Babies Born November 2007

Hi again

Thank you very much to everyone for the kind comments in their emails regarding my surrogacy. Yes it's been pretty hard since the girls left, but I'm OK with that. They are doing very well, and Mum and Dad are coping well (twins - baptism of fire!!) and loving it!!!
Congratulations to you Rachel on the birth of your dear little Tyler, and best wishes to you Girly Girl, with the arrival of wee Taylah. I wish the both of you every joy with your scrumptious new bubbas.
I am going to paste this onto the Nov' babies thread as well, so that I can say goodbye and goodluck to everyone - I won't come over to the babies thread, as I'm not really a new Mum again, and not immersed in new baby issues. I know that I was only on the thread for a short while (didn't discover BellyBelly 'til very late), but I really enjoyed it, as I needed a bit of a boost at the end of a twin pregnancy!
Best, Best wishes for all of you with your families, and who knows, maybe I'll have a new baby of my own one day................................?

Cheers Bec

Hi Ladies!

Thought I too should migrate from the Nov Belly buddies group to the baby buddies group...

My little Abbey Renei was born on the 20th November by c/section. We had wanted to attempt a VBAC however, my blood pressure made that an impossiblity! The end result is all that matters and we have a healthy mum and baby so that's the most important thing!

We are b'fing quite well... had some trouble latching initially but with patience and perserverence we appear to be getting there.

Stitches came out yesterday (day 5) still quite a lot of pain on the left side of the wound but apparently my bladder had attached itself to the uterus wall and it had to be seperated and mended so this is due to that.

Congrats to all the other November mummies, I look forward to getting to know all of you!

Cheers1

Amanda

Hi all,

Well its been busy here since we got home. DS1 had the chicken pox and I have had an ear infection which still hasnt' cleared. Last week was lovely cause DH was home from work. He hasn't had time off since Christmas last year so it did him good to have a break to get refreshed. It would have been nice if he cooked a little more etc but he did lots of other stuff so I can't complain too loudly.

Went back to the Drs today cause my ear infection hasn't cleared and cause Blake's been miserable for the last few days. I thought it was more than the pox cause he was happier early last week. Lo and behold the boys got a nasty red throat. So poor little Blake's on ABs and I'm on more ABs. Hopefully well all get better quickly now.

DH's back at work today. So far so good. Both boys are actually in bed - well Blake's in bed and I threw Tyler in the cocoon for the pram. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I was sick of putting him into bed and him being unsettled so I put him in the cocoon and he hasn't made a noise! I don't understand the logic but I aint complaining.

As I said we went to the Drs. Blake was miserable and not being very helpful/obedient when asked to put his shoes on or get in the car etc. Anyway we all got in, I started the engine and I heard this splash. I though that can't be Blake cause he hasn't got a drink. It can't be Ty cause he can't have vomited that much surely. Well when I we got there, Ty's covered in vomit - his clothes, his capsule, his blanket - EVERYWHERE! No probs. I got extra blanket and outfit in the boot from when we went to the fete on Saturday. WRONG!! No outfit at all! Crap! OK, strip the bub to his nappy and singlet (which was damp but I had no other options) then put him in the Hug a Bub. Fortunately I'd planned to wear him so I'd put it on at home already. It worked at treat cause he was snuggly toasty warm, all wrapped up with Mummy.

Mental note: remember to check the nappy bag! Oh I forgot what it's like to have a newborn!

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Oh I forgot what it's like to have a newborn!

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LOL, me too Rachel, but it's all coming back to me pretty quickly now!! I'm sure I'll have a few more of these moments though. I hope you and little Blake are better really soon.

Well the little man is doing well, and when bub's happy, mum's happy :) so things are good here at the moment. He had a really good night last night, his longest stretch is still only 4 and a bit hours but it's better than 2 so I'm not complaining to much! He generally wakes 3 hourly to be fed around the clock.

For those girls with older kids/toddlers/babies - do you remember how long it is before they start doing longer stretches at night (he is b/fed)? I can't for the life of me remember when DD started sleeping a bit longer at night but reading the October baby buddies thread (like to keep up cause we were due in October) some of those babies are doing like 7+ hours already - yikes! Jealous much?? LOL...

Tomorrow we're off to the chiro again. We're going to give it 2 weeks to see if it helps with his colic and helps him sleep a bit better. If we don't see any improvement, then we'll stop going because it is quite expensive, especially when you're going every few days. Then we're off to the CHN to have him weighed. He's been gaining weight really well so I hope it continues this week, just gives me more confidence in our b'feeding.

