Weekly Chat Thread starting 1/8/10!

[mzminty]

I'm taking the initiative and starting a new thread.  I like new beginnings!

It's so weird that the December thread is filling up with birth announcements, isn't it?  November seemed to go by in a flash!

So we started this morning with Nystatin and I'm taking Fluconazole.  I read a ton about natural remedies, but in the end decided to take the path of least resistance.  The pharmacy where I could get APNO is over half an hour away in one direction, and the hfs that would have gentian violet or gse is over half an hour away in the other direction.  On top of that, we got a foot and a half of snow dumped on us in the last few days, and the temps are well below freezing, so it's not good traveling weather!

I just want us to get better asap so I can start pumping and saving milk for work.  I haven't tried giving Maia a bottle yet, and will now wait until this little crisis is passed before making things more complicated!  My first day back to work is Jan.10th.  I'm only going to be working 8 hrs a week, so i shouldn't be such a baby about it, but the whole bottle feeding and pumping thing just throws me into a tizzy.  It's so busy at work that i'm afraid I'm going to miss pumpings, and afraid of my milk supply diminishing and Maia becoming less interested in nursing and finally weaning, which is what happened with ds.

My postpartum sadness has gone away a little, but I'm still feeling *very* anxious.  Still also very headachey and not getting much sleep.  I'm really working on drinking tons of water since I think I'm dehydrated and esp since I'm taking the fluconazole I want my system to be able to flush itself out really well.

I tried to get away from wearing pads for a few days to give myself a break, and that went great until this morning at the breakfast table when a little gush sent me running to the bathroom.  So the moral of the story is, it ain't over til it's over!

I'm going to try to get some grocery shopping done without the baby today -- wish me luck!

[caseykn]

I feel like November went by way too fast too!  I think this time of year always flies by with all the holidays but this year with a newborn added to the mix, I feel like I blinked and it was over!  I can't believe little Carys is already 3 weeks old.  I had mastitis over the weekend and was feeling pretty sorry for myself.  I had a high fever and the chills so bad that my shivering actually made my back hurt.  Luckily my mw suggested hot compresses with fabric soaked in castor oil and that totally cleared it up so I didn't need antibiotics.  Carys is sleeping pretty much all night long (don't hate me!) and that probably contributed to my plugged duct.  Also I worry that her sleeping so much at night is bad for my milk supply?  She doesn't even seem particularly starving when she wakes up in the morning.  She nurses a ton in the evenings so maybe that makes up for the night.  My older daughter never slept this much (or at all, really) so I don't really know what's normal. 

My in laws visited over the weekend and it was so annoying because they were only here for 2 days, they stayed at as hotel 5 minutes from our house but still didn't make it over here until 11 each day even though they wake up really early.  Then they wanted to go out and do stuff but with lunchtime and DD1's naptime approaching, getting out of the house for a big outing like the zoo or kid's museum at 11:30 is just too late for us.  So we ended up mostly sitting around each day and then they were kind of bored.  FIL just messed around on the computer and mil held the baby a lot and washed some dishes for us but that's about it.  They really didn't help out with much or even play with DD1 that much.  They didn't even help us decorate our christmas tree.  DD1 was disappointed with their visit and that made me sad because she was SO excited to have them come.  DH is really annoyed with his parents but didn't want to talk to them about it when they were here because it was too late to fix this visit.  He's going to wait until they come to visit again and then set out some expectations. 

[kittywitty]

Julie- My anxiety is still bad, too. I have bottles I wanted to try with Molly so I can go work out a couple of times a week, but am afraid to introduce them unless necessary. I bought the noob shaped ones, but still...

And I can't blame you for taking the (hopefully) quicker mode against thrush. I have heard countless thrush horror stories. I'm sure I'd do the same!

Molly is also sttn sometimes. It freaks me out. I wake her up and try to make her eat and she won't. None of my other kids did this except maybe the first couple of days.

Help? http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1284302/newborn-refusing-feedings-sttn

[Ellen Griswold]

STTN does seem pretty unusual, however I've got one that is doing it too (now and again).  Waking her to feed is just useless, but she's gaining well, is content most of the time, so I've decided that I'm just not going to worry about it.  And I'm going to be very very thankful.

[caseykn]

Originally Posted by Ellen Griswold 

STTN does seem pretty unusual, however I've got one that is doing it too (now and again).  Waking her to feed is just useless, but she's gaining well, is content most of the time, so I've decided that I'm just not going to worry about it.  And I'm going to be very very thankful.

This is how I feel too.  Mostly thankful as i know that her sleep habits may change any day now.  I know she's eating enough and she's a pretty content baby, I just worry about my milk supply but I think it's okay. I guess I just can't be totally worry-free. 

