~~*October mama's*~~ - Page 3

[OakEmber]

Ah first snowfall today! I am so glad that Oakley is here already or I'd be worrying about the drive to the hospital :LOL Ember has had fun building her first snowmen already, even though there is only like an inch of snow, :LOL.

Thia- s I know it's really hard to believe but in a few weeks this will be a distant memory...things will get better.

Tomorrow I go and see the midwife again for our first check-up and so Oakley can get his PKU test. I can't wait to see how much the little piggy weights, I swear he has already grown!! Our other best laid plans didn't turn out because of the birth, the cord got cut right away and because it was a traumatic birth we opted for the vit K injection, so the PKU testing in office is the only thing left from our birthplan. I feel good that at least that is happening.

Oakley has slept darn near all day, but he has been waking up to eat every two hours. Yesterday he had a really long alert period of about two hours, today I feel like I miss him. He must be having a growth spurt. I can't believe he is almost a week old already! He is so far such an easy baby, I hate to talk about it even, don't want to come off as bragging (or jinx things ).

Letia, I just realized that you had Mikayla on the same day as Oakley was born so they are birthday buddies She is so beautiful!

Oh and I must say...you always here people saying how much bigger their oldest looks when the new baby comes but it totally blows my mind! I carried Ember right up till the end, including during labor actually and she seemed light...now she feels like she weights a ton! And everything about her seems bigger, her hands, her face...it really blows my mind!

[Piglet68]

OakEmber, I so know what you mean about our toddlers seeming huge. When I first nursed Emily after being in hospital nursing Sasha so much, I couldn't get over how HUGE her head seemed! When she's lying in my lap nursing, I feel like I'm nursing a teenager, lol. Yet just before the birth I was thinking how small she is and how I wish she could stay small (young) for a while...strange how perspective is, huh?

Katie, your talk of Letia's gift made me realize I haven't sent my gift swap out yet. Bluehalo, I'm so sorry...I promise I'll get to it eventually! :

Well, I took the kids to Science World today. We had a great time, but of course I brought backup: two friends with toddlers Emily's age. They were a big help when I had to nurse Sasha and Emily decided to play "run away from mama". The first and last time she did this to me, she ran out into the street and gave me the fright of my life! From then on I do not put myself in situations where she can do that to me. That's one hardship of having two: I can't just run after her sometimes! Can someone please reassure me that she'll grow out of this? I see older children following along obediently behind their parents....

I can't believe Sasha will be a month old in a few days. Where does the time go? I'm trying to hard to cherish this time, to capture every moment. He's my last, and I just don't want him to grow up so fast... I just love, love, love having a newborn. I love changing him and seeing his tiny body. I love putting him in his adorable tiny clothes. I love that he sleeps all the time so I can enjoy just snuggling him and yet still get things done around the house.

I'm sentimental today if you can't tell. Must be the rain...

[Lucysmama]

Amie -

I put up a big stink about the PKU test in the hospital, because they wanted to take him to the nursery without me and prick his heel. I said NO WAY. They sent in a whole line of people to try to talk me into it, and I said, "I will only consent to the test if Levi and I can be comfortable, in bed together, nursing." They deliberated for quite a while, then finally did it the way I asked. Levi just sucked harder when they pricked him, he never cried at all. Just wanted to share.....maybe you can ask to nurse during the procedure if you want.

Levi has diaper rash. His little butt is really red and raw. I feel terrible, I haven't been waking him to change him, but I am going to now. He must have sensitive skin. Poor lil guy, he screams bloody murder when I wipe him.

I have such sore nipples, you guys. I think Levi's latch is good, but MAN, I hurt. Does it just take a while to get used to the nursing? I can only nurse in clutch still, so maybe that has something to do with it??? Same pressure on the same parts of the nipple everytime? I don't know, but I have to grit my teeth and deep breathe for the first 30 seconds or so. Also, my let-down hurts. Anyone have insight?

[blessed2bamommie]

I read in Peggys new book about venipuncture instead of the heel lancet. I was gonna ask my ped about it. We left the hospital before the PKU could be valid.

Just peeking in after I got a cuuuuuuuuuuute pink cover for my girl.

Ok packed the diaper bag for our appt tomorrow and got dipes in the dryer and hanging up. I need to try dd in the hotsling...I hear her...hopefully she's not too mad.

Niiiiiiiiiiiiight....I pray she's ready to sleep soon....

Katie...a boy!

[Piglet68]

katie....totally normal nipple pain. the kind that only lasts a few seconds is the "good" kind, so the LC said to me - i had that with dd. it only lasted a few days: lansinoh and airing out nipples helped alot. also had the painful letdown, again, didn't last long - i didn't even "get" that it was letdown....hang in there girl!