I need to remember to ask them to check his hips again, they've been checked about 5 times now but the CHN who did our home visits thought they were a bit clicky and said it might be worthwhile having an x-ray done. The paed at the hospital, the midwife who came to see us on the early discharge program and our GP all checked them and didn't comment so I'm hoping they are fine.

Hope all mums and bubs are well.

Hello Everyone,
Hoody - I recall reading somewhere that blisters are just part of normal BF and should go away. I don't think it means attachment issues unless your nips are sore too.
Willow - I am with you, very very jealous of 7 hours. Our mini-man might sleep 4 hours, or maybe 4.5 hours at most during the night. Although, if he slept longer I think I would worry anyway :) oh what fun!
Wardygirl - congrats on the birth of little Tyler! Not sure I have congratulated you yet, so thought I had better say it. LOL about the power-vomit. They really like to keep you on your toes don't they?


As for us, DH was home for 3 days over the weekend and last Friday which was such a good break. I actually got to go out for a bit by myself (1.5 hours, yay). Willow, I have decided to see a counsellor also. Partly for pre-pregnancy issues and partly due to all the emotions having a bub seems to have brought up. It is hard to put a finger on it, but some days I just feel so lost and alone. DH is great, and Caden is really good most days, I am not sure why I feel sad sometimes, I just do. Even writing this I feel teary, how silly! I suppose it gets easier in time. It doesn't help that Caden has been crying today like he is in pain, and very whingy yesterday. Luckily DH was home, but now I am on my own again today his crying seems to have intensified (and therefore so has mine :D)

Anyhoo, enough negativity. Bub is sleeping now so hopefully his bad moment has passed. Normally he is a happy bub.

Have a great week everyone!

Amanda- congrats on little Abbey. I know wha you mean with one side still tender after CS. For me its my right. Also this time my scar does not look very neat but hey who cares like you said healthy mum and bub is all i asked for too.

Wardygirl- I hope you are all on the mend. There is nothing worse having sick kids especially when not well yourself. At least you had DH at home last week and got to help out a bit.

Willow- from what i have written down for dd1's milestones i have that at between 5-6 weeks she was sleeping from 10pm til 5am having a bf then back down til 10am (it was fantastic as it meant i could sleep in too, not any more having toddler too makes it much harder as i have to get up) dd1 was a good sleeper though from day dot so i am not expecting the same from dd2. Good luck with getting another opinion on bubs hips i hope all is well.

Dragonbub- I hope you are feeling a bit better by the time you read this. I am an emotional person and am finding i am often teary too at the moment but think that it is from been over tired. I'm glad your going to see someone its best to get seen to now rather than to stew on it and end up too down or with PND. Its esp hard when you arent having a great day with bubs been unsettled. I was in tears tonight trying to bath DD1 as DD2 was screaming and i couldnt leave DD1 unattended in the bath to go and get her. Its horrible listening to them cry and not been able to settle them.

Well we are still coping reasonably well. Today was DH's first full day back at work. Last week he did a few jobs but was only out the house for an hour or so at a time. Today he left at 8.30am and has just walked in (7pm) I have had a busy day to say the least. I was all geared up to have a nap at lunch when both girls were asleep but had a never ending stream of visitors today so have not had 2 seconds to myself. As a result i am exhausted. It has been hard for DH to take too much time off as he runs his own business so if he doesnt work we dont get paid etc. We had put enough aside for him to take the 2 weeks off but as its so close to Xmas he wants to try and build up some extra $$ so he can take time off if its quiet etc. Molly is still been quite good and is feeding stil 3-4hrly so i cant complain too much she has had the odd 5hr stretch but as i said it hasnt happened often. I am seeing so many differences between her and dd1 as a bub. DD1 would always self settle and needed very little attention as such, she'd be happy just lying around so to speak but Molly if awake has to be held etc or she screams!! Her unsettled time is from 4-8pm so i find it hard having any sort of routine with dd1. Well i hope anyone i didnt mention is coping well. Take care all of you:)

Thanks Hoody, it is nice to know that I am not completely gaga! I hear you on the DH front. My DH runs his own business, and works part time (4 days a week). His business activity is mainly on the weekends, but he could get a call out at any given time. Yesterday Caden was miserable all day bar a 4 hour nap, and DH had a job on and didn't get home til 8.30. The poor thing, as soon as he walked in the door I said "sorry to do this to you hon but please take him" and handed him our screaming son. Within minutes though he was sound asleep in daddy's arms! Sounds like you have got it together though, even though it sounds as if you have a bit of a velcro bub on your hands. I guess I could offer the same advice, get support, cry, lean on DH, or seek professional help if things get too much.

