Bajingo Moms and Babies in the Summer Sun - 2012 - Page 3

[tank]

Omg Kayden!  so cute!  Wolverine has a batman shirt too!  It's the same but grey.  We are geeks too (obviously)

[iixivboots]

Kayden!

Ladies who were on the TTC thread a year or so ago, I bring a hello from Taxlady/Taxi! She wrote me a few days ago. She seems to be doing well and staying positive.

Edited by iixivboots - 7/31/12 at 6:51pm

[birdie.lee]

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Edited by birdie.lee - 5/13/13 at 11:42am

[Calycanth]

Oh, LS, Kayden is so cute! I bet he is just a joy to be around.

My parents are arriving this afternoon to meet their granddaughter! She's five weeks old today. DH is leaving for Alaska on Sunday. Thankfully, my mom will be staying until he gets back (8/23), but I'm a little worried about doing all of the nighttime parenting without help. We've been taking shifts at night, and I somehow don't think my mom is going to be up for that.

I'll only have a couple weeks of maternity leave remaining when he gets back, so we're going to have to get her enrolled in daycare. The thought of it is just horrifying right now. I can't imagine not seeing her all day long and leaving her in the care of people I don't really know. 

[birdie.lee]

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Edited by birdie.lee - 5/13/13 at 11:43am

[Calycanth]

Birdie, glad to hear the little guy is feeling better! Breastfeeding is going SO much better. Cara suddenly got the hang of it on Day 21 - thank God, because I was seriously ready to give up - and I'm actually enjoying it now. DH occasionally gives her a bottle of pumped milk at night if I'm asleep, but she's been sleeping a 6-7 hour stretch every night for the last week, so he hasn't had to do that much recently. If she keeps to this schedule, it will definitely make nights easier while he's gone. Fingers crossed!

Looks like we'll have a new Bajingo mama joining us shortly...come on over to the 30's thread and check it out!

[birdie.lee]

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Edited by birdie.lee - 5/13/13 at 11:43am

[CA Country Girl]

Birdie- I have a friend that says Vit D helps a ton.  For me, daily moderate exercise (a walk) has always been the biggest help for keeping depression (and anxiety, which is more my issue) at bay.

Caly- so glad the BFing has become easier and glad you will have your mom when your DH is away.  Like Birdie, I am really jealous of the 6 hour stretches; the most I get is 3.5.

[Calycanth]

The downside is that she is such a noisy sleeper (grunting, moaning, occasionally crying for a few seconds, lots of spastic movement despite being swaddled) that I constantly think she is about to wake up or that something is wrong, so even though she sleeps for long stretches, I still don't get any rest.

Lots of crying (due to gas, I think) this afternoon and evening. She's finally asleep, and my mom is watching her so I can (hopefully) get some rest as well.

Birdie, I never tried it myself, but I have a friend who felt that Vitamin D helped her depression. I'm sorry you're dealing with that, it's so difficult. 

[LivingSky]

birdie - I've been told that some of the B vitamins are really helpful with depression as well. B12 is what springs to mind but I can't remember for sure! I totally agree with things being harder to manage with a baby around - it's just so much easier to get overwhelmed with everything.

AFM - We're doing an experiment to see if I can eat dairy again. I had dairy on Sunday and Monday, and now I'm going dairy free again for a week and we'll see if it impacts Kayden's system. I sure hope not. I found these amazing chocolates at Costco that are dark chocolate coated blueberry/acai berry bits. They're SO good and also pretty healthy as junk food goes. With being dairy free I've been finding myself eating way too much gummy/licorice type junk foods, and while they have no dairy, all that artificial dye can't be good for me (or Kayden) either.

[birdie.lee]

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Edited by birdie.lee - 5/13/13 at 11:43am

[CA Country Girl]

