Weekly Post-Partum thread, May 2-9 - Page 7

[Pepper44]

My baby hates to be left laying somewhere too. I thought it was just a part of being a baby...are there babies that will just lay there?? My DD2 is pretty easy going, but she still cries hysterically at night when I'm trying to get myself and DD1 ready for bed. Other times I wear her in the sling while doing stuff and it's no problem, but at night I have to change my clothes and stuff...not easy to wear her then. I feel so sad when she screams every night, but it's only like 5-10 minutes.

I've been block feeding from the start this time too and I think it's really helped my over supply problems! I'm only mildly engorged, not painfully like last baby. I haven't gotten mastitis yet either, knock on wood. I leak some, but I don't fill prefolds like last time.

I can't use those lilypads things--last time I had mastitis and plugged ducts so much, I'm afraid. I'd rather just soak my shirt than suffer!

to those of you with low supply. That would be rough.

Aaahh...baby poo monster is at it again. I have to wash diapers every other day, and we have more than 3 dozen!

[jsh7809]

Ugh, can someone tell this baby that it is NOT COOL to be waking up every morning with the sunrise? I know that we have a generally good sleeper, and are lucky to get a good chunk most nights from 9pm to 3am with only one or two quick nurses in there, but she is at her most alert time from 5am to 8am and I am not dealing well. I am NOT a morning person and am starting to get burned out... so tired and sleepy that I literally want to throw up. Some mornings she lets me get away with bringing her into bed and nursing a little and catnapping but she is becoming more and more wide awake at this time every day. UGH. Then by the time she is ready for a nap at 8am, I am wide awake and can't fall asleep. I have always been a good napper but I'm really having trouble getting into the swing of it with a baby.
Also since DH works outside of the home every weekday and gets up by 7, I am too guilty to ask him to get up with DD when she wants someone to hang out and play on any day, especially a weekend... I keep thinking that all I want for mother's day is to sleep in till 8 or 9 but I feel too sad about him not getting enough sleep to ask for it. Martyr's day I guess!

[rhiOrion]

I think L has finally figured out the difference between night and day!!!!

Unfortunately for DH she screams from about 7 pm (he gets home at about 6:45) until somewhere between 10pm and 1 am every night. Sometimes he can get her to be quiet for a while if he puts her in the pikkolo and bounces on the exercise ball. Sometimes my boobs work. Sometimes they don't.

But then somewhere between 10pm and 1 am I take her to bed and sit with her and nurse her and eventually she falls asleep and so do I. and the last week or so she's been basically sleeping through the night with only the occasional wake-up to nurse. And maybe a diaper change in there. Though I refuse to wake a sleeping baby for a diaper change unless I hear a huge poop. She's not getting diaper rash, so if she's happy, so am I.

Then, at 6 am without fail she starts doing grunting squeaking noises that are hard to sleep through, but I can kind of doze. And at about 8 am we both start to wake up.

At least, that's how it is this week. I'm sure it will change next week.

Right now I'm laughing because DH is wearing her in the carrier and playing guitar hero at the same time, and she's asleep!

[smeisnotapirate]

Jen and snoopy, my DS was like that . It's tough when you can't get anything done - even just the basic "pee and feed myself" stuff. It helped a bit to learn a Tibetan carry with the sling - keeping him high on my back seemed to help a lot more than anything else, though it wasn't foolproof.

I love my ILs and they're doing work around the house, but when it's Shabbos, it's 7:30am, I just got the baby back asleep, and I'm on my babymoon, PLEASE DON'T DO WORK RIGHT BENEATH MY BED WITH YOUR IPOD BLARING.

I rarely say this about them, but I cannot wait until they're gone. I already haven't said 2 words to DH this weekend because he's always doing something and doesn't have time to just hang out. It ALSO means that he thinks he's exempt from all baby care - which means that I get to do 2 diaper changes, keep track of DS and DD, and nurse nurse nurse all day while being responsible for feeding myself AND the kids. We will be having a talk when the ILs leave. Happy Mother's Day to me.

