Moms of new babies- check in

[preppy]

My challenge this week is definitely my return to work. I am not taking it well at all. I really hope it gets better cause I can't be like this for very long.

Stella however is awesome. She's been a unicorn sleeper and she's so damn cute and happy and I love being a mama so much.

Also we aren't using protection and I will start temping once I get my period back. I want all the babies.

[preppy]

Dec 11, 2015 15:17:37 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

How are you doing? Wins or challenges?

I'm so tired, ugh. I think it's all catching up to me. He sleeps fine at night, it's the early morning wakeups that kill me. Today was awful, 347am and fussed for 1.5 hours before going back to sleep for an hour

Regularly he's up around 5/515am

Emotionally I'm getting better, maybe thanks to Zoloft

I'm glad the Zoloft is helping:)

[cilantro]

It's been rough. So many little bugs caught and spread between the two kids since DS2 started daycare. I'm really starting to think nanny is the only way to survive with two kids and two working adults. I mean, it's ok for us now because we are both in flexible positions, but we both HAVE to make moves for various reasons.

DS2s sleep is not great at this age, just like his brother's wasn't. And we are in a condo with no room to do CIO. We are all struggling a bit.

[cilantro]

WAIT?!?! Is my baby still new?! He feels new still! Sorry if I don't belong!

[runblondie26]

I'm glad to hear the Zoloft is working for you farmvillelover . I hope he lets you catch up your sleep soon.

Weeknights are so hectic. Making dinner, homework, baths, etc. need to get done and that's exactly the time the baby starts fussing and only wants me to hold him. DH has a light schedule this month and has been home a lot, which helps tremendously. However, I'm already stressing about when he starts traveling again. Can I clone myself? Grow extra arms? Oy.

Despite being totally outnumbered, I still want all the babies too preppy. Made sure I went with an IUD at my PP checkup because we HAVE to be done this time.

[Koala]

I've been sick with a bad cold the last few days, so that has sucked. Luckily, our nanny has been here until 2:30 every day, since I am back to work part time. So, I have only had to be alone with the babies for a few hours. MIL came to help with the 5pm feeding yesterday, too.

Emotionally, I'm great though. I LOVE being their mom. I found a local twin group and have really connected with a few mom's there which helps me work through some twin specific challenges (there were 14 babies at our playdate on tuesday!).

Sleep is fairly consistent. We are trying to put them to bed earlier, since I think by starting bedtime at 8, we are missing their sleepy window. DH feeds them at 11. Then they wake up sometime around 4, 6:30, and then up for the day at 8. I've been sleeping in the nursery chair after the 4am wakeup.

EPing is starting to get to me. I have cut down the number of times I pump per day without affecting my output too much. Dropping 2 pumping sessions only made my supply drop by 4-6oz per day (which isn't too bad considering I am feeding 2 babies). I'm going to get to 3 months and then basically take it week by week or day by day. My initial goal was 6 months, but we'll see.

[meltoine]

farmvillelover I hope you get some sleep soon. Glad the meds are helping.

We are doing better now that I'm eating enough and my supply is back. I only fed him twice MOTN last night and he woke once for a paci replacement.

I'm doing fine with the baby stuff the rest of my life is still hard, but MH is working on it.

[karinothing]

We are doing well. Sometimes I feel guilty that I don't interact with him more but it we get up and then he just kind of hangs out while I get everyone ready, then we go drop DS1 off. After that he goes down from a nap. He is awake like 2.5 hours then needs another nap and then wakes up in time to pick DS1 up from school. Then he has to chill again while I cook dinner. He is so good about it all and is really happy, but I have major guilt that I am warping him for life by not talking to him more.

Sleep has been going okay. He typically wakes up once a night but I have oddly been enjoying the wakeups. I nurse him in his room in front of the space heater, which gives the room a warm red glow and it is just cozy and I feel all sort of lovey in those moments.

I go back to work Feb 2, but I don't think I want to. At least I will get to see him at lunch

[longtimenopost]

I'm struggling with sleep now that I'm back at work. I miss being able to "sleep in" until 8 and not be awake for the day after her feed between 4-5.

Thankfully, my pumping output is good so far and she's been switching from bottle to boob easily. It could be worse!

Also, my baby is giant. She's 3 months and wearing 9 month clothes!

