March/April Thread #3

[albertasweetpea]

Jod - we must be on at the same time, great minds think alike!!  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  Thanks for the pics, you look AMAZING. What cute little tiny bundles of joy.

[Colesmom]

Michelle-It is me doing the list.  Send me your address and I'll happily send out a fourth version :wink:

Any other takers while I'm at it?  I'll give it a couple of days...and this will be the final one. Of course unless anyone cares that I'm sending them a gazillion emails

[solnme]

Yay stories!  Judy and Jody, sounds like you guys were ment to have twins. Nicely done

I was 2 weeks and 2 days overdue.  Would have been induced sooner but couldn't get ahold of my OB :evil: His receptionist should have retired about 25 years ago, never answered the phone and kept forgetting to make appointments.  NEVER AGAIN!!

OB rushed me in when he found out about the mix up and they induced with oxytocin.  4 hours later they have it cranked up to 25 (they told me anything over 20 has to be monitored closely) and I can't feel a thing.  Dr. starts talking about a c-section which I freak out about and beg them to keep trying.  7 hours later the drip is up to 32, I'm 3 cm and nurses are coming in  to look at the freak.  Finally it kicks in, the contractions hit me full force and  I instantly start screaming.  They nurse tries to convince me to hold on longer and tells me about her 29 hour natural labour.  Was not interested and apparently said something quite rude.  My girlfriend had to pull the nurse aside and told her to order an epidural pronto.  She was a tiger in there!  Dr. Drugs arrives and I have the gas in one hand while he is giving me an epidural.  I only had about 2 hours of pain.
We're at about 14 hours and 10 cm. They have to tell me when to push cause I can't feel a thing and I'm making playlists on my iPod so I'd have the perfect song when lo came into the world. 
Delivered after 16 hours - 9lbs - 17 inchs Apgar of 3 because the cord was wrapped around his neck twice.  Couldn't figure out why he wasn't crying when he came out and why the room was so quiet.  It seemed like eternity but he was alright in no time and I only needed 3 stiches.

I didn't let DH look and I remember what little pain I had. It was still awesome.

I find that baby gap socks work best for us and stay on pretty good. 
Sol only sleeps in feet-in pjs with his snuggly and the heater on.  He rolls around so much I kept finding him upside down in his crib all tangled in the blankets.  He's always been a hot baby but I hope he's warm enough.

[Arwyn's mom]

Hannah... I have Roots, Gap, and Baby Bum triple roll socks. They don't leave a mark when I unroll them all the way up. Bn b bn b bh h h  h (a little note from Arwyn here).

[Carter'sMama]

Love the stories!!!

What's up with the epidurals though ... did anyone else shake like a leaf after they had it?  MIne hurt like heck going in too, and that was after the guy already missed TWICE!!!  Then I had one pain free hour (went from 4-10cm) and then holy heck it hurt all over again.  I remember them trying to top me up but it wasn't working so I had to sit up straight with legs straight up in the air to try and concentrate the drug in my pelvis.  Try that position with full blown contractions!!  Needless to say, I felt the forceps and all the pulling and the Dr kept yelling "Get her numb, this hurts!!"  No kidding!!  I was up walking as soon as stitching was done because my legs were working fine due to the definite lack of pain control!!  I turned to my husband while they were cleaning Carter off and said "If you ever want anymore children then you better find another way to get them ... I am never doing this again!!!"

Jody: When I woke up with contractions I also took time to shower, shave, blow dry and make-up!!!  DH stayed in bed and slept!!  I had a really cute ob so needed to look my best  :oops:  :roll:   Love the pics by the way!  DH took pics off me holding Carter when he was first born and unfortunately my ob was stitching me up at the time so you can see EVERYTHING in the pics!  Better not post those !!! LOL

As for birth cert I know what you mean!!!  Carter's isn't even made out of the same thick paper mine is, it is really thin.  I am going to use one of the bank book sleeves from my bank for it I think.  Let me know if anyone thinks of anything else to use.

Traci:  Just wanted to thank you for putting the effort into making the XMas card list for us!!! 

Micky:  I totally had cankles!!  The day I got home from the hospital is when I noticed it ... didn't hurt though thank goodness!!  I had been wearing compression stockings during 2nd and 3rd trimester so never had swelling before labour either.

