week of 6/5, "Life w/Babe" check in - Page 2

[Sadiebug]

Baby Addison is 5 weeks today and is doing great. We were in the hospital when she was 3 weeks because of a high fever and it turned out to be a UTI!!! they still don't know how she got it but we were there for 3 days for tests. She is now on antibiotics for two weeks and doing great. She hit a big growth spurt while at the hospital and is almost 9 lbs! Her eyes are turning a beautiful blue and is starting to smile.
I'm doing great. I've lost a lot of my weight and ready to start working out. I go back to work on Monday so hope that goes well. She is now on formula during the day and bf at night. thats going great

[Peppamint]

MCB- I was hoping the gassiness was getting better for you guys! My mom asked me this evening if Audrey had thrown up at all since the adjustment and I was able to say "only once"! And that was a rough one too because I hadn't nursed her on my left side all night long so had the really strong OAL and she was hungrily gulping it down like crazy. She gets a bit gassy now and then but at least now more spitting up or puking.

Okay, I really should be in bed, it's been a loooong day. :

[dharmama]

I think I have OAL too.

Quinn is gagging almost every time he nurses - no matter what position I nurse him in. This morning the poor guy got drenched...he popped off and I could not stop the milk. I could not find a cloth or anything to put over it for a few seconds so he got it in the eye and all over the face.

He's also been very gassy - but mainly in the evening. Two nights ago I gave him a dose of homeopathic chamomile. It was amazing. He settled right down and went to sleep after.

I have LLL on Friday and I need to buy a new copy of the Womanly Art (I stupidly gave my copy away because I thought I was such a bf-ing pro that I wouldn't need it ) to read up on OAL and over supply -- I'm still getting pretty engorged every night. Ouch.

We have a visiting nurse coming today so I'll get to find out how much my chunky monkey weighs this week! He was 9.8 two weeks ago and I'm thinking he's gained at least a pound since then.

Oh and interesting that you guys mentioned about spotting and DTD. I had been almost a week with only the slightest bit of dark brown spotting occasionally....then yesterday....back to red. Guess we'll be waiting a bit longer too.

[JayGee]

I want to know about back carrying too . I have a Mei Tai, but I'm kind of afraid to use it on my back with such a tiny one. There are just some things I can't do with a sling (dishes, cooking, showering), and Kirsten is not happy to be put down at all. If she can see me or hear my voice, my arms is the ONLY place for her !

Also, does anyone have any good remedies for... ahem... hemerroids? Didn't get them during pregnancy, but a few ouchy ones showed up after delivery.

We're doing great otherwise. DH left this morning for his first overnight work trip since Kirsten was born so it's me and three kids until tomorrow night. My 16-yo neighbor is coming over tonight to help out with dinnertime and bedtime tonight, so I'm not too worried. I'm loving having three children. My life just seems so full and complete .

[Peppamint]

Oh Erin, thanks for the tip on homeopathic chamomilla, I have that in my kit so we'll fall on that if we need to. Have you tried block feedings? I haven't really been doing block feedings since the chiro adjustment seems to have helped Audrey out and she does a lot of cluster feeding. I could though, but I guess I won't change anything for now.

Someone gave us a pack of burp raps in various shades of pink that look just like prefolds (but they wouldn't work as dipes at all) and I've finally gotten into the habit of keeping one laying with the MBF pillow, one on my pillow, one in the diaper bag... sheesh. Last night though I was the store bf'ing Audrey and had to use my shirt so I had this huge wet spot on the hip of my t-shirt after I finished nursing her. :

Kristina- I'm so loving have three too. I'm feeling pretty complete right now too (although I wonder if that longing for four children will come back later?). I have moments where I feel overwhelmed but overall it's going well.

Course I had to say that ... dd just got into the bulk bag of popcorn and spilled it all over the tile floor. :

[mamacatsbaby]

Thanks Michelle! We're slowly but surely getting things under control here but it's certainly taking a lot of trial and error not to mention handwringing and tears. Mine and his!

dharmama, yep, that's happened to us a few times. I will be a little slow in catching the spray or not have a dipe or anything near me and DS will get sprayed in the face. His little mouth has no idea where to go if it sprays into his mouth and he gets all confused. Mouth wide open and trying to catch his milks. Chamomile, :

Sorry JayGee, I just waited it out! :

[Sydnee]

I too am dealing with an overactive letdown. So far she isn't one to release her latch, so no sprays here. But this thrush thing has me so down. I got some acidophillus, and just ordered babydolphillus for Alayna. I am also cutting out most sugars, and no dairy. This is sooooooooo HARD for me, as I am a huuuuuge chocoholic. I actually felt a bit depressed yesterday, and I know it's just a big sugar letdown. Hopefully in a few days it will get better.

