PAIF- New Mommies Nov/Dec 2019

cashewchicken

November is here! Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! How are your babies doing?

cashewchicken

My Halloween sucked. We decided not to take him trick-or-treating because a) our son is 19 months old and he doesn’t know what candy is, and b) it’s on a weekday and we didn’t want to be out late. But what was bad was that I was stuck in a meeting until 7! Ugh. Looking forward to next year for trick-or-treating as it falls on a Saturday. 

mtpbadger

This year is flying by! We had a pretty good Halloween. Went over to a friend's house - their neighborhood goes all out for Halloween and went to maybe 5-6 houses. We still got home by a decent time and Abigail seemed to have a lot of fun. She totally caught on really quickly to go up and take a piece of candy. She then kept taking the candy out of her bucket to examine it lol.

Any plans for Thanksgiving? We are flying back to MN for the first time in about 5 years to spend it with my family and I am so excited. I am already drooling over my mom's mashed potatoes (and am SO excited not to spend it with my in-laws this year! LOL)

cashewchicken

@mtpbadger I’m glad Abigail enjoyed the Halloween! Oh so awesome you’re spending time with your family and your mom’s mashed potatoes must be amazing! I’m not sure what we are going to do this year. Normally we spend the thanksgiving day with my family and the weekend with the in-laws but my parents won’t be back from their vacation until a couple of days before thanksgiving and we had a family emergency on the DH side. We are tired so maybe something low key. 

Hopeful_mom

Hi ladies!

Cant believe it’s back to being cold out and it’s dark out in minutes....has thrown off our fun outside! 

@cashewchicken sorry I had to work late! Did u still put his costume on? We don’t celebrate but I still couldn’t help getting a photo in . My girl was getting over a virus that was not cute at all! She got a bad fever out of nowhere! I’m glad this was her first high fever but so scary nonetheless! I hate when the lil babes r sick, it just shouldn’t happen!  I’m so glad it came and went pretty quickly. 

How long to the molars come in for...I originally thought her fever was from that but it wasn’t.  Then I just happened to notice molars coming in as she was protesting her diaper change.  And how long does that last. She loathe her diaper change and kicks me constantly! 

Cant believe thanksgiving is coming and it’s going to be a year since she had sweet potato which was her first food

JonathansMommi2010

I Took my 9 year old and 6 year old Nephew out they seem to have a great time. we only stayed till 7:45 my son is not much of a social butterfly he was not even sure he was going to go out he actually decided to go out last minute. so i had to go out to party city to find costume for him i was glad they had one on such short notice.

jusgigi

I havent posted here in quite a while (i had a very complicated pregnancy and severe postpartum anxiety) but...

Awful! My LO (who is 6month 1week) has steadily fallen behind on gaining weight. At his 6month checkup today they said we have to start waking him up to feed him at night and if there is no improvement in 4 weeks we  will have to go see a pediatric nutritionist at CHOP.

My LO started out in the 50th percentile and has steadily dropped (now in the 15th) and due to corn allergy cannot try the typical solutions to help baby gain weight...
I have already been battling major anxiety over this for the past two months (and could've sworn he gained some weight). 

Has anyone been in this situation? Are IVF babies more likely to be small?

mbradfo2

@justharrison
It's lovely to see you here -- I also suffered PPA/D but luckily we caught it early mostly because everyone was worried about it as my sister had severe PPA and I already had a mild mood disorder. Still haven't been able to come off the medicine they put me on for it which is frustrating as it is making it hard to lose the preggo pounds (boo). 

Every baby is different and while IVF bebes are more prone to have placental issues that may result in preterm birth (so smaller) or growth restriction, but those risks generally go away after delivery. Sometimes kids are just not good eaters; I know they say words like "failure to thrive" that sound scary but it's really just so they can manage it and get your kiddo back on track. I have a niece who I say basically lives on air and she had similar issues as a baby -- she's now a perfectly healthy little girl who just is a bad eater. I know it contributed to my sister's PPA so just try to be easy on yourself and trust that the doctors will make sure your baby grows properly, even if it does mean talking to a specialist.

