Beautiful, beautiful babies! 9/18 to 9/25 - Page 6

[plantmommy]

doh! sorry.

[flowers]

Sivalleysteph,

Hang in there you can do it!!! I have heard the more anxious you are the less likely you will go into labor because you could be telling your body subconsciously everything is not cool or "ready".

I hear you though...I am 39 weeks and 6 days and the second my safe date passed I started going stir crazy. I stopped working at the end of July and I got the whole loneliness blues scene.

My midwife had me start taking these herbs because my mom was a notorious late birther/always induced and the wiothin a few days of taking them I started getting all crampy with my Braxton Hicks and I hear this is a good thing.

This has all helped me relax because all of the sudden it has dawned on me that soon I won't be pregnant anymore and though I've had my groans and long nights I have really enjoyed the magic and fullness of pregnancy. I have spent the last few days going for walks, looking through pictures, updating phot albums, making huge batches of red raspberry and nettles tea (some I am freezing into ice cubes for labor), dancing to my favorite cds, writing letters to folks I haven't touched base with in awhile etc.

At night my dh has been helping me with our perinium stretch exercises and then he rubs my neck and I have started to have a few sips of my favorite wine at night which the simple act (rather than any significant volume) really triggers relaxation for me.

Hopefully soon.....

hillary due any moment!!!!

[Boobalicious]

nb: BADOMAMA IS NOW BOOBALICIOUS

Hi all, Steph here, now known as boobalicious. I am loving my new cleavage ladies, and Oz thinks I am just delicious.

I am falling behind! Congratulations to Linda and Bellasmum!!!

So much to do here! MIL and I are going to make a pie for dh just in case I can't handle doing one on my own for his bday.

We had the 10 day weigh in yesterday and little Oz gained 13 oz. I am so proud of him.

I have been sleeping with Oz in the bed and getting lots of good shut eye, but I am soooo worried about smooshing him or him rolling onto his stomach and not being able to breathe. Any good advice out there? Dh keeps asking me if it is safe. I think that I am pretty well aware of where he is and his status at all times, but I am still worried. He doesn't like the cosleeper yet, and I don't like putting him in and taking him out every few minutes. He can only take it for about 15 minutes at a time before he wakes up and demands to be held. Plus, I love holding him...

Words of wisdom much appreciated!

Happy mothering and birthing everbody!

Steph

[indiana ima]

may i brag a bit?

my midwife came yesterday and did a two week (actually 13 days ) checkup on my darling little one. The night she was born she weighed 8 pounds. Yesterday she weighed -- get this! -- 9 and a half pounds! She gained a pound and a half in 13 days! And all that while sleeping a lot! This kid sleeps in 4 hour chunks through the night! Who knew a baby could be so easy. I feel really lucky.

well, off to the library. my older daughter is really eager to get out of the house.

[msrog]

Ack! I am soooooo behind on these posts!!! I see congrats are in order for Jen and Bellasmum and Linda... Woohoo!

Welcome, little cute babies!

and would SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT 'NAK' MEANS?????? thanks

baby crying again...

[chumani]

Welcome babies!! Congratulations mamas!!!!!

Savannah- nak-nursing at keyboard, which I am doing now .

Steph- I roll up 2 receiving blankets and place one at Naomi's back and one in font of her belly when she is nursing. That way she stays on her side after she is done nursing. If I am still awake when she finishes I roll her to her back and place the rolled blankets at her sides.

Have a great day!
Sarahb

[HeatherB]

Thanks for the info on blanching! That is definitely what is going on. The Kellymom site is such a great resource, too. Now that I've got it pulled up I could spend hours digging through info!

I went to MOPS today and saw a friend that's an LC - woohoo! I keep forgetting I actually know one and think, "nah, it's too hard to find someone - where would I start to look?" :LOL She said she'd be glad to take a look and see if there were any problems, though I only had her check at a point when Iain was latched on well. Glad to know he can do it, though! Anyhow, I am so grateful for the help here and also that I now have a RL contact for any tough questions. (She lives very close to me, too, so it won't be hard to see her if I need to. Yay!)

Well, Iain threw up all over himself and his carseat today... while I was checking out at the chiropractor's office. So, I've now "scrubbed" our new car seat. Sigh. We gave him some Zantac last night that calmed him right down (after he stopped screaming from the taste!). So maybe that'll help us get through until we can figure out what all may be causing him to throw up.

