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I give myself some side rubs with almond oil. Keep up the ice and heat. I also tried gas-x and tums to varying success (ask your doctor). My sever side pain has gone down since entering into the 3rd trimester started. Now it is just some discomfort when I'm being pushed on the one side by the baby and an occasional bad evening/day. I also change my bra situation around as I can. BelllyBra was a huge help- it takes the pressure off of my ribs and back. Also a nice cotton bra that closes in the front is nice too. Alternative solution to the husband issue- take a bat to the computer.
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Jan 24, 2015 17:58
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I totally ordered a bellybra the other day when I read your recommendation. Hope it helps! Nice to know it can sometimes ease up. I'm 28 weeks in 3 days.
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Jan 24, 2015 20:44
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Big Bug Hug posted:I totally ordered a bellybra the other day when I read your recommendation. Hope it helps! Nice to know it can sometimes ease up. I'm 28 weeks in 3 days. Yeah it really has eased up a bit. I also find that a good mix of moving around and resting is helping. I've also been doing prenatal pilates and the stretches are very helpful. I also do several baths throughout the week with Epsom salts.
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Jan 24, 2015 20:51
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Spending part of the day sitting on a yoga ball helped me some with the rib pain during my last pregnancy. I still have a rib that's deformed because of how much pressure my daughter put on it while she was in there. Our bed (memory foam) was a huge help because I was actually able to sleep pretty well and wake up in a lot less pain in the morning. The few nights when we slept other places I did not do nearly as well.
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Jan 24, 2015 22:11
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I love my memory foam bed, too. They're the best! I still don't sleep well most nights, though I bet it would be much worse without it. I remember my old mattress. I'm getting too big for our (small) bathtub.  I do spend a lot of time in our little 10ft pool though, when it's hot enough that the water isn't freezing. It's heavenly.
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Jan 25, 2015 02:20
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Big Bug Hug posted:I love my memory foam bed, too. They're the best! I still don't sleep well most nights, though I bet it would be much worse without it. I remember my old mattress. Oh man a pool would be awesome. Snorkeling in Mexico was probably my favorite thing to do while on vacation. It was fun to just float in the water.
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Jan 25, 2015 02:31
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I've been holding on to a groupon for a float tank session for when I need a break from gravity. I will probably use it in the next few weeks.
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Jan 25, 2015 15:23
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Coming up near the end of this pregnancy (38 weeks), baby is still doing somersaults just like my last one, breech one day, head down the next. My last baby turned head down at the last minute at 40 weeks, so hoping this one figures it out soon, but I'm not feeling as optimistic, because I've already been to L&D once last week for 10 hours with some pretty painful contractions (that ended up stopping, and since I wasn't dilated they didn't want induce or do a c section at 37 weeks, but they were pretty shocked at how much she flipped just in 10 hours with 4 ultra sounds). Just hate things being so unpredictable =(
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Jan 26, 2015 18:37
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Rathina posted:Coming up near the end of this pregnancy (38 weeks), baby is still doing somersaults just like my last one, breech one day, head down the next. My last baby turned head down at the last minute at 40 weeks, so hoping this one figures it out soon, but I'm not feeling as optimistic, because I've already been to L&D once last week for 10 hours with some pretty painful contractions (that ended up stopping, and since I wasn't dilated they didn't want induce or do a c section at 37 weeks, but they were pretty shocked at how much she flipped just in 10 hours with 4 ultra sounds). Just hate things being so unpredictable =( I can't even imagine what that must feel like. Hope she calms down a bit for you.
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Jan 26, 2015 18:49
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I've actually heard that a baby will tend to flip and turn away from an Ultrasound.
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Jan 26, 2015 22:18
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notwithoutmyanus posted:I've actually heard that a baby will tend to flip and turn away from an Ultrasound. Our baby has usually given a high five to the feel of the ultrasound. All babies are different in such fascinating ways.
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Jan 26, 2015 23:12
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Ha, interesting. I suppose every kid is not only going to be drastically different about ultrasound response but also probably be different at different developmental points.
