Birth and first days

What happened was this:

I went in for a BP check on Friday the 18th as I’d had some borderline high readings which were always followed up by bloodwork which was normal. This time it was pretty high (I think something like 150/100) so they sent me to labor and delivery. They were also concerned about my gaining 3 lbs. in 3 days for no good reason and my sudden carpal tunnel.

At the hospital I was on bedrest with monitoring (fetal heartrate and contractions and blood pressure) all day. My blood pressure stayed high (but generally not that high). That night around 8:30 they decided to do a 24 hour urine collection to do a definitive diagnosis of preeclampsia. Of course I had to stay in the hospital all that time (they gave me a sleeping pill; none for my husband, however, poor thing). Finally that Saturday night when the results came in I was diagnosed with mild preeclampsia. They wanted to do a c-section right then (baby was still breech, as determined by ultrasound, although I knew just where her head was–but anyway that’s why the c-section and not an induction).

The c-section was pretty scary. There was very little time to prepare myself mentally from when they told me they would do it to the surgery. I don’t feel like reliving it, but I have to say it felt very sacrificial. But compared to the breastfeeding problems, I barely even care about the actual birth experience. Baby was born at 10:39 PM that Saturday night, at 37w5d, yet still somehow 8 lbs. 8.5 oz!

I didn’t get to hold the baby for at least an hour after the birth, after she’d had her bath and been weighed etc. She was very much asleep when I did. I actually don’t remember much of the first 24 hours other than that at the time I described them as the worst time of my life. I was on magnesium sulfate for the preeclampsia and was crazily exhausted.

But the overwhelming issue was: couldn’t get the baby to latch. Oh, so many people tried shoving my nipples various ways into a very tired, very angry baby’s mouth. But nothing doing. At six hours old they told me that if I didn’t give her formula, I would be endangering her life. I was barely conscious at the time but pretty sure that wasn’t right so called a friend to come and advocate for me (Husband had no idea what to do). She helped get them off my back a little, but when Baby was 24 hours old and had still not really latched, I consented for Baby to have some formula. The nurse sat on a couch in my room not too close to me with my husband and fed her untold amounts (I asked her just to give 1 ounce, but I don’t think that’s what happened). And so the nipple/flow preference began.

At the 24-hour mark we were allowed to move from Labor and Delivery to the Mother/Baby ward, where we finally had a nurse who helped us get the baby latched on. Her name was Joy and she was so calm and quiet and helpful. She set us up with an SNS, too, to help baby realize something nice was supposed to happen to her mouth and tummy when we were nursing. But she was so tired and so was I.

That next morning, a Monday, we finally saw a lactation consultant (really just a nurse, not an IBCLC, but I didn’t know it at the time). She showed us cup feeding and brought out the nipple shield (24 mm). I was so grateful for that nipple shield! It really helped us get the baby to latch on better. But she was still incredibly sleepy, even with constant efforts to keep her away (head rubbing, feet tickling). She just wanted to sleep. And she was losing weight. Monday night she was 7 lbs. 13 oz., down from 8 lbs. 8.5 oz. I now know this wasn’t a very dramatic weight loss–fairly normal–but at the time the nurse freaked me out about it. More formula. And baby was developing jaundice.

Wednesday, the day after being discharged, we had to go to the hospital for another bilirubin level check. We got the news the jaundice had increased, and we had to put Baby under lights which would be brought to the house. The pediatrician told me to stop nursing and just save any milk I pumped, but my milk still wasn’t in. All this time I had been pumping sporadically (too tired to do it much, not knowledgeable of how often it should be done) and just getting saplike drops of colostrum in the shields or on my nipples, which I or my mother or husband would finger-feed to the baby in her sleep. I stopped nursing attempts and just formula fed for the two days Baby was under the lights. I kept thinking that once we just got past the jaundice, once my milk came in (it took 6 days), once the baby woke up a little, we would be okay on the breastfeeding.

When my milk finally did come in, and the baby finally came out from under the lights, I had no engorgement. I heard no swallowing when baby nursed. If I hadn’t been pumping I would never have known the milk was in–my breasts felt totally the same. The baby was nursing all the time, but kept falling asleep. I called the lactation consultant at the hospital who told me the lack of engorgement just meant that the baby was removing all I was making and that all was well since I saw milk in the nipple shield, and that sometimes it is just hard to hear the baby swallowing, and that newborns are sleepy but nurse a lot. I thought I had a marathon nurser and was so pleased she was doing it. At that point I was delighted.

For two days she just nursed–no formula, no pumping–and though I never felt any engorgement, I figured I was okay and vowed that my baby would never have formula after her first week of life, and was proud that she was nursing after all that trouble.

But then came the weight check. Baby had lost even more weight. Losing weight in the second week of life is not normal. The pediatrician said I had to supplement, and so I did. I started pumping again and got barely anything, and then I discovered that the big problem was my low supply (eight of an ounce per breast per hour–not anywhere near enough).

I was nursing/bottle-feeding/pumping for a while, but now am mostly just pumping and bottlefeeding (we threw out the cup early on as it was too hard to know how much she was taking and took so long). She’s on mostly formula.

So, that’s where we are.

This will be the birth announcement (after first bath pic)

See that cleft chin? That’s from me!

8 days old

Now you are 8 days old. You are in my lap as I type; you just nursed and are very sleepy!

You were supposed to come to us tomorrow, the 28^th, by cesarean section. Your birth was planned because you were in breech presentation (sitting head up in the womb instead of head down). But you came early because Mommy developed mild preeclampsia (aka toxemia; it’s a blood pressure disorder of pregnancy) so you came to us at 10:39 PM EST August 19^th, 2006, via cesarean section. The surgery was scary, but I could feel you moving inside me, with your head bobbing around in the upper right-hand side of my tummy, even after the epidural anesthesia was administered, and I knew you were all right.