Enjoy the rest of the week, we are off shopping now :D

Not having a good day today, I had a car accident this morning with both my babies in the car :( It wasn't a bad one and everyone is OK but I still feel like crap.

It was my fault, I *think* I went through red light, I saw the other car but the road was wet and I couldn't stop in time. DS was having a shocking morning, i was tired and rushing to get to our chiro and CHN appts and just wasn't concentrating enough.

So for all those other tired mummies out there - be careful! We were very lucky.

So after today I'm feeling pretty awful again. The counsellor called me yesterday to make an appt and I almost told her not to worry about it, glad I didn't now. My friend is doing DS' birth announcements and when she sent them through today for me to check I bawled my eyes out!! Just when I thought the tears were gone...

Hoody - my DD and DS are very different too. No way was my DD sleeping for that long a stretch at 5-6 weeks though, you were lucky!! But DS definitely needs to be held and to have more cuddles than DD did. He very rarely self settles either. I have called the Tresillian help line and they said that until 8 weeks most babies can't self settle and even then you shouldn't expect too much, just start introducing sleeping routines etc because they aren't capable of learning how to self settle until about 12 weeks. So don't worry too much! I think you might have just been lucky with DD1??

I'm going to a sleep and settling session at Tresillian tomorrow so I'll share any helpful tips they give us!

Dragonbub - I'm glad you are seeing someone if you aren't feeling like your normal self. I'm the same, I think a lot of my issues are from losing our second bub and all the stuff that happened around that time, IVF etc etc not so much issues with DS (although I do struggle with the lack of sleep and his unsettled times some days!).

Hang in there girls, it's hard work these first few weeks, especially those of us with two or more and our DH's working long hours, but we will get there!

Oh my god Willow! I really hope you are ok, glad to hear that you have kept your appointment. You are totally right, fatigue can creep up on us and only rears it's ugly head right at that crucial moment. I am glad to hear that your bubs are ok. Don't beat yourself up too much. I have made similar errors, although I have been lucky and no cars were coming, or nothing was in the way. My DH had an accident at work also, and I have put it down to stress and fatigue. Just take care of yourself, that is the main thing hon.

Our shopping expedition didn't go too well, I spent 2 hours in Myers parent room trying to calm my screaming baby. It was truly awful!! I got home and rang Ngala (WA help line) and they gave me some tips on sleep cycles. Seems to be maybe a combo of 6 week growth spurt, me missing sleep signals so DS is over tired, and perhaps some other grumbles. I shall try again tomorrow, this time paying more attention to bubs sleeping.

Well, off for now, watching a movie with DH,

Dragonbub - Hope your DH's work accident wasnt a bad one and sorry to hear about your shopping trip i remember been in a similar situation with dd1 when she was about that age. I have noticed you are in perth. Me too! Where abouts are you? I am NOR near Joon. If you arent too far maybe we could meet up on day.

Willow- So sorry to hear about your car accident and you feeling cr@p about it. At least you and your babies are fine could have been lots worse. I'm hearing you one the been tired though i am truly feeling sleep deprived. I never felt like this with DD1 but i guess thats because i only had her and could sleep when she did! Molly doesnt sleep anywhere near as good as DD1 did and when she does i have DD1 who needs me so its not as simple as just having a nap.

Well we have had a terrible day too and i feel very blah- mainly due to lack of sleep. We have also been flooded with visitors again today. Would you believe i did not have a minute to myself from 8.30am til 7.30pm today. I have had 3 friends and 2 sisters plus all 8 of their kids pop by. As i said to my sister its nice that everyone wants to come and see us (we feel very loved) but its a little overwhelming. I know if i sat home all day alone and didnt hear from anyone i'd be feeling lost and lonely but i had 5 kids to feed lunch too and 3 for dinner plus a very unsettled Molly to contend with. I also bathed one that didnt belong to me (well until dd1 did no2's in the water) I am feeling very selfish for feeling so overwhelmed by my day but all i'd really wanted to do today was nip to the shops for essentials and do my floors (vac and mop- they are feral as DH has not let me do them since my CS. He has vac'd but they are not what i'd call clean and are 10x worse now after having a house full of ppl and kids all day) I didnt even get dressed or showered til DH got in at about 8. Yep thats right i had all those visitors whilst in my pj's. Well we have DD1's playgroup tomo and we are supposed to be going to an indoor play centre 'go banana's' so we will be having a full on day tomo as well- no rest for the wicked :) Well i am feeling a bit more relaxed now i have had a little vent.

