Mamas with babies in arms...check in! - Page 2

[Momma Aimee]

Theo loooove his baby brother and wants ot hold him a lot -- he has learned to sit on teh sofa, all teh way back , and put his arms out.

Theo brings diapers for Chrles, even when i don't ask. he throws away all the diapers with a bigf smile ---

theo is nurseing again

only once or twice a day -- but that is fine. i got to tandan nurse and there is nothing ike a little dark head iwth dark hair on one boob and a big pale hair with blond curles on the other

more later -- can't hold charles, nak, and type

OK I am back -- Chalres is laying int eh crib and Theo is sitting with me.

I can NAK prtty well once the bae canhold his own head !!!! I was failing before

Theo loves to hold Chalres, he sings NURSE to me when Chalres makes noise, he brings me diapers for C upon request and other times. Theo has perfected the sign for CHANGE for diaper change thanks to Chalres.

Sleep is an issue -- Chrels is very aleart from 9 to 1 or 2, getting better now 12 or 1 .... and when he wakes at night Theo NORMALLY sleeps though it even with the lamp i have to turn on 1/2 the time.... but last night Charles cried more, and "mrant"ed less and Theo got more restless so that is a concern ... then Theo wants to wake up at 6 :i have managed to keep him cuddlign in bed till 7 buttttttt don't know ho wmuch longer THAT will work.

Today I did NOT get a nap -- but up till today i have gotten one with Theo each day -- even with the two of the a number of times, but CHalres cired a lot today and would not settle down so i didn't get to go lay down.

Chalres started crying yesterday for the first time and has been doing a lot more of it

i had forgotten how hard it was to nurse a new born -- you have to HOLD them in place on teh boob the whole time I forgot and "relaxed" a time or two after getting C latched on at first, and he'd roll away !!!! OOPS.

We are generally doing better than i expected, but tehre are time i still feel dumped int eh deep end of a pool alone .

Theo has to sit with me when i nurse and hold my ahir -- or stand behind us.

Not sure how well things will work when Chrles is not sleeping 19 to 20 hours a day and not staying where i put him.

did i note how happy i am Theo is nurseing again -- and how awsome it was to TN ??????

Aimee

[chubbycheeks]

Lindsey that last pis is too cute!!

[meisterfrau]

Originally Posted by chubbycheeks

Lindsey that last pis is too cute!!

: nak can't type...

[monocyte]

finally checking in!!

nak hasnt been easy!!

we are doing well, settling in a bit and trying to figure each other out.

last night we finally "announced" his birth, we kept it hush for a while, and that was great to have a secret for so long.

Henry is doing well. He's a very quiet baby, only makes noise when he has to so far. Nursing was a bit slow at first, but he arrived so quickly I think he was a bit stuck like a deer in the headlights (still working on his birth story!!) We had our first chiro visit today, and first pedi visit (she wanted to meet him since she didnt see him at the hosp). His birth weight was 8lbs, 4 oz, dis at 7 lbs, 13 oz, and today was up to 8lb 1oz - at 4 days old!! I was thrilled! He def loves his milkie! But, he does need to go for an ultrasound to check out his deeper than usual tail leftover indent above his butt...probably nothing, but she wants to just make sure.

Sleep has been well, not really sure what that is...he tends to want to nurse/suckle all night long. And he hates his back - he only wants to sleep on his side.

Besides being tired, I feel great. He came out soo quickly that I dont have any discomfort in the vag area (more so in my butt thanks to the 8 pills of miso shoved in there...ouch!) I'm sure we all have the acheys from trying to adjust to a non preg body...I know I do! And the afterbirth pains, youch!! soo much worse this time. And I still have a fair amount of bleeding, if it doesnt let up by tomorrow I have to go on some meds...m-something. My milk came in 30 hours after birth, and I have massive boobs. Usually barely a B, but I dont have a bra big enough for me now...and ouch, walnuts of engorgement all under my armpits, and one big one on the back of my arm. Amazing.

Sam has been sick (still with that nasty cold/cough) so we have been keeping a bit of distance between him and Henry, which is killing me. I don't want to start off with a constant dont touch, etc. But, he's been great about washing his hands and covering his cough. He just needs to clear out some mucus, uck, his cough sounds horrible. We had him checked out today at the pedi as well, and she thinks he's doing a good job on his own fighting it. Hopefully tomorow will be better.

DH has been great, although, he does need some guidance - laundry is piling up, dipes are everywhere...but, we have been eating 3 meals a day. So, I can't complain. He does tend to sleep through the noise at night, and that is a bit frustrating...last night I so wished he would say, hey, let me rock him/walk him etc. ah, well, nothings perfect.

H is calling!

[Beckula]

Other than the lack of sleep great. Beren wants to nurse all the time. Seriously, one nursing session is usually an hour and a half. Cloth diapering is so freakin easy, its amazing. Our older DS is doing well, he gets a little cranky if he doesn't get some personal attention though. He loves his baby Brother very much though. Going to go try and sleep now.

[renaissanceed]

Lindsey, that picture of your girls eating each other is hilarious!

Aimee - that's great about Theo nursing.

I am more amazed each day by how much easier this is the second time. I can nak, I haven't turned on the light at night to nurse, we're nursing lying down and the little guy has been pretty insistent since day 2 on finding the boob by himself - he won't really let me guide him at all. He has really good control over his head so I can really relax when nursing.

