NEW MAMAS -- Check-In Week of 1/22-1/28

[MamaTaraX]

How's life with the new wee one (or ones...Lorilou!?) going? How are the big siblings doing? Who's getting enough sleep?? Tell us all about it!

Namaste, Tara

[MuhajibahMama]

We are on day 4 here and things are starting to settle down a bit. My milk started coming in on Sunday evening and was in in a big way by last evening, so last night was the first night that I didn't spend 2-7 in the rocking chair. My other two slept great at night right from the start so this is new to me. I was still up during that time last night, but she nursed and slept...no crying...and we were able to stay in bed...which was awesome.

Saira is doing awesome. My 5yr old has a cold, so she is bummed that she is not getting as much baby time as she would like. My 2yr old has been the real suprise. We were really worried about jealousy and adjustment...but she has been really easy going so far. She asks to hold the baby, wants to play with the baby...she doesn't even mind the baby nursing really (she doesn't nurse herself anymore, but will come over and "pretend" nurse...since it's not been real long since she stopped).

I'm...um...healing. This is my second VBAC and while it is going 1000% times better than the recovery from my first VBAC...I'm just really wanting to be able to do more than my body is able to yet. I'm wondering what is NORMAL for 4 days post partum. Really if it weren't for the pain and discomfort from the stitches and the enormous hemorrhoid I would wanting to get on top of the laundry, get the tub cleaned up...maybe even go to DD's swimming lesson today....but as it is...I spend most my time in bed...and even then I have discomfort/pain...I can't sit long...don't stand long...it really kinda sucks....but I still don't think it will be the 6+ week recovery that I had last time.

Hope everyone else is doing well...

[coloradoalice]

We're surviving over here in Colorado!! I can't believe Ian is already 3 1/2 weeks old!!! The time is just flying! Unfortunately we all have colds/flu stuff around here, even Ian. It's mostly just congestion and a cough, but it's so sad to hear him snuffeling to breath and coughing his rough little cough. Gracie has been sick too, but is over the worst of it. Luckily with Ian's personality he has been pretty happy in spite of being sick. I have a sore throat as does James, but we could be a lot worse, so it's not too bad.

Ian is such a great baby, he's so calm and happy all the time. He's super easy to soothe if he does get upset, which isn't often. Nursing is going great, no issues, wonderful latch, perfect supply. It's so nice!! My bleeding has slowed, but not stopped yet. I can't wait for that to be over, I hate the pads, or worrying about leaking!

We will just keep lying low around here until everyone is healthy!! I want to sign Gracie up for a Gymboree class so that we have a nice indoor place for her to play, she needs to get out, but I don't like to have Ian out in the cold for too long.

That's it from here!!

[Mama2Tristan]

We are doing good here too...Sometimes Sage is nocturnal, sometimes not. My ds woke last night though when we were awake, and chose to stay up with us, whether I wanted him to or not. At least it was nice to have some company. Sage is nursing a ton, but she's not a great latcher. I can tell because I can hear her making a smacking noise while she nurses. It makes me think she is swallowing a lot of air. I keep trying to adjust her lips and mouth, but she's a smacker...>This is different than ds because he had a great latch. I do think I have a strong let down though so maybe that affects her nursing a bit.
I am eager to get out of the house too...But every time I did (we went to the Shedd Aquarium and Children's Museum), I start to bleed more, even though I don't feel like we are walking a ton...So, I'm trying to do less again....Can't wait to get out though for ds.

[Willowrose]

We are doing great over here! Lily will be 2 weeks on Thursday. She is a little butterball! Nurses great, sleeps great. My milk has leveled out and I'm no longer engorged! YAY! The recovery on my part has been so quick this time. I feel so good that I end up doing too much and have heavier bleeding.
The boys head over heels about their sister. They still can't get enough of her.
Now, I just need to lose this pregnancy weight :

[ozzyemm]

Michael and I are doing well. He has been gassy, and having greenish poops, so I am giving the same breast for two feedings. This is working.

Michael had baby acne when he first left the hospital, and now it is all over his face and head. He has just a bit on his abdomen and hands. His face has gotten dry and scaly, too. Please tell me this will go away!

Also, he is losing his hair. He looks like a lil old man!

[LoveMyLil'B]

We're doing pretty good over here. Barrett is 3 weeks old, and still sleeping a ton! I thought she might wake up as we get closer to her due date, but no such luck. She nurses really well, and wakes up every 2-3 hours to nurse at night. We're finally getting the hang of side-lying nursing, so that makes it much easier at night. She has to sleep with her body touching me, so that makes for some light sleeping for me. Anytime I try to move her to the middle of the bed, she cries. She still has a ton of dark hair, and has the cutest dimples!

