PP Chat Thread 7/29-8/5 - Page 2

[serenekitten]

11 days PP. I've had more energy than I thought I would, and this has gotten me into trouble -- bright red bleeding these last couple days, from being out and about too much. So until that stops, I won't be doing much in the way of exercising. I'm hoping to at least start with some short walks, soon.

Breastfeeding is going well, despite some difficulties. Over supply/crazy let down reflex leaves us both cold, wet and miserable. Our latch isn't the greatest, sometimes. And it seems that whatever junk I've been eating lately isn't agreeing with DS's belly -- he's gassy and once a day when he spits up he seems to lose more than one feeding's worth at a time. I'm working on keeping him upright and burping him well. The good news is that he's surpassed his birth weight and gained 9 oz. in a week.

He can sleep for 3-4 hours at a time... unfortunately, it's usually when it's daylight.

We've only had a little bit of truly alone time together, and that was a bit rough for me. Mom came and stayed for a few days and has just left. I'm hoping to head to my boyfriend's place either tonight or tomorrow.

I've only had a few mini-meltdowns, thankfully. I'm sure the lady who answered the phone at the lab last Saturday wondered why I burst into tears when I found out the outpatient services were already closed (DS needed his bilirubin checked again).

[lindsayjean]

Originally Posted by Angelorum

Holy porn star boobs, batman! I woke up engorged!

DH says my collarbones are being invaded haha

[mags]

Originally Posted by Angelorum

Holy porn star boobs, batman! I woke up engorged!

Lol, my DH has been really obsessed with my boobs lately. He said, "sex will be a lot more fun w/o the pancake boobs." Yeah, so what happens when the pancake boobs are back???

Anyway, my baby is about a wk and a half old. My episiotomy pain if FINALLY getting better. However, I am still just totally exhausted, like dragging myself around half asleep exhausted. I'm eating and drinking, but barely sleeping at all at night. My baby has his days and nights screwed up. Sleeping most of the day, and awake all night wanting to nurse. He is still too small to nurse effectively laying down (plus it makes me nervous, b/c our mattress is soft), so I have been having to nurse him in a chair and it's just killing me. My DH returns to work on Wed and I am already feeling panicked about how I will manage. If the baby was sleeping better at night, I would be ok, but at this rate, I feel like I cannot function at all w/o my DH.

I had a very weird exp starting a few days ago where my feet started to swell, I got a bad headache and I've been monitoring my BP. Last night it sky rocketed really high and I got totally freaked out. Called my ob this morning, he sent me to L&D, no protein in the urine, blood draws came back normal and of course my BP, although mildly high at the hospital was nowhere as high as it was last night and my feet swelling had gone down a bit. I felt like a fool going, but I have never had BP that high before (160's/110's), and that was kind of the last straw that made me decide not to wait it out, but to call about it. They told me that only being 1 wk pp, that my body is still adjusting to all the extra fluid from the pregnancy. What is weird to me is the swelling, headache, BP did not start until a few days ago. So, I don't know what to think. Never had any pre-eclampsia or BP issues with any of my pregnancies.

Baby is nursing well, but my left nipple still hurts. He has a weird latch, I've checked it and he has a good latch, BUT it is sooo tight, it hurts so much at the beginning and then he loosens up a bit as he starts to nurse. As for wt loss, I only gained 7 lbs this pregnancy, but so far have lost 13 lbs. This has never happened to me before (losing more wt than I gained), but I will take what I can get! My biggest issue right now is just the exhaustion. I can't seem to get past it and it's really bothering me, b/c even though my other two children did not sleep well as newborns, I was doing better than I am doing now. I'm just having a very hard time bouncing back this time and it's driving me nuts. I don't know what I am going to do next month when school starts and I have to haul all three kids to and from school, in the morning, ugh!

[Angelorum]

landlord just showed up on our doorstep to tell us he's showing the house at 9 tomorrow morning. MIL was here when he rang, and while he couldn't see her from the door I know he recognizes her car. She wasn't planning to stay here tonight, and she left right afterwards. But oh, if he tries to give us any grief over her being here, or the state of the lawn/house or whatever he is in for an earful. I'm a week post partum and I'm moving in a week, I think a little household chaos is to be expected. I really did not want to see his ugly mug.

[lindsayjean]

Mags- I didn't realize babies could be too small to side lie nurse? I nursed side lying on like day 2... it's so much easier for me during night because I can basically sleep while he nurses. Oh man, if I had to actually get UP every time I nursed, I'd be dead too!!

We're doing good... my husband and I have our 5 yr wedding anniversary on Friday and then on Saturday he leaves me with our 2.5 yr old and newborn for AN ENTIRE WEEK, he works with youth and he's taking them on a colorado adventure trip. I hope I can manage!!!! Luckily my mom lives half an hour away so we might hang out there a LOT.

[mags]

Originally Posted by lindsayjean

Mags- I didn't realize babies could be too small to side lie nurse? I nursed side lying on like day 2... it's so much easier for me during night because I can basically sleep while he nurses. Oh man, if I had to actually get UP every time I nursed, I'd be dead too!!

