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Multiples
First night home with the new babies! Two questions
We had our beautiful girls on Tuesday and just got home today. I'm so glad they both came home with us!!!
We have two questions we would love help with...
Do you set the alarm clock for your feeding(s) that take place in the middle of the night? Or do you let the babies wake you up? Wouldn't that mess up their schedule?
Did you come home with MAJOR swelling of your ankles? My swelling wasn't too bad during pregnancy and now my ankles are enormous and hard to walk on. Is that common? Anything I can do to help? The doctors said it was normal, but they seem so big to me!
Thank you!
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Re: First night home with the new babies! Two questions
congrats!
what are their names/weights, etc???
our boys had a little jaundice so they needed to eat a lot early on- so we did set our alarm for every 3 hours- but they pretty much woke up at that point anyway- b/c the nurses had them on a 3-hour feeding schedule- they picked it up fast.
After about 2 weeks, when they had gained back their birth weight- we stopped waking them and let them sleep as long as possible- but it was still usually 3 hours between feedings for a few weeks... and when one would wake we'd wake the other so they'd eat at the same time.
Around 6 weeks we stopped waking the 2nd baby- so that they'd start to stretch out their sleeping/eating... and they did- and by 8 weeks they were STTN. We followed Baby Wise- with a sleep/eat/play pattern every 3 hours during the day.
i didn't have major swelling after- but more than i had during my pregnancy. if it's really painful for you call your doc and just check with them- can't be too careful. Drink tons of water!
congrats- hope you get SOME sleep
We did wake them every 3 hours for the first few weeks until they regained their birth weight. Then we started letting them sleep until they wake at night. We still feed every 3 hours during the day.
I had really bad swelling in my feet and ankles. They also told me it was normal and said it was only a problem if it was difficult to breathe because that would indicate fluid on my lungs. It seemed to take forever to go down - about a week if I remember right.
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At first, we were told to wake them to eat every three hours, so we set an alarm in the middle of the night. We did that for a couple of weeks and then didn't need to do it anymore once they gained enough weight.
I had really bad swollen legs, ankles, and feet (and hands, too, actually) for two weeks postpartum. Then it went away.
Congratulations!
yeah, I wouldn't worry about waking them unless they weren't up to birth weight today.
Did you have a C/s - I did and my ankles and legs were terribly swollen when we got home. It was more a result of the actual surgery than the pregnancy. It went away w/in the week.
Congrats & good luck tonight.
Congratulations!!
I believe all that swelling is from the IV fluids/IV meds. I had it really bad after my 1st son (w/ epidural and IV fluids), and not at all with my 2nd son (med-free).
There is something that your hubby or anyone willing can do for you: Have them grasp both hands firmly around your foot beginning down by your toes (like their hands are hugging around your foot). They'll need to FIRMLY press their hands up your foot, around your ankle, up your calf and over your knee in a continuous motion.. When done properly, you should be uncomfortable. This forces all of the excess fluid up out of your ankles and over your knees, which assists it in joining your regular circulation. My mom learned this technique from a nurse after a birth and it really helps!! It's best to continue this on each leg until you see some difference... then you'll probably start peeing the excess fluid : ) Repeat as needed.
If your dr wasn't concerned about weights I would let them sleep till they wake you up. We always woke the other baby and fed them at the same time.
Yep, I had the major swelling too. It was gone after a week or so.
Ditto this. We woke them every 3 hours during the day but let them sleep longer at night when they would; honestly that wasn't an issue for our boys; they were far more wakeful at night than during the day at first!
And congratulations on your babies!! We do want to hear names, weights, all that good stuff!
Congratulations!!!!
We had to wake them every 3-4 hours. We set our alarm clocks. The pedi had us do this until they each hit 7.5 lbs. Sofia came home at 5.4 lbs and Ava came home at 4.9 lbs. So we did this until they were about 7 weeks. Somewhere around there. However, they are still getting up every 3-4 hrs to eat and they will be 12 wks old on Monday.
I had pre-e and had severe swelling. I didn't think it could get any worse, and it did. It goes down. Mine was pretty much gone in 3 weeks post pg.
We set an alarm, we're still waiting for the babies to gain a few more ounces before we stop that (I NEED that night to get here NOW though)!
My legs and ankles were very swollen, but I want to say before that first week was up, they were pretty much back to normal. Drink lots of water and prop 'em up when you can. I'd find a way to prop my feet up during feedings.
We set an alarm for the first week or two to make sure they were eating enough. At their 2 week appt., the pedi told us that we could feed on demand (or 4-5 hours).
Sorry I can't help with the second question.