Nursing, that is! :(
Yesterday she tried to nurse twice and didn't get anything either time! She was mad and would unlatch and say "MILK!" so I gave her a cup of whole milk instead both times. Today I didn't even offer it to her. I just gave her the whole milk when she asked. Soooo.... I'm sad. I can't even think about it too much or I start to cry. That and the whole hormone thing is not going well for me. I would have thought since I've had my period back for several months now, that the drop in hormones while weaning (and the fact that I've been doing it gradually) would make it not so bad, but that's not the case. I'm a bit of a wreck. Mood swings and zero appetite (I literally have to force myself to eat and then I feel sick right afterwords). Hopefully it regulates out soon!
It's weird that I have my body back to myself finally. It's been over 4 years since I wasn't pregnant or nursing or trying to get pregnant! I feel like doing something to celebrate, but I don't drink, lol! So... maybe I will go down some Nyquil or something?! LOL, I'm just kidding, but I am looking forward to being able to take Nyquil the next time I get sick! YAY, or any other medication that I haven't been able to take in over 4 years! :)
Tomorrow is the girls' birthday party!! They're excited even though it's only supposed to be in the 50's! yuck! Hopefully it all goes well!!! I can't believe that Venily will be 3 in only 12 days!!!
Showing posts with label Breastfeeding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Breastfeeding. Show all posts
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
This is going to suck!
After limiting my dairy for a couple of days, I started noticing a definite improvement in Haven's spitting up. Well, stupidly I ate cheese pizza last night without even thinking about it, and Haven spit up so much last night, it wasn't even funny!
I spent much of last night researching (thanks to Jacki who got me thinking about it!) and I am going to have to eliminate ALL dairy from my diet for several weeks! :( I am without a doubt, POSITIVE that Haven is sensitive to cow's milk proteins. It all adds up- the vomiting, the eczema, the constant stuffy nose, and the what I am guessing must be infant diarrhea AND having a sibling who had all of the exact same symptoms who ended up having a dairy sensitivity! Fortunately none of these things bother her very much at all and (as you can see) are in no way affecting her growth, but I will feel SOOOO much better if by doing this, all those other things clear up!!! I will probably have to eliminate soy from my diet as well but I will see if it clears up without eliminating soy first.
We are already vegetarians, so this is going to KILL me!! Possibly literally! Jacki, you are going to have to tell me everything I'm aloud to eat so I don't starve to death, lol!!! At least Jason will be happy if we have to eat spaghetti every single night! And some of my vegetarian "meat" stuff is vegan and soy-free as well, so that's good.
From what I've read I may not have to eliminate ALL sources of dairy if she is only a little sensitive to dairy proteins, but at first I'm definitely going to have to! :(
I have a good feeling about this, as much as it's going to suck! When I think about ALL the times I went to the doctor with Venily in her first 18 months for all of these problems and now it just seems soooo obvious to me that they were all related! Hmmm.... guess I will be grocery shopping today! Hoping I have the determination and ability to keep this up, it is NOT going to be easy!
I spent much of last night researching (thanks to Jacki who got me thinking about it!) and I am going to have to eliminate ALL dairy from my diet for several weeks! :( I am without a doubt, POSITIVE that Haven is sensitive to cow's milk proteins. It all adds up- the vomiting, the eczema, the constant stuffy nose, and the what I am guessing must be infant diarrhea AND having a sibling who had all of the exact same symptoms who ended up having a dairy sensitivity! Fortunately none of these things bother her very much at all and (as you can see) are in no way affecting her growth, but I will feel SOOOO much better if by doing this, all those other things clear up!!! I will probably have to eliminate soy from my diet as well but I will see if it clears up without eliminating soy first.
We are already vegetarians, so this is going to KILL me!! Possibly literally! Jacki, you are going to have to tell me everything I'm aloud to eat so I don't starve to death, lol!!! At least Jason will be happy if we have to eat spaghetti every single night! And some of my vegetarian "meat" stuff is vegan and soy-free as well, so that's good.
