Feb-May 2011 Mommies

Girls, at last: www.moomie.co.za/forum/4-pregnancy-and-b...t=15&start=75#178735

Anje! Welcome back. Your LG is absolutely gorgeous!

The bleeding is fine today. Some smaller clots with more than usual bleeding, but nothing like the previous 2 days. Kimika, no idea what caused it. I will just keep an eye on things for now, but I hope whatever caused it has been sorted out. If more heavy bleeding occurs, I will see my gynae Tuesday and then we will probably know more. It can be some placenta that was left behind, in which case we might have to consider a D&C. But let's hope it's gone now.

Hey girls. Ive fallen behind again with replies.. too much chattering

Tazzy, Shoo what a scare you had with your little girl!! Thank goodness she is ok! R is a snacker during the day but at night he is better. Ive noticed that clearly on days where I have better milk supply he sleeps much longer! So I try and keep my milk supply going strong, which is quite difficult as it seems to reduce for almost any reason! Ive also had him on nr 3 pampers since last week and I guess him to be aprox 5.2kg now, but he has a stocky middle

Faw, sounds asif all is going well with you and the boys. I feel the same about them sleeping in their own beds, even with enough warm blankies Just much cosier and warmer with mommy. Well done on all the milk you supply! Wish I had as much!

Amy, I hold him close to me and then I weigh us together. then I go put him down and weigh myself and just do the subtraction.

Meags, you have a huge supply of milk! WEll done Sorry you are still feeling upset about the whole birth experience. I think it will prob only fade into a memory in quite some time.

Rakker, so what caused the huge amount of bleeding?? Hope you are doing better now?

Emsmom, hope you can fight the MA and get all paid.. eina!

Cath, hope little William gets better soon, shame man! Wonder where he got the bug from?

Anje, how great to finally read your story!! Great that you did so well She is such a cutie!! Im more than willing to come to you. Ill leave my toddler I also dont do too much outings as Im def not comfy feeding in public, no matter how well Im covered. Let me know whenever you are ready, no rush

Not much happening on my side. Im getting lots done for my SIL's babyshower now that I have hubby home a few days to help with the kids. I made the theme little sheeps and oh my I got the cutest things! Will take phodies on the day and come share

Hope you are all well !!

Kimika, it is still challenging for me to go out with L, but I would love to do a coffee, preferrably at my or your house (it is easier with the breastfeeding), let me know what your schedule is like.

I missed out on a lot, but Schatsie and Hlise, congrats on your little ones !!! Will you please post phodies again, I wish I could go back and catch up, but I just don't have the time at the moment.

It feels great posting here again, feels like I am finally back on my feet again.

Enjoy your week ladies !!

Hi girls,

I haven’t been here in a while because Lianey kept me busy and awake. She is now 24 days old and here is my story.

The last time I posted on moomies I was informing you that we are on our way to the hospital. Here is my story, I started with contractions just before 03h00, at first wasn’t sure whether this was it, but soon realised it was the real deal. I woke hubby, we both took a shower, he loaded the bags into the car and off we went. Got to the hospital at 04h20, the nurse did an internal and confirmed I was in labour and approximately 3 cm dilated. We walked hallway up and hallway down, staircase up and staircase down, (the birthing ball did nothing for me, but the walking did help with the pain) with hubby by my side at all times. At approximately 10h30 I got into a hot bath and by this time I was really tired (sleep deprivation tired, not labour tired), since I only went to bed at 00h00 just to wake up just before 03h00. I actually fell asleep in the bath and only woke up during contractions. At 12h30 they did another internal and I was only 4.5 dilated, at which stage I was getting myself ready for a c-sec, cause it was taking so long and the contractions were getting intense.

I was told in the morning that my dr will not be assisting me, since she is playing golf. Another dr came to introduce himself and he asked me if I wanted an epidural, I told him not yet, but I do want the option later on, he said that he will be doing it himself and I can wait until 7cm. However, at 12h00 I was informed that my dr phoned the hospital for another patient and when she heard I was in labour she said that she will be at the hospital around 13h00 and she would be assisting me (Thank Goodness). I immediately asked if she will do my epidural as well and I was told, no the doctor will arrange for the anesthetist. I lost track of time after 12h00 as I fell asleep in between contractions which were still irregular and sometimes I would have more than one contraction on top of another. But somewhere along the line after 13h00 (I think approximately 13h30) the contractions was really painful in my back. So at 5.5cm (approximately 13h30), I asked for the epidural since I knew they had to arrange the anesthetist and I was afraid that should I want one, that it would be too late. After approximately an hour the anesthetist informed the hospital that he is on this way, but in traffic. At some stage not sure how many cm’s or what time (as I lost track of time) the nurse wasn’t sure if the anesthetist was going to be in time and the pain got really bad, she offered me a vaccination for pain and I said yes, not realising it was pethidine, and it made me drowsy, but I was still aware of the contractions and what was happening around me, although I slept in between the contractions and an hour after the injection the anesthetist arrived and gave me an epidural. I know when the anesthetist arrived I was 6.5 dilated. The epidural however worked initially only on the right hand side and after I laid on my left hand side for an half an hour the epidural worked on semi on the left side – I could still feel the contractions, but it was not that intense. It was weird that my right leg was completely dead, but I was able to move my left leg. Everything happened rather fast after that, the anesthetist wanted to do the epidural again, but I was 9 cm already and next thing I knew I had to push. Dr told hubby to push my tummy from the top and I seriously pushed (I was still a little drowsy but completely aware of what was happening).

