Weekly thread, July 4-11 - Page 2

[OneWithTwo]

Rhi- it takes anywhere from 7-14 days but upto 20. In the past, it has normally taken 8 days if I remember correctly.

Fenugreek is honestly not helping me other than making me stink and J stink...his urine -vomit. I am trying REALLY hard to REALLY not freak out over this. I was a complete wreck when I couldn't pump anything for campbell when she was a baby.
During yesterdays visit to the LC at the hospital, she told me that 98% of NICU moms quit pumping/breastfeeding by 5 months. She said she has never met a mom so determined to keep going. Same LC who helped me while J was in the NICU. After dealing with all her stupid associates, I only request her now. Some of those LC's make you want to slam your head down on the table or into the wall. I guess I am VERY grateful that J has such a wonderful Dr.(after 3 bad Dr.s) and a wonderful kidney Dr., both of which are super supportive of me breastfeeding and continuing with using breastmilk..but I have fought since he was born.

She brought up the fact that J will be 6 months soon and asked if we would go back to the NICU for the 6 months graduate visit. How bittersweet. I LOVE being home and no way do I want to go back, however the nurses raised my son with me for the first 2 months of his life. I learned about their lives(even met some of their families) and they learned everything about me. I got love and support from some and shoulders to cry on. I had to trust them with my sons life, which is harder than you think. I will honestly have to admit that I cried saying goodbye and at times, I miss it? crazy right? I wonder how they are and how did this event go...etc. such a hard thing. I don't know if emotionally I could handle going back? it's really hard to explain.
The hardest part is that I could be looking at many hospital stays with J's kidney problems

[Knitting Mama]

So, I entered Cecilia's one month photo on Parents.com just for the fun of it, not really looking at what the "cute kids" contest was. Apparently she can actually win some scholarship money if she gets enough votes! So....please vote for my Cece-bear, and please feel free to share this with your friends and family!


http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/408020

[Carita]

Aimee she has such big eyes - how cute!!

add dd to the list of starting to drool, gnawing on her fists, even bit my nipple yesterday. ds got his first tooth at 4.5 mo i think? we are nearing 3 mo old... poo

i sold my XS diapers & bought mediums. also washed up 3-6 mo rompers. kind of bitttersweet. *sigh*

[nikirj]

E is growing out of her size small diapers and her 3-6 month clothing. I don't know how much she weighs...she weighs more than my newborn scales can measure (one stops at 12.5lb, the other at 13). I'll be selling off the outgrown stuff I think; it's all in excellent shape, and I can use even a couple $ from somebody. None of my kids have been in these sizes for long, so even though there are a few outfits that have gone through all 4, it all looks almost new.

We'll be the odd ones out - we had a pretty good 4th. It could have easily gone either way - we were invited to BIL's GF's family's celebration, and we'd never met any of them (aside from the GF) before. It was 1hr 45min away and E still hates the carseat, and I had to drive up alone because DH was working. But it turned out everyone was friendly and nobody abused the open bar, and the other kids we met there were really great kids and were treated really well (and DD2 and their 5yo made instant "best buddies" type friends). The only hitch was that E decided to scream most of the way home, but given how badly it could have turned out, I'll totally take it. The big kids were a little put out that all we had were sparklers, but the "party corner" in our neighborhood was still going when we got home, so they got to find friends and hang out there for long enough to feel like they hadn't missed all the pyrotechnics fun.

I'm starting to get a little annoyed that there is a total assumption I'll have zero alcohol. I agree it's better to go zero than totally drunk, but do we really have to assume there are only the two extremes?

re: teething - babies start producing an additional digestive enzyme at this time, and it makes them drool a TON. They also, coincidentally, figure out how to reliably get their fists to their mouths. It can look an awful lot like teething without actually being teething (although a few babies do teethe this early). It's really just another step towards digestive maturity, and not so much about the teeth, unless you happen to be "lucky" enough to double-down on this stage.

[sew_crafty_girl]

Baby sizes are so off in clothes. I'm also packing away a bit of 3-6 month stuff and moving into 6month+ clothes. I'd say she's about 13lbs but not super long so smaller pants are still fitting. I'm going to consign her clothes at the local shop. I've only bought a couple expensive things for her and most of her stuff is nice, but cheap clothes in really good condition.

Thank goodness she happily laid on my chest for all of Toy Story yesterday so my son and I could enjoy it and today she slept in the Moby for a morning hike. Outings are so iffy now. Will she fall alseep and be docile or fight sleep and be cranky?

The drool..ya, we're soaking shirts here. I've put a bib on her once, but I find them about as annoying as shirts that aren't oneises and dresses...just another piece of clothing to constantly be pulling down on her.

[loveneverfails]

I have realized exactly how weak my stomach muscles really are. I was sitting at the table for dinner last night and seriously was getting tired from trying to sit up straight. NOT GOOD. I guess this is what I get for having 50 gazillion children.

Also, I hate summer. Summer is dumb.

