I'm bored... maybe we can start a girls only thead?

[weathermom]

Well... this certainly became an interesting thread...

And you want to be female yodette?

I don't think there is a guy out there that could handle being female.

[MomH]

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One more? Did you husband proceed to eat lunch or dinner in front of you, while you were in labor? Mine did - munching on a reuben sandwich (delivered at Jewish Hospital). Saying this sandwich is SO good.

No food - husband was nice about that but, I'm told I offered the doctor a million bucks for the cup of coffe he brought into my room after I had been in labor for 36 hours without any liquid.

Remember every time I had a labor pain with the first one, I thought I was either walking by a huge pine tree or pulling up carrots. The morning after I had her though, they came in with a cup of coffee and a piece of dry toast for my breakfast. I let them know in very short order that wasn't going to get it - I wanted everything on the menu. They took me at my word - shortly brought me eggs, bacon, sausage, 2 kinds of cereal, milk, orange juice, a sweet roll, toast, jelly, butter, and a pot of coffee. God love them - I sure did at that moment.

[Pebbles]

I don't think there is a guy out there that could handle being female.

Pebbles, as for labor time, I count the time from when the contractions felt "real". I suppose if I wanted to make it sound bad I could count the six weeks of preterm labor.......How many hours are we talkin now?? Over 500

My second two were the ones the docs almost didn't make it in the room for! %$#%^^* nurses didn't believe I was ready to deliver until it was too late. No honey, your contractions haven't been close together for long enough....don't they think we can tell whats comin out????????

I always wondered why this is... we women have been doing this for almost all humanity out of hospitals... would think we know our bodies!

The morning after I had her though, they came in with a cup of coffee and a piece of dry toast for my breakfast. I let them know in very short order that wasn't going to get it - I wanted everything on the menu.

How did you wait for food.. first thing requested after time with each little one was FOOD ASAP followed by SLEEP! Well as much as possible in the hospital.. don't think anyone can really get good sleep untill getting home. *sighs* And don't even think about taking my kid to the nursery.. she's all MINE! Mwahahaha I was stingy with my babies LOL

[weathermom]

Pebbles, the preemie had to have been in NICU. Didnt that just kill you? My first was only in there for 4 days and it drove me crazy. And going home without her.....

[Pebbles]

Pebbles, the preemie had to have been in NICU. Didnt that just kill you? My first was only in there for 4 days and it drove me crazy. And going home without her.....

She was breathing so well we were allowed to hold her immediately much to our surprise. She was only in the nicu for 1 day and then they transported her to the local hospital. I think I erked them a little because I wouldn't leave the nicu except for doctor rounds.

I was at the hospital every 2 hours to nurse her the two weeks she was in minus one feeding in the middle of the night. Thankfully it was only a lil over 5 min to the hospital. They only kept her in the hospital to get her weight up to 4lbs. Otherwise she was as healthy as a full term baby. Didn't even look think like most premies.. just really short but actually nicely plump believe it or not.

The nurses were surprised I was there so much, but I told them I would be doing the same if she was home. And I couldn't stand to be away from her. Think I was trying to make up a lil for being so young with the 1st kiddo (I was only 17) and this uncontrollable need to be the 'best' mama possible. I felt so bad for one baby there.. I never saw anyone come to visit him unless it was a doctor or nurse...

The funniest memory at that time was when I told the doctor I really didn't want her getting a bottle (she did end up getting one after that for 1 feeding every day i missed). This was like day 4 day if I remember right.. up to that point they did have a tube to suppliment..but she still nursed too . The doc asked how much I was pumping... I told him 11oz every 2 hours and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head LOL The nurses backed me up cause they knew as I was using their hospital grade pumps in the nursery. He said he didn't think I would have any problems nursing AT ALL! But that caused it's own problems which is a story for another time

[weathermom]

Our hospital had a program for donating extra breast milk for the preemies that weren't being nursed. The Dr. explained that breast milk changes according to the babies age and needs, and that the milk that is made by a preemie mom is higher in fat to help them grow.


I didn't get to hold my first for hours. They whisked her away so fast that I sent my husband to follow, and she was breathing fine. Just paranoid I guess. Were there a million people in the delivery room for you? I was amazed at how many people they line up for a preemie!

Then they put me in a room with a full term mom with her baby in the room. Very poor planning in my opinion.

[yoda]

Well... this certainly became an interesting thread...

And you want to be female yodette?

I don't think there is a guy out there that could handle being female.

I never said I wanted to! I just said I had a lot of female characteristics!