[luckylady]

A wrap is excellent for back carry - but I haven't tried it myself! Check out thebabywearer.com

I also bought a video that demonstrates 50 different wrap carries which is excellent.
http://store.attachedtobaby.com/Sear...=Instructional

more later - DS needs me and DH has to get ready for work...

[Marylizah]

Well, George will be 4 weeks old on Friday and things are... ok. Bf'ing still really hurts. I contacted LLL by email yesterday, the leader said she suspects thrush. I'll be attending a meeting tomorrow, so they'll help me figure this stuff out, hopefully. I'm surprised by what she said, we really have no symptoms and I haven't been on abx since... well... maybe 1.5 years.

In other news, Geo still REFUSES to sleep on his back or his side or anywhere besides his tummy or on me. I let him sleep on his tummy during daytime naps, but at night he's on my chest. This has got to stop, since he weights over 10lbs, is VERY squirmy and hot. When we wake up to nurse we're both drenched with sweat. I don't know what to do-- even in the stroller he screams and screams when he's on his back. How do you mamas make it out of the house? Oh, he'll only accept the sling if I put him in when he's already asleep, otherwise he howls.

Today is a hard day, I'm trying not to feel despair, but this kid has got to learn to sleep on his back!! He hates being swaddled, too, we've tried that.

About DTD, I am sooooo totally wiped out and just kinda struggling that I can't even imagine wanting to be touched. Plus, I'm still bleeding/spotting.

Gah. People keep saying it gets better. Well, it's been a month, WHEN exactly does it get better? : : :

[nitareality]

For a tiny one I'm more comfy with a stretchy wrap than a mei tai. Mine is just interlock from the fabric store...5.5 yards. (I'm bigger) You don't even have to hem the fabric, just get your length and cut to a width you like.

Block feeding works miracles for our OAL and over supply issues.

[waterbaby9503]

I'm glad to hear overactive letdown is such a common problem!
Busybusymomma- I hear ya! I *may* have had to do something similar lately...oh my it does look so goofy.
And when dh sees it spray like a foot away from my body when we were in the shower together: he was amazed. Wide eyes and everything. "Are you doing that on purpose?" LOL
I like phrase "I make milk. what's your superpower". It is so amazing we can make milk for our babies. Albeit, it's a little less amazing if you consider that I have been feeding, nurturing, and sustaining the babe in my womb since conception, and my body even knew how to give birth to it(cause *I* cognitively sure didn't know how!!). So it is a small wonder, really, that my body can make the perfect food for it's creation once Joshua is in my arms.
As for The Deed-I am glad I stopped spotting relatively quickly. We tried it at 3.5 wks and it went well. Going through the condoms pretty fast Sorry if that's TMI but d@mn I love my husband!
I'm getting close to being 6 wks pp and thinking about starting the mini-pill. Planned parenthood(NOT my favorite organization!) says on their website that both the pill and mini pill are safe while breastfeeding. I have read in LLL books that it is advised against since you can never really know all the small ways that even a minute amt of medicine could affect your babe. But...I also don't want #2 to arrive in 10 more months!
Any input on this??

[Nanners]

Yeah... my 4 week old is a mini pill baby. Be very, very careful. You MUST take it at EXACTLY the same time EVERY SINGLE DAY!! 15 minutes one way or the other can make it ineffective.

[~*max*~]

JayGee, unfortunately I am a hemmoroid expert. Here's what I use: a donut pillow to sit on is invaluable, lots of hot baths w/lavendar EO (aids healing), witch hazel compresses several times a day (in the beginning I used it after each bathroom trip), and cortizone cream (applied after witch hazel, same application amount). How far along PP are you? Mine got significantly better after about a week PP. A word of warning - they come and go, whenever there is any pushing/straining. So you might want to use a stool softener (Colace) for a while. Good luck. Hope you are feeling better soon.

[nova22]

DTD - I'm barely a week postpartum, so it will be quite a while.

DH is home from work for 2 weeks and it's been incredibly helpful. Today my doula came over and it was nice to socialize with another human female.

What is up with this baby....every time I look at her it seems like she's gotten even cuter. She's just so very pretty, I can't stop staring. It's so nice to see DH with her, too. He has a really stressful job and often gets 2-3 hours a night if he's lucky. Lately he's been getting 6-7 hours of sleep a night and I can't believe what a difference its made. He's so much more laid-back, happy, energetic, and playful with the kids. He's done load after load of laundry, his most hated household chore. And the best part is the way he looks at our baby daughter. He's so completely in love with her; he can't look at her without melting into a big Daddy smile. I love it...usually he's so tired he can barely lift his eyelids, much less muster a smile.

[Brinda]

A quick check-in from us. We will be 6 weeks on Saturday. Doing very well. Up to 9 lbs! We were finally able to rid ourselves of thrush with both of us take Diflucan. Him for 2 weeks, me for one. BUT we have now hit colic. A combination of Gripe Water and gas drops has helped a bit. AND we were able to get completely to the breast, with daddy giving one bottle at midnight so I can get some rest!

