@bchalm I am right there with you with breastfeeding. My 12 year old asked me recently if I'd be less sad this time around if bf doesn't work out. I don't want to put myself or my family through the stress we went through while I tried feeding my 18 month old. Part of me wants to try again but another part is really afraid of how upsetting it was for me. I made barely 3 oz a day. And that was a good day! My dh was and is very supportive of bf. But I did feel like I let him down when I stopped nursing around 4 months.
@mcb2016 I started pumping at 4 months and completely quit at 5. And it was so hard to admit it wasn't working. But after a month of FF my quality of life was so much better. I was so much less stressed.
@bchalm We started bf with DS, but after two weeks we switched to formula. Part of me doesn't want to go through the struggle of trying to bf again, but I think I'm going to try bf again. It's hard to think about reliving all those same struggles, but I figure it's worth trying again since babies are all so different. It's awfully tempting to just start with formula though..
@bchalm I also struggled. I'm going to give it a try. People keep saying it goes better the second time around so we'll see. At least there will be lots of support from this board!
@bchalm I ep for 10 months due to poor oral motor skills, picu, nicu time, and heart defect. This time around I am hoping for a latch because if not I am unsure how I would have the time to pump with an almost 3 year old and newborn.
FWIW, I was so much kinder to myself the second time around and the experience was so much better. I beat myself up over breastfeeding with my first, and the switch to formula was agonizing.
With my second, I told myself I’d give it a shot and if it was anything like my first, I’d switch to pumping as long as I was able and not hesitate to formula feed. I ended up pumping for about 6 weeks (though I was formula feeding the vast majority of the time) before my supply ran out — and that was ok! I did what I could and allowed myself to stop when I felt it was time. Mentally it was so much easier than the first time around.
I BF my daughter until I got pregnant with this baby(~14 months) so I’m afraid I’ll feel guilty if I don’t with my son—but my husband and I have been discussing formula feeding. I think breastfeeding really took a toll on my emotional/mental health. I don’t know if it was severe enough to consider ppd but I was pretty down for the first 3-6 months. I honestly think breastfeeding was the biggest factor contributing to that. As of now the plan is to make an attempt but to be prepared to switch if I feel the same way again.
@bchalm I BF both of my boys for a year. With my first, it was terrible! He cut me and I bled off and on for two weeks, I had several lactation consultants at the house, he had latching issues and I had to use APNO cream. I cried-a lot. But I stuck with it and it worked. With my second I had no issues at all.
Any STM have preeclampsia or just spilled a little protein during their last pregnancy and now their OB is recommending daily baby aspirin to help prevent it this time around?
I took baby aspirin for both of my pregnancies starting at 10 weeks with this pregnancy. My last one I started two weeks later. I still got pe at the end of my first pregnancy.
@bchalm I had a difficult time with breastfeeding for the opposite of most people's experience. I ended up being an overproducer, and it turned BFing into a HUGE part of my daily life. I go to work full time, and work in an "open office" so finding a place to pump as often as I needed to was horrible. So was explaining to my boss why I needed to pump more than 2 times a day. I ended up working overtime every day for a year to offset it.
I feel like this time around it will be easier to handle because I am prepared, I already have a donation network set up, and I know what paperwork to file to get accommodations at work. I think knowing what your boobs are prone to doing makes things much easier to handle.
@bchalm Yes I'm still struggling with whether or not to try BF with this one. It was a terrible experience with DS, I only ended up BF at all for 3 months, and only the first 3 weeks were EBF. Since the problem was with my body and not the baby I don't expect it will be any better this time.
However, I already have some guilt if I don't try at all, so likely I'll end up giving it a go. But I've already told DH that as soon as it gets stressful I'm quitting, because I won't go through that again.
@bchalm I think you should try if that's what you want to do, but draw a line that as soon as you reach it you know it's time to stop. I know there is a lot of guilt with that choice but it might help in not giving you so much stress.