[my kidlets and me]

My dd2 slept through the night from 6 weeks old - 4 months, then started night waking again.  Didn't STTN consistently again until 2.5 years old.  I EBF her until 6 months and she weaned at 27 months, so the STTN didn't affect my milk supply.  HTH!

[HeatherB]

UGH! I sat here and typed (mostly one-handed) a whole reply and then somehow hit a keystroke to close the tab - and it didn't give the "you've entered text on this page" warning. <-- Actually, it's all the fault of that smiley. I tried to click on it to insert it and I couldn't tell where it went, tried to fix it, and it all went away. Ugh.

Anyway... Subbing. Hoping Eliana sleeps. She just fell asleep and now she's wiggling and I'm afraid she'll wake up *again.*

Saw MW today and did birth cert stuff. Talked to her about Eliana's eyes, too. One opens more than the other (eyelids seem to be affected but the eye has seemed fine and vision appears to be fine). She said she'd seen it since birth, as had I, though my DH has blown it off for the most part. I'm glad I'm not the only one who's seen it over time. Pedi wasn't worried (yet) and said to watch it, which MW agrees with - watch for any changes. Hopefully it's something minor that will resolve on its own over time, but it does make me worry more about other things I *think* I see with her eyes, which may or may not be just normal newborn stuff.

MW also reminded me that this is still very much the postpartum/recovery period and I (we!) should be taking it *easy*. I'm hoping I can figure out how to do that with MIL here. MIL doesn't tend to like to do a lot out so I may well have time to rest most days. I napped right after they got in this afternoon because I was utterly exhausted, Eliana was asleep, Judah was asleep... I actually woke up before Ellie did! (I mean, I was awoken and got up. )

I think we've gotten some "real" smiles today... Big smiles when she was clearly awake, though not necessarily looking at a person.

She's starting to get some newborn acne. My boys never had much so I'm wondering if it will be different with a girl.

How many hours do you mean by STTN? I'm curious how long a stretch she gets, but have a hard time caring to check times when I'm asleep.

Hopefully she sleeps longer than 5 minutes at a stretch tonight...

[mzminty]

Heather, one of Maia's eyes opens more than the other too.  Her left eye seemed bruised and swollen when she was born, and still appears not to have resolved completely.  Then she has a blocked duct in her right eye, so she's a little mess!  I think fast births can cause more trauma. 

Oh, and "taking it easy"?  Please!  I skipped right over taking it easy and went straight to being the bionic mother!  Cooking, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, lugging the groceries into the car and the house... all on very little sleep.  But honestly, I still remind myself every day that I'm SSSOOOO incredibly grateful to have passed through the pregnancy stage.  I feel so good, even being exhausted!  Now if I can just dispel these baby blues...

Is it just me, or is anyone else's digestive system taking a while to go back to normal?  I'm still dealing with constipation, and am trying not to go crazy with magnesium or miralax or anything, because I don't know what will affect Maia through my breastmilk.   

As far as STTN, Maia sleeps 5 hours at the beginning of the night and then gets up every 2 to 3 hours after that.  But she really doesn't go down for the night until 9 or 10.  I wonder if that long stretch happens because she's in her bassinet, because then she comes into bed with me and stays there.

Desiree, sorry you're having a hard time with the bfing.  Trying to build up a milk supply by pumping has got to really stink.  I don't know why, but I *hate* pumping!  I looked up OALD and realize that's exactly what our problem is.  Maia swallows so much air trying to keep up with my letdown -- she sounds like she's drowning!  And then she spits up a TON!  I have to keep telling myself that she 's having more than adequate stools and wets, and I can tell she's growing just by looking at her.  But it's disconcerting that she nurses and then I sit her up and she just keeps giving a big burp/vomit and milk just comes pouring out of her mouth.  I would say up to an hour after nursing she's still liable to spit up a fairly large amount just out of the blue.  My clothes are a mess by the end of the day!  Does anybody else's baby do this?

So I don't know what I was thinking about going shopping without Maia!  I was getting ready to go yesterday and me and DH totally got cold feet about it!  So I brought her with me and forgot my sling (ugh!) so I had to lug the car seat in and push it around in the cart and she slept until we got home anyway! 

[Ellen Griswold]

As far as the difference in eye size goes, my older dd has this.  I noticed it at birth and it did not resolve.  Ped was a little worried so we had her checked out by an eye doctor.  He was concerned too as there were a couple things to rule out, glaucoma being the major one.  She did NOT have that.  However, we watch her eye growth carefully still with yearly check ups (did twice yearly check up for two years).  It hasn't actually resolved even at 3 and maybe never will, but it is much less noticeable now than what it was.  One of the odd things that we still notice is that it shows up in photos more than real life.  At first I thought it was only her eye lid, but the actual size of her eyes are different.  I wouldn't be too worried (I actually think the little one might have this too, but can't tell yet) but just keep watching it.  I think it is more common than most people think.

