PAIF Graduates - New Mommies - September 2018

laurad75

Hi all.  I wanted to make a formal introduction here.  Duke Douglas was born on August 22 and I am slowly finding our routine.  I'm incredibly lucky - this baby is a great eater and a good sleeper.  He only seems to cry when he is hungry or when I am about to sit down to eat (ugh lol).  Due to him being posterior we had an unplanned c-section after about 30 hours of contractions but no dilation and I had some minor complications with the surgery but I recovered quickly and the baby is perfect.  

I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone!  

2MomsHoping

@laurad75 great to see you in this side of the world. I saw your picture of duke on the 3rd trimester page he is adorable. 

mbradfo2

@laurad75
Welcome to the Mommy-side! 

Our little girl was the same way -- only fussing when she was hungry or overtired and solid sleeper/eater. She did become more vocal about her feelings as she grew older but she still mostly only cries for a few reasons: poopy diaper that's bugging her, hungry, overtired or bored. She'll fuss a bit with her teething but she doesn't actually come out and cry about it; she just acts super uncomfortable and antsy. 

MMD1986

@mbradfo2 Brooks has a teething mitt and loves it!  It's the only teething toy I can really get him to play with.  I also found it helpful because he was chewing on his hands and kept shoving his fingers so far in he would gag himself.  The munch mitt helps prevent that.

Polythene Pam

@laurad75 yay welcome to this side! Enjoy those sweet snuggles. Can’t wait to catch up more! (I’m overly sappy as we start planning a first birthday!)

mbradfo2

this has been a busy week in our house...the worst part about this is that she is still a bit wobbly and even with me there helping her, she still has little tumbles 😓 but I guess that’s all part of the game with her becoming more mobile. And she's getting so much hair now!

If only the mosquitoes would stop biting us...

2MomsHoping

@mbradfo2 she is looking so cute sitting up a little tumble comes with the territory she will get stronger and stronger. ❤️ Those chubby legs. 

We are having a good weekend over here. It was a BEAUTIFUL day so we decided to go to the Mexican Independence Day parade.  Everyone was fawning over her and telling my wife (non bio mom) how strong her genetics are...lol.  She slept through most of the parade and did so well we went out for brunch with some friends afterwards. ladies I got a mimosa and we sat outside it was wonderful!  Going out and about certainly requires more gear than it used to and I’m not about to brave public transit just yet but I’m pretty encouraged we are finding our stride in getting back out in the world. 

Polythene Pam

@mbradfo2 what a cutie! I’m shocked graham hasn’t needed stitches yet (knock on wood), little dude is determined to hurt himself the more mobile he becomes they get more and more steady!

@2MomsHoping good for you guys!! She’s beautiful! It’s definitely more stuff but I love taking the kids out. We feel human and it’s fun seeing things through their eyes. 

mtpbadger

@momshoping she is beautiful!!!! Those checks are just the cutest!! 

[Deleted User]

Omg and her little outfit! :love: @2MomsHoping  what a doll!

mbradfo2

@2MomsHoping
Omg, she is such a sweetheart! I love the outfit and I am still gobsmacked by all of that gorgeous hair! And it's crazy how much she looks like your wife!!! Destiny

Hopeful_mom

@2MomsHoping omg she is precious!! Looks 2 perfect poo poo delicious!!!

yay @laurad75 welcome to the other side, can u believe it!! So happy for you!!

@mbradfo2 look at her! How old is she again? Glad there is hope for hair as mine is such a baldy and I had the worst heart burn through my entire pregnancy!! 

mbradfo2

@Hopeful_mom
she'll be 6 months at the end of the month so about 5.5 now! She has been a baldy for awhile though so I'm sure your LO will get hair soon! I had bad heartburn too. I was bald -forever- as a baby...it's something about lighter colored hair I think; they look balder alot longer for some reason.

cashewchicken

@2MomsHoping Wow, your daughter’s so cute and she is so your wife’s mini-me! And that hair! My son was born with a full head of hair, too (and I experienced zero heartburn during pregnancy) but nowhere near as much as your daughter’s. And he lost quite a bit of hair since and yesterday he got his first haircut to even out his hair. I’m glad you got to enjoy your mimosas.

@laurad75 Congrats! Your baby is so cute! And my son has the same outfit too!

@mbradfo2 That’s great that she is sitting up! My son is yet to sit up like that unassisted. He does the tripod style but not sitting up. Maybe because we don’t encourage him to. Or maybe his head is too big for his body. His head is measuring 50% while his height and weight are around 25%. He’s got a pretty big head lol

mbradfo2

@cashewchicken
It's probably because my husband has been encouraging her to sit up a ton. Whenever he gets home from work, he always picks her up and takes her into his office where he has her "sit" on his desk by him while he checks his emails/etc. It's sorta their bonding time. She's still super wobbly and I think it's a bit early for her to be sitting unassisted anyway, so I think your son is on the right track! I've found babies seem to do the skills they are most interested in practicing anyway! It took her forever to lift her head in tummy time because she absolutely hated tummy time and didn't care about doing anything during tummy time. 

