re: 'I WISH I WOULD HAVE KNOWN'...Advice for pregnancy & birth

I wish some one would have told me a couple things like your ms can come back in the 3rd trimester and can get worse.
I wish someone would have told me I would not be able to be full for the next 10 months.
Oh yeah i wish some one would have told me your really pregnant for 10 months and not 9!!!

Quoting Kelly Dreams of Hubby:“ Labor and Delivery advice: Hmm I had blood that literally flew 4 feet and hit the door across from the ... [snip!] ... your distorted belly when the little one is moving around in there. you will miss this part of the pregnancy after baby is born”

Isn't that the strangest thing watching your belly move? Still freaks me out, but definitely worth having on video.

That's a good one -You are really pregnant for 10 months. Men have no idea!

I wish someone would have told me (like uh...maybe the fn doctor) that when you have a c-section, when they are giving you your spinal...if you dont LITERALLY arch your back AS MUCH asit will go you will feel awful electric shock like pains all up your back wile there are administering the meds.
It was pretty awful.
They could have prevented it by just simply asking me if I was arched as much asI possibly could.

Iwish I would have prepared meals and stuck them in the freezer for those first few weeks. If you have a baby shower, seriously ask for someone or a couple of people to pay for a cleaning service for a month or two. I so wish my husband would have listenend to me and did not call everyoneBEFORE I had the baby. My son wasn't even born yet and everyone was waiting in the waiting room. All I wanted after my son was born was for me to rest and for us to bond as a family but nope everyone came barging in minutes after and they stayed all day.

I wish someone would have told me how painful it is to have your uterus massaged after the birth! and how hard it is to breathe while they do it.

also, the blood clot thing. that really freaked me out after my first!

why do they massage your uterius?

Quoting Baby Love:“ Take some advice from others and find out what most books do not tell you... Please share your experiences ... [snip!] ... with formula...just keep nursing, because when your baby keeps sucking, it is telling your body how much milk to produce.”

I know this isn't a debate and I'm not trying to make it into one, but personally I think it's bad advice to tell a nursing mom of a newborn that it's ok to supplement with formula, since formula is notorious for causing breastfeeding problems. I think it's important for a breastfeeding mother of a newborn to understand that nursing early after birth and frequently thereafter will bring the milk sooner. That's why the baby wants to suckle a lot in the beginning- the baby's instinct tells it to so that the milk will come in. Taking too casual of an attitude about supplementing can cause serious breastfeeding difficulties. If you supplement, the baby will be less hungry, and thus will nurse less, causing the milk to come in later than it should. Also, using a bottle that early can be detrimental to a nursing relationship since it can cause nipple preference (milk flows more easily out of a bottle making some babies get "lazy" and prefer the faster flow.) Not to mention using formula this early can be extremely hard on a baby's system; it changes the PH level of the gut and can cause constipation, which you do not want in a newborn baby. Exclusive breastfeeding is best for as long as possible...supplementing causes too many problems. If you want to supplement eventually, do it after a month or two when you feel breastfeeding is well-established, and even then, consider using pumped milk rather than formula to avoid digestive issues.

when the breast feeding consultant spoke in our highschool parenting class she said the same thing.  

They massage your uterus to help it go back down, and espically if you have alot of bleeding going on. One thing I wish someone would have told me, when I was buying baby clothes, 0-3's do not fit a preemie lol. 0-3's don't even fit a newborn really either.My first was past due, and the clothes didn't fit her right. My second was four wks early, so his Mom had to go out and get preemie clothes. And I wish someone would told me that, when your in dire need of preemie clothes they will be sold out!!

Quoting pvlubov~Lipstick Mafia:“ when the breast feeding consultant spoke in our highschool parenting class she said the same thing.  ”

They teach that in HS now?

Quoting ★ Tiffany:“ I'm still pregnant...but I already wish I had known that people would be fighting over who gets to be ... [snip!] ... in there a long time ago. Now my mother & his mother are butting heads about it & I don't wanna hurt anyone's feelings!”

This is exactly why it's going to be the two of us in the delivery room.

Quoting EmmaGrace:“ I know this isn't a debate and I'm not trying to make it into one, but personally I think it's bad advice ... [snip!] ... breastfeeding is well-established, and even then, consider using pumped milk rather than formula to avoid digestive issues.”

I think most of that is a matter of personal preference since the instructorsin my birthing classes and first time mom classes and my hospitals OB Coordinator all said that it was fine after the first week to supplement... I can't breast feed because of certain medications that I'm on anyway and I'm really not worried about my baby's health... I've known lots of people who didn't breastfeed and their babies grew up perfectly healthy...

Quoting dixiedandelion87:“ I think most of that is a matter of personal preference since the instructorsin my birthing classes ... [snip!] ... worried about my baby's health... I've known lots of people who didn't breastfeed and their babies grew up perfectly healthy...”

Well sure and I and many others were exclusively formula fed from birth and turned out fine. I was speaking for women who wish to breastfeed their babies.

Quoting EmmaGrace:“ Well sure and I and many others were exclusively formula fed from birth and turned out fine. I was speaking for women who wish to breastfeed their babies.”

well thats what I mean, we were taught that its fine to do both as long as for the first week the babies get enough of the colostrum... but I think it's just one of those things that everyone teaches differently... sure would make pregnancy and baby raising a lot easier if everyone would just get together and right one big end-all be-all How To book. lol!!

Quoting dixiedandelion87:“ well thats what I mean, we were taught that its fine to do both as long as for the first week the babies ... [snip!] ... pregnancy and baby raising a lot easier if everyone would just get together and right one big end-all be-all How To book. lol!!”

Yeah, BUT if you plan to breastfeed for longer than a few days, I would seriously be suspicious of the advice to go ahead and supplement that first week. The AAP recommends against early supplementation and it is well-documented that early supplementation leads to early weaning/breastfeeing failure. You have to be well-prepared for bad advice and that is bad advice, imo.