WDW through an 8-month-old’s eyes &10m &13m &16m...New 10/30!

[macrosswife]

I am coming late to the party!
Found you on the October 2012 thread...we are (hopefully!!) going October 7-13. My son will be 9 when we travel...he was 9 months old on his first Disney trip, so I can offer you a few tricks that worked really well for us!

First, be sure to check out Baby's Best Friend. Our Little Guy fell asleep best when we were rocking him, so I rented a rocker from them. They rent all kinds of baby stuff, and had we not had grandparents meeting us there with a fully-loaded babymobile, we probably would have rented more!

The best idea we had, however, (and I'm sure I learned about it here on Disboards, LOL!) was to pack gallon zip-loc bags with everything we needed to make a single diaper change...so 1 one-gallon bag would hold a disposable changing pad, a clean diaper, and 2-3 wipes in a separate sandwich-sized baggie. It made those diaper changes so much easier...grab one zip loc bag and go. If you're using cloth diapers, you could then use it to store dirty ones until you can get back to the condo to wash.
And another great idea...if you need to use diaper rash cream? Buy the plastic contact lens containers and put a single "squirt" in each compartment. Just enough for one diaper change, won't leak, and that way you don't have to lug around the whole big bottle.
We also used the same idea for meals...one zip-loc bag had everything we needed for a single meal. (He was on formula after a crash and burn attempt at BFing )

Also- be sure to bring any infant medicines with you, as well as your pediatrician's phone number. It's the best way to avert Murphy's Law...if you have them, you won't need them.

I wish you all the best!!!
~Kimber

 

[oboedm]

I am coming late to the party!
Found you on the October 2012 thread...we are (hopefully!!) going October 7-13. My son will be 9 when we travel...he was 9 months old on his first Disney trip, so I can offer you a few tricks that worked really well for us!

First, be sure to check out Baby's Best Friend. Our Little Guy fell asleep best when we were rocking him, so I rented a rocker from them. They rent all kinds of baby stuff, and had we not had grandparents meeting us there with a fully-loaded babymobile, we probably would have rented more!

The best idea we had, however, (and I'm sure I learned about it here on Disboards, LOL!) was to pack gallon zip-loc bags with everything we needed to make a single diaper change...so 1 one-gallon bag would hold a disposable changing pad, a clean diaper, and 2-3 wipes in a separate sandwich-sized baggie. It made those diaper changes so much easier...grab one zip loc bag and go. If you're using cloth diapers, you could then use it to store dirty ones until you can get back to the condo to wash.
And another great idea...if you need to use diaper rash cream? Buy the plastic contact lens containers and put a single "squirt" in each compartment. Just enough for one diaper change, won't leak, and that way you don't have to lug around the whole big bottle.
We also used the same idea for meals...one zip-loc bag had everything we needed for a single meal. (He was on formula after a crash and burn attempt at BFing )

Also- be sure to bring any infant medicines with you, as well as your pediatrician's phone number. It's the best way to avert Murphy's Law...if you have them, you won't need them.

I wish you all the best!!!
~Kimber

Wow! These are all great ideas! I will have to remember all of them when I go with an infant!

 

[Leger13]

Just checking in from the World to say I'm thinking of you and hoping the little princess decided to come a few days early!!

 

[reelmom]

I have been thinking about you this weekend. I hope that it means that your precious Aria is getting ready to meet you.

 

[Imagineer5]

Sorry I went a little MIA - well, not sorry really. A day after my last post- labor started!! I'll give you all the lovely details (well, no, not ALL ) and post some pics of our little Aria Marie! She's 8 days old today!

Then I'll do some personals if I get another chance to write while she's so nicely sleeping during the DAY - this post might take a while between feeding though!

Labor/birth story for anyone interested!! :::

Anyway sooooo yeah! Saturday 1/28 I woke up with a bit of lower back pain. Didn't think much of it, and we did some errands like got new tires for my MINI Cooper, did a little shopping - there were a couple children's consignment shops I had wanted to go to, so we visited those. During the car ride my back pain got worse but I still didn't think much of it! Then around 1PM we decided to take the dogs to the park - there is a really nice one with about a 3mile walk around a lake that we'd been doing almost every weekend bc the weather has been so mild (it was mid-50's on this day). My back was hurting more and more during the walk and eventually I told Andrew that I couldn't continue and we had to turn around (a first for me!!). By the time we got home, I decided my back pain was coming in pretty normal intervals so I started up DH's iPad contractions app and they were lasting about a minute and they started at every 5-6 minutes apart!