I am writing this while bouncing on the swiss/yoga ball.  This babe really hates to sit still.  She wants to bounce, walk, dance, whatever.  Hopefully when she is more interested in her environment she will be more ok hanging out on a blanket by herself- she also only wants to sleep during the day if she is being held or walked in a sling type thing.  If I put her down she wakes up after about 10 minutes, so I barely get anything done.  I am trying to prep for fall classes, which start in a couple weeks.  She had her 1 month check-up yesterday.  She has gained 1 lb and 7 ounces and an inch in the last two weeks (that's like me gaining 20 pounds in 2 weeks).  No wonder I have had a bit of a fussy pants at times.  That ia a lot of growing. My older DD was so little- this is a new experience for me.  She does have a bit of an umbilical granuloma (http://wikiparenting.parentsconnect.com/wiki/Umbilical_Granuloma) (if you are curious).  The doc treated it with silver nitrate for the 2nd time, which leaves her little belly button gray and will make it peel tomorrow.  My  pediatrician does not recommend starting vaccines until 2 months so their immune system can build up to lessen reactions and have a better ability to use the vaccine to build immunity.  I will be doing a shot only app. at the end of the month to get her the DTap for the pertussis (whopping cough) of which we had an outbreak at the university where I teach about 2 years ago (she will be coming to work with me and hanging with a student nanny).  I am really getting anxious about bringing such a new baby to work (my older DD was 6 months before I went back); I am really going to have to lay down the law with my nanny-no hanging in dirty, stuffy dorm rooms, no letting other kids hold the baby.  Any more rules you guys think are musts for a nanny on a college campus?

[LivingSky]

birdie - I understand about the giant baby thing! Kayden outgrew most 6 month stuff by 6-8 weeks. It's only gotten worse since then! He's in 2T and 3T for tops now, though 18 and 24 month pants are still mostly fitting him (depending on the brand). He'll be 13 months on Tuesday.

The dairy experiment has gone well! It doesn't seem to have bothered Kayden at all so I'm slowly adding some dairy back in to my diet. I've learned to live without a lot of dairy actually, which is probably a good thing. I'm perfectly happy with soy and almond milk for the few things I use actual milk in - mostly baking or on cereal - so the big things I'm getting backa re cheese, yogurt and of course CHOCOLATE

[iixivboots]

Hi ladies...I remember just a few weeks ago coming over to this thread and being in awe that I'd ever actually have a baby, and here he is.

In case you didn't see over on the other thread, the very short version is that Lyle had to be readmitted to the hospital when he was four days old (Tuesday) because his jaundice levels were very high (20.8) My milk had just come in the night before and he wasn't getting enough fluid to flush his system, he had to have an IV and we pumped but had to supplement with formula. We were discharged the next day. Since then we've been feeding some combination of breast milk and formula, 2 oz every two hours. This kid never has a chance to get hungry. The schedule is pretty grueling and he's often very sleepy and hard to latch or even bottle feed.

We are seeing the pediatrician tomorrow for a follow up. His birth weight was 8 lb 6 oz, he was down to 7/10 at some point, and then back up to 7/15 on Friday. I haven't really met this guy and I'm concerned he's going to expect us in often for weight checks and maybe not even be supportive of stopping the formula supplement or letting us get on a more natural feeding schedule. Honestly he's on mostly breast milk but we need to see a LC to work on his sleepiness at the breast and position issues. I am not certain the sleepiness wouldn't just resolve if we could just feed him when he was hungry, but I'm also not sure that would be 8 more times per day. Probably, but don't feel like we've been able to find out...or breathe. I really hope I don't hate our pediatrician but I'm so done with doctors and hospitals, I'm not too hopeful.

I'm producing about 20 oz per day or 45-50 ccs every two hours. I am not sure how this would match up with his actual needs.

In non medical news he's adorable, looks to be a ginger! with hair that's ready to curl. He likes riding in the car and when we sing the "Lyle lyle lyle" to the tune of the Simon and Garfunkel "The Boxer" :)

Birdie, I have had some success in the past treating depression with b-vitamins, also overall well-being with vitamin d when I was very run down from consistent illness. I have talked to so many damn people in the past week about PPD because I looked like crap (anemia) and was weepy. I don't think I'm experiencing anything abnormal or actually chronic but I am having trouble dealing with what happened after Lyle's birth, so I am going to try to counseling I think before even considering going back to drugs (i was on SSRIs before I got pregnant). I hope you find something that works for you, have you done counseling in the past? It does seem like it's been awhile since your little guy was born for this to truly be PPD.

[LivingSky]

boots - You and Lyle have been added to the thread Welcome!!! Don't forget to post LOTS of pics of him!!!

