Emma: One Month Old

My little girl is a month old!! In all honesty, the first month didn't go too fast and I was very grateful for that! Birth was pretty intense and fast! My epidural only took for about 30 minutes so I felt EVERYTHING while pushing. But I think that helped me in recovery since I didn't have to necessarily didn't have to "recover" from the epidural. I felt great afterwards.

In the hospital, Emma had some crazy cluster feeding sessions. She would want to eat many times within about a 5 hour period and then she's sleep and/or be awake for 5 hours or so. Cluster feeding was intense, but I was SO happy that she was feeding like a champ. She latched on great!

At 3 days old she was still cluster feeding, but she wasn't acting satisfied afterwards. I was getting concerned that my milk wasn't coming in. She wasn't having a lot of pee diapers so that was also concerning. On that night I was feeling like my milk was starting to come in, but then the next day I wasn't sure. We also had a pediatrician appointment that day and everything look great except for her weight. She had lost 11% since birth so we were recommended to start supplementing. I was crushed. I knew that my body wasn't working properly. Even though Emma was an amazing nurser, my body wasn't able to produce for her. I pumped for about a week or two postpartum, but even that wasn't bringing my milk in. I decided to stop breastfeeding and went to formula 100%.

I didn't have very much baby blues this time. I was pleasantly surprised by that. I was pretty emotional the first week, but after that it went away. Also, my exhaustion wasn't too bad this time as well. The first week was rough and I did have to throw in the towel and let Marcus take over a few times, but I think my body just remembered how to deal with it all like last time. I only napped a handful of times within the first month.

Maggie has done amazingly well with the new baby. I couldn't be more happy with the way she is handling this change. She is eager to help and plays independently really well during the times I have to tend to Emma. She loves giving her kisses and hugs, singing to her, and showing her her toys. It has been so incredibly sweet to watch.

The first month was filled with lots of snuggles! She doesn't take a pacifier, but she loves car rides! She slept in her boppy longer during the day and in the bassinet at night. She was giving up 2-4 hour stretches of sleep at night. She spits up quite a bit and she is a very noisy baby! Witching started around 2 weeks, but it really hasn't been too bad.

She has been in newborn diapers & size newborn clothes for the whole month. We had her 1 month check-up and she weighed 10lbs 1oz and was 21.5" tall! Because she is such a noisy baby, our pedi is referring us to an ENT to make sure it's just something that she will grow out of. That appointment is at the beginning of August.

Emma's Birth Story!

It has been awhile since I have been able to update this blog! Emma is almost 2 months old now! Anyway, I made it to my induction date and I gave birth at 41w3d!! A couple days prior I had a NST and that went great, Emma was doing really well for being "late."

Here are notes that I took while in labor:

4:30am - inserted the foley bulb with ease. Almost 1.5cm & 60% effaced.
5:00am - started me off on lowest dose of Pitocin (1).
8:00am - Foley bulb fell out. 3cm.
11:00am - Nurse thinks my water broke. I'm at 4cm. But the doctor came in and said no, not broken yet. She broke my water, so much gushing! I had internal monitors put in since Emma was moving all over the place.
** contractions come fast and hard. I rocked on the ball while Marcus massaged/counter pressured my back. Contractions every 2-3 minutes. I threw up a couple times. Pit never went over a 5.
12:30pm - I asked for the epi and after screaming for it it was finally administer at 2:00pm. Sucked to have contractions through it, but it was placed within 10 minutes. I was now 7cm.
** epi immediately did its job and I could still move my legs well. I felt tightening in my upper belly, but that was it.
** After about 30 minutes I was feeling lots of pressure in my vag area that hurt! Then came the butt pressure that was even worse. "I AM going to poop" was said many times. I thought my ass was going to fall off. I farted really loud in front of the nurse!!!
2:30pm - checked and at 9cm. I had to push, but of course they told me not to. With every subsequent contraction I felt my body pushing more and more. I was in so much pain. Checked and at 10cm and +1 station. Checked after next contraction and I was crowning. Doctor was 6 minutes away still!
3:00pm - Doctor finally shows up and I pushed for about 15 minutes, but I was almost hyperventilating after each contraction. I said "I don't know if I can do this" several times. It was so painful and it was difficult for me to push correctly until I gave it my all the last 2 contractions.
3:15pm - she's born! Immediate skin-to-skin for an hour or so. I had a small "skid mark" tear that was stitched up (I could feel that too!). She was 8lbs5oz & 19" long. She breastfed right away on both sides! Loves to snuggle.