Babies! (A thread for 'outies') - Page 3

[nolonger]

Ah, the thrill of the catch! I tend to feel very guilty about not picking up on EC as well as my sons can, but this week's milestones have been our first out-of-the-house catch in a sink (we usually use a large mixing bowl by the side of the bed) and Terran figuring out that poopies could be caught too and signalling for two subsequent poops.

I do ALWAYS cue him when it happens unless he's in a diaper (I only put one on if we re going out somewhwere) and I think it helps, because he definitely understands my cues and I'm constantly apologizing to him for being too slow to get him to the bowl on time.

I so don't wnt to go to work today; I just want to sepd the rest of my life curled up under the covers with this little boy with the occaisional hour or half hour to sepnd taking care of the other little boy or noticing what an amazing young womyn my only daughter is.

dd has completely shocked me by morphing into the world's greatest big sister. I tthought she didn't like babies, so why is she intuitively so RIGHT with him without being the slightest bit intrusive or pushy?

Oh well; off to stuff envelopes and save Humboldt County from corporate rule even though I forget, at the moment, why that used to be so important to me.

[nausicaamom]

Originally Posted by sunkist33

She is just the sweetest, most content baby. She only cries to nurse and the boob placates her right away
She also had a nice strong latch & suck from day 1 & my nipples are very thankful (I had horrible cracked nipples with dd #1)! She eats *constantly* which I think is great, at least I'm not worried about her getting enough.
Cloth diaper confession: We've been using the Kissaluvs size 0 for the most part, but I hate how soaked they feel next to her skin so I've been using one of the one size BumGenius' for night-time & it's sooo nice! I love how it feels dry on the outside while the insert is soaked! And it doesn't leak, even though she's only 7lb., 8oz. But we only have one, so I've been washing it daily, LOL. Definately have to order some more of those I may try the FuzziBunz soon (I think I have 7 of those, but they are size small, not extra small, does anyone know what weight they start at?)...
We haven't bathed her yet, though I've been putting Vitamin E oil on her wrinkly feet. Her umbilical cord is kind of gross (anyone else?) so I've been using a bit of alcohol (even though current recommendations are to just leave it alone).
Her nose is kind of stuffy so I may get some infant saline drops. What is everyone else doing for congestion/ stuffy noses?
Anyways, I can't believe she's here & I'm enjoying every precious moment with her

I have a few bum geniuses too and they are wonderful - I wish I had the $$ for them to be my whole stash. Alex still hasn't had a bath yet , Michael hated them until he could sit up well and with my house being so cold I haven't been in a huge rush to get him completely wet. His cord definitely got very gross looking, but I just left it alone (read - too lazy to have the rubbing alcohol handy at diaper changes) and after the stump fell off it did dry out nicely. He definitely has some sniffles but as they don't seem to be interfering with nursing or really bothering him, I am in no huge rush to do the whole baby torture that is saline and a nasal aspirator.

We are on day two of our second growth spurt and at times it's really kicking me in the butt - he usually sleeps for a good two hours at a stretch in the bouncy chair but now won't sleep for longer than 40 minutes or so and it has to be in arms. I'm hoping that tonight will be the last of it and I can get my easy-going guy back and a little bit of sleep. Michael is a challenge right now but that has more to do with me finding my zen place and changing my expectations. My husband is kicking me out of the house on Sunday to see a movie with my girlfriend and to have some alone time which should really help me recharge so I can let go of things and be a better mom to Michael.

[FelixMom]

Glad to hear everyone's babymoons are going okay!

This little guy is our last, and I felt a bit nostalgic at the 2 week post-partum visit with the midwives the thought flashed across my mind that I would never again walk up these stairs in the throes of labour.

My body is amazing me this time around, with lochia just about gone as of 2 weeks 3 days. With my first, the lochia hung around for 10 weeks!!! I remembered the horrible afterpains with my second, and regularly scarfed down Advil every 4 hours for the first 2-3 days. Life was good.

