Another fly-by post, hoping I can type at least something before Elijah wakes and I have to go, and won't have chance again today (or even tomorrow, who knows?!).
Elijah will be 7 weeks old the day after tomorrow. It's going fast, but it's kind of hard-going, and I have to take each day at a time. I am (honestly) doing so cheerfully, and it is working out okay, but I am getting tired now, and starting to feel a bit wistful for things to settle down and to be able to get the focus back on my other children and the house (and homeschooling!) that I had before he was born. I understand why I can't, and I'm doing the best I can, and I'm okay with it all. I am not stressing out about it. Just making note here that I'm lately feeling a bit drained and looking forward to more settled days ahead, whenever that happens (I'm not sure when to expect change yet. Perhaps not for a while?).
Elijah has been on his medication for reflux for 2 weeks tomorrow, and it has also been almost two weeks since I cut out dairy. I didn't go crazy reading labels for ingredients that come from milk at first, but decided to after reading other people's stories of how their babies responded to even tiny amounts in foods, etc. So I think I can say I have been completely dairy-free for maybe 10 days? I am not sure. Maybe a few days less. Anyway. I miss milk and cheese, and it's proving really hard to find a variety of foods that I can eat which are nutritious enough AND accessible enough, AND quick enough to cook, AND easy enough to cook, for me to be able to actually consider them. Not proving easy at all. But oh well! It's worth it if it helps my little one.
He is starting to be more calm these last few days. He is having longer periods of calm alertness, and since maybe the day before yesterday he has surprised me by sitting in the bouncy chair for maybe 5 or 10 minutes in a row without crying! That is AMAZING for Elijah, believe me. He otherwise cries all the time. ALL of it. Or sleeps, or feeds. Otherwise he is crying. Lately not quite so much! :) He is cooing and smiling at us a lot, and even at the boys a bit today and yesterday. He had his third osteopath appointment this morning and smiled and cooed and generally flirted with the osteopath, which was sweet - and a big eye-opener for her to see how much he has changed since the first appt (screaming and rigid and distressed for 2 hours).
Aaaargh my laptop battery is about to die and I left the power cable next to the bed where Elijah is sleeping! It's late so maybe it's not a good idea to try getting it in case I wake him and then start a whole cry cycle again before I get chance to go to bed.... I think I will post this now, unfinished as it is, and update again tomorrow with the rest, if I get chance! Back soon! :)
Well, I did post it, but it's now 20 mins before Elijah's midnight meds are due and I'm all ready for bed, sitting in a dark bedroom next to a sleeping baby, having drawn up his syringe-ful of yucky bitter stuff by the light of the laptop monitor (now plugged in!). He's still sleeping, so I think I will carry on updating the original post unless he stirs, or midnight arrives! ;)
Elijah had his 6-8 week check with the doctor on Wednesday. I was supposed to have my postnatal check the same day, but I wrote down 2.20pm (his appt was sent to me in the post for 2pm) for some reason, and when I turned up for both our appointments, they said it was 9.20am and I'd missed it! :S Whoops! Not sure what part of my brain wasn't there at the time of making the appointment, but oh well. The doctor was very nice about it (same one who had me in tears over being 5 mins late with Benjamin's 6-8 week check - perhaps she'd learned her lesson, not to make this particular mother upset postnatally, lol!) and I rebooked for next Friday at 10.30 with a different doctor (since that's all they could offer me), but I think I will end up cancelling that one because Elijah's next osteopath appt is sure to clash with it. I don't know when that is yet because the osteopath he sees was fully booked for Friday, but he NEEDS to be seen weekly, so he is on a waiting list for cancellations. If there isn't one, she said she would double book him with someone else just to be sure he gets a treatment :) The beautiful thing about this place is that it's FREE. They are a registered charity (The Osteopathic Centre for Children, in London) and encourage donations by families being treated there, so I donate sometimes after an appointment. We can't afford osteopathic treatment in any other setting, so I'm ever so thankful for the OCC! :) Anyway, who knows when I'll get my 6 week postnatal check! Probably sometime, eventually! I have no concerns about me anyway.
I have pelvic pain and back pain still, to varying degrees, depending on my activity level. I saw my physiotherapist at the hospital on Thursday last week, and was given a ton of very very very simple and careful exercises to do, which I am getting precisely NO time to do so far. I have to go back at the beginning of August, because there are some of the very very very simple and careful exercises that I am still unable to do without pain, so I have to wait on those and go back to see how I'm doing. I am so frustrated because for once I desperately feel the need to be getting fit and exercising properly, but the physio told me absolutely NO exercising whatsoever. Only gentle walks (an impossible activity with any of my children in tow, let alone all of them!) or the exercises prescribed. I have been doing a bit more walking lately, just getting from the car (parked a few mins away) to an appointment or something, which sounds laughably puny but is actually quite a bit of exercise for me, embarrassingly! :/ On Monday it was Benjamin's 3rd birthday (!!!) and we all went out to find a good place to run about (the boys, not me!) and jump in huge puddles, as that's what Benjamin wanted to do in the end on that rainy birthday! So I walked quite a bit further than my body said I ought to, and with Elijah on my front in the hug-a-bub. It was okay walking with him in there - he slept pretty quickly and stayed asleep until I put him in the car seat to go home - but my back did ache after 10 minutes or so. Oh well. Anyway, I hurt like crazy the next day in my feet and ankles and hips! Soooo unfit. *sigh* I so want to get stuck into toning up and increasing my stamina, and aerobic exercise for my heart and lungs, but I'm not allowed to yet. It's going to be a slow gradual process to just get my core muscles and ligaments accepting of basic exercises, which is really frustrating, but a worthwhile process I'm sure. I want to be in much better shape before my next pregnancy (which I hope will happen!) :)
Elijah's appointment with the doctor went quite well. He weighs 9lbs 5oz, which puts him at the 10th percentile for weight (9th on the charts they go by, 10th in the breastfed baby charts), which is the curve he's been on since birth. He did go up nearly to the 25th percentile last time he was weighed by the health visitor, so the doctor sees this weigh-in to show a "dip" in weight gain. *sigh* He is a tall boy! He was never measured at birth but I always felt he was longer than average because despite being really skinny and his clothes being baggy on him, he was always outgrowing the length of the footed sleepsuits, and the sleepsuits without feet were like shorts, halfway up his legs, hehe! Anyway he is 59cm long (23 inches) which puts him between the 75th and 91st percentiles (80th percentile on the breastfed baby charts). The doctor got kind of concerned about the difference between his height and weight percentiles, and suggested I topped him up with formula. I didn't expect that. She said she didn't really believe he has reflux and that he cries a lot and feeds a lot (2-3 hourly or more frequently, but very randomly around the clock because I feed him on demand) because he's a "hungry baby". And that's he a hungry baby because he needs "more" than my milk is giving him. *another sigh* That was a bit of a low moment, to be honest. A mummy doesn't feel good to hear things like that, even if it's cheerfully suggested and meant to be helpful or lighthearted, which it was, and I love my GP. But I do not want to supplement with formula, and don't believe it's the best or right thing for him. I am sure there is no reason why my milk can't be enough for him. I have a huge supply, as always. I am breastfeeding Benjamin maybe twice a day, Samuel whenver he wants it during the day (4+ times maybe?), and Elijah day and night pretty frequently, and still leaking loads between anyone's feeds when my milk randomly lets down. Everyone gets what they want when they feed and stop when they are full, and I can hand express more right afterwards. So it's not a supply thing. I don't think there is really anything wrong with his feeding pattern, nor that he's a "hungry baby". On the day of the appointment I really felt kind of knocked, confidence-wise, by the whole thing, and was second-guessing my gut instinct (which is to breastfeed, not supplement, and not introduce solids early (ie. before 6 months)). But I've had some good encouragement and support from friends online and people in the know, and feel much more confident that my gut instinct is right now.
I am perfectly happy to feed him all the time! I know he doesn't need to be feeding TOO frequently because that can aggravate reflux (in fact the whole feeding frequently thing IS a symptom of reflux, tsk!), so I need to talk to Heather about it as she's a breastfeeding counsellor. She is away on holiday until Sunday so I'll have to wait until then. Anyway, he is feeding well, and growing, so I am not worried. The GP prescribed him formula for babies who are allergic to cows milk protein, and more of his reflux meds, but I only collected the reflux meds.
Anyway, he is otherwise doing fine. His neck muscles are stronger than she expected, and he holds his head up well and can turn his head from side to side when lying on his tummy. He is starting to track objects with his eyes, and does lots of "conversing" now which is ever so sweet! I love hearing his voice! :)
I am still spotting from the birth. It's not that unusual for me to still have a trace of lochia at 6 weeks postpartum, but it should be disappearing soon, and I'll be glad! I don't much like that stage! I am suspicious that some sort of hormonal change is going on for me right now. On Wednesday (the day before yesterday), I felt tired and sensitive, and kind of moody. I thought nothing of it, since I'm at full stretch emotionally and physically all the time at the moment, and sleep deprived to boot! ;) I also noticed IBS that day, which I haven't had since I was pregnant. Again, thought nothing much of it. Then the next day, yesterday, I noticed I felt kind of hormonal and weepy and tired, in the same way as the day before. I think I only really took note of it because it was the second day running and I hadn't noticed any feelings like that since the initial few days after the birth with the hormones settling down. Neil and I argued that evening over something sooooo daft, and I put it down to tiredness for us both, but the next morning I thought about it and realised that I was being much more oversensitive and quick to lose my temper than is normal for me, even when just tired. Then yesterday, I went to the loo and what do you know?! EWCM! And not a small amount either. That's the first CM I've had since pregnancy. I generally do not have any after having a baby until my cycles are starting to gear up for coming back, or at least try to (even if they don't succeed at first, lol!). I had felt a bit crampy for the previous few days and it distracted me enough to make me wonder what it was about. When I started getting IBS on Wednesday I thought maybe that's all it had been, but I wasn't convinced because it didn't really feel like it. I haven't ruled out a urine infection but I have no other symptoms of one. Anyway, I'm now on day 2 of EWCM, and have been quite uncomfy on my left side today low down at the front, so I wonder if my body is trying to ovulate. I know that is CRAZY! I am breastfeeding 3 "babies" and just gave birth 6 weeks ago, lol! But my periods seem to be starting again earlier and earlier each time for me now, and the last time I had a period at 8 weeks postpartum, with ovulation too! So it's possible. I kind of hope not, for now! It's perfectly normal to have EWCM in random patches for months without ovulating or having a period, when you're breastfeeding, apparently. But it hasn't been MY norm, so far. We shall see.