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Jan 27, 2015 17:42
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Big Bug Hug posted:My partner is doing almost everything around here and I feel like a useless lump, and I guess me being in tears all the time has become the expected thing because come evening I'm usually curled up in pain while he sits on the couch and plays games. He's really considerate in some ways but getting a back rub out of him lately is like pulling teeth. I'm grateful when he asks if I want anything and he makes me an iced coffee, but then his job is done and he zones out on the computer until he's ready to sleep. I was the same way; the only way I really snapped out of it was my wife telling me exactly what she needed rather than waiting for it to happen. My wife is pretty independent so I was expecting her to bring up when she needed things rather than expecting me to read her mind. I got much better at back / feet massages and generally trying to make her comfortable, but only because she let me know she was uncomfortable. I also was kind of in a "oh god I gotta play as many games as possible before this kid is here" state of mind, but in hindsight it was dumb of me. I would just try to sit him down for a bit and let him know that you're going through a lot for the sake of your upcoming kid and you would really appreciate if he paid some more attention to your needs. Good luck!
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Jan 27, 2015 22:36
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Thanks, we did talk about it the other night, and I'm just going to ask for direct help more often. He definitely knows I'm uncomfortable though, you can't miss it. More like its my default state  Going to prenatal classes helps too I think, discussing everything thats going on (and yet to happen) in there and hearing from all the other couples. I've done this all before but he hasn't. kimcicle posted:
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Jan 28, 2015 03:09
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My husband and I went to my mid pregnancy ultrasound last week, and found out we're having a girl!  More importantly, we found out that everything with the baby is looking healthy so far; kidneys, brain, spine and heart all look good. Now I feel like I can finally relax and enjoy the rest of this pregnancy! Well, almost. I still need to schedule my glucose tolerance test, but my risk factors for having that are pretty minimal, so I'm not too worried. Ack, this is all happening so fast! Weird to think my pregnancy is already more than halfway done, and there's still so much to do. We haven't even started a registry yet! 
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Jan 31, 2015 19:02
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eselbaum posted:My husband and I went to my mid pregnancy ultrasound last week, and found out we're having a girl! I waited a bit on the registry because we had a bunch of stuff donated to us. Of course I keep having random buddies pop up and offer us things and so I just take the stuff off the registry. I have 5 weeks to go!
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Jan 31, 2015 20:01
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So we are both eventually going to have to go back to work after the baby is born, and we are starting to look into childcare options. Does anyone have any experience with daycare vs nannies? Or I know that there are people that run small daycares out of their homes, too. There are just so many options, it's hard to know which one will be best and I am interested in anecdotes. Thanks!
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Feb 1, 2015 05:13
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We went with an in home daycare, because our neighbor is the daycare provider. She's watched tons of kids from our neighborhood & they all stayed with her for years. Most in home daycares are less expensive than daycare centers & are way less expensive than a nanny. They do a little bit of working on shapes, letters, colors, but it's mostly just keeping the kids alive & fed. I'm fine with that for now, but will probably move my son into a preschool when he turns 4. Biggest downside to an in home daycare, is finding backup care or burning up vacation days when she or her kids are sick & the 2 weeks of vacation she gets a year. I'm thankful to have found a pretty reliable backup, but that's hard to come by.
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Feb 1, 2015 16:27
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We do a center daycare and love it. The first center we were only in for about 8 days because it wasn't a good fit. We've been where we are now for about 16 months (kiddo is 19.5 months) and they do so much with him. He loves the social aspect and all the other kids in the room with him. It is great. Look around at a lot of different places and if the place you choose doesn't feel right, don't feel bad for pulling your kid out and trying somewhere else.
