Young Mommy & Wife

October 19, 2007 (Venily 6 days old)

Okay, I guess it's about time I updated this!


LABOR STORY:

So, I called Jason on Saturday the 13th and told him very calmly that I thought I was in labor, but I wasn't sure and that first time babies take like an average of 14 hours to get here so I told him not to rush home. I packed our bags and cleaned up around the house in case today was the day. I vaccuumed, did laundry, did the dishes and picked things up, lol, all while timing my contractions which were about 3-4 minutes apart. They were like menstral cramps though, nothing like the pain I see women in on most shows so I wasn't even sure I was really in labor! When Jason got home and saw the bags by the door and that I had already brought Xoey to my mom's, he was upset because he didn't realize how serious I was or he would have rushed home. I told him that we needed to go to the hospital right away because even if I wasn't in labor I was having a lot of bleeding and needed to go anyway. So.... off we went. I was timing the contractions in the car and they were 2-3 minutes apart and Jason started going faster and faster! I told him to slow down, lol, b/c I thought we'd get there and I'd be like 1 cm dilated and look like an idiot. All the while though the contractions were getting a bit stronger. I'd close my eyes through them and not talk and they'd last about 45 seconds and then I'd be fine and talking and laughing again. When we got to Labor and Delivery one of the first people we saw was Cathy! We were so happy that we came in on a day that she was working (she only works weekends) and she was really excited and we got to have her as our nurse!! I got put into a room right away and Cathy checked me and said "Wow, you are not going to believe this but you're 8 cm dilated already!" It was so crazy! I've seen enough Baby Stories and Birth Days to know that it was WAY too easy for me to already be at 8 cm. All of the other nurses couldn't believe it either. Then Cathy asked me if I wanted an epidural b/c if I didn't get it right then, it would be too late. I said yes and they gave me an I.V. (this one didn't hurt at all) and got the guy in there right away. The whole atmosphere in the room was so nice! The nurses were all talking and laughing and excited and I felt so at ease. The epidural wasn't too bad and about 20 minutes later my contractions had gotten a lot better, though I could still feel when I was having them. Cathy said that b/c I had gone so quickly the last two cm might take a while but when she checked me again a little bit later she said I was 9, almost 10cm and she broke my water by putting a heartrate monitor on the baby's head. A lot of people showed up to visit then. My mom, Rick, Lisa, Jacki, Jake & Kaitlyn, and Lauren. I started feeling uncomfortable during my contractions so Cathy checked me again and I was complete and she had me do a practice push to see if I needed my epidural turned off. I pushed and she said that the baby was coming quickly and that I was really good at pushing so she called my doctor and had me start pushing. Jacki said that she would videotape the birth for us- I was so excited but still in shock. I felt like I was in a dream b/c everything was moving so fast and nothing was as bad as I imagined it was going to be. The doctor came and after only 18 minutes of pushing (I don't know how some women push for hours, oh my gosh!), Venily was born! I didn't scream or anything I was just really focused and had my eyes closed the whole time, lol, though I did have to have a small episiotomy (which didn't hurt at the time and I was actually really thankful that it made it go faster, but it did make the next several days quite uncomfortable especially since I don't take pain medication). So, after being at the hospital for less than 2 hours, Venily was born at 4:28 p.m. and they put her on my chest as soon as she came out! I was overwhelmed with happiness and still in a dream-like state, not thinking that this could be real because it was so easy and I couldn't believe how gorgeous she was or that she had so much dark hair- I wasn't expecting that. All of the nurses kept telling me that I must have been meant to have children because of how easy it was for me! (But it runs in my family a lot of the women in my family have fast births, my dad was actually born in the car in the parking lot outside of the hospital!). Jason cut the cord- which he told me about later b/c I wasn't even paying attention- I think I had actually forgotten that he was in the room, lol, even though he never left my side the whole time. Then the nurses took her to the warming table to clean her up and weigh her and stuff while I got stitched up by my doctor. I watched the videotape right away b/c I was so interested and wanted to see what happened. It was crazy- I couldn't believe how big she was coming out, lol, but I was SOOO glad I had it taped b/c I would have completely missed it otherwise since I had my eyes closed. When the nurses were done with her, they wrapped her up and I got to hold her and then everyone else who had been waiting in the doorway and in the hallway came in and saw her.