Well, I think that is about all I wanted to catch up on for now. I'm sure I have more to waffle about, like how I genuinely felt really wistful and longing when I was driving Elijah to his appointment this morning and playing a worship CD that I listened to every time I drove to an antenatal appointment, and haven't heard since. Ohhhh how I missed being pregnant at that moment! I mean, I generally miss being pregnant and look forward to doing it again, but with the memory trigger of the music, I actually felt such a physical pang! I am going to be just hopeless when my baby-making days are over. I am already praying over it, because I know it will be an adjustment and I want to make it sanely and smoothly! ;) I trust God. He's in control and He knows what is best for me, so if I can rest in that, I should be okay, but I suuuuure will miss it!
It's just past midnight now and Elijah is STILL sleeping (since maybe 8.45pm!) so I need to wake him up for his medication now. I much prefer giving him his dose this way, because he doesn't really wake up. I pick him up and cradle him in my left arm, semi-upright, and then tease his lips with the syringe until he stirs and opens his mouth. His dose is only 0.33mls of nasty bitter liquid (yes, I did taste it), but I still only give him about a quarter of that dose at a time, rubbing his tiny cheeks to rouse him enough to make him swallow each little bit. I don't want him to choke! He takes the whole dose safely that way, and doesn't actually wake up or know he's even taking the yucky stuff, which is much nicer for him. He is such a trooper taking it when he's wide awake and hungry though. He grimaces a little, but calmly takes it all the same, and never tries to avoid it or turn his face away. He doesn't cry about it. He's such a good boy, and I love him so much! Anyway it's nice at night because he takes the dose without knowing, and then I lay him back down once I'm sure he's squidged his mouth about and swallowed a few times, and he generally stays asleep for a while longer before waking as usual for a feed. He feeds maybe every 3-4 hours at night, but one night after his 2nd osteo appointment a week ago, he slept from about midnight (having cried all evening which he usually does - this evening is unusual in that he has slept for most of it!) until 6am!!!! Now, there's no sense getting too excited about him "sleeping through the night" because looking back I see that many of my babies have done just that for One Night Only at the very same age. Then never again until like 18 months old, haha! Anyway it was nice! :)
Okay, off to medicate my darling boy. I will be back soon! I should be making this the last blog entry here for a while, because I like to close up shop here once the official postnatal/newborn period is over, until next time. And I usually go with the postnatal appointments for that marker, and we've done that. But Elijah is having prolonged newborn-ish issues still, and I haven't had my postnatal check yet, and anyway I am having ongoing treatment for pregnancy-related stuff with the physio, sooooo.... maybe I will keep it open a while longer. I also like to come back to keep track of my cycles once they start up again, and if that's going to happen soon anyway... I will not say goodbye for now. I'll come back and update again sometime soon, to keep a record of how Elijah is doing with his treatment. I think I will want that to look back on for future reference maybe. If you're still keeping up, well done, lol! I haven't got many commenters or readers on any of the posts I make here or at my main blog now, but I am much more settled now than I've ever been before with the idea of just blogging for my own memories and future reference stuff, so I am not put off. I like readers and commentors though, of course! ;) I will be back soon!
Friday, July 13, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
5 weeks - so much to update about!
Oh dear! I can't believe I haven't updated here since Elijah was 10 days old!!! :S Whoops!
Right now I literally have NO time to update. I never ever (ever) have time to update, because life is stretched to the max. So I'll bullet point again, so that at least I have made note of everything here, and mayyybe I might get chance to go into more detail on some of them another time.
* I have Gastro-Esophegeal Reflux Disease (GERD). A week ago my oesophagus decided not to work properly, and swallowing anything was painful and difficult. SO SCARY!!!! Anyway, long story short - no more big multi-vitamins for me, and I am now on omeprazole for 3 months. I still have discomfort in my oesophagus but it's easing up in general.
* Elijah has become a really distressed baby at all times. Last Thursday and Friday were absolutely unmanageable with Neil at work. Both days I phoned him in tears, unable to get food for the boys or give any of the boys any of my time at all, including Samuel and his need for a nap! Elijah screamed and screamed all day, no matter whether he was held, rocked, walked, bounced, wrapped, upright, reclined, and finally on those two days he started to pull of the breast to scream as well, and had a block of a couple of hours doing the same in the middle of the night. I had made him an appointment (after much encouragement to do so from Heather) at the osteopath that I took Benjamin and Samuel to, in London, but the earliest appointment was July 10th. I made that on Thursday.
* On Friday it was just so bad. Soooo bad. It wasn't even much past lunch time (not that I was anywhere near being able to imagine managing to get lunch ready), and I was breastfeeding Elijah in bed again, trying to find a way to settle him (nothing did). The boys were doing a mixture of crying, fighting, yelling and playing downstairs, and I was crying on the phone to Neil as I nursed Elijah. I did not know how to manage. Neil was coming home early that day because his company lets them out at 2pm on the last Friday of the month if they work through their lunch break! :)
* After the phone call I suddenly decided to be proactive - something had to be done NOW. I called the osteopath and asked if they might on the off-chance possibly have a cancellation for today, and what do you know?! Someone had JUST cancelled their 3.30 appt! Thank you Lord (because it was totally His doing). So I took Elijah to the osteopath that very day!
* Elijah has some issues. He apparently presented at birth with his head straight, instead of with his chin to his chest, as babies ought to be. Heather says this totally explains why I did not go into labour when my waters broke, and also why he was bobbing in and out, not engaging properly. Elijah has compression in the front part of his skull, which is why he always looks like he's frowning so deeply. He does have some good brows on him, lol! But as well as that, his head was really pressed down at the front as he was born. At the same time as that, the back of his head was being pressed backwards, which has caused compression in his neck at the back, and also some "pinching" in some vertebrae lower down in his back (think concertina). The pain in his back/neck has caused him to hold his diaphragm very tight, and this has resulted in severe "silent" reflux. Can't believe we were both diagnosed with GERD in the same week! :( He isn't a "sicky" baby at all, but his poor oesophagus is burning up all the same. They also felt that his "guts" are sensitive, and advised me to cut out dairy from my diet in case it's affecting him through my milk. Poor poor baby boy!
* They said not to wait in getting him to a doctor for a prescription for his reflux, and it was after hours when we got home. After the boys were in bed, I got him an urgent care appointment at the out of hours clinic at 9.30pm. They sent us to children's A&E!!!! They said he was so tiny and in so much obvious pain and distress that he needed to be seen by a paediatrician to rule out sepsis!!!! Yikes! So we went. We were there two hours, and I was beyond exhausted - Elijah too. He cried so much the whole time, and I had to walk him and rock him (Neil was obviously at home with the boys, who were sleeping). He was too distressed for them to take observations even, but they did get a normal temp reading, which was good. Finally they gave us a prescription for ranitidine (similar to my prescription), but I had to go back the next morning to collect it from the pharmacy. He was so exhausted when we got home (midnight!) and slept pretty well considering - a couple of 3 hour blocks in a row.
* Good old A&E gave him his first cold! I'm kind of annoyed about it! Poor baby, as if he needed anything else added to it all!! *sigh* Anyway. He is getting over that a bit today, and has been on his meds for 4 days now. He is doing better today than he has in ages, but still cries and screams a lot of the time. He has even smiled and cooed at us today, which is sooooo wonderful! He really hasn't done any of that before now - though he did smile for the first time at 3 weeks, 4 days old. And maybe twice over the two weeks after that, until now. He didn't really make eye contact either, he was just too busy hurting or being exhausted from hurting.
It has been really hard, but I'm hoping things are going to improve soon. I have cut out dairy and that's not easy either, but I'll do ANYTHING for my manny. I love him so much.
These three photos were taken at 4 and a half weeks old, at the end of last week before getting him sorted out. They were taken sort of to document how he has been, for my own reference really. They show the three expressions that he has had up until then. The first is his "exhausted/blank" expression, which he does when he's not crying or sleeping, just for a very short while; the second is his "fretting/anxious/pained" expression - he whimpers with this one, and the look in his eyes makes me want to cry. He looks actually scared and like he is desperate for reassurance :( The third is the most common - crying or screaming in a pained/distressed way.
Then see these four photos that I took this morning!! He IS still spending much of the time crying and distressed, but there is a definite light at the end of the tunnel if I can get photos like these - I have not been able to before now. His face was actually relaxed for a while and he looked... happy! :) And he smiled! And even got a bit animated and tried cooing! So happy to have caught it on camera! :)
Elijah is otherwise doing great - he weighed 8lbs 11oz at exactly one month old (last Wednesday), which is funny to me because it's exactly Benjamin's birth weight! :) He is at the 25th percentile for weight now, having started at the 9th, so he's growing well! He is feeding great, and weeing and pooing for England.
Okay, got to go. Elijah's cold has passed to Samuel, Benjamin and Nathan today and all three are awake and crying right now (some SCREAMING) at half past midnight. Urrrghh! Long night ahead. I have so much more to write and pics to post, but I will have to do it another time.
Right now I literally have NO time to update. I never ever (ever) have time to update, because life is stretched to the max. So I'll bullet point again, so that at least I have made note of everything here, and mayyybe I might get chance to go into more detail on some of them another time.
* I have Gastro-Esophegeal Reflux Disease (GERD). A week ago my oesophagus decided not to work properly, and swallowing anything was painful and difficult. SO SCARY!!!! Anyway, long story short - no more big multi-vitamins for me, and I am now on omeprazole for 3 months. I still have discomfort in my oesophagus but it's easing up in general.
* Elijah has become a really distressed baby at all times. Last Thursday and Friday were absolutely unmanageable with Neil at work. Both days I phoned him in tears, unable to get food for the boys or give any of the boys any of my time at all, including Samuel and his need for a nap! Elijah screamed and screamed all day, no matter whether he was held, rocked, walked, bounced, wrapped, upright, reclined, and finally on those two days he started to pull of the breast to scream as well, and had a block of a couple of hours doing the same in the middle of the night. I had made him an appointment (after much encouragement to do so from Heather) at the osteopath that I took Benjamin and Samuel to, in London, but the earliest appointment was July 10th. I made that on Thursday.
