Hellobee Boards

@Mae: ugh, brutal SIL still thought it was ok to come with him sick? I unfortunately didn't have an option in letting my DD come home, haha! She cracked another tooth too, that's four in the time since DS arrived, insanity.

I have DS in a collared onesie today, his first "outfit" other than a sleeper or plain onesie, I am so not a mom into cutesie outfits, the collar is huge! Not practical, lol.

Awww sorry to hear that some of the babies already have colds poor little guys and girls! We've lucked out on our end so far and W seems healthy...but I'm sure it won't be long till DD brings something home.

Things are finally starting to look up on our end. I was in the ER yet again on Friday. My rash just kept getting worst and wosts. It's seriously the weirdest/most insane looking thing I've ever seen and is EVERYWHERE (except not too much on my face luckily). My GP couldn't diagnose it and she was getting worried about it, and brought in the head doctor in the practice and he said to have me seen by the ER right away since it was friday and they wouldn't get any blood test results over the weekend. Well, it looks like I'm having a bad reaction to one or more of the drugs I received during labour (probably the antibiotics). They started me on some heavy duty medication (although still safe for bf-ing) and creme and it's finally lightening a bit. It is, however, still extremely itchy, and I'm averaging about 1-2 hours of sleep a night only because I'm so insanely itchy. Hoping it doesn't last much longer, because so far, W sleeps like champ, and I want some sleep too!

In terms of night feedings, we do things a bit differently since I'm exclusively pumping. I get up in the midle of the night (between 1 and 2 am) and then first thing in th emorning (around 6) to pump while DH gives him a bottle and changes his diaper (although to be honest, I'm downstairs while DH feeds him, so I'm not sure the diaper change always gets done). The other night W slept from 10h00 p.m. till 5h0am...it was insane! I woke DH up tellin ghim I had to pump and that W had to be woken up to eat, and DH was all upset that I was waking him up when W hadn't even woken up...but that seems like just WAY too long for him to not eat.

I'm really sorry to hear about all the nipple pain you guys are having I must admit that that is a huge reason I switched to pumping. I know it's not completely pain-free, but I don't find it nearly as bad as bf-ing...I'm a big baby and totally couldn't handle that latch pain. The pumping has also helped us get out and go on lots our outings as well, since I would be the same as some of you and not comfortbale bf-ing in public yet. But I just pump before we go somewhere, and make sure I'm home by max 4 hours later to pump again. We've taking DD to her swimming lessons, gone to the farm, gone to friends' houses, and yesterday I did my first solo outing with both kids! We went to ikea hahaha...it was awesome! DD behaved like a champ, and W just slept the whole time Here is DD enjoying her high quality ikea pancakes

I'm already starting to forget my labour...I really want to write my birth story and post it...so I may be boring all of you with it in the near future!

@twodoghouse: @Mae: @Beebug: @cookie_dough: @Mamasig: thanks so much for the responses. I'm gonna try the half feed, change, complete feed and see if that works.

Also I thought Gio had baby acne but at his checkup today the doc said it was an irritation and she believes it's caused by Johnson & Johnson products. We use EVERYTHING Johnson & Johnson. Since its so popular I figured it was good but it seems the ingredients can be pretty harsh. She switched us to Cetaphil gentle cleanser for bath time and Cetaphil lotion. I miss the lovely baby scents but his skin just wasn't having it.

@Mae: Wow way to go Fiona! Good work! Blake is super nasally so we do the saline and nose bulb on him too. Works ok but I'm surprised by how much snot a tiny nose can hold! Are you using a bulb thing or Nosefrida? I want to get a Nosrfrida but haven't yet!

@Mamasig: My kids are no where near sleeping long stretches either! I'm jealous too!

@Glitter: Oh my, scary about Gio's skin irritation! I've been using California Baby but it's expensive. Maybe I'll switch to cetaphil once we are done with the CB. My husband has very sensitive skin so I'm nervous about the babies' skin!

Friday is my 6 week appointment already. Excited to be cleared for exercise and sex! My mom is back in town through July fourth and it is amazing to have her back! This weekend we're heading up to the Chicago suburbs to see some family. I'm nervous about traveling but hopefully it goes well.

Oh, we hit a fantastic milestone today! Big smiles from both babies. I've got pictures and will try to get them up later when I'm not typing whole nursing. Speaking of which holy cow they must be going through growth spurts. I've had one or both on the boob constantly the last 3 days. I'm so exhausted from all the feeding!

@twodoghouse: we have a nosefrida and we use it almost everyday. Honestly the first time I used it I did get a big nauseous, but I'm over it and it works!

Serious talk now ladies. Have any of you been brave enough to look down there? I decided not to until I had recovered fully and sex was in the near future. Well I have recovered fully and sex is in the near future, so I pulled out my mirror. Wow. I do not recognize myself

@twodoghouse: Love the nose frida! I think it works better than the bulb. Both if my boys have been very nasally. My older one had his adenoids taken out a few months ago and it made a big difference. I'm guessing Leo may be following in his footsteps.

@Coopersmama: I hate the baby has too! Poor little guy looks likes he's in pain but he doesn't cry. I guess it's just discomfort.

