Life with a babe week of 10/2

[dakotamidnight]

how's everyone doing? Getting any sleep?

Trinity is finally starting to get her days/nights straightened out thankfully - and I broke down and we now co-sleep: except for when she sleeps in her bouncer seat {which she loves on vibrate}. And her navel is just about healed - the scab came off, but it's still draining a bit so no bath just yet.

Nursing is going good, and she isn't having any nipple confusion when gramma give her a bottle while I'm gone to class. We've been trying to introduce a paci : {she comfort sucks until she makes herself have an upset tummy, and we mostly want it for when I'm gone & in the car}, but can't find one small enough to fit her mouth! Any tips? We've tried the NUK ones for newborn, and it's way too big for her mouth.

I'm trying to go back to work, but running into a snag getting a note to return to work since my OB clinic won't see me {I've delivered, so they say I'm not under them anymore}, and the familiy planning clinic where I'm supposed to have my 6 wk checkup won't see me until then:

And this week's project is to go fill out all my DHS paperwork for benefits - I really need the extra food $$$!

[HomeBirthMommy]

We're hanging in there. This is my first weeks without dh or my mom. I'm a little nervous. Johanna is a doll during the day and a terror at night. She will only sleep in 20-30 minute increments and then screams when she wakes up. The only thing that calms her is one of us walking around with her up on our shoulder in the "burping" position. :
Sheesh-I miss sleep.

[blairinargentina]

We'll be six weeks tomorrow, hard to believe! This little girl is finally getting some baby fat... gotta love the big cheeks and chubby thighs. :

She is sleeping pretty consistantly these days... long stretches at night with one nighttime nursing. I am trying to get her to take a nap in her crib (we co sleep) any suggestions?? So far she just can't seem to nod off in there.

We are still researching like mad here on the vax issue. Our 2 month visit is coming up soon : . Pertussis is actually a pretty big problem here but my ped said she can't order the vax seperate? (We don't want the tetanus and diptheria). What gives?

Looks like the food sensitivity has been sorted out... no dairy for me. The thrush battle continues but has maybe, just maybe, improved. I still have those ungodly shooting pains in my breasts but have learned to tolerate them somewhat... they're certainly no worse than pitocin contractions!

[qjraven8]

this is the start of the third week home. single parenting isnt as hard so far as i imagined it could be. of course he has some fussy moments but only gets really mad usually when he's getting his diaper changed. (this is when i've endearingly nicknamed him turtle ... he gets to moving his head and appendages like a turtle without a shell stuck on its back !!! very cute) he also loves to be held a lot and it gets a little frustrating when i'm in the middle of changing litter boxes or something of the sort and he wakes up wanting to be held ... i dont want him to cry or feel alone but also have these tasks that need to be completed so i finish what i'm doing before picking him up, and he doesnt seem to hold a grudge or anything he also likes to comfort nurse, wont take a paci so far but i guess i really only tried once. (he spit it out immediately and made this really cute face like "what the heck is that crap?") he seems to be most alert in the evening and i think maybe he just gets confused about being hungry as most of his waking moments so far have been spent eating, so now that he has more alert moments he thinks its still time to eat? my nipples are a bit tender so i'd rather him not use them as a paci, fine if he's actually hungry .... he's also still quite slim looking - i guess my brother and i were quite lanky as babies - but i know he's getting several oz of milk at each sitting, thinks he's mosly grown in length, cant wait to see what the ped says on wednesday!
just woke up and here i am rambling when i could be showering while he's still sleeping!!! thank the universe that he lets me get good stretches of sleep and also for the ring sling my friend lent me, works great to get some housework done!!!

[dakotamidnight]

Originally Posted by blairinargentina

We are still researching like mad here on the vax issue. Our 2 month visit is coming up soon : . Pertussis is actually a pretty big problem here but my ped said she can't order the vax seperate? (We don't want the tetanus and diptheria). What gives?

I'm still researching on the Vax issue too - I know for sure that pertussis is out {I had a serious reaction to it as a child, and everything I've read says if anyone in the family has had a reaction to the vax, it's contraindicated}, but haven't broached the issue with the pedi {currently trying to get babe into a better pedi clinic than she is in.

Probably just going to postpone any vax's until at least 1 year or thereabouts.

[blairinargentina]

Originally Posted by dakotamidnight

I'm still researching on the Vax issue too - I know for sure that pertussis is out {I had a serious reaction to it as a child, and everything I've read says if anyone in the family has had a reaction to the vax, it's contraindicated}, but haven't broached the issue with the pedi {currently trying to get babe into a better pedi clinic than she is in.

Probably just going to postpone any vax's until at least 1 year or thereabouts.