[Carita]

my angel has her witching times. i haven't been able to wear her much - she isn't sold on it yet.

[jenfl]

Jess -- I'm the type of person who has a terrible time losing sleep in the middle of the night (or end of the night), too. What I had to do with DD was just resign myself to it. I set up the Tivo to get all kinds of shows that I normally don't have time to watch, and I'd have that time to myself (and baby). It helped me to just embrace the fact that I couldn't change things right now, and I just had to get through it for a few weeks. Remember, that's seriously all it is -- a few weeks. Think back to some milestone in your pregnancy -- doesn't that seem like it JUST HAPPENED? Think of how many weeks ago it was, and how old your DD will be in that many weeks. Think of all the things that will be different, and how fast the time will seem to have passed.

That always helps me push through the rough spots, at least.

AFM, my Sprout slept from just before 9 to just after 3, and I was SO THRILLED!!! My DD didn't sleep that long until probably 9 months. I had no idea that a 5 week old could even sleep that long!

And he's having a sleepy day, on top of it! He woke up at around 6:30, fed, got changed, I thought we were getting up for the day (I even turned on the light), but he wanted to keep sleeping! And he slept until about 8:30am, then has been napping on and off all morning. Weird!

[jsh7809]

Yay for all the sleeping babies! In any form that sleep takes!!

I get tricked by her noises for sure - she tends to make an hour or so of squeaks, grunts, and even sometimes a cry (but just one, obviously a dream cry) for an hour or more before waking up from a deep deep sleep. It's so weird! For me, even in my most asleep stage, I take maybe 5 minutes to wake fully up. DH hates to wake up so she's obviously taking after him
Anyway, I put her in the sling and she fell back asleep by 7am, so then I put us all back in bed and tried to sleep - but by that point I was wide awake - so frustrating! I did get another half hour or so and left her curled up with DH sleeping so I could take a shower, and that cute factor made it all worth while

Jenfl, I think you're right, I need to just resign myself to it. We don't have cable but I am rewatching shows like 30Rock on Netflix instant watch... I feel like a lump for watching SO much tv these days, but I really should just let myself embrace it. You are 100% right, so often during pregnancy I was like "I can't take one more day of this!" (especially at almost 42 weeks pregnant!) and here I am on the other side, almost nostalgic for even the hard times. Life is funny like that. One of my biggest pregnancy/ newborn lessons has been, no matter how hard something is, at some point it will be over. And that will be a relief but also possibly a little sad.
I'm using that weird mantra to get through the upcoming work days I'll have to be separated from DD (luckily only a few here and there) and from the lack of sleep, etc., ... I guess the trick is trying to enjoy even the times that make you want to pull your hair out. So I kind of dealt with the 5am wake up call by first crying and begging the baby, "please please please stop screaming and go back to sleep!!" and then resigning myself to it and enjoying our time together (once the screaming stopped).

Rhi, total parallel DHs too?! Mine spent 90% of his paternity leave swaddling the baby and playing Indiana Jones Lego video games on the Wii with the baby asleep in his lap . I kept getting kind of grouchy about it until I realized that no one was making me try to be productive during her naps, that was my own stupid idea! Ha ha. Glad to hear L is giving you some breaks, I hope the sleeping keeps getting even better!!

It's funny how it seems there are fewer and fewer of us active in this DDC all the time... I realize it's because most of us literally have our hands full 24/7, but I just find so much support and relief here, I think I'm addicted

That said, I have NO IDEA how any of you moms with kids already do it. Any of it. Every time I think I am having a hard time, I think about my mom doing this with three kids! Or those of you who have a newborn AND a toddler!

Happy, happy mothers day to you ladies, I bow down to you!!

Tiny little silly rant: Whole Foods has been out of the bacon in the hot bar for a full week and their stupid shopping carts don't fit an infant car seat! So I had to lug it around and settle for bagels, what a sad day to start the day

[rhiOrion]

Originally Posted by jsh7809

Yay for all the sleeping babies! In any form that sleep takes!!