[Olivia's Mommy]

I apologize in advance for the long post:

Andrea and Cathy--I also liked the BabyWise philosophy, but could NOT for the life of me figure out her cries. That's why I was so glad to find BW with all the additional information in it. At about 6 weeks, Olivia would SCREAM for about an hour straight every evening. Nothing would soothe her. I knew it wasn't colic, because it was at different times each night. After reading BW, I realized she was WAAAYYYY overstimulated. (She is still pretty sensitive to action and sounds.) Once we started keeping the TV off and doing wind-down, things got SO MUCH better. A lot of my friends here do BabyWise and I've recommended BW to all of them because it's so much more helpful, but follows the same philosophy...routine, not letting them CIO, etc.

Bec--such a sad story. I'm so sorry for your Nana's loss. What a terrible thing to go through.

Hannah--we received Liv's bc within a couple months.

OK, here's my labor story: Olivia arrived ON HER DUE DATE!!! It was a Sat and I had been dilated to 2 for 2 weeks. I had called my mom on Friday and told her to change her flight to Monday, because I was sure Liv wouldn't come over the weekend (don't know what possessed me to do that.) Woke up Sat morning with slight contractions and told DH "I think I'm having contractions." They were pretty mild and about 30 minutes apart, so I went about my day...made pancakes for breakfast, took a shower, cleaned up the house. (I also did my hair and makeup, Jody!) Finally around 3:00 the contractions were getting worse and I was lying on the couch trying to watch movies in between the groaning, etc. But they were still 10-15 min apart. I told DH as soon as I have 2 that are 7 min apart, we're going to the hospital!! We headed to the hospital around 5:00. They took me to triage and I was dilated to 4. The nurse (who was our birthing class instructor) said, "Well, I guess you're having a baby." I was like, "No kidding."

They took me to my room and tried to get an IV in me. Apparently I have pretty bad veins, because 45 minutes, 7 nurses, and one lab tech later, they finally got an IV in me. (I was having contractions the whole time...DH said it was worse to watch me go through that than the delivery!) They started me on Staydal for the pain while they waited for the IV to finish so I could get the epidural. About 5 minutes later, I told the nurse I was feeling some pressure. She checked me and said I was dilated and ready. I was so disappointed that I wasn't going to get the epidural...DH was so cute, though. He kept saying, "Maybe you can still get it" while the doctor is scrubbing up and the nurses are breaking the bed down. They broke my water, and I only pushed for about 20 minutes and she came sliding right out. I had a small episiotomy...but the worst was yet to come (Warning: TMI ahead)

I was lying there, exhausted, holding my precious baby, when all of a sudden I felt some pressure in my abdomen. I asked the doctor (not my OB, the oncall) and he said my placenta didn't detach, so he had to go in after it. It took him 2 times to get it out...and I had no anesthesia. Then he started to stitch me up. I asked if I was going to feel it. He said, "no, I gave you a local." Well, he started, and I said, "Hey! I'm feeling that!" He gave me another local, but it didn't take either. So, I felt all 9 stitches!!! The delivery wasn't a problem...but the placenta and the stitches I could have done without! But, as I'm sure you all agree, it was worth every moment!!

OK, Olivia is still sleeping for nap #1. She's going on 2 hr and 15 min now. Do I wake her up, or just let her sleep? SHould I be concerned, or just thankful? She's usually a good napper (1 hr to 1.5 hr), but this is a bit much even for her!

[Colesmom]

nancy-I would wake her if you think it will throw off the rest of her day...IMHO.  anyone else agree?

On a positive note, Cole is going on 1.5 hours unassisted for nap 2!  so very very relieved that he seems to be getting the hang of his new schedule.  I just have to figure out if A time was too short this morning (2:40) or too long.  Second A time was 3:00 if you count when he first woke up and 2:45 if you count from when I kind of extended it for a bit

I sooooooooooooooo want to go out Saturday night to a birthday dinner.  DH is going to try to settle Cole tonight when he wakes at 9 and 10. I am expecting Cole will not like this very much.  I keep putting off DH doing it knowing it will take longer (agree with I think it was Cathy who feels the same). But if he's not going to take a bottle then this will be the only way I can have a night out.  Also, I don't want to make DH feel like I don't trust him KWIM?  He has offered so many times.  I just emailed him to say tonight was the night.  But I also said that he had to be patient, that he couldn't give up after 5 minutes.  I will give him pointers on pupd etc, but I think it's good if he develops his own method of comforting Cole. As long as he's not holding him to sleep, do you ladies agree this is the right thing to do?  Will Cole understand that mommy does it one way and daddy does it another?  Obviously he has to understand pupd and not holding too long, but I don't expect him to hold Cole's hand or pat his bum if he finds that he can just rest his hand on his back for instance?

okay, long enough.