Anne is a bit on the smaller size since at almost 19-20 months she still can fit into larger sized 12 month clothes, but she swims in some 18 month clothes! She was also a preemie though. Luckily she was always a good eater so we were able to drop night feedings pretty quickly and let her sleep until she was hungry/ready to wake. At her last appointment, the doc was keeping an eye on her current weight gain since she's gained very little after 12 months (maybe 1 to 2 lbs) with the transition to table foods. I think she's become a better eater in the past month or two so I think she'll be back to her normal spot on the growth curve.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow! I'm going to try to get most of my shopping done early this year -- Frozen stuff for my nieces lol, a fancy xbox controller for DH, etc. I'm looking forward to the holidays a lot since Anne is so much of a big girl this year (last year she was 8 months) and will be able to enjoy a lot more of the festivities. 

mtpbadger

@justharrison I'm sorry you are dealing with that - it sounds so stressful! Abigail started off really tiny (3rd percentile) as she was 7 weeks early. It took her awhile to gain weight but her doctor said it can take babies up till 12-18 months for their bodies to find their "sweet spot" on the growth chart and where their weight wants to be. She's still on the tiny side (18 months but still fits into some 6-9 month onsies and mostly wears 12 month clothes).

Each LO is different and while I'm sure the doctors want to be sure there's nothing impeding your LO's weight gain, is he still meeting his major milestones? If he is, focus on that! Keep us updated!

cashewchicken

@Hopeful_mom I’m sorry your daughter was sick! It’s always scary caring for your baby with fever. They go from mild to high fever in no time. I’m glad she’s doing better though. I can't remember how long it took my son to grow out his first set of molars. Took a lot longer than the front teeth, that's for sure. 
@justharrison I'm sorry that you have to deal with your son's weight issues. My son's been in the 20-25th percentile range since birth (he's almost 20 months). My husband and I are small people though, so his smaller than average size makes sense to me. I hope the night time feeding does the trick. I'm sorry you have to wake up in the middle of the night though... I've been there, it's not easy (though you get used to it). My son felt it was his duty to wake up and feed every 3 hours at night and that went on until I finally started to wean him off at 13 months. 

Thanksgiving is here! I'm not doing much shopping. I'm tired. And I by stuff off of Amazon throughout the year so I don't have anything I want at the moment, and my family is not into gift giving. 

jusgigi

@mbradfo2 thank you! We already gave up on trying to feed him more 🙁 he would take the night bottle but would only drink a little of his morning bottle so he wasnt drinking anymore than normal. When we tried to get him to drink 0.5ozs more he threw it up (and had an upset tummy all day). Im calling the pediatrician tomorrow and asking to just be referred to the children’s hospital now since he wont eat anymore.
he wears size 12months and is 28 inches long and 16 lbs. im beginning to think its just the way he is built because both sides of the family are really tall and my side is skinny-minnies (except me 🤣).
@mtpbadger yes he is meeting all his milestones other than ones involving upper body (crawl position, sitting etc) i hold him “too much” so i am working on having him due more tummy time.
@cashewchicken i dont mind waking up in the motn, im normally up anyways checking the baby monitor. I just hate to wake him up because he doesnt sleep well the rest of the night.

thank you all for your responses! I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving 

PoeMasque

*lurking from the third tri* 

@Hopeful_mom our experience with molars seems to be somewhat “normal”, but they took months. It was a 3 month process for the first set and so far has been 2 months for the second set of bottom molars to come in....no sign of the top ones yet. They seem to “come in” in spurts, so 2-4 days of drooling, fussiness, crying at night, then fine for a week or so. The first set seemed to be the worst for most kiddos we know of (including ours, but he also got hand foot and mouth around the same time!). 

Hopeful_mom

Thanks for the info ladies!  I’m realizing usually my girl is pretty great so when the extra crankiness starts I remember teeth.  She’s just glued to my boobs and they’re just not strong enough!!! I keep trying every frozen thing but it’s the boobs that make her the happiest Oy!!

