Step.....how is MegaBean doing?
- Thread starter busywend
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Californiablonde
Well-Known Member
Me too! I've been wondering the same thing. Haven't seen you around in awhile, although I can surely understand why. Any new updates?
AnnieO
Shooting from the Hip
I've been here... Reading, but not posting much because it is really hard for me to type one-handed. I read a lot while feeding a sleepy baby... I can only lock eyes with her when hers are open!
She has an interesting case of baby acne. One, it's about 99% on her face, and two, it comes and goes within minutes. doctor had me bring her in, we determined that was all it was... And she has been gaining an ounce a day, as she is supposed to. We're doing breastfeeding and formula, I'd say alternately but it's much more random than that. Mostly she is a terribly inefficient nurser, so I'm not producing enough milk (her nursing isn't getting the message through to my milk ducts), so I have to supplement with formula, but then she's not as hungry and so is less efficient... Catch-22 cycle. The only time we get going well is about 5 AM when I am actually engorged and she is HUNGRY because she goes to sleep about midnight... Yes, my month-old baby is mostly sleeping through the night. Except when she screams for hours... Colic hoovers. Fortunately, it's not every night - in fact not even most nights.
My favorite pictures of her all seem to have her sitting in her Boppy, LOL!
As for everyone else - I have two teenagers who are on my last, hormonal, sleep-deprived nerve, a hubby who is trying his best and I can't really fault him even if he is the world's greatest procrastinator... And I'm fighting off PPD. I've lost 32 lbs (OK, so 20 was probably day of delivery, but still - 2 lbs since Sunday). I'm almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight, which was too much. And I am eating like a horse. I'm not crying 15 times a day, but I'm fighting off random tears and am super angry on a regular basis. Oh - my blood pressure's coming back down, too. Not perfect but 142/84 compared with 157/99 a few days ago and 178/113 about 10 days ago... I'll take it.
Meggie's still my joy, even when I can't figure out what's wrong...
She has an interesting case of baby acne. One, it's about 99% on her face, and two, it comes and goes within minutes. doctor had me bring her in, we determined that was all it was... And she has been gaining an ounce a day, as she is supposed to. We're doing breastfeeding and formula, I'd say alternately but it's much more random than that. Mostly she is a terribly inefficient nurser, so I'm not producing enough milk (her nursing isn't getting the message through to my milk ducts), so I have to supplement with formula, but then she's not as hungry and so is less efficient... Catch-22 cycle. The only time we get going well is about 5 AM when I am actually engorged and she is HUNGRY because she goes to sleep about midnight... Yes, my month-old baby is mostly sleeping through the night. Except when she screams for hours... Colic hoovers. Fortunately, it's not every night - in fact not even most nights.
My favorite pictures of her all seem to have her sitting in her Boppy, LOL!As for everyone else - I have two teenagers who are on my last, hormonal, sleep-deprived nerve, a hubby who is trying his best and I can't really fault him even if he is the world's greatest procrastinator... And I'm fighting off PPD. I've lost 32 lbs (OK, so 20 was probably day of delivery, but still - 2 lbs since Sunday). I'm almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight, which was too much. And I am eating like a horse. I'm not crying 15 times a day, but I'm fighting off random tears and am super angry on a regular basis. Oh - my blood pressure's coming back down, too. Not perfect but 142/84 compared with 157/99 a few days ago and 178/113 about 10 days ago... I'll take it.
Meggie's still my joy, even when I can't figure out what's wrong...
DammitJanet
Well-Known Member
Oh Step. Your just one month in. Does she like being held in any one particular way? If she has colic, have you tried the colic drops? We used them with Kenzie. Also try wrapping up a warm towel and put it on her tummy. That can help.
For you, you need some good sleep. Have daddy and Onyxx take care of the baby and you just sleep for a long time. She can take the bottle. If you have to wake up to express, do it and go back to sleep. You will feel much better after some good long sleep.
For you, you need some good sleep. Have daddy and Onyxx take care of the baby and you just sleep for a long time. She can take the bottle. If you have to wake up to express, do it and go back to sleep. You will feel much better after some good long sleep.