They quickly turned to contractions -starting in the back and wrapping around the front. Around 6PM I called the on-call doc and she said to see if I could get some sleep, if not then to come in. I did sleep for about 3 hours before waking to the contractions every 4 minutes or so. They became unbearable and around 9AM we decided to head into the hospital. I met an awful doc in triage, who basically told me my contractions were nothing (I was only at 1cm) and they could last a week. The nurse in triage was so nice, she kept saying that she was sure I would be back and she wished she could keep me, but the doc discharged us.

Drive home was just awful!! When we got home, my contractions got even worse, and within 30 minutes my water broke! After that, it's a blur because I've never felt anything so painful. It wasn't until 4PM that my DH made the executive decision to go back to the hospital as I was screaming/crying/crawling on the floor in pain and just couldn't handle it anymore. I was just so nervous about being sent home again - AND so nervous about the long car ride back to the hospital - which was absolutely horrible BTW! But we made it there, were sent VERY quickly through triage - same %&#$% doctor came in, said "see, I told you the contractions would get worse" and said she was admitting me. That's all I remember from the 1 hour or so it took to get the epidural. Contractions were every 1.5 minutes apart and it was SO hard to stay still while they were putting in the epi - but once that was in - WOW. Ahhhmazing. LOL.

A few hours later, I was at a 10 (hadn't been checked in a while, so I don't even know when I got to a 10), I did a "practice" push and she was out after 1.5 minutes of pushing. Guess I just hit the sweet spot for pushing! Unfortunately that did a number on me so I have a bit of extra recovery ahead. Doctor walked in nonchalantly and quickly realized Aria was already out, being cleaned, and nurse was working on me. LOL. Stupid doc! (I was not a fan of him, either! he wouldn't let me hold Aria until he was done stitching me up. I was PO'd).

Anyway, Aria is absolutely perfect. She was born at 12:12AM 1/30/12 - 6lb 15oz, 19.5in long. First day was a blur as I couldn't believe how much pain I was in, but she was feeding really well.

BF'ing was rocky at first, and still am getting used to it. First day was great. Then I got blisters, and nurses at hospital told me to pump & feed her with a syringe instead to give them time to heal. By the time we got home from the hospital (Wednesday morning) I couldn't get her to latch and was solely pumping while DH fed her. It was awful and i was just full of emotions.

A lactation consultant nearby was able to fit us in Friday, and since then she has solely been BF'ing again! It was hard to get used to - by friday I was pumping over 6oz every 3 hours & she only ate 1-1.5 oz per feeding!! Good for my supply, not so great for my sore BBs LOL.

And of course she loooves to sleep during the day, usually first thing in the morning once we decide to get out of bed she sleeps sooo well. During the night, not so much. BUT we are in LOVE anyway!!

Next post...pics!!

 

[Imagineer5]

Photos from Aria's first week!

 

[Imagineer5]

Yeah not so much. Oh well. At least he won't be strapped to his stroller most of the day

Yeah Kona is good too. You have quite a few pretty decent choices at the monorail resorts. And you could even take a bus to one of the other resorts too.

Good thing you didn't wind up down the Infertility treatment road then. Needles galore! I've gotten so used to it I don't even care anymore. Plus I had to have the RhoGam shot three times while pregnant because I'm Rh Negative. First time was at 6 weeks in the ER for bleeding. Second time was the normal 27 week shot they give Rh Negative patients and third time was because, of course Alex's blood type is A+. Sheesh. You're going to love having an IV since you hate needles. I was really worried about that but I forced them to put it in my arm and it really didn't bother me. So I'd recommend that. If they put it in your hand...YOUCH!!!! Not trying to scare you but hopefully this way you know ahead of time and you can request it in your arm

Hopefully it won't make a difference and they'll induce you on the day you want. Really hoping for good news from your appt this time!

The cycle after my first clomid cycle when I got preggo with Aria, I was scheduled for more clomid plus a trigger shot. I was supposed to give that to myself?!?! LOL. I'm sure you've had to do that. But seriously, I didn't know if I was going to be able to. DH wasn't much help either, he doesn't like them LOL. I was considering just going in to the doc's office so a nurse would do it.