We're doing good... my husband and I have our 5 yr wedding anniversary on Friday and then on Saturday he leaves me with our 2.5 yr old and newborn for AN ENTIRE WEEK, he works with youth and he's taking them on a colorado adventure trip. I hope I can manage!!!! Luckily my mom lives half an hour away so we might hang out there a LOT.

Our mattress is REALLY soft, so when he side nurses, I am really afraid he will get smothered, plus he falls asleep midway and doesn't, "finish" nursing and wants to sleep on his belly. This co-sleeping thing sucks. I tried to do it with DS2, didn't work, tried it with this one and even took him into our guest bedrom last night, which is a firmer mattress and he STILL wouldn't sleep, just fussed and fussed. I don't know how ppl co-sleep and make it work, b/c it has never worked for us and my arms and neck are killing me from being sprawled out weird and being all stiff. I am using the arms reach co-sleeper this time and it would be great if the baby would sleep in it. I cannot sleep when I try to co-sleep, I don't forsee us trying to co-sleep much longer, b/c it's just not working. I may as well put him in his own room and tredge back and forth btwn our rooms, b/c at least my DH will get some sleep...

Have a happy anniversary!

[penstamon]

Angelorum- I cant wait for you to be done with that landlord!

lindsayjean- happy anniversary! ours is on Aug 5th (10 yrs), although my dh will probably forget

mags- I have side-lying problems too. I just can't seem to position him right and he falls asleep too. Our mattress isnt the best either and our bed is so crowded. So I have to sit up every time and fully wake up to nurse- it sucks! Have you looked into the Snuggle Nest? We are using one now, probably for the next month or so, and it sets up a nice boundary between LO and us without really separating us fully.

I am doing great overall, but still trying to get off the couch more- I feel like I am there almost all day nursing! I have been a little nostalgic that he is already 2w old! It makes me sad to think how quickly it goes and I already want more in the future!

[Mama_Michelle]

Angelorum, I can't believe your landlord is still being a jerk. You are moving out next week...he should give it a rest already! That is a lot going on pp, hugs to you.

Happy Anniversary to both of you, lindsayjean and penstamon!

I am officially alone during the day now. DH is back at work and MIL left yesterday. I am actually excited to NOT have people staying here. Its been a month with guests and its been too much. Everyone has been so helpful but I just want our family in our space. I wish grandparents lived close enough to help out without having to stay at our house.

We went to a park playdate this morning. It was fun. Everyone was surprised to see me but I really think DD1 & DD2 need to get back to their normal schedule. DD3 did awesome. She is such a laid back baby...so far, at least. She still has a cold. I cannot wait for it to go away, she has been sick with her second cold for the last week and I have been worried about her. Although she seems to be getting better.

[Angelorum]

Landlord thinks we owe him 2 more weeks rent, because we didn't give 30 days notice that we are moving. Too bad for him that there is no set amount of notice in our lease and Utah rental laws say we only have to give him 15 days

hugs to everyone having trouble sleeping. I'd be totally dead too if we hadn't figured out the side lying nursing. We are still having a little trouble latching due to some engorgement. Every once in a while he just can't get a latch lying down and I have to sit up, but by then, he'll have been trying frantically for 10 minutes and I'm awake anyway. He falls asleep too, but he does that whether he's lying on the bed or the nursing pillow, so I may as well lay down myself.

This morning he was mostly asleep at the breast and I kept trying to pull my nipple out so I could go pee and he would wake up just enough to suck it back it in. I said, "you're onto my game, aren't you?" at which he got this huge grin on his face with the nipple still in his mouth

We went to the health dept today to get his PKU test done and get the homebirth packet for a birth cert. I was a little sad about having to get his heel poked, but he did so well. They let me stand and hold him, I got ready to nurse him, but he wasn't really interested in latching on, he just had the nipple in his mouth. He didn't even make a peep when they poked him, just latched on and started nursing vigorously. And he bled really well, it took no time at all to fill in the 7 circles on the card. MIL was amazed, she said it usually takes her 10 minutes of squeezing to get enough. We had to sit around and wait for a long time in hard chairs (stitches are still a bit sore) but I am relieved that it went so well and that it's done.

[ATruck]

It is totally worth it to get the side lying nursing worked out, IMO! My mw assistant showed me how to do it with DD1, and it changed everything. For some reason, back then, I needed to prop myself with all sorts of pillows to get it comfortable. Then didn't need them anymore as time went on.

With DD2, I was nursing side-lying within a half hour of her birth (6 pounds, 12 oz) so I don't think baby's size matters too much. Haven't needed pillows behind my back or anything, either.

To get baby's position right, try swaddling and then putting a rolled up receiving blanket behind his her back and have him/her on his side, facing you. Not completely on her/his side, sort of in between being on his/her back and side. I lie on my side, put my arm and shoulder under the pillow and my head on the pillow.