[Pepper]

I know you are all super busy with your little ones but I miss hearing from so many of you.

How is your recovery going?

Do you have any tips for those of us still waiting for our babies to arrive? Maybe something that you didn't think of or something unexpected that you needed?? Anything to make the postpartum period easier?

And lastly, I'd love to hear about your babies....their smell, how tiny they are, personalities...

Hugs to you all

 

[punkprincessmama]

I was just thinking about this today. We'd love to hear from you mamas

 

[twouglyducks]

Doing well. I forgot how tired you are postpartum and how little it takes to tire out.
Things I'd forgotten about that happen pp... those gushes of lochia you get when nursing or when you sit up after lying down. ick. The sweats, double ick. How good any food is immediately after delivery.
Things I wish I'd had on hand...
Arnica tabs to take immediately after delivery to help reduce vaginal swelling and bruising.
More cloth pads.
More things to sleep in that work well with nursing.

Things I am glad I had...
plenty of cloth wipes for baby.
preemie prefolds. even with an 8+lb baby they work well the first days. I can't imagine trying to get an inf. prefold on her even now... then again, all of mine are indian pfs and they seem to be a bit bulkier. Maybe the 4x6x4 CPFs would work better.
grape juice. Yum. :LOL SOmeone also said it's good for building blood back up?? Not sure, but I seem to lose a lot of blood and feel really weak for several hours after birth and both times (both vag. births) I craved tons of grape juice, I didn't even like grape juice until my first son was born.

I'm really tired and can't think of much else right now.

 

[twouglyducks]

Oh, you wanna hear about my baby? :LOL
She is beyond sweet.

She SLEEPS!!! I have a baby that SLEEPS!!!! We went to the store tonight and she fell asleep on the way. Slept through me taking her out of her seat and carrying her in, handing her off to daddy, coming back out and switching back to mommy and getting put back into her seat. Drove home and carried her seat in and she is STILL SLEEPING!!! This is so new to me. My boys were never like this. I think it is a lot her personality, but also I believe that her birth had a lot to do with it. She was born here, never seperated from me, and she didn't have to transition to a hospital (from the womb) and then transition again to home. She was born into our chaos. :LOL Her head smelled so sweet like amniotic fluid for several days. I didn't want it to ever go away. But she lost her stump yesterday so I gave her a bath, water only. Now she just smells warm and sleepy.

Mmmmm... I love feeling her head, cupping it with my hand... b/c I can still vividly remember what it felt like to cup her head while her body was still inside mine. :::sniff sniff::: That was amazing. She is still peeling in places, but the bottoms of her feet are all smooth now. They feel so soft. Her cheeks feel so smooth like a horse's nose. I love them! I love her so much!!! She does have her feedings a little messed up. During the day she likes to go longer b/t and sleep for longer stretches, but at night wants to nurse every 1.5 to 2 hours. She goes right back to sleep but still... trying to fix that b/c i'm very tired and have to start getting up with the boys in the morning.

I love them, but boy do they require a lot of energy that I don't have right now. Guess I'll adjust.

 

[~Nikki~]

Quote:

Her cheeks feel so smooth like a horse's nose.

I have to say, Davina, that I've never quite heard a baby's softness described that way. :LOL

Things aren't going too badly here. In the first couple of days, I thought for sure that I had broken my pelvic bone. I couldn't even lift my legs high enough to climb the stairs. And forget laying on my side in bed (which is how I usually breastfeed, so that was an issue). It seems to be getting better now, though.

Some things that have helped:

-Two icepacks in the freezer, so I can alternate between them.
-A bowl of cold water (sometimes add witch hazel) in the fridge, I'll leave a cloth in it for a few minutes and then hold it against myself for awhile (I had a few stitches, yeouch).
-The Postpartum Poo...I totally forgot about that. I took a couple of stool softeners at the hospital, which helped. Be sure to give yourself a good half hour or so of alone time to accomplish this feat when you're ready.
-Engorgement - another thing I forgot about. Luckily I had a pump this time, so I was able to releive myself a bit (never quite figured out hand expressing).

The baby is fantastic. He fills his tummy, fills his diaper, and then sleeps. He doesn't cry, doesn't fuss, doesn't give me a hard time at all. Which is great, because I can't say the same for his big sister.

