Pregnancy Thread - Wednesday June 1st

[Dar20]

shelly.....................Ethan Cole.................... Born 03/05/05
JennPayton.............Natalie Grace..................Born 03/09/05
blueyedgrl...............Reilly Grant ....................Born 3/23/05
Dar20.....................Alison Rozeta .................Born 04/06/05
Heather123..............Chad Avery....................Born 04/09/05
Marthad..................Logan Harold .................Born 04/23/05
Jefinner...................Ezra Franklin .................Born 05/05/05
GoJackets................Hamilton Wood...............Born 05/05/05
mom2twoboys...........Melissa..................... ....Born 05/06/05
chels_hoff................Payton Wayne................Born 05/08/05
Mandyhoward...........Spencer Cole............. ...Born 05/23/05 @30 weeks
Denise85.................Paige Loralei...................Born 5/19/05
tekla.......................Zachary Alexander..........Born 5/26/05

azktycat......................W40..............05/31/05....Girl
Luna...........................W39..............06 /04/05....Girl
nbecker.......................W37..............06/17/05....Girl
Vixendrop....................W37...............06/18/05....Girl
naerenaenae................W37...............06/18/05....Girl
jehcekah.....................W37...............06/22/05.....Boy
gilbabe75....................W36...............06/25/05.....Boy
Miss Gigl......................W36...............06/26/05....Girl
thopki00......................W36...............06 /28/05....Boy
rooney........................W36...............06 /31/05....Boy
Acutepenguin...............W34...............07/10/05
allibaba.......................W34...............0 7/12/05....Twins (Boy & Girl)
kclynn.........................W33...............0 7/22/05....Boy
Tbugs..........................W32...............0 7/21/05
melos...........................W31............... 08/01/05
SmileyAmy....................W30...............08/05/05....Girl

StarFire........................W26............... 09/5/05....Triplets !!!
Ketosisgirl.....................W24.............. 09/22/05.....Boy
vjfreddi.........................W23.............. 10/01/05
jeepifer.........................W22.............. 10/04/05 .... Girl
Karingreen.....................W22..............10 /08/05
jojolw...........................W?............... .??/??/05
Tammeli........................W20..............10 /17/05....Girl


Karalynne7....................W?................ ??/??/05
Jai...............................W14............. ..11/27/05
Kaillean.........................W13.............. .12/06/05
cjthedog64 ...................W13...............12/10/05
Diabolique......................W10............... . 12/24/05
lcfortified.......................W10............. . .12/31/05
jadefox26......................W?................. 12/??/05
Trailboss.......................W6................ .01/20/06
Louise...........................W5............... 01/27/06
Portia...........................W5............ ...01/29/06

Green12........................................... .....Trying!
2BFitHourglass.................................... ...Trying!
lil miss.............................................. ....Trying!
StrawberryGirl.................................... ....Trying!
AnnieO............................................ ......Trying!
speckle........................................... .......Trying!
Alissaliz......................................... .........Trying!
AZParalegal....................................... .....Trying!
DasiyNYC.......................................... .....Trying!
Nikole............................................ ........Trying!
daisy73........................................... ........Trying!

[Dar20]

There, girls.. I fixed it. Happy now.. sheesh.

Nitey Nite.. see ya in the mornin'.

[GoJackets]

WOW! look at all the girls that are about to be born!! woo hoo!!

[karatejen]

Dena~ Hamilton is just precious. Don't worry, he will grow into that GT onesie. Murphy just turned 6 months and it is still a little big on him since mom bought the 6-9 month size. Are you still trying to bf?

[allibaba]

Good morning ladies,

All the pictures yesterday were adorable . I can't believe how big they're getting already.

~Dena - Did you have any swelling anywhere else when you were pregnant? My feet are looking like yours, and I have some major swelling going on at the bottom of my belly! It's horrible. I loved the picture of Hamilton sleeping, he looked so peaceful.

~Dar - Thanks for starting the thread.... again . Alison really does look like dh doesn't she? Are things better with dh? Sounds like you're an old pro at this motherhood thing.