* On Friday it was just so bad. Soooo bad. It wasn't even much past lunch time (not that I was anywhere near being able to imagine managing to get lunch ready), and I was breastfeeding Elijah in bed again, trying to find a way to settle him (nothing did). The boys were doing a mixture of crying, fighting, yelling and playing downstairs, and I was crying on the phone to Neil as I nursed Elijah. I did not know how to manage. Neil was coming home early that day because his company lets them out at 2pm on the last Friday of the month if they work through their lunch break! :)
* After the phone call I suddenly decided to be proactive - something had to be done NOW. I called the osteopath and asked if they might on the off-chance possibly have a cancellation for today, and what do you know?! Someone had JUST cancelled their 3.30 appt! Thank you Lord (because it was totally His doing). So I took Elijah to the osteopath that very day!
* Elijah has some issues. He apparently presented at birth with his head straight, instead of with his chin to his chest, as babies ought to be. Heather says this totally explains why I did not go into labour when my waters broke, and also why he was bobbing in and out, not engaging properly. Elijah has compression in the front part of his skull, which is why he always looks like he's frowning so deeply. He does have some good brows on him, lol! But as well as that, his head was really pressed down at the front as he was born. At the same time as that, the back of his head was being pressed backwards, which has caused compression in his neck at the back, and also some "pinching" in some vertebrae lower down in his back (think concertina). The pain in his back/neck has caused him to hold his diaphragm very tight, and this has resulted in severe "silent" reflux. Can't believe we were both diagnosed with GERD in the same week! :( He isn't a "sicky" baby at all, but his poor oesophagus is burning up all the same. They also felt that his "guts" are sensitive, and advised me to cut out dairy from my diet in case it's affecting him through my milk. Poor poor baby boy!
* They said not to wait in getting him to a doctor for a prescription for his reflux, and it was after hours when we got home. After the boys were in bed, I got him an urgent care appointment at the out of hours clinic at 9.30pm. They sent us to children's A&E!!!! They said he was so tiny and in so much obvious pain and distress that he needed to be seen by a paediatrician to rule out sepsis!!!! Yikes! So we went. We were there two hours, and I was beyond exhausted - Elijah too. He cried so much the whole time, and I had to walk him and rock him (Neil was obviously at home with the boys, who were sleeping). He was too distressed for them to take observations even, but they did get a normal temp reading, which was good. Finally they gave us a prescription for ranitidine (similar to my prescription), but I had to go back the next morning to collect it from the pharmacy. He was so exhausted when we got home (midnight!) and slept pretty well considering - a couple of 3 hour blocks in a row.
* Good old A&E gave him his first cold! I'm kind of annoyed about it! Poor baby, as if he needed anything else added to it all!! *sigh* Anyway. He is getting over that a bit today, and has been on his meds for 4 days now. He is doing better today than he has in ages, but still cries and screams a lot of the time. He has even smiled and cooed at us today, which is sooooo wonderful! He really hasn't done any of that before now - though he did smile for the first time at 3 weeks, 4 days old. And maybe twice over the two weeks after that, until now. He didn't really make eye contact either, he was just too busy hurting or being exhausted from hurting.
It has been really hard, but I'm hoping things are going to improve soon. I have cut out dairy and that's not easy either, but I'll do ANYTHING for my manny. I love him so much.
These three photos were taken at 4 and a half weeks old, at the end of last week before getting him sorted out. They were taken sort of to document how he has been, for my own reference really. They show the three expressions that he has had up until then. The first is his "exhausted/blank" expression, which he does when he's not crying or sleeping, just for a very short while; the second is his "fretting/anxious/pained" expression - he whimpers with this one, and the look in his eyes makes me want to cry. He looks actually scared and like he is desperate for reassurance :( The third is the most common - crying or screaming in a pained/distressed way.
Then see these four photos that I took this morning!! He IS still spending much of the time crying and distressed, but there is a definite light at the end of the tunnel if I can get photos like these - I have not been able to before now. His face was actually relaxed for a while and he looked... happy! :) And he smiled! And even got a bit animated and tried cooing! So happy to have caught it on camera! :)
Elijah is otherwise doing great - he weighed 8lbs 11oz at exactly one month old (last Wednesday), which is funny to me because it's exactly Benjamin's birth weight! :) He is at the 25th percentile for weight now, having started at the 9th, so he's growing well! He is feeding great, and weeing and pooing for England.
Okay, got to go. Elijah's cold has passed to Samuel, Benjamin and Nathan today and all three are awake and crying right now (some SCREAMING) at half past midnight. Urrrghh! Long night ahead. I have so much more to write and pics to post, but I will have to do it another time.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Elijah's newborn photos!
Paul came round with Elijah's newborn photos this evening, yay! I am so tired out and haven't got time to write anything but I wanted to post them here straight away, and I'll try to write an update soon. For more about the photo session, go to the previous entry which I posted last night. :)
These are my photos, but taken by Paul, and I think they are copyrighted to him, so please don't copy these photos without my permission (Nicola, permission granted! ;) ). Thanks!
Here's my sweet little manny! I love him sooooo!
These are my photos, but taken by Paul, and I think they are copyrighted to him, so please don't copy these photos without my permission (Nicola, permission granted! ;) ). Thanks!
Here's my sweet little manny! I love him sooooo!
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Photo session (8 days old) and poo!
Whoops. Somehow a week has passed since I last updated! :S That's a LONG time in Newborn Land! Elijah is sleeping next to me but he is likely to wake at any moment for a feed, so I may only have seconds to try and cram a whole week of news in before he wakes!
Elijah had his photos taken at 8 days old, on Monday this past week. It went really well! Our friend Paul from church is a keen photographer - he doesn't earn a living from it but he does "professional" shoots. He has never done newborn photography before and wanted to bless us with some photos, and have some fun - he led me to believe he needed to build up a portfolio, but it turns out he pretty much just thought it would be a fun new experience and that we would like to have special photos of our tiny manny! How lovely! :)
He picked Elijah and I up at 9ish in the morning and we knew it would take all morning to do, going at Elijah's pace and seeing how we got on. Elijah HATED his first experience in a car seat, poor baby! He screamed frantically until we got to a road with speed bumps and then he suddenly fell fast asleep practically mid-scream! ;) He stayed asleep for the first half hour we were there, and woke as I was taking his clothes off ready for the first photo. So I fed him and he went to sleep, and since he was already a nakey baby, we put him straight into position for a photo right from the breast. The very first thing he did when positioned on the towels was a wee, hehe! Thankfully he was on his tummy so it wasn't a big deal. He did great. Pretty much every time we tried a new pose or brought a prop into the shot, he started squirming and fussing until he was awake and displeased! ;) So I did a lot of breastfeeding over the morning and consequently Elijah did a lot weeing on whatever he was laid on, lol! I was so nervous after a couple of hours that he would poo, because he pretty much doesn't go longer than a few hours between poos - well, he's going a bit longer than that at the moment but at the beginning of the week he was pooing about every 2-3 hours, if not more frequently. Oh how funny, as I typed that he squirmed in his sleep and emitted a squirty sound from his bottom, hehehe! Guess I'll be changing that in a mo! ;)
Anyway, thankfully (amazingly!) he didn't poo at all while we were there, but the momemt I got him out of his car seat when we arrived home, he did a mega blow-out (out of the sides and back of the nappy - his first!). I was so glad he didn't do that during the photo shoot!
Some of the poses were soooo sweet to put him into, because awwww he's so buttery soft and foldable, and being fast asleep at the same time was just adorable to watch. Paul's 16-year-old daughter was helping us, and she would keep saying, "Awwwww!!!" when Elijah was put into a new pose! Ohhh, more squirty sounds from the sleeping boy... :S Hope it won't be a blow-out. Those are no fun to change!
I think we got various photos taken of only 4 or 5 different poses, but it took until about 1.30pm! I was soooo tired suddenly when I sat down to feed him at that point, I felt a bit unwell with it really, all of a sudden. There were more ideas that Paul had for photos, but they had a Jubilee gathering to attend in the afternoon in any case, and we were happy with what we'd got already. Paul has to edit the photos but he works full time. He thought maybe he might be able to get a disc of photos to me this weekend but I know this weekend has a ton of social events that he's running/part of at church, so I am not sure if he'll actually have time.
MORE squirty sounds! Yikes. He's still sleeping but he'll wake when he's finished, I should think. Then I won't have chance to type any more tonight, for sure, so perhaps I'll post this? Mind you I haven't written much yet, so maybe I'll save it and finish it tomorrow or something? Hmmm...
There's a photo that I really hope comes out okay - Paul happened to have a basket with a Union Jack flag pattern all over it, and he wondered about using it to put Elijah in, since it was the Queen's Jubilee weekend (I'm one who LOVES all things royal and the Jubilee, by the way!), and I loved the idea!! So we got a photo of him in there. I hope it comes out well! Can't wait to see what he's captured, and post them online!
Yet more squirty sounds. This is shaping up to be a blow-out nappy for sure.
So Paul drove us home, and Elijah didn't fall asleep this time, he was just mightily cross with the journey and the indignity of being squished into a car seat! ;) When I lifted his car seat out of Paul's car and he drove off, one of the neighbours was coming out to her car. She looked kind of shocked, and said, "Another one?! How many's that now?!" I don't think she knew I was even pregnant so I can understand her reaction! ;) I said, "Six..." and she said, "Aw my gawd!" and came over to look at him in his car seat (crying angrily!). She asked if we were just trying to get a girl, and I said no, just a baby, and that I loved having babies (this is now my default answer, as I'm getting used to saying it a lot now!).
Okay, he's awake, so I'll have to finish this another time!
Well, the poo stayed contained, but he made up for it by weeing in his own face while I changed his nappy, lol! Poor baby!
