No longer May: weekly thread 6/1-6/6

[starkyld]

Well, it's June.

I'm nursing/soothing in the middle of the night and thought I might as well start a new thread. How's everyone doing, moms & babies? Ladies still on the island: good luck and I hope you'll be joining us on the other side soon.

Elliott's cord stump fell off just now. It had been bleeding and he was cranky about it for the past two days, so I'm really hoping that he'll feel better now. Despite the crying unhappies, he really is a joy to parent. His eyes are opening more, he's beginning to pick up new skills (this kid can bust out of any swaddle), and he's so adorably soft.

Frustrations: My mother-in-law waited until I was in the bathroom to go on a spiel about how *disappointed* she is that we're not having Elliott circumcised. I'm still seething. Furthermore, there's so much stuff that I need to get done but I feel like my body is telling me to slow down. I'm having more trouble sitting & my bleeding has gotten heavier.

I'd love to hear about how the rest of you are doing.

[emnic77]

She's "disappointed" that you're not cutting off part of his penis?? People are bizarre.
On that note, having a baby girl again (after 11 years!) reminded me how stupid the "it'll be so much easier to clean" argument for circ is. Man, cleaning a baby girl after a poop is 100 times harder after dealing with an intact baby boy. Eek.

For us - we are doing great Maybe is 2 weeks old and is such a sweet, easy going baby. Her cues are very easy to read. She wiggles and won't nurse if she needs changed, belches reliably after every feeding (or else she spits up), and opens her mouth REALLY WIDE when she wants to nurse, which is pretty much all the time. She loves to lay on a blanket on the floor and watch things, especially her brother. Her eyes get really big and she starts waving her arm around and pursing her lips when she sees him or hears his voice. DD1 is in love with her too, and is great about helping with her. DH is still in a bit of shock (in a good way) that he has a daughter...no girls in his family in 44 years. He adores her and put her to sleep all by himself yesterday, so he's very proud of that. I feel like our family is complete with her, so far avoided any baby blues except for a couple random crying jags. I'm prone to anxiety attacks and have had to stave a few off so far at night...but so far I can control them.

Physically I feel too good...have to force myself to take it easy or the bleeding starts again. Eating a ton to keep up with nursing, I'm back to pre-pregnancy weight and do not want to lose anymore, so I'm pounding food all the time it seems. DH is still spoiling me...he's so awesome.

Frustrations:
her latch isn't perfect...she doesn't open her mouth as wide as it needs to be, so I have to keep on her to make sure she's not nipple nursing. Plus, she doesn't poop as much as I was used to with the other two, so coupled with her latch I'm slightly concerned about how much she's getting. She also sleeps through the night - seriously - and only wakes one or twice to nurse. She makes up for it during the day, but I'd really rather she nurse more frequently at night and am working on that, too. She seems to be gaining fine, so...I dunno.
My midwife comes by today, she's an LC as well so that will be our topic of conversation.

So that's where we're at. DS is having some trouble adjusting and is pushing limits big time for attention, lots of whining. Nothing horrendous...and DD1 had no adjustment, she's very preoccupied with her pre-teen social life.

Oh, and my SHOULDERS are killing me from the position I sleep in at night curled around Maybe! This never happened before, I need it to stop!

[HonkyTonka]

Well let me just delve into the TMI talk...

I'm SUPER itchy today - I think I read somewhere that that is a sign that the stitches are dissolving. I'll have a sitz bath shortly to see if that provides any relief. On the upside, I'm not on ibuprofen 24 hours a day anymore since the swelling seems to be under control. Yeah!

Greta is being a real doll. I've finally figured out the best way to get a burp out of her (and it reduces the spit up greatly). Unfortunately, it can take awhile. I'm pretty ok with it because it means lots of cuddling, but the middle of the night is a different story. She's also in her quiet alert state more and more. I took some video yesterday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXdV7d0myqg She sleeps quite well, too. We can usually get a 3 hour and 2 hour blocks of sleep in, plus whatever I can get after I go to bed early while DH stays up with Greta.

I was on my own yesterday with the babe for the first time. Dh made me a sandwich for lunch and left it in the fridge. Love him for that.

Otherwise I'm pretty content. Have a long list of things I'd like/need to do which I think about here and there and then largely ignore.

Stark - how annoying of your MIL - she had you trapped! I didn't realize how common circumcision was in the US until my friend asked if we would get babe circ'd if it was a boy. I was shocked! Maybe it is just how I grew up (and circ is just as common here) but it was a ridiculous to me.

[brooklyn_warbler]

hi ladies!

ilan is one month old today!!

he is such a peach. i love him more by the day and am utterly delighted that i have a son (i grew up with only sisters and think it's really sitcom-y that i have a boy and a girl now!). we actually drove up to maine this weekend for my sister's college graduation and ilan slept better than 2.5 year old wren did, who was bouncing off the walls with excitement about our trip the whole time. he is such a mellow kid and i swear he is constantly giving me this wide-eyed "i'm just a little baby!" look. he also started smiling last week and it melts me so thoroughly.

physically i haven't bled in over a week so that's cool. i do feel like i am kind of...smelly still? sorry if that's tmi but i feel like i smell like i'm still bleeding and i don't know how to deal with that.

oh, and i weirdly have a sex drive?!?! i was completely asexual feeling for like nine months after wren was born so this is strange. i hope i'm not about to ovulate or something! that would be so lame.

starky, sorry about your MIL. i am waiting for my dad to bring it up to me (we're muslim, so it's kind of a big deal) but so far he just seems so completely over the moon about the fact that there's a penis, circumcised or not, in the family that even during the diaper changes he's witnessed he's just giggled about how ilan's going to pee all over us. so weird and unexpected!!

em, i have the same shoulder issue too!

greta is beautiful! and i love her name, don't know if i've mentioned it before.