~Hi Jen

I had another NST yesterday and the babies were doing a lot of moving and they had a lot of accels, so all seems well. We go for another u/s on Friday I can't wait to see how big they are now. They were both just under 5lbs on May 11. 5 MORE DAYS AND WE'RE SAFE TO BIRTH AT OUR HOSPITAL !!!!! This has been a HUGE fear for us, to have to go to a hospital that is nearly 2 hours away, we're so close now.
OOPS, gotta run my cousin and his wife and son from CA are visiting and their son is sick. I have to take them to my ped. I'll fill you in later.

Hope all is well.

Mandy - thinking of you and your family .

Alli

[Dar20]

Hey, Alli.. how wonderful to almost be at that milestone!! They're going to be good size babies!

Did you see the identical quads that were born? They were NOT small babies!!

DH is doing much better. I was even able to go to agility class last night with one of my dogs. It seems that he and Alison are feeling much more comfortable with each other, so they are getting the hang of it. I came home yesterday to a full report of feedings, diapers, etc. It's so cute.

[GoJackets]

Hey Alli - My hands and face would swell. How has your blood pressure been? My GF with twins started swelling, her blood pressure went up at 35 weeks and preeclampsia kicked in so they did a c-section right then. She delivered two healthy babies over 5 pounds each. I have a feeling it won't be long for you!!!!!

Karatejen - yes, we are breastfeeding and it is going well. Just have to be careful of what I eat.

We are off to the pediatrician this morning. I've noticed a little spot of blood in his diaper where his penis would be in the diaper. It's been random. I'm a little concerned, but he acts fine, no fever. I'm wondering if it is urate crystals or an infection. We shall see!!!

[karatejen]

Dena~ glad the bfing is going well. I hope the blood is nothing serious. Let us know.

[SmileyAmy]

Michelle ~ Hardie, har, har...I know I am pregnant silly!! It just seems when I told the doctor about my symptoms, they were concerned. If they tell me it's normal, I will deal. Its just the fact that they said that shouldn't be happening that makes me nervous.

Well, can't chat too much today. I am leaving early for my doctor's appt. and I have a TON of work to do!!

I will probably lurk though...not much good at staying away.

Oh and yeah...I updated everyone on Monday. Geeze...thanks Dar for screwing it all up yesterday!!

[Dar20]

Originally Posted by SmileyAmy

Oh and yeah...I updated everyone on Monday. Geeze...thanks Dar for screwing it all up yesterday!!

[Trailboss]

Morning Ladies,

Things are starting to get back to normal around here. I will be back later with personals as soon as I get caught up.

Jackie

[Louise]

Good morning, ladies.

Dar-Thanks for getting us started and for fixing the list!


Alli--Woohooo! Just 5 more days! Hang in there babies! I am sure it will be a great relief to know you can have them close to home.

Dena-Hope everything is okay with Hamilton!

Amy--Good luck at your appointment today.

Well, I went to bed too late again last night! ARGH! I think it was 9:30 before I got to sleep. DH comes into work early on Wednesdays, so he was up at 5:30 and I really didn't sleep well after that. I tried to take a nap when I got home last night, but I'd only been asleep for about 5 minutes when DH got home from work. Today is going to be a long day at work.

I'll be back later.

louise

[gilbabe75]

Hey ladies...doing a drive by....will be back later.

[GoJackets]

gilbabe- love the avi!!

As far as Hamilton, the red spot was the urate crystals (not blood) which was what I thought. Some babies have it in their unrine and it causes a chemical in the diaper to make a red (sometimes orange) mark. It can be caused by dehydration, so I was worried about that. She said he wasn't dehydrated, but he did lose weight. He's back to 6 pounds 4 ounces. So, I guess nursing wasn't going as well as I thought and I am pretty upset by it because I was getting to enjoy it.

I think I screwed things up when he got sick last week. He wanted the breast and I was afraid of over-feeding him and making him even more sick. Since then, he has been fussy (not screaming) and I was mixing it as signals that he had gas. He was eating every three hours, both breasts at least 20 minutes each. He was getting wet diapers and poopie diapers, so I was thinking he was just fussy from gas....now I think the poor thing was probably just still hungry.

Now the doctor wants me to see a lactation consultant (which I agree is a good idea), but wants me to either get the supplemental feeding system (which attaches to the breast and gives him formula while sucking on the nipple for stimulation) or give him a bottle after every feeding. I was doing this two weeks ago when he was gaining the weight.

