Despite the fact that I belong on the 0-3 board or at least my other birth board (December- I straddled the fence) I still keep wandering back here. If I get annoying, just let me know and I'll go back to lurking until all the other babies arrive. Or if you have any questions about life with a newborn/sorta preemie/labor/recovery/postpartum belly shrinkage/BFing/pumping, whatever, etc, I'd be happy to answer. (Not give advice neccesarily since I have no flipping clue what I'm doing) but I can share my experiences at least.
As a refresher for anyone with labor Qs, the cliffsnotes- my water broke at night (at the gym! Awkward!) but contractions were weak so I was augmented with pitocin the next morning and got an epi around 5 cm. Pushed for 2 hours, realized that pooping on the table really doesn't matter after all, got an episiotomy to avoid the vacuum. Thought I wanted DH to stay by my head- totally gave up on that and I'm now a much less modest person.
Life with a new baby alternates between really hectic and really boring (sounds mean, but it's true!) so I'm lurking quite a bit these days. I should be cleaning but I don't want to.
Re: Jan board- Why can't I quit you?
I agree! I personally like that you're still hanging around. If all the outside mommas quit after LO was born, we'd be left with very little going on around here... much less than now!
And.... why were they going to use the vacuum? Was Lyla just not wanting to come out?
please stay! Your insight is valuable. And I'm sure we'll have some more Dec babies the next 10 days!
And its already quiet around here since so many left us for the FB page.
And your cats are cute
~~ married 8.11.07
~~ DD1 1.16.11 ~~ DD2 1.3.14 ~~
~~ BFP3 12.22.15 MMC 2.29.16 @ 13 weeks ~~
~~ 2 D&Cs (3.1.16 and 3.10.16) for MMC
~~ BFP4 10.27.16 MMC 1.23.17 @ 16 weeks ~~ D&E 1.26.17 ~~
My tip? Take the damn stool softener. I pretended to take the first one they gave me. I felt it wasn't necessary. I regretted my decision shortly thereafter.
Bring your own pillow, comfy jammies, and have all come bearing food. Time kind of stops and the hospital food is gross, so having good food brought in (plus my laptop and iphone) kept me sane and occupied during downtime.
Also, colace and ibuprofin are your friends.
Bring your own pillow, comfy jammies, and have all come bearing food. Time kind of stops and the hospital food is gross, so having good food brought in (plus my laptop and iphone) kept me sane and occupied during downtime.
Also, colace and ibuprofin are your friends.
Yeah, her head was really low (like I could feel the top of her head with my hand and they could see her hair) but she just wasn't making much progress. My doctor called for a vacuum and said he wanted to do an episiotomy so I whimpered and ok'd the episiotomy. Happiest moment of my delivery was when he told the nurse to put the vacuum away because we wouldn't need it after all.
Ok, a couple in one post:
pumping: I had to pump because LO was in the NICU for a few days so I started by pumping after feedings. The first few times it was drops and I had to use a syringe to squirt them up and put them in the containers but after a few days I was producing an ounce, then two, etc. Now I can pump 4-6 ounces after a feeding, or close to 6 if DH gives her a bottle and I pump at the same time. I only do it once a day or so at this point and since we introduced the bottle so early, her pedi says to keep giving her one every day or two.
Belly buttons- mine didn't pop, but got really really flat and shallow. It is back to "normal" now but looks deeper than before. Probably because of my extra belly chub.
CarmanB- good to see you! I've thought of you often. What a beautiful picture of you and your LO!
LOL - I literally thought this SAME thing right before clicking on the Jan board forum.
I also straddle Dec/Jan and 0-3...
Please don't go; you are not annoying. Not at all!
Carina 12.28.2010 | Aurelia 9.23.12 | Chart - Round 3
You better not go anywhere!
Aw, you girls are sweet!
Well, I had pitocin so I braced myself for the worst but up until 5 cm I was doing ok. Contractions definitely hurt, but I'm notorious for being a wimp and I was handling it, especially with a little lower back pressure provided by DH. Around 4-5 cm I got up to go to the bathroom and felt a new level of pain- tight squeezing cramp pain that was more intense than the previous ones. At this point breathing through it was harder and I kept thinking, "Ok, pain med converstion now!" So I said that to the nurse. She recommended a short term quick acting IV pain med and I jumped on it. As soon as that kicked in I decided I didn't want to wait any longer before the epi so I asked for that. With this short term pain med and the the epi, contractions were hardly anything. I could feel them but didn't really feel pain. As soon as the epi kicked in and the anesthesiologist left the nurse rechecked me and I was fully dilated and the baby had dropped fully down into the canal. So, basically I went from 5-10 in 30-45 minutes. I don't know whether the epi MADE it happen or if I was headed for one heck of a half hour if I hadn't gotten it.
They pretty much turned off my epi at that point so I could regain some sensation while pushing. After two hours of pushing I could feel discomfort but not too bad. Pushing her out didn't hurt at all with the epi- it was just hard work and hard to hold my breath while pushing so hard. (I couldn't breathe and push. Didn't work for me.)
So.... overall, not as painful as I expected, but if I had waiting 30 more minutes for the epi I might be telling a very different story!
Recovery kind of felt like my insides were trying to fall out my butt- lots of pressure. Ibuprofin was very helpful!
Aw, you girls are sweet!
Well, I had pitocin so I braced myself for the worst but up until 5 cm I was doing ok. Contractions definitely hurt, but I'm notorious for being a wimp and I was handling it, especially with a little lower back pressure provided by DH. Around 4-5 cm I got up to go to the bathroom and felt a new level of pain- tight squeezing cramp pain that was more intense than the previous ones. At this point breathing through it was harder and I kept thinking, "Ok, pain med converstion now!" So I said that to the nurse. She recommended a short term quick acting IV pain med and I jumped on it. As soon as that kicked in I decided I didn't want to wait any longer before the epi so I asked for that. With this short term pain med and the the epi, contractions were hardly anything. I could feel them but didn't really feel pain. As soon as the epi kicked in and the anesthesiologist left the nurse rechecked me and I was fully dilated and the baby had dropped fully down into the canal. So, basically I went from 5-10 in 30-45 minutes. I don't know whether the epi MADE it happen or if I was headed for one heck of a half hour if I hadn't gotten it.
They pretty much turned off my epi at that point so I could regain some sensation while pushing. After two hours of pushing I could feel discomfort but not too bad. Pushing her out didn't hurt at all with the epi- it was just hard work and hard to hold my breath while pushing so hard. (I couldn't breathe and push. Didn't work for me.)
So.... overall, not as painful as I expected, but if I had waiting 30 more minutes for the epi I might be telling a very different story!
Recovery kind of felt like my insides were trying to fall out my butt- lots of pressure. Ibuprofin was very helpful!
Thanks for sharing, that really helps a ton! Although it just sounds so easy!
Don't leave us! Thanks for sharing your story.
What do your kitties think about baby?