Then came engorgement. I kept telling DH it was too bad my "endowment" felt like bricks under 5000 psi, otherwise he could enjoy playing with them. Sent DH to the local drugstore to get some bryonia 30ch and took 3 granules 4x/day until it was over.

Caught a few pees and poops and baby cries like heck during diaper changes. BFing is going well. I use a teeny cup to catch the leak in the opposite breast and give it to DD to drink. A variation on tandem nursing

On the negative side, we've had to drag baby to the hospital at 3 days old for an ultrasound to check out the hydronephrosis in his left kidney . He had a VCUG that came back with no indication of reflux... He has a Lasix nuclear medicine scan scheduled in two weeks to see the level of function in the affected kidney and to see the nature of the obstruction causing the swelling. Wish us luck...

[flapjack]

sunkist, if you want to do anything for her nose just squirt some breastmilk up there.

I'm having a bit of a funk- we finally figured out that River is so caffeine-sensitive, even a cup of tea bugs him and keeps him irritable during the day (at night, he's fine.) So I'm totally caffeine-free, and having withdrawal headaches. The midwife is refusing to discharge him because he's still (incredibly, fractionally, infinitesimally) yellow and is referring us to hospital next week if he doesn't pink up properly, and I had a seriously bad day with one of my others (not Isaac, for once) yesterday as well. It's all going a bit pearshaped Hopefully today will be better though...

[Teenytoona]

Originally Posted by flapjack

sunkist, if you want to do anything for her nose just squirt some breastmilk up there.

I'm having a bit of a funk- we finally figured out that River is so caffeine-sensitive, even a cup of tea bugs him and keeps him irritable during the day (at night, he's fine.) So I'm totally caffeine-free, and having withdrawal headaches. The midwife is refusing to discharge him because he's still (incredibly, fractionally, infinitesimally) yellow and is referring us to hospital next week if he doesn't pink up properly, and I had a seriously bad day with one of my others (not Isaac, for once) yesterday as well. It's all going a bit pearshaped Hopefully today will be better though...

Oh Helen, I hope the jaundice works out soon, what a rough go. Here's hoping your caffeince withdrawal gets much easier quickly!! Sounds like you need a

[nausicaamom]

s Helen - things are definitely pear-shaped here today as well. here's hoping that the growth spurt ends today - I'm not sure how much more I can take.

[StrawberryFields]

Oh boy, you all are such a chatty bunch I can hardly keep up. I am going to go back and read through after posting but while I have a minute with BOTH hands free--ds watching PBS and dd is sleeping away in the bouncy seat--I'll post an update.

Charlotte is doing great, she is such a different baby than Andrew was that it's AMAZING. I can't wait to see if they keep up their opposite personalities as they get older. She is a real sleeper, sometimes I don't even get to change her at night because she never wakes up. And she rarely ever cries. Instead, she is the noisiest baby I have ever met! Whenever she wants something, whenever she moves, farts, poops, burps, anything, she grunts and groans with all her might. I know it is time to feed her at night when I hear her snuffling and snorting next to me, even though she won't even open her eyes or wake up at all.

Contrast that with ds, who screamed from 9-12 every night, kept us up around the clock for the first 6 weeks, and needed to be violently rocked in order to fall asleep. OTOH, Charlotte hates diaper changes, getting dressed, getting washed, and being messed with at all, while Andrew just rolled with the punches.

Nursing is going well although her latch isn't super. She is a little lazy and she slurps up my nipple instead of opening wide and she just likes to nurse a little here and there instead of settling in for a nice big meal. Like any baby would, she wants to be close to her mom all day and doesn't like being set down so we spend most of our time cuddled up together with her studying my face.

Andrew loves being a big brother and he wants to hold her all the time. He hasn't had a single moment of negativity or jealousy toward her and is the first to rush over and exclaim, "I'm here! I'm here! Don't worry baby, I'm here!" and start singing lullabies if she is fussing.

I am truly blessed!!