[Olivia's Mommy]

OK, trying to update my avatar and wanted to see if it worked.

[M&M'sMom]

oooh Nancy, the placenta and stiches story made me cringe... youch!
The OB told me before I was in labour just at a reg appt that after baby A was delivered and Baby b wasnt coming down, she would reach in and get her!!!!! Not a pleasant visual is it?!!!

I would wake Olivia up after 2.5 hours. That's the absolute max I let the girls go, or else it's like they have slept to much and get tired again? Make sense? They wake up groggy and grumpy if they sleep any longer during the day... HTH

jod

[Carter'sMama]

I don't think it worked     I can't even get into my profile to put up an avatar!  That's how you have to do it right??  Anyone?!

[Colesmom]

cathy-some of the things on the site aren't working.  go into the lounge and there is a post at the top that has a link for profile, private messaging etc.  HTH

OKAY, i must get off this site and DO something :wink:

[Little Bear's Mum]

What great stories. As for me, I was nesting.... cleaning out our linen cupboard Saturday afternoon when contractions started. Slowly at first, then continued thru the night then 11am Sunday morning when they became 5mins apart 30sec-50sec long. Then by 3.30pm I rang midwife. She said have a bath, that slowed things down until 11pm I rang again still continuing down 5mins path but a bit more intense. By Monday 2.00am and only 1 hour sleep since Saturday morning I decided I didn't want to be at home any longer. Got to the hospital at 2.30am to find I was 5cm dilated. The intense back pain was due to Daniel being posterior, and crooked and chin forward/up. By 10.30am I needed an epidural, at 11am MIL turns up (nurse) and asks why I haven't been seen by a specialist. At 2pm Monday I was taken for a C section. I was asking for it! Baby was fine, but I wasn't. The epidural wasn't working properly and it took 5 more shots of the stuff to numb me enough. At 2.42pm Daniel was born. 9lb 3oz. One of our antenatal group husbands was the anaethetists, wiered but nice to know the person looking after me. THe following day the Dr told me I could never have delivered a baby the size of Daniel and they shouldn't have even let me try! I'm not using the same midwife next time. She couldn't figure out from an internal that he was too big! Grrrrr :twisted:

Enough of that. Another night of early morning wakings, 3am, 4am, 5am up for the day. Down like an angel at 8am though. I'm only going to let him sleep 1.5hours though. We've got coffee group today, so will be out and about, therefore he won't sleep until we get home thisafternoon (or in the car). In that case, he won't have too much sleep, but hopefully just enough. If I then manage to keep him up until 7pm who knows what will happen in the morning? It may take a few days I guess, but it's my last hope. Surely less sleep during the day will help with longer sleep at night. It's not like I'll be depriving him of sleep. He can still have 2.5 hours if he wants it, but just not 3.5h that he's been having. Sorry ladies for those of you having not enough day sleep, that was me a few months back and now I have the opposite problem!

Q for mums with LO's sleeping past 5.30/6am. How much sleep are they getting during the day? And what time do they go down at night?

Have any of you got swings? We were at a friends yesterday and I put Daniel in their swing, he loved it! I'm going to have to get one, if not for Christmas, then in the Christmas sales.

Happy days everyone... thinking of you Ankie, Traci and all you other sleep deprived mums. {{{{{{hugs}}}}}}

[james030405]

Hi Guys,

** WARNING LONG POST**

traci:  in regards to pu/pd, I only very rarely have to do it during the night. Usually james only needs to be repositioned and then a few pats on the bottomand he is off.  If he is really upset and DH comes in, I find James actually wants to go to him  :roll: and as soon as he goes to DH he settles and DH puts him down. Bedtime is always done in pitch black darkness as well, so sometimes this helps. Sometimes makes me feel a little angry :x at this, but I should be grateful that DH is so helpful If I do pu/pd during the day, DH is not here and it usually only takes a couple and then he is happy to go down.  I think it is the change of body type, feel etc that seems to settle James down.  Even if I am doing pat/sh and it is not working, DH can come in and within a few minutes of him doing it, he is out :? Can DH come in and try?

