by ErniB » Wed Feb 08, 2012 7:22 pm
My birth story: warning - very long update....
Yay!! She's finally here! Our baby girl, Savanna Raine Thompson, has arrived!
Born at 8:59am, Tuesday the 31st January; weighing 4.45kg (9lb 13oz), and 57cm (22.5in) long. What a Poombah!
I had an elective C-Sect at 38w+4d, due to:
- very fast heart rate (tachycardia) at resting was around 110-120. That's just me normally...
- mild symptoms of Pre-E at about 6-7mth pregnancy. Stopped working & it settled, but BP began to elevate again around wk 36+.
- felt it would be too traumatic for me (and hubby) if I was to be induced, labouring for many many hours, have that possibly fail, then probably end up in a caesar anyway... plus I didn't want to start off parenthood so absolutely exhausted (a lame explanation, I know, but turns out I made the right decision, especially as she was close to 10 pound at 2wks early, and the surgeon said there was absolutely no room left for her and it may have been an emergency CS if I attempted a vaginal delivery. All the doctors and staff in the theatre were absolutely shocked at how big she was at 2wks early, as I didn't look that massive)
Tuesday morning 31.01.12
At birth, Savvy had very fast breathing & very low blood sugars (detrimental to brain development if not treated), so she's spent her first 40hrs in special care nursery, on a drip, to be monitored very frequently (regular bsl tests). It was extremely hard, because in her first 24hrs I had only had a couple of mins with her on my chest as they pulled her out of me, but then she was whisked away for treatment.... That was it :( Weight at birth: 4450g
Wednesday 01.02.12
They did not every formula feed bub, but they did set her up on an IV drip of fluids and glucose, and in the meantime, I would express gallons (read: 2mls of colostrum, which apparently was heaps!) so Matt could feed her via a dropper syringe. Eventually, once she was well and truly stabilised, around the 26hr mark, they bought her up to me (as I was still with epidural pain relief, couldn’t really walk, in a lot of pain, etc), where I was able to give her her first official breastfeed :)
Wednesday was a terrible day for pain… They removed my epidural and catheter – which was fine, but pain killers were not as strong as I thought they would be, so I became in agony quite quickly. And when I requested some more, the ward was on “freak out” because one of the senior staff had taken the medicine cabinet key home, so no one had access to the meds. This really delayed my improvement and I am still a bit upset & angry that this happened, as it also delayed me in seeing/bonding/feeding and being with my baby girl :(
On midnight Wednesday, very early Thursday morning, Savvy was released after (about 40hrs). She was stable enough to room with me, but had her heel pricked before and after each feed (so sad!) to test her blood sugar levels. Her poor little feet looked like bruised pincushion :(
Friday 03.02.12
Savvy had her first bath and weigh-in. She had lost almost 500g (about 13%, now 3970g), which was way too much. It warranted an extra night in the hospital (rooming in with me), which was completely fine with me, because they initially were talking about discharging me only 3 days post-op (absolutely ridiculous if you ask me!! I couldn’t believe it, I almost cried and freaked out, I had soooo much back pain abnd muscle spasms, I could barely walk).
Saturday 04.02.12
Bub had gained back a little weight overnight (now 4016g) and she was showing to be back in the range that they expect a bub to have lost weight at (within the 10%). We were discharged that afternoon.
Monday 06.02.12
Bub has since been feeding very well – except I have SOOO much milk happening that I need to express about 70mls off each breast before she can easily attach. This extra milk is becoming handy, because hubby has been able to give her a bottle of EBM (expressed breast milk) in a bottle at her 3am-ish feed. A midwife visited and weighed bub, but unfortunately she has lost weight again since we were discharged (now 4000g), only a little lost, but it’s still not good. The midwife is not worried at this stage, just advises us to keep up with the feeds.
Wednesday 08.02.12
I’ve still been having some latching issues with bub even though I am expressing some off first. Seems she likes to grunt and scream at my nipple like it’s microphone, rather than feed from it properly for more than a few mins at a time, pulling herself off and on again. We’ve resigned to a few more bottles then we would like, but at least we know she is getting a full belly. Considering giving nipple shields a go, to help give my nips some more shape. Midwife appoint shows that bub has only gained a small amount (now 4025g) in the 2 days that she was last here. Savvy is still plump and chubby, but they want to see her gaining close to 100g a day, rather than the 26g in two days. Midwife gave me some other feeding tips, so we’re going to try that for a little bit, before we book an appointment with a lactation consultant. Since the midwife visit, we’ve had about 3 feeds, and so far they have improved. Savvy has latched on for longer periods of time, and isn’t screaming at my nipples or getting frustrated at it. Hopefully we're on the right track!
So that’s us, up to date :) Hoping everyone else is doing well! I haven’t had the chance to read anyone elses posts, so I apologise if I am not acknowledging anyone else’s exciting news! I’m so out of the RC loop at the moment, this story has taken me a few days to write, as I’m not getting a chance to do much else lol.
Oh, and just briefly, since my milk has come in, it appears that my Diabetes has been cured!!! I have not been on my pump since Saturday, and my bsl’s are ranging between 4-9, even though I am eating about twice as much as what I normally would, carbs included (the other night I had a massive bowl of pasta , with icecream and milo for dessert, and 2hrs later I was 8.1mmol yay!).
Erin
Brisbane; Dx 24.10.10