He does like to be held all the time though, which is causing DD to say "Put Silas down here" a lot.

He'sback up over his birth weight now as of day 7

[myjulybabes]

Zoe is 3 weeks old today. We have a weight check with the ped today, she's been a little slow to gain weight, even though she nurses well. But I think she hit her 3 week growth spurt this week...she's been on the boob non-stop since Sunday, so hopefully, the doctor will be happy with whatever her weight is today. I'm not very worried, because she IS gaining, not losing or staying the same, and she has plenty of wet and poopy diapers, but you know how doctors are attached to their charts. I do wish she'd gain a little more though, we didn't expect a baby this tiny and none of her clothes fit!

she's a pretty good sleeper...a couple 3-4 hour stretches at night, but she doesn't like to nap during the day. She's awake a lot more than you'd expect for a newborn!

My recovery is going ok, but slow. this is the first time I've brought a baby home with me right away after a c-section, the boys went to the NICU. I thought it would be easier than running to the hospital every day, but somehow it's not.

Overall, things are pretty good though. This is definitely my last baby, so I'm trying to enjoy every moment!

[Mama Bear]

just a quick check-in...will write more later

Lindsey - my boys try to latch onto each other too

[*Lindsey*]

Sounds like everyone is doing well!

Christine--Too funny! I am looking forward to hearing how things are going for you.

[CheapPearls]

I'm here.

Ethan is 12 days old and just a lovely baby, except he completely refuses the boob! : This is the first time I've tried Bfing (I FF from the beginning with my older boys) and not really how I imagined things going. I'm working on getting in contact with an LC here (the hospital was NO help and even gave me 3 "formula gift bags" when I was discharged and I'm pumping as much as possible to build up my supply. It's just so time consuming. When he has latched on it's been perfect but it makes me so depressed when he fights me so much when I try to nurse him. I'm going to keep trying and hope he gets the hang of it soon.

But enough of the depressing stuff, Ethan has his days and nights in the right place, I'm even getting one 4-5 hour stretch at night which is awesome. He's great when he's awake because he's so alert, just looking around. My oldest likes to read him books. I'll have to get a picture of it next time he does it.

Dh has been such a big help, cooking dinner and helping keep the house somewhat clean, as much as you can with a preschooler and a toddler running around, while I'm trying to nurse/pumping/holding Ethan. He's worried a bit about me because I'm in the baby blues phase even though I keep telling him in a couple of weeks I'll be fine.

I'm recovering great from my csection. I've been completely off pain killers for almost a week and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm still taking it a bit easy though but with DH back at work and it's just me and the 3 boys I'm not seeing how much I can 'take it easy' anymore. Haha.

Um... that's all I can think of. It's snack time.

[gamitzer]

We are doing well, just really tired. Little Noah is a very sweet baby, and is generally calm. We think he is going through a growth spurt right now because he wants to nurse more often than usual. That's been hard on my wife, so I'm trying to do some bottle feeding with pumped milk in the early morning hours.
Overall, it is more manageable than we expected. The hardest parts are having to stay indoors with him for the first month, and the huge amount of people that want to visit. Staying indoors is making my wife a bit stir-crazy, but we're coming on to three weeks, so it will soon be over. She has taken Noah on walks and short errands, but overall, she feels tethered to the house. We're not surprised that people want to visit, but we are surprised at how hard it is to maintain a schedule when people are here. We got our schedule messed up last weekend because some relatives were not specific about the time they were going to arrive. My wife got all set up to feed Noah, and the relatives showed up 10 minutes later. They could only stay for a short time, so feeding ended a bit early, and Noah was confused. We now know that we need to stick to the schedule whether or not people are coming over, and tell people exactly when to arrive.
Breastfeeding is a bit of a challenge. My wife was given a nipple shield in the hospital to help draw out her nipples (she had no idea they were flat), but now Noah doesn't nurse very well without the shield. It's not a big deal, but we talked to some LCs and they all said we should have him off the shield by 3 months. Combined with really large breasts, my wife is getting a bit frustrated with the process. She often says that she wishes she had average sized breasts so the whole process could be a little more discreet and manageable. She's not planning to stop, though, so I really have to give her credit for all her efforts.
Wow, I feel like I've been whining the whole time! Really, we love love love Noah and can't imagine life without him. The birth experience was fantastic, and it secured our dream of having at least one more child. We are so excited to watch him grow, and we try to enjoy all his little mannerisms. He's nice and calm, and enjoys just staring off into space, looking at the way light creates shadows, and watches us and our cats move around. He's a great sleeper, and doesn't really mind being changed. He seems to know that we're new at this, and cuts us some slack.
I hope you all are still doing well! Oh, and here are some newer pics:
One
Two
Three

[renaissanceed]

Meredith - he's such a sweet looking baby (although I think he looks a lot like my Silas so I'm prejudiced).

It can be tough not getting out of the house - I didn't last time and I decided to throw caution to the winds this time and get out. If there are any mom and baby groups (especially breastfeeding support groups) that both you, your partner and Noah could go to, it might to all of you good to get out and talk to other adults who have babies. I feel sooo much better this time in terms of my mental state.