Calling all the Pregnant PS''ers

[snlee]

lulu, congrats on a girl! Yay! We definitely need more PS baby girls around here!

QT, so glad your induction went well! Jaron is adorable! Can't wait to see a picture of Meena and Jaron together.

KT, I didn't know you were expecting! How exciting! Sending lots of labor dust your way!

 

[mtjoya]

Kaleigh-It''s on the top of my belly. It''s like a pushing downward pressure/pain. It''s weird to describe but it''s a naggy constant pain.

My mom thinks it''s possible contractions. She said that she never felt them before.

 

[Dreamer_D]

QT Thank you for sharing your story! I am glad that you had a good labour.

about the tear, but you seem to be recovering well! What more can you ask for! And haha about forgetting the sleepless nights. You mean it isn''t easier the second time?

 

[Mara]

hi ladies! update from our end...i have been meaning to sit down andwrite. first off thanks so much for all the well wishes, congrats, etc! we came home yesterday afternoon and it's been good to be back in familiar territory. coming home with the baby was surreal esp after how we left on sunday afternoon and i was in so much pain. the first evening and night was a study in 'figuring stuff out' basically. the baby had a lot of spitup and reflux but he had been fine in the hospital with eating. also he really likes to be swaddled tightly to sleep but he is a crazy mover and shaker with the hands and feet. so we have gotten pretty good with the swaddling hehe. and he is sleeping mostly in bouncer which is not the most ideal situation but because of the spitup, it seems to soothe him and the ped said to have him on the incline, since we have done that we don't have any issues with spitup. we do turn off the vibrate after a while and he seems fine. but we managed to get 6 hours of sleep last nite which was great. i am pumping to stimulate production and also putting him on the boob before he gets any formula so that he doesn't get lazy and just expect an easy feed. hopefully i'll have milk tomorrow, every time i pump it gets a tiny bit more productive and i want to wean him off the formula.

btw for any new moms close to delivery who already have their pumps... greg and i were talking and we were thinking we should have gotten a pump and started working on the boobs a few days before birth esp given i was already getting pre-labor contrax and stuff. and for anyone who plans to bf... in the hospital def try to get a pump and start working on your boobs immediately, hhehe.

one of the funniest things for me so far is that we have this lovely nursery but we aren't even really using it yet haha. we are doing everything in the living room and dining room which is where we hang out. we have a bassinet in there and we use the dining table for supplies and changes etc (we never use the dining table in general). and then we can hang out on the couch etc. it's just about whatever was easiest for us.

and i expected to put baby in his crib from day one but ...uhh yeah not so much. we have the bassinet in the bedroom with us at night and last nite went great.

it's so funny but... things are so different for me now that he is finally here. when they are in your belly and you are a first timer, you have all these mental feelings on how you will or won't do something. or that you aren't sure what you want to do etc. but then they are here and suddenly certain things solidify either one way or the other for you. right now i am all about just getting through the transition and creating a casual routine that works for all three of us. just trying to take it one day at a time and being in the moment. sleeping when he sleeps vs feeling like we have to do something. enjoying time alone when he IS sleeping. i know things will change maybe on a weekly or DAILY basis so i figure just takie it one day at a time.

healing is going pretty well... i only had a first degree tear, very minimal and i feel good in general most of the time but sometimes i just feel like a bloated blob with crotch pain. the drugs i had for delivery really bloated me out and my legs are kind of swollen. i have lost about 10 lbs only but hopefully within the next week the swelling will go down and some water will leave. my belly is more like a 5 month belly, which i am thankful for because it's not 10 month belly haha. but it's pretty jelly and when i laugh it jiggles.

can't wait to get back into working out and flatten this thing out! oh and the uterus contractions now are interesting for sure. when you bf or pump it totally activates the muscle and you get menstrual like cramps.

