Babies Born ~ July 2012 #1

Thanks Girls - Maruschke we have 6 frosties we wont be using, we had none after DS and I kinda wish it was the same then we wouldn't have any left not to use ITMS. DH plans to get the snip (which is totally ironic as our fertility issues are male factor), but we're not really up for a natural surprise in the future, I know it seems a bit contradictory in the fact that I am a bit sad not to be pregnant again but not actually want more children, but glad you guys get it!

BTW - Love both of your new Avi's. Just waiting for mine to be uploaded :)

We're a bit the same here Nay, not really sure what to do. I would dearly love a girl (but am convinced if we did have a third it would be a boy anyway!). We have one frozen embie so at this early stage we think we'll transfer and see what happens. If it works fantastic, if it doesn't, well I guess that would be it for us. In some ways I'd like to try and gender sway, but for us using our last frozen embie means the risk of down syndrome would be based on my age at the time of EPU (if you remember we were considered high risk with Atticus and had to consider an amnio etc) and therefore lower.

Ironically I had thought we wouldn't have to worry about contraception as our FS had said zero chance of falling pregnant naturally - now that we know that's not the case (hello Atticus!!!) then we'll have to work out options. Another natural pregnancy would be fabulous but we come back to the higher DS risks so we'll be needing some form of contraception. I was on Depo Provera prior to TTC, I'm sure there's better this out there now!

Hi ladies,

I hope I can join this group even though DS2 was born in August (8 days late). I plan to put up a birth story soon, because I remember reading them all in preparation for my own. I was actually really scared about the labour, especially after DS1. But I had a beautiful water birth which according to the midwife was 'textbook' apart from the bit where I forgot to pick the baby up from the bottom of the bath - I was so relieved to get rid of the pressure of him pushing on my bowels!!

Anyway, we are going really well. DS2 was born the day after my Gran passed away in NZ

Sorry, accidentally pressed send on my iPad (typing & feeding) I will come back later and try to do some personals...

Nat - you better stay with us! We'll chase you down in the August thread otherwise lol :)

Nat, i'm confused - haven't you posted in here already? Or is my baby brain so mush I'm just making stuff up now?

DS2 has just passed out after a three hour witching hour screaming session. Very much hoping this means he'll have a good night but that's probably wishful thinking ;)

Hi ladies!

Haven't been ignoring you, just been so busy with newborn snuggles, a defiant little miss and also Uni! Im questioning why I am doing it to myself LOL (Have 2 assessments due tomorrow and with Jacob throwing a spanner in the works it left me rather behind!)

Things are going okay here, although I do miss having my belly to rest things on. It was very surreal leaving the hospital on Wednesday after he finally made his appearance. I'm still struggling with the decision around his sperm donor. Part of me is wanting to just ignore him, not put him down, not claim child support and be done with it, but then I see sense and think why should I be on struggle street when he played a part in this and should step up to his responsibility. First step is to speak to Child Support tomorrow and take it from there. As for future children, well a guy would have to be pretty spectacular to take me and 2 kids on, so who knows!

Hows everyone going with feeding? I lasted 1 breastfeed and then had to resort to bottles/formula. Heartbreaking but I had to make sure Jacob was actually getting nutrients (as a rebellious teen I had my nipple pierced and I could very rarely hand express anything out of it, and the other nipple he tore to shreds and wouldn't latch). He has his witching hour(s) at around 2am so is often awake for quite a while. Routine will start tomorrow as DD is back to school and we will all be out of bed early. I have to somehow get him out of wanting to feed every hour (small amounts, 10-20mls) and spread him out to 3-4 hourly.

Midwife came on Friday (heel *****) and today (weigh in) and said all is going well. He is slightly jaundiced which is very prominent in his eyes and can be seen down his chest, but thankfully not all the way down to hands/feet yet. He has also only lost 80g since birth, which is good.