[ksera05]

Originally Posted by flapjack

sunkist, if you want to do anything for her nose just squirt some breastmilk up there.

I'm having a bit of a funk- we finally figured out that River is so caffeine-sensitive, even a cup of tea bugs him and keeps him irritable during the day (at night, he's fine.) So I'm totally caffeine-free, and having withdrawal headaches. The midwife is refusing to discharge him because he's still (incredibly, fractionally, infinitesimally) yellow and is referring us to hospital next week if he doesn't pink up properly, and I had a seriously bad day with one of my others (not Isaac, for once) yesterday as well. It's all going a bit pearshaped Hopefully today will be better though...

caffeine seems to bother Levi, too. which is sad because right now I could really use some and UGH on the refusing to discharge - what are his #'s? hopefully he will go down very soon.

[eilonwy]

Well, I started this thread, and kind of got lost and had a looooooong, long week. I'm home now, and I think things will get better but life is still kind of a downer, so I will save the miseries and ranting for the blog and limit comments here to useful, happy-ish things.

Originally Posted by FelixMom

On the negative side, we've had to drag baby to the hospital at 3 days old for an ultrasound to check out the hydronephrosis in his left kidney . He had a VCUG that came back with no indication of reflux... He has a Lasix nuclear medicine scan scheduled in two weeks to see the level of function in the affected kidney and to see the nature of the obstruction causing the swelling. Wish us luck...

BooBah had all of those things in her first few weeks as well. The nuclear medicine scan was actually kind of cool to watch-- BooBah slept right through hers. Good luck.

Helen-- BeanBean was (is!) likewise incredibly sensitive to caffiene. Lucky for me, I developed the sensitivity during pregnancy. As he was my first, I was able to sleep off the horrific withdrawl headaches (I'd had something of a Red Bull habit before I got pregnant with him! along with my morning sickness and other first trimester miseries. By the time he was born, I was very wary of caffienated anything, and tested carefully and infrequently. When BooBah was about six weeks old, I remember getting a vanilla cappuccino and watching her closely for a reaction. I drank it and nursed both children, waiting with baited breath to see how my BooBah would fare. She slept straight through... and BeanBean woke up at three in the morning to puke violently all over Mike and myself. It's rough... but you get used to it, and if the kid doesn't outgrow it, at least eventually he'll stop nursing enough for it to be important.

[flapjack]

Holy moly, Rynna (read the blog.) Get yourself back to bed RIGHT NOW.

Who do you know who can pump for bear?

I'm sure someone at the hospital mentioned this, but keep an eye on your poo, btw. If you get to the point of diarrhoea that borders on dysentery, go to hospital straight away. Zyvox was the antibiotic that took my FIL to the point of c. diff disease...

[justmama]

Oh Rynna, i read your blog. The solidarity mamas and I have been missing you. If we only had known. . . . . .
I"m so sorry things have gotten so crazy. Please PM me if there's anything at ALL I can do to help you out. Even if it's just sending some cash along. I've been so worried about you. I'm glad to hear you are recovering. I do have a bunch of milk in my freezer that Grace isn't drinking(I have a bit of oversupply so there's probably about 50oz in my freezer?) if we can figure out a way to ship it to you. Just let me know. Again, I really do mean it. ANYTHING y ou need, let me know.

[nausicaamom]

OMFG Rynna! I am so happy that he took you to the ER when he did and you are home now. I don't have any direct experience with Zyvox, but given your luck and tendency to do too much, please do watch yourself closely. I'll chime in with justmama and say please let us know if you need anything - I can bribe a sibling to drive me out your way if you need anything.

The husband and the firstborn both have the nasty cold/flu bug. Michael scared the pants off of me yesterday when his fever spiked to just over 103 in no time flat but as soon as he puked things started to go down. he's still got a small one, but it's not so high that I need to give him some motrin and it can do the job it's supposed to do. The husband is alternately sweating buckets or shivering so hard his teeth are chattering - something very new to him. All I have to say is thank God Alex's growth spurt is over and I'm back to getting 2-3 hour stretched between his cluster feeds. Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I'm passing on enough antibodies that he avoids this whole mess and the obscene amounts of Emergen-C I'm drinking will keep me from getting it as well. My bleeding had started back up again, but a few days in the house seems to have tamed it, I just need to be extra careful and not do too much (easier said than done).

