Expectant parent club! Where the pregnant people hang out.

[furbabymum]

I'd hate to be in your shoes. I feel rushed already and I'm only 6 weeks along. Our building a house project got slowed up with the survey taking a month to do and other problems so I'm worrying if we will be in our own house next year. I know I'll end up in the same boat at some point though with getting everything ready.

I agree with furbabymum about the breastfeeding. If you plan on doing it make sure they get the baby to you quickly after the c-section before they offer the baby a bottle. My MIL had a long 17 hour labor for my husband and they didn't bring the baby to her right away probably for her to recover and by the time she got to try to nurse he was already attached to the bottle.

There is a bottle on the medela site called the Calma. It makes the baby work for the milk like it would have to do when nursing. I've read some reviews of women loving it since it helped them feed when their babies were having problems. It got their latch skills down better. I may buy one once I get further along at least sometime after the 12 week mark. If for some reason I can't nurse right away I want the hospital to use that bottle if possible so when I can nurse it might make an easier switch. I'll use pumps if I need to for the milk. I'd rather not use the formula cause of the cost, not trusting what might be in it, and benefits from the breast milk.

You don't really need to nurse right away though. They just freak you out with it all! Right after brith EVERYONE is tried. Even the baby. My son took a nap after being born. They just kept at me, making me feel like he was going to die or something. I know more this time!

 

[ebwy2]

this is my second baby - my 2 year old had a perfect latch, but I just didn't produce enough milk for him so his weight kept dropping and he stayed trying for 3 hours once, when I checked there was no milk left in there for him. Between PCOS (lower amounts of milk producing tissue), being on medication that can lower your milk yield anyway, and him being taken to the special care baby unit within an hour of being born and not brought back until the next day, my attempts at breast feeding were a bit doomed. I tried to pump but I wasn't even making enough for a snack, so for 3 months I pumped and poured it into his formula.

So I get angry when the boobie police tell me that I just didn't try enough, and that every woman can breast feed and that I obviously didn't love my baby enough (all quotes, btw!) - I always wanted to breast feed any child I had, was so adamant that I didn't even buy formula as a stand by (the hospital had to give me a day's supply when I left because I had NOTHING)... and tried my best for 3 months. I bought bottles for him to use that are supposed to prevent nipple confusion (he still uses them at night and STILL has a perfect latch), so I'll use those again this time around (new teats, though)

in the end, I was not about to starve my baby for my ideals. Or anyone else's.


But over here in the UK they push breast feeding... quite a few hospitals now don't provide formula, even for those who medically can't feed the baby themselves. it took 3 days before someone official suggested supplementing with a bottle just so that he wasn't going hungry... so that he'd stop crying and we could all get some sleep!

This time around, I'm still going to try to feed him, but I'm also going with some formula (premixed stuff and disposable teats) so that I won't be stuck watching my baby suffer due to my body's inability to produce enough milk, just in case this hospital is one that refuses to supply it.

 

[furbabymum]

this is my second baby - my 2 year old had a perfect latch, but I just didn't produce enough milk for him so his weight kept dropping and he stayed trying for 3 hours once, when I checked there was no milk left in there for him. Between PCOS (lower amounts of milk producing tissue), being on medication that can lower your milk yield anyway, and him being taken to the special care baby unit within an hour of being born and not brought back until the next day, my attempts at breast feeding were a bit doomed. I tried to pump but I wasn't even making enough for a snack, so for 3 months I pumped and poured it into his formula.

So I get angry when the boobie police tell me that I just didn't try enough, and that every woman can breast feed and that I obviously didn't love my baby enough (all quotes, btw!) - I always wanted to breast feed any child I had, was so adamant that I didn't even buy formula as a stand by (the hospital had to give me a day's supply when I left because I had NOTHING)... and tried my best for 3 months. I bought bottles for him to use that are supposed to prevent nipple confusion (he still uses them at night and STILL has a perfect latch), so I'll use those again this time around (new teats, though)

in the end, I was not about to starve my baby for my ideals. Or anyone else's.


But over here in the UK they push breast feeding... quite a few hospitals now don't provide formula, even for those who medically can't feed the baby themselves. it took 3 days before someone official suggested supplementing with a bottle just so that he wasn't going hungry... so that he'd stop crying and we could all get some sleep!

This time around, I'm still going to try to feed him, but I'm also going with some formula (premixed stuff and disposable teats) so that I won't be stuck watching my baby suffer due to my body's inability to produce enough milk, just in case this hospital is one that refuses to supply it.

I'm not really booby police. To be honest I could have pumped and fed my son but I hated pumping. It hurt. It just wasn't worth it to me so I formula fed without regrets. I do think the hospital sabotaged me though with how they handled us after the birth. So I was just giving the tip in case. I remember crying so hard trying to breast feed. My son was screaming. My husband eventually came in and took him from me and gave him a bottle. I stopped the stressing after that. Just not worth it.

