but they were good!

In a way I am thankful that the majority of our family lives out of state. My folks are in Oregon and DH's are in Texas. We have a family we are close to, but no extended family around. So our basic plan is to allow that one family to come visit the day after our daughter is born. Visit for 20 minutes (maybe less depending on how I feel) and then send them away.
Our families (okay, mine because his hasn't decided whether or not they will actually come visit) are planning to stagger visits to come see the baby after we have had the first two weeks at home alone. DH has been researching past weather patterns and is praying for a snow storm for those two weeks so we can all be comfy and cozy together. Personally this would stink because I'd be missing out on great OT at work since we activate for major weather...

 

[SierraJourney]

Aww Kellen--that necklace sounds so pretty! What a sweetheart!

Your plans sound great for after baby is born!! Lucky!

 

[Kellen]

My mom does have airline tickets on standby in case I have a major meltdown or have to have a C-Section or if some other complication occurs. DH's dad just lost his job so I'm pretty sure that unless one of DH's many brothers or sister decided to volunteer to drive them out to see us that they won't be coming to visit any time soon. Which, no offense to them, doesn't bother me all that much. They smoke and would be very unhappy with my "if you smoke you don't hold my baby" rule.