How's it going?

[miguelsmom]

So I'm just wondering how everyone who has had their baby(s) is doing. How is the healing process going for everybody. My daughter is 11 days old and I am just now starting to feel a little more like myself (physically)since the c-section. As much as the pain medication helps, it keeps me from feeling normal (which I really hate because I have a hard time taking a tylenol when I have a headache).
I haven't really been able to approach my emotions regarding the way my birth went, I just have to keep reminding myself that my daughter may not be here if it weren't for modern medicine. This whole post pardum thang is a very interesting process don't you think?

I just wanted to get a discussion going about how we are all coping with this huge change in our lives. We have been so great at supporting each other while we waited (and in some cases still wait) for our babies. I've been so out of the loop lately I wanted to check-in with everybody.

All the best to everyone!!!

[Shenandoah]

Sorry you are having a hard time with your c/s recovery. It sounds quite similar to my first c/s recovery. Try to take it easy, take any offers of help you can get, and sleep. Not groundbreaking advice, I know.

I'm actually having a much easier recovery than last time. Not sure why that is because my labor was over 3x as long and my surgery was much more complicated. I even had a nasty infection this time which I didn't have last time. Miraculously I've lost quite a bit of the pregnancy weight already - just waiting for the ligaments to tighten the ol' hips back up. Guess that takes getting rid of the hormones, which is just a matter of time. I'm very thankful that this recovery is going so much better than the last time. I don't know how I'd care for my two older kids if I was having a rough recovery again.

[meggles]

Molly is 9 days old today. We're doing really well, considering my 2nd degree tear and 40+ stitches. I'm still sore, but everything is healing well.
Nursing is going much better--her latch is great and my nipples are toughening up. I've lost 30 of the 50 pounds I've gained, which I think is pretty good considering I've been on bedrest since giving birth. My uterus is already back to normal size/placement and my bleeding is light. I can't wait to get out of the house, but even a short outing probably won't happen until this weekend. I'm just trying to heal well so that I can be a good mama. This spring/summer will be so nice as the weather warms up and our little ones get bigger. Oh--Molly has also already surpassed her birthweight! She gained 10 oz. in just 6 days and has plumper cheeks and a double chin to show for it.

[NewEyes]

Liliana is 13 days today. Stitches still bugging me, tailbone is excruciating sore from sunny side up girl, but I'm feeling better. Still puzzled by mysterious 2 hr fussiness at random time each night. Pulls on & off nursing while crying. Wondering if it's something I'm eating. WHich could be anything because I've been starving!
Starting at 9 lbs means I'm putting her in little outfits as fast as I can so she wears them at least once!
Trying to handmake baby announcements in "spare" time. ha ha
take care everyone!

[PortraitPixie]

Nice to see this thread! Glad everyone is hanging in there.

Healing vibes to all!

Zoey is 17 days old today. And she has a cold!! : Right alongside dh and I. Oh well, she seems to be coping with it okay; I'm running the humidifier and using the dreaded nose bulb when I have to. Other than that, we're good!

Nursing is going great, from 8 lbs 2oz at birth, she is now 9 lbs!
Due to the MUCH shorter labor, and no tearing this time around, I am feeling great. Starting to get out and about some even.

So, in Febuary do we start our own Jan. 07 Life w/ a babe thread? Is that how it works? I don't want to lose touch with you gals!

[MacKinnon]

Baby Isaac is a week old today. Yesterday at his first well-baby visit, we found out he weighs in at a whopping 9lb 6oz!! He was born at 8lb 10oz and came home at 8lb 3oz. Isaac is a good, sweet, sleepy baby. He never fusses or cries, just sleeps and nurses, nurses and poops, and has a couple short wakeful periods. I am feeling very good, physically. I had no stiches/tears and my 'roids are almost all healed.