[Mytwokids]

Charlie is just over a week old now and is by far my sleepiest baby. I was actually stressing about it on Sunday but I am trying to be more relax. He wakes himself to eat enough now and we are getting at least 8 feedings. We go to the ped tomorrow so I'm just hoping he is gaining. He is so sweet and laid back and smells sooooooooooo good . Micky

[Persephone]

Victoria is just gorgeous. As soon as dh's comp gets fixed, I'll post pics. We're 4 days pp here, and I'm recovering well, I think. I still have to monitor my blood pressure, but I don't think it's really an issue anymore, and I don't think the doc does either, because well, he sent me home from the hospital. My milk has come in, because V's poops are yellow and seedy, but I haven't noticed any leakage, engorgement or letdown feelings. Kinda odd. But I nurse every two hours which may account for it. Other than that, not much happening around here, I'm tired, but I've got dh and my mom, and life is just a big blur of nursing and sleeping and diapering.

Oh, how could I forget about dh? There is a new woman in his life... I swear, he is so smitten. It's very awesome how he deals with her, especially since he wasn't sure how he'd handle it once she got here. It was love at first sight. I'm almost jealous.

[MamaTaraX]

Our baby boy is still Nameless He's sweet and smells like a baby and I could eat him up! I think he was switched in the womb. That has to be it. He doens't look like my other kids! Or us even! It's funny!! My big boys came out with full heads of jet black hair. This baby is practically bald and has lightish brown hair. It's almost hilarous. His umbilical cord stump is funky. It came off strangely and still has a hole. My MW is coming tomorrow to have a look at it and see if it's okay. It still bubbles when we put peroxide on it, which i have to do because it's still a hole, an open wound. Besides that though, he's great. He doesn't nurse all that often, which is also unlike my other kids. He doesn't nurse very well either, I really hve to work with him sometimes. He poops and pees well though so we're not worried. He is starting to open his eyes a little longer and look around. He loves to look at his daddy and to touch his biggest brother's face.

Because the universe loves us, my family got a stomache flu last week/weekend. First my oldest son. Here was me, three days after giving birth, up all night scrubbing poop and puke out of my kid's floor. It really wiped me out! Next came my toddler. He was sooo pitiful; he barfed on his daddy Next came Daddy. He went to Ohio (left me home alone for 12 hours with a toddler and newborn! eek!) and came home sick with the stomache flu that night, just at the tail of the toddler having it. The sick toddler only wanted the sick daddy, so Daddy had a VERY LONG day. (I had no sympathy, btw. Whenever I get sick, I have to stick it out and take care of people and things, it was only fittin that he did!) And then it was my turn. Less than 7 days after giving birth, I got a stomache flu. There is absolutely nothing cool about leaking from every possible oriface (TMI!!), it truly sucked. Luckily, friends came over and helped around the house and held the baby and it was bearable, sort of. The good thing about the flu is that it only lasted a few hours for each of us. Normally if I get sick, it's very rare and I get over it quickly but this thing really licked me for a whole day. I spent an entire night moaning and shaking, but at least the puking etc was gone I figure the only reason I got sick is because I'd just given birth. The baby seems to have either not gotten it or have only had a small touch of it. He had some wierd bright green poop, spit up the first and only time since his birth, and had a random bought of screaming. I think that was him having the stomache flu and I'm eternally grateful for breastmilk and its antibodies!

The kids love the new baby immensely. My toddler...OMG, he's soo sweet! Always wanting to kiss and hold the baby, he helps him nurse and throws away diapers (had to use sposies for a little while while everyone was sick). The one thing that sucks is that since the night the baby was born, my toddler has had his days and nights mixed up. We're working on it. My oldest loves to touch and hold the baby and is looking forward to wearing him in a sling sometime. I'm looking forward to figuring out how to get him on my back soon.

We're all pretty good here! Thanks to illness and a new baby, the house, despite the help of friends, is a complete loss. I'm slowly working on it. I can't walk up and down the stairs much, I get dizzy/lightheaded. I can't lift much. Bleeding seems to have stopped, but if I do a lot, I see it return. I think I tore and am probably going to have my MW look at it tomorrow, even though that's not why she's coming. my pelvic floor muscles hurt alot from walking a bunch today. Life is good though. I have three beautiful little boys!!! I will post pictures as soon as I can get them off the camera

Namaste, Tara

[ehsclt]

Doing well here, too. Maeve is a week and a half old now and is beginning to get that we sleep at night. DH gets up with her for one walking around session each night, but other than that, she just nurses a few times at night and then goes back to sleep.

