Life with a babe week of 9/25

[dakotamidnight]

Hope it's okay to start this - didn't see it posted

How is everyone doing?

I"m good except for lack of sleep - trinity is cluster feeding for most of the night, and her colic/reflux flares up at night so either myself or grandma is up with her all night. :

Trinity had her 2 week checkup today - she's gained nearly 3/4 of a lb over her birth weight {up to 8 lb 4 oz from 7 lb 8 oz at birth}! And 2 inches in length! I'm so happy that breastmilk is doing her good - and my mom {who formula fed all her kids} was amazed at her growth:

[sleepypeanutsmom]

Congratulations on a great check up for your babe! Hoping for more sleep for you in the upcoming weeks!

[crazyeight]

we are at 3 weeks exactly right now!! weird to think that 3 weeks ago i was pushing!!

we're doing pretty good. ayla isn't sleeping the greatest right now. alot of fussiness and wanting to be rocked/held/slung even though shes sleeping deeply until i put her down!! i hope this is due to her being in a "growth spurt" (i think). still a late nighter and rises to early but i am surviving.

she eats pretty well but i am going to do breast compressions to try and help her sleep a little better i hope.

still adjusting pretty much!

[Guest*]

We're doing great. My son is an angel. Even sleeps well at night. He's the total opposite of his sister. He's my easy child. Never even fusses unless he's gassy or hungry.

My dd is doing much better with him. We've actually got it together pretty well and 3 1/2 weeks.

[AutumnMama]

Hey ladies, this is my first LWaB post
Alden is 2 weeks and one day now, and he's such a mellow baby.
He gets a little fussy with gas sometimes, but he rarely cries. So different than my first two!

He's going about 2 hours in between nursing now, and my engorgement has finally started to level off (thank God! : ). My nipples are still a bit sore, but that's partly due to the fact that he sometimes will lose his latch then drag my nipple over his gum--ouch!
He has a REALLY strong suck too. I've been giving him my finger to suck on when he doesn't want milk anymore but is still desperate to suck.
I finally went ahead and ordered a pair of Soothie pacifiers, thinking that they are the same shape as my nipple/finger so there shouldn't be a problem with nipple confusion.

I do need to work on getting him to open his mouth wider to latch on though...that may be contributing to the soreness as well.

Other than that I feel pretty good...tired, but that comes with the territory

We still don't have a middle name for him. It doesn't help that DH has been mad at me so we haven't really been talking for going on 9 days now :
I really wish he'd snap out of it, I could use his support right now
Bleh, anyway..

Not much else going on around here...hoping to get DD and Alden's new carseats today. Then I can actually take all 3 kids in the car (hopefully!). It kinda sucks knowing that you can't go anywhere, even though your car is in the driveway

I hope everyone can get some rest soon, try to nap whenever you can (a little easier if you don't have other munchkins running around )!

[blairinargentina]

Isabel is 5 weeks 2 days and growing like a weed. She is just a little shy of 8 1/2 lbs now! She is doing really well though we are still trying to figure out what is making her gassy. Dairy is a definate (I am still mourning the loss of cheese in my diet ) but there might be other culprits as well. But she is super mellow unless she has gas, which tends to flare up about once a week. Not too shabby.

She is quiet the sleeper too. Sleeps for a 6-7 hr stretch and 3-4 hr stretch consecutively at night now... that's alot of sleep! Woohoo!

As for me, I am still struggling with pumping. And trying to treat thrush. If we make it to one year with breastfeeding it will be a miracle at this point!

[crazyeight]

i have a few paci's for dd but she doesn't like them. ones a gerber nuk and the others are more like a finger (don't remember the brand). both of them she won't use. kinda frusterating cause she likes to suck to go to sleep but doesn't want to eat. so the only other way is to walk/bounce/pat her to sleep in the sling.

do you think it actually takes time for them to get used to a paci? ds took right to it at 6ish weeks. (not badly taking to it...kwim?)

[Piper's mama]

Miss Lily is almost 2 weeks old and a dream. She is just as easy as her sister was, and combined with the fact that I am no longer a first time mom, things with her are lovely. She sleeps in the bed with us and breastfeeds herself to sleep at about 10:30 or 11, then wakes up at 3 or 3:30 to eat, and then sleeps in until 10 or 11 in the morning. Piper and I are up at 7, and we just let Lily sleep in the bed while we have breakfast, hang out, do chores, whatever. It is great to have that time. Lily is so easy, and Piper can be SO hard. She is definently acting her age (almost 2). Tuesday was an absolutley terrible day. I had to put her in her room in her crib for 30 minutes with toys because I needed a serious break from her. Juggling two kids is even harder than I had expected it to be . But it is only my first week flying solo, so I'm sure we will all get the hang of it. I plan on getting out of the house at least a couple of times next week .

