Refections of the First Month with Julia

             We have been so happy to have our precious little girl. This first month with Julia has been so amazing and hard all at the same time. It has been so amazing because we finally have our little girl when it has taken us over 18 months to conceive her. During those 18 months we had gone to see our family doctor, fertility specialist, blood testing, other tests for both of us and had to go through a miscarriage. All the while, friends and family around us were  getting pregnant and having babies. It was really hard because we were happy for them but so incredibly sad for ourselves that we haven't been able to experience this kind of joy. But now that she is here and we are over the moon ecstatic to have her in our lives.
             This month has also had big challenges for us. When Julia was born she had a bit of a tongue tie which is where the frenum that is under the tongue was closer to the tip of her tongue which prevented her from being able to stick out her tongue. This caused her to not be able to latch onto the breast to eat. If this has never happened to you with your baby, count your blessings, it definitely  doesn't allow for a less bumpy ride into motherhood. So since Julia was not able to latch we stayed in the hospital for three days to wait for a doctor that could snip the frenum (supposedly there is no nerve endings so it doesn't hurt her) While in the hospital I still had colostrum because your milk supply doesn't usually start to show up until the third to fifth day after baby is born. This meant I had to hand express my colostrum to feed it to Julia, that meant every three hours I would have to hand express ( this could take me 30 to 60 minutes to try and get as much as I could out). I was also starting to try to use the hospital grade medela pump except they didn't have the right size shield for me so that wasn't working so great. However in between all of this I got to have the best cuddles of my life with her.
             Once we got home the craziness only continued. Matt was able to rent a hospital grade pump for me to help get my milk supply up and be able to express my milk easily to feed her in a bottle since latching was still something we were working on. This is how it went for the first week,
I would pump before Julia was ready to eat for 10 minutes on each side, collect as much milk as I could from that and then when it was time to feed her. I would first feed Julia what I had pumped then supplement the rest with formula. Then after seeing the Lactation Consultant Nurses during the first and second week, we tried to get the latching on the breast down but couldn't do it bare breast so we introduced the nipple shield (finicky little buggers). At first Julia was not so keen on them but we worked at it and eventually she did latch. We still didn't have her fully breast fed yet even with the shield. We also were still on the every three hour feeds even through the night. That meant that I would try to feed Julia on the breast with the nipple shield first, see if she would latch properly and for how long before she got frustrated. Then we would switch to what I had pumped out earlier, if that wasn't enough we would supplement with formula. During the third week we no longer had to do feedings every three hours since Julia had gained a pound in a week and this was mostly all with just breast milk (some of the breast milk was fed through bottle) the odd time we did have to top you up with a little bit of formula. This week too was when I was told I can stop pumping now because I would pump for only 2 minutes on each side and get any where from 150ml to 200ml. So my milk supply was definitely in.
             The fourth week well we were all breast fed now but still using the shield for most feeds there were a few times a day where we were able to do a fed or two with no shield at all. Yay progress. However one night we had to give Julia formula again because I just ran out of milk. Also  we were not using a pacifier at this time either because I really wanted to make sure breast feeding was down pat. So as the weeks had gone on in this month I was slowly starting to get a little bit more sleep. For me I really did not get much sleep at the beginning as you could imagine with the pumping and different steps with trying to feed. But it was well worth it, I said to myself at the beginning if I had to pump in order to feed Julia breast milk I would do it with out a doubt, I would not give up. But ideally I wanted to be able to breast feed her not only for the convenience but for that special connection and bond with her.
              Your whole world truly does change when you have a baby but it changes for the absolute best. Even when she cries and your trying to figure out what it is, I love it and I am so happy to have my baby girl!

Here are some pictures of Julia in her first month of life (outside the womb that is)

               

Julia at One Month

                                                      Today Julia is one month old already!

What a month it has been! I will get into that in my next post, but here are her stats:

Weight: 10lbs 4ozs (birth weight 7lbs 11oz)

Height: 22 inches (Birth Height 20.5 inches)

Diapers: Size 1

Clothes: 0-3 months all her new born clothes are way too small

Feeding: Every three hours for the first 3 weeks then she had gained a pound in a week and the nurse said we can just feed on cue now, thank goodness.

Nights: Oh it can vary, at the beginning I was waking her every three hours to eat. Also in the first two weeks her days and nights were kind of mixed up, so there would be some nights where she just wanted to sit up and talk with mom, mom wasn't having any of it. But eventually in this month she knew what nights were, sleepy time.

Personality: Really sweet, she is just so loveable. She likes to have her own space but loves to cuddle too. Loves to talk, she is already all about the stories. She is a happy baby but likes to be serious too.

Loves: Cuddles and being swaddled. She loves to do tummy time on some one. She loves to have a clean bum and will let you know as soon as it is dirty. She loves to lay on a blanket and have a conversation with you.

Hates: Tummy time by herself, and gas but what person enjoys gas?

