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@pastemoo: feeling the same. Had a few odd contractions yesterday but absolutely nothing regular. It was so windy yesterday that I didn't get my walk in but tonight I'm thinking its time to DTD to see if we can get something moving.
I haven't lost my mucus plug so I get depressed every time I go to the bathroom (every 20 mins ha) but I need to remember that I didn't lose it with DD either until I was 12 hours into laboring at home. Then it came out when my water broke!
DD & I are going to a play date today and spending the day together so we can have a special day before baby comes. Hopefully she'll be good to me!
How are you @pastemoo? Any signs at all that something is happening??

@winniebee: OMG! congrats on having your baby!!! yay!!!!

@Goldilocks1107: You must have a heavy baby because based on your pics I have no idea where you are hiding that 50 pounds; would not have guessed that at all! Super good luck with your induction.....can't wait to hear your story!!! Eeeee you will soon be a Mommy!!!!! Go girl!

@Mrsdaredevil: I responded to you on the other thread about the issue with Willa not sleeping in her crib at night. Now I just thought of something else: she might have her nights and days mixed up. Nico didn't have that happen, but I've seen it as a topic in lots of books and online so that might be something to look into if she is able to sleep on her back during the day but not at night.

And ha, yeah, re the porn boobs.

Just got a chance to catch up on the all the posts (can you believe we are almost at 1600!).

@winniebee - congrats! he's so tiny.

@mrsdaredevil - congrats!

@blushink - congrats!

@marriedandlovingit - congrats!

@goldilocks - hope everything goes great for you tonight and can't wait to read about your induction. also, i am pretty much exclusively pumping (breast feeding is not going well right now) so if you have any questions, please ask.

@pastemoo - soooo close! I am sure you are tired of hearing hang in there, but you will have a baby soon!

Maybe on June 1 we can start a new thread because I can't keep track. Also if I have the time, I would love to try to create a post with everyone's baby birthday and baby name. Unless someone else did this already and I missed it. I just don't know where the time goes. Oh wait, it goes into feeding this baby constantly.

I tried breastfeeding today for the first time in a few days and it was awful. Lulu does not want to open her little mouth wide enough to get a good latch. So after crying for a few hours out of sheer frustration and some more nipple pain and feeling like an incompetent mother, I pumped again. I might have my lactation consultant come back one more time to try to give this another chance. I don't want to give up on breastfeeding yet.

What would you all say is your single biggest challenge so far, the one thing you didn't expect would be so hard? It is definitely breastfeeding for me, although I know that pumping is getting her breastmilk anyway and she is happy and healthy and I am producing enough, I wish I could get this breastfeeding thing down better. But I will not give up yet.

Hope you are all having a great weekend with your babies/big bellies.

@winniebee: Congratulations! What a wee little man, so sweet!

@cvbee: I already have the porn boobs. My mom said they won't get bigger except for 1-3 days, and then baby will get them back to current size. I HOPE SHE'S RIGHT!
@LAGS: Take your time after the visitors go. Enjoy your newborn. I'm glad your recovery is going better than expected--and that you're sleeping. That's awesome!

Have you noticed how much quieter it is with newborns and not pregnant ladies?

I'm seriously considering putting Tabasco on my pineapple...

@Mrsdaredevil: ACK!! But that's consistent with what my mom said--you can go back those 3 sizes within a week, I think (I hope!)
I put on 6 inches so far--and hopefully no more!

@pastemoo: oooh! good luck tonight! can't wait to hear your story!!

Long weekend and we've had lots of firsts.

First overnight. We had mostly packed all the right stuff, except I didn't really pack the right stuff for MYSELF as the weather was hot and I only had jeans. We forgot a part of the pack and play that we thought was non-essential, but the bassinet needed it, so Nico slept in the pack and play without the bassinet for the first time. All went fairly well, although I personally didn't sleep as easily as I usually do at home.