@justharrison sorry for the tough start! Just wanted to wish u strength and luck!! We’re in the above average marker which I’m happy about yet she doesn’t eat so much so it makes u wonder where all the growth comes from....

cashewchicken

@Hopeful_mom My son might be growing the last set of molars. Lately he sticks his fingers in his mouth but not sucking on it, just feeling the back of his mouth near where the last set would be. Though it seems too early for molars to grow at 20 months.

mbradfo2

I think Anne might be getting molars? I noticed a new white tooth erupting in the back of her mouth (just a glimpse so not sure what I saw exactly) and she's been extra cranky the past week. Fun times  

persnickity

@cashewchicken DD started doing that but didn't actually have the last set of molars appear until closer to 24 months. It seemed to take a lot longer before they broke through

cashewchicken

@persnickity That makes sense. I guess it’s a long process. He’s drooling like crazy and must be uncomfortable because he keeps rubbing his teeth with his fingers. Thanks!

jusgigi

@Hopeful_mom thanks! Ive decided to just let things be and talk to a nutritionist at the children’s hospital at the end of the month if need be. He wont eat anymore than what he is so i cant think of anything else to do.

[Deleted User]

Hello, my friends!  I haven't been updating much since the AP pooched out on me and I had to switch to exclusively mobile browsing. 🤦. Makes it tougher to navigate hopping pages, but anyway. ❤️❤️❤️


@justharrison .I'm so sorry you and your LO are struggling with weight gain.  I know how scary and anxiety provoking that can be.  I'm glad you have a plan in place to follow up with the nutritionist!  My experience has been they usually LOVE what they do.  I do hope you will click with someone who can give you some workable strategies.  (My LOs weight gain concerns were just when she was much younger still, and I had to wrestle with moving from EBF to combo feeding, which worked, and was great to have a simple solution in our case.  But it was hard to see her slipping off the weight chart and have her regular pedi keep saying it was fine. :/ ) (((hugs))) to you mama.  You're doing a fantastic job. 😊

Glad to hear we had some nice Halloween festivities around here!  We didn't do anything and we don't get trick or treaters to our house, but we did dress her up in an easy ballerina costume and they took pictures at school!  It was raining anyway if I remember, so I don't even think they had their normal parade. 🤷 But it was super cute.

Since 14 mos she's been walking better and better!  And has so many teeth!  She's up to 15 or 16 now, and finally just got where she is walking all over the house no problem! (14m 3w)   I feel like I'm noticing more "words" too, although it all sounds pretty babble-ish, bit last night at dinner she said, "I like that" and "good," and twice in the bath now she's said, "bubble"(!) Too cute!  :D 

Thanksgiving was nice and low-key.  We triggered for 12/4 FET

<div class="Spoiler">Which so far seems to have worked!!! 🎉. Betas are Friday / Saturday.</div>
Christmas plans are still a bit up in the air . I was hoping we'd be able to travel, and I did get the week off, but we shall see if various other factors cooperate.

What does everyone have planned for the end of year festivites!???  I'm excited just to watch S, because this will be the first year she's really able to enjoy the special things and take it all in... :)

Hopeful_mom

@BusinessWife woohoo that’s awesome!! How did the betas go? Don’t you love the babble? It’s like their own language! Hoping it’ll become clearer as she goes! You’ll be amazed at how fast the walking will turn into running!! 

Cant believe 2020 is going to be here already!  Crazy how fast it now goes with our miracles here!! 

[Deleted User]

@Hopeful_mom. Second beta is Sunday morning... You can bet I'll be getting in as early as possible so we hear back asap.  First beta at 9dp5dt was a strong 192!  They want to see a 66% increase so 319 or so.  I can't even believe we are here now, with a ridiculous toddler and God willing still another on the way.  It's truly incredible.

cashewchicken

@BusinessWife Congrats! Hope you get a strong beta Sunday!

We are going to Hawaii this winter break! I’m normally the kind of person that loves to go sightseeing, cramming hundreds of sites to see/things to do in a short itinerary. Well, no more. I’m hitting the beach and the pool, enjoy good food and take lots of naps (if DS will let me). Other than the Hawaii trip, I will take my son to a museum and maybe downtown to see Christmas decorations. And going up to see my parents for New Year’s. 

mbradfo2

@BusinessWife
This journey of life is crazy sometimes   Hoping you get more good news today!