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Feb 1, 2015 16:48
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Baby is officially here. Rough delivery, though. First off, labour started the same day the big New England blizzard was due to hit. We just beat the blizzard Labour: 4 days from the time contractions started getting close together until delivery, 3.5 with broken water, 3 on induction drugs because it stopped progressing, 2 with the epidural Pushing: 3 hours of pushing only to find a cervical lip, spinal shots to knock her out for an hour and let her rest, then 4 more hours of pushing for him to get stuck again sunny side up. C-section: One of the wonderful double-cuts that means she'll never be able to go into labour again without a good chance of dying. Lots of blood loss. Could hear the doctor working as hard during the surgery as the wife was during the labour - baby was stuck good. She did great though, I got treated to a movie-esque blood spattering the ceiling lights and gibs raining down on the doctors, and the wife needed a blood transfusion and getting two pints of blood, but the baby was perfectly healthy aside from some bruising on one side and a couple spots on his head from the pushing and removal. I'm calling him Blizzard Wizzard but the wife wouldn't let me put it on his birth certificate. He's been difficulty since birth, in hindsight because he was starving, which is a problem since the wife has been having milk problems. He's basically refusing the nipple now, presumably because the formula we had to give him to stop his sixth hour of screaming instantly became his preference, but the wife also still isn't really producing much in the way of milk here on day 6. And he's a much much happier baby since we started using it. We want to get him back on the breast, and we're expressing regularly for now, but who knows if it will work. Anyone have any experience weaning them from the formula back to the breast? We've decided we're gonna commit to it when and if her milk starts actually coming in properly. GlyphGryph fucked around with this message at 06:21 on Feb 2, 2015 |
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Feb 2, 2015 06:15
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GlyphGryph posted:
What are the symptoms of your wife not having enough milk? Diapers? Weight gain? How often is she putting the baby to breast and how often is she pumping? Are you working with an IBCLC (lactation consultant)? You will probably want to stop all bottles and give any supplement at the breast with a supplemental nursing system or do a finger feed with the SNS.
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Feb 2, 2015 06:32
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skeetied posted:What are the symptoms of your wife not having enough milk? Diapers? Weight gain? How often is she putting the baby to breast and how often is she pumping? Are you working with an IBCLC (lactation consultant)? You will probably want to stop all bottles and give any supplement at the breast with a supplemental nursing system or do a finger feed with the SNS. The signs were such that after the fourth day even the lactation consultant said formula was the right idea (she didn't seem to like it, though). She said it was probably a side effect of the blood loss and ceasarian and that it's not completely uncommon, and that the problem was basically just a delay in production and was why the baby was so upset and was now refusing the breast, and she encouraged us to try a variety of supplementing time at the breast with formula, which we've been trying but it doesn't seem to help. Considering he'd gone over a solid day of inconsolable crying to the extent that he wouldn't even try to breastfeed (just scream and punch and push away, managed to draw blood on himself and the wife several times and filing his nails proved difficult in his angry state) by that point I think the formula was the right decision. The lack of dirt diapers and the orange crystals things were also potentially bad signs I guess? I was exceptionally tired at the time and honestly may not have been following all the bits and pieces correctly around thinking we had made a terrible mistake in having a baby. The change in him was pretty much instant and he actually slept after, and we didn't even give him much and tried to combine it with the breast (but didn't hear any swallows). We're only just starting to get actual production in response to pumping and expression, a couple days later. The formula has turned him back into the adorable and tolerable infant he was for the first day and a half of his life. But he's completely hostile to the breast now. Which sucks because he actually did manage several good latches and long sucking sessions over the first two days. We're still trying to put the baby to the breast (to no avail) and then pumping/expressing (just the second today since we can't pick up our home machine until tomorrow) every 2-3 hours. I will look into the SNS thing I guess, thanks.
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Feb 2, 2015 07:24
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Jesus christ, that sounds incredibly rough on all of you. Very glad to hear they both came through it alright. I've got no experience with a baby refusing the breast, so I have no advice other than maybe putting formula on the nipple so he'll smell it and recognize something he knows he likes (that's part of the advice I got for getting my boob-addicted baby accept the bottle. Maybe it works the other way too!), and definitely don't force him when he's already unhappy, but I'm sure you're making sure to avoid that already. But I just wanted to assure you that nothing makes milk flow better than nursing an actual baby, so if you do get him to suckle, it will (barring issues from the rough delivery) make her supply pick up very quickly. Pumping just doesn't stimulate milk production the same way. Boobs are amazing at adjusting to an infants needs, and it's very rare that the issue is that the boobs themselves aren't able to produce enough milk. Oh, and if you get nursing sorted, it's probably going to hurt like a bitch for a bit. Going from a peaceful existence to being used as food dispencers around the clock takes some getting used to, and oh my god, you get so sore. But that will pass, I promise, and the convenience of always having food on tap is totally worth the painful beginning. Good luck, I hope things go upwards from here, you definitely deserve an easy ride from now on!
