Weekly thread, July 11-18 - Page 3

[rhiOrion]

The drool faucet is on over here, as well. Especially since she's found her hands.

And DD never smelled like baby, either. I have no idea why.

[Knitting Mama]

Snoopy- Cecilia is a drool faucet as well! The tops of her shirts or onesies are always soaked, and if I put her in a dress, she pulls it up into her mouth so it gets soaked all over the front too. She does make a lot of eye contact as well.

Cecilia smells like baby for sure. My niece (7) commented the other night on how good she smelled and asked me what I used to make her smell so good. Imagine her surprise when I told her that I don't use soap or shampoo or anything and that Cecilia just smells that nice naturally!

[sew_crafty_girl]

Snoopy, we get eyecontact but she will still focus on other areas when I'm trying to get her attention. Shirts are getting damp with drool and I've put a bib on her a few times.

Thanks for sharing your transitioning out of bed stories.

[Dena]

LNF, I'm with you! I wanna go back to bed! I could, too, if Miss Hannah would go back to sleep, cause no one else is up yet. But I had to get up with Hannah because she kept reaching over and pulling her sister's paci out of her mouth, till Maya woke up and got reaaallly ticked. Not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Drool - oh, yeah. They are both spouting it. As for eye contact, Maya does more than Hannah. Hannah does a bit, but she is more interested in everything else. Maya will just stare you down. I think she likes to nurse in the football hold because she can stare at me that way. Actually its pretty cute.

So, anyone want some free kitchen stuff? I think I mentioned before, I inherited my mother's well-appointed kitchen. But I have a small kitchen and no room for even half of this stuff (not to mention no need for duplicates). Seriously, if anyone is in the area and wants to swing by a take a look, pm me!

[Peace+Hope]

heh, charlie smells yummy, but what do you mean, smelling "like a baby?" i haven't used soap either, but my sister decided he smells like my laundry detergent

charlie is big into eye contact, but i've been around plenty of babies who are into "stuff" instead. i've always figured it was partially a temperament/personality thing.

snoopy, charlie has stopped sleeping when we're out too, which has put a damper on our going out at night. friday, sat, sunday, he slept for 4-5 hrs straight in the afternoon, and then yesterday had one 45 min and one hr-long nap all day. he was so exhausted! first time i've seen him fight sleep like that. and we were at home !

gtg, for the anxiety/not sleeping

sme, for working.

last night my husband and i had a HUGE fight. i had nursed charlie and he was completely asleep. this was after a long day of almost no naps. when we went up to bed, my husband started changing him (he'd already been asleep for 3 hrs) and he started SCREAMING (charlie, not my husband). when he gets like that (very rare), my husband somehow loses his ability to diaper, well, not his ability but his confidence? it's ridiculous. he gets S-L-O-W-E-R. then, once he was finished, with a few breaks to comfort charlie, he starts telling me he wonders if he did it ok and we should check it and will i look at it with him.

i said no, i would not, i'm sure it was fine and he should feel confident. my husband got madder and madder at me cause i wouldn't look at it - put charlie BACK down for more trauma - and i got madder and madder cause i am so confused/enraged by this behavior. he changes tons of diapers! somehow it makes me feel like he's not an equal partner by choice or something. when he's doing something w/ charlie, i want him to DO it. it gives me a break. dragging me in isn't a break! arg! poor charlie was dozing away and we were getting as bad as we ever have been, yelling, cursing... i finally left the room for awhile, and when i came back we apologized and went to sleep. it sucked.

anybody else identify w/ my feelings? or his? heh...

[crazyeight]

a night of crappy sleep for us here too. he was up every 2 hours or so and also i just could not get comfortable. i probably would have slept better laying on a rock.

r doesn't smell like a baby either. usually smells like an armpit (slightly) or his soap. i think the other 2 did though so who knows....

r loves to look me in the eyes. i can see so much there and sometimes i even break down crying. *sniff* i can't believe he's my last and i feel like i'm finally getting a good grip on this baby stuff.

[Knitting Mama]

I absolutely do identify with your feelings, P+H, and when I have broached the subject with my husband, he says that sometimes he feels that the fact that I get to spend way more awake time with Cecilia than he does coupled with the fact that I've got a pretty strong personality, especially when it comes to my baby, makes him sometimes feel like he can't do anything right and that only I have the magic touch to get things done for Cecilia. This has led to him really only doing things like diaper changes when I ask him to.

So, I'm trying really hard to be more encouraging and to praise him when he does stuff without me asking. And I'm trying to make sure I'm more positive and less abrupt overall so that he feels calmer and less like a fish out of water.

In return, he has agreed to start stepping up and doing more stuff around the house without me asking. I am actually completely fine with being Cecilia's sole caregiver, the one who always changes her, feeds her (we don't do bottles so I would be this person anyway), gets her to sleep, etc. Though he does like to bounce her to sleep sometimes, so I always offer if she's nursed and isn't out yet.