Okay I think its time to stop procrastinating and finish these uni assessments. Will be back later and read through to do some personals and catch up on where everyone is.

cmkm - I don't know how you do it all - with uni too!! I hope it all goes well for you and whatever decision you make works well for you. My best friend since primary school ended up changing her phone number, so that her ex and father of first 2 children couldn't contact her. I think he wasn't really interested in the children anyway and with the way sperm donor has been acting, I don't blame you for feeling that way... I've persisted with b/feeding although, I am hating it already. I b/fed DS1 until he was 11 months, but I felt like a moo cow and really didn't enjoy it. I guess I just felt that I had too, but then there are kids in the playgroup who were formula fed and turned out to be healthier than kids who were b/fed til 12 months - but that's the whole feeding debate I guess...

lise - no I haven't posted in here yet (unless I have really bad baby brain lol). I don't think I've posted since the July belly buddies..

MummyNaomi - We have 3 frosties left this time and had none after DS1 too. I don't think we'll be using them at all as we are really happy with 2 boys (well I am and DH already has 2 boys and 2 girls from a previous marriage & I think 6 is enough for him!). I really missed being pregnant last time but definately not this time! I sleep better now than I did the whole pregnancy and DS can sit on my lap now. I could do the birth again, but definately not the pregnancy - which is funny because last time it was the other way around... I love being a family of 4 and am really happy to have 2 boys - I don't feel any need to have a girl. Although, when DS was born I did have a moment of dissapointment because I really loved the girl's name we had chosen :D

Anyway, I think DS is due for a feed now - so I better go get ready for that. The midwife told me to wake him every 3 hours during the day so he sleeps better at night. So far he goes for about 3-4 hours and usually goes down easily after (but not always). DH and my mother say how well he sleeps and how much better than DS1 he is at settling - but I'm not sure how long it will last :o

Lise -the irony of using birth control methods after LTTTC always makes me chuckle. We have some chance of conceiving naturally, however not great odds and we didn't have time on our side due to our ages to hope for a natural surprise

Nat - we are on a 3-4hr cycle it se

Stupid phone

..... But mostly following DDs cues for feeding, unless we need to go somewhere, them i'll offer a feed before we go.

Just enjoying a chest cuddle as we speak, that's the special thing about feeding at night, peaceful and quiet and cuddly :) I used to enjoy it with Balz too

Seems like its cuddling time!

Did as midwife said, bottle around 7pm (thankfully he let me finish dinner!) he then slept till around 10.45pm. Bum change and bottle at around 11pm.

He woke up around 1.30am but was quite content sucking on his dummy and looking around at the world (gazing into his eyes melts my heart)

He's having another feed now (3am) so fingers crossed he sleeps through till around 7am which is perfect timing as then I have to get DD up for school.

Although might need to change around arvo feeds as school finishes at 3 (could get there early and park the car then feed him prior to going in I guess)

Back to my snuggles!

Awesome cmkm! 4 hourly is great, that is about what we are at.

hi ladies - missing you all.
I dont get on BB much, but when i do i only get a chance to read and not post.
I do however seem to get on FB more cos i can access it from my phone (which i use 99% of the time but cant access BB on it)
I have joined a FB group for June bubbas and mummas, but miss allmy july mummas, would any of you ladies been interested in starting a July belly group on FB???

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hi ladies - missing you all.
I dont get on BB much, but when i do i only get a chance to read and not post.
I do however seem to get on FB more cos i can access it from my phone (which i use 99% of the time but cant access BB on it)
I have joined a FB group for June bubbas and mummas, but miss allmy july mummas, would any of you ladies been interested in starting a July belly group on FB???

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I'd love to be in a July FB group :)

pm me ur name on fb - will need to add u as a friend to add u (can "defriend" you after)

Hmmmm I think I need to start doing some pelvic floor exercises. Things just feel lower than I remember and look a little different too (TMI alert) downstairs, will ask my OB at my post natal appt too

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Hmmmm I think I need to start doing some pelvic floor exercises. Things just feel lower than I remember and look a little different too (TMI alert) downstairs, will ask my OB at my post natal appt too

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You've looked down there!!!!!

I had a joke with my midwife yesterday as I tidied up down there knowing it was all going to be on show! She said it makes the job that slight bit easier pmsl

Oh so I don't confuse people - changed username from cmkm? to CKJ to represent my little family of 3!

