How's everyone doing???

[juneboymum]

Hi Mamas!

Just wanted to see how everyone is doing.  Aren't these early days so fun!  Today my day has consisted of poop, poop, and more poop.  Eli has had 2 major poop explosions...one which sent my husband dry heaving and requesting an emergency baby bath.  Then my 2.5 yr old who *NEVER* poops his pants...did...at the same time my mom is trying to change Eli and my husband was just walking in the door.  My husband's response was "well, I haven't pooped my pants today." 

Eli is a sleeping machine today and nursing like crazy.  He has gained 4-5 oz since his birthday (Tues), although I wonder what his weight is now after all this pooping!!  My poor nipples are so sore no matter how good his latch is.  Yesterday AM he got a mouth full of blood - so gross - from my poor nipple.  I think I'm going to use up a whole tube of lanolin this first week!  At night he wants to marathon nurse so by morning it's excrutiating.  Hopefully this passes quickly!

Nights have been pretty sleepless.  I might get little cat naps in between nursing sessions and Eli is still not quite comfortable in his co-sleeper so much of the night is just cuddling and holding him to sleep.  Unfortunately, we don't have a good co-sleeping bed...it's too soft...so I'm not comfortable to just lay him beside me and go to sleep.  Usually my husband will take him downstairs around 4 or 5 AM so I can get a couple hours of straight sleep.

My mom and husband are home helping with DS1 and Eli....but how the heck am I going to manage both of them by myself in a week?!?!?

On a good note...I am so looking forward to drinking an entire beer tonight during the Superbowl!!! 

[lactatinggirl]

Do you use disposable diapers or cloth? I've noticed I only get blow outs when she's in a disposable.  

AFM, we're doing pretty great. I'm feeling surprisingly emotionally and physically good. It's been difficult with my toddler and her adjusting, but last night she stayed the night at her grandparents' and that was GREAT. I've mostly been sitting around watching How I Met Your Mother on Netflix. We've taken a few trips out just the three of us and that's been stressful, but not awful. 

Meredith is a great nurser and wants to A TON, but it doesn't bother me. She's already gained 1 lb 1 oz in the first two weeks! I wish Dea (my toddler) didn't want to nurse quite so much, but I think it's all just her adjusting. 

[Kindermama]

Funny poop story you got there! 

E is 1m4d old already and about 4 days ago, I feel like I finally "came up for air". My nights are just like yours Juneboymom! My boy does not like to be put down ever...well, when he's alert he's open to sit in the bouncy seat for 5-10 minutes max but otherwise, he's held or worn 24/7. One of my nipples is still sore too. It hardly gets a break-not sure why the other isn't sore! I'm not always good at checking his latch either (especially at night) so I think that's why it's still sore. 

I cry sometimes during the day, especially the days where Dh is gone 24-36 hours in a row. I just don't get a break from E. Thank God I have a mother's helper for my other kids or else they'd never eat! Sometimes I have to pee so badly but I just have to sit and wait for E to wake up since I can't put him down. If I stir, he'll wake and get really upset and gulp air and then I have to start all over again (nurse, burp, bounce, sleep)! So, sometimes, I just break down from frustration. When Dh is home and being helpful, I feel much more level-headed! It's getting easier though. I finally left the house with him the other day on my own. It felt really good! 

Okay got to run...fussy baby! 

[Devaskyla]

Things are going well here, although I wish M would wake up a bit more at night. Yeah, I'm crazy, but I really want AF to stay away as long as possible.

He's asleep on me in the newborn MT I made for ds3. Took some screaming from him & a lot of bouncing/shushing from me, but it was nice to be able to get supper & start some laundry.

I'm having to use a nipple shield to nurse. He's really badly tongue tied. Since I started using it, he sent 2 days doing almost nothing but nursing and he's woken up a lot more. I've never actually had a newborn who had calm alert periods before, but today he spent about 15 minutes just looking around at the world. So cool. Anyway, hopefully we can get the tie clipped this week. I'm just glad I realized his sleepiness and my engorgement that didn't go down after he nursed were bad signs and got the shield out.

[GreenMamma]

I'm ok. I physically feel this is one of my harder recoveries, which wears on me mentally. My husband  has been incredible with our boys though and the kindness of my neighbors astounds me. Hopefully things get better quickly.

Ali is doing fantastic! She is a wonderful nurser and just so sweet. She was getting pretty yellow, and only pooped 4 times by 6 days old, but yesterday she let it all out and woke up with a lovely pink complexion. :)

[coldandsleepy]

Hey mamas.  Sorry to hear about Velcro babies, sleepless nights, bloody nipples!  Yikes!

Wren is about 2.5 weeks old now and doing really well.  He does want to be held constantly round the clock but my older son was so physically clingy as a baby that I expected this and am handling it much better this time.  