oh and meresal, the ice diaper is like a diaper they cut open and put ice pack inside. you wear it in your hospital mesh undies with like 4 pads hehee. what they create for you is great but wow it is soo not that comfy to wear hahaa. but it feels good. you should see if your hospital will do it, everyone i know swears by it for the first 24 hours to help swelling from vag birth.

so the baby...he is quite good natured most of the time (SO FAR...umm we are on day 3) but when he doesn't like something he definitely lets you know and loudly. greg says..did you really think we'd have a quiet meek little mouse? hehe. it's also interesting figuring out his cries and also his facial expressions, aka when we think he is farting or having gas bubbles. the first few days are like a study in how the body works. imagine not having to really do much in the uterus and then suddenly your organs and systems have to WORK and process things. it's pretty crazy. i think about when i have painful gas and it really makes sense why our little boy would be screaming bloody murder. also we are learning that if he's crying there usually is a 'reason'. whether it's hot, cold, gas, hunger, wet diaper etc.

anyway i am sure i will write more as i think of it... esp anything to help the new moms like me. again ladies its just so funny to have gestated him for 10 months and now he is here. it's really surreal. i can't believe i am a MOM.

here are a few more pics of him, bad iphone of course since i can't be bothered to download anything from the digi cam right now.

OH and i guess i should let you know his name. we decided to call him Julian Dean. we debated on it for literally the whole entire pregnancy, i have liked the name Julian for years and Greg was not that keen on it. but it grew on him. and he loved the name Dean but i felt like i didn't want that for a first name. so...we kept debating and had some other options. in the hospital we called him diff things to see what we thought. we only finally put it to paper in the hospital on the 2nd day right before checkout. i saw there was some confusion on what his name was...our last name is like a first name (some of you know what it is already) so that might have been part of it, sorry! hehe.

and i guess i should move over to the newborn thread soon... wow a whole new world!! to those ladies up and coming... hang in there, it's all about to really change, you have no idea. but the little tykes are pretty darn amazing. i can't wait to see Ginger and MTJ go soon too...whee! and KT...girl...i hope that baby stays in til you need him to come out. he seems pretty darn comfy. i can't wait to hear your story and see your little baby boy.

QT i love your story and that you were laughing through contractions! i was so tired from the 2 hours of pushing that i was literally taking naps in between haha. oh and random note but i pushed for 2 hours, well i didn't think that was a long time but so many people keep saying 'wow 2 hours that is crazy'. so maybe it was?? haha. it just passed extremely fast, that is all i remember.

lulu congrats on a GIRL!!

here's a pic...hilarious after eating face he gives us..i swear he looks like a drunken sailor.

 

[Mara]

and here is dad and julian in the hospital after a 3am feeding.

 

[Mara]

and lastly, a pic of me and the baby home last nite. i love that portia is in the background.

 

[mtjoya]

OMG, Mara you are back! Yay! I am so happy that all your family is doing well. Julian is such a cutie! Those lashes! He will def be a heartbreaker, hehe! I am so anxious and was so excited to hear back from you! You look awesome! You are a trooper! Keep up the great work!

 

[msb700]

Mara: Great to hear from you and thank you for checking in!!! glad things are going okay so far and i TOTALLY see you in him in that first picture!! he definitely takes more of you than your DH..he is adorable (and so are you mama!)

 

[Lorelei]

Fantastic pics Mara, you look radiant!!!

 

[AGBF]

Wow, Mara! You all look simply fantastic! Congtratulations! It is great to hear about the transition home and to see pictures of you and Greg as parents. Seeing Julian Dean (and knowing his correct name...sorry about that) is a great pleasure and will continue to be. I love to see baby faces. My husband and I used to watch Whitney sleep. You are probably still too tired to do that! Maybe in a few weeks!!!

Hugs,
Deb/AGBF

 

[Allison D.]

Mara, SO SO happy to have you back!

Julian is absolutely beautiful, no doubt about it, and the look on your face says it all. Motherhood agrees with you, my friend.