[brandienee]

We're doing great. I feel like we're finally starting to get the hang of each other. Beckett is a unicorn sleeper too. He goes down at 6 and doesn't get up till 6. It's nice.

I've been able to accomplish more throughout the day and now I am looking at 2016 and goal setting. Woah.

Zoloft is awesome.

I am struggling with losing that last bit of baby weight. I feel hungry all the time and I want junk.

[kdubs923]

We had a few nights of amazing sleep, but haven't had another one in over a week. I wish I didn't know that she could STTN. It's easier to just expect to be up every 2 hours.

But she's nursing well and gaining, so that's a huge win. But I'm feeling pretty tied down that I always need to be with her. DS had formula at this point, so it was easier to leave then, knowing there was a bottle and formula for back up. I've tried to pump a few times, but only get an ounce or so.

Biggest challenge is definitely balancing DS and DD. I miss one on one time with DS, but she always cluster feeds around his bath and bedtime. I dread DH going back to work and having to juggle everything myself.

Otherwise I'm feeling very 'complete'. We've always said 2 or 3 kids, and I expected that DH would be done and I'd want the 3rd. But right now life is good and my heart feels full with 2. But she's only 3 weeks old, so no official decisions for another few years.

[turtlegirl]

We are all hanging in there for now.

DD's sleep is just not consistent. Some nights she wakes ever 3 hours for paci replacements, others it's one feeding around 3am and that's it, last night she slept almost 10 hours. I just never know what I'm going to get.

Naps are still over the place, again, never know what I'm going to get.

Work is crazy, but I'm glad I'm back!

DH and I are determined to make 2016 the year we gwt our shit back together. Get DD on a schedule/routine, get more sleep and get back to "normal" and out of newborn survival mode.

[miamigirl]

Sienna is doing great, she's growing so fast, and is always happy and laughing, she's a great sleeper.

I'm enjoying our last few days together and giving her extra cuddles, because I'm going back to work full time on Wednesday. I'm really sad about it, but I'll give it a try; SAH is always a choice if I'm miserable, but I want to give it at least a couple months and see how we adjust.

And I think we need some pictures in this thread!

[midwest07]

Our little girl is 8 weeks, 3 days. We started an EASY routine about 2 weeks ago and it's working really well for us and has been a big help to me to know that I have time to get things done because she does nap.

She will sleep for a 5 or 6 hour stretch at night, but our biggest issue is that it's hard to get her back to sleep after that. It takes a long time to get her down, and then she usually only sleeps 45 minutes or so. So when she wakes up at 3 or 4am to nurse, I want her to go back to sleep and she may not want to. I think we need to move her bedtime up but I am afraid of messing with the long stretch we are getting.

We have had BFing and weight gain issues on and off but I think we are on a good track now.

I go back to work in 4 weeks. I know I want to go back, but I know it will be hard. We are hoping to have a nanny lined up soon and I think that will make me feel better.

[turtlegirl]

And I will add that overall DD is super happy and I feel like most of the newborn random fussiness is gone. Her brothers love her and have never really had any jealousy or anything. It's great.

DD definitely completes our family and I'm really looking forward to the next few months. To have DD start solids, sitting up, playing with toys more. The boys are going to love it. I can't wait to watch thier sibling bond grow.

[niq]

Other than miamigirl, this thread has a shortage of PIPs

[ellipsis]

DD is only a few days older than farmvillelover 's kid, so I guess my baby is still relatively new!

- I'm done pumping, and she's 100% formula fed now. It was a little rough on her tummy at first, but I think she's mostly adjusted. I'm glad to put all of the pumping crap away.
- Maternity leave is...kind of boring, especially with the weather getting colder. Not sure how many times is too many to go to Target in a week, but I've probably surpassed it. At least Christmas is coming up soon and then we'll have the madness of daycare!
- We're hitting the 4 month sleep regression. She loves to wake up at 6am and babble to herself in her crib. She is also the queen of micro naps, but sleeps great at night otherwise.
- She has started to try and roll over (back to front), and then gets kind of stuck and gets pissed off. Ugh.
- 4mo doctor appointment next week -- I'm dreading how badly she is going to scream when she gets her shots.
- I had 2 little bouts of anxiety last week when 1.) I thought I was getting a cold and she would catch it (she's going to sick eventually, self!), and 2.) when I thought she wasn't really grabbing for things and her arms were going to have a development delay (she's currently grabbing her feet, so obv. not an issue)

*poof*

[cilantro]

Dec 11, 2015 15:34:05 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

Dec 11, 2015 15:29:18 GMT -5 cilantro said:

WAIT?!?! Is my baby still new?! He feels new still! Sorry if I don't belong!

