Hellobee Boards

Baby's name/sex: Claire Elise - female

Birthday: September 30, 2016

Feeding: Breastfeeding and it's a bit rocky! She latches better than her big sister did (and without a shield) but she's a big cluster feeder and we're all exhausted. My boobs have also exploded and have been engorged for days, not settling down yet. Breast and gel pads for the win!

Sleep: Not enough of it for me, but she sleeps plenty because of the jaundice and I'm constantly having to wake her for feeds. (Hate that.) If she shows she's gaining weight on Tuesday, I'll scale back the wake ups.

Recovery: Not too bad. I had a vaginal delivery with no tears or stitches but an internal graze they've left to heal. Feeling mostly OK a week after birth but every now and again I feel like everything is going to fall out - and I still get odd weird twinges too. The first five days I had a lot of pp blood loss (mostly gushed when feeding Claire) and it's only just starting to settle down.

Ankles and feet swelled up from day 4-7 and are just getting settled again.

Struggles: Georgia. She's super emotional and is so much hard work.

Victories: I have two kids asleep right now? I'm typing up her birth story for the blog right now, so that's cool. And I'm about to be a solo parent of TWO as hubby goes back to work tomorrow - so I'm petrified but excited.

@Amorini: Surprisingly well, though I think the odd curse word I bellowed out probably didn't make the books I'd read, haha. The breathing part was awesome, though. I made it naturally with no epidural, just gas - so I was pretty darned proud of myself.

@Amorini: We could totally rewrite it, haha. That said - I'm sure birth would have been different with no induction. That drip was brutal, and we went from 1-100 in minutes; very different from the gradual build ups of natural labour contractions. I think it serves a good purpose for relaxing and what-not, but yeah... up for interpretation.

I can't wait to see how it goes with you too! x

@jaguar: thanks, and a big congrats on your second as well. Impressive that you had an induction without an epidural!
We are also having some issues with our 3 yo. He's really great with the baby, but has acted out against me and my husband more than usual. I'm hoping it's just a matter of time until our older babes adjust??

@whiskers: thanks for the welcome. Looking forward for you and other Oct moms to get to the other side.

Baby's name/sex: AJ, female
Birthday: 10/2
Feeding: Going well- during the day have to convince her to eat. Seems to cluster feed in the evening when I'm ready for bed.
Sleep: Sleep is great once we get past the initial putting her down- which is about 2 hours of feeding/ diapers/burping/repeat. Last night we tried to make the process more enjoyable for ourselves by watching Netflix instead of trying to actually sleep. But... she slept through the show and then did the whole routine
Recovery: Am feeling well at this point. The first day home I had a scare b/c I thought something was prolapsing?! But that resolved itself by the next morning, thank goodness!! Hemorrhoids are my only complaint at this point- and a little bit of pain in the front of my pelvis when I'm up too long/ walk too much. Engorgement was painful, but resolved itself in about 24 hours.

Struggles: Hubs is still on leave, so life is awesome. The days will be LONG when baby and big sis are both home with me. (3yo goes to school 2 days a week). The evening from about 4pm- bedtime feels rough emotionally.

Victories: Big sis is doing pretty well with baby. Sassy with us, but that started a few months ago. Am super glad that umbilical cord fell off last night-- was stinky and I was paranoid of infection. Looking forward to stump healing so we can start wearing her!

@mand4: congrats! I agree about life being awesome during paternity leave, and days when my 3 yo is home all day get overwhelming for me. I think everyone is better off when he's at day care.

@avivoca: you are a badass!!! Congratulations rockstar. Sounds like things are good. Enjoy!

@avivoca: Wow! You are a badass! So glad she's finally here!

@avivoca: Awww awesome!

@jaguar: we a re feeling good and at home!

@Kitkat: Nice! I feel like the 1-2 hrs of sleep is such a distant memory with DD.....lol

@FaithFertility: I hope this is a distant memory soon!

@Shantuck: well that's a positive! I was surprised how much my stomach has gone down already...I can fit in my pre-pregnancy jeans, but it's definitely squishy and still had a little bump.

I don't know why, but I can deal with the constant eating during the day fine, but it gives me major anxiety at night, to the point where I'm having crying breakdowns every night. At the advice of the lactation consultant we saw today, we're going to try a new strategy tonight where I go to bed from 8-10 or 11 and DH takes the baby until he absolutely needs to be fed, so at least I get one block of sleep. We'll see how it goes...

@avivoca: thanks...how do you cosleep? Laying on your back with her on top? I was laying like that with B on the couch last night and he was sleeping so soundly I think it would really help if we slept at night like that, it just scares me that I'll roll over or something.

@Kitkat: My lactation consultant taught me to lay on my side on a bed with the baby next to me and I would turn the baby on his side while I fed. I felt much more sane once I learned that positioning.

I also have friends that go to bed at a ridiculously early hour (like 6:30 p.m.) so that they still get enough sleep even when waking with the newborn every hour and a half or so. I never tried going down that early but I might give it a try when this baby arrives to see if it helps at all.

@avivoca: Nice nightnig

@avivoca: I've been cosleeping that way, too, but I'm trying to move to him sleeping on his own because I don't sleep as well with him on me.
With my first I loved nursing in bed on my side, but I think it'll take a while to get there this time. My nipples need to toughen up and his latch needs to improve before I'll be comfortable attempting anything but the cross cradle hold.
The constant eating definitely gets to me by the end of the day. Lots of tears. It's just so exhausting, and it's hard to explain to my husband why I get so upset about it.

Today I experienced my first stranger asking me if I'm pregnant. While on a walk with a bassinet containing my clearly 15 day old baby. Ugh. I burst into tears.

@thepicklemonster: Ugh, I'm sorry!