Hi everyone
Just thought i'd pop in too make sure everyone is doing ok but it looks like you must all be busy, or maybe i spend too much time on bb. (dont know how i do with 2 kids but i still find 5 mins here and there)
Well we are all ok DD1 has been very naughty this last 2 days so i'm struggling a little bit. Feeling very emotional etc. I dont want to be telling her off every 5 mins but i am tired etc so my patience is thin anyway. She has been biting and hitting. I know its her way of adjusting to Molly been around but i'm not really sure how to handle it, she is so angry at times- where did my angel go? Also DH has gone to the pub tonight which i'm not thrilled about but he did ask and i did say yes so i shouldnt complain. I just feel a bit resentful that he can still go out alone and i havent had 2 minutes to myself since i was in hospital iykwim.
Molly is still been good (well they are all good no babies are bad but ykwim) she is still going on average 3hrly between feeds however still has her unsettled period in the evening where it feels like she is on the boob non stop.
We had a visit from a CHN today and Molly is now up to 3.32kg so she is 315g heavier than her birth weight, she lost 180g in the first 3 days so in the last 2 weeks alone she has put on 495g. Its nice to see that she is gaining weight and BFing is working ok. I already think she is starting to look bigger- hard to imaging DD1 was bigger at birth still.
Well would love to hear from you all when you have time, take care

Hey Hoody, I'm here!

Like you, I try to manage to find at least 5 mins a day for BB between the never ending settling of my son. DH is with him now trying to get him to sleep AGAIN. The last two days have been hideous, he just will not sleep for longer than about an hour at a time during the day so I spend allllllll day trying to settle him. It's exhausting. He's gotten worse rather than better and some times I feel like I'm at my wits end.

I know what you mean about your DD - I went through the same thing at about the same time but i'm feeling better about her now. It is still hard when I'm trying to settle DS and she's coming in the room etc and I feel awful for yelling and getting cranky at her but I'm just so tired all the time. I just try to make sure she gets lots of cuddles and I make it a rule that I dress her in her pjs and put her to bed every night regardless of what's happening with DS.

I also know what you mean about DH. It's like their lives just go on pretty much the way they did before but for us all we do is live and breath these little creatures. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't swap for the world, but it makes it hard for them to understand how we're feeling.

I went to that information session at Tresillian and I swear it just confused me more than ever. The woman just kept contradicting herself - don't let your baby cry, when you go in to try to settle your baby, don't pick them up, especially in the first instance. OK - so don't let him cry but don't pick him up?? HUH?! I asked why some babies can self settle so easily and others can't. She said it's 'because they have different parents'. Oh, OK then, so this IS my fault.

We haven't had DS weighed for over a week, I was going to take him the day I had the car accident, so I will take him on Tuesday. Hopefully that's still one thing we're doing really well cause we're kinda sucking at the sleeping thing right now!!

Hey Hoody and Willow - I am still here too but have had the week from HELL! Must be a 6 week thing, I don't know, but Caden was screaming and screaming for days. I mean, it probably wasn't that bad, but he would cry, then eventually work himself up so much he would just cry with every bit of energy in him, so much so that he would run out of breath and go dark red! I was in tears myself and pretty hysterical after a couple of hours of this. Off to the docs who didn't even touch him but prescribed an anti-acid. Not sure if he even has reflux, but today he is a much better baby, so something has worked (or maybe just the end of the growth spurt?). I have stopped having caffiene (my one vice, is there no reprieve?) and have thought "stuff the experts" and put him on the boob whenever he cries. We were trying for a while there to try to settle him cos we figured he couldn't possibly still be hungry, especially after a big feed. Now if it shuts him up I figure "stuff it" and put him on. Today he has slept and had a fairly good wake time, then off to sleep really easily, so maybe something has clicked into place (please please please).

I hear you both about DHs. It is like you want them to get out and do their own thing, but then you resent it anyway! I went to a new-baby session at Ngala the other day and I was gone for 3.5 hours in total. Because I missed a feed my (.)(.) were so sore. When I got home DH asked if I enjoyed my time away. Ungrateful girl that I am, I said not really, that it was good, but I was still extremely frazzled and fragile after my week and that I just wanted my happy baby back, not my purple faced screaming demon!

Hoody - I am in Freo. Would love to meet up at some stage!

Well, I might try and get a bit of a nap in before bubs wakes up. DH is having a nap, poor thing, all those night time feeds that he has to get up and do (no sarcasm intended...seriously).

Have a good week ladies!