First drink. For me, it was a glass of red wine, drank lakeside at the cottage. Now, I was being a little bit risky because we hadn't actually tested to see if Nico would take a bottle of pumped milk yet. I figured if worst came to worse we could medicine-dropper feed him. But, no worries, as he took to his first bottle right away. (Using the medela calma nipple, which is supposed to be most similar to breastfeeding).

First soother. Nico was super fussy this afternoon and we tried everything but nothing would satisfy the little dude. Finally we decided to try a soother. Worked like a charm and I have a feeling that I'm going to be looking at his little face with a soother in it from now on....he's already an addict. HAving said that, I'm a bit worried about this new thing that I haven't spent 10 hours researching yet, like I do for everything else. Will he still tell me when he's hungry? Should I only give it to him for emergencies? Have I ruined his life by giving it to him? For now, he is a snug bug with it and even doing a great job of sleeping without spitting it out!

And tonight might be Nico's first 'big boy diapers' (one size), since when we were away he used up all of his usual newborn size cloth diapers. They are in the dryer now. I'm getting ready to feed him and then I'll change his diaper and it will be into a Charlie Banana One Size diaper.

Woot.

Hope everyone is doing well!

@pastemoo: Congrats! Good luck with everything! I'm crazy jealous because I'm definitely last now.
Can't wait to hear about it!

good luck to pastemoo! Rooting for you girl!

Breastfeeding is so hard. Willa latches great and feeds great but I just can't believe how much milk I am producing....I feel like a milk cow. I am constantly having to hand pump or manually express because my boobs are just overflowing....it is so incredibly painful. They are so engorged! I can't wait to get over the hump because right now quitting sounds real nice.

Winnie, congrats to your fam! Can't believe how little your guy was for being 38 weeks. You always said you thought he would be small!

@volksgirl64: hang in there!

@volksgirl64 - Yippee! Hope you have a speedy delivery!!

@Goldilocks1107: Things seem to happen in three's....you're next!! How are you doing?

@cvbee: we already gave LO a paci too, but we only use it when we are putting her down to sleep. It helps her drift off without fussing. We just made sure to get one with a straight nipple...those curved ones can teach them to latch wrong. She is still doing great with feeding.

Went to the pediatrician today and LO is already back at her birth weight. She is eating like a champ, and last night she only woke up twice....and that is because I woke her up to feed her! Our pediatrician was so impressed with how healthy she is and her weight gain....I guess that is the one positive of having an oversupply of milk!

@LAGS: When Nico was on his feeding binges I wondered about maybe not having enough, but then I read that it is a way for the baby to increase your supply, so not to worry about it.

@Mrsdaredevil: Horray for getting Willa back to birth weight! You also got her over that sleeping issue super quick....horray again! Regarding engorgement: I thought that I had a lot of milk, but then when I visited with my aunt this weekend at the cottage and showed her the 6 ounces that I had from 3 pumping sessions (single breast pump sessions), she laughed because she said she remembers doing about 20 ounces in one session (double). She had twins and is probably thinking of when they were older. Anyways, it really made me appreciate that the breastfeeding thing is totally a supply-demand situation. I still get a little engorged sometimes, but my breasts seem to be really leaky so I think they just let the extra stuff out themselves! I've never pumped to relieve engorgement also because I was worried that would just make me make even more milk and get even more engorged....but maybe I'm crazy. Sometimes when my breasts are feeling engorged I feed Nico even if he's not crying for it. From what I've read, we'll all have our breasts figure out the supply-demand thing in a couple months.

On the pacifier report: Nico has NEVER been so easy. He is so satisfied and not so hungry, which makes me think that he was totally just eating to suck sometimes before. Also, when breastfeeding he used to take like 40 minutes to eat, and now it's 20. He was totally using me as a human pacifier and I had no idea. Just now, he went the longest he ever went without eating (4.5 hours) and I know that is totally normal for a one month old, but I still got a little worried, so I just fed him even though he didn't cry for it.