And big heads = big brains!

mbradfo2

Aagh, I just realized Halloween is in less than 2 months. Time to find some costumes!! We're going to be at Disney for the holiday and so I think something Disney themed is probably appropriate....

mtpbadger

We got Abigail’s costume over the weekend. She’s going to be a pumpkin (I’m hoping it fits a little better by next month!) 

mbradfo2

I love that!!! So adorable!

byrneme

@mtpbadger, Zoey was that same pumpkin last year!

Hopeful_mom

Very cute pumpkins!! I have something similar but I like urs better  it'll be interesting to see how it will actually be this year weather wise.  Never celebrated it growing up but certainly a good opportunity for a cute pic

JWatt5

So cute ladies - We didn't do much but an outfit last year and likely the same this year - no formal costume. Were on the fence. 
Parker last year at two months!

Polythene Pam

Graham is going to be a puppy- my daughters costume when she was 1. It’ll be a crazy night, last Halloween I was debating calling to see if I was peeing or my water had broken. I opted to go trick or treating and got checked Nov 1, when my doc said to get over to the hospital to have Graham, I was definitely in labor while waddling around our neighborhood. So I’ll be a sap on Halloween!

Holls214

Loving the pictures and updates. Where did you ladies find costumes? 

mtpbadger

Target had a pretty good selection for babies! 

Such a cute puppy!!

persnickity

@JWatt5 we do the same thing of just an outfit. It was a jack o lantern/pumpkin onesie last year... That she wore until December.  Haha. This year it's a black shirt with a cat face and a black/ orange sparkle skirt.

mbradfo2

Target as @mtpbadger said. Also Disney has a bunch of baby costumes for decent prices (25-30 dollars seems to be the standard) -- they are really cute! I'm not a big snow white fan but the snow white costume is insanely cute....although the red minnie one is cute too!

https://www.shopdisney.com/holidays/halloween/baby-costumes

My mom would make all of our Halloween costumes each year and I'm hoping to do the same; I just need to get better at sewing. I was going to ask my mom for some lessons when she gets back in town. Probably too late for this year but maybe next! Going to the fabric store and picking out a pattern and fabrics was one of my favorite parts of Halloween as a kid. 

MMD1986

We aren't doing anything for Halloween since Brooks is so you, but I bought him these cute skeleton PJs to wear to daycare.

byrneme

Since I chose last year (For some reason I was adamant the first Halloween needed to be a pumpkin and the dog also had to be a pumpkin. Clearly my hormones were still wacky.), I told my DH he could choose this year. Cross your fingers for me. 

latershrader

Welcome @laurad75! Congratulations! Eli was much the same, quiet and easy baby. That all changes so please enjoy it while it lasts!
@2MomsHoping loving the outfit! So adorable!

Mom's w/ older littles: Anyone else experiencing the beginnings of a little attitude? Eli has taken to screaming and hitting when we tell him no or pull him away from something he wants. This does not sit well with me and also has me worried for the terrible 2's. 

We haven't decided what costume we'll put together this year. I'll have to get on that!

JWatt5

@latershrader - it was around 10m for us. All the sudden Parker had some serious sass some days lol. He’s able to more clearly communicate what he likes and doesn’t like now - we kept consistent with telling him he’s ok if he fussed etc. 

persnickity

@latershrader We also have some issues here. We explain what's happening, like the toy needs to stay in the play area while we eat dinner, and move on. For something, we ask, like can you leave your stuffed animal here, but we leave it if she's not willing to. Recently, we've been dealing with Mackenzie getting frustrated and biting. So instead of no, we now say stop and try to encourage her to use the word and sign if she doesn't want someone doing something, like another kid taking her toy.

Right now her attitude is only when she's frustrated. It's incredibly hard trying to find ways for her to express that without her getting physical with others

Polythene Pam

@latershrader just starting (graham is 10 months). He’s WAY more chill than my daughter ever was so I’m hoping the 2’s and threenage years are better to us, but he’s definitely making it known if he doesn’t like something. He bites a lot while nursing so I’m really trying to figure that out before he realizes he can bite his sister. He pulls her hair a lot too, we just try to redirect and say no, gentle. Every age brings so many fun new things but also sass, haha, it’s an adventure

safire3

Loving all the costumes. @mtpbadger I hope her head grows a little in the next month lol. That pic is hilarious, I haven’t even thought about Halloween yet but a pumpkin is a great idea since that’s what I call a Ozi half the time. Hopefully I can find something on amazon. We have to do something for his first Halloween!

gfgrump

Omg @2MomsHoping stop it with that outfit. That was too much!
Love love love all the Halloween costumes. I have to say the last 2 years, Halloween was actually a real trigger for me BC all I wanted was a baby to dress up. So hopefully this year is awesome!

