I have no idea what's going on (Recap Thread)

[aylaanne]

Hey ladies, I'm sorry I vanished for a few weeks (nobody noticed, I bet). I got swamped with finals, and in the week since then I've just been recovering from that.

I took LittleBit to nursing group this morning, and she weighed 12lbs 8oz at 5.5 weeks! She's a big girl. Nursing is going great and she's very healthy, though she hates the car, and hates baths. She also has a yeasty diaper rash that we cannot kick. If anyone has any ideas for that, please let me know.

However, the point of this thread is not about me, but about YOU. Please post a nutshell version of when your baby was born, how, and what's been going on with you since then. I can't make sense of all the threads, and the weekly thread has so much information on it...I'm trying to get a sense of what happened in the last month.

Love to you all!

[rhiOrion]

Oooh, a recap thread, I like it!

L was born 4/8/10 after 27 hours of pit induced labor due to cholestasis of pregnancy.

We have had some stressful times due to a colicky baby and a bad latch. The latch is tremendously better now, possibly due to some chiropractor visits. The colic is better than it was. We're starting to see the light. I'm going to go talk to the ped tomorrow about possible reflux issues.

She's 6 weeks tomorrow and over 10 pounds (was 7-9 at birth and got down to 6-12).

She sleeps well at night once she finally goes to sleep, but she frequently screams bloody murder until about 1am. But after that I rarely have to get out of bed at all, she sleeps on my chest and just finds my boob when needed. Or she starts to squeak and I direct her head to the nipple.

That's about it for us!

Here's a recent cute picture

[bubbamummy]

Miss Molly Cate was born on April the 21st at 10:42am via 'scheduled' c-section.She was 19.5 inches long and weighed in at 7lbs 12oz. She was breech from 32 weeks and I tried EVERYTHING to get her to turn (and I literally mean EVERYTHING -i could write a book on it ) but at 37 weeks a ultrasound showed the cord was twice around her neck so she couldnt turn.

The c-section was amazing (never thought id say that) she was placed skin-to-skin after having a very quick essential check. We were able to 'decline' the 'mandatory' nursery time. The nurses were very supportive of co-sleeping in the hospital and breastfeeding support was awesome too.

[jenfl]

I like recaps!

Miles was born at home on March 31. At 8 hours after birth, he developed newborn tachypnia and was admitted to the NICU for 3 days to get antibiotics while they ruled out an infection. It was a miserable stay. Everyone we met there was terrible to us. That's all I have to say about that.

He's now 7 weeks old. We're having a rough time breastfeeding -- he drops his latch every few sucks. I took him all over the city -- lactation consultants, oral-motor therapists, doctors, LLL, chiropractor. Finally, a week and a half ago, I found a pediatric ENT who saw the tongue tie I'd suspected was there all along and who clipped it. We saw a slight improvement in breastfeeding (from 2-5 sucks before dropping to 5-8) and a lot more tongue mobility and baby noises (he didn't babble before the clipping). But breastfeeding is still frustrating and painful. I'm still looking for help.

He also has a minor case of reflux and is on medication for that, which has given us some more happy baby time.

Other than that, he's healthy and gaining weight. He's sleeping really well; I'm going to credit afternoon exposure to the Florida sunlight. Still no real personality in there, but I'm looking forward to the 8 week milestone and, especially, 12 weeks.

Here's the tail end of a grin, snuggled under a blanket his Gramee made for him: http://www.flickr.com/photos/femgeek/4616400025/

[Knitting Mama]

Cecilia Ivy was born on April 6, exactly two weeks before her due date, after a pretty scary labor. When I was admitted the evening before, my blood pressure was through the roof, like high enough that they were concerned I would have a stroke. In spite of this, her heartbeat was perfectly steady, and we were able to convince the doctors to not get me in for an emergency C section. Instead, I agreed to an epidural, blood pressure medication and a very small amount of mag sulfate (THANKFULLY a small amount!) I labored for ten hours, then, after two hours of pushing my contractions suddenly began to fade away. Again, though, the awesome doctor didn't push a C section. With the help of an episiotomy, I delivered my 6 lb, 3 oz girl vaginally. She was 18.25" long, my small girl!

Six weeks later she's still small, but on a great growing curve. She's around 7.5-8 lbs now, based on her weight a week ago and her growth rate. She's out of preemie clothes and fits her cloth diapers now!

Cecilia is a very, very alert baby, and has been since she came out in spite of the meds in her system. She is pretty calm most of the time, but her mild reflux sometimes gets the best of her. She's quite social and loves being outside. We get lots of smiles from her, but no giggles yet--hopefully soon!