Next thing I knew L was born and put on my stomach and it was such a weird feeling, I remember thinking so this is it, this is my baby. L weighed exactly 3.5 kg’s and measured 58 cm in length. L was taken to be cleaned and I got a stitch, but we were both healthy and happy. After the dr cleaned me up she said I was still bleeding from somewhere, but she could not find the exact spot and instructed the nurses to keep an eye on it, the blood stopped after two hours, now my hubby loves telling everyone how much blood I lost and the hand gestures with it is rather funny.

The first week was not at all as I imagined it, L was very aware of her surroundings and did not sleep much and when she slept, she would wake up at any sudden noise. Luckily I had no issues with breastfeeding and it came easy and naturally to me, but L wanted to feed for 10 min and sleep for appr 20-30 min and she would scream every minute that she was awake. I did not get any sleep and got the baby blues as well, just cried and cried for 2 days and I was convinced I am not a good mother. The telement drops and gripewater helped somewhat, but not a lot. I was starting to think I have a colic baby. Luckily hubby took good care of both of us. I wasn’t totally prepared for the numbness down there, but everything returned to normal at day 7.

Second week was much better, I managed to get some sleep, figured out some likes and dislikes of L, but L was still not a happy baby. We tried a lot of things out of desperation and then we found Bennets Colic mixture, that helped A LOT !!

The third week was much much much better !! L is finally a happy baby and mommy gets some spare time that I am not always too sure what to do with. I enjoy being able to take a relaxing bath again, or to make a cup of tea, or to do some laundry or cleaning, or just to do nothing – the simple things in life. She actually sucked the dummy this morning, we tried the Nuk, Pigeon, cheap cherry dummy and finally it seems that she likes the Tommy Tippy one.

My baby is an angel now and I love her to bits, even though I almost went crazy in the first week, I am amazed at what a miracle she is. She feeds now approximately 1.5 – 2.5 hours during day and between 3.5 – 5 hours at night. I had to wake her at 04h00 this morning, because she slept for 6 hours already and I know they are not supposed to sleep for longer than 5 hours in the first 8 weeks due to blood sugar dropping. She still has some difficult times, but at least she is not screaming the entire time. She doesn’t like it when you change the diaper or when you take her clothes of, although the room is warmed up. If I don’t give her a feed before bath time, she will scream the entire time when we bath her, but I think the one thing that really helped, was moving her into our bed, she is just calmer and falls asleep easier when sleeping in our bed – I know this will have to change in future, but for now it will have to do, at least she sleeps in her cot during the day.
I missed you girls and if L allows me, I will visit now more often.
My maternity leave is almost over, I have one month left and it makes me really sad. Luckily she will be coming to work with me.

Sorry for the long post, here is a couple of pics :

Pregnant 41 weeks and 3 days:

L – a couple of minutes young:

L – 3 days young:

L – the poo face:

L – newborn shoot by Joli – 8 days old:
Thank you Joli for your patience with L !!

Emsmom the doctor said he would see me in 3 months to check the cyst and decide what to do. I hope to breastfeed til abdul decides he has had enough. I spoke to a few muslims and i have calculated 3 months and 10 days and added about 2 weeks onto that and then right down my the dates i had my 'period' and give it to them. No one will check up on me. As far as im concerned my husband divorced me and the waiting period came to an end at my sons birth so i don't feel bad. I am staying at home and not going out to parties etc so i am still adhering to that rule.
Cathm i really hope that your son feels better soon.
Oh yes i am going to the mjc on tuesday to try find out if they can help me get my things from my husband. I really need my dowry from his mom.. She has it.. Long story.. so that i can sell it and make use of the money. Im trying to sell my wedding ring as well still. Someone tried to scam me out of it and extra money. I have reported them for fraud. The same day my mom also reported fraud.. A doctor who is part of a group of doctors had his private practice too and was charging ppl twice, but from his private practice he was charging three times as much. My mom spoke to the doctor and told him to sort it out and gave him two weeks. He did nothing so she went to the medical aid and spoke to them. They are investigating the doctor and they have been outdone of hundreds of thousands. At least the medical aid got their money back. Sadly the doctor will probably lose his licence but my mom told him she was giving him a chance and he decided not to fix it so now has to suffer.

Cath I agree with Emsmom re diahorrea in a baby - my sister had it once when she was a baby and ended up in hospital for a week. Problem is that they get dehydrated so much faster than us adults!

Amy my SPD symptoms are GONE! No more back or pelvis ache at all!! In fact that only thing I have left over from my pregnancy, other than the obvious tummy is the tingly feeling in the fingers on my right hand. It started about a month before the birth and the feeling hasn't returned properly yet. My dr did wanr me tho that it make take a few weeks. I hope it heals soon tho, cause I'm battling to do x stitch, etc. like this.

We got the pics from our newborn photoshoot - there are some lovely ones: www.flickr.com/photos/elnacronje/