@cvbee: last night we laid her on her side double swaddled in the bassinet and it worked like magic! We will see how long it last....our ped said she will go through lots of phases.

@winniebee: Yay!!!!! Congrats!

@Mrsdaredevil: so like I said, things change. Now I'm dealing with engorgement because Nico isn't nursing very often due to the introduction of the soother. I would like him to only nurse when he needs to, but my breasts are feeling pretty hard and uncomfortable right now. Sigh. Haven't pumped yet today, so I could do that but I'm feeling too lazy right now. Ooh! his soother just fell out...maybe he'll wake up. (I can't believe I'm hoping for him to nurse.....just one week ago I was afraid of him waking up because he was nursing too much!)

Whoa, Finally caught up on this thread... it moves way to fast! Yikes. Hopefully I didn't miss anything too important! ...

@shortcake: I think creating a baby name / date thread is a great idea!

@Mrsdaredevil: I feel you on the engorged boobs. They are beyond HUGE and so so painful. I was told though, that if you pump too much (to relieve the pain) you are simply creating a demand and you'll be more engorged. YIKES!!! It's all about the hot and cold compress. Though I've only done it once. I might try the whole cabbage thing because I'm in pain 22/24 hours in a day. Sure, my milk only came in on Sunday, but the nurse told me I have a HUGE production of milk (more than with Mavrick)

@Goldilocks1107: I'm a little late, but good luck and hope everything goes well.

@volksgirl64: Yay!!! it's your time! GOod luck and can't wait to hear how it goes.

@cvbee: Ah the pacifier! can you believe that I gave Sienna a paci when she was like... 4 hours old. I waited 2 days to give one to Mavrick and they were the worst 2 days ever! (he cried for 7 hours straight!) I only gave a paci to Sienna because she latched on extremely well. If she had issues I would of waited until she became better at it... but my kids know boob well and the difference with a paci. (yay for me!) and yay for you, for him being so much better with one. Plus, I always say it's easier to take away a paci then a thumb!

@LAGS: After a while, the engorgement stops and you breast are back to a more normal state. That doesn't mean you aren't producing milk or not enough. Does your milk flow well? I could be that once in baby's mouth the flow is actually pretty fast making baby full quick resulting in more feedings. That's what is happening with Sienna. She drinks every 1.5 hours during the day and every 3.5 hours at night. Plus your flow is with the demand. As baby gets bigger and sucks harder, the flow will increase. So I don't think I would worry about it. And don't forget the growth spurts.

@cvbee: I only give a soother to Sienna, AFTER she drinks. That way she doesn't ask for it instead of milk. It does take a few days for them to really understand the difference, but if you feel like it's better not to give it... then trust your instinct!

So I'm feeling great! We came home friday afternoon and have has visitors every day since. Because it was the weekend, it was actually the true test seeing that Mavrick was home with us! (oh the joys of a running toddler!) I'm actually surprised about him with his sister. He calls her "baby" and gives her her pacifier when she cries (it's so cute!) he's actually doing really well and is not rebelling too much. The only issue we've had is with nap/sleep time. He wants me. So I have to hop in bed with him until he falls asleep. I don't know how long this will last so if you have any tips I'm all ears.

Today is actually my first "day off" as in, Mavrick is in daycare and I actually have time to sit in front of my computer to catch up! I have all the paper work to fill out for Sienna, and need to make appointements for the pediatrician and my post-partum 2 month appointment. Plus, I need to go get some meds... but I'm just so lazy right now. I need to shower, but honestly... I just don't want to. ha!

My stitches still hurt (can't wait to be healed completely) but so happy I tore only to the 1st degree (versus to 2nd with Mavrick) happy to be poo-ing regularly... (took 4 days before I could go!) and well my boobs are going to explode... (more than with Mavrick!) so engorged, all the time.

Oh... time to go, Sienna just woke up! Will continue later.