Here's a somewhat too dark picture on her one month birthday

Play time with mama, also on her one month birthday

Two days ago at the park, being snuggled by my dad

[crazyeight]

nak

Reeve was born 4/10 at 7 15 ...don't ask me length.. it was a hospital birth even though i wanted a birth center i risked out for being 41 weeks (on the day he was born) and anemia (which also resolved literally right before he was born) we also checked out ama from the hospital which brought the threats of cps which resulted in them only coming to the house and getting the case closed with no investigation just some questions. we then found that Reeve had this rash that took us to the hospital at 10 days old and found out it was strep A and got iv abx. 3 day stay.

we're up to 10 lbs now but no length growth at all! considering he has very long fingers, toes and legs though he may not need to grow long for a bit.

i had a final also last week and aced it. took R with me and he slept the whole time thankfully...however i think thats when he had started to come down with a cold so he was tired.

i am a horrible mom and havne't put new pics from my camera to the puter so i'll have to post that later.

[Pepper44]

Recap thread is a great idea!!

Ada was born 4/21 at 3:35 in the afternoon, in our bed at home after an amazing nearly pain free birth that rocked my world. I had nothing but squeezing pressure until my water broke...when my water broke I had a lip of cervix left! After that I freaked out a bit because of the sudden intensity, but it was only an hour and then I pushed her out in our bed with my DH sitting behind me.

The midwife considers that only 1 hour of active labor. 35 minutes of pushing. I did hypnobabies, but I fell asleep while listening to it. I think it still helped because I just had painless pressure waves for half a day before my one hour of active labor.

There's a photo gallery of her birth and right after she was born here.

She was 7 pounds 6 ounces and 20 inches long. (I think it was 20 inches, lol.)

She's a fat baby. She's 4 weeks old and 10 pounds 14 ounces as of two days ago.

Ada isn't easy going, but she's usually happy as long as she's being cuddled.

[laughingfox]

aylaanne, you think you weren't missed? After all the trouble I went through to learn how to spell your name?

I had Z on 4/28 (11 days "late"), 6lb 13oz, 19.75 inches long. Much smaller than I expected!
Labor was only "active" for 5 or 6 hours, but I had fairly easy contractions steadily for a day and a half before the "active" bit kicked in.
She wants to nurse almost all the time when she's awake, and my nipples get mad about that from time to time. I'm starting to think there might be some thrush going on?

We're going to a nursing group today.

[Carita]

awesome idea!

Dani was born 4/15 after a quick labor. I woke up w/contractions & my doula came over right away. after my dad took my son to his chiro appt, at 9:30 everything started to kick in. I labored at home, then went to the hospital in a 30 min scream fest LOL and delivered less than an hr after arriving (1:27 PM) - just enough time to get a little comfort in the hot tub, then get out and push. We got skin to skin & nursed for 2 hrs before we moved to PP care. she got weighed later that evening at 7 lb 6 oz.

She's rather clicky at latch and has a lot of reflux, but its mangeable w/ LOTS of burping. The doc said reflux gets better at 2 mo, so I'm holding off for meds till then. she's 5 weeks today & a couple days ago weighed in at 10 lb 4 oz. We are mostly out of NB clothes already. She smile when she passes gas, but it starting to smile at other times. She really is zeroing in on people now. She sleeps well as long as she's warm enough and gets lots of play time w/daddy before bed (very cute).

I was battling a lot of soreness, but am just on the other side of that now, so we are finally getting out and about this week. Big brother, who hit her w/a helicopter day 1, is turning into a sweet big brother who wants to hold and hug his sister.

[sew_crafty_girl]

Anna Beatrice was born on April 11, 3 days before EDD. 7lbs, 15 oz.

Our homebirth ended up being a hospital birth because my water broke before labour started and there was meconium. I also was GBS positive. It was a good experience though. 4 hours of labour with 1 hour of pushing.

She's an awesome baby who likes to have an hour or 2 of crankiness in the evenings.

[ivymae]

Becky was born 4/1/10, at 8lbs 6oz, 22.5 long, and hasn't stopped growing since. She's a chunk, and if you can't tell, nursing is going pretty well. She's a fairly laid back baby, as long as she is being held. Hence, a very short post, because typing one handed is a pain.

[leavemealone]

Nathan was born at home in the water just after 3:30am after a four hour labor on April 26. He was 10 lbs 10 ozs and 21 inches long. This was my fourth child and my longest pregnancy at 40w4d. He did not break my streak of overnight labors, but did break my streak of weekend labors and daytime births.

I ended up with a last minute change in midwives and a last minute change in doulas. The midwife I did hire has an apprentice that lives about 10 minutes from me but the more experienced midwife lives closer to 30-40 minutes away and she didn't make it for the birth. No big deal b/c the apprentice knows what she's doing. The doula I hired (and who has been at my two previous births) wasn't able to be there b/c she was already at at birth, but her backup was just as great. I've known the backup doula for a couple years through ICAN so it wasn't a total stranger I'd never met before. I think the last minute changes made my DH a bit uncomfortable, but he did OK.

