Post-Partum Post-Christmas Chat

[Melly24]

Merry Christmas Mama's, Papa's and Bubba's! Hope your Christmas day was filled with love and family and food! 

It's been rather quiet in our DDC lately, no doubt due to being Christmas season, so I'd thought I 'd start a new chat thread.

Ben is nearly 10 weeks old now. My how time flies. I want to slow it down and speed it up at the same time! He's still quite unsettled, but nowhere near as much as a few weeks ago. The hours of inconsolable screaming were rough but we seem to have passed that now. 

How are the mama's doin? My tailbone is nearly all better which is a relief. And we finally DTD a couple times and I seem to be back to normal down there too now, hooray! 

[chely7425]

We are good here :) Travis is 10 weeks and a few days old and still a tiny peanut. Poor kid is still swimming in a lot of 0-3 month clothes but at least he is using all the adorableness that my first 2 giant babies never did! We finally got him on a good medicine for his relflux (prilosec) and he is like an entirely different baby. It is fantastic. We had a good christmas, hectic but good. Can't wait for next year when we can celebrate at home with hubby home!!

[Melly24]

Glad to hear the meds are helping him Chely! 

[sunwillshine]

chely - such a little peanut!  I WISH we could have used MORE of Cady's 0-3 month stuff!  Most of it, I finally packed away last week, along with everything in the NB size that she never wore.  Lol.  I'm glad to hear Travis seems to be feeling better.  Such great news, and hopefully it's made EVERYONE feel better!

Melly - good idea starting up this thread!  :-)  I've been wondering how everyone's been doing, too!  And, we've only got about a month before I think this DDC will probably be closed and archived.  So hard to believe how quickly this DDC came and went!  I'm glad Ben's screaming has subsided and that your tailbone is feeling better!!

AFU - We're doing great!  Cady is just over 10 weeks, and is a little bruiser.  ;-)  At her 2 month visit, she weighed in at 14 lbs, 1 oz, and measured about 24 inches.  She's big, but healthy, and her "bigness" is pretty proportional so she doesn't necessarily look "fat" (well, except for her cheeks!!!).  She is SUCH a good baby, and adjusting to life with her has been so easy.  On Sunday night, she started sleeping in her crib, and both nights she's been in her room have gone so smoothly.  Harder for me than anyone.  She just nods off on her own, and sleeps straight for about 9 hours.  I know we are so very blessed to not have any sleep issues.  I do miss having her right next to me in the co-sleeper, but we never planned for co-sleeping to be permanent.  We went off her cues, and she's been more than ready for this change for awhile.  My little girl is already getting so big!

She also started sitting up unassisted in the Bumbo this week, and is babbling more than ever!  I love watching her change and grow.  I'm so sad to have to return to work on Monday and miss out on the day-to-day stuff.  I'm happy my mother-in-law will be caring for her, but obviously there's no substitute for mama.  :-/

I'm feeling good.  Recovered from the c-section and am at peace with having had one.  Lost 50 lbs (yay nursing!!!) which means I'm down 20 from pre-pregnancy!Would like to drop another 15-20 in 2011... we'll see!!!

Can't wait to hear others' updates!

[Annemarie42]

Sam is 8 weeks today (how the heck did that happen!) and he is such a love. He is smiling and very social. I am not sure how big he is but I would guess around 11 lbs. He still fits in some 0-3, and is starting to wear his 3-6 though it is baggy. Sleep is okay, but he does want to eat several times overnight so I am still really beat. He does go back to sleep pretty well after he eats, though. He has constant congestion which was a full-fledged cold this past week, but I think he is starting to feel better.

4 more weeks till I go back to work. :( I will be part-time but I am still really depressed about it.

[peainthepod]

Matilda turned 9 weeks yesterday and is already comfortably wearing 3-6 month sizes! She gets chubbier every day and has the sweetest, pinkest complexion. We had a low key Christmas with no traveling, just dinner and presents at home with DH and DS and our new little girl.

I'm feeling incredibly fortunate and blessed these days, as so many around us are going through tough times. Now more than ever it's really hit me that few things matter as long as a family has its health and can be together. I've started knitting newborn hats and blankies to donate to the local hospital and food bank, which is fun and gives me a great excuse to buy yarn (an addiction of mine).