I don't care what books say, I just want to see my boy put some weight on. I have my mind made up to do the supplemental bottle after nursing....it just p*sses me off because if you go to the trouble of making bottles, why even bother nursing? BUT, I want to nurse and it p*sses me off I have to go to the trouble of making bottles....AND I have to worry about my milk supply.

This just sucks....it will work out. I'm not disappointed that he has to have formula. I support both methods of feeding, I'm just p*ssed because I want to exclusively breast feed. I haven't ruled it out, but I'm going to fatten this boy up now and try to figure out how to fix this mess in the meantime.

Sorry for my rant. : sigh :

[Dar20]

{{{Dena}}} I'm sorry to hear he lost weight.

All I can say is there is one small advantage to nursing then giving a bottle, rather than exclusively doing bottles. The bottle can warm up while you are nursing and you don't have a screaming baby in your ear wondering why you are not giving her her bottle.. she doesn't understand that it's cold from the fridge!

Hopefully the LC can help. I think you guys can do this. He's obviously improved from his screaming he would do at the breast, so he's getting used to it. You can improve your supply, even if you had a rough week last week.

[Kaillean]

Morning girls!

Just a quickie hello. Good news on the babies, Alli!

Dena -- Lord knows I don't know what I am talking about personally, but I did just read the section on breastfeeding in The Baby Whisperer. Did you read that yet? She says even though it's common in the US to change breasts during a feeding, she does not recommend it. She recommends alternating breasts with each feeding. The reason being that it takes a while for the really rich milk to let down, so if you're switching after 20 min, then baby is never getting this really rich stuff.

I'm not sure how valid that is, as I have no personal experience. Just a thought. Sorry to hear Hamilton has lost weight. I hope you can continue BFing, if that is your wish. Either way, you know you've given it your best shot!

BBL for more personals girls. Have a great day!

[SmileyAmy]

Dena ~ Sorry about the issues you are having. It must be hard to want to do something so badly, but it just isn't working. You will figure something out and I am sure all will be fine. Don't blame yourself - you are new at this. You will get the hang of it. Besides...you HAVE to, I am going to need advice in a couple of months! Keep your chin up!

[Trailboss]

All these pictures recently are wonderful!

Mandy-What a weekend! Continued prayers for Spencer. Glad your DH was able to get leave.

Alli, Dar20, SmileyAmy, Lousie, Becca-Hi Have a great day!

GoJackets- I was in your situation with DS. I tried my darndest to make BFing work. I saw two different LC's and they would only tell me that I was not producing enough. They would never give me options to increase my supply. I felt like such a failure. I finally decided to BF first then supplement with formula if he was still hungry. We did that system for eight months.

Jackie

[GoJackets]

Originally Posted by Kaillean

Morning girls!

Just a quickie hello. Good news on the babies, Alli!

Dena -- Lord knows I don't know what I am talking about personally, but I did just read the section on breastfeeding in The Baby Whisperer. Did you read that yet? She says even though it's common in the US to change breasts during a feeding, she does not recommend it. She recommends alternating breasts with each feeding. The reason being that it takes a while for the really rich milk to let down, so if you're switching after 20 min, then baby is never getting this really rich stuff.

I'm not sure how valid that is, as I have no personal experience. Just a thought. Sorry to hear Hamilton has lost weight. I hope you can continue BFing, if that is your wish. Either way, you know you've given it your best shot!

BBL for more personals girls. Have a great day!

Yes, I did read that and tried it. I just ended up with one engorged boob every six hours. It made sense to me about the hindmilk and all but I asked my pediatrician about it and she acted like the calorie difference wasn't enough.

[Kaillean]

Originally Posted by GoJackets

Yes, I did read that and tried it. I just ended up with one engorged boob every six hours. It made sense to me about the hindmilk and all but I asked my pediatrician about it and she acted like the calorie difference wasn't enough.

I wonder if there is somewhere on the net you could look up the calorie difference. Would it be possible to pump the "unused" boob a bit to relieve the pressure?

Tell me to shut up at any time. Nothing worse than getting advice from someone who has no personal experience.