The pregnancy was 37 weeks, 5 days long and you were due Labor Day, September 4^th. Your Apgar scores were fantastic; 8 at 1 minute and 9 and 5 minutes. You weighed 8 lbs. 8.5 ounces and were 18 inches long. Your head and abdomen circumferences were both 14 inches. You were a big girl for coming early!

I will never forget hearing your first cry after you emerged from my womb—you made me cry too! After you were born, your Daddy brought you to me all bundled up and we three sat together for a minute. Before you came, your Daddy and I had decided that he would sit with me while the hospital nurses cleaned you up after birth, but as soon as you came we both knew he should be with you. We didn’t want you to be alone with strangers! You were beautiful and absolutely perfect. You and Daddy went back to the hospital room and cuddled while the doctors finished stitching Mommy up from the surgery. When the anesthesiologist wanted to know how I was doing, all I could tell him was how happy I was. You were here!

Of course, what was interesting was how familiar you were to us and we to you, even though you were so new. We had spent almost 9 months together already though. You knew our voices, and we knew your movements. We knew how your body moved when you kicked or had hiccoughs. We had rubbed your head to soothe you even in the womb. When the dogs barked for dinner at home, or Pudding meowed, you weren’t frightened; you knew them too!

Welcome home baby! We love you.

Mama

Jaundiced sunbather/Super-relaxed

HOLY CRAP, I HAD A BABY!

August 19th, 2006.

Preparing for birth

We have the Karp book, The Happiest Baby on the Block, which emphasizes swaddling, so we were definitely going to try that.

My OB said the same stuff as my pediatrician relative about getting Baby ready and the breathing thing (minus the info on sea level). She said if she has trouble with transition there’s always the NICU for a couple of hours. If no troubles, then rooming-in.

Only a little more than week left till the scheduled c-section, and I am so ready. The misery of nine months pregnant. I’m only 37 weeks but measuring 41. Still breech.

I’m starting to worry about breastfeeding, even though my pediatrician said 99% of people have no trouble. I have PCOS though which apparently can cause supply issues, but the OB says there’s no way to tell until after a week or so, so not to worry about it yet.

Still, I really want to be successful at it. The hospital and my pediatrician both have LCs though so hopefully I’ll be okay if there is trouble. I’ve spoken to a lady at LLL and she gave me some good advice on breastfeeding after a cesarean, like asking not to have sedatives along with the IV so you aren’t so groggy, and how the IV fluids can make your breast tissue extra swollen so it makes it harder to latch on, and how to solve that. Husband has been assigned various reading material on breastfeeding so he can help with it. I hope he reads it before baby comes!

We finally got the car seat in, though I want to get it checked by a professional, and basically all the stuff is set up, though I still don’t really know what we will do about sleeping arrangements. We have a crib and 3 (!) bassinets (presents) so we have options. I know I want to be in the same room as baby, which I can do even with the crib as there’s a twin in the nursery. I guess even so I should get a baby monitor but from what I understand you are attached to your baby 24/7 for the first while so a monitor wouldn’t be necessary.

ONLY TEN DAYS TILL THE BABY COMES! I have GOT to finish up some projects at work. Can’t believe I’ve put it off for so long (I’ve been working from home for the last week or so).

I didn’t know I should be worrying!

Apparently having PCOS can make it hard to make enough milk!

How did I not know about this? I just looked it up because on a message board someone mentioned they couldn’t breastfeed due to PCOS.

I talked to the OB who says not to worry, it should be fine. But still!

What my pediatrician relative said about preparing baby for birth

“A lot of the changes that get ready for labor are already going on for N! Getting big, having matured lungs, things getting pretty crowded inside, hormones relaxing the joints for both you and N so she won’t be completely unprepared for the birth. Being at sea level should make the transition to be outside a little easier for her also. She doesn’t get the fluid squished out of her lungs so she will have to cry a little harder to accomplish that. The babies here (at 6500 feet altitude) have more trouble with that than babies at lower altitudes. N will probably like swaddling since it defines her space–more like what she’s used to inside. Most of the babies look at you with bright eyes and seem very interested in the world outside shortly after birth. There is no other way to tell them what is coming.”

We considered the external cephalic version, but scheduled a c-section instead—-Yes, I’m one of THOSE PEOPLE now

Okay, baby is still breech.

We considered doing the version to turn the baby, but the doctor didn’t really recommend it in my case (baby on the big side, amniotic fluid levels on the low side, first pregnancy) and I don’t like the idea of forcing the baby to move–plus the procedure sounds kind of scary from what the various OB staff I talked to said (e.g. they only have the male doctors do it “because they’re the only ones strong enough” and in answer to how long it takes, was told “It depends on who gives up first–the baby, the doctor, or the mother.”)

I feel the baby has a reason for sitting how she does and I don’t want to force her. So I have a c-section scheduled for August 28th! I’m still trying some home remedy-type things to get her to move (swimming and doing handstands, for example) but she seems happy the way she is; if she does move, then of course I will wait for labor to happen on its own.

The only thing I’ve been wondering is–how to prepare her for being born? With labor she has some hormones and some squishing out the mucus of her lungs as she goes through the birth canal, but with the c-section she has no preparation for this big change–one minute she’s safe inside, the next suddenly she’s being hauled out unceremoniously and it’s cold and bright, etc. Not sure what to do besides discuss this with her beforehand?

Anyway, it may be only 2.5 more weeks!