Thanks so much, everyone!
Sorry I've taken so long to update. She's eating constantly and I don't like to put her down even when she's sleeping.
We took her out in her sling today for about three hours and she slept the whole time, so she must like it.
She's been sleeping in the bed with me, and she only woke up twice last night and once the night before, so I'm actually getting a fair amount of sleep.
The breastfeeding is going pretty good, only my nipples still hurt like hell, even though every midwife and breastfeeding specialist I've talked to say she has a good latch and suck, just a petite mouth compared to my huge areolas, so it's hard for her to get a lot in her mouth. Now that my milk has come in, the swelling doesn't help much. So it can be pretty painful and frustrating for both of us to feed her when she just can't seem to take in a whole lot of the areola.
I wrote up my birth story a couple of days ago.
Quote:
My water broke in several gushes, with the first being at 2:30 am on October 19th. I called the hospital, and they said I should come in, so I took a shower, packed my hospital bag, and we went by taxi.
I was 2 centimeters when I came in. They monitored me for about an hour, I think. Her heartbeat was a bit fast at some points, and a bit slow at some points, so they wanted to keep me in rather than send me home, and I was sent upstairs to the maternity ward, and Joe was sent home.
Contractions didn’t start until the afternoon on the 20th. Joe got to the hospital at about 3, and the contractions seemed regular while he was there, but stopped a bit after he had gone home. By the time he came back at 6:30, they were getting quite strong and that’s when I actually needed to start coping with them, rather than just going, “OK, I’m having a contraction.” They were going to send Joe home at 8, when visiting hours were over. I was really, really upset about that because they were starting to get hard, and I needed him there.
Joe and I were walking around, and I held on to him during each contraction. I was moaning and screeching a lot. Then I asked to labor in the bath for awhile, and we were just in the bathroom filling up the tub when the midwife came in and said I could be checked.
The student midwife checked me first and said I was 2-3 centimeters. Then another midwife checked and said I was actually 3-4 centimeters, and could be sent down to the labor ward, and Joe could stay. I was really relieved, since I really would not have been able to cope on my own at that point. That was at about 8.
We went down, and I labored on the birthing ball for a few contractions while the midwife filled the tub for me. I was in the tub for about an hour, I think, until the water started to get a bit cold. I was really able to relax between the contractions, and I think that helped me progress quickly. I made the water sway around me, and I moaned and breathed with the contractions. Joe said I was managing really well. I got out, went back to the room, and the contractions were coming really strong. It really was the most intense physical experience of my life. I was standing and gripping the arms of a chair, swinging my hips back and forth and squatting a bit. It didn’t seem long before I felt that I needed to push with the contractions, and the contractions were coming one on top of the other with no break in between. At that point, I was feeling like I couldn’t do it anymore if I wasn’t fully dilated. Joe was there to tell me I was doing great, and could do it, and was doing it, and that really helped.
I told the midwife that I had to push with the contractions, so she decided to check me, and said I was fully dilated so I could push away. I squatted and pushed, and soon enough she said I was starting to open up, and I’d have to get back in the bed because she had bad knees and wouldn’t be able to catch the baby if I were squatting. So I got back in bed and pushed lying on my side. I really think that prolonged the pushing stage, and she would have been born sooner, and perhaps without tearing, had I been able to continue squatting.
Pushing took longer than I expected, and I felt like I was going to burst a few blood vessels in my head.
It was a weird sensation once I pushed her head through my pelvis. I asked the midwife if that was the baby or poop. She laughed and said it was the baby. You’re allowed to say weird things in labor.
I felt the ring of fire as her head crowned. I remember the sensation as her head popped out and was born, and it just seemed as if her head was small. She was born with the next contraction at 11:57 pm.
She was really alert, and didn’t really give a big cry, just whined a bit. She was (and is) so perfect, and I just love her.
I just stared at her, and she stared at me, and I kissed her head and held her hand. We put her near my breast, and she licked the nipple for awhile before she latched on.
Her cord wasn’t cut until it had stopped pulsating. The placenta still hadn’t detached after 2 hours, so I was given an injection.
She was weighed and measured after an hour or so, and then Joe held her while I was stitched. Then I took a quick shower, and we were wheeled back up to the maternity ward at 4 am, and Joe was sent back home.
The midwives came in a few hours later and said that her temperature was a bit low, so they wanted us to have some skin to skin contact. So I held her on my chest under blankets and we slept together for a few hours. In the morning, she was really alert and we just stared at each other. I love her so much. |
The hospital was OK for the birth, but afterwards I really wanted to go home. Even though the baby was never taken from me, and we were roomed together, I wasn't allowed to take her away from the bed, so I had to leave her alone to eat and call Joe. That was really hard and made me cry. I also had a really hard time with the breastfeeding the first night, and I don't feel as if I really got enough support. My nipples were bleeding and she just wanted to eat and eat. They didn't even look at her latch, they just said stick with it or give her formula in a cup. I stuck with it.
Anyway, things are pretty good! Photobucket doesn't seem to be working right now, but I'll try to get some more pictures up soon.
