Hellobee Boards

@Daniellemybelle: Congratulations on Miss Sadie! Here's to a speedy recovery.

I've been MIA too -- I don't know how you guys manage to care for baby AND keep up on HelloBee. I feel like this is the first time I've had a breather to get on the Interwebs for something other than searching for the right nipple pads and a belly binder. (suggestions welcome.)

Also, I've been a little overwhelmed with company -- which is a good thing. My MIL has been here all week and my mom comes in on weekday mornings to help out and they are keeping me busy ON TOP of my little precious bean Georgi.

Nursing has gotten better for me too. My left latch is still tough and painful but the right is smooth sailing. I went to a lactation club yesterday and Georgi is 7.9lbs at 3 weeks! You guys who are still struggling -- hang in there. It gets better, especially with the right consultant! If anyone's in Chicago let me know and I'll send you a name.

I'll do my best to stay in touch, but please know that yall are in my thoughts. XO

I've included a photo of Georgi.

@daniellemybelle: She's gorgeous! So excited about your addition.

I haven't been able to get on the computer much and I hate doing HB on my phone - so I'm totally MIA. Things have been up and down. We just had to make the hard decision to stop BF. Effie lost way too much weight as of our appt a week ago. I nursed her 25 minutes for them to see how much she was getting, and she gained nada. So after a long hard week of working at it (while supplementing) our LC yesterday showed she still was getting nothing (despite her awesome latch- and no lip/tongue tie). I am pumping now and still supplementing. I HATE the pump my insurance provided so I'm going to rent one and have been fighting Cigna for a Medela. This Ameda Purely yours is Purely crap. I'm a little discouraged today- my first day of no BF / pumping - because each time I'm only pumping usually about a 1/2 ounce total. But I know it could take a few days to get my supply to catch up. Depriving her of the BF experience and comfort breaks my heart, but having her always screaming to BF and hungry 5 minutes later was even harder. She's been doing really well though as far as temperament and schedule though- knock on wood.

Anyone else have peeing issues since delivery? Maybe it was that they inserted and removed a catheter twice on me- but I'm just now able to fully control my bladder. First week I was peeing myself when I would try to walk to the bathroom. My stitches are doing a bit better too. I'm sick of wearing pads though. It's been like 2 weeks of having my period which I DID NOT MISS!

My sister arrives really late tonight and my mom tomorrow early. I'm excited to see them and hope they can help when DH goes back to work Sunday!

Sending love to all you ladies! When I'm on a computer and not a phone I will update the master list.

@kjpugs: I hear you on the bladder issues. I find.i start to pee myself almost as soon as I feel I have to go. At those points I'm thankful I'm still wearing big ole pads.

I'm also considering EPing. I'm concerned about nursing in public because I have to use the nipple shield, I know my husband really wants to help out and be able to have the experience of feeding her, and since we struggled so much to start I'm really not enjoying breastfeeding as much as I thought I would. I should be able to get my pump next week, I'm just not sure what the plan should be.

@kjpugs: I'm sorry you are having such a rough go right now. Hopefully a hospital-grade pump will make pumping better for you. About the peeing: yep, I peed myself a couple of times. Even now, I have to drop everything and RUN to the bathroom so I don't pee sometimes. Not good when you are in the middle of a diaper change and the baby is super squirmy. I also went through a period where it felt like something was stabbing me every time I went, but it wasn't a UTI.

I was able to get medicine for myself for the thrush, and despite spilling half the bottle of Hyla's medicine, we were able to complete the course of medicine and hopefully Thrush is behind us. At least now I know what thrush tongue looks like as opposed to milk tongue.

There was no banshee screaming last night (thank God), and I went to bed at 10:30 after two nights of little sleep, which was a good thing since miss Hyla decided she wanted to party from 3:00-6:00 this morning. Not crying, just fussing and being awake, even though I could tell she was tired. I pulled out every trick in the book: nursing, diaper change, pj change, walking, rocking, bouncing, etc., and none of it worked until she was to exhausted to stay up anymore. Babies are weird sometimes.

@AprilK: She has been doing that, and now I am noticing that she is clicking when she's nursing, so I don't know if she's losing suction or trying to scratch her tongue. She also arches away from us, like she doesn't want to be held, but she doesn't want to be put down, either. Crazy baby. She does love being bounced on the birth ball, but I can't do that for a long time now that my core is weak.

@MrsMed: Georgiis a cutie!!!