He's breastfeeding incredibly well. In fact, the public health nurse came to visit us today, and when she weighed him we discovered that he's already 6oz OVER his birthweight (she said they don't normally reach their birthweight until around 2 weeks). He's only 4 days old! He definitely loves his milk.

The only hard part I'm having is with my daughter. She's having a hard time adjusting, and has thrown a few MAJOR tantrums (this is a kid that never has tantrums) that had me in tears. It just hurts to see her acting this way, and I keep asking myself if I've done something horribly wrong by thrusting a sibling into her life. She does seem to like him, though. She insists that he join her in bed for story time so that she can snuggle him, and even "reads" him stories before bed. And she loves giving him kisses. Her tantrums seem to happen when someone else - grandma, her uncle, etc - is holding the baby. She's used to having 100% of people's attention, and it throws her off when people rush to see him before they show interest in her. We keep letting people know ahead of time that they HAVE to acknowledge her before gushing over the baby. But people just don't get it. It makes things tough.

Ooh, this got long. Sorry. I've had a lot on my mind.

 

[jerawo]

Every day gets better. I had a 3rd degree tear, so I'm still healing down there (I'm in the annoying itchy phase right now). My nipples are pretty beaten up but seem to be healing too. It's hard to be a mom when you are recovering from labor and having breastfeeding challenges, and I'm grateful for all the help we've had (especially with FOOD!).

Other good news - one week out I'm down to 146 from a birth weight of 172+. I still feel like I have no clothes that fit, and can't bear to wear any maternity clothes (even the early ones).

Stuff I was glad I had - a phone number for an excellent LC. I also still needed parts for my breast pump and nursing bras, all of which I was able to get from her without leaving the house. The arnica did help at the beginning, but later on advil seemed to help more. Lots of fruit, especially yummy ripe pears. A swaddling blanket. A breast pump - I had the most engorged boobs
in the world.

Stuff I needed - advil, after not taking any drugs for 9 months we had almost none on hand. Water bottles with straws - it was too hard to drink out of a regular bottle especially if I was lying in bed or nursing. Lots of fluids - my fluid intake went down (my fault) hand I started to get constipated which never was a problem during pregnancy. Books to read while nursing. More swaddling blankets! The hands free attachment for my breast pump.

As for Ely, he's great. He looks just like DH, which is sweet since he especially wanted a son. He loves to sleep, which is nice now but not so nice earlier since I had to wake him up to nurse. He also got some jaundice which made him even more sleepy. I'm able to sleep for 5-6 hours at night which is wonderful since I'm still worn out. Ely makes the funiest faces especially after he finishes at the boob - I call him my little drunk milk monkey. Today seems to be a fussy day for him, but he rarely cries when he's wet or hungry. As for his baby smell - it reminds me of sunscreen but no one else seems to think so. I have more pictures of him in my signature, if you want to check him out. He's also 100% healthy - he had no signs of neo-natal Graves' disease and his TSH test came back normal, so we are relieved of course.

Oh, and DH likes cloth diapers. We used some disposable ones at first during the meconium days and if you didn't change him immediately after he peed the diaper would leak. I started using my kissaluvs a few days ago, and no leaks of course. DH even said these are better than disposables and don't leak! So I'm happy. I still need to get my cloth wipes set up. Since Ely was a little early and I was in bed for two days after birth, I feel a little behind but I'm slowly getting everything together. We used my hotsling yesterday and today, and he seems to like that too - it's so nice having hands free.

I've written a novel, so I'll stop now

 

[punkprincessmama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~Nikki~ Her tantrums seem to happen when someone else - grandma, her uncle, etc - is holding the baby. She's used to having 100% of people's attention, and it throws her off when people rush to see him before they show interest in her. We keep letting people know ahead of time that they HAVE to acknowledge her before gushing over the baby. But people just don't get it. It makes things tough.

This is exactly what I am concerned about with my 2 year old. I really don't want her to feel left out and over looked...

I would be devestated if I were in her shoes, kwim?

oh it's so good to hear from all you mamas. I am loving all the reminders of the post partum time and feeling all the baby love

Such sweet memories... thank you for sharing with us!!

