[Freckles]

Hi ladies,

This BG is for those who have chatted in the Pg with #1 after M/c BG. It's great to see that there are ladies now holding their babies in their arms after earlier losses.

Please let me know if there are any problems.

Cheers,

Emma

[Loulla]

Gold!
Thanks Emma Will tell the other girls about this thread x

[Jlove14]

Silver!

My gorgeous little boy entered the world on 16 August 2012- exactly on his due date! I had a normal vaginal birth with an epidural. My waters broke on wednesday night at 9pm and the hospital told us to come in, I then spent the rest of the night up until 9am the next morning having irregular but painful contractions, only to be told that i had only dilated 2cm!! The suggestion from the midwife was to take an oxytocin drip to speed up my labour and that because the contractions would speed up and get very intense very quickly she suggested an epidural. At this point I was exhausted and just wanted to meet my baby so I agreed. It was a good choice

However the oxytocin drip was not agreeing with the baby and everytime I had a contraction with the drip his heart rate would drop from 140 to 80 which really freaked me out. So the drip was turned off and on and through this and my natural contractions and 4 hours later I finally dilated to about 9cm when my ob said he wanted to get the baby out. The baby was also posterior so I had to turn him with my first push- which I did! After about 6 pushes or so and vacuum extraction he arrived and it turned out he was quite tangled up with the cord and that is what was causing the heart rate to drop.

Anyway the labour was one of the most amazing experiences of my life which I will always cherish

Loulla- How are you going with your little boy? I hope all is as well as it can be?
Are you sleep deprived and are you breast or bottle feeding? I am breast feeding but it is tough and not as easy as I thought. At the hospital I was forced to do a top up with formula (peadiatrician recommended it) and that was a bit upsetting. But I think my milk is coming in properly now so I am hoping for the best and that the next time he gets weighed (on thurs) that he would have put on enough weight. My little one is fairly settled however we have had a few rough nights where he has had some bad gas.

Hope all the other lovely ladies who have had their little ones are doing well.

[Loulla]

Our Beautiful Babies

dizzy-anne ~ 12th April 2012 ~ Lara Elizabeth
Pincushion ~ 3rd July 2012 ~ Angelina Grace
Lou87 ~ 12th July 2012 ~ Twin Boys (born just shy of 34 weeks)
Loulla ~ 22nd July 2012 ~ Baby Boy

rara12 ~ 29th July 2012 ~ 21st August 2012 Angel Baby Girl (born at 27 weeks)
Liltuss ~ 8th August 2012 ~ Baby Boy
zjb2 ~ 8th August 2012 ~ Baby Girl
Fairey ~ 16th August 2012 ~ Tess Amelia
Jlove ~ 16th August 2012~ Baby Boy

[Loulla]

Yay Jlove, so good to see you here! Thanks for sharing your birth story Im so glad it went well for you How great that you dialted naturally without the oxytocin to the end, and had a vaginal birth. Good to hear your milk is coming in now. Yes breast feeding is hard!
Bubby didnt latch on after birth so the midwife hand expressed some colostrum for him to have immediately and then I had to do it during the two days at the postnatal ward while he learned to latch and I learned how to BF. I wasnt allowed to go home until he had latched on! In the end he did but it has taken a few weeks for us to get the hang of breast feeding, Id say about 3 weeks. Even though my milk had come in soon after coming home, it has taken a few weeks for the supply to meet demand. Now I have lots of milk and sometimes he even chokes on it! But the first few weeks he was feeding what felt like constantly. Now his tummy is bigger, my milk is more abundant and hes more efficient at feeding, he doesnt need to be on the boob 24/7. I have lots of milk in the mornings or after having a nap with him in the day.
Yes he also gets gas and cries in pain which is tough, but its mostly in the daytime for some reason and the occasional night. We put him in the cot in the evenings when he's asleep and then when he wakes in the night we cosleep and I just side feed him when he wakes. So I get lots of sleep this way. And I get to cuddle him which is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo nice

When we first brought him home we had no idea really lol, like I didnt realise how often they need to sleep and how you have to make a real effort to help them get to sleep. So he was overtired and we didnt know. Then the home visit nurse taught us signs of being tired etc and how to settle him.