The Arrival of Julia

Tuesday March 27 2012

Today at 10:35am I have a doctor`s appointment to see my obsterician to check out our baby. She had said at the last appoinmtnet that she would maybe rim my cervix or aggitate it at this appoinmtent. So Matt came with me which was really great because it has been said sometimes that you could go into labor after they rim your cervix and well I would want Matt to be there if that were to happen.
Well of course they were running behind so we didnt get in there until about an hour later. So we did the usual checks, my heart rate (which was a bit higher then normal), measurments of my stomach(right on track), and listen to the baby`s heart beat(it was perfect). My Doctor wanted me to get a blood test done just to check things out since my heart rate was a bit higher. She also wrote us a referral to get an ultra sound done since we hadn`t had one done since the one around 19 weeks (for tomorrow). Then she checked my cervix and to my surprise I was already 3cm dialated yay! But of course that could mean still a few days out though too. She aggitated my cervix, not really sure what that means but she said that this will hopefully help with the process.

After the doctor`s appointment we went back home and Matt went to work. I decided to do a few small errands as I was worried I was going to have my water break on me while I was out (that did not happen though) I went and did some grocery shopping as my one friend said that with all her kids that is what she did and then by the next day they were born. So I figured I would give it a shot.

Around 3pm after shopping I got home and went to the bathroom to find that I had some pinkish color to my stuff as the doctor had said this could happen. So I thought ok good at least i know what this means and I dont really have to worry about it. At this point I have now had a few cramps kind of like menstral cramps but they didn`t really hurt.

As the evening continued I did have more of these cramps but they weren't in any sort of pattern. So I made dinner and after that around 7pm is when I started to have more cramps that were a bit more uncomfortable so I started timing them on my phone thank goodness there was an app for that. Both Matt and I thought well maybe this could be it and maybe I should go lie down to see if I could get a bit of rest. Well rest did not happen for me, you can`t really sleep through contractions. I continued to lie there and time my contractions. Matt kept coming into the room to check on me and would ask me when do I want to go to the hospital.

I kind of figured that I was still doing ok at home and the last thing that I would want is for them to send us home because I wasn`t far enough along what a pain that would be. I continued to go through the contractions mostly in bed because I felt comfortable there. Matt asked if I wanted a bath because some people like that when they are going through their contractions. Well I got in the tub and in about 5 minutes came out again because I was not comfortable and felt like the contractions hurt more in there.

Around 11pm I started to get my hospital bag closed up after I had found my comfy pants in there because the other stretchy pants I had weren`t stretchy enough. So by about 11:30pm we got things in the truck and off to the hospital went. I had a few contractions on the way to the hospital, they weren't too bad as I had heard laboring in the car is awful, it wasn't that bad. We parked the truck and started walking to the emergency doors since the doors to get to labor and delivery are locked at this time of day. Again I had more contractions as we were walking. Once we got inside we looked to see how to get to the other side of the hospital. Luckily there was a nurse that noticed I was in labor and said to follow him for a short cut to get to the other side. We went up the elevator once we were there to the sixth floor which is labor and delivery. Matt had to hold the door open since I was having a contraction and couldn't move until it was done. We then walked over to the triage counter and they got us signed in. Once we got into our triage room the nurse came in and we told her how the contractions were. She said that looking at me I looked like I was handling it really well and that I might get sent home. I told her that in the morning I was already 3cm dialated at my doctor's office. She said she will get the resident in to have a look.

So around 12:00 am the resident came in and checked me, I was 4cm dilated so yay no going home. How ever the nurse came back and said ok go walk the hall for a couple of hours. I thought there is no way I am going to walk around the halls for a couple of hours. But we got up and walked up and down the hall once. I had about 5 contractions while we were walking and I had told Matt if I have to labor for a really long time I may need the epidural. We went back to our triage room and I sat in the chair as I didn't feel like getting back on the bed. The nurse came back around 2:30am and said that we are going to move to the labor and delivery room. Once we got there and settled it was about around 2:45 that the resident came back in and checked my cervix again, this time I was already 8cm. So that made me happy to hear. I kept going through my contractions by breathing through them and I was lying on my side on the bed, I felt the most comfortable like this. Our nurse that we had was awesome! It was funny because she was looking at Matt and said shouldn't you be helping her out? But Matt knows me too well that if I need to focus on something just let me do it myself. He did put his hand on me once and I told him to get his hand off me because he was too hot. The nurse also had the AC cranked because I was sooo hot, Matt actually had to put his sweater on he was so cold.

I'm not totally sure what time it was but they checked me again and I was 9 1/2 cm dilated. My water still hadn't broke on its own so they asked me if I wanted them to break if for me or just wait for it to break on its own. If they broke it it would take less time for our baby to be born if we waited there is no telling how much longer it would have taken. I told them to break it. Once my water was broken I felt the urge to push so bad. They started to get everything ready for the doctor and then he came in and got all ready. I was pushing the whole time not intentionally but you can't really stop your self at this point. Right at the end here I did have laughing gas to try and use, but really it didn't do anything except it made me kind of distracted because I was trying to put the mask up to my mouth. I don't really know how many pushed I did but I remember the doctor saying at one point to do 3 small pushes and then a big push and then Julia was born at 4:57am. Time went by really quickly during the whole laboring process I couldn't have asked for anything better. I am so happy that I was able to go through labor and delivery with no medication that was my goal when I started and I was able to achieve that.

Our Precious little Girl Arrived

On Wednesday March 28 2012 at 4:57am our little sweet girl arrived. She came into this world weighing 7lbs 11oz and 20 1/2"long.
We are over the moon to finally be able to meet her.