QT, welcome to Jaron; I was really touched by your story about the delivery. He''s a sweetie, too.

Best of luck to all the gals still in the wings; they''ll be here before you know it!

 

[dani13]

Great pics, Mara!!!! And I LOVE the name Julian- its sooo cute!!!!! Glad to have you back!!!!

 

[vespergirl]

Congrats on baby Julian, Mara, he is such a cutie pie!!! Glad to hear that you are all adjusting well at home.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

QT I love that you laughed through labor, that makes me smile and puts a positive spin on labor, which let''s be honest, gets a bad rep.

Mara, again, congratulations. Little Julian is beautiful. I love the name.

 

[steph72276]

Aww, QT congrats, he is sooo beautiful and looks so content!

Mara, congrats girl...Julian is a cutie and you look great. I would literally scare people away from this site if I posted a pic of my sleep deprived face! And 6 hours of sleep, WOW! Evan sleeps soundly during the day, but not so much at night, he''s up every 2 hours or so to eat. We''re in the same boat about having to supplement with formula. I''m hoping when we go back next week, they will say he has gained enough weight and the jaundice is gone so we can get him off formula too.

 

[rockpaperscissors67]

Mara, Julian is so adorable and I love his name! He has some amazing hair!

It''s funny that you say that it''s surreal to have him there. I think that''s true whether it''s your first or 6th -- I still have moments when I think, "I can''t believe we have a baby in the house again." I love the newborn phase because I''m amazed that there''s this little person to whom everything is new -- he''s like a blank slate just waiting to be filled up with information.

About the pump: I would caution anyone who considers using a pump during pregnancy because it can stimulate contractions (the pump causes your body to release oxytocin, the natural version of pitocin). These contractions can be more intense than contractions that start naturally, so I personally wouldn''t do it unless you need to get contractions going. For example, if you''re overdue and facing induction that you don''t want, it''s an option. I used my pump during labor because I knew that I was on the clock since my water was broken, but the contractions were not getting closer together. It was either that or head to the hospital, where I would have probably ended up on pitocin.

I do think it''s a good idea to really get familiar with how your pump sets up and breaks down as well as the settings. If you find yourself engorged when your milk comes in, a little bit of pumping can be a big relief.

I''m a little confused though by what seems to be the standard management of breastfeeding in hospitals these days. I read about a lot of women that start supplementing and pumping right off the bat, but I don''t understand why. I learned that you want to start nursing -- and only nursing -- early and often in order to bring your milk in. The baby doesn''t need anything more than colostrum in the first few days because he''s born with a fat store so he''s not starving and his stomach is only the size of a marble so he doesn''t need more than the colostrum. The more you nurse, the faster your milk will come in, which coincides with when the baby''s hunger kicks in. To me, it seems that supplementing takes away from the baby''s desire to nurse, which results in the milk coming in later and at a lower supply, so then you have to add in pumping to make up for the stimulation that''s being missed because of the supplementing. The whole thing seems especially exhausting so I can understand why so many women throw in the towel and go to formula!

Don''t get me wrong -- I know breastfeeding is really hard in the early days. It''s sometimes all you do! I''m really familiar with this because my kids were/are snackers -- nurse for a few minutes, fall asleep for a few minutes, repeat. It does get better, though, after a few weeks. I''m convinced that a newborn''s nursing behavior in the early days is specifically designed to make new moms SIT DOWN because our society is so focused on go-go-go that many women feel a lot of guilt about spending so many hours of the day only nursing their baby.

Ok, so there''s my babbling for the day...

About the belly: I hope that you''ll be pleasantly surprised by how quickly it goes down! I went from looking 5 months pregnant at 1 day postpartum to now, at 5 days, looking like I have a beer gut.