Now hes 5 weeks its getting a little easier. I took him for my first pram ride just us two today! I had to time it when he's full, has had his nappy changed and is either sleepy or in a play mood. If hes in a play mood, I leave the top part of the pram open for him to look out. Hes just started to interect with toys like shiny rattles - we shake it in front of him and then move it across his face and he follows it with his eyes and head! And he did his first coos yesterday He smells divine and we are so in love it's ridiculous!

[Loulla]

I never actually shared my birth story, so here goes...

It was a Saturday and since waking up I had what felt like a constant Braxton Hicks no pain, plus a few cervical twinges. Then late morning I started having irregular small contractions. It was enough for me to stop whatever I was doing and breathe through it. I had them all day irregularly and then all night about every 10mins I dozed in between each contraction. They were pretty intense! I rubbed and pressed my lower back each time because that was where all the pain was. I didnt wake DH because there was nothing he could do and I didnt want him touching me for some reason lol. Plus I wanted him energised for the birth!
I rang the MW the next day and she said that its fine to stay at home because the contractions were still once every 10 mins or so. They became more and more intense over the day to the point where I would just drop to the floor! I felt best with my knees on the ground and my upper body leaning on the lounge or table. Stairs were good too! I had taken about 6 panadol all up since the day before and it helped take the utmost edge off it, but nothing worth noting.
By the afternoon I had had enough and rang the MW explaining that if this is pre-labour then I am not going to survive active labour and I want to come in and get some pain relief like an epidural/ She said I could also take some morphene if needed? So DH packed the car with everything and we drove in. it was really hard because I was sitting upright through each contraction, and speed bumps seemed to bring them on too! We arrived at the hosptial and I had two on my way there one in the lift and one at the entrance to delivery suite. Then then just kept coming one on top of the other and I threw some blankets on the floor and kneeled there, with my arms and head leaning on the bed. I was making some pretty interesting noises by this stage
MW on duty checked my cervix and excitedly claimed that I was 7-8cm!!! So it wasnt pre-labour at home, I was in active labour. She made me feel heaps better by being really positive and saying how great it is and that Im almost there and well done etc. I told her it hurts, she she said but its a good pain because your babys coming. She was great. My MW arrived and we discussed pain relief but instead I hopped into the shower on my knees (foam pads) for 3hrs while DH got my juice and water and talked me through the contractions. The contractions slowed down but each one was so intense, I even made noises like a barking dog haha. I was calling out, "I need pain relief!!!!" It was too late for serious pain relief but the MW brought the gas machine to me and this helped HEAPS! It helped me control my breathing and my responses to the contractions. Plus it made me feel dreamy and relaxed. Then I felt a change inside, like a warmth in my cervix, MW checked me and I was fully dialated but the lip of my cervix needed to be moved. She did this and then said I could push! I couldnt believe bubba was coming. I pushed for a little while but each time his head would come down, it would go back up again. I changed positions and then out he came and onto my belly. MW had called the baby Dr because he had done a poo while inside and they checked him over and he was fine. We had this wriggling little squashed thing that we had created suddenly here. It was the most wonderful experience to give birth and to hold our little baby. Our treasure

[Fairey]

Sounds to me, lovely mummies, that you both experienced really positive births also! YAY!
Thankyou both for sharing your stories.