It's ok. I'm struggling too. Hugs

Hugs to you, too.  This shit is hard.  

[jenn248]

Doing okay overall, just trying to find our new "normal." We're working on trying to get DD2 to bed earlier so that we have a little bit of time to ourselves in the evenings (and by that, I mean time to do dishes, laundry, prep lunches, shower, etc). She's generally a great sleeper, so that makes a huge difference in not feeling like I am struggling at work.

I wouldn't have what it takes to be a SAHM, but I do wish I had more quality time with DD2. She gives me the biggest smiles in the morning, and I hate to have to dump her in her bouncy seat while I rush around to get ready instead of spending more time talking/playing with her.

[Deleted]

I am kind of struggling TBH but happy to be back at work and not dealing with fussy baby 24/7. DS2 is also getting really cute, social smiles and cooing when he's not screaming. DH had a breakdown about this time with DS1 and he is handling it much better than me. Being more experienced parents and having perspective does help.

Sleep is okay. For the past couple weeks DS has given us a 4-5 hour first stretch and then another 3 hours. So newborn-ish but tolerable. He is a FANTASTIC napper though. Generally he isn't able to be up more than 1-1.5 hours and naps for a couple hours after that. Sometimes he needs to be held, and he always has to be at home, swaddled, in a quiet room but those long breaks are nice.

This pretty much sums up my life right now:

[awkwardpenguin]

cilantro, I was happy to see you posted, because my baby still feels new too! And I want to post about her.

-DD turns 6 months on Monday! Time flies!
-Overall things are going well. I love being a mom and I feel settled and calm in a way I didn't before we had her.
-I miss being home with her during the day, but I am really enjoying work, so there's some internal conflict there. I'm about 95% happy with our daycare situation so that helps a lot.
-DD is combo fed and that's working out really well for us. DW is still pumping in the morning and at work, and DD gets mostly breastmilk with a formula bottle or two a day.
-We're going to start solids this weekend.
-Sleep is getting there. We're on night 7 of Ferber and DD is still crying 20-30 minutes at bedtime, but the past few days she's gone down without crying after feedings. She's still eating twice a night. I'm still not especially happy about going the CIO route, but realistically I'm not sure what else would have helped.

[sierramist03]

Dd will be a month on Tuesday. This week I've had my MIL to help. It's been really nice. She's not stressful like my mom was.
I still feel like all I do is feed and pump though. I'm not loving breastfeeding either. Tips, suggestions?
We saw Santa today and she did great while we were out. We even did a little shopping. But her eating every two hours makes trips out quick

[humpforfree]

We are good. Working through the 2u2/newborn and toddler phase.. E is definitely not the unicorn that Lane was. I don't think she is particularly high needs, but definitely on that end of the spectrum. She constantly wants to be held and cries if she isn't. It makes dealing with a toddler (and any other house stuff) difficult. Oh, and she's decided to scream bloody murder in the car. Since we live 30+ minutes from anywhere, it makes errands fun.
She, this week, started melting down at 6:15/6:30, so I've been doing a bedtime routine and attempting to put her down. It usually takes a few tries to get her to stay asleep. Frustrating, but nice to have some time in the evenings.
She usually gives me a 4-5 hour stretch and then three hours. Since she goes to bed so early, that means I have 2-3 wake ups at night. Ugh. I have to be up and moving by 7:15 or so with the toddler so H can go to work.
Also, we had a stomach bug this week. Luckily E seems to have been passed by.
Eta pic

[dcn]

Ds is only 8 days old but so far things are going well. My mom just left for the airport though and she has been a lifesaver with keeping ds1 busy and happy so I am nervous for the next bit of time. DH is off until he new year which should help.

He nurses well, though did some damage to my left nipple so I've been pumping that side during the day. He's been gaining and peeing and pooping like crazy so really he's doing great. Sleeping 3-4 hr stretches at night so far but of course I'm expecting that to end soon haha.

Ds1 is still not interested in him but I did manage to at least get him in a picture with ds2 today.