The IV sucked. They didn't give me a choice for where to put it, granted I was NOT in a state to do anything as I was having contraction on top of contraction when they put it in. It was in my wrist. Awful location!! the next day I kept trying to pee enough so they'd take it out, but they kept upping the amount I had to pee before they would! LOL. It took a nurse change and a bit of pleading to get that stupid thing out. BTW who can sleep with the stupid dripping of the darn IV??

Sorry to hear about your rhogam shots, that really sucks.

Your plans look great!

We also had the light up Seahorse for my last 2 kiddos and they loved it. We also used the sheet protectors from Babies R Us for all 4 kiddos...they were life savers!! Good shopping choices!

Hopefully baby wont make you wait until 41 weeks

We've already used the seahorse and she seems to love it! Glad you approve of our shopping choices!!

Since we've been home, we have done quite a bit of shopping:

More cloth diapers/diaper covers (newborn size, she won't fit into our big stash of AIO's for a while)

Extra trash cans - one for our bathroom & one for diaper change area in addition to diaper pail

My Brest Friend pillow - amazing

Nursing tank tops in size LARGE because these BBs are freakin huge and Large is too small but I can't bear to buy an extra large LOL

Extra swaddling blankets

And lots of food bc i have yet to actually try and cook something...

I am coming late to the party!
Found you on the October 2012 thread...we are (hopefully!!) going October 7-13. My son will be 9 when we travel...he was 9 months old on his first Disney trip, so I can offer you a few tricks that worked really well for us!

First, be sure to check out Baby's Best Friend. Our Little Guy fell asleep best when we were rocking him, so I rented a rocker from them. They rent all kinds of baby stuff, and had we not had grandparents meeting us there with a fully-loaded babymobile, we probably would have rented more!

The best idea we had, however, (and I'm sure I learned about it here on Disboards, LOL!) was to pack gallon zip-loc bags with everything we needed to make a single diaper change...so 1 one-gallon bag would hold a disposable changing pad, a clean diaper, and 2-3 wipes in a separate sandwich-sized baggie. It made those diaper changes so much easier...grab one zip loc bag and go. If you're using cloth diapers, you could then use it to store dirty ones until you can get back to the condo to wash.
And another great idea...if you need to use diaper rash cream? Buy the plastic contact lens containers and put a single "squirt" in each compartment. Just enough for one diaper change, won't leak, and that way you don't have to lug around the whole big bottle.
We also used the same idea for meals...one zip-loc bag had everything we needed for a single meal. (He was on formula after a crash and burn attempt at BFing )

Also- be sure to bring any infant medicines with you, as well as your pediatrician's phone number. It's the best way to avert Murphy's Law...if you have them, you won't need them.

I wish you all the best!!!
~Kimber

Thanks for all the awesome advice!!! That's so great!! We will definitely be bringing an arsenal of baby meds, we already have a stocked bathroom full just in case! And ziploc bags sound like they will be incredibly handy. I like the idea of using them for the cloth diapers. I got some diaper wet bags, but that's just a zipper, so the smell might start to come through after a long day in the parks! Good idea!

I'll definitely check out Baby's Best Friend service. I figure as Aria grows up a little bit we'll start to see what she likes/doesn't like (such as the rocking chair, pack n play vs crib) and make decisions for what to bring/rent when it gets a little closer.

Also sorry to hear about your BF'ing attempt! We'll still be toting around baby food and possibly bottles of milk (depending on how things go between now and then, I hope to still be BF'ing & pumping at that time, but we'll see).

Where do you think you'll stay for your October trip?

Just checking in from the World to say I'm thinking of you and hoping the little princess decided to come a few days early!!

Thanks so much for thinking of us while you're at the world!! I can't wait to catch up with your PTR/TR(!!!) and I hope you're having a fantastic time!!

I have been thinking about you this weekend. I hope that it means that your precious Aria is getting ready to meet you.

Thank you, too, for thinking of us!! It was so difficult to get any time to myself to get on here, or facebook, or anywhere really but Aria's been sleeping like a little angel so I have a little time to catch up with things!

 

[khertz]

Congratulations, she is BEAUTIFUL!!!