[Kaillean]

Here's an excerpt from a LaLeche League article that says hindmilk is much richer in calories in some mothers:

The Composition of the Milk

Equally remarkable as the milk production system is the change in composition of milk throughout the course of a feeding, something that no artificial baby milk will ever be able to claim. Foremilk, the initial milk that baby gets upon latch-on, is much like skim milk. It is initially satisfying, high in volume and low in fat and calories. As the feeding progresses, the fat content goes up and the corresponding milk more closely resembles whole milk. Finally, toward the end of the feeding, the hindmilk is high in fat, high in calories and low in volume. Think of hindmilk as a rich creamy dessert. Lactose (milk sugar) concentration is relatively constant throughout the feeding.

Part of Woolridge's research in recent years has measured milk intake and the fat content of the milk. His studies show that there can be quite a wide variation in fat content of fore- and hindmilk in some mothers. Others show very little difference in fore- and hindmilk.

The whole article is at:

http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleade...Oct95p69a.html

[GoJackets]

Originally Posted by Kaillean

I wonder if there is somewhere on the net you could look up the calorie difference. Would it be possible to pump the "unused" boob a bit to relieve the pressure?

Tell me to shut up at any time. Nothing worse than getting advice from someone who has no personal experience.

No problem! I don't mind. Being a mom for the first time is a work-in-progress and hopefully someone else might read this with a similar problem and get some comfort knowing they aren't alone or someone may have already gone through this and can comfort me.

You may have similar issues too, I imagine this dialogue could be beneficial to both of us.

I do think the books screwed me up. I just think I wasn't feeding him often enough. I got worried about schedules instead of feeding him when he was hungry. I misunderstood some of his cues. Screw schedules. He can have what he wants, when he wants it. If he becomes a spoiled brat, we will cross that bridge when we get there, but I will not compromise his health for my convenience. There was a baby in the office that was the same age as Hamilton and was 6 pounds at birth, just like Hamilton. The little boy was already up to 8 pounds!!! My poor boy has a net gain of 3 oz. since birth. That just sucks. I think there comes a time when you have to just go with your instincts.

I have a manual pump, and I'm not good with it. I may need an electric one.

[Trailboss]

Kaillean-You snuck in on me. Hi! Great information!

[Dar20]

Dena, I rented a pump from the hospital for $50 a month. Man, that thing was powerful.

For you mommies thinking about breastfeeding, as we all found out ourselves.. you seem like you are constantly feeding them at first. They will eat around every two hours or so, start to start... so, if you start feeding at noon, and they feed for 40 minutes, you'll get a 1:20 break until 2 pm when they are hungry again! Sometimes, less than that! But, it supposedly gets better.

Regarding the not feeding off of one breast during a feeding, I never read or heard that in all the research and talkin with LC's I did. But, if you are feeding for 20 minutes on a side, you should be able to empty the breast. You can tell when it's empty.. baby knows and you can feel it. What I did do was alternate starting breasts. If I fed off of the right to start, at her next feeding we'd start with the left. If I could.. sometimes I was bruised to bad on one side and had to favor the other for a couple feedings. The reason for this is because baby is going to vigorously suck to start, then slow down. So, you want to make sure each breast gets used equally.

Gosh, I'm rambling and I don't even BF anymore. Sorry!

[GoJackets]

Well, 20 minutes on both breasts and 2 ounces of formula...he isn't sucking his fists and doesn't want the pacifier......I think he is full! Poor fella, I probably starved him the past week.

[SmileyAmy]

Dena ~ Glad he just had a good feeding!

Okay...this may be one of those stupid questions...and I plan on asking my dr/reading, but figured since we were on the topic. I don't plan to breastfeed. Just not right for me. I can't even stand her kicking...let alone sucking on my nipple!!

Anyway, if I know I am not going to breastfeed, do I still have to pump or anything after giving birth or does it just dry up, does it not produce if you don't breastfeed?? HJust wondering...any advice would be great! Thanks.

[Dar20]

Amy, you will have to let your breasts dry up, as the milk should come in. Depending on what you produce, you may experience engorgement and pain. You may not. When I stopped BF'ing, my breasts took about 2 weeks to totally dry up. I was only in pain for a couple days, and it was minor. After a few days, the only way I knew I still had anything was that, while in the shower, I would get a small amount of leakage.

If you are in pain, warm water helps. You can self express to reduce the engorgement, but that may prolong the time it takes to dry up. Melissa suggested Sudafed to me, which is what she used when she weaned Hunter. It will help dry you out.