All the best to those waiting! It is so worth the wait!

[cottonwood]

A few details while I have a chance...

http://home.earthlink.net/~eaglefalc...baby/baby3.jpg

Born September 21, 6:00 am, 7 lbs. 19 inches long. No name agreed on yet. The birth was not at all what I was expecting, the contractions kept starting and stopping, even up until the end! Had a lot of pre-labor contractions for a few days, then active labor began about 6 pm Monday evening. It got hard about midnight, got REALLY hard around 3 am, stopped completely about 4 am, then went straight into transition about 5 am. Woke Scott up then and had him put pressure on my back and hips, as I was having horrendous back labor yet again. Near 6 am I was able to feel her head up at the top of the birth canal and although my body wasn't pushing of its own accord yet, I could bear down and feel something happening, and since I was very very ready for the pain to be gone I went ahead and just did it. It took three concentrated pushing efforts (with and between contractions) to move her head down, then I waited for the next contraction to move her body out. It was harder on me than Willow's fully spontaneous 2nd stage had been, but I rathered that than deal with the back labor any longer! Oop, gotta go, more later!

[Jodie]

40 weeks!

Hello all!
Congratulations to all the new moms and babies!

Not much to report here, just more BH and a menstral type cramping off and on. I feel really good.
People have been calling to check on me, which at this point I think is sweet. Since I may go another 2wks it will probably get on my nerves at some point.
DH is betting on the baby coming around Oct.3rd. I guess we will see. I'm getting excited!
I believe everything is ready for baby.
~Baby you can come when you are ready!~

[plantmommy]

Vicki, way to go! I love that boob power!

Linda, she's gorgeous!

[Mom2baldie]

Meredith,

I wish I would get "teased" by a few contractions too! At least it would give me hope that something will happen within the next few weeks! What will your midwife suggest if you get close to 42 weeks without going into labor?

Jodie,

Its good to hear from you again! Glad to hear that you are still doing well.

Chrissy,

Its time for my daily update from you. Dont be anti-social.


I wanted to let all of you who are still pregnant and planning a homebirth know that there is a thread in the homebirth forum, if anyone would like to pop over and join us. I would love to continue hearing about your pregnancies...

[chrissy]

Linda, she is gorgeous!! What a beautiful, plump, smiling face!

Lynsey, you are sweet! I am anti-social and you should be grateful for it because I am a horrible whiny grouch these days. I need a serious attitude adjustment. I just posted all about it on our homebirth thread so I'll spare you from reading about it twice- the gist is that I feel like crap and I can't stop whining about it. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.... Actually it feels a little better to get it off my chest. Seeing all these newborn pictures helps too, knowing that soon I will be holding my own and these last few weeks of pain will all be worth it.

Still no word from Jen?

Love to everybody,

[wardermom]

Jen, I see you're here. Hi, how are you feeling? How's Tristan?

[JenInMpls]

the saga has a happy ending

...and he is asleep on my lap. unfortunately i have to type left handed because we were nursing before but he fell asleep after his last nurse.

Thanks to Steph for posting Tristan's vitals. We came home today and it feels very good to be here finally.

On Fri 17 Sep I spent the day feeling queasy. I had a mw appt and she stripped my membranes. I woke up from a nap at 4:30 pm with strong, regular contractions. We finally met our back-up doula that evening who was one of Steph's L&D nurses. After she left I got into the tub. Jo realized that she needed to put up the mini blinds before we had a baby and found she could not do it herself. We summoned our dear friends Cheryl and Bill to help. While C&B were here I called the mw who thought that /i should come in. Ctx were 2-3 min apart and 1 min long. We left for birth center at 9:30 pm on 17 Sept.

Got there, checked in, good ctx, labored in a million and one positions and the tub, progressed from 2 to 4 cm by about 5 AM. Lost mucus plug at 7 AM (Jo did a great job not gettinng sick, she was helping me out of the tub). Bag of waters had been bulging for hours. Head was -2 to -3 which was making progress slow. MW suggested breaking bag in hope that head would come down. Agreed, and she tried for an agonizing couple of minutes to break my sac - all in vain. It would not bust! She ended up poking it with a scalp electrode! And I leaked a lake. His head descended but not enough to really engage. He kept twisting and turning trying to find the way out.