I am glad to hear that you found the arnica helpful Jenny, I have just bought some. Don't have any advil on hand though. I think maybe some tylenol

I'll have to look around.

I am also glad that you are all getting some sleep. I know that was my biggest challenge. Sleep makes all the difference in the world....

speaking of which... it's past my bedtime!

 

[fuzzypeach]

My pp healing is going well... I just had two super minor labial tears, and they still sting sometimes when I pee but other than that I'm doing good down there! The first few days I was really sore... hurt to be standing, my tailbone felt bruised, etc etc. The bleeding has slowed down a lot but I'm still having some, especially when I do stuff. I haven't been resting as completely as I should, but I -feel- fine, so it seems silly to just sit around.

Mentally I'm doing good. Maybe there's still a chance for ppd to set in, I was somewhat concerned about it as I'm prone to depression anyhoo, but nothing much so far. As I mentioned in the weekly thread if I get real tired I get super-anxious... not just is-the-baby breathing anxious, but more morbid thoughts like imagining all sort of things that could go wrong and freaking out about them. But I haven't actually had any of those episodes in a few days - Elaina is also a 'sleeper' so I get lots of sleep too! Yesterday I was tearful and depressed because my husband cut off all his long gorgeous hair. But I think I would've cried about that postpartum moodiness or not.

She is pretty mellow so far, but in the past few days she has become much more vocal about how much she dislikes having her diaper changed - she usually doesn't cry but she definitely lets us know she isn't enjoying it! The same thing goes for changing her clothes. She wants none of it! She has also developed an evening fussy period but is easily soothed by the breast or bouncing. She is spending more time awake now, a pretty long stretch in the morningish and in the evening. Thankfully not at night.

She still has her stupid cord stump. The end of it is so scratchy and poky, it's always digging into her tummy, or me.. I can't wait to see it go.

Breastfeeding is going well. She still doesn't want to latch on right lots, but I try to make her do it right.. either way, she's getting plenty of milk and my nipples have toughened up. I can definitely tell the difference between good latch and bad latch though. Oh, and I said in the weekly thread that I wasn't feeling let-down, well, I am now! Dunno if I was all along and didn't realize it, prolly, but anyways, it's kind of painful! Didn't expect that. I'd read tingly, and I guess it could be described as tingly, in a pins and needles poking you sort of way.

Sometimes it gets frustrating, how much and often she wants to eat, how many diapers she goes through (she has this amazing ability of being able to pee whenever a fresh diaper hits her bum! yesterday she peed on two clean diapers in one changing session, yikes!)

I had to exchange my hotsling for a bigger one - she seems to like it, snoozes away, but makes a lot of noise when she's in it! A little grunt/moan like with each breath. I don't know how to interpret that.

I looked at some of my MIL's albums the other day and confirmed my suspicion that she has DH's nose - it's a little turned up nose, and his isn't like that now but it sure was when he was a baby! They look a lot a like (when he was a baby anyhoo).

Advice... well, I have advice for first time mamas, or any mamas facing a vaginal birth for the first time - You can do it! Labor was strange and yeah painful but totally manageable. I didn't feel the desire/need for drugs... I was so into the contractions, I don't think I could've come out of that state to ask for them had I wanted them! (Still waiting for DH to fill in some details then I'll get my birth story posted!)

Also, if you have any difficulties w/breastfeeding whatsoever, or heck, even you don't, see a LC, very early on. Spare your poor nipples the trauma. It's so worth it.

A good water bottle is a good thing indeed. Mine doesn't have a straw but a flip-up spout thing. It rocks.

That's all I can think of now. Got to go brainstorm ideas on what to do about the ants in my kitchen, who yesterday discovered the trashcan, and today have found their way into the food cabinets

 

[ex-stasis]

I saw this thread yesterday, but didn't want to post on it because I was feeling pretty bleak. I've had a couple of "episodes" like that where I just feel like there is no hope--I'm never going to sleep again, I don't know what I'm doing, etc etc. Istra, it seems, has a gas problem, which is keeping her (and us) up at night as she desperately tries to nurse and screams and pushes me away when I try to nurse her. Very frustrating. I think we might have it under control now though, with the help of gripe water and lots of burping.

