Baby The Official Baby/Fetus/BirthCanal Thread

after being stuck on the bili blankie all night & doing a big gnarly poop, her bili levels were low enough & her pudding head has subsided enough that they let us go home. basically, the blood in her head was breaking down, which is good, but led to an excess of broken down RBCs (hence high bili) & it just took a bit to work out out of her system. she still has a bit of softness (beyond normal soft babyhead) so we still have to be extra alert for a recurrence of the jaundice and/or make sure there's no recurrence of head jigglies but we are otherwise probably ok!
Glad to hear Daphne is doing better.
Wishing you peaceful days with your new little BFF. Now the real fun begins :D
 
after being stuck on the bili blankie all night & doing a big gnarly poop, her bili levels were low enough & her pudding head has subsided enough that they let us go home. basically, the blood in her head was breaking down, which is good, but led to an excess of broken down RBCs (hence high bili) & it just took a bit to work out out of her system. she still has a bit of softness (beyond normal soft babyhead) so we still have to be extra alert for a recurrence of the jaundice and/or make sure there's no recurrence of head jigglies but we are otherwise probably ok!
yay!

hopefully she didnt have to do too many of those toe needle pricks for the billi tests
 
her heels are a bit beat up, in addition to the bilis they were also checking her glucose and her blood counts, & not all necessarily on the same schedule. she also has her first doctor appt this morning & they'll be doing another bili on her, so she's got at least one more, & based on her eye-whites and her noggin still un-pudding-ing, her number might be high-ish meaning more follow-up pokes. but, she is super chill so far and other than fussing right when they poke her, she tolerates the rest of it just fine.

 
She is so beautiful 😍
today is our first day home alone without her dad! she's had two well visits/weight checks so far, she's gaining very well & her noggin is normal now. she still sleeps alllll the time. we're having a hard time with breastfeeding bc my boobs are so big & it's hard to find a good position for her that doesn't make her frustrated, but I'm still trying to start with the boob & catch her early enough that she's not over-hungry, and if I have to start with a bottle bc she rejects a tiddy I'm trying to get her to go to the boob after round 1 & burping. a position that works one time won't work next time, and one she hated will be just fine another time. it's dumb. I did at least try to get bottles that have nippley nipples.

either way, I have to pump bc jfc these fucking things are ridiculous. just absolutely ludicrous. preposterous.

I blasted myself in the face one time trying to look at a nip to see if it was working, thank cthulhu for glasses. I've definitely blasted the kiddo in the face a few times :lol:
 
my baby hates my boobs so I guess they're just ironic now or something

tonight I run out of even pumped milk & I'm empty so I'll have to supplement with formula and it's making me super sad & stressed which doesn't help the supply situation
have met with lactation consultant & of course that day she had no problem, but at home she just gets really, really upset & refuses to even try to latch, even when I catch hunger cues early enough, express, compress, pump first, etc, with or without pillow, regardless of which boob or position, and she doesn't like the nipple shield. she's definitely not tongue-tied.

trying not to feel like a failure but I've cried about it a bunch. it doesn't help that I haven't been drinking or eating enough because of the everything. we're also moving tomorrow? so everything is a bit of a mess and I guess I'm no exception.
 
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my baby hates my boobs so I guess they're just ironic now or something

tonight I run out of even pumped milk & I'm empty so I'll have to supplement with formula and it's making me super sad & stressed which doesn't help the supply situation
have met with lactation consultant & of course that day she had no problem, but at home she just gets really, really upset & refuses to even try to latch, even when I catch hunger cues early enough, express, compress, pump first, etc, with or without pillow, regardless of which boob or position, and she doesn't like the nipple shield. she's definitely not tongue-tied.

trying not to feel like a failure but I've cried about it a bunch. it doesn't help that I haven't been drinking or eating enough because of the everything. we're also moving tomorrow? so everything is a bit of a mess and I guess I'm no exception.
Just remember fed is best. Being a successful mommy is a healthy growing baby, however that needs to happen.