Healthwise, my recovery from this birth has been much easier than it was from Felix's, probably because I didn't tear this time and also I made myself stay in bed for the entire first week. I've already lost most of the baby weight and feel fantastic! *knocks on wood*

[Monarchgrrl]

Hi everyone!

Sophia is 9 weeks today. She seems SO big to us now, but she's only 10 lbs 8 oz. But she gained over two pounds in the last month! She has the best chubby cheeks and Buddha belly! I love it! She's still wearing newborn clothes but is starting to fit in 0-3 months.

I'm finally feeling like myself again. I had a REALLY hard time post partum. Not physically. I didn't tear and got the home birth I planned. Everything went perfectly. But I didn't "plan" for pp depression. That threw me for a loop! DD and I didn't bond for about 3 weeks. I hated hearing "oh you must be so in love", because I wasn't. We really had to get to know each other first. Breastfeeding was going horribly. We never mastered it (vasospasms!) but I powered through for a month and then was able to exclusively pump. She's much happier now that she gets a bottle and I'm just glad she gets mommy's milk. Ilfe is finally good! It's amazing how many of my crunchy plans have had to go flying out the window.

1) Cloth diapers. She hates cloth diapers. HATES! I have a huge stash that I'm so excited about. I'm going to keep trying a few times a week until she's bigger and pees less. She will just scream if she feels wet and she pees literally every 5 minutes.

2) Bottles and pumping. Didn't expect that one! I always thought, "I have boobs (big ones!) of course I can breastfeed". Ha! I learned my lesson there!

3) Cosleeping. She sleeps so much longer and more peacefully out of our bed. It's weird. I still want to, and maybe she'll change, but she wants to be swaddled and put down on her own. She also has bad dreams. She wakes up every 3-4 hours yelling and crying in her sleep. Once I get her to fully wake up, she's fine and smiling and happy. So weird. I didn't expect that so young!

I'm trying to enjoy my days with her. I have another month before I have to go back to work. DW will be a stay at home mom. So I'm soaking in all the day time now! I think I've finally transitioned into motherhood. It took awhile, though.Whew!

[breanna31]

Oscar is just over 10 weeks and weighs almost 13 pounds!!  He is so cute and perfect, I love him so much.  I never wanted to have a boy but now that I do I feel stupid for ever feeling that way.  He is such a good baby, always happy and smiling and he sleeps so good too!  It's my almost 2 year old who keeps me awake most nights :).  The transition from 1 child to 2 has been pretty good, there are some days I want to rip my hair out but the good definately outweighs the bad.  There is nothing more precious than watching my daughter hug and kiss all over her baby brother or hearing her tell me "baby Oscar" needs to nurse when he is crying.  I had a wonderful birth with him and felt back to normal almost immediately after he was born.  I am thankful for that because I am not sure how I would have taken care of two otherwise. 

I cannot believe it's been almost 2 months since we have had our babies.  Time goes by too fast.  I hope everyone keeps updating as the babies grow, I love hearing how everyone is doing and love seeing new pictures.  Would anyone be interested in having a facebook group?  It might be kind of cool.

[chely7425]

I think a FB group would be great!

[Melly24]

Lyndzies - Cady sounds sooo much like my DD as a babe! So mellow and just a sweetheart. She was pretty much happy all the time and just seemed to exude joy! 

Annemarie I hope Sam starts to feel better soon. Are you co-sleeping with him? 

peainthepod - Ben is in 3-6 month clothes too! My DD had the pinky creamy skin you describe and it's delicious. Ben seems to be more olive and I'm unsure where that came from! Good on you for donating some knitting. The recipients will be very lucky indeed.