Other than this gas problem Istra is so calm and wonderful! She sleeps most of the time. We seem to be on a similar schedule to almostfey. We're in bed at around 11, feed twice in the night and then we're up by around 8am. Usually she just wakes up to eat, sort of look around a little bit and then she goes back to sleep. Of course as I type this she is having a bit of a fussy time and I've got her in the sling, rocking her.

I'm doing well. Stinging from my abraision is gone now and soreness is pretty much gone unless I do too much. My bleeding has almost stopped, which my midwife says is amazing.

I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but as soon as I switched to cloth pads, my bleeding got a whole lot less. So yeah, I recommend a good stash of cloth pads for the postpartum period.

For labour I also recommend real fruit popcicles and watermelon! And Rescue Remedy, which helped me at the beginning to get into a relaxed frame of mind and stay there throughout.

I think that's about it.

 

[dani76]

I'm doing well, adjusting to new sleep patterns. I had a few stitches, but it doesn't hurt. I just get sore sometimes. The bleeding has lessened quite a bit. Witch Hazel rocks! It felt sooo good to use witch hazel pads pp.

The co-sleeping kind of worries my dh, so we are going to look at king size beds. Last night I fed her in the side lying position all night, and we both (me and dd) slept so good. She is latching on the right way most of the time. Sometimes, she gets so hungry that she just latches on in a frenzy. So, that takes a little patience. She isn't back to her birth weight yet. (6.4) The pedi didn't seem too concerned. She is feeding and pooping, so I'm happy.

Cloth diapering hasn't been too hard to get used too. I love my aio's! But now that her stump has come off, I'm more comfortable using the cloth. The diapers kept covering up her stump and I was worried it would get infected. I did buy some sposies for when I'm dead tired at night or for travel. I don't know how often I'll use them. We bought a wipes warmer yesterday for our cloth wipes. That was a great purchase! Waiting for the water to heat up at 3 in the morning is not fun. Especially when Eleanor does not like her diaper off. Everytime we change her, she pees as we are doing it. And usually will poop too. Maybe we should have tried ec?

Things I didn't expect:
*How much I would love her
*When she falls asleep on my breast, it's the best ever!
*My dh being such a worry wart!
*How afraid I would be of the cord stump
*I should have prepared some frozen meals ahead of time
*How protective I would be of her

 

[Sarasein]

Recover is going good. I am still alittle sore and my insison hurts at night. I have been trying to take it easy, but with a toddler it is not so easy.

Sam is the sweetest baby. She is having problems with ABO incompatibility causing her to have a nasty case of jaundice. She has had to be under double lights 2 times now. As of her heal stick today, her billi level is still rising. We go back monday for another billi check and then on thurs or fri for another Dr. apt. I feel so bad for her. They keep doing heal sticks.

She nurses so well. She latched on after she was born and nursed for over an hour. Now if my supply would just regulate, I would be much happer. i am leaking so much. It drives me nuts. I did figure out that if you use a premium prefold to chatch milk at night, you can go braless.

I love co-sleeping. I have missed having a little baby in bed. She sleeps great as long as I am there, but if I get up, she will usaaly wake up. Thank godness, I don't have to go pee ever couple of hours any more. This morning Alexis came in to bed with us. I had both my babies laying with me.

I am also lucky that Alexis had not had too many issues with Sam. She looked alittle upset the first time Alexis saw SAm nursing. But that was the only time. Sle loves to rub her fuzzy head or help me pat her back. She also likes to poke her in the nose and say "nose." It is so cute. The bad thing was she finaly learned "NO" and is driving us nuts. But, Dh has 2 weeks off, so he had been taking care of her, so I can focue on Sam.

 

[dani76]

Sarah, Eleanor had to go under the lights for 3 days. So I know how you feel. DH and I have talked about bili levels so much lately! Our blood types are different, but her jaundice has to do with her being 4 weeks early. I hated having to have her heel sticked so many times. They say that it's normal for the bili levels to go up a little after the lights, and then they level out. But your situation might be different because of the incompatibility. Good luck to you!

 

[miamommy]

We are goijg through ups and downs here. I forgot how powerful those moments of hormonal despair can be. I miss my mw. I miss looking forward to the appt's. I felt that way last time also. I loved having that time with her, talking about my pregnancy, my baby, my family. I miss the specialness of pregnancy, it goes by so fast.