[Miss Mary]

Okay, ladies what other juicy female-only discussions can we get going? LOL

This is Friday and we could make all the men RUN for the nearest door. There IS one topic they'd avoid, like the plague. Comes once a month, if you get my meaning....he he

Mary

[Pebbles]

*starts to chant* scare all the men! scare all the men!

[Kim_in_MN]

I told him 11oz every 2 hours and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head LOL The nurses backed me up cause they knew as I was using their hospital grade pumps in the nursery. He said he didn't think I would have any problems nursing AT ALL! But that caused it's own problems which is a story for another time

OMG - aren't those hospital grade pumps great? When I took my daughter home from the hospital she couldn't nurse b/c I was so engorged (TMI for the men???). We lived in a rural area and I called the county nurse to see if there was a lactation consultant in the area - within half an hour the nurse was there with a huge $700 pump that they let me use "until someone else needed it" LOL. I had that thing over a month, and then I purchased a home one from the same company. Best investment I ever made - I never purchased formula for her (she maybe had three bottles of formula until she was weaned from the samples the hospital gave me - grandma was babysitting for the day and she forgot to refrigerate the bags of expressed milk I had left with her).

When I moved - I had over 200 oz of milk frozen. I had to throw some that was older than however long you are supposed to keep it (that was six years ago, so I can't remember how long that is).

What really makes me mad is that with my first baby, the dr. told me I couldn't nurse - I was too naive to look for help elsewhere, so he was only nursed for a couple of weeks, and all that time I was supplementing with formula. Now I realize that the problem was I was producing too much milk and he couldn't latch on. That wasn't even mentioned as being a possibility by my dr. - just "some babies won't nurse". I really think this dr. was against breastfeeding for whatever reason (he was really old and probably set in whatever he learned in the 50's).

I was reading this thread off and on yesterday at work, and couldn't wait to contribute LOL - I LOVE it!!!

Kim

[Pebbles]

OH KIM! That was the exact problem I was having. Most woman don't know about too much milk! It is a very common problem but they actually think they don't have enough cause the baby has a hard time nursing! Also it can cause collic. And there is such an EASY solution to it.... but most women don't know that.

I also got some wacked things out of an older peds doctor with my last daughter, thankfully I knew better. I will give younger doctors credit on that.. they for the most part seem somewhat more informed about nursing. But I still recommend anyone contact a lactation consultant. Most hospitals offer them for free... or they know where to get one that's free. It actually rare to not be able to nurse but docs are so quick to say formula *sighs*. I think formula is ok... my first daughter got formula..but some of these moms REALLY want to and think they can't cause doctors don't know all the facts.

[weathermom]

I nearly drowned my kids when they were nursing. When my milk let down it was way too much for them and they would choke and I had to flip them over and pat them on the back. Then they would get soaked because just cuz they stopped didn't mean the milk did!!!

[Pebbles]

EEK.. yup! Did they every let you know what the solution was for that? I couldn't believe how easy it was I wanted to scream cause I didn't know sooner. Switch sides less. One side for feeding.. that doesn't work then keep upping the times... I had to up times from 2, then 4, then finally to 6 hours each side and pumping only to reduce discomfort if absolutely have to.. that way you 'trick' your body into producing less and the baby gets the fat they need so they don't get upset tummies. Sure enough it worked! Luv lactation consultants LOL

[Miss Mary]

Breastfeeding - I love it, I love it. Even better than discussing the 'rag'....LOL Nothing will turn a guy off more than discussing this topic!!!

I tried in vain to nurse my first baby. She had colic for 8 weeks. Only slept 9 hours in a 24 hour period, but not a straight 9. So I was pretty exhausted, beinga new mother on top of that didn't help. Nina began crying around 7 p.m. and did not stop for 6 hours. She would fall asleep for the 'night' around 1 a.m., but be up by 5. It just went on and on and on. I watched Johnny Carson and Letterman with her. If anyone is a Friends fan, picture that scene with Monica swinging baby Emma side to side, to quiet her down. That is what I had to do, wrap her tight in a receiving blanket and stand with feet far apart. Bouncing her side to side, for 6 hours! Wowsa, thought I was gonna lose my mind. Few times in there I'd give her a bottle of formula, b/c as you know the hospital sends you home with those goodie bags. And it's sitting right there staring at you - use me, use me. Several times it did make her sleep more soundly. So I didn't know if it was my milk, her colic or that I was a nervous new mom. BTW, when she turned 8 weeks the colic subsided and she slept for 14 straight hours every night. That is not a typo. She rewarded me with such wonderful sleep after that colicky phase. I also began weaning her from breast milk at 6 weeks and by 8, she was on formula.