In regards to my delivery, James was due on the 1st April, but thankfully was 2 days late (not April Fools Day baby for me )

I had a show at 6am on Saturday morning and at 10:30am started contractions.  Coped quite well during the day.  Around 6:30pm Saturday night, they were getting a lot stronger, but were quite eractic in time, anywhere from 10-20mins.  Had a bath at 10pm and stayed there for about 1hr.  DH had gone to bed, I had told him he needed his rest :? .  I then spent from 11:30-12:30pm circling my island bench in my kitchen.  I finally rang the hospital and they said I could come in - contractions were approximately 5mins apart.  I was soooooo terrified they were going to send me home saying I wasn't far enough dilated.  Left home at 12:30am Sunday morning and got to the hospital in about 15mins.  When I got there they put me on the monitors and checked me.  I was already 6cm dilated :roll:  :roll: Finally they took me to a birthing room, where they hooked me upto the gas.  I sat on an exercise ball, in the shower whilst using the gas.  I remember saying to DH "this must look very sexy"    He just laughed.  My waters still hadn't broken.  They put me onto drugs to help with contractions as they were eratic.  I had a student doctor come in and ths was his first delivery.  I only had him, my DH and the midwife in the room.  It was niceand quite.  Finally at 9cm, they broke my waters and gave me an epidural.  After about 1.5hrs of pushing (and an almost 25hr labour), James arrived at 11:17am on Sunday 3rd April. 

The student doctor cut the cord as DH couldn't do it. The only scare I had was they had to bring in thecrash cart as James heart rate kept going up and down.  I had a fever all during the delivery, but this went as soon as James was born.  The placenta didn't want to come out though andI ended up having 2 midwives pushing on my stomach to get it out
After James came out, they put him straight onto my chest and I remember looking at DH and my look was apparently one of total shock :shock:  :shock:  :shock: They weighed him (7lb, 9oz, 3430gm and 51cm) apgar 9.  They gave him to Dh while they got the placenta out (I thought this was suppose to come straight out).  After about 30mins, James was given back to me and latched onto a breast.

In the end, no stitches needed, just a superficial tear, stayed in hospital for 2 nights and came home iwth my bundle of joy.

Hope all is well, we went back to last night sleeping through which was nice.  Putting the Christmas tree up today    

Lisa mum to James my textbook/spirited koala

[Little Bear's Mum]

Hi, sorry, hadn't read a few posts while mine was a 'work in progress'.

Nancy, yes, I'd wake up, that's what I'll be doing thismorning too.

Traci, you're so lucky to have a DH who offers to try to settle Cole. It took 7 months for my DH to finally realise it might be better if he gets up to settle Daniel. And much to our surprise and relief he actually settles better for DH than me!!! Especially when I was still b/f. It's like he knew there was nothing daddy could do except put him back to bed so he happily went to sleep. They do know/learn that things are done differently with different people, I"m sure of it. Just like sometimes daddy can comfort Daniel when mummy can't.

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Lisa, I had the April Fool's baby LOL!  :lol:

Danielle's birth was my dream birth.  I wanted a natural labour and water birth (I had one with Nathan too only it was a 17hr marathon and 2.5hrs of pushing - no water birth though).  I was due on the 1st April, woke at 3am with my waters breaking (that didn't happen with #1), contractions started straight away at 4mins apart, phoned my midwife, went to the birthing centre around 5am, active labour kicked in, I jumped in the birthing pool and pain relief was awesome, just continued with contractions and kept thinking after the next one I'll get some gas, anyway, before I knew it I was pushing and 6mins later she was out at about 6.45am.  Apgar was 8 and then 10.  She was 8lbs13oz, I had no tearing (remember I'm 5'1"), Nathan was 8lbs11oz and also no tearing even with all that pushing.  I went home after 4hrs.

Hayley, FWIW, on the nights that Danielle was sleeping right through she'd wake around 5.30-6am (with a 7pm bedtime), now that she's back feeding at 4-4.30 she wakes at 7-7.30am.

Judy, I know what you mean about breaking the cycle of controlling parents (makes it a challenge for me to break that cycle with my own parenting style I must admit) - my stepdad was/is like that growing up and the other day I was at their place with the kids, Nathan was eating his snack which had some grated (shredded) cheese and some was dropping on the floor, he was eating really quietly and neatly and I could see my SD almost having heart palpatations and trying his best not to tell Nathan to keep his food on the table - I'm pleased he managed to keep quiet, must have taken a lot of restraint for him.  I mean, it's not like the kid was throwing his food around or anything and harming absolutely no one. :roll:  Anyway, their dog loves cheese!