 Just wanted to so by and say hi. My son, Josian Frederic was born last Tuesday, 9/11. We're calling him Josey. The birth was stressful and not what I had been wanting, but the important part is that he's healthy and here. Ended up as a c section after induction due to high blood pressure and me calling BC of decreased movement. Induction didn't work-afew reasons- declerations with contractions, failure to dilate after a lot of hours, and him presenting with forehead first instead of top of head. By the time the told me we should probably do a c section, they were like, so I know this isnt what you wanted, but we really think you should do this. And I'm like, um fuck the birth plan, you're telling me his heart rate is dropping and I haven't improved in dilation in 7 hours? uh we need to get this baby out! Do what you need to do! So the c section itself was actually kind of painful and then they monitored him for a couple hours. But when they brought him to me, omg! That was so incredible. I think I still wasn't convinced that everything was fine until I had him in my arms.
Also, I'm pretty sure that it was my instinct telling me that something was wrong. I feel I just knew he needed to come out. People tell you to trust your instincts. I got through one kick count, but something didn't seem right. And then 2 hours later, I did another one and couldn't get to 10 in an hour. Usually it took me 5-10 mins. I was like we need to call, something's not right. My husband was like are you sure, and I was like, yes, we need to call. So we did, and thank goodness, BC it was clear that the placenta was getting tired and he wasn't tolerating the contractions.

Being home had been rough. The sleep deprivation is putting me near the edge of a break down, but each time I get 2 consecutive hours of sleep, I feel like I can keep going a little while longer. Haven't even had it in me to post, but slowly feeling a little more sane. We had his bris today, which was a very small event bc most people had to work, a lot of my good friends/ don't live near us, and my parents are on a cruise for Alzheimer's patients and caregivers (my mom has Alzheimer's). It was super sad that my dad couldn't be here for it, since I partially did it for him. Not fully, but I thought it would be special for him. Oh well, there will be other events my parents will come to.
Anyway thanks for letting me tell my story. I'll be around posting and responding more now. This community had gotten me through so much over the past couple years and its awesome to be part of a board with so many of the same people.

Holls214

Welcome welcome! Glad baby boy is good and healthy. Sorry the birth didn’t go as planned... the sleep deprivation gets better I swear. The first couple weeks were truly the hardest and learning to sleep when you can is hard too. 

Bryson is obsessed with sucking on his hands. He is a slobber mess all the time these days. Could he be teething this early or is this just a phase? Hmmm 

JWatt5

@Holls214 - over the year it seems a lot of the babies will “teethe” at around 3-4 months with no teeth until later on. Parker has always been more sensitive to those times when the teeth are moving deep in his gums. I think it’s a combo of that and then just exploring with their mouths. 

mtpbadger

@holls214 Abigail sucks on her hands/fists constantly too. I think 1)she found her hands and as she starts to be able to grab will be putting everything in her mouth and 2) May Be starting to teeth. I see two small white dots on her bottom gums but they’re not swollen and can be awhile before anything starts to happen. 

Holls214

Thanks ladies! He’s also been more fussy the past couple days so that is probably it. Like preteething I guess. He’s also back to waking up twice a night it seems. Tired mommy over here! 

hottietoddy

Welcome @laurad75 and @gfgrump congratulations and so happy to see you here!  @2MomsHoping dressing your baby up and going to a festival is amazing! You have me in awe! I'm just trying to get up and down the stairs 45 times a day still. Haha

Last week was super challenging - my husband got a cold we think from replacing the bathroom fan. Just all the dust and junk in the ceiling. Well he told me Monday he didn't want to touch the baby for a week while he was contagious. Therefore it was up to me to take care of everything.  Plus he was pretty sick and couldn't wash bottles or do housework even. I had a mini breakdown Tuesday evening and my mom helped Weds and Thurs.  It was really hard.  But I think god had me go through the crash course so I could get my confidence up.  I am now much better with the baby alone and knowing I can handle things without my husband. 

Today my c section incision was hurting a little. It also leaked a little clear and pinkish fluid. I read this is normal and it has probably done it before because I did see some on the wash cloth a few weeks ago, just not while coming out. I panicked a little but then calmed down and decided to just monitor for a few days then call my doctor if continues or gets worse. There is still a red spot but it actually looks better than last week. 

On Sunday I started using my Maya sling we got second hand and William and I love it! I love carrying him around like a kangaroo pouch! I think I overdid it yesterday by wearing him and doing laundry at the same time. I was basically doing squats. I called my ob after and they said to take it easy and no purposeful exercise until week 6 or after. I guess I had thought I am all healed and just pumping the breaks now...

In other news the Zoloft is amazing, I am so happy not to be crazy anymore. And so happy not to be pregnant anymore lol.  I am thankful I got to be but man it was hard and life is so good not pregnant or trying to get pregnant.... Just living in the moment is so nice after years.

Holls214

@hottietoddy awe look at you two! You look so happy. I agree about finally being in a space of living in the moment is kinda crazy after so many years of infertility. Haha I’m happy not to be pregnant anymore too. make sure to take us easy. 

I think bryson is getting sick. He’s stuffy and has a cough ugh. The joys of daycare I guess? Hopefully it doesn’t get worse. Poor boy.