From what I've read I may not have to eliminate ALL sources of dairy if she is only a little sensitive to dairy proteins, but at first I'm definitely going to have to! :(
I have a good feeling about this, as much as it's going to suck! When I think about ALL the times I went to the doctor with Venily in her first 18 months for all of these problems and now it just seems soooo obvious to me that they were all related! Hmmm.... guess I will be grocery shopping today! Hoping I have the determination and ability to keep this up, it is NOT going to be easy!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
October 15, 2008 (Venily is 1 year, 2 days old)
We had a lot of fun on Venily's birthday! We played outside, went to the zoo, went out to eat for dinner, and went to the puppy store!! She loved it- and it was such a nice day out again! I have pictures from her party and her birthday up on myspace. I don't think I'll have enough room to put them all up on here. (I am contemplating getting a new website soon, I'll keep you updated on that). Venily is still a little sick though. And even this morning, she is still sticking her finger in her ear that had the ear infection. She has her 1 year well-check and shots today so I will have the doctor take a look at her ear as well. She will have been on antibiotics a week tomorrow so I hope it is better soon! I am DREADING having her get shots. It will be especially sad this time, because she will know what is going on much more.
I have a list of all Venily's favorite things and such as she turned one year old that I still need to type up and put up on here. I also wrote her a letter. It was very hard to write, let me tell you! :)
I still haven't got Venily's 11 month pics online yet! Hopefully soon. I also need to schedule her 1 year pics very soon and we are going to be getting family pics done as well! I can't wait to not get pictures every month! I think I'll get her 18 month pics, and then every year after that!
October 15, 2008 (con't)
Venily's check-up went really well. The doctor was very impressed with all of the things she can do! Her ear still has pus in it, but it's not red anymore so her ear infection is getting better, though it's still bothering her. Venily's height was 31.5 inches long, her weight was 21 pounds, 12 ounces, and her head circumference was 46.5cm. Her doctor said she looks awesome and that we are doing everything right!!!
She did have to have 3 shots! :( She screamed of course, but as soon as she was done and her Daddy picked her up, she was waving at the nurse again and saying hi to her, lol (with tears all down her face). Then she didn't cry at all after that, I'm hoping it doesn't bother her at all tonight. She got the first half of her flu shot and has to go back in a month to get the other half! Then she has more shots at 15 months.
I am starting to try to break her from nursing, I'd like to be done by the time she's 13 months. It is not going to be easy, but we were able to get her to take a sippy cup of warm whole milk instead of me last night, even though she kept insisting on me. She gave up and drank the milk though, so that gives me hope. We're going to substitute one feeding a day w/ whole milk every 4 days or so and see if that works for us!
This past week she has gone back to taking 2 naps a day!! YES!!! BUT.... she rarely takes them in her crib. Most of the time I have to either hold her or she sleeps on our bed. In either case, I can't get much done. I think it has a lot to do with her ear hurting her so I'm hoping she will go back to taking her naps in her crib when she is all better.
We had a lot of fun on Venily's birthday! We played outside, went to the zoo, went out to eat for dinner, and went to the puppy store!! She loved it- and it was such a nice day out again! I have pictures from her party and her birthday up on myspace. I don't think I'll have enough room to put them all up on here. (I am contemplating getting a new website soon, I'll keep you updated on that). Venily is still a little sick though. And even this morning, she is still sticking her finger in her ear that had the ear infection. She has her 1 year well-check and shots today so I will have the doctor take a look at her ear as well. She will have been on antibiotics a week tomorrow so I hope it is better soon! I am DREADING having her get shots. It will be especially sad this time, because she will know what is going on much more.
I have a list of all Venily's favorite things and such as she turned one year old that I still need to type up and put up on here. I also wrote her a letter. It was very hard to write, let me tell you! :)
I still haven't got Venily's 11 month pics online yet! Hopefully soon. I also need to schedule her 1 year pics very soon and we are going to be getting family pics done as well! I can't wait to not get pictures every month! I think I'll get her 18 month pics, and then every year after that!
October 15, 2008 (con't)
Venily's check-up went really well. The doctor was very impressed with all of the things she can do! Her ear still has pus in it, but it's not red anymore so her ear infection is getting better, though it's still bothering her. Venily's height was 31.5 inches long, her weight was 21 pounds, 12 ounces, and her head circumference was 46.5cm. Her doctor said she looks awesome and that we are doing everything right!!!
She did have to have 3 shots! :( She screamed of course, but as soon as she was done and her Daddy picked her up, she was waving at the nurse again and saying hi to her, lol (with tears all down her face). Then she didn't cry at all after that, I'm hoping it doesn't bother her at all tonight. She got the first half of her flu shot and has to go back in a month to get the other half! Then she has more shots at 15 months.
