new mommas... how's it all going? - Page 2

[AdinaL]

Milk's in!

My PSA for the day:
1. Cranberry juice makes your pee very acidic.
2. Arnica helps with swelling.

Good things to remember.

[adtake]

OMG love the arnica!!

and mag phos for aftwr cramps!! way bad this time around!

s

[Titus2fam]

I have been having KILLER headaches. I'm not usually a headachey person, but I've actually cried tonight. I'm finally not freezing~still don't know what that was about~and I hope it doesn't return. I'm frustrated~my head hurts sooo badly! (((((HUGS))))) and hope all are well.... ~sandi

[Hollycrand]

I've been having really bad headaches too! I've been attributing it to a severe lack of sleep (dd#2 not sleeping much at night and my high needs dd#1 not sleeping much during the day and needing a lot of attention). Thank goodness dh is still off work this week. I don't know how I'm going to survive next week on my own. I suppose we'll have to get through it all. I've been doing yoga (approporiate for 3 weeks pp) and meditation and it's been doing wonders for my state of mind and surviving the lack of sleep.
I don't know what position would help with the headaches though...

[Mel38]

So sorry to hear about those bad headaches!! That can be totally debilitating. I had just one a few days postpartum, and it was a terrible day - it completely drained me. I ended up taking some advil, which hardly touched it. I'm convinced that my headache came at least in part because I wasn't staying well hydrated. The other thing that I always try when I get a headache is the pressure point between the thumb and first finger. It usually helps me if I can catch the headache early on. If you wait till it's a full-blown headache, it might not work at all.

Also good luck to all of you dealing with visitors (moms, in-laws, etc.) That can be really challenging!!

[Titus2fam]

So sorry y'all are experiencing headaches too~but I am comforted by the commiseration! I too think hydration could be playing a part here. Thank you for the pressure point advice!!!!! So far, so good today. I'm loving my gal, but I'm sadly easily grumpy with my older children. ~sigh~ I HATE that I'm not perfect for their sakes! (((((HUGS))))) sandi

[Daphnes_mama]

I've been having headaches, too. Mine always come because of two things - hunger and dehydration. Nursing moms need more calories, and sometimes, I let myself get too hungry before I eat. That always leads to a headache for me. Plus, I know I need more water. I try to always get a glass full before I nurse, but sometimes, I just forget, especially at night! I always wake up REALLY thirsty.

Drink up, ladies! (Pretend it is water)

[eilonwy]

Miss Bella is 5 weeks old, and is getting to be quite a little person. :

She now fits beautifully into her newborn sized diaper covers, so we're exclusively using cloth at home about 50% of the time (I can't find the bulk of my infant sized prefolds and can't afford to buy more right now ). When we run out of paper diapers, I'm not buying any more; I guess I'll just put some of BooBah's under her buns while we do laundry. I'm working on EC with her, but that's very difficult with two other children around, especially when those children want to be involved in every aspect of life with their baby sister.

Bella weighed 7 lbs, 9.5 oz on Monday, so she's gained quite a bit of weight. I was feeling like she was really big, until I went to a LLL meeting on Wednesday. Not only was everyone telling me how tiny she was for a 1 month old, but there was another baby there only a week older who weighed more than 13 pounds. : He had been 10 pounds at birth, but still, he looked like he was easily the size of two Bellas.

BooBah has impetigo, which is gross and icky. It's all I can do to keep her from giving it to Bella. BeanBean is running a fever and complaining of general malaise; I haven't got a clue as to what's wrong with him, he just keeps telling me that he has a headache and "I don't feel good." He's definately running a fever today, though. Whatever it is, I hope it burns out quickly. Bella felt a bit warm to me, but I haven't taken her temperature because I don't want to know. : Isn't that awful?!

[Carley]

I cannot believe it's been a week since I gave birth to my precious girl. Well, officially it wont be a week until 3:27am, but whatev. She seems so big to me now... is that crazy or what!?