As far as healing goes, I am healing really fast, I think that is in part due the the fact that I had such a fast labor. I had a first degree tear but it's as if its not even there. The hardest thing has been that at 3 days post I had the worst trapped gas in my intestines. I could barely stand up. That day pretty much knocked me off of my feet.

Abigail had her first ped appt today. She isn't pooping so I am having a TON of stress about that. She pooped fine for a few days and then stopped all of a sudden 3 days ago. The doc had to do rectal stimulation today (put his finger in her rectum) and some poop came out but she hasn't gone again. If she doesn't go by Monday we are supposed to call the ped. He said she had a hard stool blocking her poop.

DD1 is having a rough time, she still nurses so sharing has been especially hard on me. I am surprised at how irritating it is that every time I try to nurse Abigail DD1 wants to nurse after only nursing for a few minutes a day for years.

The pluses:
I forgot how tiny and sweet a newborn is! I also love rubbing her head and remembering how it felt inside and when I was pushing. She has the softest hair. She came out really ripe and has some lanugo (sp?) on her back. My mw said its ripe peach fuzz, so sweet that is what it feels and looks like.

The first time we put Abigail in the car with dd1, dd1 was so excited she was running in circles!

What I wish I had for labor:
I wish I had truely trusted in the fact that all modesty would go out the window with the contractions and that I wouldn't be the least bit embarrased to be naked the entire time I labored. I had obsessed over what to wear in labor! I wish I had set out the supplies for the homebirth before I went into labor because it went so fast I never really set it up at all.

I guess thats it!

Thanks for starting this thread, it was great to see how other moms are doing as well!

 

[twouglyducks]

Something else I thought of... Wish I had more newborn/small doublers. I didn't think I'd need them, but man... she can pee!!! I planned to use preemie pfs, but they are hard to fit into some of the tiny diapers.

 

[NiksMom]

Let's see, Katelyn will be 3 weeks old Wednesday night! Time is flying! She still has her cord stump- I think it will fall off within a few days. She is the gassiest baby! My diet is pretty darn bland so the only thing I can think of is maybe she's lactose intolerant? Because I have been shoveling down ice cream- that is my weakness. So I'm going to stop eating it and see if that is what's causing her gas.
My incision is healing pretty nicely except I've got several ingrown hairs. The steri-strips never fell off like they were supposed to so my mom pulled them off and cleaned up the incision for me. It still grosses me out! So now I'm sitting here at the computer itching down there like crazy :LOL
Katie is an absolute doll. I can now understand what mommas of 2 plus kids mean when they say that your love multiplies. I still love Nik so much, but I love Katie just as much.
Let's see, as for any depression, I was weepy the first few days we got home from the hospital, and luckily it has gone away.
The only tip I can think of is if you use disposable diapers, make sure you have tons on hand because we go through so many. She farts & poops constantly :LOL Also, we were using the fragrance free wipes (which we used with my son with no problems) on Katelyn, but it really irritated her butt so we have been using Viva paper towels. It is so much less harsh on her tushie.
Thanks for asking Pepper- that's funny, I was just thinking yesterday that I missed visiting here every day. I've been going through withdrawal!

 

[mclisa]

Poor DH had to put up with me bursting into tears yesterday. Better today. He asked if they were tears of sadness or happiness. They were for being happy. He said he remembered them from the other deliveries too. I love him

Michelle

 

[dynamohumm6]

Hah, I had the "weepies" last night. Lack of sleep definitely contributed. I realized I was going on pure adreneline, and hadn't slept in days (I guess that's what delivering at 6am does to you). Alex was talking to me about making breakfast the next day, and I just burst into tears. He just came over and sat behind me and hugged me, asked "hormones or something else", and I said "hormones", and just cried for a bit. Cullen has been pretty gassy, and spitting up a lot of mucus. I guess maybe from not spending much time being pushed out? Anyway, he was cranky a lot yesterday and last night, wouldn't settle, and I was just exhausted. Then, at around 2am, he threw up a HUGE amount of mucus with some brownish substance. Freaked us way out, and we called the nursery (with the early discharge, they told us to call them until Monday night if we had any questions). They said it was old blood from the birth, and not to worry about it--and sure enough, he was in MUCH better spirits after that. He nursed, went to sleep, and we both slept from 2:30 until about 6am. My milk has come in, so he's REALLY happy about that. He nurses with his eyes wide open and looking at me

, and really responds to Alex's voice.