[dvons]

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

we are at 3 weeks exactly right now!! weird to think that 3 weeks ago i was pushing!!

we're doing pretty good. ayla isn't sleeping the greatest right now. alot of fussiness and wanting to be rocked/held/slung even though shes sleeping deeply until i put her down!! i hope this is due to her being in a "growth spurt" (i think). still a late nighter and rises to early but i am surviving.

she eats pretty well but i am going to do breast compressions to try and help her sleep a little better i hope.

still adjusting pretty much!

This is my post!!!! Nadia really is into being held during her daytime naps. Fortunately shes ok with co-sleeping at night and only wakes up at 3am then 6am to eat.

Deb

[bohemama]

Yay! My first post in a life with a babe thread

Lainey is 9 days old today. So far everything is easy peasy (knock on wood). She's just as mellow as DD and since I'm not a first time mom she's seems even easier. Nursing is going very smoothly, much much much better than last time.

We did have a short hospital stay when she was two days old, but it was because I had a bladder infection. I probably had it before she was even born, but it got really bad after. It should have been a quick stay but it wasn't because the Dr. was trying to make me seem sicker than I was. I ended up having to check myself out AMA because they were going to do a D&C for a piece of retained placenta that wasn't there. The dr was just sure that my midwife had no idea what she was doing and therefore didn't know what a fully intact placenta looked like. Well, I still have the placenta in my freezer if he'd like to take a look! I also have ZERO symptoms of a retained placenta and after I was treated for the bladder infection I had no symptoms of anything and felt fine. I really hate dr's and hospitals right now and I am so thankful for my home birth!

Other than that little glitch everything here has been great! I'm really enjoying Lainey and I don't want her to grow as fast as she is. I want her to be a newborn forever. Ok, not really, but maybe a little longer

[huggerwocky]

We got the newborn screen result today, she has the hemoglobin D trait so now my husband and me will go get some testing done. Ugh...

[crazyeight]

so i "forgot" to get ayla's second PKU test done...not sure what they will say. i haven't heard from the birth center about the first one even though i called so i am guessing everything is fine.

hope everything is good with your dc!

[HomeBirthMommy]

nak
Just checking in...
Johanna is doing great. She's a pretty laid back baby. My mom has been here all week and is leaving tomorrow and I'm a little nervous about that. I know I haven't spent enough time with my older girls and I feel pretty guilty about that. They seem to be handling the transition well, though. I know it sounds bad, but I'm really thankful they're in school so it's just Johanna and me during the day. It gives me time to really enjoy her sweet baby-ness,

[mum2be]

I'm typing one-handed, so please excuse any typos...

Elisabeth is getting a little better each day. Sleep is our big issue. She is usually up from 8 p.m. till 3 a.m. It's insane. She's squirmy and can't be comforted no matter what we do. She desparately wants to suck, but i can't keep my boob or finger in her mouth for 8 hours straight. So last night, against the midwife's advice, we gave her a paci. In it went, after 6 straight hours of fussing, and out like a light she went. Amazing!! She even spit it out after sleeping for about 15 minutes and never needed it again. So, for someone who was so against paci's, I am now thanking the paci gods. We actually slept last night!

She had her first outing yesterday. It was a checkup. She's up to 8 lbs. 1 oz. and grew 1/2 inch in just 11 days! Go breastmilk!! She wasn't too sure about her carseat, but once the car started moving, she went to sleep. I hope she won't fuss in the car because we live in the middle of nowhere and it takes us forever to get anywhere!

That's all for now

[Mimi37]

Long vent. Thanks.

Talia will be 7 weeks tomorrow, and I have to say I am close to losing my mind these last couple of days. Last night she slept from 10pm to 1am (yay) and then woke up and fussed and cried until 4:30am. MAN, that is exhausting. I did two hours, then handed her to DH, who did the rest. We watched Happiest Baby on the Block recently and those tricks help a lot but not 100%. Fed her twice in there (our feedings take like 45 minutes : ), and finally fed her again at 4:30 and she settled down -- but I am torn -- maybe she is having a growth spurt and is fussing to eat all the time, but I have crazy supply still and if I fed her that whole 4 hrs like she wanted, her reflux would be insane. It was already getting bad, and I hate listening to her gag and choke and spit/sneeze up milk (and that just makes her cry more). I know there have been easier times in the last few weeks and I am trying to keep things in perspective, this will pass, things will get better, but honestly when people tell me to enjoy this newborn stage I want to SLAP them. I'm sorry, but this is hard as hell and I will be happy when it's over. I'm jealous of all you happy peaceful mamas with "easy babies." Maybe when she's sitting up -- supposedly reflux improves then. I just feel so terrible. After two hours up with her, I was so mad at her, then feeling horrible for being mad at an infant. I know it's not her fault, but when I give her a good long feeding and then burp her, and instead of settling into peaceful sleep (which, to be fair, she sometimes does), she turns into Demon Baby and starts fussing, drooling on my shoulder, banging me with her head, scratching my neck and face, kicking my gut, clambering upward, screeching in my ear... and I'm just so tired, and this has been going on for hours... sigh. I know there have been easier days/nights and there will be again. Just trying to keep it together for now. There have already been times when I have to put her down and walk away for a few minutes to collect myself, and I know I shouldn't feel bad about that, but I do, like I should be a more patient mama with a calmer baby, like I'm doing something wrong to make her so wild.