[Susie]

Hobbes is 3.5 weeks now.  I can't believe I've been out of work for 4 work weeks (and that my leave is half over!)  I do not feel like I am halfway to ready to return to work.  Thank God I can WFH for my first 4 weeks back.

Ups:
- She loves nursing, mom['s boobs], car rides, and the k'tan.  Those things are pretty fucking great (and convenient!) things for her to love.  
- She is healthy and adorable.
- she falls asleep on us, but transitions pretty well most of the time from us to her crib
- I took her to my work Christmas party last Friday and to pick out a Christmas tree last Sunday:

and she was awesome for both.  K'tan for the win both times.

Challenges and downs (in no particular order):
- the cumulative sleep deprivation, man.  Just because Calvin is working and I'm not doesn't mean it's easy doing the lion's share of the night wake ups.
- Her witching hour seems to be 11pm-3am.  On the bad nights (which last night was), it is TERRIBLE.  Last night we spent hours pacing the house with her, trying to soothe.  I think she had gas, but not entirely sure.  I tried every burping trick I could think of, and they would produce burps, but not solve the problem.  The only thing that worked(ish) was nursing, but she was giving feeding cues at faster intervals than I could nurse again (and actually give her much), because she caught me coming off a pumping session when this debacle started.  FML.  
- Her desperately wanting to nurse and my boobs being empty is basically the worst feeling.  We've had it happen a few times this week, unfortunately, because she keeps randomly giving me 4.5, 5, 6 hour stretches (one here, one there) and I feel compelled (both by my boobs and a fear of supply dropping) to guess when she's doing one and pump about when I think the middle might be.  Yeah, good luck with that.  She also throws in days when she wants to nurse every 1-2 hours just for funsies, in case I thought I knew what was going on.
- I'm starting to have anxiety (not necessarily based on anything concrete or real) about my supply dropping.  Not because of nutritional/immune benefit so much anymore, since she has already gotten a lot of that benefit, but because it is often the only way to soothe her.  She takes bottles, but they don't soothe her.  My mental health requires that she be soothe-able.
- I have stayed the same weight since about 1 week pp.  I lost about 14-15 of my 26 lbs. in the first week, and then totally stalled.  This is annoying me.  I didn't think that rate would continue, but I thought with BFing I'd see at least a steady trickle.

Question:  is it weird that at 3.5 weeks Hobbes still has her umbilical cord stump?  We've been swabbing it 2x/day around the base with isopropanol per the pedi's rec at 2 weeks.  I did not expect it to hang in there so long!

[cilantro]

Dec 11, 2015 17:24:36 GMT -5 water*drop said:

If cilantro gets to post here, I do, too, since our babies were born on the same day!

We're okay. I alternate between being fine and struggling. DS's sleep is crap, even worse than DD's was, and after going through everything we've tried with the pediatrician today, he recommended not attempting to CIO at this point. So. On one hand, I'm glad because my gut said it wouldn't work. OTOH, I feel kind of hopeless about it. He gave us some suggestions, so we'll see how the next few weeks go.

I had no idea!  Too many drugs at the time!

Adorable!   That hair!

[preppy]

Adding a pic. This one makes me laugh.

[kdubs923]

Well, if we're posting pictures...

[lindsaymg]

DD is pretty freaking amazing. She is pretty easy and always happy. She only cries when she is tired or hungry fix those and she is solid.

Since she has stopped waking at 11:00ish she started waking up at 2:30 this past week where she used to sleep until 5:45 or so. I attribute this to her new day care schedule and assume it will pass. Either that or I will just wake her up at 11:00 to eat. Ha. This is my only real struggle and it isn't really a big one.

She is super happy at day care and you can tell she is a teacher favorite. She loves tummy time now and the excersaucer is now her jam. I swear those ladies are baby whisperers.

I am pretty obsessed with her.

[dottyblue]

I'm emotionally drained tonight. I go back to work on Monday and DS2 had his complimentary half day at daycare this morning. I cried when I got to the car. He's so little! . He did great, and I'm looking forward to getting back to my team, but I'm snuggling him a little extra tonight.

Any one have an older sibling who just doesn't care about their baby bro/sis? 12 weeks in and DS1 still wants NOTHING to do with DS2. I have no sibling pics because DS1 freaks out if we try. At best, I can get him to kiss DS2's head at bedtime but otherwise he ignores.