Jan/Feb 2011 Mommies (Nov & Dec 2010 early babes)

Hi ladies!!!

Just wanted to pop on and say hi! Sorry I've been so scarce! So busy with Kade and we've got family staying with us so things are a bit chaotic.

Kade is amazingly good. Took him for his 2 week check up today and he's 4kgs! Shoo! He's still really constipated and we're going to start him on laxette from today to try soften it. He feeds every 3 hours and goes straight back to sleep at night.

We got to bath him yesterday for the first time since hospital because of the circumcision. He absolutely loved it. Didn't moan at all!

My DH is the most amazing man ever! He helps with absolutely everything! He's been so wonderful and is so in love with his little boy! A really amazing feeling for me after doing everything alone with Kyra.

Vix I'm so glad you're doing so great with your little boys! Awesome that Jono took to your breast this morning. Hope it carries on!

Chris wonderful news that your little babies are doing so great. Not long and you'll have them home with you!

Ster how are you doing at home with Inge? Hope alls good!

Binks, Mina and Yvette who's next??? So exciting!!

Morning ladies,

Jonathan is in a good mood this morning, i managed to get him to latch and drink for 15min on the breast, then i just gave him a top up of EBM in a bottle to be sure he had enough. Will keep trying with the breast but i think it was partly because i changed all his teats to non leak so now he has to suck in order to get milk so now he is slightly more inclined to try and suck at the breast. Lets hope he keeps it up.

Chris- i read your birth story and it's really great, I'm so pleased it was a great experience for you especially considering if you do ever do it again it will be a long time from now I'm sure! I love the pics, your babies are gorgeous and i was so surprised to see how big and pink and full term looking they all were, really healthy babies especially for 33w. Jonathan was supposed to be 35w and he looked so much smaller and un healthy than your gorgeous babies! I'm so proud of you for achieving such an amazing thing!

MommyN- hope the BF is going well at home with Nathan. Don't wake him if you don't have to my friend. NICU also told me to wake them every 3 hrs but my Pead says during the day don't allow them to sleep too long because they might not sleep at night but if the want to go 4-5hrs at night leave them be.

Ster- hope the engorgement has subsided and you found a good breast pump.

Carmen- sorry you're stuck at work must be a lonely old time because everyone else is on leave so Moomie is dead. I'm always around but these days I'm just way too busy to post.

Binks, Mina and Yvette, looks like the race for next position is on.......................

Yvette- how are you feeling since the castor oil incident?

Hi all

Chris, what a wonderful birth story- the A-team is gorgeous!

Vix thanks for the info on EBM and BF! Hope Jono's colic stops. Hope he takes to the B again.

Binks, Yvette and Mina- hang in there.

AFM - sitting at work - this is going to a loooong week.

Morning all

Yvette i know you said dont laugh but i really couldnt help not. Im goig to Dr at 4 so will see what we will be doing in the next week to bring Vanya along.
Do you have boy and girl names picked out??

Vix im glad you well and that the lo can eat so well. I neva had trouble with Arwen i hope i dont this time.

Chris read your story and saw the photos my they are gorgeous. May the bring you joy.

Mina how you coping??

Chris - justed wanted to say I read your birth stories - so awesome and your babies are just gorgeous! Well done Mommy!

Morning ladies,

Chris, I read your birth story last night with much anticipation and I have no idea who is who in the last few pics, but my friend your babies are GORGEOUS!!! Well done again..

Goodluck to the mommies who are still waiting patiently for your baba's to arrive and all the best

Chris- like you say everyone is different when it comes to milk production but I had the same 'problem' as you, at 8/9 days I was getting about 50ml at each express and that was at a push, O.K I was feeding Alex aswell but they were upping Jono's feedss by 5ml per feed per day and I knew if I didn't get more milk soon I wouldn't have enough, just as a guide when Jono turned 1.8 he was on 35-40ml feeds every 3hrs. I obviously have no idea how much Alex drinks. Just phone your gynae and ask for a script of Eglynol for your milk or ask the NNICU sister to request the script from your babies Pead. I started on the 3 a day recommended but I was completely sore and engorged the whole time so I went down to 2 and now I'm at 1 a day which seems to work well. If I stop taking I go back down to 60ml every 3hrs but when I take one a day I'm getting 120ml each time. Jono is drinking 60-70ml per feed now so the 120ml I get each time during the day allows for me not to have to express during the night when I need my sleep. Also you need to drink a minium of 2l water per day be it plain or in Jungle Juice mix, I have the recepie if you need it? You need to eat 3 full meals a day, skipping breakfast/lunch can cause issues. Also you can try using a heat pad on the breast before you express and or massage for the lumpy engorged areas. Your body will be able to produce enough milk if the conditions are correct but it's very hard as a new mom to find the time to get the core sleep you need to do so, so the Eglynol will just boost your milk with little hasle. It costs R100 for 30 tabs so 3 a day can get expensive (although probably not as expensive as using PreNan) but I'm one one a day so it's R100 a month. This expressing nonsense is exhausting, I find it takes a long time to get enough milk and before you know it, it's all gone and start again. But I have noticed with Jono, the preNan makes his poop stiffer which he struggles tro pass hence the cramps so I want to try and keep him on breast milk for as long as possible. It would be easier if he wouuld suckle at the breast but he still won't drink from it and every extra day he has a bottle his suck becomes weaker. I'm a bit sad about it but nothing much I can do except keep trying and the important thing is he is getting my milk, just at more effort to myself.

Are your babies being tube fed still? If you want to breast feed the babies once home I would really suggest you try to breast feed them as much as possible whilst in hospital. Sadly for me because I had Alex discharged I could never get in to do many feeds myself (which may also be the case for you if they discharge your babies seperately) and that is what made it so difficult. But like I said, the important thing is that their little prem systems get as much EBM as possible so if it means you feel like a dairy cow for a while then so be it. I definately noticed Jono's body doesn't tolerate the pre nan as well as EBM.

Well done on Alexia's weight, that's fantastic, I'm sure she at least will be home in a few days. Their weights do go up and down, once he started gaining Jono never lost weight again although he did have a few days of 0g or 5g but also some of 40g so they average out. The lady next to us had a tough time because her LG would gain 45g but loose 25g and go on like that for days so she was in for 27 days so every baby is different but it sounds like your babies are super strong. It's amazing how excited you can get over a few g hey?

Oh yeah, if you get a lot of EBM once you take the eglynol then you know you can freeze if for up to 6m. Just be sure you deforost it in cold water not boiling water because boiling water breaks down the fats and causes them to become constipated. Same goews for warming milk and mixing formula, never use boiling water.

If you do attempt to BF in hospital express before you go in because they really struggle to latch on a full/engorged breast especially when prem. I still have trouble with Alex every day where if I don't express regulally and or before a feed he can't drink properly and starts screaming. Yesterday even I expressed 120ml then latched him and he drank for 30min really well still. The expressing and BF seem to aquire milk differnetly and I find that I can be sucked dry by the pump but if I squeeze by hand I still have lots of milk and Alex drinks nicely with what's left.

O.k I'm here way too long and need to feed Alex so I can get back to sleep. Byeeeee