[LenaC]

Leon was born April 17th at 10:20 am, 9 lbs and 21.5". He was 16 days past his due date and 4 days earlier, doc sent me to get induced for a reason of having low amniotic fluid. I never went and held my ground until he came on his own. I had prodromal labor three times before active labor. That was new and every time I thought I was in labor. On the day of, I woke up with contractions that I simply could not mistake for fake stuff. It was like I jumped right to the middle of my labor. With my first son, my labor lasted 7 hours with first 2 hours being fairly mild. With this one, it lasted 3 hours, and they started intense right away. It was a far easier birth for me, with milder contractions, almost no back labor, and nice breaks in-between contractions. I think I pushed for like 15 minutes, probably less of actual pushing, since my contractions were so spaced out. Don't take me wrong, I still screamed, when contractions got intense, but that was mostly due to "interventions" that happened because of post dates labor. I was on the monitor waaaay too long and people wanted to check me way too much, as well as doc broke my water to make sure there was no meconium, before finally being allowed in the tub. Enema was no fun either, but it was worth it to be allowed in the tub. Water did wonders to provide relief, although I wasn't allowed to be on my hands and knees in the tub cause it would have been too inconvenient for doc to catch baby I can't complain too much because everything went well, but I'm so staying home next time

Leon is such a wonderful, calm baby, but he still wants to be majority of the time. He will sleep in the swing for a while and he will sleep for a bit on his own, while he is tired. We are blessed to be getting plenty of sleep because we are co-sleeping and we love side nursing. I had lots of nursing issues last time, and it's relatively smooth sailing this time. He does have lots of spit-up though, and I can trace some of them to things I'm eating like wheat and oranges. I've been almost completely dairy free and soy free, since I knew those were problematic from before. I'm allergic to soy so that's not new. He started smiling a little before four weeks. His head control is getting so good too, and I'm starting to think about doing back carries now in my Beco Butterfly.

As for me, I think I've had more baby blues this time around to the point where I was thinking serious ppd, like hating everybody and wanting to hide in my room. But I seem to bounce out of it for long periods of time and feel semi-normal for a while. I've been walking, not nearly as much as I'd like, but at least a couple of times a week. I think I'll be starting my daily walks this week and some yoga next week. Bleeding has slowed, but not entirely stopped, but I'm even considering sex, so things must be good

P.S. Really looking forward to losing the weight!

[krismarie]

ooo, these are fun to read!

Micah was born at a birth center/hospital after I had planned for my 3rd homebirth... I had prepartum depression issues (insomnia and anxiety attacks) and had been sick for 6 weeks (and was getting worse!). 5 days after my due date, i actually went to a nurse midwife and asked to be induced (I was already 5 cm!), fearing that I couldn't make it through labor if I continued to get more sick and have more sleepless nights. At 4 am, I went into labor (the same day I was supposed to be induced). After 2 weeks of "early" labor, my active labor/pushing was less than 3 hours. I've never had to drive the hospital and the one we chose was 1 hour away...by the time we decided we needed to go, I thought I was going to give birth in the car...so dh drove 70 (on bumpy VT roads) and we made it there 30 minutes b/f he was born. The midwife was great...I got to stand up to give birth, never had to let him leave my side and got to go home the same day. He was 7lbs, 6oz and 20.5 inches with a head full of strawberry blonde hair.

Happy to say my illness/infection cleared up quickly after birth without more antibiotics and after 2 weeks on meds and working on nutritional deficiencies my PPD is much better.

Micah is a mellow babe so far... just adjusting to 3 boys with dh in his busiest time of year (he has a lawncare business and we have a market garden).

[krismarie]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama

Here's a somewhat too dark picture on her one month birthday

Play time with mama, also on her one month birthday

Two days ago at the park, being snuggled by my dad

what beautiful eyes!

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

Oooh, a recap thread, I like it!

That's about it for us!

Here's a recent cute picture

sweet!

Originally Posted by ivymae

Becky was born 4/1/10, at 8lbs 6oz, 22.5 long, and hasn't stopped growing since. She's a chunk, and if you can't tell, nursing is going pretty well. She's a fairly laid back baby, as long as she is being held. Hence, a very short post, because typing one handed is a pain.

i think micah's gonna be a cute chunk like her! he's gained 2 lbs in just over 2 weeks.

[sehbub]

nak

Charlie was born 4/30 at 3:05am after 12.5 hours of active labor that ended the 2 WEEKS of stop and start labor. 10 minutes of that was pushing.