Good to know about the pertussis... will have to ask my mom and mil about that.

the vax talk with the ped went better than we thought it would. i think they were atleast a little pleased that we were trying to educate ourselves and be informed. although there was still the usual pressure of "well, you know flu season is coming around and...".

also, about pacifiers dakotamidnight... they gave dd a mam newborn pacifier in the hospital and she did fine with it. she was a pretty small baby too, with a small mouth and latch, and it didn't seem to be overly big for her. might wanna give it a try?

[crazyeight]

Originally Posted by blairinargentina

Good to know about the pertussis... will have to ask my mom and mil about that.

the vax talk with the ped went better than we thought it would. i think they were atleast a little pleased that we were trying to educate ourselves and be informed. although there was still the usual pressure of "well, you know flu season is coming around and...".

also, about pacifiers dakotamidnight... they gave dd a mam newborn pacifier in the hospital and she did fine with it. she was a pretty small baby too, with a small mouth and latch, and it didn't seem to be overly big for her. might wanna give it a try?

is this a "commen" vax that gives problems? my mom remembers that i had a seizure when i got a vax but she doesn't remember which one. ds has had no problems with any vax's so far but i just wanted to know. tia

[mum2be]

Elisabeth is doing better with her fussing. She is sleeping a little better at night, but still no real schedule yet. I can't wait until I can predict when her awake times will be...

She took the paci last night and it put her right to sleep. She has aversions to it at certain times, and always spits it out, but if I hold it in her mouth she eventually gets the hint and starts sucking. I hate feeling like I'm "forcing" her to take it, but once she sucks on it, she's so content. I never thought I would ever give my child a paci, but she just wants to suck and I don't want to be a human pacifier...

I'm going to try to pump for the first time tonight so dh can feed her tomorrow morning. I'm a little nervous. I feel like I'm abandoning her somehow by not nursing her, but I know she'll have to take the bottle at some point if we ever want her to stay with my mother for a couple of hours. I hope she doesn't like the bottle too much!

We're also dealing with the fact that she doesn't want to sleep unless she's sleeping ON one of us. She's good at cosleeping every once in a while, but for naps she wants to be on our chest. I love the bonding and all, but sometimes I need to get things done while she's napping. It just breaks my heart when she starts crying after I put her in her hammock.

I feel so scatter-brained right now. Lack of sleep...sorry if this post is all over the place.

I'm also waiting to see if I have an infection in my uterus. I got an infection in one of the tears and the midwife is afraid it could spread to my uterus. I started bleeding again after 5 days of no bleeding and I had major cramps at 2 weeks postpartum. I was so scared. Hopefully it's just a sign that I overdid it a little bit. The last thing I want is another infection where I would need to go on antibiotics, etc. Ick. So I just have to wait it out and see what happens.

[dakotamidnight]

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

is this a "commen" vax that gives problems? my mom remembers that i had a seizure when i got a vax but she doesn't remember which one. ds has had no problems with any vax's so far but i just wanted to know. tia

pertussis is the most reactive vax given - and if you had the DPT in the 80's you likely may have been given a "hot lot" shot - anywhere from 100 to 500 times stronger than it was supposed to be.

Seizures are a common reaction to the DPT vax :

[crazyeight]

oy vey!! so i changed dd into a sleeper instead of a onsie for the first time and can you believe it she has had a TOTAL change of "behavior"! she is sleeping better (during the day only) she is ok in her carseat and not screaming her head off and seems just happier all around...: i mean all this from a different kind of clothing!! ?????

but i also am having a hard time with the drs. jeez. i got an authorization (military) to get her hearing test done since we weren't at a hospital....they send me a auth for a dr thats an hour and a half away!! i live in a big city, they have my address and NEVER before have they sent me far away (so its not like they just pick the first one on the list) BUT they also have NINE providers in my city that do hearing tests but I need to call them to find out if they do newborn/pediatric hearing tests....WTF??? i really don't think she needs a hearing test done, she startles at noises, gets soothed by my voice and i think even turns her head to certain sounds. why should i have to do all the freakin work to go and inconvience myself??? so really i am not doing it. forget that.

other than that things are still pretty much the same. i get a few hours of good sleep and then the rest of the night its up/down/up down. and today she was awake at 5 a.m. and ds woke up at 7 a.m.......i am tired to say the least.

