Baby Support Thread

[Popple]

Hi!

Course I didn't mind you posting Sam. Thank you for all the lovely messages I read them last night but was too tired to reply properly. Poppy arrived on Monday morning at 5.53am and she is wonderful :)

Now for the long bit!

It was a bit of a traumatic birth because she was an undiagnosed breech. I woke up at 6.20am on Sunday morning with aches and pains and spent the day in hospital while we had her movement and heart monitored again. Later that evening the pains were getting stronger and I was convinced it was just going to be braxton hicks again so tried to ignore it. By midnight I realised it was something more and called the hospital and they asked me to come in. When I got there I was 4cm and I had to wait quite a while for a bed on the midwife led unit. When they examined me they said they could feel a hand on top of the head but were not too worried.

I was really lucky that the midwife who has been coming out to support me in terms of MH was on and she was taking care of me. She got me a fab room which was much nicer than the ones we saw on the tour :P
I had diamorphine and gas and air. Because I had been awake so long I was stupidly tired and that was worse than the pain but the diamorphine was great and so I rested a lot and lay on this weird curved bed thing on the floor until 5.15 when I had the urge to push. We called the midwife and she didn't think I would be there yet but when she examined me I was fully diliated but she thought she could see a foot and so she called another midwife to check and she agreed.

Next thing I was being run down to the consulatant led unit and on the way I couldn't stop pushing but they were telling me to. The doctor came and said it was too late for a c-section and they would have to deliver. Within half an hour poppy was here and everyone was really surprised because I managed to deliver her naturally with only a 2nd degree tear and with a very short pushing stage for a first labour.

I was terrified when she came because I couldn't hear her cry and my third stage only lasted 12 minutes but it felt longer than the entire labour because I was convinced something was wrong. It was such a relief when I finally heard her cry!

Oh yeah and my placenta exploded across the room covering everything, including the doctor lol. Peter was nearly sick :P

Things have been pretty good. I have had some problems with the recovery because of her being breech but I was super lucky to avoid having a section so I can't complain! It was really weird when I was hospital because doctors and other people kept coming round to see me just to say well done because they heard that I had delivered a breech baby as my first with very little damage. It's not like I had a choice she was coming!

Poppy is so beautiful and such a good feeder, she latched by herself when we had skin to skin because I was too out of it to do anything. She has some problem with her left leg which I am trying so hard not to worry about until we know more. We are going to be seeing the specialist orthopedic doctors in the next 6 weeks. It may be something that was there all along or an effect of being breech we don't know.

We got home yesterday morning and I finally managed to get some sleep last night because I had only had 8 hours sleep in 5 days and was feeling ready to keel over! :P

The following content has been hidden - Reason : Pictures

[Cacoethes]

wow Katy! very well done! :D

[Mrs Sam]

Wow Katy what a story! I'm pleased you didn't decide a home birth!

Poppy is beautiful'

[charcoal feathers]

Aw, big congratulation to you all! how heavy was she? x

[squirrelspit]

beautiful, and what a lovely name.

Sounds like an eventful birth though! blimey!!

I had quite a bad tear. Ice packs and sits baths (i dunno if thats you spell it) were amazing for me, but i had a pain in my coccyx for months.

OD had a problem with his leg when he was born, he had to have an ultra sound on it.. i think its was just that it clicked quite a bit when they did the new born check, but it was fine in the end, hopefully Poppys will be something like that.

Im so pleased for you both Katy. You really deserve this.

[Popple]

Thank you. Me too Sam I couldn't have done it without the midwife who worked with me while pregnant because even though I disassociated to an extent that made me able to focus on pushing she kept me calm and made me feel like I could do it especially while I was so scared when I couldn't hear Poppy.

Also has anyone here co-slept? All the midwives keep banging on about not sleeping with her in our bed but every night in the hospital I fell asleep with her in bed and last night when she wouldn't settle in her cot we put her in our bed and we had to best 3 hours sleep EVER! It was amazing and we all sleep so much easier with her like that. I don't want to exclusively co-sleep but I do want to keep doing it now and then like we have done if it means we can get some sleep. At the same time I obviously don't want anything to happen to her, they keep talking about SID (my biggest fear!). I guess I just want reassurance if anyone has done it.

[Popple]

She was 7lb 3oz
She looks bigger than that because she is really long and all the length is in her legs lol. None of the clothes fit her or come close so I have been sending Peter to buy newborn size sleepsuits.