In the meantime I continued to labor in as many positions as possible but pretty soon the only position that I could handle was hanging around Jo's neck. Contractions were about 45 seconds apart and around 2 minutes long starting around 11 AM. In the meantime I found out that I was leaching ketones in my urine and was getting severely dehydrated despite how my doula and Jo were pushing fluids. I kept laboring, they pushed Emergen-C and miso soup and water, but I continued making no progress. A monitor inserted into the uterus behind baby's head showed that it had to do with the fact that the contractions were weak and not helping to bring the head down. Around 4 PM I realized that I couldn't keep it up anymore - I had no power left, no steam at all. And I was not getting any closer to bringing baby into the world - I had been at 4.5 cm for about 12 hours. This was disheartening but mostly I realized that I - and baby - needed help. His heartrate was showing that he was exhausted too. The midwife suggested an epidural (actually I asked for one first!) and some pitocin augmentation to which I agreed between roaring contractions. Roaring through them was the only way I could manage. toward the end I had to start counting roars per contraction, too, and know that when I had roared 5-6 times, they would start to taper off. I had two contractions during the placement of the epidural and I give major props to that anesthesiologist who did such an incredible job with a woman who was in such pain. Once it was working they started pitocin. I was thrilled, honestly, to be confined to bed; even if I could have walked I was too exhausted to do so. They also gave me tons of fluid to try to quell my dehydration and bring my blood pressure up which was already low before the epidural (I had been running below 90/60 for several hours before the anesthesia); the fluids alone didn't work so I was also given a few shots of adrenaline which surprisingly also didn't work. The pitocin didn't work either. We gave it 3 hours to work. I never moved from 4.5 centimeters. Baby's head tried to come down but all he ended up doing was getting a little caput from the pressure because the uterine contractions were too weak to push him into the birth canal.

So there I was faced with the situation I assumed I'd never find myself in: if I want this baby in the world, it has to be a surgical birth. Here I was, Ms. Natural-childbirth-there-are-too-many-cesarians-look-what-they're-doing-to-women, faced with my own c-section. And you know what? I've not looked back. I know I did my damndest. No one can fault me for a full day of unproductive, unmedicated labor. There was nothing more I could do. I gave my body permission to go into labor naturally despite being post-42-weeks, and it did, but things got uncoordinated and I have no idea why - but I know there is no blame to be placed. This is why I said to the midwife that it was time to start getting things rolling for a c-section - it was time to be done with this and move on to the reason why we were there in the first place, which was to have a baby. She had conferred with the OB on call who has to be the nicest doctor I've ever met in my whole life, he was incredibly sensitive to our situation and needs and feelings.

Labor officially ended at 7:00. They wheeled me to the OR. Jo and our backup doula Katie went with me. Jo was, pardon my language, scared sh*tless. That's where our doula was a big help. Tristan was born at 7:15 on September 18, very quickly (skilled doctor) and was quite blue. I missed the trauma of the intermediate care nursery and am grateful that Katie was there for Jo because Jo nearly had both a mental and physical breakdown when she saw and accompanied her blue child who needed intubation, suctioning and bagging before starting to pink up.

I began shivering in the OR - not from cold but from stress and adrenaline - and couldn't stop until they put Tristan in my arms.

My placenta was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. There was no calcification whatsoever and no sign of deterioration. Everyone was amazed by this fact. I got to see it but didn't want to keep it.

Tristan, also, showed no signs at all of being postdates. He was covered in vernix, was 7 pounds 13 oz, 21.5 inches long, head circumference of 13.

The days in the hospital were very trying. One, who wouldn't be sore from major abdominal surgery, despite how good the surgeon was? Owie. Two, it's hard to handle your kid with an IV in your arm. I made them pull it on day 2. Three, it's like living in a fish bowl in a hospital, there are people coming in ever freakin' 15 minutes for one thing or another. We had some nurses who were less than ideal. The one who took the cake was the one who came in at 12:45 AM, proceeded to tell me how badly I was doing breastfeeding and how I wasn't feeding enough and how inappropriate it was that I had nursed twice on the left side in a row. That was the start of a bad, BAD day and thankfully the last day that we were there. A lactation consultant hypothesized that my milk won't come in in as much quantity as tristan needs and I'm going to need to supplement with formula, because my milk hasn't come in yet. Well, hello, I just had a c-section and it is my first kid, too. That upset me so much (I cried my heart out yesterday!) but honestly, he was getting really, really, REALLY hungry. Jo offered him a bottle of formula and he drank a whole whopping ounce before dropping off to sleep. In the meantime I am taking an herbal supplement to give my milk supply a boost.

