Well, I know it's been ages since I've been able to write anything on my blog. For those of you who haven't given up on me yet here is a letter that I wrote friends all about the delivery. Just a little info from behind the scenes...
Hi everybody,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years! Sorry it's so belated, with the baby born in between the two big holidays everything passed by in a whirl. I know you all must have been praying really hard for me because I had a wonderful delivery despite early complications. The doctors and midwives thought I would need a cesarean due the the baby's heartbeat slowing during contractions. At 6:30 p.m (the 28th of December) they induced labor by giving me a gel to help me dilate and cause contractions. I started having labor contractions around 10 p.m. and they continued to heighten till about 3 in the morning so I didn't get much sleep. God bless Mommy who stuck with me the whole time coaching me in my breathing throughout each contraction and massaging my back to alleviate the pain. She really helped me to concentrate and focus on breathing when sometimes it was too painful and I would panic. I mainly had back labor. It was so severe that at 3 a.m. when the midwife checked on me and placed the monitor on me the contractions were spaced apart by only a minute. They had told me earlier that I wasn't going to have the baby that evening and that they would probably have to put more gel etc to speed up the labor as they were worried for the baby.
Well, thank you Gabe and Nora for giving me Raspberry leaf tea because I am sure that it's what made my delivery extra quick (can't really say it was easy, cause it didn't feel like it) I basically had 8 hours of labor! By 3:30 a.m. I was begging Mommy for an epidural and the midwife wanted to get me to the delivery room quick. I could hear her whispering with Mommy. Mommy was telling her that I hadn't wanted an epidural during the delivery but the midwife said that it was probably better since I might still need a cesarean. So I was really praying against that. At about 4:30 the anaesthetists came to place the epidural which was not painful at all though it took a while to take effect (I ended up having the epidural for only and 1 and a half hours of my delivery). The rest sped by. Though at around 5:00 a.m. I was having strong urges to push but the midwife said I should wait as the baby was still quite high up. I ended up waiting another hour before she let me, and in between that time the midwives had to change. But the new one ended up being the one who had placed the gel the night before and we had had a good connection so I was relieved. When she finally said it was time to push I was excited. About 5 pushes later lots of pain and weird sensations Audrey popped out. She had the cord wrapped around her neck which is probably why her heart rate would slow with the contractions. The midwife removed it and immediately placed her on my chest. She was all blue and purple but after a bit of rubbing she started coughing and took her first breath. She was already so beautiful to me! She started climbing up on my chest and sucking randomly at the air. The midwife let me keep her for two hours and she nursed and was so well behaved.
Mommy was able to stay with me throughout the whole delivery and encourage me when I thought I couldn't push anymore. When the baby's head was crowing it's such a weird/painful sensation that I didn't think I could continue to push but the midwife and Mommy would encourage me to do just one more and it worked, TTL. The midwife said she was impressed by my pushing as they were effective, I guess the Lord really helped me with that cause even though we were taught at the pre-natal classes I hadn't practiced at all. And when I did open my eyes inbetween pushes Mommy was crying. I guess with happiness :D.
So now Audrey is almost 6 days old. She is beautiful and gaining wieght (100 grams a day). Everyday I look at her and she looks cuter. She so smiley and happy and doesn't cry much. She sleeps through the night and I wake up by her making a suckling sound in her sleep, which means she's hungry. Then she nurses and I put her back in her bed and she goes back to sleep. I hope she will continue to be so well behaved. I had severely engorged breast for the first three days which was super painful and I had to pump out breast milk due to their being too much! I would knock my breast into the doors since I wasn't used to them being so big...awful. They still leak like crazy and I go through breast pads by the dozen. I finally found a solution for the night. Since Audrey doesn't nurse as much at night my breast would leak terribly and I would wake up in a puddle and soaking wet, which would then make me cold and I would start shivering! So now I wrap myself in a towel which gets soaked through and then I change it. My midwife visits me regularly to check on the baby and to make sure I'm recovering well from the stitches. I had a very minor tear on the inside which is healing nicely. She also taught me to massage my breast so that they wouldn't get infected from being so engorged. She laughs at me because I had bought different teas to help give milk cause when pregnant I was afraid I wouldn't have enough :D.
