Suburbs Mama: Pregnancy

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6 week Update baby/postpartum

Hi all!

I hope everyone is well, first I want to apologize for not posting in a very long time. But life with 3 kids was been busy, busy busy!!

I really underestimated how much harder it would be with three kids. Little babies really need you all day long, feeding, diaper changing, cuddling, rocking and so forth---and then add in a 3 and 6 year old, homeschooling, cleaning, laundry and preparing 3 meals a day... whew... I really have my hands full.

But I know that they grow up so fast, so I am trying to take the time and enjoy it all.

These past 6 weeks have been hard. I am not going to lie.

Mostly because two of the older kids and my hubby had a cold for 2 weeks (fever and cough).
I had to take care of them, as well as a newborn and still take care of everything at home. It was so hard, but with Gods help, I was able to push through.

Now that everyone is good and well, we are on somewhat of a schedule.

William is now 6 weeks old. He is more alert and awake more during the day. He even smiles and coos sometimes.

We started using cloth diapers at 4 weeks, but William poops/pees so often, that I kept running out of cloth diapers and wipes in less then 24 hours, I couldn't keep up with the laundry, so I went back to organic disposables for now. Hopefully in a few weeks we can start using cloth diapers, once he stops pooping--what seems like every 20 minutes! ;)

William had a hard time nursing in the beginning, he just would not latch on. I have never had this problem before (with my 2 older kids) so this was very unusual for me.

After 2 visits to a lactation consultant and trying syringes and nipple shields- I gave up and just pumped and bottle fed him for 4 weeks- my insurance covered a medela double pump!
I applaud those mamas who exclusively pump. It takes a lot of work. You pump, wash parts and bottles and then feed the baby, only 1-2 hours to do it over again.

Even though I was bottle feeding, I still kept trying to nurse him, he wouldn't latch on until he turned 4 weeks old! Maybe it was because he was older, I don't know, but I was so happy!

Now he exclusively nurses, and I only pump when I am going out and hubby needs to give him a bottle.

He spits up a lot after he eats! As my first two kids did to-- and it is something that went away after a few months.
I don't know why. My doctor said that it may be because I am overfeeding him, But I am not sure how much he is eating since I am nursing. Anyone else go through this?

On good days, William goes to sleep around 10:30pm and then nurses around 12am, 3 am and then again at 6am. But we have had some nights when he seems to wake up every 2 hours to nurse and poop.But this little guys does not have hims nights and days mixed up, which I am so thankful!

I have been lucky enough, that he sleeps from 9-11am, which is when we do homeschool, I thank God for that.

We have had a few of those days (especially evenings) when he is so cranky that I don't know what to do. Its when I want to tear my hair out and cry! LOL, ok, not that dramatic, but I really feel helpless.

He cries even after he is fed/changed, rocked, swaddled. On those evenings, I give him a warm bath and a massage (using coconut oil), which usually helps. If that still doesn't work, I give him gripe water or gas drops. This is the reason I am afraid to go out with the family for dinner, or anywhere else in the evenings. We had company over one evening, and William cried for like an hour non stop.

Now on to me. I am now 6 weeks postpartum.

I gained 40 lbs with this pregnancy and have lost 25 so far. I feel great and have started to exercise after my 6 week checkup.

For 4 weeks, I wore my belly bandit. It was great, I loved how it sucked in the big flabby belly.

I am not going to go into much detail, but lets say that post partum recovery has not been a walk in the park. There is stitches, hemorrhoids, terrible bladder control, bleeding. Yeah, I won't go into much detail. But I will say one thing, if you get stitches down there, then you must get Mama Bottom Balm! It was a life saver!

Thanks so much for visiting,

Pregnancy Recap

Well my friends, I can not believe that this pregnancy journey is over!

It seems to have flown by and yet crawled by at the same time.

I am just so happy that our little boy is here.

I am so glad to have documented this pregnancy. Because I always seem to forget things...

I never remember if this "symptom" is normal and when I felt certain symptoms.

Now I can look back and see.

Thanks for sharing this journey with me.

Birth Story- Pregnancy #3 (VBAC)

The birth of William

3rd pregnancy

Due date 01/25/2014. Delivery date: 01/18/2014
9 lbs 5 oz
21 inches long

I am so excited to share William's birth story with you all.
I absolutely love hearing and reading birth stories, I think because they are all so different. Everyone has a story to tell. :) So I hope you enjoy .

I had my 39 week check up on Thursday, I was 2cm dilated. Which wasn't much change from last weeks doctor apt, where I was 1.5 cm. So I really didn't think much about it.

I had my OB strip my membranes.

My sister flew in on Wednesday, so on Thursday after my doctor apt, we went to to "walk" the mall for a few hours and then out for lunch.

After a few hours I was exhausted, I had cramps and was spotting.

That evening, I had a pineapple, and used a breast pump for 20 minutes to stimulate contractions.
I went to bed very crampy and had irregular contractions. I really did not think much of them. I mean, I just started to "try" to go into labor. I figured a few days of walking and breast pump use would send me into labor..... Little did I know.

I kept waking up during the night with contractions, they were very regular too, they were coming 5-7 minutes apart. They were painful, but manageable with breathing.

Finally at 5:30am I gave up on sleeping. It was Friday, So I figured I might as well start my Shabbat preparations instead of trying to cope through the contractions in bed.

I cooked, and cleaned all the while working through the contractions.
I found it very helpful to lean on the counter during a contractions and kind of swing my hips side to side.

After I was finished with all of my shabbat preparations, I took a nap.
After my nap, I saw that my contractions were not coming very close anymore. They were were coming 10-12 minutes apart now.

We had dinner and spent time with the family as we usually do on Friday nights. The contractions kept coming 10-12 minutes apart but were getting very painful now. I had to lean on something and breath through them.

Finally I went to bed at 9:30pm. I woke up with contractions at 11:00pm, the contractions were now coming 3-5 minutes apart and were so painful, I could not lay in bed.
I labored on the floor, on my hands and knees for a bit.

I decided to try to get in a hot shower and see if they go away. I was in the shower for a good 30 minutes, until I have used up all of the hot water. It was wonderful to relieve the pain in the shower during a contractions, but I noticed that while I was in the shower, the contractions kept coming every 3 minutes- one after another.

I got out of the shower and hubby asked what I wanted to do. I told him that we should go to the hospital and get checked, since the contractions were not going away.
I thought that I may be sent home, since just the day before I was only at 2cm, but I figured that I better check, because there was no way I could sleep that night with these contractions.

We got in the car, the seat warmers felt wonderful on the back during the contractions, I remember driving and looking at the clock to see when another contraction will hit, they were 5 minutes apart on the dot.

We arrived at the hospital and I was checked at 1:30am. I was 4 1/2 cm dilated!

Plus I was marked as "high risk" because of my previous C Section and size of my babies, so they didn't waste any time.

We were admitted and taken to our room.
I could not walk and It was so uncomfortable to labor in the hospital room.
I am so glad I labored as much as I could at home.
The contractions were so painful, I could barely manage to breath trough them, I kept waiting for one to end and then another one began.

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