Hi all! Thought I should pop in and say hello to everyone, and a big hello to everyone from Nov bellybuddies (hello Dragonbub & Willow!) - sorry i kinda dropped off there, I've been hanging out in the Sept thread!
My little girl Sasha was born on the 3rd Nov which makes her 1 month today. As I bt everyone else has found that first month has been an utter rollercoaster - going from elated to miserable to crazy with sleep deprivation to joy... sound familiar?? We have been coping with a harness to correct hip dislocation and now are dealing with reflux (sounds v similar to your little one Dragonbub) but she is beautiful and gaining weight steadily - and smiling!
Looking forward to meeting you all and sharing the joys...:D
Oh - and re feeling resentful with DHs/DPs - mine asked me the other night if he could get me anything when I was doing a midnight feed and I said yes, could he please grow some (.Y.) and start lactating :LOL:

Hey Queenie - I hear ya! It is like bubs is permanently attached to you some days, like the umbilical cord has not been cut yet. I must admit, I get a bit frustrated. You just have to sit there and wait for them to stop feeding! Mostly I love it though, don't get me wrong. It is the 1am feed that I find the hardest. Cold, dark, and this little creature sucking at your nipple. Very strange in a semi-conscious state. I love the other times, he is so cute with the little noises he makes.

Today has been better still (touch wood). Some cries this morning, but due to his stiff legs, I guessed he had wind and did some bicycle moves to get it going. After a few farts and some swaying on my behalf, he went off to sleep fairly well. Now to see if it lasts...

Hey girls, god I love coming in here and reading about your experiences because it makes me feel like my DS and I are normal and not the only ones on this roller coaster.

I also had a BAD week last week. Probably started with the car accident and just snowballed from there. Friday and Saturday felt like all I did all day was try to settle him to sleep and then he'd wake up. So I'd resettle him and he'd wake up - rinse, lather and repeat!!

After pretty much reaching breaking point yesterday morning (I even scared my DH, I was just a mess) a minor miracle has occurred. DH and I thought it was worth a shot to try to put him in his own room in his cot rather than the bassinet in our room, DH thought it might be too bright in our room. We always had DD in a darkened room and I had thought of it earlier in the week but then it got lost somewhere in the fog.

Anyway - since then he has improved out of sight!! 2x 2.5/3 hour sleeps yesterday afternoon, another this morning and he's just gone down again. No settling most of the time, he will put himself off to sleep. He does wake up most of the time but is pretty easy to resettle and then goes on to have a really good sleep.

I am praying like there's no tomorrow that this will continue :pray: I just could not go on another day with a baby that wasn't sleeping and a toddler screaming for my attention (not literally, but YKWIM).

Dragonbub - did you find the session at Ngala helpful? I went to one at Tresillian (the NSW equivalent) and it left me more confused then ever! You are doing well if you are able to ignore the advice of all the 'experts' - that's half my problem. If we're not doing what we're "supposed" to be doing, then I panic and worry I'm not doing what's best for him. The quote I added to the bottom of my signature is really a reminder to myself! By the way, totally jealous that you live in Freo. My sister lives in Perth and I love Fremantle.

Queenie - glad you popped in to share the rollercoaster ride!

We are going to the CHN tomorrow to have DS weighed, I'm hoping he's continued to gain weight nicely, one less thing to stress about. I'm pretty confident that our b'feeding is going really well but a bit of confirmation is always good.

Anyway, I'm off to grab a nap while both my babies are sleeping.

Wishing everyone nights with enough sleep and days with happy babies!

Hi all.
Willow- i totally agree with you about this thread reminding you that everything is normal. I too have had big issues settling DD2 this last few days. She suddenly changed on friday night from 3-4hrly feeds to 1.5hrly tops. Not fun i feel like a walking zombie and had a mini breakdown yesterday. I know what you mean about toddler screaming for attention my DD1 is so naughty at the moment which is very out of character so its all for attention. I hope your DS continues to improves it sounds like your onto something with the darkened room.
Dragonbub- I love Freo too but we really are at opposite ends of Perth. Maybe when we are all a bit more settled we could meet for lunch in town one day or something.
Queenie- you sound like you are doing so well and i'm very jealous ofthe smiling :) cant wait to see my DD smile back at me.

Well we are slightly better this morning but still doing it rough. My sister is picking up DD1 this afternoon to go and play with her kids for a few hours so i can have a much needed rest (well if Molly lets me) Yesterday i truly felt i wasnt coping but today i have my "I can and will do it" hat on.

Hi,

Our little DD, Mackenzie, was born on 18/11. She's our first child. So far, so good. She's feeding well, and we're all learning lots about each other and how the world of parenting and babies works!

Looking fwd to sharing the journey with you.

Danielle