[True Blue]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to check in over here, only read this page though so I'm not caught up. So far so good here with Lillian, she is wonderful! She SLEEPS even, something Mickade has never done. Her first night she slept 7.5 hours straight until I woke her up to make her eat!! I don't expect that again but she really has been great so far. Mickade is doing well with her around, no problems so far. And my milk is already coming in, I've got some big knockers coming in and I can hear DD gulping away. It's kind of nice to see my breasts stand up on their own again. :LOL

Katie, just wanted to agree with Piglet and let you know what you feel is perfectly normal and good. Letdown bugged me for a long time, it used to feel tingly and itchy and annoying but eventually it went away, though I don't remember when.

[momadance]

Katie:
Reed had a slight rash as well, I used some Flanders buttocks ointment and it cleared up in a day! Now that I have these polar fleece liners I don't think I'll deal with it again!!! I'm in with this system!!!!

DItto on the enormous children! Miles seems like a 9 yo comparitively! Put his night diaper on after changing Reed is super trippy!

[3bees~1flower]

hi, mamas!! long time, no talk! i haven't had many chances to be online for extended periods.

we are doing great! Ella is such a joy! the boys all love her. she us a very good baby. those who are dealing with jaundice...so are we. Ella has been on a bili blanket since the day after we came home (tomorrow will be a week of the lights : ) we have to stay on them till she gets her level checked again on thursday. can i just say how much i hate this thing! 3 out of the 4 have had to be on the bili blanket!

ditto on the gigantic tddlers...noah is like a big teddy bear compared to ella!


i put some pictures on the yahoo site.

[mirthfulmum]

Carrie!

I too was stunned when I saw Alias for the first time after Harrison was born. It seemed that my cute, little 2 year old went off for an afternoon and came back huge and 7 years older! Whenever I see Alias curled up next to Harrison in my mind Alias looks like a giant. It is so funny how the mind works.

I had a bit of nipple soreness at the beginning too. I just used some plain old lanolin on my nipples and that really helped. Didn't have painful letdown though. Just a funny tickely electric sensation in my breasts. It all passed quickly for me too, although I think much faster this time than with Alias.

As for diaper rash solutions... that bag balm works miracles! I have only found it in the states, they sell it at most pharmacies in with all the other diaper rash creams, and the stuff heals little bums very fast. It also is a fantastic intensive moisturizer that helps heal my extra dry feet in the winter .

Okay, going to go check out Carrie's pics.

[mandalamama]

last night we tried side-lying nursing in bed again ... and she latched on all by herself!! i had her up too high, she scootched lower and tilted her head back to get the angle she was comfy at. she fell asleep like that, it was such a lovely time for both of us. my husband curled up next to us and then the cats joined in, got the whole family on the bed *lol* i was nodding off a bit, so i hope to keep trying and both of us can fall asleep like that. part of my exhaustion is that neither of us can sleep when she's in "quiet alertness" so i end up having to sit up or walk around the house with her while he sleeps ... we have an extra mattress in the garage, we're going to put it in a corner of the living room and that way i can nurse and nap while he sleeps. he said he didn't want to sleep separately at first, but i pointed out we only overlap by 2 hours and i'm not asleep then anyway! so hopefully it'll be catnap city here soon

Lucysmama i have the stitches like that also. i can't imagine what staples would feel/look like. i'm glad your incision is healing well

i've lost another 7 lbs. which you'd think i would be enjoying but it's just a little strange! my appetite is better, i'm sticking with high calorie foods and proteins to keep the milk going strong. my nursing bra is wayyy too big in the band, i'm going to figure out how to re-sew the hook section so it fits better. i didn't realize how much my rib cage had stretched out!

Thia: i know what you're going through! same here. it breaks my heart when i do everything i can and Willow still cries. the more relaxed i am the less she fusses, but it still seems like a lot when it happens! not having help is so damn hard. everyone keeps telling me that the first 6 weeks are the hardest, after that it's much easier because everyone's gotten to know each other. so i'm just looking forward to that 6th week

[stanleymama]

Letia...your little girl is gorgeous!!!!

Ok so this is my first visit over hear. Finally found a chance to make it. Dh has been busy filling out law school apps. and between feeding and being mommy to my other 3 little guys, I don't get much time to myself. I need to go read the other posts now so I now what y'all have been chatting about.

[3bees~1flower]

i was gonna ask in my other post, but forgot...how long does it take to get your user name changed? i did the paypal thing a couple days ago...does it just show up different one day or how does it all work?

[bluehalo]

Piglet, no worries about the swap ... I'm just now actually mailing mine to Letia today!

We did the PKU yesterday ... poor baby had to be poked twice. I tried to nurse through it, but he just screamed and screamed and I ended up in tears too. From that point on, I was overly emotional all day. Ethan told me I was a bad mommy and I burst into tears I feel more rested today, so I hope I won't be such a basket case! My poor DH was walking on eggshells :LOL

Ethan needing me, must run...

[momadance]

We did the PKU on Friday, man it sucked! How many disorders do your states/provinces test for? Our's only test for 10, but with the same prick, they sent a sample to Baylor University which will test for an additional 20 disorders. It was 25$ which goes directley to the university's research. I figured might as well test for all 30 if we're gonna do it YKWIM?