I get tricked by her noises for sure - she tends to make an hour or so of squeaks, grunts, and even sometimes a cry (but just one, obviously a dream cry) for an hour or more before waking up from a deep deep sleep. It's so weird! For me, even in my most asleep stage, I take maybe 5 minutes to wake fully up. DH hates to wake up so she's obviously taking after him
Anyway, I put her in the sling and she fell back asleep by 7am, so then I put us all back in bed and tried to sleep - but by that point I was wide awake - so frustrating! I did get another half hour or so and left her curled up with DH sleeping so I could take a shower, and that cute factor made it all worth while

Jenfl, I think you're right, I need to just resign myself to it. We don't have cable but I am rewatching shows like 30Rock on Netflix instant watch... I feel like a lump for watching SO much tv these days, but I really should just let myself embrace it. You are 100% right, so often during pregnancy I was like "I can't take one more day of this!" (especially at almost 42 weeks pregnant!) and here I am on the other side, almost nostalgic for even the hard times. Life is funny like that. One of my biggest pregnancy/ newborn lessons has been, no matter how hard something is, at some point it will be over. And that will be a relief but also possibly a little sad.
I'm using that weird mantra to get through the upcoming work days I'll have to be separated from DD (luckily only a few here and there) and from the lack of sleep, etc., ... I guess the trick is trying to enjoy even the times that make you want to pull your hair out. So I kind of dealt with the 5am wake up call by first crying and begging the baby, "please please please stop screaming and go back to sleep!!" and then resigning myself to it and enjoying our time together (once the screaming stopped).

Rhi, total parallel DHs too?! Mine spent 90% of his paternity leave swaddling the baby and playing Indiana Jones Lego video games on the Wii with the baby asleep in his lap . I kept getting kind of grouchy about it until I realized that no one was making me try to be productive during her naps, that was my own stupid idea! Ha ha. Glad to hear L is giving you some breaks, I hope the sleeping keeps getting even better!!

It's funny how it seems there are fewer and fewer of us active in this DDC all the time... I realize it's because most of us literally have our hands full 24/7, but I just find so much support and relief here, I think I'm addicted

That said, I have NO IDEA how any of you moms with kids already do it. Any of it. Every time I think I am having a hard time, I think about my mom doing this with three kids! Or those of you who have a newborn AND a toddler!

Happy, happy mothers day to you ladies, I bow down to you!!

Tiny little silly rant: Whole Foods has been out of the bacon in the hot bar for a full week and their stupid shopping carts don't fit an infant car seat! So I had to lug it around and settle for bagels, what a sad day to start the day

Could you put her in a sling or something for the store? I actually just got to go to the store by myself. It was the first time I've been away from her more than from one end of the house to the other.

Hahah, I think if DH could only find a way to hold her and play the drum part of guitar hero he'd be even happier.

We're having a screamy day. But she's not too interested in the boob, so I'm thinking gas and not growth spurt.

She's quieted down now that I'm sitting out on our porch. I don't mind being forced to enjoy my screened in porch! But I do wish it was cooler out so I didn't worry about her overheating in the carrier.

[sanguine_speed]

Originally Posted by jsh7809

That said, I have NO IDEA how any of you moms with kids already do it. Any of it. Every time I think I am having a hard time, I think about my mom doing this with three kids! Or those of you who have a newborn AND a toddler!

I'm finding the transition to a fourth child a very positive one. It truly forces some letting go. It is not possible to be both neurotic and sane with four children! So neurotic has had to go, lol. Oh, and standards has to go too .

[justamama]

I think I've reach the level of sleep deprivation where sleep hurts more than it helps. I'm normally struggle with insomnia. So by the time I can fall asleep, LuLu's long stretch of sleep (about 12-4am) is over or almost over. Then Reese is a morning kid. Where that came from I have no idea, dh and I are definitely not morning people! So the latest I can sleep is maybe 10, but more like 8:30-9. So I get around 4-5 hrs a night with 2-3 wakings to latch LuLu on. I'm running on fumes and Dr. Pepper.

