Weekly Thread 6/7-6/13: Life with our babies

[starkyld]

Any pregnant mamas still on the island?

How's everything going with you and your new (or new-ish) arrival?

Elliott and I are doing okay. He's learning new tricks. Discoveries of the past few days: learning to grasp things (e.g., my hair, my top, burp cloths) and sneak attacks of pooping and peeing at the same time during diaper changes.

My family is here to visit, which is 2 parts awesome and 1 part challenging. It has been fantastic to have them visit and a lot of my postpartum anxiety melted away as soon as they arrived. I've appreciated having Elliott get attention from someone other than me or my husband so that I don't feel guilty about getting my own stuff done or relaxing a bit. I do feel a little like we need to "entertain" them, though, which I need to let go of.

[Tenk]

Life is getting easier around here too!!

Star, so glad Elliott is learning new things now mama, and that you have family there to help, I'm sure they don't need you to entertain and you need to try and sit back and relax!!

Lilah is 8lbs now, and has a double chin, she's even 10 weeks old, closer to 11 weeks now LOL. She's nursing some, but having bottles of pumped breast milk mostly. She's has the tiniest feet EVER and is barely on the "real baby" charts for weight, not on them for height and length. She's finally starting to smile and coo a bit, and gives kisses, and she LOVES looking at big brother Bodie when he gets on top of her to kiss her.

How is everyone else?

[emnic77]

I'm struggling today. Maybe will. not. be. put. down.
She hates the sling, the mai tai, the moby, hates the swing, the bouncy chair, the car seat, and hates the moses basket, the floor...you get the picture. She nurses constantly. I mean, constantly. She hates the pacifier and gags and spits it out after trying to coax her to take to take it for a week now. She wakes up the second I move away from her, even if I nurse her down on a blanket on the floor. I can't sit on the couch and nurse all day. I have other kids to take care of. I am going stir crazy, but leaving the house means non-stop, hyperventilating-style screaming. My 5 year old is watching WAY too much tv, I can't even shop for his birthday on friday. To top it off I have the worst nerve pain in my left shoulder - I can't move it unless I take advil and I hate taking anything when I'm nursing. It hurts worse than any pregnancy pain I ever had...like electric shocks.

/sobfest

[organicpapayamama]

Emnic- sorry you're having such a tough time. My lo is an all day grazer too. I also am feeling stir crazy and my ds is watching too much tv too. I keep reminding myself it's only temporary.

As for little ms G, she turned 1 month yesterday. Wow! Although she is nursing great I give her about 4 oz of formula right at bed time to give me a little break... Is that bad? I feel guilt about that. I keep reading that both formula and breastmilk isn't as great as just breastmilk... But is 4oz that big o a deal? I'm also new to bfing and nervous about bfing in public. Haven't done it yet. I take a formula bottle just in case but I've only gone out twice since G was born. I'm so nervous about building my stash for when I go back to work. I can't seem to pump more than an ounce or so between feedings. It's a bit discouraging. Will I eventually pump more?

As for how ms G is, at her 2 week check up she was already 10 pounds... So I can only imagine what she weights now. She also grew a half inch
at that appointment too. She sleeps really well, maybe too well where sometimes she sleeps over 5 hours and I just can't wake her to feed her. She will usually wake up a half hour later or so when that happens. She is starting to really smile at me when i play with her, I love it!

[tippy]

star - so glad you're enjoying your fam. don't worry about entertaining them. i bet they just want to stare at lil' man all day anyway - lol.

tenk - omg, i can't believe lilah is that old already! where does the time go? sounds like she is doing so well!!

em - i completely understand. julius does not like to be put down at all either. if i feed him and he falls asleep, the sec i move him, he's awake and acting like he wants to be fed again. which makes it feel like i'm feeding him constantly. i'm sure it's harder when you have other LOs to take care of.

OPM - don't beat yourself up about giving your LO some formula. speaking as someone who is completely new to BF myself, it IS tough work. you are entitled to a little break. don't worry about it. yay for growing babies!! 10lbs is awesome!!

AFM, J is 9 days old today. yesterday he had his 1st ped appt. everything looked fine minus a *small* rash that the doc noticed. he also weighed in at 9lbs (he had his CD on though so it might have been a bit less than that) - he weighed 7lb 2oz on his birthday. he also nurses.all.the.time. my nips are so sore b/c he clamps down when he latches on. after a few secs he relaxes and its fine, but that latch is killing me. also, i think i have an overproductive left boob. whenever he nurses from it, it sounds like he's guzzling milk but other than that, things are going alright. i have my good days and bad days (today is a bad day). yesterday i got a lot of housework done so i felt great like i was finally taking care of things. but today i'm so tired, and have no motivation at all. i'm sure eventually everything will balance itself out.

hope everyone is having a wonderful tues!

