Intro (29 weeker) and ? about poop/pain/pumping (LONG)

sbphotos

To all the awesomely strong ladies here, hello!!!

Last Wednesday I gave birth to my little March miracle Edward James via c section. He was 1lb 11oz. Apparently, my placenta was just a complete disaster. Low Papp-a combined with a huge bleed at 13 weeks gave us some warning signs. He always measured a few days behind but really show growth delay around week 18 with super small femurs. Amino showed no chromosomal abnormalities. Then 24 week scan measured about 4 weeks behind. And then nearly no growth again at 28 weeks. I was ordered to come in Monday the following week (28w6d) for a BPP. There they found low fluid (2.5). I was sent to get steroids in case we needed to deliver early. While in triage baby's hb decelerated drastically and they admitted me for 24/7 monitoring. Hb decelled a couple more times over night. Tuesday night I got my second steroid. Early Wednesday morning there was a 4 minute long deceleration. After 2 more later that afternoon, my doctor said it was time and within a half hour I was in the operating room. At 4:39 Wednesday, Edzie (our pet name for him) was born and I heard the tiniest of cries. 

He is now 6 days old and doing very well. He has been on room air combined with cpapp at about 5 for pressure. He is on no caffeine or antibiotics. He can't tolerate a boli feeding so he is on continual feeding through a tube in his mouth to his tummy at 1ml an hour. On day three they tried upping it to 1.5 but he didn't tolerate it. His belly distended and he started vomiting. They stopped feeds completely and gave him an X-ray to check for infection. It turned out to be just air escaping from cpapp combined with just too much food. This was our first "bump in the road" and after hearing nothing but good things it hit me like a ton of bricks. They put him back on 1ml an hour and so far he's been doing great. He was on light therapy for jaundice for about 3 days but came off on Sunday. So far the bilirubins (sp?) are staying low.

I've changed his diaper twice (cue nervous ftm shaking! Lol) AND we had our first kangaroo time on Sunday. It was quite slow in the NICU and the nurse is so nice. I couldn't believe it. Best moment of my whole life. I likely won't get anymore time until the central line in his umbilical cord is out, but honestly I've been riding on a high ever since.  

So, that's the basics! Here come the questions...

I've been on Percocet (tried just ibruprofin, but not strong enough) because my incision hasn't healed properly. I had/have TERRIBLE water retention and it's keeping the bottom layers of the incision from closing. They had to reopen the incision and pack it with gauze (eww, open wound!) It then gets changed daily by a visiting nurse service. Probably will take about 6 weeks (or more!) as it slowly heals from the inside out. 

Im pumping right now. Will the Percocet affect baby? Doctors said it was fine, but I'm so on the fence about it. I'm worried it'll affect him badly. My pain is so intense though I'm scared to go without it.

Im also constipated. The hospital gave out colace 2-3 times a day and still nothing. Baby hasn't pooped in a while either (nurses aren't concerned yet) and I'm scared it's the Percocet in the breast milk affecting him too!

Any tips on getting poop going again? I'm doing all the obvious stuff (water,fiber, colace).

Do you think I should stop Percocet and just bite the bullet with the pain? (really considering it) Does ibruprofin affect breastmilk?

Finally, how long before I should expect milk to come in for real? This morning when I pumped, the color is whiter but still I don't expell much. Does everyone go through engorgement? I keep waiting for something obvious to happen and so far, its pretty status quo. I've done no research or reading on breast feeding at all (thought I'd have more time!) so this is all new to me.  

I look forward to being an active member of this board in the coming days. Right now it's a bit overwhelming and scary and hectic. I know you all understand.

Gigantic hugs to all of you!

McGibbon51311

First of all, congratulations on the birth of your DS

I'll try to help answer some of your questions: the percocet will minimally affect baby, only a very miniscule amount of the drug actually makes it into your breastmilk. I think that is the standard pain killer they give moms after c-sections and they wouldn't give it if it weren't safe.

I didn't poop for something like 4 or 5 days after and it was rough. Keep taking the colace and keep up the good diet - drink TONS and TONS of water, it will help with the pooping and the water retention. The more fluids you drink, the faster the swelling and water retention will go down. If you're really nervous you can always ask for a mild laxative or an enema. 

You could always go off of the percocet and just take the OTC pain killer, which is just as safe because again only a very small amount gets into the breast milk, but it's all about your comfort level. If you go off of the percocet and you are still in a lot of pain, that pain WILL affect your milk coming in/supply. My best advice is to stay on the percocet for a little while longer and try to wean down gradually - I started pushing how often I would take it from every 4 hours to every 5 and then once it's farther apart you can ween even more from there.

As for the milk coming in, it really is an individual experience. But know this, everything you've been through can affect the time it takes, from the surgery, stress, pain meds and other medications. You will know when it comes in because you will become engorged - this took me about 5 days. 

Most important of all, just take it one day at a time, that's the most important good luck to you! 

PhDMomma

Welcome to the board and congrats on your son   The NICU is quite the wild ride.  And your little one will have good days and not so good days, but hopefully your stay is calm.  I wouldn't worry about weaning off the pain killers too soon....especially with going to and from the NICU, its about not being in too much pain to enjoy your time with your little guy.  Also, about pumping, our NICU had the LC on call, and she would come down and help moms who needed help while they were there.  You might want to check that out. 

Pooping....I personally had an episeotemy (sp?), which made me rather terrified to go with stiches being where I would rather not have had them.  That said, it takes a awhile before you do.  Also, it most likely depends on how much you are eating, I wasn't eating a whole lot for a few days after giving birth.

 

sedge1

Congrats and welcome to the board!

I did not have a C-Section, so I didn't get very strong pain medicine. However, I remember the neo telling me that the only thing I should NOT have while pumping are street drugs and cancer treatment drugs. I still used to tell the nurses if I took anything over the counter, but they never seemed concerned.

I want to say that I finally pooped when I got home from the hospital, which would have been day 3. I was too scared to push anything out, so I sort of just waited until it slid out on its own (Sorry if that's TMI). But definitely continue with lots of water and colace!

As far as the pumping and breast milk, I second what PP have said, talk with your LC. Mine was super helpful!

Good luck with everything! Please lean on us for support. I wish I had done that when I was actually going through my time in NICU instead of when we finally got home. I was too overwhelmed, but I really could have used the support!

sbphotos

Thank you for the warm welcome :-)

Im going to try no Percocet for the rest of the day, just Ibruprofin.

I got to hold him again a few minutes ago! So amazing. They also increased his feed to 1.5 again do I'm hoping he tolerates it like a champ.  

rednelson

My advice for getting the guts moving is to keep taking the colace and add in some jarred prunes. That and lots of water got my bowels moving 4 days after my c-section.  Also, I started spacing out the percocet and alternating with the 600 mg ibuprofen after a couple days.

dvwalborn

I didn't have a c-section but congratulations on your little one!  I hope your pain starts subsiding soon so you don't have to worry about the meds.  Keep us posted!