After we got home, I was so tired and hungry, and it was after 2pm! I grabbed a few things to eat from the kitchen and took them upstairs with Elijah. I ate while I breastfed my Very Fed-Up Baby (he did not enjoy the travelling aspect!) and then he was exhausted, so we went to bed. I think I was asleep with him by 2.30pm, and the boys and Neil were out at Box Hill all day with Uncle Ian, so it was a quiet house. I kept waking up to feed Elijah when he stirred, and sometimes checked the time, but I still felt soooo tired! I ended up waking up properly when the phone rang next to me, and it was Neil saying he knew it was a bit late, but they were about to set off for home, so it would be near 8pm when they got back. I thought, "What?!?!" and was amazed to see that it was after 7pm already when I looked at the clock! I guess the morning had been more than I was quite ready for, and it really tired me out. I had some pain in my left breast that day too, and the day before, and I ended up with a fever and much worse pain when I woke the next morning, so maybe that's partly why I'd needed to sleep like that when we got home?
Anyway I will have to write about the "almost mastitis" episode another time, because it's late, Elijah is fussing and I need to go to bed! I'll post this for now and try again tomorrow - Elijah is two weeks old tomorrow!!! I cannot believe how fast it's going!
Elijah had his photos taken at 8 days old, on Monday this past week. It went really well! Our friend Paul from church is a keen photographer - he doesn't earn a living from it but he does "professional" shoots. He has never done newborn photography before and wanted to bless us with some photos, and have some fun - he led me to believe he needed to build up a portfolio, but it turns out he pretty much just thought it would be a fun new experience and that we would like to have special photos of our tiny manny! How lovely! :)
He picked Elijah and I up at 9ish in the morning and we knew it would take all morning to do, going at Elijah's pace and seeing how we got on. Elijah HATED his first experience in a car seat, poor baby! He screamed frantically until we got to a road with speed bumps and then he suddenly fell fast asleep practically mid-scream! ;) He stayed asleep for the first half hour we were there, and woke as I was taking his clothes off ready for the first photo. So I fed him and he went to sleep, and since he was already a nakey baby, we put him straight into position for a photo right from the breast. The very first thing he did when positioned on the towels was a wee, hehe! Thankfully he was on his tummy so it wasn't a big deal. He did great. Pretty much every time we tried a new pose or brought a prop into the shot, he started squirming and fussing until he was awake and displeased! ;) So I did a lot of breastfeeding over the morning and consequently Elijah did a lot weeing on whatever he was laid on, lol! I was so nervous after a couple of hours that he would poo, because he pretty much doesn't go longer than a few hours between poos - well, he's going a bit longer than that at the moment but at the beginning of the week he was pooing about every 2-3 hours, if not more frequently. Oh how funny, as I typed that he squirmed in his sleep and emitted a squirty sound from his bottom, hehehe! Guess I'll be changing that in a mo! ;)
Anyway, thankfully (amazingly!) he didn't poo at all while we were there, but the momemt I got him out of his car seat when we arrived home, he did a mega blow-out (out of the sides and back of the nappy - his first!). I was so glad he didn't do that during the photo shoot!
Some of the poses were soooo sweet to put him into, because awwww he's so buttery soft and foldable, and being fast asleep at the same time was just adorable to watch. Paul's 16-year-old daughter was helping us, and she would keep saying, "Awwwww!!!" when Elijah was put into a new pose! Ohhh, more squirty sounds from the sleeping boy... :S Hope it won't be a blow-out. Those are no fun to change!
I think we got various photos taken of only 4 or 5 different poses, but it took until about 1.30pm! I was soooo tired suddenly when I sat down to feed him at that point, I felt a bit unwell with it really, all of a sudden. There were more ideas that Paul had for photos, but they had a Jubilee gathering to attend in the afternoon in any case, and we were happy with what we'd got already. Paul has to edit the photos but he works full time. He thought maybe he might be able to get a disc of photos to me this weekend but I know this weekend has a ton of social events that he's running/part of at church, so I am not sure if he'll actually have time.
MORE squirty sounds! Yikes. He's still sleeping but he'll wake when he's finished, I should think. Then I won't have chance to type any more tonight, for sure, so perhaps I'll post this? Mind you I haven't written much yet, so maybe I'll save it and finish it tomorrow or something? Hmmm...
There's a photo that I really hope comes out okay - Paul happened to have a basket with a Union Jack flag pattern all over it, and he wondered about using it to put Elijah in, since it was the Queen's Jubilee weekend (I'm one who LOVES all things royal and the Jubilee, by the way!), and I loved the idea!! So we got a photo of him in there. I hope it comes out well! Can't wait to see what he's captured, and post them online!
Yet more squirty sounds. This is shaping up to be a blow-out nappy for sure.
So Paul drove us home, and Elijah didn't fall asleep this time, he was just mightily cross with the journey and the indignity of being squished into a car seat! ;) When I lifted his car seat out of Paul's car and he drove off, one of the neighbours was coming out to her car. She looked kind of shocked, and said, "Another one?! How many's that now?!" I don't think she knew I was even pregnant so I can understand her reaction! ;) I said, "Six..." and she said, "Aw my gawd!" and came over to look at him in his car seat (crying angrily!). She asked if we were just trying to get a girl, and I said no, just a baby, and that I loved having babies (this is now my default answer, as I'm getting used to saying it a lot now!).
Okay, he's awake, so I'll have to finish this another time!
Well, the poo stayed contained, but he made up for it by weeing in his own face while I changed his nappy, lol! Poor baby!
After we got home, I was so tired and hungry, and it was after 2pm! I grabbed a few things to eat from the kitchen and took them upstairs with Elijah. I ate while I breastfed my Very Fed-Up Baby (he did not enjoy the travelling aspect!) and then he was exhausted, so we went to bed. I think I was asleep with him by 2.30pm, and the boys and Neil were out at Box Hill all day with Uncle Ian, so it was a quiet house. I kept waking up to feed Elijah when he stirred, and sometimes checked the time, but I still felt soooo tired! I ended up waking up properly when the phone rang next to me, and it was Neil saying he knew it was a bit late, but they were about to set off for home, so it would be near 8pm when they got back. I thought, "What?!?!" and was amazed to see that it was after 7pm already when I looked at the clock! I guess the morning had been more than I was quite ready for, and it really tired me out. I had some pain in my left breast that day too, and the day before, and I ended up with a fever and much worse pain when I woke the next morning, so maybe that's partly why I'd needed to sleep like that when we got home?
Anyway I will have to write about the "almost mastitis" episode another time, because it's late, Elijah is fussing and I need to go to bed! I'll post this for now and try again tomorrow - Elijah is two weeks old tomorrow!!! I cannot believe how fast it's going!
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Six days old :)
Elijah is 6 days old today. Yesterday he had his heel prick test and did great. I was glad to hold and feed him while they did it, rather than hand him over for the whole thing like with some of my other babies. He was a brave boy! :) They also weighed him again, even though it was only 48 hours after they'd come to weigh him when he was 3 days old. She said that she might as well, while she was here! He weighed 6lbs 7oz!!! That's pretty good considering he was 6lbs 1oz 48 hours earlier!
My milk is well in, leaking and hurting like crazy when it lets down, so he is getting per-lenty when he feeds. And he feeds pretty much all the time, and has cat-naps in between, so I'm not toooo surprised that he's gaining weight well now! :) See now, I'm writing about my milk and even though he's fast asleep, I'm leaking milk all over my top, lol! I am so happy to have milk flowing again! I love lactating! :)
Benjamin nursed at bedtime last night! He had said he didn't like the taste, and it was for The Lijah (this is how he pronounces Elijah's name, soooo sweet!) and not him anymore, bless his heart! He seemed a bit sad but was happy with a cuddle instead. The next night I asked if he wanted milky but he said he didn't like it and it was for The Lijah now. Last night I asked him again, since he was watching me breastfeed Samuel at bedtime, and he just nodded yes, as though he'd never decided not to the previous two nights! He didn't nurse for long, but he seemed happy enough. He said he liked my special new milky, so who knows! Arthur did pretty much the same thing when he was 3 (Benjamin is 4 months younger with his 2nd younger sibling than Arthur was, due to slightly smaller age gaps the last few babies) - didn't like the new milky (very upset though!), and then went back to it as though nothing had happened after a few days, and continued until I weaned him at age 4! So perhaps Benjamin will now carry on as normal? I'm happy if he does, but I don't mind if he weans. He has breastfed for 2 years and 10 months, which is wonderful for him, and my goal for all my children is at least 2 years for the very best I can give them, so I am happy with what we've achieved! :)
Okay Elijah is now snuffling and squeaking and wriggling about, so I am going to feed him! I'll try to add more later.
I took some photos of Elijah at 4 days old, like I said last entry, and didn't get chance to post them before, so here they are now :) He was having some calm alert time and I put him across my lap for a few minutes so I could take some photos. You can't see it in the first picture but I took this one as a personal happy memory shot - my long-awaited view of my 'parkly toad (love that Benjamin-ism!) beyond my sweet new baby, here at last! :D
He saw me, and then the camera :)
So weeny on my lap!
Thank you afresh to Meg for sending this sweet teeny little outfit when Nathan was born! It's one of my favourites but all the babies since Nathan have been too big to wear it, until now :)
Elijah is so funny when he's calm and alert. He has such a look of... I don't know, a cross between amazed, perplexed and aghast, lol! ;) His little mouth sort of sits open - it has the same semi-circle shape (straight bottom lip) as newborn Nathey. When it's closed, his top gum often sits over his bottom lip, again just like Nathan - none of the others have this. Heather says that if you draw an imaginary line across his face just below the bridge of his nose, everything above it is Benjamin, and everything below it is Nathan, and I think that's a pretty accurate observation. He most definitely has Benji's brows! He currently has dark murky eyes, and so far only the two boys with some brown to their eyes have started off like that, so I'm excited to see what they settle as! Arthur's are brown, and Benjamin's are grey but now have a ring of true brown around the pupil, about half the thickness of his iris.
Here are a couple more pics of Elijah at 4 days old, with the look I referred to earlier! ;)
He's sooooo still and calm and quiet when he's like this. He just blinks occasionally and moves his eyes, and occasionally his tongue, hehe! Sweet little fast baby-breathing, and no other sounds. Love him!! He has the usual dark hair that they've all had as newborns, but less than some of his brothers. The unique thing about Elijah's newborn hair is that he has a sort of slightly nappy fuzz on top - definitely the least amount of hair there that any of them have had - but the usual inch-or-so long hair on the back and sides, lol! Sweet little pea! He reminds me of a little old man with his hair and his lack of chub!