DDD
Well-Known Member
Step, I'm sending supportive hugs your way. A first baby is near the top of stress producers...and it has nothing to do with whether you love her to death or not. Infants are infants. Have you ever noticed that I have posted a bunch of times that I am NOT good at infant care??? I am a you-know-whattin' Mom and Mama but newborns always stressed me out. From experience I KNOW it is hard to chill and go with the flow when they are so tiny and vulnerable but MegaBean will be moving from one growth cycle to another in a New York minute. Really!
by the way, my first easy child had colic. In the 60's colic was defined as consistently happening during one feeding cycle space. She cried, screamed and drew her little legs toward her belly between the 6pm and 10pm feeding..like clockwork. We didn't have "colic medicine" like Janet mentioned but LOL if it had been available I would have given her a bottleful at six each night. It was God awful not being able to make her comfortable. I am NOT a crybaby and at least three times a week I cried from six to ten.
Relaxing and going with the flow is beyond hard. I swear on the lives of all my children/grands...this will pass. Just hang in there and KNOW that better days will come soon. If you're at all like me you will relax and laugh at six months and subsequently be in absolute heaven at eighteen months. The best is yet to come, my friend. DDD
by the way, my first easy child had colic. In the 60's colic was defined as consistently happening during one feeding cycle space. She cried, screamed and drew her little legs toward her belly between the 6pm and 10pm feeding..like clockwork. We didn't have "colic medicine" like Janet mentioned but LOL if it had been available I would have given her a bottleful at six each night. It was God awful not being able to make her comfortable. I am NOT a crybaby and at least three times a week I cried from six to ten.
Relaxing and going with the flow is beyond hard. I swear on the lives of all my children/grands...this will pass. Just hang in there and KNOW that better days will come soon. If you're at all like me you will relax and laugh at six months and subsequently be in absolute heaven at eighteen months. The best is yet to come, my friend. DDD
Hound dog
Nana's are Beautiful
My girls used the infant gas drops to help colic. I used an old method that in my opinion worked better. Tummy to tummy. Hold Meggie as if you're gonna nurse her, her bare tummy against your bare tummy (doesn't have to be bare, but works better.....just pull up your shirts) hold her firmly against you and beat her fanny in a steady fairly fast rhythm. The heat from your body will act like a heating pad for her tummy and help ease the pain and move the gas. Beating her fanny is soothing. It takes a while but it almost always works. If you aren't skin to skin it takes longer but also works.
You and Meggie are getting to know each other. It takes a while. As for the tears/anger, sleep deprivation can do a number on you without you realizing it, also you're hormones are trying to settle back to normal. in my opinion this is a normal thing. And why I believe many native cultures (not just native american) were wise and let new mommies stay secluded with their babies for 4 - 6 wks after birth.
Nursing is not really a good time to shoot for weight loss. You're keeping calories up to feed the baby properly, it's not going to help weight loss. As you and Meggie get more sleep, you'll both become more active and you'll see the difference.
Hugs
You and Meggie are getting to know each other. It takes a while. As for the tears/anger, sleep deprivation can do a number on you without you realizing it, also you're hormones are trying to settle back to normal. in my opinion this is a normal thing. And why I believe many native cultures (not just native american) were wise and let new mommies stay secluded with their babies for 4 - 6 wks after birth.
Nursing is not really a good time to shoot for weight loss. You're keeping calories up to feed the baby properly, it's not going to help weight loss. As you and Meggie get more sleep, you'll both become more active and you'll see the difference.
Hugs
AnnieO
Shooting from the Hip
LOL... Janet... Onyxx does not get to watch Meggie by herself. I don't trust her. To be honest, Jett either. husband does fine... But after 300 reminders to Jett to support her head or HOLD her instead of sitting her on his lap, and Onyxx putting her carrier on a TABLE and then walking away (yes I was one room away and she was only alone for about 15 seconds when I noticed), PLUS not wiping her butt when changing her diaper... And neither of them helping me at all... Nope. husband, or my Mom, or ME. (Maybe BFF, she has 2 grandsons and the younger is 2.)
I'm OK on sleep, the kids just push my buttons worse when I am tired (10 PM and 7 AM being prime examples)... And I get so upset when Meggie screams. I don't know what to do. I've tried the simethicone drops, sometimes they help. But I can't always tell if she's hungry or her tummy hurts and she thinks she's hungry. Now, earlier the fussing was a blowout diaper; normally she could not care less if her diaper is messy. And she helped me fold laundry today (in her Boppy, watching) - and got so bored she fell asleep.
But really, the worst part is always being sad or angry. Meggie is about the only thing that pulls me out of either - her warm, limp weight in my arms is soothing. When she's fussy, I sometimes feel inadequate, but I'll try just about anything I can think of, cause the overwhelming love I feel for her covers that nicely.