Hugs for you. It’s hard dealing with all the after birth emotions when things all go as planned, let alone when there are hiccups.
 
my baby hates my boobs so I guess they're just ironic now or something

tonight I run out of even pumped milk & I'm empty so I'll have to supplement with formula and it's making me super sad & stressed which doesn't help the supply situation
have met with lactation consultant & of course that day she had no problem, but at home she just gets really, really upset & refuses to even try to latch, even when I catch hunger cues early enough, express, compress, pump first, etc, with or without pillow, regardless of which boob or position, and she doesn't like the nipple shield. she's definitely not tongue-tied.

trying not to feel like a failure but I've cried about it a bunch. it doesn't help that I haven't been drinking or eating enough because of the everything. we're also moving tomorrow? so everything is a bit of a mess and I guess I'm no exception.
We had one come to our house, still didnt work out in the end, but doing in the environment you'll be doing it in was a big help.

Moving doesnt help that though :/

Do you have a boob pillow to hold the kid/boob in the right position? That helped too
 
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We had one come to our house, still didnt work out in the end, but doing in the environment you'll be doing it in was a big help.

Moving doesnt help that though :/

Do you have a boob pillow to hold the kid/boob in the right position? That helped too
yeah, I've got a pillow and at the office they even had the same kind of pillow.

I'm at the very least just trying to step up my pumping so I can try to keep supply doing something.
 
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yeah, I've got a pillow and at the office they even had the same kind of pillow.

I'm at the very least just trying to step up my pumping so I can try to keep supply doing something.
That first little bit which you're already past where the kid gets colostrum is the super important part. You did that, so the kid is already awesome from that.

As long as she eats somehow, all is well
 
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Just remember fed is best. Being a successful mommy is a healthy growing baby, however that needs to happen.

Hugs for you. It’s hard dealing with all the after birth emotions when things all go as planned, let alone when there are hiccups.
I keep oscillating between the logical part of my brain being like "dude tons of babies are exclusively formula fed and they turn out just fine, you're doing what you can, it'll be ok" and the emotional part crying "my body is betraying me, I'm the worst mom ever bc I cant even get my kid to do this one thing that all kids naturally want to do" etc
 
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my baby hates my boobs so I guess they're just ironic now or something

tonight I run out of even pumped milk & I'm empty so I'll have to supplement with formula and it's making me super sad & stressed which doesn't help the supply situation
have met with lactation consultant & of course that day she had no problem, but at home she just gets really, really upset & refuses to even try to latch, even when I catch hunger cues early enough, express, compress, pump first, etc, with or without pillow, regardless of which boob or position, and she doesn't like the nipple shield. she's definitely not tongue-tied.

trying not to feel like a failure but I've cried about it a bunch. it doesn't help that I haven't been drinking or eating enough because of the everything. we're also moving tomorrow? so everything is a bit of a mess and I guess I'm no exception.

No reason to feel like a failure. You're doing your best and nobody can expect more from you than that.
 
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Reactions: Immigrant
I keep oscillating between the logical part of my brain being like "dude tons of babies are exclusively formula fed and they turn out just fine, you're doing what you can, it'll be ok" and the emotional part crying "my body is betraying me, I'm the worst mom ever bc I cant even get my kid to do this one thing that all kids naturally want to do" etc
I can totally relate. The first two months with my oldest were some of the hardest. The hormones and lack of sleep exacerbate everything. It does get better, I promise. I had to supplement with my last one. No matter how long I pumped or what I ate or how many hours we nursed, my supply went nowhere. It sucked, but after realizing it and finally having a baby that was getting enough food, things fell into place. I ended up supplementing until about 8 months out when I finally just weaned her completely.

I know this doesn’t help with wanting to breastfeed, but maybe hearing another story of things not going as planned can help you see being a successful parent goes so far beyond this one aspect.