I had my first bath yesterday, dear god it is an amazing feeling lol

She has one leg shorter than the other but it is also the wrong shape it curves in quite a lot and she rarely straightens it unless you hold it out. It doesn't seem to hurt her even when you straighten it but the difference is quite noticeable.

[Mrs Sam]

Elliot used to sleep with us from around 5am-9am. It was the longest bit of sleep we got when I was breast feeding him. He also slept on me a lot during the day fr the first few weeks. Once he was more settled he used to go down in his basket without a fuss so I guess we did kind of co sleep initially. Incidentally unless Elliot is ill now he hates sleeping in our bed!

[random.swirls]

Congrats Hun! She is beautiful :)

[88shelz]

Congrats katie. Poppy is lovely.

[squirrelspit]

i co-slept with oliver until i stopped breast feeding about 2 weeks ago. I loved it, i always slept so well cos in the night he would just latch on and feed and i wouldnt wake up.

i was worried that he would never sleep in his own bed, but it came naturally in the end with no big dramas. well.. maybe a week of dramas where he would fall asleep in his own bed but i would bring him into ours when he woke up around 1am, then all of a sudden he just slept in there by himself.

Co sleeping is great but be prepared to not really get the chance to have sex, and you and peter to have not a lot of space.. babies are very kicky.

[Popple]

Thank you all :)

Thanks Sam and Charlie. Sam, that is the same time we had her in with us last night and the same times I fell alseep with her while feeding in the hospital! I thought you had co-slept Charlie because I kept telling myself that you had done it and Oliver was okay when I was getting worried about it. That sounds weird but whatever gets you to sleep at night, right?

[squirrelspit]

absolutely. :)

Honestly, i never once rolled on him or had anything like that happen, you have like, a second sense.. i used to wake up as soon as he would wriggle, and never once felt like he was at risk.

[Popple]

I know what you mean, normally I am a terrible sleeper. I never keep still and Peter is the same but when we have her there we don't move. We wake up in the same position we went to sleep and we react quicker to her waking up then when she is in the cot and she wakes where is usually takes me a minute to realise she is crying.

[squirrelspit]

i was so on edge the first few months with Oliver. Questioning everything i was doing because i had never had any dealings with babies before. I would say just do what feels right to you. Dont stress about eating, pooping, sleeping, any of it, you and her will get into a routine before you know it, and you'll soon learn what every cry and squeak and grumble means.

just because google says this, and someone else says that, doesnt mean that anything you and Poppy are doing is wrong, or behind, or anything.

[~Grace~]

She is absolutely gorgeous Katy.
I am so pleased for you both x

[Childerbeast]

Oh my god Katy she is SO cute! That's weird that it was such a big thing for the breach...over here they routinely deliver breach babies so long as there is nothing in their way! You do need to have a younger dr tho as the older ones will still argue C-section!
I'm sure her legs will be fine, maybe a little bit of wearing something to help it grow straighter? My cousins boy had club foot n had to wear this device to keep it how it was supposed to be, it was like a lil skateboard hehe
We co-sleep with Gideon in the mornings too, he wakes up at 5:00 n ill be damned if im getting up at that time to have him scream at me until he goes back to sleep in my arms lol! I just bring him to bed, stick him on the boob n pass out. Gotta admit I am terrible for smooshing things but hubby is awesome at not letting me (Our poor cats!) and i have almost smooshed
Gideon once, but that was it lol

Is she sleeping and feeding okay still?

Woohoo now i can stop compulsively checking this thread for photos! (Yeah right)

[Cacoethes]

Ah! How did I miss the photos!

Katy, she's perfect! And I love her little outfit! So gorgeous. And I love her name.

[Mrs Sam]

I was never able to feed Elliot lying down as he was such an awful latcher but I got my best sleep at that time. Or if I wasn't asleep I'd just lie with him having skin on skin and it was lovely. I fell asleep in the hospital twice with Elliot with me but I managed to wake up before the nurses came in otherwise I would have gotten told off! I did once in bed at home fall asleep with him on my chest and when I woke up he was standing on the bed leaning on me being propped up by my armpit. Oops. That was my only mistake though. We did that till he started sleeping through at 14 weeks.

[Beautifully Broken]

I co-slept with Faith a lot for the first few months...Not exclusively but she would only sleep on me so it was easier!

Poppy is gorgeous, Katy! And sorry to hear about your traumatic birth!