Haha - funnily enough the morning I gave birth I'd 'grooomed' down there, musta known :) But in all seriousness, I was a bit worried earlier as things felt... er ..... Droopy! Will do some pelvic floor exercise daily to see if that helps. I'd forgotten about all that this time

I know I'm not the only one up feeding! We just had a small poop... victory! Made it to 8 days, OMG! I know there is more hiding in there.

I need to do keegals too.

Yay for pooping!!!

Lol I was told I had a prolapsed cervix? Or something along those lines and it would "contract" back up when my uterus shrunk. Might ask GP about it lol

I'm up but not feeding. Arsenic hour must have changed today! Usually he's grizzling from 3am

Morning ladies!

Just a quick post from me. Bethany was one month old over the weekend - we got her weighed and she has put on 700g and grown 5cm since birth!

She has been feeding so much since Friday - I feel like she's just using me for my boobies lol. She's increased my supply by heaps again and last night she slept for 7 hours straight - I couldn't believe it when I woke up and it was light outside!

I can definitely relate to mourning my pregnancy - we aren't sure whether we've stopped having babies or not and we've decided to not talk about it until DD2 is at least 6 months old. I'm really conflicted because I can't accept that I'll never be pregnant again or birth another baby but I feel like 2 kids is enough for us. I've just started the on mini pill so we'll revisit the 3rd baby discussion down the track instead.

We had some professional photos done yesterday - better late than never but they are going to be so amazing! I left there so clucky lol

Naomi54 - you've gotta clear your inbox lovely ;)

Inbox is cleared now LOL

Ash - 7 hours!!!! how nice lol

7 hours!!!! Jealous!

Jacob slept from 11.30-4.30 (ish) so I was happy!

Ohhhhh......seven hours.....

Longest we've had is five. And I was still awake because we had friends over.

I have a little girl who has fed/sucked for the last four hours. Methinks my antibiotics are wrecking havoc on their wee tums cos they are so unsettled. Poor wee dots.
I think we have had four hours, maybe five tops here overnight.
One day I will open my laptop so I can do some persies.


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Melissa :hug: FX you get some good sleep soon.

Naomi - just curious, is the belly group on FB closed / private, or can anyone read it?

Maruschke - I'm sure only us the belly group can only read it.....

Melissa - big hugs coming my way. Did you read what I put on FB for you !!!!!!.

cathie ;)

the longest we have had is 5hrs and its been during the day!!

the group is closed and only those who are members can see it etc......noone else can find it :)

Melissa - hugs hun xo

Longest is 4.5, A usually feeds every 1.5-3 hours. Great for weight gain, not so good for mummy's nipples or sleep :(

Cathie - yes I did, thanks very much - I have been trying to get on the computer earlier to reply but evil day today!

Lise - oh I hear what you are saying about the frequent feeding and sore nips. I just fed Miss G a bottle of EBM cos after today's marathon feeding, omg they needed a break. Feeling particularly gnawed and painful.

So today, I jumped in the shower at 7.20am after both girls had gone down. I got out of the shower and one girl was squawking (approx 7.30am) and I kid you not, these girls literally only stopped feeding at about 6pm. One would stop, then the other would start or they would both be going at once. I have three more days of antibiotics to go and am so tempted to stop them early as it seems such a coincidence that my tummy gets upset from them, then the girls start getting very unsettled.

Question about breastfeeding - when my milk came in, I was constantly feeling full, which I know is to be expected, and I would get loads of milk expressing. Now, I am bf probably 4 feeds (plus snacks) and expressing for two feeds and I always feel empty. When I express, I don't get very much off and I worry that the girls aren't getting enough. They are having loads of poos and wees a day but my boobies don't seem to fill up very much now and I am beginning to worry about my supply. Is this normal? Or could it be a combination of having been sick/being on multi antibiotics/dodgy tummy from antibiotics?