I love to take photos of him sleeping. He is starting to sleep longer stretches between feeds, even 2-3 hours now on occasion. He almost always sleeps on my front or attached to me in some way, which I have the luxury of doing with him while I'm on my "babymoon", resting up mostly in bed. If I put him down, I tend to put him on his side (he startles awake quickly on his back, although less so if I put something at his feet with his legs bent up at the knee - he really likes the comfort of the fetal position still. Anyway I lay him curled up on his side and put a little rolled up baby blanket behind his back. If I lay him down, he wakes within 5 minutes or so, but I am trying to do so at least a couple of times a day and using that time to do stretches and stuff (GENTLE stretches!) because I am getting some tight sore muscles, especially in my shoulders and back, and it helps to stand up and walk and stretch them out as often as possible. I have had the most horrible sinus (maybe?) headache for 2 days that has hurt like crazy in every bone of my face, and the base of my skull at the back. Even my teeth hurt, which makes me wonder if I'm grinding my teeth in my sleep or something? Anyway, paracetamol hasn't touched it (I don't find it a very effective drug for me anyway) and it has been so sore that I have not known what to DO with myself. Last night I decided that I would just try to stay asleep as long as it lasted, to escape it. Every hour or two I woke with Elijah to feed him and it was still there, so when morning came I just carried on "night feed" style, just breastfeeding him lying side-by-side and going back to sleep - he was very accommodating, thankfully! He's not old enough yet to want or need to be "up for the day" at any point! :) When I woke with him at 10.45am, I was relieved to find my headache much better! Still there, but totally manageable, yay! So I got up, andd thankfully it hasn't worsened all day. I've had allergies since Elijah was born, so my sinuses are annoyed.
I'm sure there are some random things that I've been meaning to say but forgot... Oh! The GP came round to do Elijah's newborn check the day after he was born, and she did his head circumference which was 34cm :) That's 13.4 inches, and the weeniest little head I've delivered yet! My last two babies had 38cm (15 inch!!) heads!!!
I gave Elijah his first bath 2 days ago, this time by getting in the bath myself and taking him with me! :) Ahhh it was a lovely blissful bonding experience until he started to fuss a bit. I put him straight to the breast and was just smiling in pure contentment while he nursed in the warm water, when the inevitable happened. Yeah, he pooed. And when I say he pooed, I mean he POOED. Yellow squirty seedy breastmilk poo, one whole nappyful. Then it stopped and I sat frozen, looking at it all swirling around me in the water. I was still sat frozen when he did round two. Oh yes.
So we got out and I washed out the bath and ran a second one! ;) It was okay in the end! Funny story though, one I'll remember fondly for sure! :)
Today I took a few photos of my little treasure sleeping, so I will post them here and then I must go to bed, as it's now really late!
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He is sleeping on my chest as I type this, and now I am going to put him down and brush my teeth, and go to bed with him snuggled against my tummy. These days are such bliss and such a fleeting privilege! I am cherishing every second, praising God continually for His goodness, and praying (already, lol!) for more precious little ones to hold and love and cherish. :)
My milk is well in, leaking and hurting like crazy when it lets down, so he is getting per-lenty when he feeds. And he feeds pretty much all the time, and has cat-naps in between, so I'm not toooo surprised that he's gaining weight well now! :) See now, I'm writing about my milk and even though he's fast asleep, I'm leaking milk all over my top, lol! I am so happy to have milk flowing again! I love lactating! :)
Benjamin nursed at bedtime last night! He had said he didn't like the taste, and it was for The Lijah (this is how he pronounces Elijah's name, soooo sweet!) and not him anymore, bless his heart! He seemed a bit sad but was happy with a cuddle instead. The next night I asked if he wanted milky but he said he didn't like it and it was for The Lijah now. Last night I asked him again, since he was watching me breastfeed Samuel at bedtime, and he just nodded yes, as though he'd never decided not to the previous two nights! He didn't nurse for long, but he seemed happy enough. He said he liked my special new milky, so who knows! Arthur did pretty much the same thing when he was 3 (Benjamin is 4 months younger with his 2nd younger sibling than Arthur was, due to slightly smaller age gaps the last few babies) - didn't like the new milky (very upset though!), and then went back to it as though nothing had happened after a few days, and continued until I weaned him at age 4! So perhaps Benjamin will now carry on as normal? I'm happy if he does, but I don't mind if he weans. He has breastfed for 2 years and 10 months, which is wonderful for him, and my goal for all my children is at least 2 years for the very best I can give them, so I am happy with what we've achieved! :)
Okay Elijah is now snuffling and squeaking and wriggling about, so I am going to feed him! I'll try to add more later.
I took some photos of Elijah at 4 days old, like I said last entry, and didn't get chance to post them before, so here they are now :) He was having some calm alert time and I put him across my lap for a few minutes so I could take some photos. You can't see it in the first picture but I took this one as a personal happy memory shot - my long-awaited view of my 'parkly toad (love that Benjamin-ism!) beyond my sweet new baby, here at last! :D
He saw me, and then the camera :)
So weeny on my lap!
Elijah is so funny when he's calm and alert. He has such a look of... I don't know, a cross between amazed, perplexed and aghast, lol! ;) His little mouth sort of sits open - it has the same semi-circle shape (straight bottom lip) as newborn Nathey. When it's closed, his top gum often sits over his bottom lip, again just like Nathan - none of the others have this. Heather says that if you draw an imaginary line across his face just below the bridge of his nose, everything above it is Benjamin, and everything below it is Nathan, and I think that's a pretty accurate observation. He most definitely has Benji's brows! He currently has dark murky eyes, and so far only the two boys with some brown to their eyes have started off like that, so I'm excited to see what they settle as! Arthur's are brown, and Benjamin's are grey but now have a ring of true brown around the pupil, about half the thickness of his iris.
Here are a couple more pics of Elijah at 4 days old, with the look I referred to earlier! ;)
He's sooooo still and calm and quiet when he's like this. He just blinks occasionally and moves his eyes, and occasionally his tongue, hehe! Sweet little fast baby-breathing, and no other sounds. Love him!! He has the usual dark hair that they've all had as newborns, but less than some of his brothers. The unique thing about Elijah's newborn hair is that he has a sort of slightly nappy fuzz on top - definitely the least amount of hair there that any of them have had - but the usual inch-or-so long hair on the back and sides, lol! Sweet little pea! He reminds me of a little old man with his hair and his lack of chub!
I love to take photos of him sleeping. He is starting to sleep longer stretches between feeds, even 2-3 hours now on occasion. He almost always sleeps on my front or attached to me in some way, which I have the luxury of doing with him while I'm on my "babymoon", resting up mostly in bed. If I put him down, I tend to put him on his side (he startles awake quickly on his back, although less so if I put something at his feet with his legs bent up at the knee - he really likes the comfort of the fetal position still. Anyway I lay him curled up on his side and put a little rolled up baby blanket behind his back. If I lay him down, he wakes within 5 minutes or so, but I am trying to do so at least a couple of times a day and using that time to do stretches and stuff (GENTLE stretches!) because I am getting some tight sore muscles, especially in my shoulders and back, and it helps to stand up and walk and stretch them out as often as possible. I have had the most horrible sinus (maybe?) headache for 2 days that has hurt like crazy in every bone of my face, and the base of my skull at the back. Even my teeth hurt, which makes me wonder if I'm grinding my teeth in my sleep or something? Anyway, paracetamol hasn't touched it (I don't find it a very effective drug for me anyway) and it has been so sore that I have not known what to DO with myself. Last night I decided that I would just try to stay asleep as long as it lasted, to escape it. Every hour or two I woke with Elijah to feed him and it was still there, so when morning came I just carried on "night feed" style, just breastfeeding him lying side-by-side and going back to sleep - he was very accommodating, thankfully! He's not old enough yet to want or need to be "up for the day" at any point! :) When I woke with him at 10.45am, I was relieved to find my headache much better! Still there, but totally manageable, yay! So I got up, andd thankfully it hasn't worsened all day. I've had allergies since Elijah was born, so my sinuses are annoyed.
I'm sure there are some random things that I've been meaning to say but forgot... Oh! The GP came round to do Elijah's newborn check the day after he was born, and she did his head circumference which was 34cm :) That's 13.4 inches, and the weeniest little head I've delivered yet! My last two babies had 38cm (15 inch!!) heads!!!
I gave Elijah his first bath 2 days ago, this time by getting in the bath myself and taking him with me! :) Ahhh it was a lovely blissful bonding experience until he started to fuss a bit. I put him straight to the breast and was just smiling in pure contentment while he nursed in the warm water, when the inevitable happened. Yeah, he pooed. And when I say he pooed, I mean he POOED. Yellow squirty seedy breastmilk poo, one whole nappyful. Then it stopped and I sat frozen, looking at it all swirling around me in the water. I was still sat frozen when he did round two. Oh yes.
So we got out and I washed out the bath and ran a second one! ;) It was okay in the end! Funny story though, one I'll remember fondly for sure! :)
Today I took a few photos of my little treasure sleeping, so I will post them here and then I must go to bed, as it's now really late!
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Thursday, May 31, 2012
Elijah is 4 days old!
[WARNING: For those interested in seeing the true knot in Elijah's umbilical cord, I am posting a photo at the end of this blog entry. I am uploading that one through blogger so that it's a pretty small image, but you can click on it to see it larger/more clearly. It's a tight knot. I am having a bit of trouble processing it at the moment, which I didn't expect. Just knowing he had a greater chance of being stillborn than not. I'm flipping between inexpressably grateful and relieved, and this sort of clutchy horror feeling that I can't deal with at ALL, even though it didn't happen and he's okay. I mainly do not want to think or talk about it right now. I think it's okay to shove that under the carpet for now... Anyway, there's the photographic evidence if you are interested!]