We're on day 2 of an icky cold and fever. We're bringing her over to my parents' this morning to have my dad check for an ear infection since she's been crying and rubbing her ear this morning in addition to a mildly elevated temp and the doctor saw the start of a potential infection on Friday. The doctor wants to take another look tomorrow and we'll still keep that appointment, but she just seems so uncomfortable today, I want to take a bit of an advantage of my privilege and have my dad see if there's anything else going on now. 

 Ugh, I'll be so glad when she's back to her normal perky self!

dukie001

Hi everyone! 

What are/were your tricks to battle diaper leaks? Every time Ivan is sleeping on his side he leaks out, even when the diaper is not full.  

[Deleted User]

Mine sleeps with a lovely wool cover overtop whichever overnight we happen to be using.  Only once was there ever a leak! @dukie001

wildrainbow

Hey y'all. Life has been crazy and I'm sorry I havent checked in in quite a while. Matthew is 14 months and he a walking fiend! He keeps trying to run to keep up with his brother and it frustrates him to no end that he cant. Ds1 had the flu and promptly gave it to Matthew and me, so we are miserable with that I am behind on all things Christmas because of it. 

In other news, we got a surprise pregnancy. H and I are shocked and praying this one stays sticky. I've already confirmed uterine pregnancy and go on the 23rd to see if we have a hb. I cant believe it's happening so soon. 

wildrainbow

@dukie001 Does the diaper still fit him? I found that when my boys leak, they need to go up a size. Also, make sure his penis is pointed down, that will cut down on leaks as well. Otherwise, you may need to play around with different brands to see if on provides a better fit. 

jusgigi

@Hopeful_mom thank you for your response! We had a followup with the GI specialist and he is finally gaining weight! He eats two meals a day so i think that is what really helped!

dukie001

@wildrainbow I thought it fits him. But I also bought the next size up, will try it out 😀

wildrainbow

@dukie001 The next size up may work better. I always have to move up sizes earlier than I think because the boys are so long waisted, so even tho, they don't ever meet the weight requirements, I have to move them up because the pee out of them, lol. 

dukie001

@BusinessWife so you use cloth diaper overtop of disposable, right? Or may be I understood wrong. 

I looked at some cloth diapers and there are soooo many on the market. 

@wildrainbow We are still on #1. It looks like it fits on his body but doesn’t handle the output of pee. So I bought #2 and comparing to #1 they are just a bit wider but not longer. So I don’t know, should I buy #3 and try. Or may be try different brand, right now we are using Huggies

mbradfo2

@dukie001
My sister had to double up on diapers for her little one so maybe try that if even the "overnights" aren't sufficient? We use Pampers and while we had occasional leaks, it has usually been good for the whole night. But my sister used Pampers as well and still had to double up on the diapers so every kiddo is a little different. 

Also once she was old enough, we held back on fluids right before bedtime, but if your kiddo is still needing to eat every 3-4 hours and only on milk, you can't really do that. But once she was over a year and eating mostly solids with 3 meals/2 snacks, we were able to eliminate night time leaks entirely by holding back on fluids for the last hour before bed. 

dukie001

@mbradfo2 he leaks out 24/7. During the day we change diapers very often to avoid it. I just realized that it’s mainly when Ivan stretches and pees at the same time the diaper comes loose in the waste line even though I put it tight. But of course it’s not a big deal, we can change him 😀.
Marry Christmas everyone!!!🎄

[Deleted User]

@dukie001 For overnights our go-tos are the sustainable babyish fitted cloth diapers, with the "matching" sloomb wool covers overtop.  Those fitteds are not waterproof without it.  But then when I didn't have those clean, I started using either Rumparooz all in ones, or grovia O.N.E. (those are both cloth with a built in waterproof cover) and then the same sloomb wool cover overtop to prevent leaks.  In a pinch, or just if she would fall asleep in a disposable, I would still put the wool over for overnight leak protection, and then she sleeps in a long sleeve tee shirt / (unsnapped) onesie with or without socks, the wool cover for bottoms, and in a fleece sleep sack.  The fleece is also water repellant so it won't wick moisture from the wool out onto the bedsheets.

https://sloomb.myshopify.com/products/knit-wool-covers-1?variant=1564550496265

That's the link to the store, but you can also find them at most of the other cloth diaper websites, and even eBay, poshmark etc pre-loved.  They are pricey, but I only have two or three covers in each size to be able to rotate.  They air out throughout the day and any dampness evaporates, you just need a backup for when you're washing it bc it can take a couple days to dry fully.

