The 2009 MOMS & MOMS-to-Be Club

[Carol]

This thread is for Moms and Moms-to-Be to discuss and share all that is related to being a Mom or a Mom-to-Be.

Congratulations and Happy Chatting.

[Georgesgirl1]

Well, I'll go ahead and put the first post of the new year. Myers arrived on Friday, January 2nd at 8:50 am! He weighed 6lbs. 7oz. and was 18 3/4 inches long. He is so sweet and wonderful. George and I are thrilled, and of course our parents are over the moon about their grandchild! He is having a little trouble with breastfeeding- he keeps falling asleep- but lactation came yesterday and this morning and things are going better. I don't know how to post pictures, but if you want to see pics you can PM and I will give you my Facebook info.

[Emme&TeddysMommy]

Kristen congratulations on you new arrival! Hope you delivery went well I am so happy that you little bundle of joy is here! Enjoy every moment they grow up so fast.

[Beach Club Babe]

Congratulations, Kristin!

[WDWFanatic]

When I saw Carol had posted this thread I thought see had some news for us .

Congrats and good luck to you all having babies in 2009!

[Lacy]

It seems fitting that the first post of the year should be a birth announcement! Kristin, I debated posting the news for you but knew you'd be on here sometime to share the news. I'm glad that everything went well with the c-section.

Today was my first day back at work after 3 months. It was really hard to get back into the swing of things and I missed my little guy A LOT. But I knew he was in good hands with my mom which made things much easier for me. I did talk to my boss about working 4 days a week and he thinks it will not be a problem and will have an answer for me by the end of the week. I think an extra day at home with my little guy will make a big difference for me and make me more productive when I am at work.

Nothing beat the big smile on Elias' face when I got home and he instantly stopped fussing when he saw me. It is great to be a mom!!!!

[DisneyBabies]

Hi all! This is my first post on the moms club thread. I have 2 children, DS4 and DD2. We are taking DS to WDW at the end of Feb to celebrate his 5th birthday. DD will get her chance to go in 2011.
Lacy- I hope your boss is able to work things out so you can get an extra day at home. I am lucky enough that I haven't had to work since DS was a few months old, but I hated every minute of going to work for those six weeks. We had to put DS in daycare. You are so lucky your mom can watch your DS while you work and I'm sure she loves the chance to care for her grandson.
Kristin- Congratulations on your little boy! Hope you are recovering well from your c-section. It's not exactly easy I know. Hopefully your breast feeding will get off to a good start now that you have help. My DS refused to breast feed, but DD took to it right away which once again goes to show that all babies are different.
I hope everyone has a great day and give lots of hugs and kisses to those babies!

[Georgesgirl1]

Hi ladies! I just posted links to some pictures on the thread I posted about Myers arrival so you can check them out.

I'll write more once we are home and settled in.

[meldan98]

Well, I too am back to work. Yesterday was my first day back. Madeline is 10 weeks old and it was so hard to leave her behind. My DH works from home now and is taking care of her.

She did really well with me being gone and is adjusting to bottles well. Pumping at work has been hard so we'll see how long I can keep this up.

Now that I'm back to work I'll be able to post more regularly again.

Congratulations to all those that are now expecting and those that have given birth.

Susan - I would really recommend going to DL and CA while you are in California for the wedding. It is very doable with a little one. We took my ODD for her 1st birthday and she loved it. Use the Baby Centers for breaks and just go at your child's pace. Be sure to stick to a schedule because it is so easy to lose track of time. Go back to the hotel for naps if you need to. Although my dd was great at naping in her stroller.

[Lacy]

Melissa ~ That is great that Madeline is with daddy all day. I'm sure that made it a little easier to transition back to work. I am right there with you about it being hard to pump at work. It takes some getting used to for sure and I'm not sure that I'm completely comfortable with it yet.

The great news is that I am officially a part timer!! My boss agreed to a 32 hour work week with Fridays off. I am thrilled that I am fortunate enough to get one day a week to spend with Elias!

Kristin ~ I hope the breastfeeding is getting better. Hang in there, it isn't easy. And I hope you guys are getting settled in at home and everything else is going well. He is such a cutie!!

[DisneyBabies]

Lacy- That is great that your boss agreed! Enjoy your time with Elias .

To the other mothers breastfeeding and pumping: hope things get easier.

[meldan98]

The only bad thing is when he does have to go out of town, she has to go to day care. There are only a couple of days a month he's gone, so that won't be so bad, but it will just be a rough transition for her.

Kristen - Hang in there...I really hope it is going better for you. My ODD was not good at it and it only lasted about 9 weeks.

[mjaclyn]

Hi everyone!
I'm 24 weeks along with #2 and it's going to be a boy! We already have a DD age 2 and I'm very happy to be having one of each. DH and I are still trying to decide on a name...we're having a lot more trouble with boys names!! Any suggestions? I go back to the doctor at the beginning of next week and will soon have the glucose test and another ultrasound. I'll try to post more often but DD doesn't give me much free time! LOL

[Kairi_7378]

Happy 2009, new moms and moms to be!

Kristin, I was so happy to see that your post was the first one in the 2009 thread. How is Myers doing? How is the nursing going? I have to admit that I was very surprised about how difficult it would be to breast feed. I have a lot of respect for lactation consultants now! I hope that you are recovering well from your c section, and that you're getting as much rest as you can.

Lacy, congrats on becoming a part timer! It must feel great to know that you'll be able to spend more time with Elias! Is it easier to leave him during the day, knowing that you only have a 4 day week?