Today the exhaustion has given way to productivity, though. I made the girls and I a nice big breakfast, cleaned the living room, and got diapers in the washer. LuLu just fell back to sleep, so I'm thinking of leaving the big girls with cartoons and catching a nap...but don't know if I can do that to the chickens. They're in the living room, and I know the girls will be constantly bothering them.

[Pepper44]

Ah chicks are more hardy than you'd think. The only way you can kill them is to get them too cold or squish them. None of my billions of chicks have ever perished from being toted around by chubby toddler hands for hours.

I am sleep deprived also. I have evolved so that I can function and feel good on 4-5 hours of broken sleep. Any less than that and I'm not doing so well, but I'll survive. I always tell myself--It will be better later. Because at some point whatever is happening will be past and it will be better.

My older DD falls asleep around 9 or 9:30, then the baby wakes up around 10 and has a fussy period. The baby wakes up every few hours after that, and DH wakes me up at 3:30 in the morning when he gets home from work and we talk for a little while, until 4 or 4:30.

Then the baby wakes up and fusses at 5 or 5:30, and as soon as I get her settled DD1 wakes up for the day at 6:30 or 7. I'm afraid this is a new level of normal and I'm trying hard to adjust to it. I actually feel well rested today, don't know why.

The only downside is that I'm losing brain cells. When we were playing Star Wars monopoly earlier I couldn't add up the numbers on the dice correctly! I would add it up one short every single time.

I just tried out our solarveil sling in the shower with the baby. She liked it! She sucked her thumb and let the water run all over her face the entire time I was washing my hair. Now she's all cuddly and relaxed.

I need to get up and pick up my house. *sigh* DD1 is doing a great job of making a disaster with her toys and sitting here on the couch staring at it is making me way too grumpy. It's just so much effort to put the baby in a sling or try to set her down...I'd rather just sit here and snuggle!

Jsh--you will eventually adjust too! It just takes time. It's shocking to go from being independent to having a little person 100% demanding of all your attention at all times. I think it's normal to be frustrated and mourn the loss of your freedom.

[jsh7809]

I think of our DD as the cutest little torture machine ever. Just lay down for a nap together, she was deep deep asleep for a good 45 minutes, and right when I started to drift off - she was UP and AWAKE and HUNGRY and WET. Who else would I coo at for waking me up AGAIN?!

So jealous of you folks who are Disney-accessible! I make it to Disneyland once every few years and am already so eager to go with the babe, though it's about 500 miles away.

And she does love the sling, but HATES getting in and out of the car seat. She loves having her hands up next to her face all of the time so getting them through those straps is a big bummer for both of us. I slinged her last time we went to the store but this time was hoping for an easy ride around in the cart since I forgot the stroller. Ah well!

[Knitting Mama]

Well, still no more sleep than usual (1-2 hours at a time), but I seem to be sort of getting used to it. Sure would be nice to get a 3-4 hour stretch at night though...

In more positive news, Cecilia showered with me tonight for the first time, and seemed to quite enjoy it, way more than her sponge baths. My husband brought her in toward the end of my shower. At first she was shocked by the spray, but pretty quickly realize warm water feels nice! The nicest part is the speed-- Cecilia hates the slowness of sponge baths. All in all it was a lovely experience for both of us.

[smeisnotapirate]

Aimee, we've always showered with our babies - it's really the best way to ensure you get a nice shower without having to jump out to tend baby as soon as the water gets warm.

Happy Mother's Day, ladies! Hope your DPs have some great things in store for today. AFM, I think my "gift" is going to be stromboli for dinner. Someone needs to get my DH a clue. I just pushed a baby out 2 weeks ago! I want a book or jewelry or some free time!

[crazyeight]

ooops posted in next weekly thread