Those are all pretty bulky but there are also thinner wool covers like babee greens, or even fleece covers that are thinner if you wanted something to try for daytime.

Honestly - just thinking aloud, since you mention it's a problem all the time, not just overnights, I would try something more like this:

https://www.zephyrhillblog.com/2013/08/how-do-fleece-diaper-covers-perform/

She mentions it can cause compression leaks if the diaper is saturated, but that's maybe not the problem you're having sounds like more a fit / gap issue.  So the fleece cover could help keep things a bit more contained to the wee stays inside the diaper where it can be absorbed, rather than going straight out onto the clothes.

Not sure if it's something you'd feel crafty enough to make, but you can also buy them here: (among other places)

https://happybeehinds.com/products/fleece-diaper-cover-1

mbradfo2

Yeah, a diaper cover sounds like it could be helpful! It definitely sounds like you're dealing more with a fit issue than just an overwhelming amount of pee which might be a reason to go to something you can make more fitted rather than the standard size disposable diaper. 

wildrainbow

@dukie001 my boys couldn't wear huggies because they leaked out no matter what. For me, Pampers and luvs are the best brands.  I mostly use luvs cause they are cheaper and we have zero leaks.  Maybe switch brands?  Every kid is different, but it's been my experience that huggies just doesn't fit boys well.  You can always get the small packs to try and see which works best for you.  

cashewchicken

I also recommend switching diaper brands or at least move up a size. I always had to move up a size sooner than I thought I needed to. I never had any issues with pee leaks but I’ve experienced several diaper blowouts. I remember googling for help and seems like everyone says to move up a size and/or switch brands. I use pampers and no issues with pee leaks. Even when used overnight and my son’s diaper weighs a ton. And he moves a lot at night. 

persnickity

I'd try a different brand too. DD is really skinny and it's hard to get things that for her well in the waist. As a baby, we used Bambo diapers and with potty training now, we use their training pants.

dukie001

@BusinessWife A lot of good info, thank you for the links. I will definitely do some research. @mbradfo2 i think so too. Cloth diapers probably would fit better. I talked to my DH yesterday about it and he doesn’t want to deal with them. He will be Stay at Home dad and I’m going back to work in a week. So I guess he will be dealing with the majority of diaper changes, and I have to take it into consideration 🤦🏻‍♀️ 

 Next time I’ll go to the store I’ll get a pack of Luvs and give pampers another try. I’m sure we’ll find something. Thanks everyone for the advice 😉.

k_mama91

@dukie001 I second the suggestion to try different brands. With ds1 I preferred Pampers but I’m hating them with ds2, they fit weird and leak 🤷🏼‍♀️

I belong here now so so I’ll go ahead an intro! Our December ivf baby arrived on Black Friday with an unexpected induction. Dh and I had been trying to conceive for about 4 years before turning to ivf. TW we have a son who just turned 9 from a natural pregnancy End TW. I suffered an ectopic pregnancy May 2015 and we eventually learned we were also dealing with MFI and decided our best shot was ivf. We did our first fresh transfer in March resulting in twins. TW we learned baby A had stopped growing at our second scan End TW. I had a few big bleeds during the pregnancy and ended up being induced due to gallstones, I’ll be getting my gallbladder removed next month lucky me! Baby was born via c section so we’ve had a crazy ride this year. I’m excited to get to know everyone and hope y’all had a great Christmas! 

cashewchicken

@k_mama91 Welcome and congratulations! How is your DS1 adjusting to life as a big brother?

A few months ago several of you recommended the Bag Nation backpack and I used it for my recent trip to Hawaii and it was awesome! The bag fits a lot! I still like my Skip Hop’s Forma backpack for its simple design for weekend outings but I didn’t realize how necessary the wipe dispenser pocket is, until I used the Bag Nation bag.