All the wonderful things I heard about breastfeeding I did not experience with her - nada.

So with baby #2, I asked the Ped if I could go straight to formula, explaining my first try with nursing. He said it was fine. So I took the pills to dry up my milk, putting Laura on powered formula, which she took to instantly. However, 2 weeks later my milk came in one day and boy did it ever. I was impacted, ran a fever, was in great pain. Called the OB doc, he told me what to do (ice packs, don't touch) and sit still. Here I sat on the couch, exposed but I did not care one bit. LOL After about 4 hours I began to get some relief. He asked how the baby was doing on formula. I said she was doing great and asked why he wanted to know....well, you could still nurse her if you wanted to. I had a dilemma on my hands. Clearly this time I had enough (another problem with baby #1) but I didn't want to disrupt her feeding routine. So I let it dry up.

Laura was diagnosed with ADD in 6th Grade. So not nursing her is one my BIG TIME regrets in life. Why didn't I at least try it - it was free, sitting right smack in front of me? I guess on some level I thought it would be a fiasco again.....

And uh those pills? They don't dry up the milk, they delay it coming in. Found that out the hard way - literally, pun intended.

Mary

[Kim_in_MN]

Laura was diagnosed with ADD in 6th Grade. So not nursing her is one my BIG TIME regrets in life. Why didn't I at least try it - it was free, sitting right smack in front of me?

Same with Jordan (my son that I was told I couldn't nurse). He was diagnosed with ADD in second grade, and I have always felt guilty that I didn't keep trying to BF him against my dr's advice (which I now know was stupid advice) or look for lactation help somewhere. My only excuse is that I didn't know any better. And, I suppose, if he had been BF and was still ADD I would wonder if THAT was the cause LOL. I think mothers feel guilty for every bad thing that happens to their children, whether or not it is really their fault.

Kim

[Miss Mary]

Kim - yeah it's pretty easy to beat up on ourselves isn't it? With Laura I have 2 regrets: 1. not BF her and 2. not sending her to K at age 6, with 3 full years of pre-school, instead of 2. She's always struggled, partly b/c of her ADD but also she's just been behind her peers. And it doesn't help that over 50% of her classmates all started K at age 6, so she's done nothing but play catch up all these years. I think one of our mom-type regrets is not knowing enough or better. That hindsight thing.....

With her sister I know I helped give her, her peanut allergy. She's highly allergic to them, carries an Epi-pen and Benadryl with her. When I began reading my preggo books back then, they all said peanut butter was an excellent protein. I've always been thin, size 5 then. I worried I wasn't getting enough nutrition for pregnancies, a silly worry really. So every single day I'd have a PB sandwich on whole wheat bread, a banana and a glass of milk. This was my mid-afternoon snack. I also had an egg a day too (hard-boiled batches to keep in the fridge). She can eat eggs. A few years ago I read there's almost conclusive evidence now if you eat PB as much as I did, you can give this allergy to your baby. This is probably my big-time regret of all time. She tells me it's okay mom, you thought you were eating healthy. I heard now there are warnings about eating peanut products while pregnant - good I say! There are more and more kids being diagnosed with this fatal allergy.

Okay, back to silly female discussions....at this rate we won't make the guys gag, we'll put them to sleep! LOL

Mary

[weathermom]

Mary, I have a daughter that is allergic to pineapple and we often joke it is because I drank tons of pinapple orange juice when I was pregnant with her! Do you think it could be for real???

[Miss Mary]

wxmom - well I would never want to give you a serious case of the guilts, as I have at times. But the peanut theory I've read about - at least half a dozen times now. They are working on an allergy shot that will slow a reaction time down, not eliminate the need for medical treatment. It will just give the patient time to get to the hospital. Each time I read they are closer to releasing this once a year shot, similar to a flu shot, to the public, tucked in these articles have been references to this theory - if you eat it while pregnant, your baby might pick up the allergy. Boy that one long sentence. So far I haven't read any other food allergy this theory pertains to but if I do, I will let you know.

I also ate one egg a day, all 9 months. But she can eat dairy and eggs. Guess peanuts are very potent?

Wish I could go back in time though...I wouldn't touch PB while pregnant. And the funny thing was I didn't eat it much before that, it was a healthy diet change I thought. Something new to my diet I introduced. I would occasionally want a PB/Jelly sandwich, a few times a year. Not daily for 9 months!

Mary