I forgot one big issue: the wardrobe! Maternity pants no longer fit me, but my regular pants don''t either, so I''m essentially pantless. I do have 2 pairs of maternity pants that don''t have that crazy stretch panel, so I can wear those, but they''re the types of pants that don''t go with much -- one pair is polyester stretch, so they''re dressy, and the other pair is velour lounge pants, so they really only go with the matching jacket. Oh, well. I don''t have any real reason to go buy pants right now so I''m just making these work.



I''m feeling really sleep deprived today, so I''m going back to bed, even though I intended to work. The problem last night was not the baby, but our 3 year old! I went to bed with Ben at midnight, then got up when he woke at 3 and I was JUST settling down on the couch to snooze for a while when Will came out. He had gotten cold because he kicked his covers off. This was at 4:30 and he was dead tired, but absolutely refused to go back to sleep! Not only was he awake, but he''s tired, so he was crying and being generally impossible -- and his crying kept waking up Ben. Total frustration for me. I would have woken up SO, but he works late (usually until 2 or so) so I didn''t want to wake him up after he had only been asleep for a little bit.

I hope we don''t have many more nights like that.

I realized last night that we need to do birth announcements. That was a big DUH moment. We didn''t for Will for a bunch of reasons, but SO has a lot of older relatives that I''m sure have heard the news from his mom, but can''t/don''t get on FaceBook to see pics like everyone else.

I found announcements online that I''m going to order, but I have to take a good pic of Ben today for them. I''m totally NOT a photographer, but a co-worker gave us a beautiful handmade baby blanket that I''m going to use. I hope I can get just one picture that will suffice for this purpose!

 

[lovelylulu]

thank you so, so much again for all of the congratulations. last night we went out to the dinner to the place that we've gone to to when we've celebrated first jobs, first homes and now our first daughter. such a good day.

it's amazing that someone so little can already be so loved

speaking of someone so little, mara, julian is just the cutest little guy and you look darn pretty blissful in that photo! love his name.

and QT that last photo of your little man is just precious. so handsome!

 

[meresal]

Qt and Mara- Congratulations! Your little men are adorable!

Mara- Thanks for explaining the underwear. I will be sure to ask about those!

RPS- I had my BF calss last night and it was pretty interesting to hear all the info about the first few days. She really emphasized all of the skin-2-skin contact you want to have with the baby in the first 24 hours, because it will cause some hormone to help your milk come in. She also emphasized making sure the doctors let you try and feed as soon as possible after the baby is born, and to NOT let them tell you that you "need" to supplement if he isn't eating right away. The baby's stomach is only 2 ml or so and like you said, they can survive for the first 48 hours on colostrum and body fat.
The other strange thing she told me, is if they tell you that the baby is "losing" too much weight and you need to supplement, be sure to ask them how much. Apparently it is perfectly normal for the baby to lose anywhere from 7-8% of thier body weight after being born.

So much info...

. She also recommended asking for the baby right after he comes out, when he is covered in amniotic fluid and before they put the eye drops in, but I think we may pass on that one.

Also, not sure if anyone can give advice on this, but she said that the Dr. Browns's bottles, though nice, are not great for resembling the breast. She said that the First Year's Breast Flow, because of the very wide nipple, is a better option if you do have to pump and feed from a bottle or supplement at all. Anyone have any history with this?

DH went with. Unfortunately he forgot about the part where I told him it was a 2.5 hour class. I almost needed help blocking the doorway once we were in.

It was good having him there though. I don't have to rely on knowing everything myself, which I KNOW would stress me out after the baby is born if we run into any "road blocks".

She put on a 20 minute video that I couldn't even watch. I felt like a teenager again. lol

 

[steph72276]

Mer, I didn't want to supplement, but Evan lost 14% of his body weight the first day to bring him down to 5.7, so I gave in and started supplementing. Now he nurses like a champ and takes a little formula afterward. I go back next week and hopefully he will have gained enough where I can get him off the formula. The ped. said they only worry if it gets to be around 10% or more, so I felt like I HAD to supplement to keep him healthy....I wouldn't do it if it's under that 10% mark.