She sleeps more during the day than I remember my other two doing at this age. Sometimes she sleeps all day, just waking up a few times to nurse.

The last two nights, she has spit up about 3 tbsp of milk. This is completely new to me, as neither of my other two EVER spit up. It seems to cause Maeve a lot of distress in the half hour or so before she spits up. I need to do a little research to see if this might be due to something I am eating.

I am healing very well and am attributing that to the fact that I've really taken it easy for the last week and a half. We've been fortunate enough to have several meals delivered to us and DH has stayed home or gone in late a few days, which has really helped.

Gptta go nurse....milk is letting down and baby is asleep. Time to wake her...

[ajsgirl]

nak...

we're doing well here too. Soraya is just over 3 wks old now. She's starting to give us real social smiles which is just about the most beautiful thing in this world. She giggles in her sleep too. She's easy compared to my ds as a baby, since she's figured out how to nurse and ds took so long to do that. She spits up A LOT, same as ds. Our family prac. reassured me that it's just her new digestive system, and most likely has nothing to do with me. I was steering clear of chocolate, but after hearing that, I started eating it again! YAY!

Soraya is on a pretty regular schedule that she's set herself (I'm definitely NOT a schedule kind of gal), eating & sleeping about every 2-3 hours with about 1/2 hour of alertness in between eating and going back to sleep. At night, she wakes about every 2-3 hours to eat with only one alert period. It's nice, but I know it'll change! I'm loving carrying her (awake and asleep) in my Kangaroo Korner fleece pouch and Ultimate Baby Wrap.

DS is a sweet big brother. The sweetest! He's having some sleep issues which started before she was born. It's nearly impossible to get him to sleep these days. After a VERY long, loving, drawn-out bedtime routine, dh ends up having to leave him while he's upset (not CIO, just some whining and calling us to come back). I think he needs a more consistent, reliable bedtime routine, since life is kind of turned upside down for him lately. Dh says he'll give it a shot. He used to be such a great sleeper! We're considering bringing him back into our bed, hoping that'll help him.

That's all for now!

[ehsclt]

Originally Posted by ajsgirl

Our family prac. reassured me that it's just her new digestive system, and most likely has nothing to do with me. I was steering clear of chocolate, but after hearing that, I started eating it again! YAY!

Thank you. That makes me feel better about the spitting up thing. I don't know the first thing about it, but it must just be that Maeve's disgestive system is figuring itself out, too.

[Hollin]

Alden is a week old today! He is doing great. Yesterday we saw that lactation consultant and he is 5 1/2 oz. over his birth weight already! His stump also fell off yesterday and he has the cutest little belly button. It's like a curlicue, it looks like a cinnamon roll to me so I call it his Cinna-button. He does really well at night, gets up every 2-3 hours. He had a bath yesterday which he did not seem to enjoy. Next time I'll get in the big tub with him and see how he does with that.

We are loving cloth diapering. My favorite is actually flats. I have some fancier dipes like Kissaluvs, but I love how clean the flats wash up and how fast they dry since I am washing every day right now. I am getting better at catching the flying poop and pee that sometimes happens during changings. I was scrubbing my walls a lot for a few days!

[zjandosmom]

Wow, I never have time to come here anymore! I am trying to stay upon my sleep and get everyone back into their routine....a bit tricky at times. Cait is a very easy going baby. She sometimes has trouble settling into sleep at night, but that's it. I think it maybe something I am eating as it doesn't happen every night. When something tastes good I tend to OD on it....strawberries were way too good yesterday! She even will give me a 5-6 hr stretch at night!! I know this probably will not last forever but I am enjoying it now. At her 1 week check she had gained 1 lb!! Dr said not to come back until 2m since her weight was so good!! Her brothers continue to adore her and I love to see how sweet they are with her. My in-laws are here and that is wonderful. Also why I have time to be here!