My biggest sleep problem is I can't. I wake up, feed her, crawl back into bed, and sleep, in the middle of the night, but when others are making noise in the house I just can't sleep. And I about took Onyxx's head off - she asked for a ride to work and husband told her if she did her chores he would. She argued, he just told her, "quid pro quo, daughter" (I about lost it laughing)... And then... She was STOMPING around upstairs and slamming doors and woke Meggie (downstairs). I would've gone up and let her have it but I was busy calming a frightened baby.
husband uses the belly-to-belly/beat-on-the-diapered-butt thing very successfully. It doesn't work so well for me. Probably because my belly hurts. Not the incision - between that and my navel. The very center is numb and outside that about 6 inches either side feels like a skinned knee.
As for the weight loss - it's not intentional, it's just happening. I suspect if I could wake up enough to eat in the morning... But it's 9:30 or later when I really get moving, and then I feed her, something for me to drink, a snack (usually not a light snack, though, and more than one!), make dinner... And it's dinnertime. I have another snack about 9 PM... Bed by 10, sleep if I can by 11 and then up again at midnight... I'm not eating as well as I should, but if I rely on the other people in my house I will starve. (FWIW, I am the only person in my house that likes egg salad (or so I thought), so I made 8 eggs' worth. I got one sandwich. Apparently husband got really hungry. I threatened to label food as MINE.) This was 2 days after a 4-egg, 2-can tuna salad. Normally I make this stuff and NO ONE else touches it, and it goes bad...
I'm OK on sleep, the kids just push my buttons worse when I am tired (10 PM and 7 AM being prime examples)... And I get so upset when Meggie screams. I don't know what to do. I've tried the simethicone drops, sometimes they help. But I can't always tell if she's hungry or her tummy hurts and she thinks she's hungry. Now, earlier the fussing was a blowout diaper; normally she could not care less if her diaper is messy. And she helped me fold laundry today (in her Boppy, watching) - and got so bored she fell asleep.
But really, the worst part is always being sad or angry. Meggie is about the only thing that pulls me out of either - her warm, limp weight in my arms is soothing. When she's fussy, I sometimes feel inadequate, but I'll try just about anything I can think of, cause the overwhelming love I feel for her covers that nicely.
My biggest sleep problem is I can't. I wake up, feed her, crawl back into bed, and sleep, in the middle of the night, but when others are making noise in the house I just can't sleep. And I about took Onyxx's head off - she asked for a ride to work and husband told her if she did her chores he would. She argued, he just told her, "quid pro quo, daughter" (I about lost it laughing)... And then... She was STOMPING around upstairs and slamming doors and woke Meggie (downstairs). I would've gone up and let her have it but I was busy calming a frightened baby.
husband uses the belly-to-belly/beat-on-the-diapered-butt thing very successfully. It doesn't work so well for me. Probably because my belly hurts. Not the incision - between that and my navel. The very center is numb and outside that about 6 inches either side feels like a skinned knee.
As for the weight loss - it's not intentional, it's just happening. I suspect if I could wake up enough to eat in the morning... But it's 9:30 or later when I really get moving, and then I feed her, something for me to drink, a snack (usually not a light snack, though, and more than one!), make dinner... And it's dinnertime. I have another snack about 9 PM... Bed by 10, sleep if I can by 11 and then up again at midnight... I'm not eating as well as I should, but if I rely on the other people in my house I will starve. (FWIW, I am the only person in my house that likes egg salad (or so I thought), so I made 8 eggs' worth. I got one sandwich. Apparently husband got really hungry. I threatened to label food as MINE.) This was 2 days after a 4-egg, 2-can tuna salad. Normally I make this stuff and NO ONE else touches it, and it goes bad...
Calamity Jane
Well-Known Member
Step, Meggie looks SO alert in her pictures. In this most recent one, she looks like she's waiting for you to deal the cards!
DammitJanet
Well-Known Member
Ugh....you need to hire a 6 year old to help babysit.
TerryJ2
Well-Known Member
Meggie does look so alert! Wow! Adorable.
Have you tried the football hold? You have to stand and pace. You put her in your arms, mostly one arm, across the forearm, on her tummy, with-her face near your hand. This puts pressure up and down her digestive system evenly from your arm. Use your other arm to support both your arm and Meggie. It does look like you're holding a football. Then pace back and forth between the LR and DR, for example. It takes about 5 or 10 min but it usually works. Our easy child had her screaming-colicky time at 7 p.m. every single night for nearly 3 mo's and then it went away. Our friends couldn't figure out why we had to rush out from any engagement before a certain time, but it was seriously worse than Cinderella and her pumpkin coach at midnight. Embarrassing ... unless you're home and prepared.
