The Official New Mom Thread

[llij]

Hi Everyone!

I thought that I would come on over to this thread from the "mom's to be" thread since I had my baby 11 days ago. Here is a picture of my new little guy!

His name is John Paul and he was born via c-section on October 27th. He was a month early due to my amniotic fluids being too low. My little guy is 5 lbs. and a great baby! We are having problems with feeding as he was born with a cleft palate (soft tissue in the back of his throat not fully formed) and can't nurse. He isn't the best eater as his suck and swallow reflexes are challenged from the cleft palate. Thankfully, we have special bottles and nipples to help him. He will have surgery in a few months to correct the problem.

I'm trying to get back in the swing of things with a newborn as it has been 7 years since my last baby. Also, I'm new at having a baby boy!

My recovery from the c-section has been a little tough as I have never had a c-section before and I had some minor complications. I'm just grateful that everything went well with the baby and the baby is doing great overall! I can't wait to feel well again and I look forward to coming to this thread for advice on raising a boy!

Anyways, thanks for letting me ramble and I look forward to hearing all about your wonderful babies!

 

[Alice28]

WELCOME JILL! And WELCOME John Paul! What a GORGEOUS baby boy! You are going to LOVE having a boy- I have two of them and they are the cat's meow. I was kinda in the oppostie position as you- my third was a girl.

I hope you continue to recover from your c-section and that baby John's cleft palate will be able to be completely fixed with the surgery. Thank God there are special bottles and such to help him out.

I just have to say again, he's gorgeous and what a proud mommy you must be- I'm so glad you both are doing OK- he looks to be perfect even for being a month early. The only difference so far I've encountered with boy babies and girl babies is watch out for a "fountain" while changing his diaper.

 

[gwcollins71]

Welcome Jill and John Paul! Best wishes to your husband and girls too. Now there's another man in your life.

I'm glad that you are both well. He is a beautiful boy! He looks like a full term baby. I never would have known he was a preemie if you didn't tell us.

How are the girls handling the new brother? Does he have 2 more doting Mommies?

Anyway, I'm glad to see you have crossed over. (Even if you're a Boston fan .)

Gretchen

 

[bellacam]

Welcome llij - what a gorgeous baby boy you have! I hope you continue to recover swiftly. I too had a c section and know it can be rough.

lissawynn -I could have posted the exact same thing. Aidan too has had an on and off fever since friday and has not been himself. He has been very fussy and has no interest in nursing(so I'm back to pumping,what fun!) and has just not been himself. We saw the Dr today, too. No strep here either, thank goodness. Here's hoping they both feel better soon. This is the first time he's been sick and it really tears at you.

 

[Hillbeans]

LLIJ - WELCOME!!!! Your son is beautiful. I hope you're doing alright too! I know the baby was early, but he's so adorable!! Best of luck to you.

 

[DisKim]

Jill - Welcome! What a beautiful baby boy!! I have two boys, so if you need any "boy" advice, I'll be glad to try and help. Your two daughters must be thrilled. I have a soon-to-be 10 year old DD and she is a little mommy.

DisPhD - Okay, I'm checking the darn jewelry website every time I have a chance. The sad thing is I'm stealthy about it so DH won't see me and make fun of me. I ordered 3 pieces so far. One pair of earrings for myself and the other two are for my niece.

gwcollins - Grading! Ugh! My grades are due next week as soon as I get back from Florida. I still have kids trying to hand things in. I love how they wait until the last minute. I can't believe how bad my kids' grades are in general this year. I have 4 students failing my 12 honors course. I never had anyone fail that course before. They are usually high achieving students!

I'm so tired. Getting ready to leave for Florida on Wednesday is wiping me out. It's so much easier to travel in the summer when I'm not working. DH got a new job today. It is in the same school district he has been working in but it is a year-round position. We were both really hoping a nice raise would come with that but we didn't get what we were hoping for. I really feel like he is getting taken advantage of. Hopefully, he'll move onto something else once he finishes his master's degree.

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

Congratulations, llij. John Paul is so precious!

 

[DisneyPhD]

Congratulations, llij and welcome. He is just lovely. You did good work!

DisKim, that is how I started too. Head over the the thead, you sound like you might need support! http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=10509683#post10509683

 

[zalansky]

Welcome llij! The baby is adorable! And like others have said he does look like a full term baby. You will love having a boy

 

[tkyes]

Congratulations lilij! John Paul is gorgeous!!!

Alice - that's funny. I'm glad you guys were able to joke around!

Sounds like we have a few sick babies on the DIS. Tyler started a bit of a cold yesterday. His eyes were watering so much.

We had Tyler's 6 month pictures taken (2 weeks late) yesterday. They turned out pretty well. The color ones are not so great because you can really see his rash.

You can see them at www.flashportraits.com - my portraits - last name kyes - click on the 2nd "tamie" and password is tyler.

Tamie

 

[lissawynn]

Welcome John Paul!