I have pretty much stopped bleeding unless I do too much walking. Cait is 2.5 weeks. Just before 2 weeks I was able to wear my pre-preggo clothes . Not sure how that happened,but I am very happy about it. Wais is still thick and tummy is lumpy bumpy, but the pants fit. Makes me want to start my pilates again but I think it's too soon. I don't go back to the mw until 6 weeks pp. ANyone know when it's OK to start exercising? I am thinking anything other than walking is 6 weeks,but that could be wishful thinking!!

cait is calling
kathy

[zjandosmom]

forgot to ask, anyone else experiencing night sweats? I am waking up drenched in sweat every morning. Yuck. I don't remember it lasting this long last time.
k

[anarchamama]

Cormac and all of us are doing great. He was one week yesterday, and we had a visit witht he MW and he had gained 8oz in 5 days. And here I was worried because he went under his birth weight and DS1 never did. He is a laid back ababy and a great night sleeper. DS was up every three hours round the clock untill 18 months. Crmac seems to take much shorter naps in the day and do marathon cluster nursing sessions, like 2-3 hours, but then sleeps great at night, often with a 4-5 hour first stretch, which is great for me. Especially because DS1 is cutting molars so he is up a few times a night. I too am having crazy night sweats, more like night leaks, I wake up needing to pee and covered in milk and sweat, blah! Ds1 is nursing so much now that my milk is back that he is basically off solids which is kind of funny.

We are all adjusting well, though I DH has to go back to school next week and I am so nervous about being alone with the 2 of them. I've done it a few times for a few hours and its ok, but I can't get anything else done, I basically just sit on the couch and nurse and play with DS.....I don't know how you mamas with more do it, especially with SO back at work! Yikes! Tell me it will be ok.........

I am almost done bleeding, and feeling really good, I think the fast labour helped me feel a lot less tired than last time. Although I can definatly feel the birth high draining out of my system and leaving me back on a regular ups and downs schedule.........But otherwise just getting back into the swing of things and hopefully will start venturing out of the house soon.

OMG and have discovered the genius of the wool diaper wrap! How did I miss this the first time ?!?!?!

Cheers
Heather

[SMR]

ah, mommahood is the BEST!! Everything about Gwen is wonderful! She's is sooo easy to love! DH agrees... he too is smitten with her and adores every inch of her being.
She LOVES to eat.. oh boy! I keep saying that she must have been a dude in her last life cause she LOVES BOOBS!! hahaa she sleeps well, usually a few 3 hr naps and the other day she slept 5 hours at night!! Usually it's 3-4 hrs at night though.. she's usually mellow.. and doesn't cry a whole lot - sometimes when we're in the car driving home from my mom's or something (5 minutes away) she cries.. and since there is really nothing I can do while driving - I sing her a song (probably helps me more than her).. and she continues to cry and gets REALLY PISSED... sometimes she falls asleep right after.. that's kind of hard to deal with, cause her little screamy cry is HORRIBLE!! I know that 'cry it out' is NOT for us... DH hates her to cry more than I do... it just tears your heart out! lucky it isn't very often!!
The only 'issue' we are having is we're still sleeping in the living room. Gwen and I in the recliner and DH next to us on the couch. I'd really love to get back into our bedroom sometime soon.. but we don't really want gwen to sleep in bed with us (dh has a fear of rolling on her and also sometimes he has these night fits where he kicks and punches at the air in his sleep - freaky.. I think he sees ghosts or something!?) we have a lovely bassinet that she WILL NOT SLEEP IN... so I'm trying to come up with other options like one of those snuggle nest things that go into the bed with you... the only problem with that is... I think she'll still be mad if we attempt to lay her on something that isn't one of us! So, I have no idea what to do about that.. she's so darn snuggly and I love her sleeping on me, I just also want her to sleep on her own because even during the day I can't put her down when shes sleeping, cause she wakes up pretty quickly! oh well... for now, life is wonderful and I am just enjoying our special time together!!

[ozzyemm]

Maybe take naps with her on your bed and when she falls asleep (wait awhile) gently roll her off onto the bed? I have a sidecarred portacrib that Michael NEVER sleeps in (he sleeps in between DH and I-- I know, but it works for us), but we have done the rolling over thing to help him sleep on the mattress. If you rolled DD into the sidecarred crib ( I know they can be expensive-- ours was $99 for portacrib-- maybe try freecycle?) that might help./ Otherwise, she SHOULd be sleeping next to you and wall/guardrail, not DH.

HTH!!! Hugs I know what you are going through!!!

[OhMel]

Oh Mamas, I'm so glad I read through here. I was starting to freak out that something is wrong with Avery because she sleeps so much. DS has never been a sleeper and so having this child that I have to fight to wake up and nurse is freaking me out. I'm trying to enjoy her laid back nature, but the worrywort in me is taking over. I'm so glad to see that other newborns do the same thing.