Well I voted!!! Hopefully my guy will get at least 5% of the popular vote and the LP party can get some funding next election I'm an optimist I know!

The people working the polls were pretty impressed to see a mama coming in with a 3 yo and a 10 day old Lot's of compliments on my hotsling to! It is a beauty.

[kraftykathy]

momadance - hey, I got a jury duty summons too! The same week Willow was born. I think we have a good excuse to get out it for awhile, lol!

Letia - Mikayla is gorgeous. What a head of hair too! My girl is a close to being a baldie!

Our midwives were able to do the PKU at the one week home visit. They also recommended nursing while doing the test and it really helped her get through it.

My Willow has a cold already, poor girl. She has a cough. My son has had a stubborn cough for weeks and now I'm coming down with it too! Blah!

[Jillerina]

I've been wanting to post an update on wee Leo for a few days but I hate one handed typing.

We had a rough spell for a few days, Leo was miserable, he cried and cried whenever he was awake. He was obviously in pain and his belly was making the loudest noises I've ever heard from someone so small. It was an exhausting and frustrating two days before he started doing better - what brought on the change? Me giving up dairy! Within one day of me avoiding all dairy Leo was doing so much better. He could be awake and HAPPY! What a relief. He's acting a bit fussy today again so I'm wondering if I ate some dairy without realising it... I really can't believe how quickly his digestive system must pick up on the stuff. Avoiding dairy is gonna be hard for me, I eat lots of yoghurt, cheese and use milk in a lot of cooking but I know it is worth it to have a happy baby

There is one other update too - Leo smiled at me yesterday, several times! I'm sure it was on purpose and not just a result of a fart or something because he did it when he was looking right into my eyes while I was smiling at him. He is SO cute (even with his infant acne)

OK, I've hit my time limit for two handed typing!

I'm off to read this thread now... keep up the good work all you new mamas (and second time mamas)!

[Lucysmama]

I am so proud of myself, you guys! I NIPed! Twice! I took Lucy to a new music class she is starting and nursed Levi there, and THEN dh and I stopped at Target and ds wanted to nurse, and I DID IT! I am so happy! I had him in the Maya, and I swung him around and nursed him while walking around. Go, me!

I took Levi voting, too.

Laurel - YAY on the smiles!!!! Levi smiles in his sleep after he passes out in a milk coma, but it'll be awhile before I see an awake one, I'm sure! So sorry about the milk allergy, that must be hard to give up!

I just gave Levi his first massage. He LOVED it! He was so wide awake and squirming with happiness. He cooed a few times. We'll have to do it regularly.

[OakEmber]

So we had our checkup today Oakley is doing great, six days old and he is at his birthweight again His umbilicus fell off today too And I've lost 20lbs!! I am really impressed with my body this time, it seems like it knows what it's doing I got by with only mild chapping of the nipple that only lasted one day, no engorgement, and I am already pretty much stopped bleeding (though not completely)...this is nothing like the first time when I had all the regular complaints and was still bleeding up to darn near 8 weeks PP. Okay, enough about me :LOL. The PKU test wasn't too bad, I was nursing him and he did cry a bit and kick alot but Ember sang to him too and he recovered very quickly. Katie, I had to laugh about your hospital experience...I had a woman come and try and take him from me at 7 am (while he was peacefully sleeping beside me) "for his bloodwork" and I was like "sorry no...it's not being done here". It stunned her pretty good, she was like "but I already wrote it in his chart that I did it"...hmmm, maybe you shouldn't write things in thier chart before you do them : Anyway, she had to go off and find her suoervisor or something and came back in a huff a few mins later and closed my curtain but didn't say anything. In comparison to what it would have been like in the hospital, being woken up and taken away from Mommy like that, today was great. I have some residual guilt about letting Ember's happen the hospital way...sigh.

Katie WTG for NIP

Jillerina- that sucks that you will have to avoid dairy, but it's awesome that you figured it out so soon

Darn, out of time! It was certainly easier to post a week ago :LOL

[momadance]

Jillerina~ I'm about to do the same thing. Poor little Reed seems to be going through the same thing. I thought it may be all the nuts and seeds I eat, but dairy seems more suspect. I love cheese, but I'm ok doing Rice milk. A word of caution (and you may be aware of this) silk, and the more popular brands of soy/dairy alternatives may still contain caisen (milk protein) which would still irritate our wee ones.

Katie WTG!!!! We went trick or treating on Sunday with me nursing through the 'hood! I know we've both come a long way with the nursing!!! What's the secret to nursing in the maya?! I can't figure it out. The only position I can do in it is tummy to tummy.

[Lucysmama]

Momadance - Hee hee, you may wanna ask someone else for tips! I had a honey of a time getting Levi to latch. I put him in the cradle carry in the Maya, and loosened it and swung it down so that he was latched on the opposite breast of the shoulder the sling was on. Then I used the tail to cover my breast a bit. It was a little awkward, but we;ll get it. You will too!!! I am happy BFing is going well for us too, sincew we had issues with our first babies.