Tristan has some normal jaundice but a nurse had the audacity to do a bilirubin heel prick while she took him away to weigh him and DIDN'T EVEN ASK US. His bilirubin level was 10 something. We were hopping mad. It affected his entire day, he wouldn't nurse well, he wouldn't fill a diaper... grr.

But...

we are home now;
Tristan is healthy and very charming; he has a very wise look in his eyes;
I am healing well;
my milk is coming in and Tristan's latch is improving and getting quicker;
Jo's and my relationship has really been strengthened by this difficult experience, and I am in extreme awe of how strong she was throughout the whole thing...

and holy crap!!!! I'm a mom!!!!!!!!!!

My dinner is waiting, and then I have to rouse my boy to get him to nurse!



jen

[shannon0218]

Jen, I'm crying after reading your story. You deserve a big pat on the back and even bigger hug for making it through that labor and knowing when it was time go for the section. and a big hug to Jo, I can't imagine how she felt accompanying Tristan while he needed to be tubed.

[allibabble]

Originally Posted by msrog

and would SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT 'NAK' MEANS?????? thanks

HAHAHAHAHAHA....

I finally had to look that one up earlier today -- it's been driving me nuts, too! "Nursing at Keyboard," as I'm sure someone else has posted by now. :LOL

[3boobykins]

Wow, I'm even more behind on reading/posting than usual. DH has been on the computer for days meeting a work deadline, plus I've been so incredibly busy taking care of 3 kids! My mom was here for a week, which was so amazingly helpful, but then she left and reality set in! I think we're doing really well, though. I have so much more energy than when I was pregnant and feel so much better overall. This birth really energized me, I think--I'll write up the birth story very soon. It was just so wonderfully peaceful and sweet.

A warm, warm welcome to all the new babies who arrived since I last posted, and congrats to the mamas and families! Once again, I'm afraid to leave anyone out and apologize for not using names! I've loved looking at everyone's photos--we all have such beautiful babes!

For those all hanging in there not quite at your due dates or overdue, sending labor vibes your way! Soon all those late pg discomforts will be over! I hadn't realized how crappy I felt until I wasn't pregant anymore. It's so nice to have an appetite again, no more heartburn, nausea, or pelvic floor aches and pains.

I'm sorry to hear about those of you having a hard time with jaundice, breastfeeding, etc. I haven't experienced a baby with jaundice, but we had some nursing issues with ds, plus he was in the NICU for a week for low birth weight and had all kinds of tests, blood drawn, IV, etc, and it didn't feel like he was quite "ours" until we took him home. I hope everything gets better for everyone asap!

Anna--Have you tried very snug swaddling or white noise, such as radio static, when Mielle has a "blue poodle fit?" The book "The Happiest Baby on the Block," by Harvey Karp, has some great ideas for calming crying babies. Bhavani calms down very quickly when she's snuggly swaddled and we either turn on the radio to just static or repeat a fairly loud "shhhhh" close to her ear--in utero noise is louder than a vaccuum cleaner, so babies actually like fairly loud white noise. We also have a swaddling blanket called the Miracle Blanket that allows for very snug swaddling--ordered it at www.miracleblanket.com. Maybe you've already tried this stuff and it isn't working, but just wanted to offer the suggestion. Leela (dd #1) screamed for about 2 hours every evening for 3 months, and I wish I'd known about swaddling/white noise then. It's so hard to hear your baby cry and have nothing work!

Okay, now I get to brag about our new baby girl! She is just so sweet and mellow and sleeps for several hours at a time throughout the day, and for increasingly longer periods at night. When she's awake she's so alert and bright-eyed. She was like that right at birth when we lifted her out of the water. She didn't cry at all, just looked all around and checked out her new world. She nurses a ton. We had out first postpartum appointment yesterday, at 8 days old--were supposed to go in at 3 days, but our midwives got really busy with births, etc. She weighed 5lbs. 13 oz, down from 6 at birth--she probably lost more than that and started gaining already. We just started using cloth diapers, but only one type of diaper cover fits her so far (dappi pull-ons). She had her first tub-bath after her cord fell off two days ago, and she just loved it--she looked like a little froggy with her skinny limbs and round tummy.

Bhavani's tear ducts are both blocked and her eyes get pretty irritated. Both of our other kids had this as newborns. We're doing warm washcloths, breastmilk, massaging the ducts, and a homeopathic remedy called Euphrasia (by mouth, dissolved in water). Anyone else have any other ideas? Her little eyes get really goopy, especially after a long nap.