[Mommabean]

We're doing great.... we've hit 10 days!
T is an amazing baby and I feel so lucky she is a laid back one too!! ...the boys have made me bonkers...ds2 has had an attitude the last 4 days and it's all related to "lookatme-itus" ....he woke her up yesterday after I spent 5 hours cluster feeding her and trying to get her to sleep....so he had a nap himself...

But she is doing amazing...she is up 8oz ....only cries when put into the car seat...oh and when her brothers play with their superhero toys right over her HEAD.

I feel amazing...the boys and I went to the movies this morning...she slept through it and nursed near the end....We go out to lunch daily at the local school (yay for the summer free lunches SAVES my sanity and need to clean house!!) ....tomorrow we're heading out to the library and I am so happy to say I can finally wear my baby!!! (another thanks to my fusion!!!)

Oh and dh is back to work as of yesterday so this is only day 2 on our own...so far I'm not completely crazy. Yet.

[theoldmommers]

Well we had a really great night last night. Aurelie was cluster feeding and fussy in the middle of the night for the first week and I was having to wake her for feeds at three hour intervals during the day. The LC suggested getting the cluster feeding in in the early evening and waking her more often during the day. We more or less managed this yesterday and she slept from 11 - 2:30am (when I woke her to feed) and then from 3:30 to 6am. DH took the first shift to sleep in the room with her and I got to sleep from 10 - 2:30am and then again in the room with her for my shift! Woo hoo! The only thing is that when you get a bit of sleep after being so deprived the adrenaline shuts off and then you really start to feel it. But so what! Sleep!

How's everyone else? *Is* anyone still on the island?

[jenrett]

We had a good sleeper at first, but last night.... I don't think he slept at all. It was awful. He wanted to nurse constantly - or maybe just suck, I don't know. I might try more cluster feeding at night. It's so hard....trying to make and eat dinner while feeding constantly.

DS is 2 weeks tomorrow. I can't believe how time flies! He is already so much bigger than when he was born. He was born at 7lb12oz, on day 3 he was 7lb2oz, and on day 6 he was 8 pounds! That was a week ago, so I wonder how much he weighs now!

How is everyone else?!?

[brooklyn_warbler]

well we got through the 5 week developmental (aka "wonder") week and have come out the other side all smiles. there was a lot of crying for a few days there!

he is still waking every 2 hours to nurse, which is a bummer because by 5 weeks wren was giving me a 4-hour stretch. luckily my husband is at home this summer and has let me sleep in every morning til 10. we are REALLY lucky to have made it work to not have to teach this summer...it really helps to have two of us. but at some point i do have to start writing...eek. and he's writing from home every afternoon for 4 hours...but it's still nice to know he's downstairs in case everyone totally flips their shit at once or something. lol.

parenting two is tough and my "down"time is severely limited. em, i feel for you. ilan is miraculously okay with being put down but when he's down he's often subjected to overzealous love from big sister. 2.5 is a rough age to introduce a new one...but i'm sure any age is.

i feel bummed about how little i get to "enjoy" this stage with him...because so much of the enjoyment is just staring at them and i can't do that with a 2.5 yo around. but we are all settling. every week is better than the last.

i'm back in the saddle gym wise and sex wise as of the last two weeks, so that feels good. and i've been making an effort to do at least one only-me-and-wren outing a week now that i have a small freezer stash, so that helps *a lot*.

tippy, hope the overproduction settles down soon. it did for me around 5w.

starky, glad you have help. still looking forward to hanging when things settle down for you. we can come to your hood when wren's at her grandma's someday.

[sweet_tart_vt]

Hi All!
Bella is 11days old today and doing beautifully! she was 5lbs 8oz at birth and is up to an even 6lbs now. Her first few days she had lazy baby syndrome and I had to wake her to nurse. She has a pretty laid back nature but now she sure has a big appetite! Pooping and peeing like a champ and BF has been going great since she was about 5mins old. I think she hiccups even more now that she is out than when she was in the belly! LOL. I am such a Mama Bear with this little girl it is crazy! She *always* has to be in my arms unless i am cooking or cleaning up a mess that requires 2 arms. lol. I do not like anyone other than her daddy or sibs to be "in her face" or wanting to hold her/touch her. There is just such a fierce protectivness to keep her safe and sound. I was like that with all my kids, just had forgotten how intense it can be.

We have pretty well adjusted to being a family with 7 kids. Cloth diaper laundry is my one hell that I am still adapting to. Ive learned to back off a bit with my OCD housecleaning, so that makes life a bit easier.

I am loving every minute of my life with my new little girl. She is so sweet and a true blessing. Im sure all of you Mamas feel the same with your LO's too! Here's to another week of new mommy-hood!