 

[MonkeyPie]

QT, I''m so glad your experience was mostly positive - but jeez, that lady needed to chill out with the needle! But LOL @ her speaking in Mandarine like you had no idea. Nice.

Mara, Julian is a cutie and I love that Portia is right there in the picture! How has she tolerated the LO so far?

 

[meresal]

Date: 2/4/2010 9:43:15 AM
Author: steph72276
Mer, I didn''t want to supplement, but Evan lost 14% of his body weight the first day to bring him down to 5.7, so I gave in and started supplementing. Now he nurses like a champ and takes a little formula afterward. I go back next week and hopefully he will have gained enough where I can get him off the formula. The ped. said they only worry if it gets to be around 10% or more, so I felt like I HAD to supplement to keep him healthy....I wouldn''t do it if it''s under that 10% mark.

Steph, I actually thought about you when she started talking about the weight loss. Thanks for clarifying how much Evan actually lost. Did you use a certain type of bottle that would help with the BF and formula together, or did you just use a regular nipple?

I''m wondering if we should take some of these "larger nipple" bottles with us to the hospital in case we do need to supplement due to weight loss. (or is the horpital will have them?) Or if this is just something that the instructor deems "better", but doesn''t actually matter to real moms. Does that make sense?

 

[jcrow]

QT - thanks for posting your birth story. it''s nice to be reminded that it''s not always so bad! and baby jaron is beautiful!

Mara - wow look at those cheekie-cheeks of his!! such a cutie! i love his name. even his middle name. very nice.

 

[meresal]

Date: 2/4/2010 10:21:44 AM
Author: jcrow
QT - thanks for posting your birth story. it''s nice to be reminded that it''s not always so bad! and baby jaron is beautiful!

Mara - wow look at those cheekie-cheeks of his!! such a cutie! i love his name. even his middle name. very nice.

Ditto! So precious!

 

[MonkeyPie]

RPS, if you pump only, does it make it harder for your milk to come in than if you actually nurse? I am BENT on nursing, but I know it''s really hard and I don''t want to give up when it hurts really bad, so I thought maybe I could (almost) exclusively pump. Is that a bad idea?

 

[meresal]

Date: 2/4/2010 10:58:41 AM
Author: MonkeyPie
RPS, if you pump only, does it make it harder for your milk to come in than if you actually nurse? I am BENT on nursing, but I know it''s really hard and I don''t want to give up when it hurts really bad, so I thought maybe I could (almost) exclusively pump. Is that a bad idea?

MP, are you taking a BF class? If you are really wanting to BF and pump, then I would highly recommend it. They answer lots and lots of questions.

 

[Jas12]

Mara--Julian is a super cutie, and you do look radiant! Hope today goes well, day 4 is typically the hormonal plummet, so if you''re reading this and feel icky, that''s why

RPS--you (again) literally took the post right out of my brain.

I would caution about the pump too. I tried it when i was over due by nearly 1 week and got some mild contrax. But my little guy was determined to stick around for another week. However, if you have any risk of preterm labor, be careful with this.
I too don''t understand why formula is pushed so early in the hopsital (well, i can only guess it''s a marketing thing). There is a reason it takes a couple of days for the milk to come in. I nursed and nursed a couple of times an hour and i didn''t see a drop, kinda got nervous, but by day 3 out it all came. It seems crazy to a first time mom, but they don''t starve and those drops of collostrum are life sustaining. it''s too easy to panic and start formula thinking you don''t produce enough milk and then guess what, over the days and weeks you in fact don''t produce enough milk b/c of all the supplementing. I''ve seen it happen with many of my friends and i think it could have been prevented

 

[luvinlife]

Date: 2/3/2010 4:50:17 PM
Author: cara
Yay for the GIRL Lulu!!! Yay yay yay.