Sorry about the crappy MD. That is not how you want to start off your birth experience! And high five on the 1.5 minutes of pushing! I didn't labor or push long, and several people who had the complete opposite experience wanted to slap me when they heard that. And sorry about the rough start to BF'ing, but looks like you did all the rights things to get Aria back on track! I hope it continues to go well for you, and enjoy your time off with your baby girl. It all goes by so fast from now on!

 

[khertz]

oops, double post! I'll use this as an opportunity to reiterate what a beautiful baby you have!!

 

[Leger13]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Aria is absolutely perfect and beautiful and so glad that it was a fast L&D for you. What a mean doctor sending you home like that though. You did a great job mama! Glad to hear Bfing is going well too

 

[jenny105]

Congratulations! Aria is beautiful

 

[Imagineer5]

Congratulations, she is BEAUTIFUL!!!

Sorry about the crappy MD. That is not how you want to start off your birth experience! And high five on the 1.5 minutes of pushing! I didn't labor or push long, and several people who had the complete opposite experience wanted to slap me when they heard that. And sorry about the rough start to BF'ing, but looks like you did all the rights things to get Aria back on track! I hope it continues to go well for you, and enjoy your time off with your baby girl. It all goes by so fast from now on!

Thanks!! Yeah my OB sucked but the triage doc was just horrible!! DH was just as mad (if not moreso, since he couldn't do anything to ease my pain). BTW all "massage techniques" we had learned went out the window - NOTHING helped with those darn contractions LOL.

We really did try everything with BF'ing and at least I was pumping when the latch stopped happening, so she never got anything but my milk (and it really upped my supply too!). The lactation consultant we met with, thankfully, was totally awesome and we were so lucky to find her!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Aria is absolutely perfect and beautiful and so glad that it was a fast L&D for you. What a mean doctor sending you home like that though. You did a great job mama! Glad to hear Bfing is going well too

Thank you!! She IS perfect hehehe. It's so weird to think I could still be preggo and wondering about induction or whatnot. Our little Aria didn't even want to give her mama 1 day free after she stopped work! LOL

Congratulations! Aria is beautiful

Thank you!! I'll come by and catch up on your PTR asap!

 

[oboedm]

Four things:

1) congratulations! Aria is gorgeous-- she looks perfect!
2) great job on the labor and delivery
3) I am so glad the lactation consultant was able to help you out so much! I will have to get a consult with one right away, just in case!
4) you have PUJ TUB! Amazing! I have one as well, but it has not been used, LOL! Maybe someday!

 

[Elleshoodat]

I've been lurking around your PTR for a while and wanted to pop in to congratulate you and your DH. Aria is so beautiful. Seeing a newborn makes me want another baby NOW even though we're waiting until DS is a little older.

Good luck as you continue BFing. DS ate literally every hour for the first few months (OK, maybe I'm exaggerating, but that's how long it felt). It was pretty miserable at the time, but looking back I feel so blessed we were able to bond over that.

 

[Chelley00]

Congrats! She's beautiful.

Good job sticking through nursing. No one ever tells you how really hard it can be.

 

[Imagineer5]

Four things:

1) congratulations! Aria is gorgeous-- she looks perfect!
2) great job on the labor and delivery
3) I am so glad the lactation consultant was able to help you out so much! I will have to get a consult with one right away, just in case!
4) you have PUJ TUB! Amazing! I have one as well, but it has not been used, LOL! Maybe someday!

thank you so much!! the lactation consultant we found was absolutely fantastic and was able to fit me in the day after i called in tears...since i was pumping in the meantime it wasn't THAT big of a deal but she was adamant about helping ASAP and she really did. I pumped this morning just to see my supply compared to when I was just pumping (got 6oz after only 9 minutes!!). Already have 3-6 oz packs in the freezer.

Anyway yes we did get a puj tub! I didn't really know if it would be useful but it is fantastic for these early weeks (months?? IDK). It's pretty small so a large baby won't last long in there.

I've been lurking around your PTR for a while and wanted to pop in to congratulate you and your DH. Aria is so beautiful. Seeing a newborn makes me want another baby NOW even though we're waiting until DS is a little older.

Good luck as you continue BFing. DS ate literally every hour for the first few months (OK, maybe I'm exaggerating, but that's how long it felt). It was pretty miserable at the time, but looking back I feel so blessed we were able to bond over that.