Thank you for all the lovely congrats! :) I can't believe my tiny boy is actually HERE, and 4 days old already! I would have updated much sooner but my arms are always full of baby, and trying to do a blog post with one hand would drive me crazy! ;) He is sleeping on my front right now and I'm kind of slumped down somewhat in my bed - I was sitting up originally but I think that was about 2 hours ago! So I still only have one hand free to type with, but I figured I could make a start and add to the saved post bit by bit. I have photos to post so I can get those sorted out too, and then maybe if I put Elijah next to me on the bed and he stays asleep I can type more quickly to post some newsy stuff. Having said that, a) I never put him down, and b) on the rare occasions that I've had to for a minute, he wakes up pretty quickly and then starts a whole new feed cycle! Sometimes I lay him between my knees and sort of "cocoon" him with my legs so that he feels snug and secure, and he has slept like that for a couple of hours, once or twice. I still have to twist around to type with both hands on my laptop though, so it's not ideal for blog updates right now! :) More important and lovely though!
Okay, I have put him between my knees but he's stirring a bit. I think he will be hungry soon. My milk came in yesterday morning - well, it was on its way by the evening before (2 days old) because my breasts definitely felt like they were getting heavier, but what I hand-expressed still looked like colostrum. By 5am I could definitely tell my milk was in though! I pretty much had watermelons on my front by daytime, lol! And did any of my other nurslings want to help me out?! Nope! Elijah is so tiny that I was uncomfortable most of yesterday - even though he was feeding almost constantly, he could only take a tiny tummy-full at a time, so it didn't feel like it was making much difference to the not-quite-engorgement discomfort. I'm a little bit uncomfy today but much much better.
By yesterday evening, Elijah had already completely finished with meconium, at 3 days old!! :) He did a tan/orange meconium poo in the day time and then in the evening he did his first proper yellow seedy breastmilk poo. Yay! He has pooed sooooo many times today, all yellow and seedy and nice and normal.
Yesterday a maternity support worker came to weigh him - they seem to do visits now instead of the midwife, probably because there is such a crazy staff shortage of midwives these days. Anyway, she weighed Elijah and he was a teensy 6lbs 1oz (7.2% loss of birth weight, which is normal) - I still can't believe how tiny he is! I seem to comment on it to Neil constantly! I'm so unused to teeny babies, and it's so lovely! It is VERY much like having newborn Nathey all over again, except that of course he was tiny because he was early, but apart from that they are very similar sizes. Elijah is wearing all of the sweet little clothes that Nathan wore, and which none of my other babies have fitted into. All of Elijah's clothes are labelled "up to 7.5lbs" and most of them are really really baggy and big on him! I don't know his length because apparently they don't measure length any more at birth (?!) but he seems pretty normal in the length department. He fills out the length of everything easily, and is a bit long for some of the tiny clothes, but he is SO skinny and slender. His shoulders are narrow enough that the vests slide off one of them, and his limbs and torso are just so thin! I am pretty sure he'll plump up and get some yummy rolls on him over the next few weeks with some mummy milk, but I don't think I've ever had a baby so skinny and thin before! Even Nathey wasn't - he was just little and tiny all over. Neil thinks it's just because his own legs are thin and "scrawny" as he says (hehe!) and Elijah has his genes in that department.
Elijah has Neil's limbs for sure, arms and legs. I don't think any of the others have the same combination. He also has Neil's fingers AND Neil's feet, which is a first for any of our children! Arthur and Samuel have Neil's feet but my fingers. Nathan is the only other boy with Neil's long fingers, but he has my feet. Matthew and Benjamin have my hands AND my feet. So funny how the combinations continue being new, even after six babies! ;) Thankfully Elijah's feet are completely straight, unlike Arthur and Samuel's. I'll be keeping an eye on his toes though, as those were the main trouble for Neil and his siblings as they got older.
Well, I've managed a bit of an update so far but lil beep is waking up and squeaking in a slightly distressed way (he has such a tiny hoarse cry, and squeaks a great deal, bless him!), so I am going to scoop up his next-to-nothingness and put him to the breast. I love picking him up!! He's SO TINY and seems to just weigh nothing in my arms, and he's just such a small scrap of a human being in my hands as I lift him! It melts my heart every. single. time. So I'm going to do that again right now, and I'll continue with this later when I get chance :)
Okay, back 90 mins later having helped a little with bedtime for the boys, but Elijah is breastfeeding (well, he's barely conscious!) so I'm one-handed still. I will post some photos! :)
Little manny hates being dressed or undressed, and especially nappy changes! Here he is the day after he was born, right after I dressed him in the teeny sleepsuit that Nathan wore in the hospital, and which the boys have used for their baby doll since then. They are excited that he can fit "dolls' clothes"! He is actually too long for it, but the whole time he wore it, the legs/feet were flopping empty because he likes to pull his legs up out of the legs of clothing and keep them next to his tummy in the fetal position! :) He was pretty cross with me when I put him in it! He looks (from that wiiide open mouth) like he must be making a lot of noise, but he really does only have such a raspy little bleat!
He was sleeping later on at the end of a breastfeed and I put him down on his side since he'd been on his tummy/side against me, so I could go to the loo. He stayed sleeping for a little while and it was evening, after the boys were in bed, so Neil and I stayed watching him and just chatting about him, and how the boys were doing, it was nice :) The light was going outside as it was getting late, so the photos I took were pretty dim and grainy, but worth the capture all the same, to me. Elijah spends a LOT of time with his little hands by his face, and sleeps with either a hand on each cheek, or with two hands together, tucked under the cheek he's lying against. You can even see this in ALL of the photos I posted last entry, just a few hours old! He did both while we watched him sleep so I couldn't resist photos! He looked soooo sweet! Still one day old here:
Well it's now 10.20pm and Elijah has been either feeding, crying, or pooing for the last couple of hours continuously, and Samuel ended up not going to sleep until something crazy like 9.30pm!! Neil went out to get milk and bread after that, and finally Elijah is a tiny exhausted heap against my chest as I recline in bed, and I daren't move him! Maybe when he's been asleep a while longer. I'm eating fish and chips over him, a bit awkwardly, but I would rather him sleep against my chest than separated but nearby. There aren't many feelings more wonderful... :)
I am going to just post a couple more photos and leave the ones I took today for another entry another time. These photos are at 2 days old. I put him between my knees like I was describing earlier, when he had fallen asleep, and took a photo to remind myself of how tiny he is, and my happy view! And then another of his sleeping sweetness up close. I think he started to have a touch of jaundice that day, but it hasn't particularly worsened. He looks more jaundiced in the photo than he is, because of yellow reflection in the room. Anyway, here's my treasure at 2 days old, the day before yesterday :)
I completely love him. I have so much more to write but I will have to do that another time.
If you are interested in seeing the photo of Elijah's knotted umbilical cord and placenta, I am posting it here below, otherwise scroll back up, fast, lol! ;)
Thank you for all the lovely congrats! :) I can't believe my tiny boy is actually HERE, and 4 days old already! I would have updated much sooner but my arms are always full of baby, and trying to do a blog post with one hand would drive me crazy! ;) He is sleeping on my front right now and I'm kind of slumped down somewhat in my bed - I was sitting up originally but I think that was about 2 hours ago! So I still only have one hand free to type with, but I figured I could make a start and add to the saved post bit by bit. I have photos to post so I can get those sorted out too, and then maybe if I put Elijah next to me on the bed and he stays asleep I can type more quickly to post some newsy stuff. Having said that, a) I never put him down, and b) on the rare occasions that I've had to for a minute, he wakes up pretty quickly and then starts a whole new feed cycle! Sometimes I lay him between my knees and sort of "cocoon" him with my legs so that he feels snug and secure, and he has slept like that for a couple of hours, once or twice. I still have to twist around to type with both hands on my laptop though, so it's not ideal for blog updates right now! :) More important and lovely though!
Okay, I have put him between my knees but he's stirring a bit. I think he will be hungry soon. My milk came in yesterday morning - well, it was on its way by the evening before (2 days old) because my breasts definitely felt like they were getting heavier, but what I hand-expressed still looked like colostrum. By 5am I could definitely tell my milk was in though! I pretty much had watermelons on my front by daytime, lol! And did any of my other nurslings want to help me out?! Nope! Elijah is so tiny that I was uncomfortable most of yesterday - even though he was feeding almost constantly, he could only take a tiny tummy-full at a time, so it didn't feel like it was making much difference to the not-quite-engorgement discomfort. I'm a little bit uncomfy today but much much better.
By yesterday evening, Elijah had already completely finished with meconium, at 3 days old!! :) He did a tan/orange meconium poo in the day time and then in the evening he did his first proper yellow seedy breastmilk poo. Yay! He has pooed sooooo many times today, all yellow and seedy and nice and normal.
Yesterday a maternity support worker came to weigh him - they seem to do visits now instead of the midwife, probably because there is such a crazy staff shortage of midwives these days. Anyway, she weighed Elijah and he was a teensy 6lbs 1oz (7.2% loss of birth weight, which is normal) - I still can't believe how tiny he is! I seem to comment on it to Neil constantly! I'm so unused to teeny babies, and it's so lovely! It is VERY much like having newborn Nathey all over again, except that of course he was tiny because he was early, but apart from that they are very similar sizes. Elijah is wearing all of the sweet little clothes that Nathan wore, and which none of my other babies have fitted into. All of Elijah's clothes are labelled "up to 7.5lbs" and most of them are really really baggy and big on him! I don't know his length because apparently they don't measure length any more at birth (?!) but he seems pretty normal in the length department. He fills out the length of everything easily, and is a bit long for some of the tiny clothes, but he is SO skinny and slender. His shoulders are narrow enough that the vests slide off one of them, and his limbs and torso are just so thin! I am pretty sure he'll plump up and get some yummy rolls on him over the next few weeks with some mummy milk, but I don't think I've ever had a baby so skinny and thin before! Even Nathey wasn't - he was just little and tiny all over. Neil thinks it's just because his own legs are thin and "scrawny" as he says (hehe!) and Elijah has his genes in that department.
Elijah has Neil's limbs for sure, arms and legs. I don't think any of the others have the same combination. He also has Neil's fingers AND Neil's feet, which is a first for any of our children! Arthur and Samuel have Neil's feet but my fingers. Nathan is the only other boy with Neil's long fingers, but he has my feet. Matthew and Benjamin have my hands AND my feet. So funny how the combinations continue being new, even after six babies! ;) Thankfully Elijah's feet are completely straight, unlike Arthur and Samuel's. I'll be keeping an eye on his toes though, as those were the main trouble for Neil and his siblings as they got older.
