Oct/Nov 2014 Mommies

Hi ladies! Wow being a mother is totally amazing.

@peytonsmum your experience sounds wonderful, very similar to mine. I also ended up with a c section.

@sugarandspice I'm so sorry you didn't get to do natural either!

Congratulations on all the births

My son, Jesse, was born on the 11th (a day after yours, @sugarandspice ), after being induced on the 10th. My labour failed to progress so we did a c section on the morning of the 11th. I loved the experience tho, it was all so quick and literally painless. I think I was so happy with it, because I didn't really have my heart set in natural.
They had to use forceps as well because my baby didn't move down!
I also had the pain pump, for the first day. Next morning 4 am I had to get up! Which was weird, but still not painful. A few hours later tho I felt the pain! But after 2 days I was completely fine! I could do everything for my baby (and myself). I was so worried because of all the stories, but my experience really surprised me. Don't regret it at all.

My baby also seems to sleep more during the day, sigh!

Hi Mommies! Congratulations to those who have their babies.

@sugar-and-spice - Such a pity about the csection but you are right, have to do what is best for baby. With regards to sleeping, try to wake baby during the day maybe after 3/4 hour sleeps, they only know the diff between night and day at a later stage.

Hi Ladies

How are you all doing?

I gave birth on the 10th of November.
My water broke the 9th of November at about midnight. I was sleeping and i just woke up feeling weird. Then i noticed my legs were wet and I realized what had happened.

I didnt feel any pain as yet though, so just went to clean myself up. By the time i was done my contractions started - but were bearable.

I then woke up hubby and told him to get done. We were quite chilled about it considering this was our first one. We both took showers first - double checked the hospital bags and then let our family know we were on our way to the hospital.

By the time I got to the hospital though, my contractions were considerably stronger and i could hardly stand.
The midwife then let my gynae know i was there and he told her to do an internal. I was only 1cm dilated and therefore could not have an epidural as yet. Since my water had broken, we could only do internals every four hours so as too avoid any infection. I therefore had to endure 4 hours of contractions before I could get Epidural. It was excruciating!!! Eventually I got the meds and basically just waited it out till I was 10cm dilated. It was then time to push. Pushed for two hours straight but Baby would not come. Dr. tried suction but still nothing. He then informed me we would have to do a c-section. I cried my eyes out - Because I really wanted to it natural. But in the end I needed to do whats best for the baby.

Baby was born at 3.2 Kgs. Today he is 2 weeks Old already.

I absolutely LOVE being a mommy. The greatest feeling in the world

Hubby and I at this point are just trying to figure out the basics for now. Our little one sleeps great during the day, but then stays awake for about 3-4 hours from 9pm.
Anyone know why this is??

Hello Mommies

I have been meaning to post but it has been really busy these last two weeks with Paige keeping me busy 24/7

My LO is already 2.5 weeks old and is such a little angel - totally different in personality from her big sister. My experience with this birth compared to my first has been chalk and cheese! I guess it is easier the second time around.

I checked in at 06h00am at the Milnerton labour ward - when i arrived Sister Louise was expecting me and gave me a lovely warm welcome and took me straight to my room to get changed. There wasn't anyone else there so i had the room to my self which was awesome. There was a lot of paperwork to be completed and then my BP and glucose was tested. I was also given anti reflux liquid that tasted horrible

By 7h40 i was wheeled into theatre and my husband was changed into scrubs. i met with the anaesthetist who wasn't the friendliest man on the planet. My gynae then came by shortly after and i was then wheeled into actual theatre where procedure was being done.

Started to feel a bit nervous and emotional at this stage. My husband joined me and he asked the nurse where he should stand. When he moved to that area the anaesthetist barked at him very rudely to just stand there and not to touch anything. We were both taken aback at his manner but let it go. This anaesthetist was nothing like my first 4 years ago. My first one was so friendly and put me and my husband so at ease and he was so skilled that i hardly felt a thing when he inserted the needle, etc. Not so this time around. He struggled to get the needle in and I was very uncomfortable.

After the needle was in, a catheter was inserted and i was hooked up to an IV feed. All of this was not painful, just slightly uncomfortable.

I started losing sensation in my feet pretty quickly after that and also felt very nauseous. He added something to the IV feed to counter the nausea and it helped slightly - he had to do that again as i really felt like throwing up.

I was 39.5 weeks at the time of my c section and my LO had not yet dropped at this stage so when they cut me open they really struggled to get her out. After the first few minutes after cutting i heard the anaesthetist quip, "It doesn't look like these guys had their porridge this morning". There was a lot of tugging and pushing and my gynae used forceps and eventually she was out. It was soooo emotional - i was crying like a buffoon. I was expecting a really big baby as my first was 3.4kg and at my last scan the gynae guessed over 3kg for this baby. When we saw her we were both shocked as she was so tiny! She weighed 2.9kg and the finest hands and feet ever!

I heard her cry with a lot of gurgling - they were sucking out all the liquid from her mouth/throat. My gynae used staples - i had melting stitches with my last one.

I was then wheeled into recovery and there was a sister taking my vitals and checking whether my uterus was contracting and after about 30/40 minutes, they brought my angel to me for skin to skin and i was then wheeled back to my room.

They encourage skin to skin for the first 12 hours which is really amazing and i wish they had explained this properly to me as although i knew there would be skin to skin straight after the birth i did not know it was meant to be for 12 hours. i was worried as she was just in her nappy with a blanket and i didn't realise this was the way it was meant to be.

I was super tired after the birth but didn't really get much sleep. Baby did latch but i struggled a lot with the latch as i did in my first pregnancy.

The first night was actually not too bad - she nursed every 2 -3 hours. They removed the catheter that evening at around 19h00 and gave me a sponge bath. All i wanted at this stage was a hot shower but had to wait till the next morning.

i also had a pain pump that i controlled and needed to release pain meds every 8 - 10 mins. I kept forgetting to release it in time and only remembered when the pain came. I got up after they removed the catheter - which felt uncomfortable coming out. it was quite something standing up for the first time and i remember everyone saying that should get mobile as soon as possible to make recovery quicker and easier. After i got back into bed i tried getting out again, this time without the nurses and made it into they bathroom to brush my teeth.

The following morning they changed my dressing and i could shower which felt amazing!

I had another mommy join me that morning and i no longer had the room to myself but then on the last night she moved to another room and i had the room to myself again which made such a difference!

My milk came in on day 3 and have been nursing every 2 - 3 hours but on demand.

My gyane removed the staples a week later - was not painful at all. She did such an amazing job compared to previous gynae that butchered me. She removed the old scar and my new scar is barely visible!! She also gave me vitamin a cream to apply for next 9 months.

it is going well aside from the sleep deprivation! i am loving my little one and her big sister adores her.

Good luck to all the mommies giving birth now - can't wait to hear your stories!

My son is 9 and he can't wait to meet his little brother, but I just wanna spend the last few weeks reassuring him that he will always matter and that nothing is going to change in terms of my love for him.

But the 21st is almost here and going natural is starting to scare me .

@sugar and spice my doc said the same but I'm still waiting he totally got my hopes up lol.

@pearlyglaze my doc doesn't or hasn't done any cervix checks as well.. I guess he's going on other factors like weight, position etc? No idea lol I'm just waiting "patiently". How old is your son?

I'm at the Dr and she never does cervix checks to see how far baby is if that even helps.

How does your DRs know the baby will be here before we reach the 40 weeks mark?

I don't want this baby to come before the 21st cause I really need to take time off and take my son to Durban. lol