Your breast do adjust Mel and even though they're not full and hard like the first few days you should find you still have enough milk. I was always crap at expressing even though I had an over supply of milk. So I would think that as long as there's plenty of wet nappies and the girls are gaining weight you're fine. Having said that, I don't have twins obviously so not sure if that changes things so talk to your MACH nurse if you're worried.

Not very helpful at all am I?!

Stupid phone won't let me edit - I meant to say that amount of milk expressed isn't an indication of supply, babies are much better suckers than pumps! But maybe also ask Barb, I'm not sure what effect your medication would have on your supply.

You mentioned the meds giving you an upset tummy - what are you on? I find if I have the generic brand of Amoxil I get sick but the normal brand is fine. Apparently some of the filler ingredients/coatings etc can be different and thus cause different interactions and different side effects. Could this be the problem?

Lise, that is actually good to know cos I know that but just need to be reassured.
Interesting about the coatings on drugs, never thought of that. My midwife said the three I was on shouldn't upset the girls but the combination of them together may make a difference. Didn't think of coatings though. I have made the decision to stop them though, I've been on them for over a week and my poor wee girls were just too upset,


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Wow, lots of posts in the few days I've been lazy. Forgive me for not doing a full round of persies as on my phone.

Melissa - I hope your little ones settle down once you're off the antis.

CKJ - I don't know how you're doing it with uni. Make sure you apply for special consideration even if you do get all your assessment in on time.

We're having a good week. DD gained over 130g last week so still not back to birth weight quite but improving and the MCHN are happy. Breast feeding is going well. She's doing lots of comfort suckling during the day so I've just about given up pumping. (I did get 30ml from one pumping session yesterday - my most ever - but that was after she'd fallen asleep and refused to feed from the second side in the morning.) I'm loving feeding her now that my nipples don't hurt and I can finally feel confident shes getting enough. Managed one sleep in the cot yesterday too but otherwise she's having all her sleeps either being worn during the day or in bed with me at night. I guess she's guaranteed to be a well attached baby :)

Last night we had a 4+ hour screamfest before two good 3-4 hour sleeps. Tonight was better, just fussy and desperate to suckle before sleeping 4+ hours. We're now into our second sleep for the day so I'm going to try to doze off myself and join her.

Sorry for my lack of reply. I've been reading, usually on my phone, so it's hard to reply to everyone individually.

We're going okay. DD1 had a cold which has been passed on to DD2. She's all nasally and has a little cough and sneezing. It's sad and cute at the same time. She seems to be breathing easily enough though. We had her hip screening last week and I seriously nearly lost my nut. DD1's surgeon told us to get any new babies screened at the two week mark. I found a u/s centre that told me they would screen a baby at two weeks. So we took DD2 there and the guy doing the scan tried to refuse doing it. I told him what our surgeon said and then he bignoted himself saying that only three people in the entire state would be willing to scan a baby at two weeks, he being one of them. Ugh. So off he went to consult with another person, came back and agreed to scan. We already knew that it wouldn't be a perfectly accurate screen. Too many hormones still in her body making her hips soft, but at this point, they look okay. Unfortunately due to the severity of DD1's hips, there is a big chance of DD2's hips deteriorating, so we have to have another scan at 7 weeks. At the moment, we're taking precautions and have her in double nappies (helps keep the hips in correct position) and no swaddling, so she's in a halo sleep sack - which is a sleeping bag with a velcro attachment so her arms are swaddled in and her legs are free.

Other than that, she's going okay. Still feeding well, although she's gone to three hourly feeds overnight and four hourly during the day. She's a noisy baby which is something new for us as DD1 was so quiet. But DD2 grunts and squeaks, so funny.

k4t - tried to reply to your pm, but your inbox is full.......need to add you as a friend on fb first and then can add you to the group :) have sent you a request :)

Thanks Naomi. Ive cleared my inbox.
PRMG - glad to hear your DDs hips look okay in spite of it being such an ordeal to get the scan.