Wish I could take it easy.  I have no idea how one is supposed to accomplish that when you have older kids.  Rachel goes down for the night at 8 or so and I would guess that I'm feeding her twice during the night until about 6am.  However, I guess what I mean by sttn is that she doesn't actually have any wakeful periods during that time (unless the girl has to poop, then wiggle, wiggle, wiggle...).  She sleeps with her head resting on my breast like a pillow and latches whenever she feels like it.

And I so agree about the regularity issue.  Good grief.

[LadyCatherine185]

Julie-- Ian does that too, and i def have oald.. but he's gained 2 lbs over his birthweight already so im not too worried ;)

sometimes his spitup is really chunky? what is that about?!

[Stitches]

Baby has been sleeping up to 4.5 hrs in the first stretch...boy that feels good to get a solid block of sleep.  She's been in the bed with us so far but DH started pushing for her to go in the bassinet and I've used it the past few nights.  She's still right next to me, but I miss her in the bed.  She starts getting fussy in the early hours so comes back into bed then. 

My oldest started SSTN (like 8 hrs) at about 6 weeks to 2 months.  I worried at the time about loosing my supply or getting my period back.  Then she stopped STTN and went back to very frequent waking for a long, long time.

I'm anxious to talk to my midwife in 2 weeks when she has her 6 week checkup, I've got OALD too, had it for DD1 so I'm used to managing it but she didn't have the spitting up issues and I'm a little worried about refulx too.

I also feel WAY better with a newborn than I did pregnant.  I'm sleep deprived but it's a totally different (and better) kind of tiredness than I had while preggo.  I feel alive again and have energy to do things.  It's great!

Oh, and yes with the constipation.  I keep giving birth to bricks, and with a big old hemmorid I have a little mini crowing experience everytime I go.  Ouchie.

Got to go, babe needs some TLC

[kittywitty]

At least I'm not the only one with a sleepy baby! My other kids were SUCH terrible sleepers. They still wake several times a night. But Molly is sleeping from 10pm-6am without eating and then she barely eats again (snacking more like it) until noon. It freaks me out! That's too long! I wake her at 4 trying to make her eat but she refuses.

And yes, I also need to be taking my magnesium!

Molly has also been spitting up a lot more than the other kids. Mostly in the past week. Even over an hour after eating she pukes TONS. It's pretty crazy. Hopefully it's just dairy, if not, I'm going to check out reflux like Catie suggested. I think my OALD is exacerbating the problem.

[my kidlets and me]

Dd2 spat up a ton - at least one huge one a day - but (knock on wood) Nicholas has only had 1 of these so far.  Last night, all over me.  Yuck!

I did too much yesterday - walked with dh and kids to pick up dd1 from school (25 minute walk each way) and made cookies (so, stood for 2 hours).  I was super sore afterwards and my bleeding increased by a large amount.  I guess I know what I can and can't do in the next couple of weeks!

Last night was the worst night of sleep since N was born - I would manage to latch him on, but then he would let the nipple go and I would leak all over the bed and he would fuss, again and again.  I was a sticky mess when I woke up this morning!  And no chance of a nap today...

I agree EG, it's so hard to rest when you have older kids!

[karen1968]

Originally Posted by caseykn 

My in laws visited over the weekend and it was so annoying because they were only here for 2 days, they stayed at as hotel 5 minutes from our house but still didn't make it over here until 11 each day even though they wake up really early.  Then they wanted to go out and do stuff but with lunchtime and DD1's naptime approaching, getting out of the house for a big outing like the zoo or kid's museum at 11:30 is just too late for us.  So we ended up mostly sitting around each day and then they were kind of bored.  FIL just messed around on the computer and mil held the baby a lot and washed some dishes for us but that's about it.  They really didn't help out with much or even play with DD1 that much.

This sounds so much like our visits from relatives. So disappointing!  At least the grandparents took the boy (3.5yo) on a few outings - that helped. 

*sigh* was going to say more but baby is fussing.

Oh, Julie - if you can't get APNO, look for clotrimozole (usually sold as Lotrimin for athlete's foot) at the grocery, Target, whatever. It's the anti-fungal that's in APNO and can be used solo.

Originally Posted by my kidlets and me 

Dd2 spat up a ton - at least one huge one a day - but (knock on wood) Nicholas has only had 1 of these so far.  Last night, all over me.  Yuck!

I did too much yesterday - walked with dh and kids to pick up dd1 from school (25 minute walk each way) and made cookies (so, stood for 2 hours).  I was super sore afterwards and my bleeding increased by a large amount.  I guess I know what I can and can't do in the next couple of weeks!

Last night was the worst night of sleep since N was born - I would manage to latch him on, but then he would let the nipple go and I would leak all over the bed and he would fuss, again and again.  I was a sticky mess when I woke up this morning!  And no chance of a nap today...

I agree EG, it's so hard to rest when you have older kids!