So i'm curious if anyone has any history or knows anything about Polyhydramnios. I was reading my notes from Dr visit yesterday and I already know they had some concern about how big my baby was (measuring at 98% for his gestational age) but they never brought up Polyhydramnios. When I googled it, it talked all about from the minimal to the most severe, which to maybe save you some googling it has to do with your amniotic fluid. Now i know they had some concern with how big baby is so i'm sure I will have a few more ultrasounds before i give birth and I did already send a note to my Dr asking if this was something she was concerned about. Granted one of the things that could cause Polyhydramnios is gestational diabetes so i'm curious if my gestational diabetes is worse this time around then it was in my first?
@Dumbgurl04 I had polyhydramnios, but they didn't seem too concerned. I had a lot of US's because I was seeing an MFM anyway. My belly measured big, but he only came out at 6lb 6oz 19.5". I did not have gestational diabetes. I don't know what causes it...but they only brought it up once or twice just saying there's extra fluid but everything is ok.
@Dumbgurl04 I had ultrasounds at 32-34 weeks with all my kids. With one, they found I had too much fluid and with one they found I had too little. I had to be on bed rest for a week when I had too little and wasn't told to do anything in particular when I had too much. In any case, I had follow-up ultrasounds a week later for both (not actually because of the polyhydramnios but because of other suspected placenta issues). In the follow-up ultrasound one week later, my fluid level was within normal range for both. Which is mostly just to say that at least in my experience, it's a situation that is, well, fluid.
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
I was borderline with my first, some weeks it was above what they wanted it to be but others it was fine. That's why they retested me for gd at 36 weeks. Although, looking back it was caused by her genetic anomaly. I was getting ultrasounds almost weekly anyway so it was just another thing that they looked for. I think after 3 normal readings in a row they left me alone about it.
@Dumbgurl04 I was poly with DD and I had a few extra ultrasounds in the last weeks of pregnancy. It actually resolved on its own and my fluid levels were within the normal range (albeit high normal) by the time I was induced. Never ended up being an issue.
@lindsye - similar situation as you: with my first I had low fluid levels, with my second they were high. Maybe this time I’ll get it right
Thank you @psuxray07, @lindsye, @rklinge0, and @kmalls my Dr got back to me and said that she didn't bring it up at my appointment because she didn't have the full report back from the ultrasound Dr. I guess it was just listed on the notes as something to look out for. She said big babies make more fluid. They don't seem concerned at all either, they want to wait until after I do my next glucose to see where i'm at. I just thought it was weird to see on my visit notes because my Dr is really great at talking to me about everything so it was weird to see that and remembering she never said anything about that. The nurse told me I seemed to handle it well because usually most people are at the office demanding answers.
Re: Questions - week of 11/12
I'm wondering if it will be different this time.
With my second, I told myself I’d give it a shot and if it was anything like my first, I’d switch to pumping as long as I was able and not hesitate to formula feed. I ended up pumping for about 6 weeks (though I was formula feeding the vast majority of the time) before my supply ran out — and that was ok! I did what I could and allowed myself to stop when I felt it was time. Mentally it was so much easier than the first time around.
I took baby aspirin for both of my pregnancies starting at 10 weeks with this pregnancy. My last one I started two weeks later. I still got pe at the end of my first pregnancy.
I feel like this time around it will be easier to handle because I am prepared, I already have a donation network set up, and I know what paperwork to file to get accommodations at work. I think knowing what your boobs are prone to doing makes things much easier to handle.
However, I already have some guilt if I don't try at all, so likely I'll end up giving it a go. But I've already told DH that as soon as it gets stressful I'm quitting, because I won't go through that again.
I heard it lowers the percentage that you will get it again by about 11% (if I’m remembering this correctly)
As the doctor says “it can’t hurt!”
So i'm curious if anyone has any history or knows anything about Polyhydramnios. I was reading my notes from Dr visit yesterday and I already know they had some concern about how big my baby was (measuring at 98% for his gestational age) but they never brought up Polyhydramnios. When I googled it, it talked all about from the minimal to the most severe, which to maybe save you some googling it has to do with your amniotic fluid. Now i know they had some concern with how big baby is so i'm sure I will have a few more ultrasounds before i give birth and I did already send a note to my Dr asking if this was something she was concerned about. Granted one of the things that could cause Polyhydramnios is gestational diabetes so i'm curious if my gestational diabetes is worse this time around then it was in my first?
@lindsye - similar situation as you: with my first I had low fluid levels, with my second they were high. Maybe this time I’ll get it right