Nursing has, surprisingly, been a challenge. My nipples are very sore, my breasts are terribly engorged. I don't know why this is hard this time. My guess is that last time I was so focused on learning how to nurse, I worked really hard to get DD to latch right. But with Isaac, I felt I knew how to do this and didn't work much on his latch. He has a much smaller head (and mouth) that DD and a tight little latch. Also, DD only ever nursed on the right, she refused the left almost from the beginning. So my left nipple has never been used and I am not use to trying to position on that side. And the engorgement... Holy cow! It's been 5 days now since my milk came in and it isn't much better.

I've been pretty emotional. DH has really been getting on my nerves. I am really ready for him to go back to work. He just isn't helpful at all and it would be easier to not have him home! DD is doing great with the new baby, a little on edge and more easily tantruming, but much better than I had expected!

I think, PortraitPixie, that our DDC will be left open for another year or so. So we could start a Jan. 07 Life with a babe thread, or we could still post here. Or both!

Glad to hear everyone is hanging in there Can't believe that Jan. is almost over and so many of us have had our babies! Time just flew by last year... I'm still surprised some days to wake up with the baby and realize that he really is here!

[bleumoose]

I'm doing well. Dermot is 10 days old already - where'd the time go? He's still such a mild mellow baby who sleeps and nurses so well, dh and I are in awe. He hasn't been weighed since a week ago today when he was down to 8#12oz, but I think he's gaining and growing - his face is filling out and an outfit that fit 5 days ago is small today.

My physical recovery is going awesome. Last week I had to remind myself repeatedly to take it easy, I just didn't feel like I'd just had a baby.

Emotionally I am doing well, but it's hard. I keep thinking nostalgically about life before Dermot. I love him unimaginably much yet I miss the time before too. Plus I miss the anticipation of birth and the bew baby... silly sounding isn't it?

Glad to hear most everyone is having a good recovery. For those who are having a rough time, hang in there, it's going to get better soon!

[skueppers]

Karl is 8 days old today, but since we've been home from the hospital the second time around for less than three days, I feel like we're nowhere near finding our groove yet, particularly at night. We'll get there! Our two-year-old is fascinated by the baby, but is also displaying a certain amount of protectiveness of her "stuff" and her perogatives.

Physically, I had sort of a low point yesterday. I've felt really well since the birth -- no need for any pain medication or even ice packs for my small tears/stitches, out of bed the morning after the birth, lots of energy, etc. All of which was critical when we had to go back to the hospital, since there wasn't anyone to help me care for him a lot of the time. Anyway, yesterday my knees hurt, my pelvis hurt, my stitches itched, and my abdominal muscles were sore. I have no idea what the deal is with my knees -- they felt fine throughout the pregnancy. I'm trying to be better about asking people to do things for me, even though it makes me feel like a slacker. Hopefully I'll feel better today.

We've got our first well-baby visit today; I'll be interested to hear how much weight my little champion nurser has gained. I know he was over 10 pounds when we left the hospital on Tuesday.

[*~Danielle~*]

Eowyn is 3 1/2 weeks old and I've been depressed. It has been a hard couple weeks for me, feeling hopeless.

However, I've been doing "light therapy" for the past couple of days and starting taking vitamins and I think my hormones are starting to level out and so I am feeling better. I'm going to go to the chiropracter to start getting myself aligned and feeling better physically. This nursing constantly is taking its toll on my back and neck. Yikes.

Anyone still feeling like crap and want to private message me, we can talk.

[katie9143]

Well, Amelia is not even 5 days old and i really can hardly believe she is here, it hasnt sunk in yet i dont think. We had out first dr. appt on weds actually and she was only 3 days old, but that was because i didnt want this snobby little ped. in the hospital really touching her too much, plus i wanted to get out of there!! She had actually gone from her birth weight of 8lbs to 7lbs9oz - which seemed a lot for me, but considering that on day 3 my milk was barely in and she had only had 1-2 good feedings, I guess that isnt too bad and the dr. didnt seem concerned.