Well, I've managed a bit of an update so far but lil beep is waking up and squeaking in a slightly distressed way (he has such a tiny hoarse cry, and squeaks a great deal, bless him!), so I am going to scoop up his next-to-nothingness and put him to the breast. I love picking him up!! He's SO TINY and seems to just weigh nothing in my arms, and he's just such a small scrap of a human being in my hands as I lift him! It melts my heart every. single. time. So I'm going to do that again right now, and I'll continue with this later when I get chance :)
Okay, back 90 mins later having helped a little with bedtime for the boys, but Elijah is breastfeeding (well, he's barely conscious!) so I'm one-handed still. I will post some photos! :)
Little manny hates being dressed or undressed, and especially nappy changes! Here he is the day after he was born, right after I dressed him in the teeny sleepsuit that Nathan wore in the hospital, and which the boys have used for their baby doll since then. They are excited that he can fit "dolls' clothes"! He is actually too long for it, but the whole time he wore it, the legs/feet were flopping empty because he likes to pull his legs up out of the legs of clothing and keep them next to his tummy in the fetal position! :) He was pretty cross with me when I put him in it! He looks (from that wiiide open mouth) like he must be making a lot of noise, but he really does only have such a raspy little bleat!
He was sleeping later on at the end of a breastfeed and I put him down on his side since he'd been on his tummy/side against me, so I could go to the loo. He stayed sleeping for a little while and it was evening, after the boys were in bed, so Neil and I stayed watching him and just chatting about him, and how the boys were doing, it was nice :) The light was going outside as it was getting late, so the photos I took were pretty dim and grainy, but worth the capture all the same, to me. Elijah spends a LOT of time with his little hands by his face, and sleeps with either a hand on each cheek, or with two hands together, tucked under the cheek he's lying against. You can even see this in ALL of the photos I posted last entry, just a few hours old! He did both while we watched him sleep so I couldn't resist photos! He looked soooo sweet! Still one day old here:
Well it's now 10.20pm and Elijah has been either feeding, crying, or pooing for the last couple of hours continuously, and Samuel ended up not going to sleep until something crazy like 9.30pm!! Neil went out to get milk and bread after that, and finally Elijah is a tiny exhausted heap against my chest as I recline in bed, and I daren't move him! Maybe when he's been asleep a while longer. I'm eating fish and chips over him, a bit awkwardly, but I would rather him sleep against my chest than separated but nearby. There aren't many feelings more wonderful... :)
I am going to just post a couple more photos and leave the ones I took today for another entry another time. These photos are at 2 days old. I put him between my knees like I was describing earlier, when he had fallen asleep, and took a photo to remind myself of how tiny he is, and my happy view! And then another of his sleeping sweetness up close. I think he started to have a touch of jaundice that day, but it hasn't particularly worsened. He looks more jaundiced in the photo than he is, because of yellow reflection in the room. Anyway, here's my treasure at 2 days old, the day before yesterday :)
I completely love him. I have so much more to write but I will have to do that another time.
If you are interested in seeing the photo of Elijah's knotted umbilical cord and placenta, I am posting it here below, otherwise scroll back up, fast, lol! ;)
Sunday, May 27, 2012
He's here!
Elijah Douglas has arrived! :)
Little pickle continued his pattern of unpredictability, and contractions started regularly and painfully literally minutes before we left for the hospital! We waited an hour to see if they'd pick up, so that when we went into hospital we would not need the IV induction (always better natural, as the midwives have kept telling me). After an hour things were definitely hotting up, and I decided to stay and have my baby at home, since I usually labour fairly quickly now.
I was in established labour probably from 11.30am, which the midwives took from Heather's observations - she felt that the contractions became more serious "active labour" from that point (first contraction was 9.30am ish while breastfeeding Samuel to sleep for his nap, right before "going"). At first the contractions were just low soreness and very short (30 seconds maybe) but I was having about 2 or 3 of them in each 10 minute period, so they were pretty regular. I didn't have to breathe through them and I was a bit worried it would all go away! But they got stronger quickly, though not much longer. The crampy pain stayed between contractions within the first hour and it was hard to move or walk about without loads of pain, so I tried to stay still. Heather did have me sit on the birth ball for a while to really do everything I could to get things established. When it looked like things WERE, we called Jackie, and she CAME OVER!!! :) The head of community midwives! She was my main midwife and delivered Elijah, and was WONDERFUL. I couldn't have had a more experienced, knowledgeable, fantastic midwife, and I'm so thrilled and grateful. The second midwive, Karen, was someone I hadn't met before but she was lovely too.
Elijah was born after about 3 hours of established labour, at 2.20pm. Oh my WORD transition and pushing him out was hooooorrrrrrible, hehe! I always say that, because it always is! But so worth it! I had a better time of it this time, mentally, because I felt really familiar with my pattern of labour and could really see the same pattern progressing, which helped me feel more grounded when the pain became unbearable. I used no pain relief, just breathing, and holding Heather's hand.
I really did PUSH him out! I don't often do that with my babies, hehe! I had an urge to push and went with it, and if I got the feeling that I was going to lose it mid-push and start making a ton of noise, I stopped pushing and blew blew blew through the rest of the contraction for all I was worth. I gave birth lying on my right side facing the edge of the bed (facing Heather), and that's where I mostly laboured too. When I could feel his head moving down a bit during transitional contractions, I told them so, and Jackie looked but couldn't see anything. She asked if I could lift my top leg but I said I couldn't, and so Heather lifted it just as a contraction was starting, I had no choice but to push with the feeling, and his head was born very quickly from nowhere! I did make some noise when the head was crowning but not the loud wailing I've made in the past - more just a lower "aaaaaarrrrghhhh", lol! And I rolled my face forwards into the pillow to a) cope with the sensation, and b) stifle the noise for the boys downstairs. I had a clear ring of fire sensation this time, and his head really POPPED out right afterwards. I knew what that meant and I was so relieved! The contraction was already finishing, but the sensation of his body in there was so uncomfortable, so I kept blowing through that feeling until the next contraction came, which was pretty fast. I knew that would be probably the most uncomfortable part (shoulders rotating and birthing always are for me, and that is also when I tear each time), so when the contraction came I pushed but blew once I reached the point of wanting to shout about it, and just tried to let him come at his own speed (which was very fast but felt like a long and dreadful sensation all the same!). In my mind I was frantically saying to myself, "He's here, he's here, this part means he's here, let him come, let him come!" to try and ride out the moment until it was over. I knew it wouldn't take long, but I just needed something to cope with the awfulness of it!
And then it WAS over! :) Oh the relief and the absolute joy, looking down and reaching for him as they passed this TEENY little person up between my legs and onto my tummy. He was fairly quiet at first but soon became very agitated and cried quite a lot for a long time, even with snuggles and lots of love on my tummy/chest! He pinked up almost immediately.
Elijah had a true knot in his cord!!! How incredibly scary, if I had known that while still pregnant, and how thankful I am to God for sparing his life. Jackie said she rarely sees a true knot, and she's surprised his heartrate was so good all the way through labour right to the very point of birth! I asked if it could account for his slower growth, but she didn't think so particularly. He's very healthy and his cord was pulsating well still. At the scans, they had done dopplers on his umbilical cord several times to check the resistance of the flow, and it was normal and fine. I took a photo of the cord and placenta, which I could post but it's pretty gory! ;) I will if you want me to though! :)
His placenta took AGES to come out! Aaaages. I had a natural third stage as I had wanted, though they were ready to the syntometrine injection because it really wasn't coming out. I kept having contractions and it still didn't appear, and Elijah had a nice long feed but still nothing! Eventually they had me get out of bed and sit on a potty on the chair to see if gravity helped, but it didn't, and I became very tired being upright and didn't feel nice after a while, so they put me back to bed.
Eventually I wondered about the whole pregnancy/pre-labour thing being SO very contrary! No matter what decision I made, at that point something would change and I would have to do the opposite thing, and then when I thought that was going ahead, something would change again, hehe! So I said this to the midwives, and then said, "I'm saying out loud (looking sternly at my baggy tummy and directing my words in its general direction!), "I'm going to have the syntometrine injection now"!!" and then I literally immediately had a contraction and pushed, and out came my placenta in one go, all intact, lol! It was so funny because of how no matter what I've said over the past 4 days, the opposite has then occurred, and it happened just the same for the placenta in such a funny way! ;) I think it was over an hour or 90 minutes waiting for it, up to that point! They let me go longer than they usually would, just to try and keep it all as natural as possible.
They couldn't 100% confirm that all the membranes were out, because there were some ragged parts, but they told me that my body will work any little bits out, and I need to call them if I have large clots or heavy bleeding, so they can check me out.
I felt kind of feverish the last hour or two of my labour, and I took my temperature (as I had been doing 4-hourly) a couple of hours before the end, but it was normal. I figured I just felt hot because it was a REALLY hot day in a south-facing bedroom, and I was labouring. When Elijah was born and they took his temperature, it was up a little, and my heart sank. It was 37.6, so they uncovered him (he was skin-to-skin at the time, but covered with a towel for warmth) and his temp came down to normal really quick. All his other obs were fine. I wanted to take my own temperature because I did feel a bit too hot, not-right hot, you know? Eventually after the placenta palava, they did my obs and my temperature was almost the same as Elijah's had been - 37.5. I was worried it was a sign of infection, after how long my waters were broken, but they said to take some paracetamol and they would take it again before they left. It came down to almost normal, and has been back up to 37.2 (barely a raised temp at all) once the paracetamol wore off, but I've taken some more now. They said they aren't concerned about my temp, and that once the day's heat cools off and I get some rest, if it's spiking up then I need to call them and they will check me and provide me with antibiotics in case of infection, if that's the case. Otherwise they'd expect it to stay low or non-existant. An infection would make it spike higher, or produce other symptoms along with a fever eventually, so I am just keeping an eye on myself really.
I have felt remarkably well since giving birth! Probably the most well I've ever felt after birth, which is lovely! I didn't feel weak and wobbly at all after the first hour or two, and usually that doesn't happen for the first 24 hours or so. I have been able to get up and go to the loo without shuffling along feeling weak and dreadful, verrrry slowly! ;) Also, I did not need any stitches this time!!!!! :D My very first time ever not having stitches! Jackie found that I did have a tear, but it was so small. She said that she could put a couple of stitches in for me, but it wasn't bleeding at all so she felt it would be fine to just leave it to heal, if I wanted. And I DID want! ;) Stitches are no fun!