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Feb 2, 2015 12:34
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Actually had some luck today! Got a good latch this morning - expressed some milk first to make sure it was running easy and there was some already on the nipple, and put him on it at the first sign of hunger so he wouldn't get angry. I think that might be the way we have to keep trying to do it going forward - handle the slightly more difficult part at the beginning for him, start with some milk on the breast, and catch him early. Hopefully a sign of things to come. Is the breast pump even needed or useful? We haven't gotten ours yet since first they were closed and now it's storming, but we had an automatic one at the hospital and the manual expression seems to consistently draw out way more milk comparatively. Is that the goal, here? On a more positive note, he's also so strong, it's crazy. Killer grip, and absolutely refuses to sleep on his back - flips right to his side immediately since he first figured out how to do it on day 4 (thankfully hasn't shown a desire to go all the way to his stomache yet). If I don't hold his head firmly while burping he looks up and throws it around so hard. I didn't realize newborns would feel so strong. Sockmuppet posted:Jesus christ, that sounds incredibly rough on all of you. Very glad to hear they both came through it alright. Yeah, that's the important thing - it was rough, but everyone is okay, and that's what's important. Thankfully we had a good doctor, things could have gone quite worse. GlyphGryph fucked around with this message at 14:33 on Feb 2, 2015 |
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Feb 2, 2015 14:30
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GlyphGryph posted:Is the breast pump even needed or useful? That's very individual. My baby never did accept the bottle, so the pump I bought went almost completely unused, and I used manual expression for those rare occasions when I needed to get rid of a little milk. But if your baby keeps taking the bottle, it's great to be able to stock up, and to give mum the chance to get out and about without baby. Like most baby products, you never really know if you need it until you suddenly do  Re: tiny strongmen - the grasping reflex is so strong in newborns that you can actually lift them up into the air and they'll support their own weight entirely. Obviously you should never do this, but I've seen old pictures of doctors doing it like it's a party trick So glad to hear that you're making progress!
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Feb 2, 2015 15:12
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GlyphGryph posted:Baby is officially here. Aaaaaand that might be enough of this thread for me.
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Feb 2, 2015 15:42
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Ishamael posted:Aaaaaand that might be enough of this thread for me. Yeah my due date is in 8 days and I keep wondering how wise it is that I read this thread.
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Feb 2, 2015 16:34
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I went with my wife to the 8 week ultrasound to confirm she was pregnant. She went back to the 12 week and the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat and had to get the ultrasound machine again. Apparently she couldn't find the heartbeat because there are identical twins swimming around in there fighting each other and generally being spastic little shits. I guess we could find out in a week what the gender is, but no guarantees as she'll only be 16.5 weeks pregnant. Surprisingly, her hormones aren't acting up nearly as badly with this pregnancy as they did with the last one, but she is tired a lot because, you know, growing two babies.
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Feb 2, 2015 17:20
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Ishamael posted:Aaaaaand that might be enough of this thread for me. Sorry. No Butt Stuff posted:Apparently she couldn't find the heartbeat because there are identical twins swimming around in there fighting each other and generally being spastic little shits. Lucky. I was really hoping for twins. The wife was not. Although considering how things went, maybe she was right.
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Feb 2, 2015 17:30
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The funny thing is, I was too. I joked with her about it a lot and was actually a little disappointed when we had the 8 week screening. When I got home from work after her 12 week screening, I guess I realized I had been relieved, but here we are.