He is different in almost every way from my older son, to the point where I can hardly believe how much I hated the newborn age last time.  It helps that I feel totally emotionally stable this time-- I have yet to be hit by the crazy hormone storm that plagued me in the early days last time.  But he really is totally different too.  Much more placid.  And (so far) he has been having at least two 3 hour stretches of sleep every night.  Holy crap, does THAT ever change the situation...

Nursing is going well.  My nipples scabbed over initially-- yuck-- but feel fine now. He's gained (no joke) about 2 lbs over his birth weight and is 11ish now.  On the downside, he has a yeast rash that won't quit in his diaper area and I think I spotted a patch of thrush forming in his mouth yesterday.

[AfricanQueen99]

And last night was my biggest worry as a mother...

My son has allergies (we aren't sure to what, as of yet) and had an episode last night (clingy, runny nose, congestion, coughing spells, etc).  Normally I would just scoop him up and sleep with him all night - catering to his needs so we could get a little sleep.  Well, the problem, as you can imagine, is having a velcro baby *and* a velcro toddler...at the same time.  One amazingly exhausted mother here.

So I was dreaming of naptime all morning and then my son decides that he can't nap because he can't stop gagging on all the sinus drainage.  Ugh.

[lactatinggirl]

Are you still nursing your toddler? If so, I've found out a wonderful position that allows me to nurse both at the same time while lying down myself, which is lovely. We nap in it every day. I take two big pillows and put them on each side of me and my toddler lays on one of them and nurses and the other braces my arm which is holding my newborn (who is mostly just lying on me). It's kind of awkward to figure out and my toddler has to be on perfectly for it to not hurt, but it's so comfortable once we get it figured out.
 

Originally Posted by AfricanQueen99 

And last night was my biggest worry as a mother...

My son has allergies (we aren't sure to what, as of yet) and had an episode last night (clingy, runny nose, congestion, coughing spells, etc).  Normally I would just scoop him up and sleep with him all night - catering to his needs so we could get a little sleep.  Well, the problem, as you can imagine, is having a velcro baby *and* a velcro toddler...at the same time.  One amazingly exhausted mother here.

So I was dreaming of naptime all morning and then my son decides that he can't nap because he can't stop gagging on all the sinus drainage.  Ugh.

AFM, I'm starting to think I have PPD. I've been talking to people on Twitter and apparently my anger I'm experiencing towards my toddler could be a symptom. I also realized that when I don't take a placenta pill in the morning, I start feeling sad. I'm going to call my therapist tomorrow. :-/

[thorn]

Brian is 7 weeks now and doing well. We had a super stressful first month - my FIL was very ill and we drove down to FL for a week when B was 2 weeks old, then the day after we drove home, FIL passed away  so we got right back in the van and headed back down for the funeral. He is a super easygoing baby, which is good, but because of all the drama and stress I was not making a ton of milk and he wasn't demanding to eat and between the two things he was not gaining very well.  But in the past 3 weeks we have focused on feeding, milk supply, and adjusting to being home and our new family of four and he is now up over 2lbs from his birth weight 

He sleeps well, is not very fussy, loves to be held, and seems pretty close to smiling. I am trying to soak up every last second of his newborn-ness, as he is most likely our last baby. 

I had my 6 week postpartum visit last week, everything is all healed and looking good, so now I have ramped up my working out from "moderate" up to "Jillian" , and trying to focus on clean eating so that I can get back into my pre-pg jeans. Although I must say, I really love the "secret fit" belly maternity pants that I splurged on this pregnancy, the belly panel is so elastic that it still fits even with my belly gone, so I haven't had to buy any transitional pants at all. And I'm still wearing the abdominal binder I got at the hospital (LOVE that thing!) so the panel covers that up nicely as well.

My other kids are adjusting as well as can be expected. It was really hard because we had all the family drama and travel right at the same time as we brought a new baby home, so it's hard to say what behaviors are baby-related and what were travel/stress related, and what are just kids being kids. But we are all getting into a groove now. Life goes on...

[shiomi]

Well, I managed to avoid the massive first bowel movement.  And by avoid I mean make the midwife clean it up because two minutes after birth he went EVERYWHERE while everyone was focused on delivering the placenta.  Can't say I'm super sad someone else had to clean that up. :D  And I'm just so happy I went into labor with no interventions and only had to wait five days longer than I really wanted to (my partner called the birth date in September, no word of a lie.  when my contractions started on the morning of the 4th he looked at me and went "Tomorrow is the fifth. I knew it" lol)

The whole labor was a lot easier than I was expecting, or would've expected with a nine pound infant if I had known he was going to be that big!  I feel great other than being super sore from the pile of stitches I have and sore tailbone from sitting up in bed to nurse, and even with his slight tongue tie stubbornson is nursing like a champ, so I'm looking forward to that getting even easier once the tongue tie is dealt with.  