Plus, she almost always settles into a peaceful nap whenever anyone besides me and DH is around, and honestly, she looks like a perfect chubby little cherub, (see?) and everyone raves about how sweet and precious and what a good baby she is, and I want to say, yeah right, wait til the middle of the night when DEMON BABY rears her ugly head... then come back and tell me how angelic she is...

OK, thanks, I feel better.

[Mimi37]

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

do you think it actually takes time for them to get used to a paci?

Yeah, it can. Our ped showed us how to put the paci in dd's mouth and then gently place your hand over it and grasp her head and sort of wobble it (head) back and forth (she called it the "Stevie Wonder," get it? ) I think it's supposed to stimulate the sucking reflux so they start to hang onto it.

And then in Happiest Baby on the Block, the ped suggests that when babe gets paci in mouth, instead of holding it there to encourage them (which is sort of one's normal inclination to do), periodically you should gently press it down towards babe's chin, as if it's about to fall out, which makes them (ideally) suck harder to keep it in and strengthen those muscles.

We started with Nuk paci's at 5ish weeks, once we knew bf was going well and weight gain was fabulous. They have been a godsend.

[crazyeight]

Originally Posted by Mimi37

and I hate listening to her gag and choke and spit/sneeze up milk (and that just makes her cry more).

is this what reflux is? my dd does this sometimes but not very often. sometimes its right after a feeding but it can do it whenever. kinda chunky/half digested sometimes and sometimes she will cough/sputter but nothing comes out but she gets freaked cause she can't breath. just wondering if i should be concerned and see if i should be in "preventative" mode or if i should just watch it for now.

it will get better and i feel the same way some nights. just cause we love them doesn't mean we always like them! and although the newborn/smallness stage is so short and after its all over you usually look back and want to hold them again but its ok not to be in love/happy all the time.

if you can hang in there we will get through it together!!

[Mimi37]

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

is this what reflux is? my dd does this sometimes but not very often.

If it does not happen often, I don't think you should worry about it. With DD, I would put her down after a feeding, sleeping peacefully, and 2 minutes later she would wake up crying/coughing/gagging/sneezing/hiccuping/spitting up. Some level of spitting up is normal; with DD it happened pretty much every time, and with all that other stuff and distress along with it. I don't think there's anything you can do to prevent reflux; they either have it or they don't. Also, I think (but am not positive) that you would have seen symptoms by now if babe had reflux, i.e., I don't think they develop it later than the first few weeks. Yay for you and your babe!

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

it will get better and i feel the same way some nights. just cause we love them doesn't mean we always like them! and although the newborn/smallness stage is so short and after its all over you usually look back and want to hold them again but its ok not to be in love/happy all the time.

if you can hang in there we will get through it together!!

Thanks for that I am hoping tonight goes better. Every night is so different, there's no reason not to expect the best, I suppose? Fingers crossed.

[TurboClaudia]

our newest little boy will be two weeks old in just a few hours, and it's so weird to think that two weeks ago right now, my squeezes were just starting to get organized into a pattern and at regular times. i feel like he's been around forever already and that life is just normal with a two year old and a new babe. we are still deciding on a name for him.

i don't post here much, but i'm trying to keep up with reading everyone's updates. naking is hard with this little one. he's not really into being held in one arm, so mostly i just have enough time to read a few threads or posts and then i have to find a better chair to nurse him in.

the little one is a totally different nurser than his big brother was.

and of course, now big brother wants some much needed attention while the little one is sleeping on the couch....

thinking of you all...

~claudia

[huggerwocky]

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

so i "forgot" to get ayla's second PKU test done...not sure what they will say. i haven't heard from the birth center about the first one even though i called so i am guessing everything is fine.

hope everything is good with your dc!

You're having 2 tests?