So far things are amazing, surreal, ecstatic, overwhelming and scary all at once. Between the hours of 1am-5pm I'm a confidant momma bear who can meet every need; between the hours of 5pm-1am I'm a tired cryin mess who feels like a bad mom if Sydney whimpers. I'm following a sleep regimined in which I stay in bed until I've achieved a cummulative 8 hours sleep, and even still I'm whacky at the end of the day. Why oh why can't I fall asleep before 10pm!???

DH has 2 weeks paternity leave, 1 of which is over this weekend. SURREAL. He has been taking such amazing care of us I have NO idea what It's going to really be like when he goes back to work. I'm secretly dreading it and looking forward to it all at the same time.

Milk Monster is calling! More soon... soon!

Love you ladies!!!

[eilonwy]

New pictures under "Mike" and "Bella" in my sig.

[txgal]

Rynna, Bella is adorable, love those big brown eyes. The pics under "mike" don't work though.

We are doing good here, survived my first week alone with both kids. I even took them the grocery store alone yesterday, a cookie from the bakery saved the day. I have managed to get Guyler to sleep in until 7:00 the last 2 days, so that has been nice. We are also going TV free for now, my goal is the summer and then we will see about the fall, baby steps. It had really gotten out of hand the last month or so. Just the exhaustion of the end of pregnancy and then a newborn, the TV had become the babysitter for Guyler. I knew things had to change when his first words in the morning were "cartoon, cartoon, cartoon!!!!!" So basically no TV until he is in bed and then only to watch specific shows, no turning it on to surf around. Anyone else have TV free kids? gotta go for now, baby calls.

[2+twins]

Lydia, I have TV free kids. It was hard at the end of pregnancy and even now though. Since I needed to take it easy I ended up spending a lot of time lying in bed watching tv during the day (which I normally never ever do) and they'd sit and watch with me. I wouldn't put on stuff that they'd be interested in, which made me feel better about it somehow. At least they'd get bored and leave or bring me books to read to them. We cancelled our cable service a long time ago so there isn't much on anyway. Dh & I still watch at night. At first we rarely did, but now we watch regularly after the girls are in bed for the night.

This is dh's first day back to work. So far so good (relatively speaking). I'm so mad at my mom though - typical stuff, really, for her. She's always telling me how she wants to help and it's a good thing we live so close (same city), etc. But then she's never available and if I do ask for help she's like, "oh, well, your dad and I were going to go see a movie" and then I feel like i'm imposing for asking (and incidentally, my parents go to see a movie every weekend during the school year and pretty much every day during the summer when my mom is off of work, so it's not like it's a special treat for them, kwim?). Anyway, my dh has been telling me that I should just ask her if she could come over today and help me out with the girls & the babies. I really didn't want to b/c, well, I have issues with my mom and I'd hate to give her the satisfaction of her thinking I NEED her help. But I talked to her on the phone a couple nights ago and mentioned that Saturday is dh's first day back at work and I'm a little nervous about it. She said that I could give her a call if I ended up needing help but I was going to have to do this sooner or later so I might as well try. I don't know what I said in response but I think I basically sounded disappointed that she didn't seem willing to help so then she said that maybe she could take my girls off my hands after she & my dad go to the movies. I'm like, umm, thanks but it's the babies I'm going to need help with. And she said that I could just call her if something happened where I needed help and I said that that wouldn't work - if they're both screaming at the same time, I'd need help right then - not 15 minutes from then. And she said, "well, that's what happens when you have 4 kids." Is it me or was that totally a rude an insensitive thing to say? Came across to me like, "well that's what you get!" Geeze I really hate my mom sometimes. I need to move out of this city, which dh & I are working on but it's hard right now.

Wow, that turned into a major rant. Sorry about that! Anyway, the babies will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. That's just unreal to me! They're both doing well, although Roan is still spitting up most of what he takes in and it worries me. Everyone but me & the babies is sick right now so I'm totally scared we'll get it too. Wish us luck!