[birdie.lee]

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Edited by birdie.lee - 5/13/13 at 11:44am

[Ramzubo]

Cacountry : We have the same constant moving to take naps issues. I've been working really hard trying to get ds used to laying down just working up to longer periods. I think he's starting to get the idea (although today was a complete no go) . This week he took two one hour naps in his cosleeper!!!!

Boots : Brody would not stay awake for nursing at first either, it took almost a month for him to stay awake. I just kept an eye on how much he was eating and just went with it.

[birdie.lee]

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Edited by birdie.lee - 5/13/13 at 11:44am

[iixivboots]

     Cool cast, birdie. Let me know how your depression treatment goes. One thing I can say about counseling is that I had success with cognitive behavioral therapy that helped me identify negative thought patterns (so it wasn't for anything specific, either).

Ugh, I swear it is one step forward and two steps back with trying to get Lyle back EBF. I was feeling better because I got him latching better in cradle hold, we were using football and it took him 10 times or more a lot of times. We did two days with no bottles and noticed he was cluster feeding at night. Last night after two hours of nursing him, he was still acting frantically hungry and after much crying from both of us he got another bottle of formula. I pumped after that an barely got anything. I am mad I paid a LC who told me to stop pumping and just nurse so we had no pumped milk to give him. I just don't feel like that was wise of her to set us up to have no plan B. I am kind of at a loss, I feel like I really do need professional help from a LC to get him back EBF and address supply issues I may have (back to thinking that's a problem) but I don't want to pay anyone else and I am sort of friends with the local LLL leader and I really don't want all the people we know in our business and judging us for how we are feeding our son.

This a.m. I got almost 50 ccs from each breast which is a big increase in supply from last time I pumped.

About three hours until Lyle's next pediatrician weight check, which is also stressing me out! I don't know what he'll say if he hasn't gained.

Speaking of depression, I am starting to get a little worried. The people at the hospital who wouldn't leave me the hell alone about it kept saying that if it lasts beyond two weeks it's more than just normal "baby blues", but do you guys really think that's true? I have heard a lot of women say it lasts longer than that. I just noticed last night I was having real negative thoughts about wishing I wasn't around to "fail" him as a mother and also just tons of anxiety that I would accidentally hurt him and won't be able to care for him when huz goes back to work. I had a horrible anxiety dream that he died right before we had to take him back to the hospital and it keeps haunting me.

I don't know what I want to do about treating this, either. I thought I wanted to try counseling again before meds, but I am not thrilled with the idea of finding a therapist which I've always found to be a really long process and as well as the $40 weekly copay which we don't really have right now.

[LivingSky]

boots - So sorry you're having a tough time getting Lyle back to EBF. I agree with you that you should still be pumping. Pumping is way less efficient than a baby is at getting milk out so you don't take what you get from pumping as an example of how much milk Lyle is getting from you. Pump after Lyle nurses, not before. Remember that the frequency of nursing/pumping is what increases supply, NOT the length of a nursing session, so a 5-10 minute nursing or pumping session every hour is a lot more effective at increasing supply than 30-45 minute long sessions less frequently. To really increase supply, you could pump every hour if Lyle isn't eating - if he sleeps for a 3 hour stretch, you'd need to be waking up to pump. It's exhausting to do that but will help your supply pretty quickly. You can also pick up some Mother's Milk tea, or make Milk Makin' cookies (good recipe here: http://labourdoula.com/2012/04/05/major-milk-makin-cookies/).

Do NOT think of giving formula as something bad if you need to supplement! Just make sure that whenever you give formula, you pump as well. The biggest downfall of giving formula is using it to replace a nursing or pumping session, and that will tank a milk supply really fast. Every time he gets a bottle, pump as well. Even if you're not getting much with the pump, you're stimulating your milk supply, and that's what counts.

Oh, and since brewer's yeast is a big lactation stimulant, sit down and drink a Guinness! It helps with milk and can help you relax a bit too

Oh (I keep remembering things I meant to say, LOL) check out Human Milk for Human babies (I found my local group on Facebook). See if you can get a backup supply of milk from someone in your area. Then you won't have the pressure of needing to pump to supply Lyle - you can pump and nurse just to increase your own supply and know that you have a backup of real milk that you can use whenever you need it. When I went back to work I had trouble keeping up with Kayden's milk needs so I went to HM4HB and got about 200 ounces of milk. Just knowing that I had that in my freezer took SO much of the pressure off of me! It was a life saver.