I had my proper first appt today (I went in last week for a sanity check/quick ultrasound b/c of a prior miscarriage) and everything looks good! Little heartbeat, sucker has a more proper tadpole/baby shape with a head on one end and a tail on the other. Measuring a bit ahead at 7w3d, but that''s not quite enough to adjust the dates so we''re going with Sept. 24 for now! And now a long month before the next visit...

Also, I had a couple blissful hours where the nausea let up on Monday, and again right now the nausea has gone away for like half and hour and I feel like dancing in the streets! OMG, it is insane how oppressive it normally is! The doc gave me a zofran prescription, which I am hesitant to take for the obvious reduce-medicine reasons, but am also a little hopeful that maybe it would help some and I could have a not-miserable February? Its category B like tylenol so hopefully pretty safe. Has anybody else taken it?

Cara,

I lost approximately 15 lbs due to nausea and vomitting. This was a huge amount as my normal weight is between 95-100 lbs. The Dr. Gave me three options: 1) overnight in the hospital for hydration 2) picc line with nurse infusion 3) Zofran. Zofran, was my best friend. I could actually leave the house when on this medication. I found the trick was to keep it in my system. A few times I thought I was cured, but I quickly found out I wasn''t.
Best of luck and I hope you feel better

.

 

[steph72276]

Date: 2/4/2010 10:19:24 AM
Author: meresal

Date: 2/4/2010 9:43:15 AM

Author: steph72276

Mer, I didn't want to supplement, but Evan lost 14% of his body weight the first day to bring him down to 5.7, so I gave in and started supplementing. Now he nurses like a champ and takes a little formula afterward. I go back next week and hopefully he will have gained enough where I can get him off the formula. The ped. said they only worry if it gets to be around 10% or more, so I felt like I HAD to supplement to keep him healthy....I wouldn't do it if it's under that 10% mark.

Steph, I actually thought about you when she started talking about the weight loss. Thanks for clarifying how much Evan actually lost. Did you use a certain type of bottle that would help with the BF and formula together, or did you just use a regular nipple?

I'm wondering if we should take some of these 'larger nipple' bottles with us to the hospital in case we do need to supplement due to weight loss. (or is the horpital will have them?) Or if this is just something that the instructor deems 'better', but doesn't actually matter to real moms. Does that make sense?

They should have everything there for you, at least ours did. They gave us the Similac ready to use bottles that came with nipples. They were the small kind, but he did just fine taking the bottle and then nursing. He DID get frustrated with nursing b/c it was hard work, whereas the bottle was easy, so the nurse taught us to kind of "trick" him by starting with the bottle for a minute, then changing to BF. It worked like a charm for us. Now I just nurse first and give him a little bottle afterward and he is good to go!

 

[AmberWaves]

Mara, Julian is adorable!

QT: What a love!

Re: hospital/breastfeeding

They had asked me if I intended to breastfeed when the baby was born, and I said yes. I fully expected the baby to come right out of me then nurse, but with the emergency c, I had to be stitched up a bit before they would let me see her. It was after, in the recovery room that they put her on me and she nursed for 45 minutes or so. After that, they took her off for tests and brought her to me at 5am when she was "hungry" again. They put cards on her bassinet at the hospital that said, "I''m a breastfed baby, do not give me food".

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 2/4/2010 11:02:24 AM
Author: meresal

Date: 2/4/2010 10:58:41 AM

Author: MonkeyPie

RPS, if you pump only, does it make it harder for your milk to come in than if you actually nurse? I am BENT on nursing, but I know it''s really hard and I don''t want to give up when it hurts really bad, so I thought maybe I could (almost) exclusively pump. Is that a bad idea?

MP, are you taking a BF class? If you are really wanting to BF and pump, then I would highly recommend it. They answer lots and lots of questions.

I''m planning to, but I''m having a hard time with the schedule - it''s always when I''m working