Melissa, you are very right about pumping at work being difficult. It's been a struggle here to perform "my chore" a few times a day. I don't have my own office so I use the storage closet on our floor. A guy walked in on me pumping about a month ago, it was sooo embarasing! My electric pump broke last week so I've been going back and forth to the day care to nurse at lunchtimes. The one nice thing about that is that it forces me to take a brisk walk! Hopefully my replacement will arrive tonight.

David is 4 months old and we are enjoying him very much. He rolled over on Friday night. We had a rough time with him around Thanksgiving because he was hospitalized for RSV, but he is doing better now. DH and I had 2 weeks off for Christmas vacation and it was wonderful to be home with him for that amount of time. We did have a sad thing happen over break though... Our house was broken into and our computers were stolen... along with all of David's pictures from the hospital! I am really upset about that. Our good news was that our first choice day care had a spot open up, so we switched David's day care at the beginning of the year. So far, he loves the new center, so I feel like I made a good choice for him.

Are any of you swaddling your babies to sleep? I'm using the Swaddle Me for David, but my husband thinks that 4 months is too old for swaddling. Personally, I will try anything to help him sleep at night!

[Kairi_7378]

Mjaclyn, Congratulations on your new son! We had a hard time picking names, too. We were discussing them on the way to the hospital!

[meldan98]

Laura - I'm so sorry about the break in. That happened to us in 2005. They stole all of my dd's (and mine I guess...) Disney movies. It is very hard to explain to a 2 year old why she can't watch Snow White again.

Swaddling is our saving grace. Madeline is only 2 1/2 months but must still be swaddled to go to sleep. If she's not, she wakes up constantly. I think she gets cold and hates being uncuddled. I say, if David still likes it, why change. With Madeline though, we do leave her hands out. If we don't she comes unswaddled. We just use a blaket we got from the hospital, it is made from t-shirt material and I have yet to find another one like it. The flannel blankets just don't work as well.

[DisneyBabies]

We swaddled both of our kids for as long as they wanted and we could find a big enough blanket .
DS was swaddled until he was almost 7months old and we had to get creative. We took one of his receiving blankets and laid it out like a diamond, took a second blanket and folded it in half. We then had to wrap the folded blanket around the upper half of his body around his arms with the ends underneath his back. Then we transfered him to the 'diamond' blanket and wrapped it around him as usual. After we were done, he would try to get out, but as long as he couldn't get his arms out he would go right to sleep. He had to be wrapped tight or he'd cry until we redid his swaddling. Even now when we put him to bed at night we have to tuck his snoopy blanket (from his crib) around his arms and body and then cover him with his comforter. He likes tight spaces.
DD was swaddled almost as long, but didn't like to be as tightly wrapped.

[Georgesgirl1]

Laura- I hate that your house was broken into. did you have any copies of his hospital pictures printed out? I would be heartbroken if that happened to me!

We are still working on the breastfeeding. I never imagined that something "natural" would be so difficult. We had a meeting with a lactation consultation yesterday and I am feeling somewhat better. Myers always falls asleep while we are nursing. I was having to supplement with pumped milk, but after trying to feed him for 40 or so minutes and then pumping and feeding that milk and then washing the pump parts it was time to feed him again. I was so worn out and so was he. the lactation consultant told me to only breastfeed him for 10-15 minutes right now (until he starts to be more alert and active), then pump and feed him that milk. She said those long sessions were probably making him burn as many calories as he was taking in which was why he wasn;t gaining weight. Also, he is sucking incorrectly at the breast and with a bottle, so we are setting up a consultation with a feeding specialist at the hospital to get some occupational therapy to make breastfeeing happen. I was so frustrated before we went to lactation, but after hearing the consultant talk about how we would work this out and would be successful I feel much more optimistic.

Other than that, Myers is perfect and so cute. I always knew motherhood would be wondeful, but I had no idea how amazing it would be. I also had no idea how tiring it would be, but it is totally worth it!

[Lacy]

Laura ~ Yes, knowing that I get a day at home makes it so much easier to go to work the rest of the week. I too find the nursing at work to be a difficult task and can't imagine having someone walk in on me. Great work sticking with it after that! I'm so sorry to hear that you had a rough couple months with David being in the hospital and a break-in. I'm glad David is doing better and hope that things turn around for you guys this New Year.

DineyBabies ~ I'm glad to hear that you swaddled your little ones for a good while. We have been swaddling Elias both overnight and during naps. He just doesn't sleep well if his arms are free and will wake up in the middle of the night if it isn't tight enough. So we plan to continue as long as it is working! Anything for sleep!

Kristin ~ I'm glad you feel better after talking with lactation. It really is crazy how hard something natural can be. And it seems everyone has different problems. I hope the meeting with the feeding specialist goes well. It is great that you have been having luck pumping so you can supplement with that.

I had a really hard time getting the pump to work. It is better now but I am still not getting enough at work to replenish what Elias eats during the day. I'm afraid I'm going to have to start supplementing with formula soon but really don't want to.

[meldan98]

Kristen - I'm so glad that you met with a consultant. I had tried and tried to get my ODD to nurse and when it finally started going well, I had to go back to work. I had to put her in day care and they fed her 8oz every 3 hours and I could not keep up with that schedule with pumping. I was lucky if I could pump once a day. So, we ended nursing at about 10 weeks. I was so frustrated. It's amazing how different things can be. This time is 180 degrees different. Madeline had a latch issue the first couple of days, but once we resolved that things got better. Now, if I could just get more that 2oz off each side when I'm pumping I'd be happy.