Beth - wow what a rollercoaster you've been on Mama! It sux when things go pear shaped huh? I really applaud you for exclusively pumping for your little girl. I had a taste of pumping while Ben was in NICU and I cant imagine doing that continuously. You're amazing. Are you on meds for your PPD? I'm so glad that life is good for you now. I still dont feel a super strong bond to Ben like I did with DD, but I think it's due to him being a high-needs babe. Really emotionally exhausting. Whoops my reply to you has turned into a moan about me! But yea, sometimes I dont like him very much. Love him to bits and would give my life for him in a heartbeat, but he's just not very likeable most of the time 

Breanna - I LOVE your avatar! I love loking back on my birth photos. I have some very similar to that  I'd join a FB group!

[blue butterfly]

hi everyone!

phin turned 3 months ( ) on christmas eve and is as wonderful as ever!  i could literally eat her up on a daily basis. as long as shes got a full belly and isn't tired, she is as happy as can be.  going from 2 kids to 3 has been a bit difficult, even stressful at times but i think we're finally getting the hang of it.  DD just moved into 3-6 month clothes, she's on the smaller side of the spectrum which is odd for me as my first two dds we're quite big.  i'm back down to pre preg weight but things aren't quite the same as they used to be, like uh, where did my butt go, lol?!

would love to join a FB group to keep in contact with this ddc

[CherryBomb]

Hi ladies :)  Hope everyone had a good holiday.  We had a wonderful Christmas.

Finn is 11 weeks old!  I can't believe how fast time goes.  He'll be 3 months old January 12.  Crazy.  He was hands down my fussiest baby in the beginning, but once he got around 6 weeks, his fussiness calmed down a lot.  He's a pretty happy guy now.  Right now he's laying on his floor gym giggling and cooing and trying to grab stuff :)  His sisters just absolutely adore him.  We're so lucky we've never had any sibling rivalry issues (with babies...once they get older it's a different story, lol!)  My 9 year old told me a few weeks ago that she loves him so much sometimes it makes her cry.  How sweet.

Not sure how much he weighs, he doesn't go back for a well baby until Jan 25, but I'm sure he's over 12 pounds now.  He's a chunker.  I love him so much. I was always afraid to have a boy (for a number of reasons) but now that he's here I love him every bit as much as my girls!  It's a little bittersweet because we lost our first son at 16 weeks and we wouldn't have Finn if we didn't lose Dominic.  That's been a little difficult for dh and I both.

Let's see, what else...he's a pretty decent sleeper, most oft the time, though it seems to cycle through.  He'll sleep great for a couple weeks, then he'll have a week where he seems to wake up every hour at night.  But he just nurses and goes back to sleep,so it's not too bad.

Looks like my fertility has returned, which sucks on one hand, but on the other, it makes it much easier to do NFP.  I've lost about 30 pounds of what I gained, I'm stuck now, but probably due to the holidays.  After the new year I need to get serious about eating right and rejoin a gym (my metabolism is super sluggish, I have to work out at least 3x a week to lose weight steadily).  I worked so hard after dd2 to get down to a healthy weight, it's frustrating to have to start all over again, but I know I can do it.

A FB group sounds great!

[Annemarie42]

We do co-sleep with Sam, which helps, but I have trouble falling back asleep after he nurses. He can nurse lying down but still needs some support and a little help with his latch, so I can't sleep through it (yet. :)

A FB group would be great, and I am willing to organize it if no one else has started one. PM me if interested. 

[breanna31]

Annemarie- it would be great if you could organize the facebook group.  I don't mind doing it but I have never started one before so I am not exactly sure what to do or how to make it private.  I am sure I could figure it out but if you know how and don't mind then I say go for it :)

[Annemarie42]

I am in one-- she basically created it and then invited the appropriate friends. To make a "secret" group which is the highest privacy level, I think you can only invite friends, as opposed to being able to post a link and have people join. if folks PM me I will send a link to my account, so that we can become friends, and I think we can go from there--

[Annemarie42]

The FB group is set up. I have it set as "secret" which hides both the membership and any content.

[chely7425]

So how do we join the FB group?

[Melly24]

Anne-Marie, if you post a URL link to the group we can request to join from there I think

[Annemarie42]

the only way I know how to set up a group is among friends, if you PM me I will send my facebook contact info, then can friend you and put you in the group, once we have it set up we can change/ add admins.

[BirthIsAwesome]

PM'ing you my facebook info now!