Jimmy is feeling a little better today. My DS is watching him as my dad is in St. Croix for the week (lucky him). I'm going to check on him in just a few minutes b/c I have an early lunch period.
Here's to hoping all the sick DIS babies are back to being themselves soon!

 

[zalansky]

Tkyes -
Those pics came out GREAT! He looks like a baby model! The ones in the rocking chair are so cute. They all are...I wish we had one of those studios here, but there are none in Florida at all. Thanks for sharing them.

 

[Alice28]

Tamie-

Love the portraits- I like the ones on the last page where Tyler is sitting in the chair. Too cute!

Hope all the ill babies are feeling much better today!

DisKim- and here's hoping your students get on the ball and start improving! And that grading goes quickly for you.

Not much to report here- just have to take the car in for an oil change and then the phone repair guy is coming to fix my line- for some reason I can't get a dial tone.

 

[bellacam]

Tamie - what beautiful pictures! Tyler is so cute!

Aidan is doing much better today. He even nursed this morning. Yipeee!!! I absolutley hate pumping!

 

[laurajetter]

Hi everyone!

I finally took the time to make the jump from the moms-to-be thread to this one... I actually only frequented it every so often. I thought I'd just come over and introduce myself and my 2 1/2 month old son, Jacob! You can see his pic in my sig below.

Anyway, for my first question to those with experience, after weaning off of breastfeeding, does your breast size go back to the size they were before getting pregnant? Mine got pretty big during pregnancy, and even huger after the milk came in! I liked being a B cup, but those days are long gone and now I'm afraid that I'll never fit back into all my cute little novelty t-shirts without seeming like I'm busting out of them! Some women might like that they're bigger, but mine also look more saggy, I guess due to the weight of all that milk!

Laura

 

[zalansky]

Alice28 -
Got my Gymboree email today! YIP YIP YIPPEE!!! You were right on....

 

[DisKim]

Tamie - those pictures are adorable! I wish we had Flash portraits here. My favorite is the very last close-up in the rocking chair.

DisPhD - Oh, I've already been on the thread. I've just lurked and haven't posted.

laurajetter - Welcome! I've nursed three babies and mine seem to go back to my old size but they get saggy. They look so sad right now. What I found helps is chest exercises. After my second child, I got into exercising and found they perked right up with some chest presses, etc. Hope that helps!

OK, I just wanted to check in. I'm at work and have a lot to do!

 

[justhat]

Tamie, Tyler's portraits are adorable! He looks like such a little man with his plaid shirt on. Very cute photos, and honestly, if you hadn't mentioned the rash, I really don't think I would have noticed.

Jill, congrats on your new little boy! John Paul is absolutely beautiful! I agree that you'd never know he was 4 weeks early, and he doesn't look 5 pounds either-he looks much bigger to me. That's great that he's doing well with the special bottles. Your little girls must be so thrilled to have him around!

Laura, congrats on baby Jacob! I love his photo in your sig, like he's flexing his muscles. About breast size, mine seem smaller than pre-baby now. Maybe it's just that I remember what size I wore when I was pregnant and then nursing so long, but I feel like I have no chest at all right now as what little is left is very saggy. We're at the tail end of weaning so I guess things might still change, but I think I'm set at this point. It's good to hear that chest presses help though, DisKim, cause I'll start doing more of them now. I usually do them at the gym a couple of days a week but I'll be sure to add them to my regular routine now.

 

[llij]

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone! John Paul is a cutie and I thought that his size of 5 lbs. was great for a month early. I'm hoping he will continue to eat well and grow so we can get him into newborn clothes. The girls are definitely loving having him around and it is like I have two extra "mothers"! My oldest dd says that John is her baby!

I have a question for those of you who had c-sections. How long did it take before you felt "normal" again? When were you able to resume your regular activity? I'm feeling much better this week, but if I move around too much then I get really sore and tired. My DH goes back to work next week and I am a little nervous about it. The girls have a busy schedule and I just hope that I can keep up with it.

Also, how long did it take for you to get back into normal clothes (meaning no maternity clothes)? I've actually lost all of my pregnancy weight already (I attribute that to being very sick last week), but my weight is distributed in different places. I'm still swollen around my abdomen due to the c-section and am not sure I could zip up any pants yet. I'm tired of maternity clothes and want to wear my old clothes.

I hope that all the babies who are sick are feeling better!

 

[KirstenB]

Jill, my dh worked from home for 2 weeks after my c-section. I was nervous about being on my own, just because the first week of the c-section was really tough (had some digestive issues, which were horrible!). But I was surprised how much better I felt closer to 2 weeks.

Our baby is 9 1/2 wks old. With our older dd, I was back in my regular clothes in 3 wks. She was very colicky, and I literally ran the weight off, just running to soothe her 24/7. With this baby, I'm still 5-10 lbs out of my regular clothes. I broke down and bought 2 pairs of jeans in a bigger size, just so I'd have something to wear. Most of my fall/winter tops are big anyways, so they're fine. I think the abdominal swelling went down after 4 wks, now I'm just paying the price for eating ice cream everyday this summer!!