Still not over how weird the loose belly feeling is. It jiggles a lot when I laugh, which feels so incredibly gross, but I can already see it receding even at just about two days pp.  Lots to be said for dropping twenty pounds in ten minutes! 

[AfricanQueen99]

Originally Posted by lactatinggirl 

Are you still nursing your toddler? 

Nope.  Milk dried up about month 4 and he wanted nothing to do with sucking without reward.

[AfricanQueen99]

Shiomi - congrats!!  I've been waiting to hear about you!

I think that means we have all delivered!  Go January MOMS!!

[hippiemommaof4]

We're adjusting to 6 kids which really isnt such a big deal as one might think after having 5 already. I have been getting migranes which I am a frequent sufferer of anyway but I had one that lasted 5 days once the meds wore off it was back grrr. I am sure busting my head really bad didnt help them any either.  I do feel like I sit around all the time and do nothing but nurse and change diapers. My husband has been back at work since the baby was about 1 week old so I'm alone. I also homeschool so my kids are all always here. Needless to say there isnt much time for anything. My baby also isnt a good sleeper for the most part unless she is being held or I lay down with her so getting things done is almost impossible and there are just some things that are difficult to do with a sling on and she really isnt a fan of it either LOL so we're just SOL OVER HERE! LOL. I feel ok for the most part, I have been missing my mom who died almost 2 yrs ago. I have been very sad about her not being here and now I have this baby who I named after her and she doesnt know her. Thats heartbreaking and now I actually live close to my  family  and for years we didnt because of the military. So before my mom died I didnt get to come back home a lot to see her but I was lucky enough that she came to visit me right before she died. so anyway that has  been something I am sad about. I dont feel depressed too much though, I can usually feel better after I sort through my feelings. The baby is fussy so I must go, take care everyone.

[thorn]

Originally Posted by shiomi 

Still not over how weird the loose belly feeling is. It jiggles a lot when I laugh, which feels so incredibly gross, but I can already see it receding even at just about two days pp.  Lots to be said for dropping twenty pounds in ten minutes! 

I cannot recommend an abdominal binder enough. I wish I could go back and give myself one for my other three kids! The one my hospital gave me is available on amazon for under $20 - http://www.amazon.com/Dale-Abdominal-Binder-Stretches-30-45/dp/B001K1L4PI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328636818&sr=8-1 - it's not as pretty as a belly bandit, but much cheaper and very comfortable. It totally took away the jiggly feeling like your liver is going over to say hi to your appendix whenever you move. And my belly got flatter much faster.

[chilichiki]

Originally Posted by thorn 

I cannot recommend an abdominal binder enough. I wish I could go back and give myself one for my other three kids! The one my hospital gave me is available on amazon for under $20 - http://www.amazon.com/Dale-Abdominal-Binder-Stretches-30-45/dp/B001K1L4PI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328636818&sr=8-1 - it's not as pretty as a belly bandit, but much cheaper and very comfortable. It totally took away the jiggly feeling like your liver is going over to say hi to your appendix whenever you move. And my belly got flatter much faster.

I have never even heard of those, I must be behind the times!!!  I am going to have to check into that, because my stomach is driving me crazy as well!!

Henry is doing well. His yellowish tones in the face and eyes seem to be fading every day and have never spread any further.  He poops. ALL THE TIME.  DS1 was constipated all the time, so this is quite the difference!!  He wants to nurse a lot, but usually just for five to ten minutes at a time.  My mother keeps telling me to 'put him on my schedule', but since I had such a hard time breastfeeding my oldest, I don't want to do anything to disrupt Henry's eating.  It does get a little restricting having him attached to my nipple for what seems like 12+ hours of the day, but I do love the closeness and the cute little noises he makes. 

He sometimes has some trouble attaching to my left breast, which gets frustrating.  I really don't understand why.  Its like whenever that breast comes out, he gets lazy. 

I haven't had too much pain or discomfort this go around with the feedings.  I remember very vividly the pain I had with DS1 though...hoping you ladies get past that part soon!

My sister has decided to talk to me again and has even went out of her way to be nice.  She brought over some bottles and her old electric breast pump.  I have only ever used a manual one, and then one I have is pretty crappy these days.  I washed and sterilized everything the other night and tried out the new pump and was amazed at the results.  I am in love!!

Question-  I sooooo want to drink a beer.  My brother in law even brought me a 6 pack over the first day we were home, but they have sat untouched in my fridge because of Henry's constant nursing.  I just want one beer. How have you handled that?  Do you pump and dump?  Do you wait a few hours to feed?  I was very tempted to buy some of those breastmilk alcohol tester strips at the store the other day, but couldn't justify to myself spending $16 dollars on them.