[OneWithTwo]

Jennings is still in newborn we haven't even began wearing 0-3(too big) but newborn is perfect..thankfully cause all my older clothes are more warm, maybe they'll last longer.
Jennings is drooling but no fists in the mouth..his gums are swollen and red and you can see teeth, bu they haven't cut yet. Campbell got her first teeth at 7-8 months

[laughingfox]

sme- She won't latch at all. I don't think she remembers how.
I honestly don't want to see my LCs again. They're so sunshine-and-rainbows-everything's-fine about breastfeeding, and they don't seem to be very good at admitting there are problems that need attention. I'm still resentful towards them for misinformation that might have been nice to hear in the short term, but was really detrimental in the long run.

The good news today is that Z kept down the breastmilk I gave her this morning.

The bad news is that I can pump nothing out of lefty, and when I tried to pump out of righty, it hurt and I started bleeding instantly.

[nikirj]

Originally Posted by laughingfox

The bad news is that I can pump nothing out of lefty, and when I tried to pump out of righty, it hurt and I started bleeding instantly.

[jsh7809]

Hmm... not really drooly here but the fist is in the mouth every waking moment. And all she wants to do is sleep, nurse, and fuss lately. And she is pooping a ton and making a "whiny little baby" kinda cry that she hasn't done in weeks (ever?).
I'm trying to let go of "solving" it but I don't know what to do for her... today I'm so exhausted that we just got back into bed and nursed/ slept/ dozed/ for hours...

[loveneverfails]

Ivy, how are you hanging in there? I've been thinking about you.

[Knitting Mama]

You know, that's really funny, Jess-- Cecilia's been making that teeny baby whiny cry again too, but only occasionally.

I've been reading a book called The Wonder Weeks-- can't remember if someone here suggested it or not-- but man, oh, man, this book is great! It talks about how we see the physical milestones pretty easily as parents-- rolling over, sitting up, crawling, etc-- but that our babies go through a massive number of mental milestones and for the most part experience them around the same time. Babies' fussy periods are almost always around the same time and for the same reasons! Definitely check the book out!

[jenfl]

Cecilia's Mama -- Check out the Wonder Weeks website for a pointer to their iPhone app!

laughingfox -- You've certainly been through the ringer. You might try posting over in Breastfeeding Challenges if you're looking for help getting your LO back on. Also, I know in my town there's the generic, hospital-based LCs... then there's one private LC who handles the "tough stuff" (multiples, relactating, etc). I don't know if that's true where you are.

AFM -- Things are going pretty smoothly. I think Sprout's between developmental leaps.

I did the exercises from the oral-motor therapist for two days, but he got worse! So I stopped, and we're back to the current "normal". Of course, he managed to tear up what was my good side while things were bad, so I had a few days of both sides hurting. Now we're back to just the perpetually painful left side. I'm trying to decide whether to go to the other doctor in town who clips tongue tie to make sure Sprout was clipped correctly and enough -- or just stay in my "resigned" state.

I don't know if I mentioned that we switched to Prevacid? Last week, Sprout's reflux got really bad (even on 2 mL of Zantac 2x a day), so we moved him over. It took a few days, but things got better. Well, I'm starting to see slight signs of reflux again. Keeping a close eye on it.... we may end up going to a peds GI.

[Carita]

laughingfox - i second posting on Breastffeeding challenges.

jenfl - any chance the pain is unrelated to the latch? I just went through some really horrible pain with latching on my left breast only. i had been having trouble with a duct lclearing on that side too. turns out it was a clog in the nipple - the bleb wasn't that obvious however. I treated the breast for yeast w/cream and its feeling so much better and the clog is gone. I forgot that I need to be super strict about washing/changing bras every day otherwise this happens. (somedays i forget because i spend the whole day in jammies). Anyway - I didn't have any of the classic yeast symptoms, neither did dani. i only had an inkling because it happened to me with DS. I was sure it wasn't yeast w/DS, but used the cream anyway as the doc had perscribed, because it reoccured more than once with all the traditional treatments for pluged ducts and blebs. This time after a day of immense pain, I took the time to realy figure out WTH was going on and talked it out with an LC friend of mine. she didn't think it was yeast, but she mentioned a bleb and even though i didn't notice one on mine, i realized one of my pores was not expressing milk and it hit me!

anyway, just thought i'd throw that out there...

had a BBQ at my dad's house. exhausted now whew! and i treated myself to a couple glasses of sangria which was really nice.

[smeisnotapirate]

Originally Posted by nikirj

I'm starting to get a little annoyed that there is a total assumption I'll have zero alcohol. I agree it's better to go zero than totally drunk, but do we really have to assume there are only the two extremes?

Agreed. The next person who holds back a bottle of beer, looks at my husband and says "OMG, is she ALLOWED to have a beer??" is going to get my fist in their eye. First, I can have a beer at a cookout while breastfeeding. Second, my husband is smart enough and likes his testicles enough to NEVER dictate what I'm "allowed" to do. Ignorant.

Originally Posted by sew_crafty_girl

Baby sizes are so off in clothes.