[Jetka]

Levi is two weeks old today! I cannot believe it. Yesterday we went to the pediatrician and Levi has gained 7 1/2 ounces since birth and grew an inch! My little munchkin is getting so big already! Unfortunately, he has his days and nights mixed up and I am exhausted. He sleeps wonderfully all day and at night he naps on and off until about 10pm and then he is up until about 4am. He does not like his crib at all so we cosleep. I love cosleeping so much more then him being in his crib. Not to mention, it's much easier then getting up when you're half asleep. He does fall asleep in his bounch seat when it's on vibrate sometimes. Any ideas on how to switch his sleep schedule? My mother says to keep him awake all day...but he's so young still I don't know how that would work. Since birth he has been able to keep his head up for short periods of time, but recently he has kept it up for over a minute. He is very good at grabbing your fingers and hair...he's been doing that since birth as well. He now is smiling and laughing...usually in his sleep though. He's very gassy and sometimes I have to ask my husband which one of them it was, lol.

[Sanguine]

I've been thinking about all of you-- just getting back to the computer for the first time! Colicky computer, colicky baby. oy!

Teddy is a gassy boy... night was pretty horrible until daddy started doing colic massage on his tummy (out of dr. sears' baby book)--which helped a lot. now nights are getting more reasonable--up once or twice for 1-2 hours, but no screaming--and he's compensating by screaming his head off in the morning. Jeremy just went back to work monday, so I"m sure we're all just adjusting. That's what I tell myself anyway.

We gave ourselves 2 weeks of disposables before starting in on cloth, which I tried this morning, with explosive and disastrous results!! I obviously need my neighbor to give me a clinic. anybody else struggling?

on the pacifier thing--does anybody know of a newborn paci made of silicone? my mom is latex allergic & the only newborn pacis we found were latex. Teddy is a champion sucker, which is great for breastfeeding, but rough since that's the only way to comfort him. his own hands work for him sometimes, but he's getting a lot of air in and it isn't helping the colic/guts problems. Our fingers are good, but sometimes we need them for other stuff. and he gave my mom a huge hickey on her chin Sunday... arnica & makeup couldn't hide it--her coworkers were amused!

[dvons]

We are at 4 weeks Thursday. Everything is going well except she does that same thing where she wants to suck and doesn't want to drink. She ends up choaking and gagging and getting lots and lots of gas. We found that the plain old NUK pacis 0-6 month size work just fine. She didn't want to take the silicone nipples at all but on the first try took the latex w/out an issue. I was kind of hoping to avoid the paci this time around but she is doing so good with nursing I didn't see any reason not to give it to her. As far as I know (we are co-sleeping) she only wakes 2 times at night for nursing and the second is around 7am when our older kids are climbing in bed with us anyway so it isn't really a disturbance.

Deb

[dvons]

We gave ourselves 2 weeks of disposables before starting in on cloth, which I tried this morning, with explosive and disastrous results!! I obviously need my neighbor to give me a clinic. anybody else struggling?

What kind of dipes are you using? We've been using cloth since the beginning with not a lot of problems. I've got a rather random collection of AIOs, Fitteds and prefolds just in a regular wrap type cover. I do know that with all three in the very begining, the poops would go everywhere inside the cover so we went through a lot more of those.

Deb

[Sanguine]

smallest size (8-10 lb) proraps over prefolds... seemed like it was riding pretty low when I put it on him & it was hard to fasten... maybe he needs a bigger cover? hard to believe since he's less than 8 lbs still, but the diaper was way thick and didn't want to fit in the cover--even folded up in back.

I'll try again when his dad comes home. there's only so much excitement I'm up for handling solo in one day.

[myhoneyswife]

Originally Posted by Sanguine

smallest size (8-10 lb) proraps over prefolds...

How are you folding them? What works best for us is to fold the back down a little bit if there's enough dipe, then to fold the front into a triangle, bring it up, pull the back over it, and then pin or snappi. It makes a little pocket for the poo to go, at least for us

I've got a great baby! We had some major latch issues, but we got them worked out by using a dropper for a day. Now we're latching well all the time except for at night. But she's only up about twice at night, so I can bring her into the livingroom and work it out here.

Hannah is 2-1/2 weeks old now, wow! We're co-sleeping until I can get the basinette in our room, then she'll just be right next to the bed so still easy reach for nursing. She's more alert now, will look around and stuff after feedings. If she can get a good 15+ min feeding, then she's awake for about 20 mins and then asleep for about an hour and a half or 2 hours! Good deal, eh?

I'm still a mess from blood loss. I'm kinda wishing I had just gone and gotten a blood transfusion, and DH certainly is! My house is a disaster, every single dish we have is dirty and there is just a mess all over the floor. Still all the birthing stuff is just in a pile, but I think I'll be able to tackle most of it this week.

Pacifiers: We use an Avent newborn that I found? I think it's silicone. She likes it but I try to limit it because we've had issues with nipple confusion. I use it in the car and sometimes in the middle of the night, though.

