Hi everyone! So pleased to see this thread now

I've been reading this thread (and the baby buddies thread) but haven't had the time and energy to post.

Quick summary - Liam Jack was born after a fairly traumatic induction on December 2nd (he just turned 4 weeks old, which I can't believe!), 8 pound 15 ounces, 51.5cm.

I had some major issues recovering from the birth - complete loss of appetite and almost constant nausea, amongst other symptoms, which worsened when my milk came in. I got super engorged, which was extremely painful, and to make things worse, Liam had a lot of problems with feeding at first, so it wasn't easily relieved. We eventually got him feeding him in hospital with the use of a nipple shield.

The first few weeks back at home were really difficult for me. I was severely sleep deprived, still suffering from nausea and a lack of appetite and just generally a wreck. Liam still wasn't feeding well, and was fussing about 95% of the time he was awake and not sleeping well at night at all.

Things came to a head and, after several visits to the GP, I was diagnosed with postnatal depression and started on antidepressants and a very low dose of a sleeping pill (for the record, I've suffered from depression for a good many years and came off antidepressants to get pregnant). Liam was also tentatively diagnosed with silent reflux and started on medication.

As I type now, things are much improved. Liam's far more settled, and generally sleeps much better at night, waking every 2-3 hours to feed and generally settling down quickly afterwards. He doesn't always sleep well during the day, but he spends far less time fussing now while awake. He's also feeding much better now - he rejected the nipple shields a few weeks ago, and latches on without too much fuss now. Him feeding properly makes everything a lot easier. Our next challenge is to get him to accept a bottle of expressed milk from time to time from DH, which he's so far rejected.

I'm doing a lot better, too. Getting a bit of decent sleep makes a huge difference to everything. The antidepressants are starting to kick in, and everything feels far more manageable. DH has been home for the last few weeks, too, which has been a huge help.

And now I've written a short novel Hope you're all doing well and enjoying your little ones.