My kids go EXACTLY with the sizes. I'll agree that they're off, though - my kids are consistently in the 1-15 percentile. They're teeny, and the clothes fit dead on for their age. We're still solidly in 0-3 over here.

Originally Posted by loveneverfails

I have realized exactly how weak my stomach muscles really are. I was sitting at the table for dinner last night and seriously was getting tired from trying to sit up straight. NOT GOOD. I guess this is what I get for having 50 gazillion children.

Also, I hate summer. Summer is dumb.

My "breastfeeding hunch" is getting even worse. I need to get to work on these abs, seriously.

And yes, summer is dumb. Very dumb. Tonight's low is the record HIGH for this day. By noon, we're going to wish it was only the record high.

Originally Posted by laughingfox

sme- She won't latch at all. I don't think she remembers how.
I honestly don't want to see my LCs again. They're so sunshine-and-rainbows-everything's-fine about breastfeeding, and they don't seem to be very good at admitting there are problems that need attention. I'm still resentful towards them for misinformation that might have been nice to hear in the short term, but was really detrimental in the long run.

The good news today is that Z kept down the breastmilk I gave her this morning.

The bad news is that I can pump nothing out of lefty, and when I tried to pump out of righty, it hurt and I started bleeding instantly.

It sucks so badly that things are tough still. An LC who isn't willing to admit that there can be problems........... I can see why you don't want to see them any more. They can't be taking you seriously, especially because you've successfully breastfed a baby before!!

AFM, we're good over here. It's bloody hot and my DH is miserable which means we're all pretty miserable, but we had a good weekend. Going to spend this week holed up in the one room with the window AC - our bedroom.

[dogretro]

ITA that summer is dumb. I already told dh that our next baby is going to be a winter baby. I am not my best at parenting in the heat

DD2 is in smalls for diapers and I just put away most of the 0-3 mos clothing & got out the 3-6 mos stuff. DD1 fit in 0-3 until she turned 3 mos, so dd2 is already ahead of her in growth. DH agreed that she def looks bigger & fatter. I hope she does not get too fat as I'm not a big fan of fat babies. She is v healthy & strong & social & all of that, so I am going to be happy either way. She has started to be able to bring her fist to her mouth & chew on it, yay! She has been working on that one for weeks, always staring at her fist & punching herself in the face.

It looks like we have another water baby on our hands. We were camping this weekend & dd2 did not cry when we put her in the mountain-water swimming hole. She is the first of three newborns to not cry upon touching that water.

[Knitting Mama]

Sara, Cecilia's pretty firmly in 0-3 month clothes too. In fact, we just retired NB stuff a week or two ago. She can still wear x-small/NB diapers, but while they fit her in size, they don't always fit her in capacity-- I have to put covers over the x-small/NB AIOs or they leak!

[smeisnotapirate]

Originally Posted by dogretro

ITA that summer is dumb. I already told dh that our next baby is going to be a winter baby. I am not my best at parenting in the heat

While I hate parenting (and slinging) a hot newborn in the summer (because I hate EVERYTHING in the summer except pools), I would be an even WORSE pregnant mama in the summer. I shudder to think about it. I'd probably break up my marriage from being so insufferable and miserable.

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama

Sara, Cecilia's pretty firmly in 0-3 month clothes too. In fact, we just retired NB stuff a week or two ago. She can still wear x-small/NB diapers, but while they fit her in size, they don't always fit her in capacity-- I have to put covers over the x-small/NB AIOs or they leak!

Haha, we put the (too big) infant sized prefolds inside the small fitteds with a small cover over it. She'd probably still be in x-smalls, but we have too much absorbent material stuffed into the diaper. She'd probably be rolling over, too - the last time we had her in a 'sposie, she got up on her side and teetered there for a while.

ETA: oooh, I wanted to add that I'm writing 2 blog posts for the Carnival of Nursing in Public going on this week over at www.nursingfreedom.org. My first is tomorrow and my second is Thursday. You should subscribe to the feed - lots of awesome articles.

[Pepper44]

Laughingfox...

Ericka: Poor Jennings. I'm sorry everything with his health is so delicate. That has to be beyond hard for you.

Rhi: I hope your supply picks back up soon.

Clothing sizes: My older DD always wore pretty close to the right size for her age. Ada, not so much. This weekend DH's Grandma was here visiting from Georgia and she wanted to buy Ada some clothes. I wasn't sure what size to get, so we tried an outfit on her at the store. The 6 month size fit, but she will outgrow it in 2.4 seconds. So they bought her 6-9 month clothes and they all fit, some things are barely too big. I can't believe she fits in that size already! She's a bit over 13 pounds and was 24 inches long a few weeks ago, but somehow she's chubby and her big head doesn't fit into small clothes.

SME: We are thinking along the same lines. I don't know why but I have so many things I want to do/try and so little time! I want to open an Etsy shop and sell little girls skirts, bonnets, and dresses. You know in all my free time, and as soon as I learn more sewing skills....hahaha

[sew_crafty_girl]

Anna has started a new cry too. I think it's so cute and even filmed it. I've clued on rust its her tired cry.