Thanks for posting!! Glad you came out of lurkdom How old is your DS? We're already thinking we'd like our next to be about 2 years younger. I need to get over this labor first before i can start considering another though. For a couple days there, Aria was going to be an only child!

Seriously, Aria has been eating every hour today! I know what you mean (though I can't imagine this lasting months!). We'll be introducing the bottle around 4 weeks old, which will be so nice for DH to help a bit more. Until then it's just me and I'm so tired!! ESP because every day is so different. Yesterday I was waking her up to eat (well until bedtime when it took her 3 hours to stop wanting to eat!). Now today she's wide awake and constantly wanting to eat.

Congrats! She's beautiful.

Good job sticking through nursing. No one ever tells you how really hard it can be.

Thank you!! I'm very dedicated to making BF'ing work, even if I do end up pumping exclusively. But it doesn't look like that is going to be a problem!

 

[Imagineer5]

Well things are still going well at home! DH is back at work (Boo!) but it's Thursday at least so week's almost over.

Nothing has really changed about our Disney trip BUT I have been looking into flights for our mini trip to Texas. My Grandmom lives there and can't really travel any more so we want to get out there for a long weekend. I was thinking the first weekend in May, but my step-sister is pregnant and due mid-May, so my step-father plans to fly out to Seattle around that time. We aren't close (but I'm excited for her of course) but my mom does want to come out to Texas so anyway...I just wish we had a date set. I've already priced out the hotel (220 for 3 nights) and rental car (100!) so it shouldn't be too bad.

We were waiting to make plans until ARia was born healthy. Which happened

Anyway...

Here's another pic of little Aria. She's a strong little one, been holding her head up briefly since Day 1!

 

[Elleshoodat]

Thanks for posting!! Glad you came out of lurkdom How old is your DS? We're already thinking we'd like our next to be about 2 years younger. I need to get over this labor first before i can start considering another though. For a couple days there, Aria was going to be an only child!

Seriously, Aria has been eating every hour today! I know what you mean (though I can't imagine this lasting months!). We'll be introducing the bottle around 4 weeks old, which will be so nice for DH to help a bit more. Until then it's just me and I'm so tired!! ESP because every day is so different. Yesterday I was waking her up to eat (well until bedtime when it took her 3 hours to stop wanting to eat!). Now today she's wide awake and constantly wanting to eat.

Another adorable photo! It looks like you're going to have a very strong-willed little lady on your hands.

My DS is 15 months, which is a really fun age. (I think I've said that about every age, but it is SO cool to watch them grow and learn and develop little personalities.) I think we will try to have the next one when he's 3 ... but sometimes I don't know if I can wait that long!

Introducing the bottle will definitely help, and we actually supplemented with formula, too. The constant feeding, then pumping was exhausting, and my milk production just wasn't keeping up with DS' demand.

I hope you continue to have success, and I know everyone says it to the point it's almost cliche, but enjoy every minute because it absolutely flies by.

 

[Imagineer5]

Another adorable photo! It looks like you're going to have a very strong-willed little lady on your hands.

My DS is 15 months, which is a really fun age. (I think I've said that about every age, but it is SO cool to watch them grow and learn and develop little personalities.) I think we will try to have the next one when he's 3 ... but sometimes I don't know if I can wait that long!

Introducing the bottle will definitely help, and we actually supplemented with formula, too. The constant feeding, then pumping was exhausting, and my milk production just wasn't keeping up with DS' demand.

I hope you continue to have success, and I know everyone says it to the point it's almost cliche, but enjoy every minute because it absolutely flies by.

Aw thank you! she certainly is strong willed! Especially around 10pm at night when we've been trying to get her to sleep for 2 hours lol.

I bet 15 months is a fun age, though as you said they all will be fun in a different way! It's funny because we cant wait for some things like her crawling, walking, etc but also love this little newborn stage of course which will never be the same. And being a Disney fanatic I hope to get as many of these stages at disney as possible! Which makes me really really hope our October trip goes sooo fantastically that dh can't help but want to go immediately again!

 

[Joyciemc]

When I saw that you had posted on my PTR my first thought was 'I wonder if Aria arrived?'

So glad she is here and healthy and beautiful!!!