Hellobee Boards

@Espion: Just nursing for now, prob start pumping in a couple weeks to start building a stash. I did have to use the manual pump last night because A only are on one side and fell asleep. My boob looked huge and like rock hard-I was afraid to go to bed! I only got like one oz and my arm was tired, but it was my first go.

Oh, did you all see? I think @tinypiglet is in labor!

Oops I was sleep deprived and thought you meant "at the moment". I've been pumping after every other nursing session as per the LCs orders. We got a double electric pump and man it makes me feel like a farm animal!

@knittylady: Ha! I grew up on a dairy farm. As my sister puts it, "I keep waiting for someone to slap me on the butt and move me down the line!"

@tinypiglet: I hope its soon for you, too!!

@Revel: DH and I promised each other that we won't interrupt our lives for our LO. Not that we frequent bars or have wild nights, but we do enjoy our travel, down time, and sexy time. It basically comes down to making a commitment to not take each other for granted and not consistently putting the LO first when it comes to things where it doesn't make sense. The way I see it, I wouldn't have E if I hadn't loved DH first. So our relationship is almost a bigger priority, if that makes sense.

That being said, I can't wait until this kid is big enough to put him in a sling and nurse/nap on the go. I would love to hit up our favorite Mexican restaurant before we leave here and have a real, live beer, lol!

I officially golded myself today...if anything to support Hellobee. This place has been beyond enormously helpful. The wisdom of experience trumps most knowledge!

My little "picture of innocence" refused to sleep last night except for marathon nursing sessions and napping in my arms. He finally admitted defeat and surrendered to the crib/co-sleeper thing at 3:50 am. I am a little tired today!

@revel: How is your day on your own (saw your post on the June 2013 due date thread)? I am doing fine with LO, but it is SOOO quiet in here. His parents are actually coming in town today so there will be some excitement, but I hope they don't just want to hang out here all day every day, too.

I feel kinda bad about that, but I am trying to have some type of schedule with A and they said they could come visit so we could get some sleep, but neither of them can give him pretty much the only thing he needs that keeps me up at night, so I don't think they will actually be able to help us get more sleep.

@Espion: You get 30 days free when you sign up right? You can do that! Yeah, I much prefer hanging out downstairs during the day, but sometimes A takes a while to latch on and I really don't feel like fumbling in front of my FIL!

I feel like E is doing better with nursing, but sometimes he completely freaks out. He roots and makes hungry signs, but when I try to latch him he either screams, pushes off or both. I don't think it's an over active let-down, because he's fine nearly every other time. But he'll get completely frantic. I've been held boob hostage or the last hour and a half. He's been successfully latched, maybe, 20 minutes of that.

Anyone else's LO doing this?

@tlcbaby: I did feel comfortable with her there. Everyone had a baby and was tending to their LO... no one touched her or anything, haha. It was refreshing and very normalizing for me of BF ing and the new mom challenges, I would absolutely go if at all possible. We have been getting out a lot with LO, just trying to avoid crowded indoor spaces. It is important for my sanity at this point!

@Revel: I know! I am ready to get back, but so scared to find out how much strength/stamina I've lost! I am counting down the weeks!

We do go for our daily walks and we went to the farmers market this weekend, but haven't really been inside anywhere except the doctor's office, which luckily we are done with for a while.

DH's parents are here now and I feel like we are in for a week of unsolicited parenting advice. They aren't staying here, so hopefully it won't be too bad, but MIL already tried to ignore us when we asked her to bring him inside out of the sun because he had even out for a while already and it is pretty hot here today.

@Espion: Re: boob hostage - YES! I don't get it. He roots and hyperventilates and shakes his head... Then immediately unlatches and starts fussing. I am confused.

@tlcbaby: Aww no Hopefully they will just love on A and keep their opinions to themselves. My MIL and DH's aunt asked me last night if LO was sleeping through the night yet. When I said no, they said it was probably because I'm spoiling him. All I could do was laugh!

@grizz: @LazyLightning: I hate that the weird fussiness is happening to you guys, but it makes me feel better that this is clearly a baby frustration thing and not a mama thing. I feel like he's telling me that I'm not hitting *exactly* where he wants to latch, or something.

I wonder when babies latch like its second nature to them?

@grizz: @tlcbaby: Sleeping through the night?! Never hungry? You know what that means...clearly they had miracle babies who slept at night and ate three square meals a day! (And crawled uphill in the snow both ways, dang it.)

Just wanted to pop in and say I've been feeling really low and just called my midwife about it. They're going to see me. This afternoon about possible ppd. I feel so relieved to have reached out.

@knittylady: Thet is great you had the foresight to reach out. That is an important first step. Hugs to you-hope the appt goes well.

@tlcbaby: I have a lot more trouble with latch when I'm full. My LC actually wants me to start pumping off like half an ounce before night feeds to alleviate this and start building a stash, but this seem backwards from other advice I've read (to pump after a feed to build a stash/build supply).

Also, I wish LO would randomly fall asleep for me these days! All sleep right now is a hard fought battle. I have her in the swing right now with a paci sleeping, finally.

@knittylady: Good for you for reaching out. For me, these last two and a half weeks have been incredibly difficult and I've felt pretty low a lot of the time. I am feeling a little more on top of things in the last few days, sometimes, so I hope that the combination of reaching out for help and time will have you feeling improved soon.

@LazyLightning: I guess it's normal to miss the old life, when such a permanent change has been made. I remind myself every day that this is actually a short period of time, even if it doesn't feel like it, and she won't be this small forever. I hope you're hanging in there with the parents gone.

@grizz: THAT is some ridiculous advice you got.

@Espion: I am waiting for the moment when latch is easy! Right now to keep things in the right plae I often have to keep one hand on the boob and one hand on the baby so I just end up staring into space. I'd be happy with one handed nursing at this point.

@Revel: I'm using the Baby Connect app for feedings, and the schedule is that there is no schedule! I chart only feedings and diapers, but you should see the chart it gives me. It's a mess.

Our speech therapy appointment went well today. I was lucky enough to end up with a therapist who had a personal history of having a really tough time BF'ing. It was like she was on a personal mission to ensure we preserved that relationship.

She had an interesting theory, though. E has been spitting up some of his feeds (but he's never really fussy with it, so I've thought nothing of it), and she wonders if his slow/disorganized nursing is to protect himself from the discomfort of an overfull stomach. She also recommended a better nipple if we do have to bottle feed him (the Nuk). She said that his refusal of the others is likely because they are too narrow.

I also cracked and bought a baby scale. Hopefully we can document a positive trend in how much he's eating.