 

[ebwy2]

I'm not really booby police. To be honest I could have pumped and fed my son but I hated pumping. It hurt. It just wasn't worth it to me so I formula fed without regrets. I do think the hospital sabotaged me though with how they handled us after the birth. So I was just giving the tip in case. I remember crying so hard trying to breast feed. My son was screaming. My husband eventually came in and took him from me and gave him a bottle. I stopped the stressing after that. Just not worth it.

I know you're not... sorry if I gave that impression!

but a few "friends" have been booby police at me from both sides of the fence ("are you going to try harder to breast feed this one?" "so which milk are you going to buy for this one, since it's just as good anyway?" ) ever since I had my son, and they've been on at me about it again for the last few months. To the point where I dropped a few and made a very public announcement of "they are my boobs, not yours. This is MY baby, not yours. And it's my medical issues, not yours!!!" and am a bit touchy. And hormonal (as we all are in this thread)

I cried so hard when I first had to give my son a bottle. I felt like a failure as a parent. The hospital just kept saying "keep trying, you'll get it" but then when they looked, "oh... he has a perfect latch. Oh well, just need to get your milk up" and no-one there addressed the medical issues which can cause a low production... apparently I didn't try hard enough, with him latched for most of the time and me pumping for a couple of hours a day... I had to face the fact that I couldn't do it, and in nature my son would have had to be handed off to someone else to breast feed or starve if no-one was available to do it. I still believe breast is best, but I'm very glad formula exists in the modern era!

 

[reveriereptile]

My husband called me on his way to work since he was running late but he said our dog was mauling another kitten. We have gotten after her the last few days since she has killed 3-4 kittens so far. She is an english bulldog so she is stubborn and won't learn. Well I run out and the kitten is still alive luckily. I took the dog to the back yard to tie her up and found one she must of killed right before grabbing this one. Well I pick it up since I don't want the other dogs playing with it and her to see that. Then I grabbed the alive kitten and took it over to the barn where the mother has them. On the way over and while warming the poor thing up I got cat hair in my mouth that took me a bit to spit out. There is no telling what is on the hair other than dog spit.

I'm a bit concerned. I am almost 10 weeks along. Should I be worried about the parasite in cat feces? I always wash my hands after touching an animal but the hair went into my mouth. Are there any tests they can do or ultrasounds that will show if a parasite gets to my baby?

 

[ImpulsiveFarmer]

My little bundle of joy has arrived! Nothing went as I wanted, but oh well. I wanted to have her naturally but was induced. I ended up caving about 16 hours into labor and asked for an epidural. Tanner was born at 3:19am on 9/22 after 18 hours of labor 7.7lbs and 18 inches long. I was planning on BF but that fell through as well, we are both a lot happier with her drinking formula. We had a bit of a scare when my placenta came back as positive for group b strep, but she seems to be doing fine. Both of us had a slight fever when she was born so she was given two days worth of antibiotics just to be safe, so she should be fine. I ended up with a horrible UTI from the strep and wasn't able to eat for two day (which is probably why I couldn't BF) but am doing better now.

 

[reveriereptile]

My little bundle of joy has arrived! Nothing went as I wanted, but oh well. I wanted to have her naturally but was induced. I ended up caving about 16 hours into labor and asked for an epidural. Tanner was born at 3:19am on 9/22 after 18 hours of labor 7.7lbs and 18 inches long. I was planning on BF but that fell through as well, we are both a lot happier with her drinking formula. We had a bit of a scare when my placenta came back as positive for group b strep, but she seems to be doing fine. Both of us had a slight fever when she was born so she was given two days worth of antibiotics just to be safe, so she should be fine. I ended up with a horrible UTI from the strep and wasn't able to eat for two day (which is probably why I couldn't BF) but am doing better now.

Congrats!! She is a cute baby. I know a in-law that has the name Tanner. He likes his name and it is a pretty name both ways. Even though it didn't go as planned you have a wonderful looking baby.

 

[ebwy2]

congrats!

reveriereptile, I don't know so I would call your doctor and ask. Better safe than sorry

 

[reveriereptile]

The doctor said it shouldn't be a problem. They said the kitten was young enough that it most likely hasn't gotten the parasite and for me to not worry.

 

[furbabymum]

My little bundle of joy has arrived! Nothing went as I wanted, but oh well. I wanted to have her naturally but was induced. I ended up caving about 16 hours into labor and asked for an epidural. Tanner was born at 3:19am on 9/22 after 18 hours of labor 7.7lbs and 18 inches long. I was planning on BF but that fell through as well, we are both a lot happier with her drinking formula. We had a bit of a scare when my placenta came back as positive for group b strep, but she seems to be doing fine. Both of us had a slight fever when she was born so she was given two days worth of antibiotics just to be safe, so she should be fine. I ended up with a horrible UTI from the strep and wasn't able to eat for two day (which is probably why I couldn't BF) but am doing better now.

Beautiful!