@evansjamie: Alex also loves being bounced on the exercise ball. My core has definitely taken a hit as well and my back has been getting sore. Does the belly bandit help with that? Btw, I was thinking of you yesterday. The theme of my new mom group meeting yesterday was holistic healing and I thought you would be interested. I have a bunch of handouts that I can scan and send to you if you're interested.

@kjpugs: @abbylyn: I think it's pretty normal to only get 2-2.5 oz. from what friends have said and jelly mom.com that's about how much baby's eat at this stage and your breasts will adjust. That's about how much I get as well.

@daniellemybelle: i agree completely. Recovering from a c-section is so hard alone and with a newborn I feel like itll never happen. I lost a lot of blood and have been on iron supplements. I feel like shit. I've had a constant migraine from delivery. I need 12 hours of solid sleep. I don't know how you BFing moms do it. You deserve an award. I'm pumping and we are supplementing with formula. That's hard enough, I can't image what you're going through. Good luck at the peds!! Hopefully she's right on track. If she's not (we weren't) that's ok too. It'll all be figured out! Once we started supplementing more DS but on 6oz in 4 days.

@daniellemybelle: @ladybee: you guts a rock stars! C-sections are no joke. I don't know how your doing it on your own. Truly amazing! I think all I do is BF, drink water and change diapers. It's exhausting but getting easier now that we are 3 weeks in.

@Sadieloo: thank you!

@ladybee: and @daniellemybelle: I'm so sorry your recoveries have not been good. I feel bad because my has been a lot easier on me than my vaginal delivery at 20 weeks. I'm not taking the pain meds but I still take the ibuprofen because my sciatic has been acting up. It hurts so much to walk on that left leg.

M&m is doing well with bf but she wants to eat all the time. She gets done with both sides and then wants to start again. We go back Wednesday for another weight check. On Tuesday she was back up to 8 lbs 10 oz. almost birth weight. I'm hoping we will be at or past birth weight next week.

@abbylyn: same boat. When will I not be up every 1.5-2 hours to eat?

I'm a posting maniac this morning because simply put I am drowning in every way possible. Last night I felt so disconnected to my baby and I kept thinking what had we done? I'm feeling slightly better this morning because I am planning on telling DH I want to quit pumping if we can find the money.

@ladybee: I had a really bad day last Sunday. I just felt disconnected and tied to my house because Hyla screams when we go to the store and I felt so overwhelmed. We were planning on going for a walk and just as we were leaving she started screaming and I broke down sobbing. It's gotten better a bit each day.

Do whatever you need to do. I hope you fell better soon and that your recovery gets easier.

@ladybee: hugs! I had that moment Wednesday to Thursday morning when she basically didn't sleep all Wednesday night. Just take a deep breath. Whatever you decide to do is all right for your baby. Happy momma, happy baby.

@ladybee: hugs to you. I think we've all had those moments, so know that you are not alone. You're doing what's best for you and your baby and tats the most important. Like others have said we're here for you.

Hope everyone else is hanging in there!!! Is everyone dressing up their LO for Halloween? Our street is apparently the street to trick-or-treat in town so we are dressing Alex up as a lion.

@evansjamie: Awwww. So cute! You must take and post pics!

@sadieloo: Arthur has a Tigger sleeper that is too adorable. I also bought him an outfit from Target featuring Frankenstein. Not a costume, but a cute Halloween outfit. Plus, my grandma sent him a "My First Halloween" bib. DH is planning on carving some elaborate design on a pumpkin and then we can have a little photo shoot of baby and pumpkin. Seeing as we are 1500 miles from our families, I have to take tons of pictures and send them to the whole family. Can't wait until he's old enough to actually trick or treat.

I found this article helpful/reassuring! http://www.breastfeedingbasics.com/articles/waking-a-sleepy-baby

Thank you all so much for your words of support. We decided to take pumping one week at a time and if i really want to quit we will. Dh keeps reminding me how important it was to me that he got BM plus with how tight our budget is, spending that kind of money makes me a little sick to my tummy.

My MIL took me for a massage today to see if it would help my migraine and so far it seems like it has which is great. Dh goes back to work tomorrow and i am terrified. For those of you who have done it, how'd you make it work? Did you get to sleep at all? Its important DH gets a good nights sleep so ill be doing nights solo for awhile and days. The idea of it is so scary! He's 8 pounds, how scary can he be, right?