AFM, I got 4 new BG AIO's yesterday. They're 3.0's and are Velcro, which is not my preference, but they were so inexpensive I couldn't resist. I'm pretty impressed with BG's overall. I think they're the only AIO I have felt I really love, although my one Blueberry comes in at a close second. I think it was designed to be very similar to the BG AIO, which might explain why I dig it.

[sew_crafty_girl]

Now that Anna is rolling and cranes her head up while on the floor, I can see her neck and was sad to find she has a small red, raw patch with yellow crusties in her neck fold. Darned if I get get at it when we're in the tub though. I'm going to have to get her on the floor and stretching her head up to get a little diaper cream in there.

Weighed her yesterday and at 3 months she is 13 lbs and about 24 inches now.

Last night we saw our first bout of mommy preference. Poor DH. Hr was able to calm her while I had a quick, rare bath.

I'm getting pretty active in the local mommy meetup group and meeting lots if like minded moms. Hoping some of these connections turn into real friendships b

[loveneverfails]

BTW everyone, both Victoria's Secret and Fredericks of Hollywood are running sales right now, so anyone who needs bras might want to check it out. Fredericks has 34F, which I am quite appreciative of.

[smeisnotapirate]

Ivy, my PPD turns out that exact same way. I used to stay up and stare at DS while he slept, convinced that every breath would be his last. When I went to work without him, we'd do this horrible, long, tearful goodbye because I KNEW I was never coming back to him.

Loooooooootsa drool over here.

Nomi smells AMAZING. I think she's had 4 or 5 baths total (which she really likes, so I should probably do them more often) and she smells incredible. I can't get enough.

I need to release the cleanliness of my house. I'm freaking out about the house not being cleaned, but I know it's unreasonable to expect me to do it while taking care of both kids AND working. My DH BARELY helps (he does one load of dishes a day and vacuums every 6mo or so), and our roommate does no cleaning except in her room, so no help there. Gah. It just stresses me out to feel like I'm constantly cleaning up whenever they nap and it never stays clean.

[OneWithTwo]

J is drooling...but I think he drools anyways? especially when he is asleep. I put him in the carrier and he falls asleep and I am soaked from him drooling...poor kid sleeps with his mouth open.
J makes eye contact, but he doesn't follow sounds. He also doesn't smell like a baby. He smells like poop because that's all this kid does is poop. I'd tell you he smelt like spit up/sour milk, but he hasn't been spitting up too much lately.

[rhiOrion]

So maybe I haven't had PPD because it's just my natural state?

I wake up several times every night to make sure she's breathing. DH pointed out that I have woken up convinced the cat was dead before.

I constantly have to push those fears back. I remember when I went off to college having a tearful goodbye with my cat (different cat) because I was sure it was the last time I would see her. She lived another five years, at least.

All day while L is in daycare I panic that I've obviously left her in the car or something. I have nightmares about that. Even though I *know* she isn't in the car, I have to remind myself of it constantly.

But yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm clinically OCD and possibly anxiety (though maybe just a facet of the OCD) anyhow.

Here's the mantra that a friend told me her therapist told her...and it has honestly saved me from several panic attacks... "It's only a symptom." As in, it's only a symptom of the OCD or anxiety, or whatever. I say that to myself a lot.

I'm still waiting daily for the other foot to drop and for PPD or PPA to kick my ass when I'm not expecting it. But I'm ALWAYS expecting it!

So I have nothing but hugs for those who are battling with it.

[Knitting Mama]

God, Rhi, you and I sound so much alike. Constant OCD (well, mostly just obsessive; I only have 1-2 compulsions) and anxiety are the norm for me as well!

[OneWithTwo]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama

God, Rhi, you and I sound so much alike. Constant OCD (well, mostly just obsessive; I only have 1-2 compulsions) and anxiety are the norm for me as well!

as for me too..mostly obsessive and HIGH anxiety.

I don't wake to check on him, my fears are a bit different.
I worry about the world ending. Like 2012? I worry over disasters and climate change and signs that things are getting worse...like here in the PNW, summer never happened in June....throw in the oil spill and reading about it constantly, bees dying, and ocean life having high levels of toxics and heavy metals.... oy

[rhiOrion]

We should all move to an island somewhere together.

Except then we'd probably spend all our time worrying about ocean levels.

[Carita]

drooling - yup!! its started. not soaking through bibs, but always have a coth ready

aimee - dd loves sucking on her dresses too!

eye contact - great, unless she's tired, then she phases out

rhi - sounds like anxiety & PPA. i had some anxiety w/ds, but it was managable. my MIL thought i was crazy though because i wouldn't let him out of my sight to play LOL. if it interferes w/your life then seek help, if not well you can still seek help. mine was also related to some ADHD I guess and i saw a counselor for a bit to help w.out drugs.