Now that he's not frantically eating all the time, we are really getting to see Alex now. Right now he's just looking all over the place with that wide-eyed look of wonder. I don't think it will be much longer before we start to see some real smiles. Even at my most sleep deprived, formula looks so good right now moments these past few days, it's been wonderful to feel his weight in my arms and on my chest as he was dozing between feeding-frenzies and to kiss his so-soft head.

[flapjack]

ksera, to clarify, we get cared for by the community midwives for up to 28 days at home after the birth, so lack of discharge doesn't mean that he's stuck in hospital by himself.

Jenn Way to go. You can do this, you really can.

Rynna, how are you doing? Has beanbean got croup or pneumonia?

[Greeneyes0506]

Does anyone else's DC have a stinky umbilical cord stump? DS's started smelling un Thursday and while there is no discharge it is kind of bloody. The doctor said it was normal but I'm still kind of nervous about it.

[eilonwy]

pak

go back to bed? er... mike asked me to lie down for a few minutes after i got back from my errands early this afternoon. i passed out and slept for nearly two hours... woke up all irritated that i'd lost track of time like that, but mike seemed pleased.

there's just a ton of stuff to do, and it must happen regardless. sad to say, i am the most able-bodied person in the house right now. well, that's not quite true-- bear seems to be in excellent health, he's just not much of a driver and he's so busy looking around when he's awake that i doubt he'd be much use running errands. : ah, i crack myself up.

seriously, though. mike's sick, and you all know how men are when they're sick. bean is still barking like a seal, bella likewise; boobah has kept her barking to a minimum, but it's still there. i'm inclined to think that boobah is sicker than she looks, as she is sneaky and will hide while her brother and sister just hack away all over the place. I'm not entirely certain of the extent of it, I haven't had a chance to even listen to them myself, to say nothing of calling a doctor or anything. I think (I'm not certain-- I was still kind of horribly ill in the hospital when they told me) that my sister made an appointment for Bear on Monday, a regular well baby visit; If that is the case, I may call and try to get the other three in along with him. Sneaky, sneaky! I may just bring them along and 'borrow' a stethoscope while I'm there (I'm pretty sure that mine has been packed... did I mention we're still trying to move? , if I can't get them seen. I keep meaning to set up the nebulizer, but somehow I get distracted until all of them are asleep (like right now).

I've got a slight runny nose, and I'm still dealing with post surgery ickiness and taking the Zyvox, which is... amusing... but I seriously am the healthiest person in the house. I went to buy milk and eggs today, among other things. Another bottle for Bear; Now he has three. The landlord showed up today to fix the leak in the roof. He called while I was out, and Mike asked me to stay out so that the baby wasn't around whatever the landlord was doing, so I had to buy something to feed him. I was quite embarassed. : I've nursed everywhere and anywhere, but even sitting in the car preparing a bottle of Similac and feeding it to Bear was embarassing for me. I was seriously flushed by the time I got home, enough that I think Mike wondered if I was running a fever again.

I know I shouldn't feel that badly about it, but it was vey hard for me. People keep telling me that this is what artificial milk is for, and I know that in my head but it's still messing with me. Tonight I was walking around Target (he needed socks; Don't ask me why, but I didn't have any for him and it's too bloody cold for him *not* to be wearing warm little baby socks) and I kissed Bear on the top of his little head, and realized that I was kind of confused by him-- he doesn't smell like one of my babies. He doesn't smell *bad*, but he doesn't smell "normal," either, and that's because I'm not accustomed to the smell of artificially fed babies. It made me wonder if I'm kissing him enough, and I felt guilty all over again. :

Urgh, getting to be a downer. Hm. My back is really killing me, but I'm lying down now and I'll only have to get up a few more times tonight. I admire anyone who's managed to exclusively artificially feed a baby, because I'm finding it to be a complete PITA. Don't get me wrong, part of it could just be that I'm far from being in tip-top shape myself, but... I've always maintained that I nurse because I'm too lazy to feed ABM, and boy am I learning the truth of that now. Even a difficult nursling in the early days is easier than this in a lot of ways.

