Saturday, December 28, 2013

...merry christmas...

Sooooooo I'm a little late thanks to the busy-ness of the season with a 12 week old BUT -

Merry Christmas everyone! And Happy Holidays! Whatever and however you  celebrate, we hope you had an amazing time with loads of love xxx

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

baby Olivia's birth story - Part Two!

Catch up on Part One here -

...not long after my Mum arrived we made the decision to head to the hospital because the pain had gotten so bad I felt I wouldn't be able to get in a car if we left it too much longer!

So, we did one last trek around the house, trying to think of anything we had missed that we would need, locked up and headed to hospital...

After arriving at the hospital (and oh boy, getting out of our suburb was interesting while in labour....full of twists, turns and roundabouts!) the hubs dropped my Mum and I at the front, parked the car and then joined us, and we made the slow trek to the birthing suite. Upon arrival, we were informed that the caseload midwife working that day was in prep with another client, as she was getting ready to have an emergency caesarean. So we waited for a monitoring room to be ready for us (all the while my pain level was getting worse!) and I was hooked up to a monitor for baby's heart rate to be monitored.

I was so excited to have yellow straps...
everything for Little Bean was yellow!

It felt like we were in that room forever! All I wanted to do was get in the hot shower and it felt like I was waiting for an eternity...meanwhile, the pain in my hips was getting worse and worse with every contraction. I eventually got off the bed and tried sitting on a chair beside the bed, leaning onto my husband or the bed...until *finally* they let me get into the shower in the room - only to discover the water in the shower was inconsistent, going from nice and hot to cool! Talk about irritating! All I wanted was hot, hot, hot! I had used a heat pack all the way to the hospital, and I remember getting one of the massive gel ones while I was waiting for the shower - it just didn't do the trick!

I tried to work through the pain in the shower for as long as I could, but it just kept building to the point I felt I couldn't handle it - and it didn't feel right. Having been in the labour room with my sister, when she gave birth to my nephew, I had a fair idea what to expect (my poor sister was in labour for 3 days!) and I have a fairly high pain tolerance. However, the pain I was getting during contractions was all in my hips - it honestly felt like my hips were going to crack! I started mentioning to my husband that I didn't think I was going to be able to do it without some assistance...

After a while, we were moved to a birthing suite - number 5! By this stage, I was pretty much set on getting an epidural. Anyone who knows me knows how much of a big deal that is, and I think the decision to get the epidural was harder than actually getting the epidural! However, the midwife who was watching us had set up the bath for me to try first, and encouraged me to use some gas. The gas I HATED, and after one contraction I told them to get it away from me - it made me feel dizzy, nauseous and out of control...not something this a-type lady wanted! The bath just didn't help at all...I feel like if I had gotten in it sooner, when I was managing the pain a little better, I might have held out a little longer.

After the gas attempt, I got out of the bath to get a cannula in preparation for the epidural. The guy was lovely, particularly when I gave him a heads up about my phobia of all things medical, in particular needles. I think the cannula was worse than the epidural! The epidural was so scary for me, I have always been scared of getting one so I was terrified. Luckily the anesthesiologist we had was lovely, and listened to my fears and helped me through it (I advised her that unlike most patients, I did *NOT* want to know what she was doing, for her to just do it). This was where our Calm Birth preparation really helped me - I focused on my breathing to really keep myself calm and still as I was terrified of moving while they put in the needles. I remember the anesthesiologist asking at one point if I was having a contraction because I was so focused on breathing - I wasn't!

After the epidural, everything suddenly became peaceful and I knew I had made the right decision. I had been in natural labour for approx. 6 hours at that point (I believe I got the epidural around 12.00?), and suddenly I felt like I could actually enjoy the process of giving birth to my baby. I remember passing my sister in the hallway on the way between the monitoring room and the birth suite (she had been adamant that even if I couldn't have her in the room, she was waiting in that hallway until I gave birth) and I couldn't handle the thought of anyone else in the room, no matter how much I wanted to give her the experience she gave me. However, after I had the epidural, I had my Mum go and get her, and she spent the rest of the time in the room with us. It was so nice to be able to do that...I am still a strong advocate for natural birth, and I will try again next time, but having the epidural was the right decision for me that night - as it turns out, it was a good thing I got it...

To be continued...

Monday, December 02, 2013

:: 2 months old ::

Dear Livie,

I can't believe you are 2 months old already! The time is flying by and I am just not ready for it. You are already trying to do so many things, and I wish you would stay my teeny, squishy baby for longer. In saying that, I'm so proud of how clever you are and how much you are taking in the world around you and wanting to learn new things!