[boingo82]

nak...Gavin is a week old today. He was due May 6 but born the very last day of April.
He is such a LAZY baby. Content to do nothing but eat and sleep. I have way, way too much milk right now, and waking him to eat is impossible, He can sleep through anything.
I have been pumping 1-2 times daily to relieve engorgement and stockpile milk and I already have nearly 60 oz frozen. I can get 6 oz per breast in 15 minutes and STILL have hindmilk left for Gavin. At this point if I didn't pump he would never get hindmilk at all, I'm sure.

[newbie_mary]

I feel like I'm back from the dead -- it's only been a week, but what a crazy one! We moved out of our apt., put the stuff into one of those POD things, and took what we needed for the summer with us to my parents' house. We fully expected to be moving into a furnished apartment for possibly months when DH's new job started June 1. Well, we went down to look at houses last week - a one-night stay turned into 3, and we left on Friday having signed a contract for a house, to close in 2 weeks!!! We are very excited and glad to have a home to go to. I spent hours sitting in the car with the baby, nursing him and changing his diaper in the trunk, while DH met with various lawyers, loan officers, etc. etc. That wasn't too fun, but we survived.

Meade is 6 weeks old now, and just went through a growth spurt yesterday -- he nursed literally every hour all day, and then when we woke up this morning, he felt way heavier and had added a roll of fat under his chin!! It's amazing how fast that can happen! I remember it happening at 3 weeks also. He's up to over 9 lbs, from a low of 5 lbs 2 oz. We've been having some issues with colic in the evening, but tonight he was a model baby. I think he's been sick -- stuffy nose, and some sort of rash on his upper chest and back and neck, and also some diarrhea (it was mucusy and smelly compared to normal), and I think his colic was due to intestinal discomfort. But he seems better today. DH has had a cold for several days and now I think I'm getting it. Lovely. But I must say I absolutely love motherhood, and LOVE my little cuddly guy so much! He's so strong, and he can hold his head up really well. I'm pretty sure we saw his first smile today, although it didn't last long...can't wait to see more!

Mary

[kyle98sean02]

Wowsers Reece was a month old on Thursday. He is growing so much. I am not sure exactly how much he weighs, but he is definately bigger. He has outgrown the nb proraps and preemie prefolds and fits great in a nb snappi'd prefold. I got his pic taken on friday. I will scan it in a bit. Nursing is going a little easier, but one side still really hurts when he latches on. I think we have the starts of thrush too I still cant bend my knee and my thigh is realy sore. I am not sure what they did to me in surgery, but the dr. and physical therapist both think its related somehow. I am wondering if the spinal did something to a nerve which is now causing the muscle spasms. Basically, my whole thigh muscle is alway super contracted tight and I cant bend my knee at all. its very hard to walk. They say they can help some with pt and motrin, but unless I want to quit nursing to take the steroids and muscle relaxers there is nothing they can do to make it go away. Let me tell ya, avoid a c-section if at all possible. I cant believe the complications I have had this go around. I always thought that the "risks of side effects of a c-sect" were blown out of proportion until this birth. I can hardly walk, my blood pressure is still realy elevated from the second surgery (my dissolvable stiches inside dissolved too fast and I needed to go back into surgery at 1 week PP to be all reswen up), nursing has been a challenge because of the extra surgery, the sutures hurt and have started poking through in one spot. They will take months and months to go away. I have that tingly I am coming of novicane feeling all around my incision and it feels horrible when touched in the are or anywhere near my pelvic bone. I cant wait until I am fully recovered which looks like its not going to be months to years down the road. I do have my sweet baby boy though and I wouod do it all again in a heartbeat.

[Mel38]

Yeah, it's great when they start to hold up their little heads and open up their eyes and look around!