[birthmommom]

rynna you are so right about bottle feeding, it is a PITA. I formula fed my first dd and it really sucks. That is why I am sticking it out with a bad latch right now b/c the alternative isn't much better.
On the other hand don't feel bad about formula, it is there for a reason and sometimes we have to use it. The only formula I would stay away from b/c of smell is Carnation Good start. it makes the smelliest babies, with the smelliest gas.
I hope you are feeling better soon, that totally sucks that everyone is sick. I haven't read all of your blog but it sounds awful. Please try to rest as much as you can.

as for us...I have not been on or posting much b/c we are getting ready to move. Cannot believe that it is on Tuesday. my mom is here to help, I think she may be board too, but it is a nice break here away from her noisy house. Dh is still being wonderful, he is so helpful. I have taken over most of the night feedings. I am still trying to nurse at night but he is to sleepy and lazy to open his mouth enough and boy it hurts. So I am usually just pumping and bottle feeding at night. He is eating and gaining a lot. We had a pedi appt. on Friday and he weighed in at 8lb 11oz, when we went a week before he was at 7ob 15oz. His latch during the day is still not great but we are working through it, I figure as long as it is not cracked and bleeding it will probably just go numb. I keep hearing too that b/c i am blonde and fair skinned it is probably more sensitive for my to breastfeed, go figure.

congrats to all the mamas and their new babies. Will try to post more later.

[nausicaamom]

s Rynna - I know what you mean about the smell. We had to give Alex a bit of supplementation before my milk came in because his output dropped down to almost nothing and I was shocked at how much his smell changed from just a half an ounce of formula.

Please be as gentle as you can with yourself right now and rest as much as possible. I'll be keeping all of you in my thoughts.

Michael seems to be doing better or it may just be the dose of motrin I gave him because I got spooked by an episode of hysterics that had more to do with an abrupt change than it did with him being sick. He's getting a juicy cough right now so I know it won't be long before I'll be giving him some ventolin. The husband is not faring nearly as well, and looks and sounds like death warmed over. He keeps asking me when he'll start feeling better because he's never been sick like this before. I've been ehadachey but nothing else so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks so much for the encouragement, Helen. As rough as nursing has been at times, it's still nothing compared to the shield/pump/supplement hell I went through with Michael.

[Nature]

None of my girls were this mellow, and this much of a sleeper. Wow! This little guy likes his sleep. Is it a guy thing?

[flapjack]

no. seriously, all my boys have been obsessed by food and afraid of sleep.

allyn, 12oz in a week? wtg.

rynna, i could write you a novel. you just had major abdominal surgery twice, even if all the kids and your husband and the easter bunny are sick you still need to look after yourself. you too, jenn

i just discovered using the internet on the wii and it rocks sorry for the typos

[firecat]

When are you starting your pp exercise? I've been slowly getting back into doing things around the house...this week I'm going to try to start my cleaning routine again, and I've been taking almost daily walks to the mailbox as of wed. I want to start taking longer walks but I am breathing hard just coming up th hill with the mail! So it seems those will have to wait a few more weeks. my lochia seems to be almost gone, it is so light I am just wearing pantiliners! yay!

Friends have been lifesavers, we have had several meals a week provided for us so far. I don't know what I would have done if dh or I had to cook every night... instead I get to look at my sweet baby!

I am getting lots of sleep smiles...so cute! yesterday I caught him smiling on the boob!

is anyone else into astrology? my friend printed me his chart and she's letting me borrow some books so i can look up the stuff I don't know. it will be fun!