I think I may have to quit bf! No lactation consultant in area (or into city!) that I've called can see me until next Wednesday the 18th. I'm ready to quit now, I'm delaying feeding him and crying before he is even latched, let alone him latching.

I was on a well known bf expert in this area website this morning and watched all the videos and everything appears to be correct, there was also a video on clipping a tongue tie and I about near died watching it and am so not capable of doing that to him, would rather just quit!

Crying, sobbing mess of a morning

@Beebug: @Mae: I'm sorry you two are dealing with BF issues. I have low supply (or at least not enough to feed both of them enough) so I'm already supplementing. I fantasize about going straight to formula and just not messing with Bf anymore. I love the act of breastfeeding, but doing it constantly for two babies is just sapping all my energy. I don't even have any time/energy for pumping anymore. When I do pump I hardly get anything. I guess that's good because they are getting everything out of my boobs. But shoot having bottles of pumped milk to give them at night makes such a difference. Our night wake ups are at least an hour now and more if I can't tandem feed them. And they only want to go 2-2.5 hrs at night which means I get an hour of sleep at a time. I am lucky that they are good at breastfeeding but I am just so worn down from it! Hopefully when they pass out of this growth spurt I will get a little break.

@Mae: @Beebug: I am so sorry to hear about the issues you guys are still having That was exactly where I was when I had DD...it was awful. I spent weeks agonizing about whether to continue bf-ing and it was causing me so so so much stress (probably part of the reason I didn't even really try this time and went straight to pumping). I am super lucky and had a really good supply with DD (and this time as well). If I didn't, I probably wouldn't have lasted long with the exclusive pumping before switching to formula. I think that we put so much pressure on ourselves, but in the end, for me personally, not living in total agony and not dreading the thought of feeding my child would win out. DH has been so supportive both times of me doing whatever I feel most comfortable with, and if that means formula, then no problem! Last time I made it to 5 months of exclusively pumping (and had a freezer stash that kept us going until about the nine month mark). I don't think I'm going to make it as long this time, but I'm just going to take it one day at a time. I hope that you guys both find some relief soon.

@Glitter: I haven't been brave enough to look at things "down there"...i'm sooooooooo scared too...I know that it's not going to be a pretty sight given the fact that I had an episiotomy/vacumm delivery. DH is worried that I'm never going to let him near me again given the insane trauma to my lady parts hahaha...I can guarantee that it will take longer than the 6 weeks for me to feel comfortable with anything happening in that department

@Mae: too funny that you thought of drug reaction, and half the doctors I saw couldn't even figure it out! The weird thing is that it started about 1.5 weeks after the delivery...so a bit delayed...which I find strange. And of course I forgot to ask the doc if that was normal.

I must admit that the one good thing about my awful rash/many ER and doctor visits is that it somehow eliminated my baby blues! For the first week home I was a crying mess, and I think that the distraction of having to deal with this horrible rash made me shift gears and I am much much happier with things now. It also helps that DD has been awesome lately...the tantrums have been minimal, and she's being a pretty good helper!

@beebug: Good luck!! I hope the LC visit is helpful.

@mae: I had supply issues w/ DD#1 in the beginning and had to combo BF and then pump. My best advice is to order a few extra sets of pump parts. After nursing and then pumping, it made me so cranky to also be constantly washing pump parts. I ordered 2 extra sets so I could put off the washing for a bit. It still sucked, but it made my bad moods a little better. I'm sure you already know this, but you can store the pump parts in the fridge between pumping sessions to cut down on the washing too.

@glitter: I'm also scared to look, but I already know things are never going back to normal. I had a bad 3rd degree tear last time and apparently tore along the same lines this time. My doctor said she would "do her best to fix it" which doesn't sound very promising. @cookie_dough: I'm with you, I don't think the 6 wk all clear is going to mean much to me. I'm so not ready for any sort of action on that front!! I think DH has just accepted the fact that like last time, it's gonna be awhile.

@glitter- I have not even read the rest of the responses, but OMG. You made me chuckle and feel sad at the same time. I ended up having an emergency C-section, so just have my scar for life to contend with.

@Beebug: @Mae: sorry ladies - I feel for you with the pain. Leo has a tongue tie too but I'm too much of a wimp to do something about it. I hope y'all can find some help with the pain.

Ok, mentally I'm a little better today.

DH and I got in a big fight about it after he said "if all of these appointments and things "wrong" with C are just a cover up because you want to quit, just quit".

I near had a nuclear meltdown. It's still really not been dealt with, but I could have killed him.

I'm working on the latch tips I got yesterday, the pain is still brutal, but I'm going to wait things out until Monday (somehow)to see what my doc thinks, go from there. C refused a bottle last night, so I'm feeling cornered and am either crying trying to bottle feed, or bf, and so I'm just sucking it up as he clearly has no idea on my pain.

@skipra: I had also heard it wasn't a big deal, then I watched videos, and wanted to crumple seeing the LOs cry. I think I struggle because it's not a "yes, this will 100% fix your problems". My pain issue doesn't get fixed, right away anyways, and there's no guarantee it'll change things for him, so that's where I struggle. My pain problem becomes something pain inducing for him, I just can't wrap my head around that.