We have had a little bfing challenge - she is doing some type of crooked sucking thing and I had to have a lactation consultant come here yesterday. She looked at my cracked nipples and could not believe that I was still feeding her on them and I hadnt used any formula - so that made me feel good. I think some of the things that she showed me, along with the nipple shield and that lotion that my mum is picking up at the pharmacy for me right now will really help to make that aspect better.

Anyhow, i think i hear her crying...glad to hear everyone else is doing pretty well - and anyone who is not, hang in there!

[swtpesq]

Piper is 2 weeks + 1 day old today. Things are going pretty well, though today was hard. It was DH's first day back at work, and I wanted so much to have it be a fun, productive, easy day...instead, it was quite the opposite. For the second time, my little girl projectile vomited everything that was in her little stomach (at least one feeding, maybe more). The doctor said not to worry, but how can I not? Plus, she's got a horrible diaper rash despite our best efforts. And she absolutely hates "tummy time," so I guess we won't be doing that for a while. And finally, although she was asleep in a bouncy chair when I got in, she cried the entire 5 minutes that I was in the shower this morning. All in all, I feel pretty down and unsure about my mothering abilities right now. :

On the upside, she is gaining lots of weight, sleeping for longer and longer stretches of time (6 hours last night!), and seems to be more alert and happy each day.

As for nursing, I guess it's going OK...she certainly likes to eat. In fact, that's all she ever does if she's not sleeping. My nipples are really sore because she is kind of a chomper, but we're slowly getting the hang of it, I think. The hardest part is knowing when she's "done" because she never really is. I hope it will just kind of work itself out...

Just taking it day by day!

[MacKinnon]

Originally Posted by swtpesq

For the second time, my little girl projectile vomited everything that was in her little stomach (at least one feeding, maybe more). The doctor said not to worry, but how can I not? Plus, she's got a horrible diaper rash despite our best efforts. And she absolutely hates "tummy time," so I guess we won't be doing that for a while.

I would look into the possibility of food sensitivies. My DD projecticle vomited, had a terrrible diaper rash, green poop and eczema. Our doctor told us not to worry too but I began to look up stuff on kellymom and found great info about food sensitivities http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns...nsitivity.html I cut out dairy and we saw an almost immediate improvement, then used soy milk and it got much worse. So, we did no soy and no dairy. Suddenly, I had a new baby! Hang in there mama... Don't doubt your abilities, you are both new at this!

[meggles]

I think my dd may have a sensitivity to dairy, too. She gets really gassy from time to time, and I think it's from when I drink milk. Gripe water has been helping--I give her a few drops and it seems to do the trick. I'm also drinking fennel seed tea, which is helping. Just fyi...

[wendyk]

Corryn is now a week old. Mentally, I'm re-living all of the events of her birth day. At this point last week I was in transition, in the shower feeling like I couldn't possibly make it through this. We were only 45 minutes from her birth.

Now, we're adjusting slowly. I'm so in love with these children of mine, but having conflicting feelings of needing to just snuggle in with the baby but also needing to deal with all the out-there bouncy energy of my 4 year old. My mom is here and I'm fighting so hard to take one day at a time rather than worrying about how I'll manage things when I don't have help anymore. DD1 is doing ok, having some really big meltdowns over seemingly small things. Her biggest issue is that I can't pick her up. She is really gentle withe the baby, though, thankfully.

Physically, I'm getting better, though a trip to the grocery store today left me really wiped out- and the only thing I carried was the baby! I did get some wonderful praise from a lady who wanted to see the baby in the sling and was told she was nursing, so that was nice.

For those new mamas- really, taking it one day at a time is key. It does get easier, though I'll admit to wanting to choke the next person that told me that with older DD. But, sure enough, it did.

[kaspar]

harry is two weeks old today, and we are both tired but doing great! he is feeding constantly (he latched all by himself with no problems at all just minutes after he was born) and i feel better than i have in ages. no more heartburn! i can walk like a normal person again! and eat real food! stitches are all healed, and we've been getting out for walks when the weather isn't too awful. lots of visitors too - everyone wants to meet the new guy!