PRMG - What a tosser! But glad so far there is no sign of anything. We have Anni's Paed appt at 6 weeks and are getting a referral for an U/S then, so Anni will be 6 or 7 weeks. Paed was very happy with her hips at birth, but then we had no sign of what was to come with Bailz at birth either so their is no guarantee I guess. Sorry to hear of the rough days in your household with illness, hope it passes through quickly! Anni's very noisy too - she grunts and does this little squeaky sound when she is sleeping. Mum was joking today that she needed 'oiling' cos she's so squeaky :rofl:

k4t - Sorry to hear about the hours of screaming but yay for the weight gain! Good on you for catching some Zzzzz's while bubs is sleeping!

My Mastitis is getting there. The issue that I have is that most of the blockage I have is behind the nipple which makes it hard to massage out during a feed, it is moving though, just slowly. This afternoons last two feeds were a little more tolerable (or maybe I am just used to it now), but once she latches on now, the pain does seem to subside a little, whereas earlier it was just constant until she came off. Seriously, childbirth was easier than this!!

DH went back to work today, it was easier than with DS as I am a lot more confident this time around, but it still sucked. DS missed him terribly and kept asking where he was. Fortunately we had a birthday party to attend this morning so he was soon distracted and then Nan kept him busy all arvo. DH missed the kids though :(

DD is growing at a massive rate. I am going to have to pack up some 0000 soon, they are just getting too tight. She is quite long in the torso so the onsies are a bit stretched. I cant believe I am thinking about packing up baby clothes already. We are almost finished our newborn nappies which is just as well as they are getting too small too. We have the CYH (same as MCHN) coming for a home visit on Monday so looking forward to finding out how much she weighs now. I am thinking she will be about 4100gm. Looking at piccies I wouldn't be surprised if she is averaging about a 300gm gain per week in the last few weeks :)

Anyway, must away, my coles groceries should be here any minute!

Naomi
x

Mel, how are you and the girls now? Hope everyone has settled again, you must be superwoman coping with twins!

k4t, it's nice when you can actually enjoy feeding isn't it? I think it took me a good six or so weeks with DS1 but my boobs settled down much faster this time round. Mind you I still have HEAPS of milk, poor DS2 is always getting sprayed on his face/head and my tops are always saturated after a feed!

PRMG, what an idiot! Glad you finally got the scan but annoying it was such a drama. Fingers crossed the next scan is good too xx

Nai, glad to hear the pain seems to be subsiding, I agree it's worse than childbirth - at least it's acceptable to scream during labour, not so when feeding...! And I hear you on packing away clothes, and as for nappies, I had to give half the newborn nappies away cos Atticus was too chubby!!

Well I have two suck boys today, Finn has tonsillitis (5th bout this year!) and Atticus has a snotty nose, cough and a mild fever. I read that you shouldn't give babies under three months panadol without seeing a gp so called the Health Direct hotline who recommended no panadol and a visit to the gp within 24 hours. So I'm monitoring him tonight and will see how he goes. I was getting a bit paranoid about his cough because Finn has a barky cough and the gp took a swab to test for whooping cough, and I'd really hate for Atticus to have it as he hasn't had his first jabs yet. I wonder if I'll always be a paranoid mother?!

Otherwise I survived my first few days at home without Nick. Was a little tricky at times but probably made worse by Finn being sick, I'm hoping next week is easier :)

Well bed time for me - this time of night is Atticus' longest stretch so I try to take advantage!

Naomi - glad your mastitis is settling.
Lise- here's hoping your two recover quickly.

I've realised being unsettled overnight is twice as big a challenge if you have to be up early in the morning. (Only having the one DD I have the luxury of not needing to get up for other children.) Yesterday we were out almost all day so DD didn't sleep much (lots of crying in the carseat and didn't get fed or changed quite as frequently as she usually is at home.) So come 10.30pm its no surprise she decided to cry non-stop until 1.30am. I got her to sleep in the ergo at one stage after 15min pacing the hall but she woke as soon as I took it off. Grr. Anyway, three hours of crying is not really that bad but last night it felt like the end of the world because I knew I had to get up at 5.30am for a fun run.

On the plus side she has slept practically all of today to make up for it including through the whole 5km fun walk. And we got to wave Dad across the finish line for the half marathon. I think 5km is the farthest I've walked since the birth. My legs are a bit achy now.