Heather - I'm so sorry to hear about the extreme discomfort that you have gone through! It's the pits to end up with a c/s (I did too). I hope you are feeling better soon and your body heals up quickly. Especially that muscle spasm in your leg - that sounds like it's very uncomfortable. Take good care of yourself! It's been a month for me also, and I can still feel the spot in my back where the epi needle was inserted. I guess these things do take some time to heal.

We're doing fine here - I get a little tired in the evenings, so I have been feeling a tad bit stressed around dinner time. Still, my sweet little baby is growing like a weed, eating well and looks great. I think he's growing some more hair! I'm so thrilled about that since both my girls were totally bald for almost a year. Finally a baby with some hair.

About the cloth diapers, well, he has almost outgrown the kissaluvs size 0, and that's what I spent most of my diapering budget on. Not too smart of me! Also, I've not tried prefolds yet, but it looks like all the small (infant?) sized prefolds don't fit him. They hardly reach over his belly to be pinned or snappi'd, so I believe they might be too small. This is my first attempt at cloth diapering, and it's really fun so far, but I need to find something to put him in now that he's getting close to 10 lbs.

Oh, Emily - I'm in awe of you!! All that milk Wow!!

[eilonwy]

Wow. Bella has recently grown *into* her nb proraps. I don't have any small covers; I'm hoping that she'll be able to go directly into mediums. She's certainly growing quickly!

I've been having a lot more post-surgery pain this time around, too, but everyone (except Mike) thinks I'm nuts. My pp appt is scheduled for friday; i'll see what my doctor thinks about it all.

[AllisonK]

Glad everyone is doing good. All the babies are so precious!!

Marah is a little angel, I thought that my DS was an "easy" baby but Marah is amazing. She does have her moments though. She weighed 7 13 at birth and at her 1 wk appt was 8lbs 5 oz at her 3 wk appt was 9lbs 11 oz. She is just a great nurser and I would not survive if I could not nurse laying down!!! She was one month on the 7th. We just went to Vancover, WA for a job interview for DH and she did pretty good for the trip (took us 9 hours) wish the other two kids would have been like her. LOL! I will post some pictures as soon as I get around to it.
Allison

[adtake]

Aww Heather! You are having a rough go girl!! s

Hang in there and get the thrush fixed quick! Are you taking a biphodolphois or acidolpholis? They would help some. Dont forget to wash everything and treat you and baby...

A friend recently had a c-sect and has been using Calendula on the inscision and says it has helps and worked great!! you may want to look at it? Arnica may also help with the healing.

Do you see a chiropractor? Could it be part an alignment problem with your knee? Mine got twisted with #1 and it seemed to help. Of course the loose joints with pregnancy bring it back a bit.

Hope it all gets better soon!! Hope I dont sound all advisey too...dont mean to!!

s

ps..cant wait to see the pics!! we are having 10 day pics made tomorrow!

[Hollycrand]

Today was dh's first day back at work, and I survived! I was a bit nervous to be alone all day with two kids, but it turned out okay. I NIP'd twice (I'm glad it's spring) on benches outside, and we went out in the morning AND the afternoon.
Dd#1 helps out quite a bit (she's almost 3) and I've managed to become kind of efficient at prioritizing household chores.
Dd#2 is an easy baby. She has had a couple of bouts of colic (after I ate black currant, chocolate, dairy products, and green peppers) but sleeps like a dream during the day. She loves being in the sling, and in the rare moments when she is awake during the day she enjoys looking at her big sister (who is always by her side, giving her kisses). I only wish she would be a tad less nocturnal. I average 4 hours of sleep per night (before I would get 8-9 hours). Baby has also decided she doesn't like to bf lying down, so I've been learning to 'sleep' sitting comfortably against my big pillows in bed.

I do get a bit stressed around dinner time, because it's meltdown time for dd#1, feeding time for dd#2 (or she wants to be cuddled and rocked), and dh wanting to eat as soon as possible and get dd#1 down for bed.