[hippiemommaof4]

one beer, you can nurse away...no worries.

[Kindermama]

Originally Posted by lactatinggirl 

AFM, I'm starting to think I have PPD. I've been talking to people on Twitter and apparently my anger I'm experiencing towards my toddler could be a symptom. I also realized that when I don't take a placenta pill in the morning, I start feeling sad. I'm going to call my therapist tomorrow. :-/

Before you call your therapist, go to the health food store and gets some homeopathic Sepia 30C and take one dose at 8pm and another dose the tomorrow morning at 8am. Do not repeat again unless your emotional state gets better for a while and then it starts to go downhill again. I'm a homeopath so I know my stuff! This goes for any mama on here (including myself) who is experiencing anger towards their children or partner and it essentially exhausted from doing it all. You would feel kind saggy inside and really down in the dumps. Sepia will help balance your hormones after giving birth. I took it a couple of weeks ago and it has helped A LOT! 

Forgot to mention that coffee, mint, eucalyptus and camphor can antidote homeopathic remedies so stay away from any food or products containing those things! 

[Kindermama]

Originally Posted by hippiemommaof4 

 I have been missing my mom who died almost 2 yrs ago. I have been very sad about her not being here and now I have this baby who I named after her and she doesnt know her. Thats heartbreaking and now I actually live close to my  family  and for years we didnt because of the military. So before my mom died I didnt get to come back home a lot to see her but I was lucky enough that she came to visit me right before she died. so anyway that has  been something I am sad about. I dont feel depressed too much though, I can usually feel better after I sort through my feelings. The baby is fussy so I must go, take care everyone.

 for your sadness about your mom! If it gets to be unbearable, homeopathic Ignatia would be good for you as well as Bach Rescue Remedy! 

I just have to say you're amazing! E is our 5th baby and I did homeschool until last year but I can't imagine doing what I'm doing now and having my other kids here homeschooling too. E doesn't sleep unless held either so I get that part. 

[Kindermama]

Just had the worst night of sleep with E last night. He literally fussed and squirmed NON-STOP all night long...no exaggeration. I just started an elimination diet two days ago and made the mistake of leaving the house to do errands with DH without food from home. We ended up eating out. I thought I was being safe by ordering just a grilled chicken with bacon and sauteed veggies on top and some french fries. At some point around 3am, I got out the laptop and looked up the restaurant only to discover they use soybean oil to fry their french fries  I haven't tracked down the allergen yet but something is bothering my little guy! It might actually be soy and I heard if it's soy, it's most likely dairy too! Can wakefulness be a symptom on its own? He wasn't crying or writhing in pain and wasn't spitting up (like he usually does)...he just wasn't staying asleep at all for hours on end! He would wake, squirm, squeak and latch on and doze off for 10-30 minutes and start all over again! 

Dh had a ton of allergies as a baby and his mom had to special order formula from Europe for him....so it could be anything! I think my little guy's baby acne might be baby eczema but I'm not sure. His ped said no but since he saw her, it's gotten rough to the touch. He looks so red and rashy on his face that I'm embarrassed to let strangers see him in public.....kinda vain but I don't want them thinking I'm not taking good care of him or something! Anyone here have experience with facial eczema on a baby? 

[bentlaj11]

Originally Posted by lactatinggirl 

AFM, I'm starting to think I have PPD. I've been talking to people on Twitter and apparently my anger I'm experiencing towards my toddler could be a symptom. I also realized that when I don't take a placenta pill in the morning, I start feeling sad. I'm going to call my therapist tomorrow. :-/

Do you think your anger could be related to still nursing Peanut? I feel like a grizzly bear sometimes towards DS1. I dread him nursing (and he demands to often), but feel guilty if I don't (I already for guilty for having such an aversion to nursing him- but that started while I was pregnant). I really want him to wean, but I know he's not ready. I know I'm less than gentle with him when he pushes my buttons :( We are finally getting into more of a routine with naptime and in general- and things have gotten smoother the last few days. I'm really trying to focus on my attitude towards him (and my attitude while he's nursing)... I just hope he's not scarred for life. He loves his brother, though.. for which I am grateful.

Things are going good other than the whole tandem nursing/mama bear thing, though. DS2 hardly ever cries.. he never had the unconsolable crying that DS1 had the first few weeks... The kind that makes you feel like a failure b/c you've tried everything you can think of and nothing works! He also sleeps much better (3 hr spurts)! He does get gassy/fussy at some point during the night... so we usually have a 2 hour period where he's up multiple times, but in general he sleeps much better than DS1 (who still wakes up 1-2x/night). I do know I wouldn't survive very well w/out the wrap though b/c he loves to be held (and thank goodness he loves the wrap). I knew it would be hard to take care of 2, but to do it w/out a carrier would drive me insane I think!