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Feb 2, 2015 17:43
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GlyphGryph posted:Actually had some luck today! Got a good latch this morning - expressed some milk first to make sure it was running easy and there was some already on the nipple, and put him on it at the first sign of hunger so he wouldn't get angry. I think that might be the way we have to keep trying to do it going forward - handle the slightly more difficult part at the beginning for him, start with some milk on the breast, and catch him early. I'm glad it's going better! Lots of skin to skin time is good for both mom and baby. It makes it easy to offer the breast very very frequently too; I would suggest any time the baby stirs at all to try offering so that you can hopefully catch him before he gets too grumpy. If your wife is comfortable hand expressing, there's no need for a pump. It's a lot more effective for many people.
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Feb 2, 2015 23:33
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No Butt Stuff posted:I went with my wife to the 8 week ultrasound to confirm she was pregnant. Wow. Congratulations! I think carrying twins would kill me  Though it would be lovely to have two little ones at the same time.
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Feb 3, 2015 00:28
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Big Bug Hug posted:Wow. Congratulations! I think carrying twins would kill me My wife is 5'2",so she's also thinking the twins may kill her.
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Feb 3, 2015 00:40
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No Butt Stuff posted:My wife is 5'2",so she's also thinking the twins may kill her. Yeah I'm only almost 5'1" and feeling very squished.
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Feb 3, 2015 01:46
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Shorties unite! 5'2 as well. Your poor wife... I'm sure she'll be ok!
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Feb 3, 2015 02:20
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If you need a palate cleanser after a hard birth story I had my son after about 9 total hours, of which it sucked but only 2 or so hours of it reaaaaaly sucked, without any meds, no tearing, and I felt pretty good the instant he was out of me. Seriously, yes, labor hurts but at the end of it you get a baby! What a great reward!
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Feb 3, 2015 02:49
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Yeah another palate cleanser birth story: my water broke, I went to the hospital, nothing happened for a couple hours so they gave me pitocin, then an epi. I never had a "natural" contraction, I went straight from zero to pitocin-induced contraction pain which was, you know, a surprise, but the epi kicked in and it was a dream. I was in labor for like 17 hrs total but with the epi I didn't care. No tearing or anything, and recovery was a breeze. I used to have menstrual cramps so bad that I wouldn't be able to walk, and even the pitocin contractions weren't as bad as that for me. It's a very variable and personalized experience for sure. (I ran a really high fever during most of this time so my memory is hazy, then I had a paradoxical reaction the Benadryl they gave me to help me sleep since I'd been awake 36 hrs so I ended up with auditory hallucinations for days but the actual labor part was seriously a breeze for me. Hooray for medication, if you want it!)
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Feb 3, 2015 03:12
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They are getting trained at our hospital in using Nitrous Oxide for use during Labor. I'm hoping that it will be available for me. The nurses gave conflicting information about it.
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Feb 3, 2015 04:03
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You guys don't normally have gas available in labour?
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Feb 3, 2015 06:03
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Funhilde posted:They are getting trained at our hospital in using Nitrous Oxide for use during Labor. I'm hoping that it will be available for me. The nurses gave conflicting information about it. I used only that for my labour, it was great. You use it just when you're having contractions, and the effect goes away as soon as you start breathing normal air, so it's a very... non-invasive form of pain relief, and you administer it yourself, so you're in total control of it. Admittedly at some point I was complaining that I thought it was all a big hoax and that it wasn't working at all, but when the midwife asked if I wanted to try without, I was all YOU TAKE MY GAS OVER MY DEAD BODY WHAT IF ITS TEN TIMES WORSE WITHOUT IT?! Another palate cleanser story here - I gave birth with no other drugs than the gas and air, and of course it's not anyones idea of an enjoyable experience, but the pain was always...manageable. And it was a productive pain, I knew that it wasn't caused by something scary being wrong with me, it was a very natural thing that my body was supposed to do, and I knew that if I wanted to, I could always ask for more drugs. The knowledge of relief if I wanted it and the fact that it wasn't a scary or dangerous pain, made it something I could cope with. I felt in control of the situation, and looking back, I'm super proud of myself, since I'm usually a massive wimp I had one itty bitty tear that required what the midwife refered to as "two decorative stitches", and the pain from the small local anasthetic injection was worse for me than most of the labour pain. (Needle in my private parts  )
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Feb 3, 2015 06:07
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