Wow, that was a hugely long-winded post for me! My older two are parked in front of a Sesame Street video, and Bhavani is sleeping in her bouncy seat, so I had a rare few moments!

I'll post our birth story soon, and more photos!

Heather

[interbang]

All the Heathers except me...

...have had their babies (congrats!) which is okay, as I've just gotten on the other side of this cold.

Dh has been wonderful helping me out, and I have definitely learned a lesson or two about laying low in your 40th week of pregnancy. Tomorrow I plan to rest, read, and watch some DVDs.

If I am *all* better on Friday, and the weather cooperates, I'll resume my walking schedule.

B-H off and on all day, including some really high up, like right under my breasts. No contrax, as far as I know.

Kid's moving like crazy. I'm wanting to go into labor, but I'm also trying not to obsess to much. Boredom is a killer.

Jen, I'm so glad you're nursing and holding your wonderful kid! In your situation, I would have done the exact same thing and never looked back. Actually, a woman living down the street from me had and incredibly similar birth about 7 weeks ago, and her kid (at 43 weeks) was 10 pounds. Still, they're doing wonderfully. Like you said, you're there to have a baby.

Weird family news: my sil, edd 9/28, is dancing a jig right now because her OB said he would induce her on 9/30. No high risk or anything, he just thinks "the average placenta starts to weaken at 40 weeks." Humph. He should talk to Jen. Of course, sil is sooo happy, she just wants the baby out. I just hope she knows what she's in for...

Congrats to all the new babies! Who's left of us still preggers people? We should do a roll call at the start of the next thread or something.

Take care,

[StacyL]

Hi ladies,

Just wanted to let you all know that Alex finally arrived on Sunday night the 19th at 7:07 and he was 8lbs. 9oz. and 19". We had an emergency transfer and very rough entry into the world, but he was released from the NICU today and is going to be just fine and hopefully going home SOON!! I will write more about it later and post some pictures. I hope everyone else who is due has wonderful deliveries!!

Stacy

[mum2tori]

We're still here... not much happening. Radish seems to be very comfortable right where where he is. He's still pokin' and twitchin' around so I know he's okay.

Oh, I forgot to mention at my last appointment while I was in the waiting room, a woman told me "oh you are having a girl! You are carrying so high."

Actually, he is a boy. And... he's dropped some. :LOL :LOL

"Are you SURE?!?! I think that's a girl."

Well, this will be a girl with a penis then. We got VERY clear shots from two different u/s' that He is a He. (my children have NO shame )

"I still say that's a girl..."

: : Yeah, whatever, you and my mom who thought I'd deliver on the 8th because she wanted it so can think whatever you like. (I didn't actually say that, thought it though! :LOL)

People are stupid.

Stacy-
Welcome Alex!!! Glad to hear he's out of the NICU and is doing better. Can't wait to see and hear more.

Jen-
While it wasn't how you'd planned it, I so glad that everything went well in the end. You did what you needed to have a healthy baby. Hmmm, certainly doesn't sound like a 16 day 'overdue' baby. Rest and enjoy that wee little boy. Sleep whenever possible, your body needs to heal even more than usual. Don't be afraid to ask for help and let others WAIT ON YOU!!!

Don't listen to the LC saying that your supply will be weak! No one can know that until your milk actually comes in!! Ugh how totally irresponsible of her. Like a new mommy NEEDS added stress like that! And it makes me even madder because it isn't TRUE!! For the record, my milk came in at 3 days with my first but took SIX days for my second and I was tandem nursing too.

RELAX! Your milk will come in just fine. Are you taking fenugreek? Honestly, I wouldn't worry about taking any herbs for your supply right now. Your body will start producing milk quickly. Just keep nursing him as often as possible. Stress will only make it worse. Don't worry about having to suppliment with a little formula, its okay if you need to. DON'T FIXATE on it okay. After you milk has been in for a week or two... then worry about if your supply isn't enough. It will probably be just fine. Drink lots of fluids!!

Are you using the football latch? That's a good one for healing c-sections. No baby weight on the incision.

Linda-
What a plump little cutie!! Wild how each birth is different.

Steph-
Aaaah the power of the Boob! Ain't it a beautiful thing.

Best to all who are still waiting with me... someday it will be...

:LOL