Confession: I ask DH to buy microwave TV dinners! That's what I eat for lunch. I was so weak last week that I couldn't even micro them without having to lay down on the kitchen floor after punching in the numbers, but this week I"m much stronger and can do the micro and then some...

Another confession: I lost all but 5 lbs of my baby weight! And I gained 50-60 lbs. :

K, I actually put a pre-made apple crisp in the oven, and I'm going to go check on it. Closest I got to cooking since my little sweetie was born...

so there we are!

Cara

[mum2be]

We were using Kissaluvs with prowraps for the first week until her cord fell off. We then switched to Fuzzi Bunz. We LOVE the fuzzi bunz. They are so easy to use and we've only had one blow out because she was laying on her side and it leaked out

The kissaluvs were too bulky, and with the prowrap on top, the only thing she could wear were the nightgowns because nothing else would fit over them.

So I've just ordered 12 more FBs. They truly are the greatest! We just throw the dirty ones, poop and all, into the diaper pail and all the stains come out in the wash. So easy!!

[noteworthy]

Man, I am so excited that I finally get to post to this thread. So hard to have a baby at the end of a ddc. Next time, must be a better planner. I feel a bit wierd posting this since I haven't posted her birth story, but it might take a while to get a chunk of time to write it all down. J is 6 days old this am. Where is the time going? We are sure enjoying our babymoon. Dh has been home this whole past week and has done everything to help out. Today is his first day back at work. Actually, he had to work Sun am, but a friend came over and helped me out with the other two kids so I could shower and nap and bf. J sleeps on my chest or in the bassinet beside my side of the bed. She has been a very contented baby. She latches on with no issues, has very little gas and because my supply is so huge, she only nurses 5-10 mins, only on one side. We set up a changing area in the bedroom and at night I put her in a disp. diaper so we don't have to wake up to change, unless she is poopy.
i haven't used my sling yet because 1. my back is still traumatized from delivery and 2. my breasts hurt too much to even consider wearing it yet. I am going to make a tee shirt that says "we survived the engorgement of '06".
I prefer not to give a paci, because it always falls out and then we loose them. However, I have learned my lesson! With dd and ds, we didn't use them very much. Ds would take only mama and ds just wasn't interested too much. But, with my engorgement and oversupply issues, we use it for comfort sucking between every 2 hour bf. She is currently sleeping 21 hours a day and going 2 hours between nursey nurse sessions. Last night she went 3
My labor was fast and furious, and I had a small tear on my scar from dd and ds. Mostly, I just feel like I was in a car accident. I hurt all over from the labor. My favorite place is in the tub or shower. I have been taking IBs round the clock to help with the engorgement and still needing to take the occasional narc to help out with pain. Gee, after dd was born, we went camping the following weekend. Allbeit, we did take our trailer so there was a comfy bed, a bathroom and AC. This time, leaving the house seems out of the question. Dh did take me out for nice lunch yesterday, but afterward I paid. On top of this, I have a virus that I had before she was born, with coughing, sneezing and I have lost my voice. Coughing is excruciating and let's just say my bladder control isn't what it used to be. So, each day I get bit stronger and fall more in love with #3! and with dh who has been a peach through the whole thing.
I love my whisper wraps and Chinese prefolds. So much nicer than the pins and rubber pants I used with #1 and #2. I have taken the past week off of school which has been so relaxing.... not looking forward to going back, but assignments are coming due. Ooops, time for nursey nurse.
Thanks for letting me ramble.

[snuffles]

Originally Posted by Jetka

Levi is two weeks old today! I cannot believe it. Yesterday we went to the pediatrician and Levi has gained 7 1/2 ounces since birth and grew an inch! My little munchkin is getting so big already! Unfortunately, he has his days and nights mixed up and I am exhausted. He sleeps wonderfully all day and at night he naps on and off until about 10pm and then he is up until about 4am. He does not like his crib at all so we cosleep. I love cosleeping so much more then him being in his crib. Not to mention, it's much easier then getting up when you're half asleep. He does fall asleep in his bounch seat when it's on vibrate sometimes. Any ideas on how to switch his sleep schedule? My mother says to keep him awake all day...but he's so young still I don't know how that would work. Since birth he has been able to keep his head up for short periods of time, but recently he has kept it up for over a minute. He is very good at grabbing your fingers and hair...he's been doing that since birth as well. He now is smiling and laughing...usually in his sleep though. He's very gassy and sometimes I have to ask my husband which one of them it was, lol.

I just had to say I love your baby's name.
(Sorry, I'm mostly a lurker here since my babe was almost born in September.)

[Jetka]

Originally Posted by mat4mel

I just had to say I love your baby's name.
(Sorry, I'm mostly a lurker here since my babe was almost born in September.)

Thanks!