This, too, shall pass.
I'm sending patience and sleep.
Have you tried the football hold? You have to stand and pace. You put her in your arms, mostly one arm, across the forearm, on her tummy, with-her face near your hand. This puts pressure up and down her digestive system evenly from your arm. Use your other arm to support both your arm and Meggie. It does look like you're holding a football. Then pace back and forth between the LR and DR, for example. It takes about 5 or 10 min but it usually works. Our easy child had her screaming-colicky time at 7 p.m. every single night for nearly 3 mo's and then it went away. Our friends couldn't figure out why we had to rush out from any engagement before a certain time, but it was seriously worse than Cinderella and her pumpkin coach at midnight. Embarrassing ... unless you're home and prepared.
This, too, shall pass.
I'm sending patience and sleep.
DammitJanet
Well-Known Member
I wasnt so good at the football hold either but I was better on my knees and laying the baby across my knees and patting their pamper until I felt them loosen up.
KTMom91
Well-Known Member
Miss KT had horrible colic caused by the added iron in the formula I was using. Once I switched to low iron, the colic went away. Of course, it took a good six weeks of not knowing what was happening and being completely stressed out all the time before my ob/gyn told me to try the low iron. Wish all problems could have been solved that easily...
Sending hugs...hope you're able to get some peaceful sleep soon.
Sending hugs...hope you're able to get some peaceful sleep soon.
LittleDudesMom
Well-Known Member
She is adorable! Both my children had "fussy times" in the evening. Once they were a few weeks old, they would get fussy around 6 or 7 and stay fussy for a few hours. I never once thought of it as colic, just perhaps some overstimulation and getting used to their new world. After a month or so, it went away! You could almost set your watch to their daily fussy cycle...
Enjoy your beautiful little girl - what a special time this is!
Sharon
Enjoy your beautiful little girl - what a special time this is!
Sharon
busywend
Well-Known Member
Step, i am sorry you are experiencing Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). It is very real and very serious stuff. Glad you recognize it for what it is and I really hope nobody around you plays it down. Stay aware and isolate yourself when you need to. Please also educate those around you and tell them when you are feeling stressed. Stress is NOT good for milk production by the way.
Dont pressure yourself to be perfect. You are learning and babies are all different, so what someone else did for their newborn might not be the answer for you. And if you have to supplement or even stop nursing......it is not the end of the world. Lots of people have to stop before they wanted to, including me. And when I accepted it.....both of us calmed and were happier!
Thanks for the update, i know you are busy.....but I just needed to hear about MegaBean.....and your new mom experiences. No pressure though!
Dont pressure yourself to be perfect. You are learning and babies are all different, so what someone else did for their newborn might not be the answer for you. And if you have to supplement or even stop nursing......it is not the end of the world. Lots of people have to stop before they wanted to, including me. And when I accepted it.....both of us calmed and were happier!
Thanks for the update, i know you are busy.....but I just needed to hear about MegaBean.....and your new mom experiences. No pressure though!
AnnieO
Shooting from the Hip
LOL Wendy, Onyxx said one of her friends told her it was just "baby blues" and I was exaggerating. I asked her how she felt off her Invega and she said, "horrible"... I said, "well, I feel pretty horrible right now, off and on, and I really need everyone's help." I'm not getting a lot of help, but hopefully she understood what I was trying to tell her.
Funny thing. One of the things they ask you is if you've felt the urge to hurt yourself or your child(ren). ...ONLY THE TEENAGERS... I keep having these vivid "what if" visuals, but no urge to actually DO them. Like - what if I fell down the stairs while carrying Meggie? We have concrete at the bottom... The odds are slim, as I am super careful and hold the rail, but - that's just one of them.
Right now I have a sleeping daughter on my lap on her Boppy), one leg over my arm... She's so relaxing.
Funny thing. One of the things they ask you is if you've felt the urge to hurt yourself or your child(ren). ...ONLY THE TEENAGERS... I keep having these vivid "what if" visuals, but no urge to actually DO them. Like - what if I fell down the stairs while carrying Meggie? We have concrete at the bottom... The odds are slim, as I am super careful and hold the rail, but - that's just one of them.
Right now I have a sleeping daughter on my lap on her Boppy), one leg over my arm... She's so relaxing.