I am not feeling any soreness at all from my perineum, and weeing stings a little bit but it's perfectly bearable. My blood loss is normal at the moment and I am not having a horrible time at all with after pains - maybe the paracetamol is helping there though?
Elijah is breastfeeding well, and sleeping sooooo cutely in between. He did a huuuuuge meconium poo all over my tummy within minutes of birth, and the little waters that were left to go pop as his head was born had some meconium in them, but not much. He has done a huge meconium poo in his first nappy so far, but I am not sure if he's weed yet. I am doing his observations 2-hourly around the clock - temperature, respirations, heart rate, etc. I use my stethoscope for his heart rate. Everything is normal so far, except that last time I took his temp it was a bit too low, so I've put him in a sleepsuit instead of a vest (it's so hot, and he's on my body most of the time so I'd thought a vest was enough). Hopefully his temp has come up now. It's time to do his next set of obs so I must go.
Here are a few photos of the big boys meeting their new baby brother for the first time, about 2 hours after he was born, and then one of him finally dressed in something at about 4 hours old. He's so delightfully gorgeous and tiny (oh I almost forgot! He weighed in at 6lbs 8oz, sweet little manny!) and I think he looks most like newborn Nathan, but he's very much his own little person with his own look. ALL the boys are ecstatic about him, and Samuel is very relaxed and smiley around him too.
Thank you for praying and commenting! I really appreciate it! :)
Little pickle continued his pattern of unpredictability, and contractions started regularly and painfully literally minutes before we left for the hospital! We waited an hour to see if they'd pick up, so that when we went into hospital we would not need the IV induction (always better natural, as the midwives have kept telling me). After an hour things were definitely hotting up, and I decided to stay and have my baby at home, since I usually labour fairly quickly now.
I was in established labour probably from 11.30am, which the midwives took from Heather's observations - she felt that the contractions became more serious "active labour" from that point (first contraction was 9.30am ish while breastfeeding Samuel to sleep for his nap, right before "going"). At first the contractions were just low soreness and very short (30 seconds maybe) but I was having about 2 or 3 of them in each 10 minute period, so they were pretty regular. I didn't have to breathe through them and I was a bit worried it would all go away! But they got stronger quickly, though not much longer. The crampy pain stayed between contractions within the first hour and it was hard to move or walk about without loads of pain, so I tried to stay still. Heather did have me sit on the birth ball for a while to really do everything I could to get things established. When it looked like things WERE, we called Jackie, and she CAME OVER!!! :) The head of community midwives! She was my main midwife and delivered Elijah, and was WONDERFUL. I couldn't have had a more experienced, knowledgeable, fantastic midwife, and I'm so thrilled and grateful. The second midwive, Karen, was someone I hadn't met before but she was lovely too.
Elijah was born after about 3 hours of established labour, at 2.20pm. Oh my WORD transition and pushing him out was hooooorrrrrrible, hehe! I always say that, because it always is! But so worth it! I had a better time of it this time, mentally, because I felt really familiar with my pattern of labour and could really see the same pattern progressing, which helped me feel more grounded when the pain became unbearable. I used no pain relief, just breathing, and holding Heather's hand.
I really did PUSH him out! I don't often do that with my babies, hehe! I had an urge to push and went with it, and if I got the feeling that I was going to lose it mid-push and start making a ton of noise, I stopped pushing and blew blew blew through the rest of the contraction for all I was worth. I gave birth lying on my right side facing the edge of the bed (facing Heather), and that's where I mostly laboured too. When I could feel his head moving down a bit during transitional contractions, I told them so, and Jackie looked but couldn't see anything. She asked if I could lift my top leg but I said I couldn't, and so Heather lifted it just as a contraction was starting, I had no choice but to push with the feeling, and his head was born very quickly from nowhere! I did make some noise when the head was crowning but not the loud wailing I've made in the past - more just a lower "aaaaaarrrrghhhh", lol! And I rolled my face forwards into the pillow to a) cope with the sensation, and b) stifle the noise for the boys downstairs. I had a clear ring of fire sensation this time, and his head really POPPED out right afterwards. I knew what that meant and I was so relieved! The contraction was already finishing, but the sensation of his body in there was so uncomfortable, so I kept blowing through that feeling until the next contraction came, which was pretty fast. I knew that would be probably the most uncomfortable part (shoulders rotating and birthing always are for me, and that is also when I tear each time), so when the contraction came I pushed but blew once I reached the point of wanting to shout about it, and just tried to let him come at his own speed (which was very fast but felt like a long and dreadful sensation all the same!). In my mind I was frantically saying to myself, "He's here, he's here, this part means he's here, let him come, let him come!" to try and ride out the moment until it was over. I knew it wouldn't take long, but I just needed something to cope with the awfulness of it!
And then it WAS over! :) Oh the relief and the absolute joy, looking down and reaching for him as they passed this TEENY little person up between my legs and onto my tummy. He was fairly quiet at first but soon became very agitated and cried quite a lot for a long time, even with snuggles and lots of love on my tummy/chest! He pinked up almost immediately.
Elijah had a true knot in his cord!!! How incredibly scary, if I had known that while still pregnant, and how thankful I am to God for sparing his life. Jackie said she rarely sees a true knot, and she's surprised his heartrate was so good all the way through labour right to the very point of birth! I asked if it could account for his slower growth, but she didn't think so particularly. He's very healthy and his cord was pulsating well still. At the scans, they had done dopplers on his umbilical cord several times to check the resistance of the flow, and it was normal and fine. I took a photo of the cord and placenta, which I could post but it's pretty gory! ;) I will if you want me to though! :)
His placenta took AGES to come out! Aaaages. I had a natural third stage as I had wanted, though they were ready to the syntometrine injection because it really wasn't coming out. I kept having contractions and it still didn't appear, and Elijah had a nice long feed but still nothing! Eventually they had me get out of bed and sit on a potty on the chair to see if gravity helped, but it didn't, and I became very tired being upright and didn't feel nice after a while, so they put me back to bed.
Eventually I wondered about the whole pregnancy/pre-labour thing being SO very contrary! No matter what decision I made, at that point something would change and I would have to do the opposite thing, and then when I thought that was going ahead, something would change again, hehe! So I said this to the midwives, and then said, "I'm saying out loud (looking sternly at my baggy tummy and directing my words in its general direction!), "I'm going to have the syntometrine injection now"!!" and then I literally immediately had a contraction and pushed, and out came my placenta in one go, all intact, lol! It was so funny because of how no matter what I've said over the past 4 days, the opposite has then occurred, and it happened just the same for the placenta in such a funny way! ;) I think it was over an hour or 90 minutes waiting for it, up to that point! They let me go longer than they usually would, just to try and keep it all as natural as possible.
They couldn't 100% confirm that all the membranes were out, because there were some ragged parts, but they told me that my body will work any little bits out, and I need to call them if I have large clots or heavy bleeding, so they can check me out.
I felt kind of feverish the last hour or two of my labour, and I took my temperature (as I had been doing 4-hourly) a couple of hours before the end, but it was normal. I figured I just felt hot because it was a REALLY hot day in a south-facing bedroom, and I was labouring. When Elijah was born and they took his temperature, it was up a little, and my heart sank. It was 37.6, so they uncovered him (he was skin-to-skin at the time, but covered with a towel for warmth) and his temp came down to normal really quick. All his other obs were fine. I wanted to take my own temperature because I did feel a bit too hot, not-right hot, you know? Eventually after the placenta palava, they did my obs and my temperature was almost the same as Elijah's had been - 37.5. I was worried it was a sign of infection, after how long my waters were broken, but they said to take some paracetamol and they would take it again before they left. It came down to almost normal, and has been back up to 37.2 (barely a raised temp at all) once the paracetamol wore off, but I've taken some more now. They said they aren't concerned about my temp, and that once the day's heat cools off and I get some rest, if it's spiking up then I need to call them and they will check me and provide me with antibiotics in case of infection, if that's the case. Otherwise they'd expect it to stay low or non-existant. An infection would make it spike higher, or produce other symptoms along with a fever eventually, so I am just keeping an eye on myself really.
I have felt remarkably well since giving birth! Probably the most well I've ever felt after birth, which is lovely! I didn't feel weak and wobbly at all after the first hour or two, and usually that doesn't happen for the first 24 hours or so. I have been able to get up and go to the loo without shuffling along feeling weak and dreadful, verrrry slowly! ;) Also, I did not need any stitches this time!!!!! :D My very first time ever not having stitches! Jackie found that I did have a tear, but it was so small. She said that she could put a couple of stitches in for me, but it wasn't bleeding at all so she felt it would be fine to just leave it to heal, if I wanted. And I DID want! ;) Stitches are no fun!
I am not feeling any soreness at all from my perineum, and weeing stings a little bit but it's perfectly bearable. My blood loss is normal at the moment and I am not having a horrible time at all with after pains - maybe the paracetamol is helping there though?
Elijah is breastfeeding well, and sleeping sooooo cutely in between. He did a huuuuuge meconium poo all over my tummy within minutes of birth, and the little waters that were left to go pop as his head was born had some meconium in them, but not much. He has done a huge meconium poo in his first nappy so far, but I am not sure if he's weed yet. I am doing his observations 2-hourly around the clock - temperature, respirations, heart rate, etc. I use my stethoscope for his heart rate. Everything is normal so far, except that last time I took his temp it was a bit too low, so I've put him in a sleepsuit instead of a vest (it's so hot, and he's on my body most of the time so I'd thought a vest was enough). Hopefully his temp has come up now. It's time to do his next set of obs so I must go.
Here are a few photos of the big boys meeting their new baby brother for the first time, about 2 hours after he was born, and then one of him finally dressed in something at about 4 hours old. He's so delightfully gorgeous and tiny (oh I almost forgot! He weighed in at 6lbs 8oz, sweet little manny!) and I think he looks most like newborn Nathan, but he's very much his own little person with his own look. ALL the boys are ecstatic about him, and Samuel is very relaxed and smiley around him too.
Thank you for praying and commenting! I really appreciate it! :)
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