The rest of the afternoon and night went really well. I was able to breastfeed then pretty quickly after she was born which I had been looking forward to for a while and she latched on good. Jason was so happy that everything went so well and called a bunch of people to tell them I had the baby. He was so good with her and so excited and in awe of her, I can't even believe it. He has surprised me so much and I just love him so much more than I could have imagined. He has never shown ANY interest in babies before but he loves his little girl so much! He holds her and stares at her for long periods of time and talks about how beautiful she is and everything. And a couple of times I went to the bathroom while I was at the hospital and I'd come back out to the room and he'd be holding her in his arms, walking around with her and singing made up songs to her- it was just SOOO cute!!

The first night at the hospital she slept ALL night long too! I slept for a total of 45 minutes and that was only because the nurses took her away to take her blood and stuff. Otherwise I just stared at her and I wasn't even tired in the least bit. I tried waking her up every 30 minutes to eat and I would change her diaper and play with her and talk to her and stuff, but she just kept on sleeping, lol. I definitely regretted not sleeping the next day though! I was so tired and every time I'd be close to falling asleep, some one would come to visit us. The next night then was AWFUL! I was REALLY tired and Venily wouldn't eat any more. I could tell she was hungry, but she hadn't gotten the swing of breastfeeding yet. She stayed awake all night and cried a lot. :( Because I had gotten less than 2 hours of sleep in 48 hours it was really hard on me. Jason kept wanting me to call the nurse to take her to the nursery or supplement her with formula but I didn't want to seem like a failure. Eventually I spoke with a nurse though and she really helped me out. She helped me get her to eat and then took her for about 2 hours so I could sleep and things have been all uphill from there!!!


THE FIRST FEW DAYS HOME

Oh my gosh, Venily has been such a little angel ever since we have been home. She sleeps really well, has been nursing great (almost every hour the first day and now about every 2-4 hours and I usually have to wake her up to eat or she would just keep on sleeping), and hardly ever cries (only if she's cold while I'm changing her or if she needs something, though I usually figure out what she needs before she gets to the point of crying)! Jason stayed home with me for the first couple of days and I basically took care of Venily and he took care of me! The only bad thing was being sore from the episiotomy but that has almost completely gone away now- and I'm not even tired like I thought I would be. I sleep for a couple of hours every time I'm tired and that is working out really well.

We went for Venily's follow up appointment on Wednesday and she was at 7lbs which was a 6.5% weight loss so that is really good (there is only a problem if there is an over 10% decrease)- and with her eating so well, I'm sure she'll be putting on a lot of weight now. They also said she has really good coloring and isn't jaundice at all- she completely takes after her father on the skin color- I was really pale. She has another follow up appointment on October 29th and I can't wait to see how much she's changed until then.

Other than that Venily and I basically just hang out, sleep, and eat! And yesterday we went on our first family walk! If I'm feeling brave I might trying going to the store with her later today, but I'm not really sure about that yet!

Yesterday was also Venily's due date! I'm really glad I'm not still pregnant! And I'm so happy that I had such an easy pregnancy, labor and delivery, and now an easy baby! My final count for my pregnancy was a weight gain of 23 pounds and as of yesterday I've lost it all except for 4 pounds- and to be fair, I'm pretty sure my boobs weigh at least that much more now, lol! And no stretch marks- I was really worried about that for a while! Overall I could not have asked for anything better- we're been so blessed that everything has worked out just perfectly!!

Thanks again to everyone who has congratulated us, stopped by, and/or given us cards and gifts (and food!!)- we really appreciate it! I put up some of the pictures on here, but we have so many it's hard to put them all up on all the different sites that I try to keep updated, so I put all of her pictures up on photobucket. You can see them here:

http://s52.photobucket.com/albums/g30/jennifer_reyer/Venily%20Just%20Born/