I am starting to try to break her from nursing, I'd like to be done by the time she's 13 months. It is not going to be easy, but we were able to get her to take a sippy cup of warm whole milk instead of me last night, even though she kept insisting on me. She gave up and drank the milk though, so that gives me hope. We're going to substitute one feeding a day w/ whole milk every 4 days or so and see if that works for us!
This past week she has gone back to taking 2 naps a day!! YES!!! BUT.... she rarely takes them in her crib. Most of the time I have to either hold her or she sleeps on our bed. In either case, I can't get much done. I think it has a lot to do with her ear hurting her so I'm hoping she will go back to taking her naps in her crib when she is all better.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
December 2, 2007 (Venily 1 month, 2 weeks, 5 days old)
Venily is 7 weeks old! Her sicknesses seem to be getting better. She is still congested, but she is finally sleeping better again at night. She's back to only getting up 1 to a few times a night to eat and then falling right back to sleep, but some nights she is still fussy at first and has a hard time getting to bed. Her rash on her face, neck, scalp, and shoulders is getting worse though! :( And after researching it for a while, I'm pretty sure she has baby eczema. There is no real treatment for it, but I'm going to schedule her an appointment with the doctor tomorrow anyway and see if there is anything he can give her to make it better. I've also found some other things that you can do like give them daily baths, moisturize their skin at least twice a day, only use certain soaps and detergents and stuff like that. I hope that helps! I'm also going to try not drinking milk or dairy products, which is going to be soooo hard for me, but I'm willing to do anything to make her better. It's really common in babies and is hereditary so I'm sure she got it from me! My skin breaks out in a rash over almost anything (and I can only use certain soaps and things on my skin) and I still get it on my arms every winter. My poor baby, I hope she gets better soon!
This last week she also had her first bottle of pumped breast milk! I've read that you need to introduce it at week 6 or she might not take it later on. I didn't think that she was going to like it b/c she won't even take a pacifier (not that I really wanted her to have one anyway). But after a little bit of being confused and not really wanting it, Jason got her to drink the whole thing. It made me so sad, lol, my little baby girl doesn't even need me any more! We're not going to give her a bottle very often, but if we need to be somewhere for a long period of time and it will be hard for me to nurse, then it's good to know that we can still feed her!
Some of Venily's newest favorite things are taking naps with Mommy (she's such a good cuddly baby- I hope she stays that way!) and grabbing on to Mommy's hair with all of her might, lol!
My 6 week postpartum visit last Monday went really well. Everything looks good and I've lost all of the baby weight, plus 2 pounds. I actually didn't want to lose that much and it's going to be hard to gain it back (especially while breastfeeding which burns 500 calories a day), but I won't complain about it! As long as I don't lose any more I will be happy.
Venily is very excited about Christmas. We got our Christmas tree up yesterday and she just LOVES to look at all of the pretty lights!
Venily is 7 weeks old! Her sicknesses seem to be getting better. She is still congested, but she is finally sleeping better again at night. She's back to only getting up 1 to a few times a night to eat and then falling right back to sleep, but some nights she is still fussy at first and has a hard time getting to bed. Her rash on her face, neck, scalp, and shoulders is getting worse though! :( And after researching it for a while, I'm pretty sure she has baby eczema. There is no real treatment for it, but I'm going to schedule her an appointment with the doctor tomorrow anyway and see if there is anything he can give her to make it better. I've also found some other things that you can do like give them daily baths, moisturize their skin at least twice a day, only use certain soaps and detergents and stuff like that. I hope that helps! I'm also going to try not drinking milk or dairy products, which is going to be soooo hard for me, but I'm willing to do anything to make her better. It's really common in babies and is hereditary so I'm sure she got it from me! My skin breaks out in a rash over almost anything (and I can only use certain soaps and things on my skin) and I still get it on my arms every winter. My poor baby, I hope she gets better soon!
This last week she also had her first bottle of pumped breast milk! I've read that you need to introduce it at week 6 or she might not take it later on. I didn't think that she was going to like it b/c she won't even take a pacifier (not that I really wanted her to have one anyway). But after a little bit of being confused and not really wanting it, Jason got her to drink the whole thing. It made me so sad, lol, my little baby girl doesn't even need me any more! We're not going to give her a bottle very often, but if we need to be somewhere for a long period of time and it will be hard for me to nurse, then it's good to know that we can still feed her!