The best thing about my day is your milk drunk snuggles in the middle of the night and your bright, happy smiles every time you wake up. As sad as it is to see the teeny little Livie disappearing, the new personality that shines through every week makes me excited to watch you grow.

Just please don't grow too fast.

I love you my baby girl.

Love, Mama xxx

TWO MONTHS
26/10/2013 - 26/11/2013

Weight: 4.86kgs (clothed) - a whole kilo more than last month! - & 55cm long

Clothing Size:0000/Newborn BUT you are completely out of any footed 0000/Newborn because of your length. Not too much longer and I think you'll be in 000!

New Milestones/Firsts: First Halloween!, first Christening (for your cousin Kimberly!), first birthday party and lolly bag, first Christmas party (Poppy's family party!), first purposeful rolls from belly to back and first accidental roll from back to belly! You had your first trip to the Plaza at 7 weeks old to purchae Mia's birthday present. You also started "talking" - ie. making purposeful sounds in response to our conversation with you!

Loves: Still in love with your Daddy but Mama seems to be getting a bit more love these days :) You also love your "Minnie Mouse" rattle my aunt bought you, your singing Lion, "Gemima" doll from Playschool (Nanny bought you a Playschool Nursery Rhyme book and every time she is on the page you grin at her and go quiet!), your bedtime routine (oh my, she lets us know when she is ready for her bath, massage, feed and bed!) and foot massages (this one is Daddy's job :) ) and you have recently started loving to play "peek-a-boo!"

Milestones I think she is close to: Real laughs/giggles - you already do this in your sleep, but you have recently started to make the connection when something fun is done repeatedly to you (eg. tickling your belly) - you will smile before the next time happens and I think the next step will be a giggle! You are also trying so hard all the time to pull yourself up to sit up!

Sleeping: Still all over the shop during the day, though slightly better than it was, since we started using some Infacol to help your poor belly. Night time is still really good, you have generally been going to sleep from about 7 or 8 til between 12 and 2, then waking 3 hourly after that. Last month I mentioned you had a day of 2 hourly feeds...as it turns out, you have silent reflux. Our doctor got suspicious of it when we took you in at approx. 4 1/2 weeks for the sniffles and a cough, when she couldn't find any infection, etc. She advised that it can been signs of silent reflux and sure enough, that weekend your coughs turned into coughing up something and swallowing it, then you started screaming and arching your back while feeding. Your 2 hour feeds had been an attempt to soothe your sore throat! 5 weeks old was the worst week and unfortunately coincided with your tongue snip. We started you on thickener during the day and your sleeping and feeding got better!

Favorite activity/toy: Still love Minnie, but also a fan of your singing Lion. You also still really love tummy time, despite being a reflux baby! You definitely love your baths and massages very night as well

Best part about being a mum: Late night, milk drunk snuggles and your beautiful grins!

This month we: Had a lot of adventures! Lots of parties and celebrations. We also had our 6 week check ups, and you had your needles. You did so well with those! You cried while they were being given to you, then afterwards only cried for a minute in Mama's arms before starting to have a very cranky conversation with Mama, Daddy, and the nurses! They thought it was so funny, you sounded like you were telling us all off and would be wagging your finger at us if you could! The nurses loved you and couldn't stop going on about how gorgeous you were :) Made Mama proud.

You also had your tongue tie snipped at 5 weeks - again, you did beautifully and only cried for a few minutes. I think it was harder on Mama and Daddy, watching them do something like that to you! But we knew it was something you needed. You were grinning at the doctor and nurses beforehand and barely cried afterwards. After 5 weeks of feeding difficulties and Mama fighting to get someone to believe something was wrong, the first time you latched on afterwards was such a relief! We still had a rough time for about a week and a half while you relearned how to use your tongue, but then we had a week and a half where you suddenly "got it", and did amazing!!

We also started going to the "Meet and Greet" at the Community Health Centre, to meet up with other mums and bubs! It's been a lot of fun so far, and our friends Kate and Imogen, and Kate and Peyton, are all going as well! The 5 week course looks like it is going to be lots of fun.

Another month over...and I still haven't finished Livie's birth story! I do promise it's coming but you know the saying - babies don't keep. Blogging can sometimes wait. I'll be around more soon, but I promise I'm keeping up with everyone's blogs (even if I don't get a chance to comment!)
-Amanda xox
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