We took him to the ped today (his "48 hour discharge" check up :LOL) and he got his heel stick for the PKU thing. MAN that took forever! The little guy was a champ--he was sucking on my finger for the whole thing (FURIOUSLY sucking, I should say) and we both held his hands and stroked him during it. It took about a half hour to get enough blood out of his little heel.

: He whimpered, but never really cried, and finally just shut down

Poor little guy. He nursed very well afterwards, and has been going strong all afternoon.
He has a hydroseal? around his left testicle, and his ped doesn't think the right one has descended yet. She *thinks* she can feel it in "the canal", but she said it's really too early to be concerned. She'll check him in two weeks to see what happens. Anyone have any experience with this?

He's now in his "sleepy" phase--I guess all that mucus was really doing a number on him. He's so amazing, we just stare at him and grin like idiots. Sammy has adjusted (so far) wonderfully. She spent the last couple nights at her dad's house, and she's with us tonight. She came down with a very sudden fever last night at her dad's (102.5) with no other symptoms, so we are being pretty careful about her being around the baby right now.

I'm healing up fine--I feel my stitches a bit more today, but I think that's because I haven't been as good about staying off my feet and taking it easy. It's hard to do, because I really do feel great. I can't believe the difference between healing with an epidural and an episiotomy, and healing with NO drugs and a couple stitches for a small tear. Night & day! My milk came in, but I never got engorged, so I don't have that soreness. Things are really going great, to be honest!

My "must-haves" for afterbirth:

A peribottle. Even with just a couple tiny stitches, I wish I had one to spray on while I'm peeing. Pee makes it sting a bit. They forgot one with my load of stuff from the hospital, and I forgot to ask for one. Not a huge deal, but it would be a nice thing to have right now.

WITCH HAZEL PADS. They gave me a little bucket of them at the hospital, and they have made me so much more comfortable.

Tons of cloth diapers for use as burp rags. Forgot how much you use these things.

Comfy drawstring pants! Too small for maternity clothes, too big for regular clothes. Nice, stretchy capri yoga cotton drawstring pants are GOOD STUFF.

And in the Oddities cateogry...Alex finds the mesh underwear they give you at the hospital a turn-on. :LOL He asked me to get an extra pair for "later". I seriously have no idea what's wrong with him.

 

[Pepper]

Thank you ladies so much for sharing so much of your post partum experiences. Reading them has really helped me get into post-birth mode--it's funny the things you forget.

Emmy, I still have my peri bottle from my last birth (all washed and ready to use), have my witch hazel pads, too. I also have the stool softener pills (I remember how scary that first poo can be). Oh, and I have a dozen infant pf's washed and ready to use for burp cloths, etc.

My ds had one undescended testical at birth and it was fine at his 1-week check up. I'm afraid I don't know what a hydroseal is ???

And YES, isn't it amazing the difference in recovery from epidural/episiotomy vs. natural birth/small tear?? I thought I was going to die the first time around the recovery was just so unbelievably hard but the 2nd time--piece of cake compared.

The one thing I'm nervous about is my emotional state. I fear those hormonal downswings and crying jags...that hopeless feeling. I didn't get it much after dc#2, though...maybe because I had that natural birth high going on for some time..

 

[ex-stasis]

Wow, it sure is good to read that I'm not the only one bursting into tears due to sleep deprived hopelessness. Makes me feel a bit more sane to hear of others going through it as well.

:

 

[dani76]

Today is definitely an emotional day. DH had to go into work for a meeting this morning. Well, I really had to go to the bathroom (bm) and so I was so happy when he got home. I had been nursing and burping, so I had him take over the burping. Before I went to the bathroom, I checked my email. He saw me in the hallway and was asking me if I was done in the bathroom. Apparently he had to go too. But I got so upset. I told him that I was unaware that I could only leave the bed for a few minutes. I cried and he felt like an ass.

It's hard to be everything to your baby. I love it, but it's hard. I wouldn't change breastfeeding, because I love it. But right now my job is to feed and nurture this baby. And it's exhausting.