[jsh7809]

Anxiety and panic and depression is typical for me, too, unfortunately. What made it clear I was dealing with something different from my "normal" was that I couldn't sleep, eat, or do anything - even make the smallest little decisions - and got to a perpetually "Stuck" place every morning. Which was actually way scarier than the stuff I've dealt with before... I didn't want to harm myself but I sure didn't want to do anything at all, either. Ugh. And panic attacks when you are so exhausted are super frustrating because they are just the biggest waste of energy you can possibly imagine!
I think I got to a sleep deprived place and then my adrenaline was trying to keep me going, but I had nothing left BUT adrenaline, which led to those panics and all of that anxiety. Got stuck in hypervigilance and couldn't get out. It was terrible! And any time I would take medicine to help me sleep or get unanxious, I would then have a panic attack about it hurting the baby... nightmare. That's why I am so hoping and am grateful that the SAMe seems to be what's helping most
But I will not let it get to that place again!

Drool is just starting over here. S mostly sucks in her lips (cause she's still working on finding those hands) and the drool amount so far is quite cute and manageable. She has this adorable little voice lately, too, and on occasion her babbling gets loud - it makes me wonder if she's going to be a shy little thing but then super dramatic and outgoing once you get to know her (which would be consistent with myself and my sister in law). SO CUTE!!

Although our sleep was awful, too, last night, and I finally got her back to sleep this morning, but then I couldn't sleep. So now she and the cat (I know, probably shouldn't be sleeping on the same bed but oh well) are dozing peacefully and I"m going to have to wake the baby up soon to get her ready for our yoga class.
Yup - I'm bringing her to a "mom and baby" class and am highly skeptical... but a friend is bringing her infant, too, so if nothing else, it'll give us a good laugh!

OH and I was just thinking about her smell - I don't think she smells particularly like a baby, but others have said so, so maybe I'm just used to her? I have been head sniffing more and more, and I love to smell her milky cheese breath. Is that weird, since she basically just smells like me and my milk?

Last night DH told me "hey, you smell good" and I said, "that's weird, I don't know why" and he replied, "well, you don't smell like sour milk" with the words "for a change" unsaid but implied. GRrr... he caught himself and tried to apologize. But I Know it's true! One of the drawbacks of an oversupply and strong letdown . I shower every day but constantly leak...

[rhiOrion]

With L's reflux her breath smells like vomit most of the time. Not cute sour milk baby breath... vomit. And I frequently do, too. I'd take the sour milk smell any day!

On another note, I just discovered that oreos and famous amos chocolate cookies are both dairy free.

i think that small amounts of chocolate are okay for her tummy, so i just ate a few, and omg they were so good.

[ivymae]

Therapist appointment yesterday was a wash. He didn't tell me anything i don't already know (hey, you have PPD!), and bonus that he's leaving for two weeks, so he didn't want to prescribe or recommend any supplements since he wouldn't be here to adjust doses is things went awry. He did give me the name of another therapist i can contact in an emergency, but . We're in a weird place financially (money in the bank we can't use, expectation of money coming in but without a firm timeline) so I'm trying to be patient on making a lot of other appointments, because I can't risk paying out money and then being short when money has to go out... Bah. Yesterday was a Really Good day, so I'm trying to keep the momentum going.

A good visualization I've used to "let go" of things (including ugly emotions - this works with normal anxiety, but not this new crazy intense anxiety) is to imagine YOU (the calm, patient, lovely you who is your core) standing on a riverbank, watching all the other stuff go by. You are not that stuff, those emotions; you don't have to own them or hold on to them, they will pass if you stand back and don't jump in.

None of my girls have been "droolers". Sure, they go through small periods of drooling, but man, one of my nephews drooled buckets, every day until he was two and a half or so. I love love love that kid, but picking him up for a cuddle was always at risk of coming away soggy.

I don't notice Becky smelling wonderful, but she doesn't smell bad. I've never really picked up on the 'baby smell' people talk about, but i do enjoy the feeling on peach fuzz hair on my lips. When she's in the sling i will just rub my lips on the top of her head until she gets grumpy about it.

[MaterPrimaePuellae]

Hey all! I've downloaded the thread so far so I can read it when I get home; I'm sitting in the car using DH's work wireless and the babies are not happy.

Our new house: I love it. MY MIL came to help me decorate, and WOW. She is amazing. I bought a book on chickens today; we'll be getting our chicks in the spring. We lie in bed in the morning and watch the sun rising over the fields across the street. It's just amazing.

What I don't love is that we have no phone or internet. I feel completely cut off from the world. We were thinking of satellite internet, but we just can't afford it (and we would max out the limits downloading netflix and pictures, which is the majority of what we do online, anyway)

Not getting to spend much time on MDC is seriously in my top three reasons why I'm disappointed. I will definitely try to at least keep up with the weekly threads, because I have to head into town weekly for grocery shopping.

So let me just say: This DDC has been amazing for me. Truly. I don't know if I would have been "brave" enough to try the birth center without the encouragement from the ladies here, and through so many problems w/ the pregnancy, the advice I found here was SO wonderful. So, ladies, thank you all. This was the best DDC ever.