He was 8.14 and 21" and at 5 days old was already at 9lb. He outgrew all NB clothes by the end of the first week and it seems like every day I'm putting away more and more clothes that don't fit him. He's almost exclusively in 3m clothes now. He was 10lb2oz at 13 days old. :-o

His complexion is still kind of ruddy and in the corners of the whites of his eyes there's still some yellow that we're keeping an eye on. He never had a bilirubin check and so far 3 different medical professionals have looked him over and said he's fine, but you know, mamas worry.

He's obviously nursing like a champ, but is spending several hours every night awake, so I'm up for the day most days at 4am. Not a fan of that, but I know it'll get easier soon.

Brand new:
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...08412_1274.jpg

A week old:
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...e/IMG_1759.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...e/IMG_1750.jpg

[justamama]

Lucy was born on march 23 in our bathtub after 3 weeks of prodromal labor and 2 hrs 10mins of active labor. She was out in 3 pushes and I caught her. Even though labor was fast, I got breaks in between cycle, so it was a lot easier to handle than my 3 hrs of active labor with dd2. The midwife making it to the house helped, too!

She was 6lbs13oz and 18.5" long. At 8 weeks, she's 9lbs and 21".

My physical recovery has been amazing. It took 2-3 days to feel completely better, but after that I felt pretty great. I have developed bad pp anxiety, and started zoloft yesterday.

[justamama]

Lucy was born on march 23 in our bathtub after 3 weeks of prodromal labor and 2 hrs 10mins of active labor. She was out in 3 pushes and I caught her. Even though labor was fast, I got breaks in between cycle, so it was a lot easier to handle than my 3 hrs of active labor with dd2. The midwife making it to the house helped, too!

She was 6lbs13oz and 18.5" long. At 8 weeks, she's 9lbs and 21".

My physical recovery has been amazing. It took 2-3 days to feel completely better, but after that I felt pretty great. I have developed bad pp anxiety, and started zoloft yesterday.

[DoulaAlicia]

Judah was born at home after 5.5 hours of labor. Beautiful calm labor - husband got to rub my back and I got to relax and enjoy. Water broke only moments after entering the tub and then things got crazy! I went from acting like I was relaxing on a beach to acting like I was.....well, in labor! I started moaning and making noise. Judah was moving down quick. 30 minutes later Judah was out after some sticky shoulders. 9 lbs. 8 oz.

Birth Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUaHVYP74Tk

Postpartum was complete madness for me. I lost 4 pints of blood (approx 1/3rd of my blood volume!). I was weak and almost passing out for a couple hours. I could not walk without assistance for a couple days at least. After a couple of days I got a uterine infection with the highest fevers of my life. Even Motrin couldn't keep it down. I managed to stay home (but barely) because course of antibiotics helped me. As soon as the infection was gone I got a throat bug from my kids. And when that went away I got an infection in my face....salivary gland infection! I didn't know what the hell that was until I got it either!? My face was swollen and red and in pain. Basically the first 4 weeks I was sick and on antibiotics.

Baby Judah has some reflux that we've managed to stay off meds for because he is thriving and mostly eats every 2 hours around the clock. He is FAT: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3412/...1306ca95_b.jpg and is now 6 weeks old.

I am cherishing every moment of this. My last baby and I don't care how much trouble he is....I'm TIRED from him not sleeping much at night but could care less. I'll never do this again.

He has tons of personality. He smiles and I swear he understands when I'm being silly. He plays with toys. He listens when I talk even when he is crying he will stop crying to listen to what I'm saying. He stared at me for a very long time after his birth. He was intrigued and still is.

I think that is it for now. I have to go clean my whole house because a friend is coming over...ahhh!

[GreenTeaGinger61]

Recaps are fun

Rowena Willow was born April 15th after three weeks of off and on again contractions. She was born at a birth center after 12 hours of relatively pain free labor, and 1 hour of intense labor (I pushed for I think 30 minutes). She was 8.9 and 19.5 inches long (she was big for me). I was helped along by my wonderful midwife and cheered on by my husband, my mom, and my son. It was an incredibly beautiful and healing birth for me and my husband. I'm still too wrapped up in it to even write my story out.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...2&id=793430056

She's five weeks now. I have no idea what she weighs but she's out of newborn clothes and is rapidly filling out the 3 months clothes. I'm guessing she's around 10 or 11 lbs. She's incredibly alert and intense and will stare at me for long long periods of time. She's pretty mellow as long as she's comfortable and getting her needs meet. She's okay at nursing. She has a lazy latch but it's getting better. She's really just starting to come into her personality so it will be fun to see who she becomes with each passing day.

Her babymoon has been utterly hellish. We've had company, too many appointments, my dh lost his job, we had a home invasion ,and we're moving. All in the course of a month. I really really just long to be able to sit with her and just enjoy her. Hopefully once we complete this move things will be better. I'm thinking we're due for some good luck!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...9&id=793430056