[luckylady]

marylizah - ask your ped about letting your baby tummy sleep. I had a friend whose baby had bad reflux and her baby slept on her tummy. My sister also had one child who refused to sleep on her back and her ped said let her sleep how she's comfortable - she was healthy weight, no other problems...

Doing well here - better. I had a touch of the baby blues but they have passed, thank goodness. Weston is doing great still - smiling and cooing now and he stays up now for a good 2 hours between napping during the day and sleeps all night. I already gave up and put him in bed with me so now I sleep even better.

The real challenge has been my DD. Yesterday was a terrible horrible rotten awful day. She had a friend over and they were SOOOOOOOOOO bad. Let's see - dumped bright PINK nailpolish in the tub - which I have yet to attempt to clean, colored on DD's walls with markers, mashed a banana into the carpet...and this little girl has all older brothers and sisters and has quite the sassy little mouth on her, which DD of course picks up too. I asked my DD to stop doing something 5 times and then I said exasperated at this point, "what did I JUST ask you?" She actually put her hands over her ears and said "I don't know cuz I don't have to listen to you."

It was the third spanking she has ever gotten in her life.: I felt like crap for spanking her but I had just HAD it with her rotten snotty attitude. And then to make matters WORSE she went into COMPLETE HYSTERICS in her room and would NOT calm down - so I grabbed her by the arm (I should have just left the room at this point) and shook her and yelled at her to STOP IT! Meanwhile DS is crying...ugh. I flew off the handle and I said "When you behave so nasty to me it makes me just want to give you away." The look on her face was awful - her rotten tude gone, hysterics stopped, she ran and hugged me and said "NO! I LOVE YOU!" I told her I didn't mean it - I love her too but her attitude is making me feel so sad and angry and frustrated...

ugh. What a mess. By the time DH got home I locked myself in the bathroom pretending to shower and cried cried cried.

I miss my DD. She was my pal.

That has been the hardest change about all of this - and it was the one change I didn't even think about.

whew - sorry for the novel. Today was MUCH better and we spent lots of nice time together and I managed to make it through the day without yelling at her. I feel like a crappy mommy.

[nova22]

Luckylady ~

My 2 have been grating on my nerves too, and I hate it
I miss my sweet little Teeny daughter. She has turned into a rebel in the past three days. I know she feels completely put out. I'm used to her brother acting this way, he's always been a handful but I can handle it because I'm used to him. They sort of balanced each other out. Now they are like partners in crime against me, or at least it feels that way. I hate yelling at them but sometimes that's what I find myself doing, followed by - like you said - locking myself up in another room. It's a tough transition, I hope it gets better for ya soon.

[Peppamint]

Originally Posted by nova22

Now they are like partners in crime against me, or at least it feels that way.

omg my kids do thsat too. :


Dree is sleep on my shoulder, need to leave house in 40min but can't get Dree to lay down long enough to let me shower or get dressed- or get dd1 and ds ready.

[dharmama]

Oh Cheryl. I'm so sorry you had that experience.

I had a horrible day about a week and a half ago. It took me an hour and a half to get DD down for a nap. It ended up that we (me, DD and DS) were all sobbing. And I ended up getting physical with DD (I grabbed her and pulled her onto the bed and held her down and said JUST GO TO SLEEP!!! ).

Once I finally got her to sleep I called DH and told him I needed him to come home, which he did.

Once I had a little break and some food in me I thought about what happened and I realized that my expectations of DD have changed dramatically - and I hadn't really even considered that.

WHen I was pregnant...being a "good girl" meant snuggling up with mama, nursing and sleeping for 2+ hours with me.

Now that I have a newborn to care for I essentially want her to put herself down for a nap and just stay there so I can have time for myself (or time for DS).

I never even talked to her about these changes...just got mad at her that she was being so difficult. And I was so busy being mad at her that I could no longer see the beautiful child that she is.

Anyway...I've made some major changes. I'm kind of running things more like a day care now....sticking to a schedule, an actual nap time (we never had that before) and a routine to get her down.

I'm also handing DS off to DH (or my parents) more so that I can have special alone time with DD.

It's been amazing. I mean we are still having our challening moments but she is responding to the structure very well and there has been MUCH less crying/yelling.

Ok. My time is up. We have LLL today - yay! Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Oh and we had a nurse visit yesterday....DS is 11 pounds 3 ounces! (He was 8.8 at birth.) He's so much bigger than his sister was -- and she wasn't a small baby by any means.

Gotta go. Bye.

[gnutter]

Wyatt was only up to nurse twice last night!!! I feel like I got so much sleep-I am so hoping this is a new permanent thing. He was awake so much yesterday looking around and happy to be awake-so maybe that just wore him out. After being so tired I was thrilled to get 5 hours solid sleep.