I'm also breastfeeding. Hated it to begin with. Absolutely HATED it. Was very pro formula - DH even went out and bought some. Just-in-case. Tess had problems attaching from the very beginning (I was in hospital an extra two nights just because the lactation consultant wanted to help with b/f before we left). I have to use a nipple shield aswell, so everytime Tess moved in a hurry, it moved the shield, I'd have to re-adjust, Tess would scream and cry and I would start crying too. My nipples were cracking and bleeding and it was horrid.
Then I got a touch of mastitis - feeling flu like symptoms and had a rash. So I was pumping every 2 hours to try to ease it. Then my supply went up the creek and we had to start feeding with formula. Which Tess would throw up every time. This week, I'm back to breast feeding again. I'm more relaxed which is helping. But I wouldn't say I'm at the "I love it" stage yet.
We do lots of side feeds in bed too - I love the cuddling part. BUT - we also feed with bottles of expressed milk and I cuddle her lots doing that too

On the positive - she's finally above her birth weight. YAY! However - with my baby blues... I cried because I don't want her to get any bigger or grow up cos she's lovely the way she is. And now she's heavier than she's ever been - sheesh. Can't win!!

[Jlove14]

Hi ladies

Hope you are both going well with your bubs. I am just so amazed and in awe of how I took part in creating such a perfect little human being- still cant believe it is real. Although some of the sleepless nights can bring me back to reality straigh away! hehe

Loulla- yeah I think I have finally gotten the hang of breastfeeding now and it has been about 3 and a bit weeks. The pressure from breastfeeding is like nothing else on earth, esp because we as mothers are being relied upon by our little ones to feed them and give them enough nutrition to grow. I havent tried side feeding- perhaps I'll try it. Any tips? And I totally agree with you on the sleeping, it is a real effort and it is up to us to help them get to noddy land! And nice work only needing the gas in your labour!

Fairey- We have some formula "just in case "as well and we used in really early on when we thought he wasnt getting enough from me and we didnt know any better that this wouldnt help my milk supply. I didnt really have a problem with the latching, I think it was more my supply because early on he was a very sleepy baby and he didnt feed that often and when he did he would fall asleep a lot. So was Tess alergic to the formula? Oh by the way our little ones share the same birth day! Shall we get them engaged! hehe

AFM I am surviving! But you can never be prepared for a baby and all the thing that come with it. All I know is that I am totally in love with him and cant stop looking at him.

My little one has a few ailments though- he has a gunky eye (blocked tear duct), oral thrush and milk spots (baby acne) on his face. I am treating the gunky eye by keeping it clean and massaging the corner of the eye, the oral thrush the GP picked out and gave me some drops to give to him and the baby acne I looked up and it says to just keep his face clean and it will go away. Have either of you had any experience with any of these?

How are you both going with their sleeping in the night? My boy sleeps at 8 then wakes at 11ish and then at 3ish and then at 6ish.

Hope the other girls join us in here soon xx

[Loulla]

Hi girls,

I hadn't checked in here for a bit, nice to see you've both been here recently!
Fairey I love the name Tess, it's gorgeous. Sorry to hear breastfeeding was so tough and great to hear its settling down now, it really takes time hey. And yes they keep getting heavier the more milk they have!

Jlove I know, it's such a miracle the whole thing! Side feeding is easy once you have upright feeding down pat. I just make sure his mouth is slightly below nipple (horizontally) so his chin is lifted a little to help swallowing. I have his body up against mine. Our bubby has milky spots too they will just go away eventually and normal I think? He also had gunky eyes and I squeezed BM into them a gently wiped with a warm washer and they cleared up after a week or so.

Bubby also caught a cold he had a sore throat, fluid behind ears, a cough and lots of mucous. He's getting better now but i felt bad for exposing him to it by maybe taking him out too early. Then I was thinking about eliminating dairy cos I had that allergy when I was little but not sure if it was the cows milk protein or the lactose. If he gets sick again maybe I'll trial eliminating it. Who knows...
He's getting easier now in that I can put him down more on the play mat or in his baby swing ($15 Gumtree!) without him crying for me to hold him all the time so my wrists, arms and back can have a little break in the day! He's smiling and cooing which is soooooo sweet!

[little lion]

Hello girls. I loved reading your birth stories and what the early weeks have been like for you. Can't wait to join you in here soon!