[NullSet]

I haven't posted to one of these in ages, does anyone still know me?

BabyO is fabulous. She nurses once before bed, once in the middle of the night and once when we wake up. So that's about 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep each time which makes me really happy. I'm having the back issues too. In fact, I had my back go out on me a few days ago. It's better now but it sucks not being able to bend to pick up your child every single time you want.

Physically I'm basically back to normal. Although I've got the same issue I had with my last pregnancy, a hemorrhoid. I have none during pregnancy or birth, none immediately postpartum and then BAM, one decides to show itself 3 weeks postpartum. The same thing happened last time.

In other news, I found an awesome sling deal today. I went to Target and found a Peanut Shell in the clearance section that was a .com return. Ten bucks, brand new and a super-cute fabric. So now I have two slings with different fabrics. I guess I'll go with my mood for which one I use?

[feminist~mama]

We got to come home from the hospital today! i ended up on 5 different iv antibiotics while there and coming home on oral antibiotics just to be safe. eesh. they tell me it's the nurse's curse, lol.

miss e is fabulous . she's 12 days old and nursing great, becoming more alert each day. we love her

[Mommabean]

Em- I hear ya...ds2 is ROTTEN right now...doesn't help he even cut his OWN hair last night...he has a mowhawk...and well he cut an inch of bangs off last night (albeit he did cut straight across but yeah )....he's NEVER even tried to and yet he did it last night to "make himself better"...and then there is the constant talking back and "I can do what I want to do" attitude.


Jen - yay for being HOME!!!



we're on day 3!
Milk came in yesterday and tonight I'm so sore...told dh guess it's time to make a salad in my bra ....Talen is so amazing and different from the boys...she has put herself to sleep a couple times in her moses basket without noise...I nurse her she burps and stares around...we have to put her in sunlight so we'll lay her down and in minutes she'll be asleep.

I feel so great and still cannot believe it happened so swiftly but am SO glad it did!! (ds2 was a 28 hour labor and made me *almost* not want to do it again)....but this time was amazing and I feel so POWERFUL and strong ...and well we're officially DONE with babies. I feel good about it too, the labor did it for me, I proved I could do it with strength and control.

My back, this fused spine of mine? Well I have not had ONE issue with it AT. ALL. it's the BEST part of the whole thing, even dh is totally impressed.

well off to wake her up so she doesn't keep us up to 2am again!! she's been waking up at 10 and screams and fusses till 2am last two nights.

[SaraMum]

Matteus is 8 days old now and we're still struggling with the whole bf'ing right now. His lower lip and chin don;t want to open enough for my liking although now I think that maybe the pain is normal as these boobs get used to nursing after a 2 year hiatus. His weight gain is good, he's adorable but he seems to want to eat every 1.5 hours so I am finding it really draining(read painful) especially at night. We are going to see an LC tomorrow to hopefully fix his latch. I am working on finally writing out my birth story (so much better than DS1's birth). Ds1 who is 3.5 is head over heels in love with his new brother and always asks to "pet brother" but he is also having some moments of how do I put this nicely......letting us know he is here, ie demanding attention, particularly when I am feeding baby. I used to do home daycare with 5 kids before DS1 was born so I thought two would be so easy but I am finding it really hard to not feel guilty about the fact that DS1 was the center of my universe 8 days ago and now there are two to try and pay enough attention to. DP is still off this week which is nice for DS1 but I am worried about how to keep him active enough once DP has gone back to work and I am dealing with both of them. Hope everyone is enjoying their sweet little babies and that those who are still pregnant get some relief(babies) SOON!

[SaraMum]

Nullset - are you the mama formerly known as Apecaut?

[Tenk]

Good evening all!!!

I'm so glad most of the May babies are here already and I love love love reading about them all, keep the stories coming!!!

So, Lilah is officially a BIG girl, she weighs in at 8 pounds now I don't have my camera so I can't post a new photo but will soon. She's also 10 weeks old now which just amazes me. She's starting to smile a bit now, which is great for a preemie and even coo's some. She's a wonderfully sweet baby too. She is so content, puts herself to sleep sometimes and sleeps about 6 to 8 hours each night, which we LOVE of course.

I'm doing ok, the PPD and PTSD are still kicking my @ss and I'm anxious all the time, but we're working on it each day. I know things will be normal soon and we'll all adjust but for now it's one day at a time.

[NullSet]

Originally Posted by SaraMum

Nullset - are you the mama formerly known as Apecaut?

Yup, that's me! I decided it was finally time to change my username. Okay, it took me a few years but I needed to bite the bullet and get it done.

tenk