[kittywitty]

How awake are everybody's babies? Molly has been a grumpasaurus and needing rocked/walked/moved and made happy most of the day but today she's slept most of the day. I keep trying to wake her and she's responsive but does NOT want to be awake. As in she's sleeping if I *gasp* lay her down even. Maybe the dairy is getting out of my system already? No hives today.

[quelindo]

Originally Posted by LadyCatherine185 

sometimes his spitup is really chunky? what is that about?!

With my older DS that happened when I would eat dairy. I'm trying to avoid dairy from the get-go this time, but when I had a roll that I *think* may have had dairy in it last week, Silas spit up chunks that night -- the only time he's done so.

[mzminty]

Desiree, is she so sleepy that she's not nursing?  I know you said she's not nursing well anyway, but is there any way to weigh her and make sure she's gaining?  I assume she's having enough wets and stools?  I would just worry that she's becoming *more* sleepy because she's eating less.  I don't know.  It's probably just my postpartum anxiety rearing it ugly head.  Maia sleeps for a couple hours at a time with wakeful periods in between.  Some days she seems way more sleepy than other days, and some days she's more wakeful and fussy.  But she pretty consistently nurses at least every few hours except for her 5 hour stretch at night.  HTH.

Karen, I'm using Nystatin cream.  Is clotrimazole better, do you think?  Or did you use them concurrently?

I'm starting to wonder if I should cut out dairy too, based on what I'm reading here.  Maia spits up so much, and sometimes it is chunky.  I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it and see if i can tell a difference.  I'm avoiding sugar and carbs anyway because of the thrush anyway, so why not throw in dairy?  It'll be a blue, blue Christmas for sure!  BTW, does dairy include eggs, buttermilk and yogurt?  Or just milk and cheese?  Or does it just depend on the level of sensitivity?

[kittywitty]

Dairy includes all dairy for a lot of babies. Whey, casein-anything with dairy. Eggs are a seperate deal. I have to avoid the obvious of milk & cheese, but also buttermilk, yogurt, butter, most margarines that have dairy in them and a million things with hidden dairy.

She's actually nursing fine today-not wonderful, but better than she has been except for last night. She wakes up to eat and passes right back out.

[SashaBreeze]

I "think" my boys would be sleeping longer stretches during the night by now but I cant be sure because I have to wake them up every 3 hours to give them their sodium, so .

I agree about not really being able to take it easy when you have older children, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.  Today I finally said screw it, I am going to focus on getting these boys to breastfeed.  So the house looks like a tornado blew through it and my oldest dd fixed sandwiches and such for everyone to eat all day and that is just the way it had to be.  I feel pretty guilty about it and taking a peek at our laundry just from one day off from me (dh is working so no housework from him either) makes me think it may end up being a pretty long recovery process but hopefully it will be worth it.  We had the most successful day with breastfeeding so far but still have a VERY long way to go.  It is like they change their minds at random and swing back and forth between loving the breast and hating it.

Has anyone else been feeling totally drained? We had gotten the formula so I could get some sleep but seriously it seems like no matter how much sleep I get I am still absolutely killed and sore.  I felt fine up until a couple of weeks ago.  I am thinking I have just been making really bad food choices out of convenience so I had dh pick up some things and I am going to do a mostly raw veggie clean and see if that perks me up.  I also have been drinking filtered tap water instead of our spring water, so maybe that makes a difference?  We have a really great local spring that bottles their water but you can also go and get it yourself.  One of the conditions when they started bottling it was that they had to leave it free for the public to be able to get themselves from the source like they always have.  Best water ever.http://www.rockcastlespring.com/   http://www.rockcastlespring.com/ 

Casey, I am so sorry that your visit from the in-laws went so badly.  Trust me I completely empathise, especially the part with your little ones being disappointed, it can break your heart if you think too long on it.

So how is everyone's Christmas/holiday preparations going?  I am sooo far behind it is ridiculous.  I owe my kids big time this year.  I read once about a family that got so tired of the holidays being a giant fight/disappointment that they decided to do a holiday re-do a few months later each year that was just them.  I am seriously thinking about doing that...

Edited by SashaBreeze - 12/9/10 at 9:10pm

[mzminty]

Originally Posted by kittywitty 

Dairy includes all dairy for a lot of babies. Whey, casein-anything with dairy. Eggs are a seperate deal. I have to avoid the obvious of milk & cheese, but also buttermilk, yogurt, butter, most margarines that have dairy in them and a million things with hidden dairy.

She's actually nursing fine today-not wonderful, but better than she has been except for last night. She wakes up to eat and passes right back out.

That's good to hear, Desiree.  I know I said this before, but I'm sorry you're having to deal with all of that.  

And   Sasha. Yay for the boys nursing even sometimes, at least!  Hopefully that'll just keep getting better at it as they get older!