Some of Venily's newest favorite things are taking naps with Mommy (she's such a good cuddly baby- I hope she stays that way!) and grabbing on to Mommy's hair with all of her might, lol!
My 6 week postpartum visit last Monday went really well. Everything looks good and I've lost all of the baby weight, plus 2 pounds. I actually didn't want to lose that much and it's going to be hard to gain it back (especially while breastfeeding which burns 500 calories a day), but I won't complain about it! As long as I don't lose any more I will be happy.
Venily is very excited about Christmas. We got our Christmas tree up yesterday and she just LOVES to look at all of the pretty lights!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
November 10, 2007 (Venily 4 weeks old)
Well, my pasghettio is 4 weeks old today!! I can't even believe it, but I feel like she's been with us forever. I've never been happier though! All of my clothes have spit up on them, I don't have 5 minutes to myself anymore, and I haven't had 8 hours of sleep in 4 weeks, but I wouldn't have it any other way! Things just feel right now, I love her so much and she is just what I always wanted in my life. I'm a little sad though that she's getting so old so quickly, but I'm really looking forward to seeing her little personality emerge and watching her do new things!
Last Sunday she had her first bath and she actually did really well with it. She needed Jason to continuously pour water on her though or she'd get unhappy. I don't know if I'd be able to do it on my own though! On Monday she gave me her first real smile and I was just overcome with happiness! :) She smiles all the time when she's content and falling asleep, but this was the first time that she was wide awake and I was smiling and talking to her and she smiled back and her eyes were so happy too, it was the cutest thing in the whole world!
She's still eating really good and I'm so proud of myself for still nursing. It can be a little inconvenient at times, but I know it's what is best for her and I've set my goals for at least 6 months and then we'll see what happens. At 6 weeks I can start pumping too, but I'm a little scared that she'll only want a bottle after that.
She's still sleeping pretty good too. We only had one night where she was up almost all night and I'm pretty sure I know what the problem was. Every night since we brought her home, I've always put her to bed at night in her swaddle blanket. Well, it's starting to get a little small so I decided to put her in a sleeping sack blanket one night, which leaves her arms open and not swaddled in with her. I didn't realize that that could be the problem though until the next day, lol. Now she's back to sleeping good and I need to buy the next biggest size swaddle blanket as soon as she outgrows the one she has!
I'm going to get her one month pictures taken sometime next week and I can't wait to see how they turn out!
Well, Venily just spit up ALL over me, lol, so we both are going to get changed! :)
Well, my pasghettio is 4 weeks old today!! I can't even believe it, but I feel like she's been with us forever. I've never been happier though! All of my clothes have spit up on them, I don't have 5 minutes to myself anymore, and I haven't had 8 hours of sleep in 4 weeks, but I wouldn't have it any other way! Things just feel right now, I love her so much and she is just what I always wanted in my life. I'm a little sad though that she's getting so old so quickly, but I'm really looking forward to seeing her little personality emerge and watching her do new things!
Last Sunday she had her first bath and she actually did really well with it. She needed Jason to continuously pour water on her though or she'd get unhappy. I don't know if I'd be able to do it on my own though! On Monday she gave me her first real smile and I was just overcome with happiness! :) She smiles all the time when she's content and falling asleep, but this was the first time that she was wide awake and I was smiling and talking to her and she smiled back and her eyes were so happy too, it was the cutest thing in the whole world!
She's still eating really good and I'm so proud of myself for still nursing. It can be a little inconvenient at times, but I know it's what is best for her and I've set my goals for at least 6 months and then we'll see what happens. At 6 weeks I can start pumping too, but I'm a little scared that she'll only want a bottle after that.
She's still sleeping pretty good too. We only had one night where she was up almost all night and I'm pretty sure I know what the problem was. Every night since we brought her home, I've always put her to bed at night in her swaddle blanket. Well, it's starting to get a little small so I decided to put her in a sleeping sack blanket one night, which leaves her arms open and not swaddled in with her. I didn't realize that that could be the problem though until the next day, lol. Now she's back to sleeping good and I need to buy the next biggest size swaddle blanket as soon as she outgrows the one she has!
I'm going to get her one month pictures taken sometime next week and I can't wait to see how they turn out!
Well, Venily just spit up ALL over me, lol, so we both are going to get changed! :)
Friday, October 19, 2007
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/
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/
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