Please continue to pray for my fully recovery. Everybody is so nice but I feel, overly protective. Since I've been back Home I've been up and about and I get scolded all the time. I even took Audrey to the beach when she was 4 days old. It was so hot.
Okay, I better stop here. I love you all so much. Enjoy the pictures.
-JOY
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years! Sorry it's so belated, with the baby born in between the two big holidays everything passed by in a whirl. I know you all must have been praying really hard for me because I had a wonderful delivery despite early complications. The doctors and midwives thought I would need a cesarean due the the baby's heartbeat slowing during contractions. At 6:30 p.m (the 28th of December) they induced labor by giving me a gel to help me dilate and cause contractions. I started having labor contractions around 10 p.m. and they continued to heighten till about 3 in the morning so I didn't get much sleep. God bless Mommy who stuck with me the whole time coaching me in my breathing throughout each contraction and massaging my back to alleviate the pain. She really helped me to concentrate and focus on breathing when sometimes it was too painful and I would panic. I mainly had back labor. It was so severe that at 3 a.m. when the midwife checked on me and placed the monitor on me the contractions were spaced apart by only a minute. They had told me earlier that I wasn't going to have the baby that evening and that they would probably have to put more gel etc to speed up the labor as they were worried for the baby.
Well, thank you Gabe and Nora for giving me Raspberry leaf tea because I am sure that it's what made my delivery extra quick (can't really say it was easy, cause it didn't feel like it) I basically had 8 hours of labor! By 3:30 a.m. I was begging Mommy for an epidural and the midwife wanted to get me to the delivery room quick. I could hear her whispering with Mommy. Mommy was telling her that I hadn't wanted an epidural during the delivery but the midwife said that it was probably better since I might still need a cesarean. So I was really praying against that. At about 4:30 the anaesthetists came to place the epidural which was not painful at all though it took a while to take effect (I ended up having the epidural for only and 1 and a half hours of my delivery). The rest sped by. Though at around 5:00 a.m. I was having strong urges to push but the midwife said I should wait as the baby was still quite high up. I ended up waiting another hour before she let me, and in between that time the midwives had to change. But the new one ended up being the one who had placed the gel the night before and we had had a good connection so I was relieved. When she finally said it was time to push I was excited. About 5 pushes later lots of pain and weird sensations Audrey popped out. She had the cord wrapped around her neck which is probably why her heart rate would slow with the contractions. The midwife removed it and immediately placed her on my chest. She was all blue and purple but after a bit of rubbing she started coughing and took her first breath. She was already so beautiful to me! She started climbing up on my chest and sucking randomly at the air. The midwife let me keep her for two hours and she nursed and was so well behaved.
Mommy was able to stay with me throughout the whole delivery and encourage me when I thought I couldn't push anymore. When the baby's head was crowing it's such a weird/painful sensation that I didn't think I could continue to push but the midwife and Mommy would encourage me to do just one more and it worked, TTL. The midwife said she was impressed by my pushing as they were effective, I guess the Lord really helped me with that cause even though we were taught at the pre-natal classes I hadn't practiced at all. And when I did open my eyes inbetween pushes Mommy was crying. I guess with happiness :D.
So now Audrey is almost 6 days old. She is beautiful and gaining wieght (100 grams a day). Everyday I look at her and she looks cuter. She so smiley and happy and doesn't cry much. She sleeps through the night and I wake up by her making a suckling sound in her sleep, which means she's hungry. Then she nurses and I put her back in her bed and she goes back to sleep. I hope she will continue to be so well behaved. I had severely engorged breast for the first three days which was super painful and I had to pump out breast milk due to their being too much! I would knock my breast into the doors since I wasn't used to them being so big...awful. They still leak like crazy and I go through breast pads by the dozen. I finally found a solution for the night. Since Audrey doesn't nurse as much at night my breast would leak terribly and I would wake up in a puddle and soaking wet, which would then make me cold and I would start shivering! So now I wrap myself in a towel which gets soaked through and then I change it. My midwife visits me regularly to check on the baby and to make sure I'm recovering well from the stitches. I had a very minor tear on the inside which is healing nicely. She also taught me to massage my breast so that they wouldn't get infected from being so engorged. She laughs at me because I had bought different teas to help give milk cause when pregnant I was afraid I wouldn't have enough :D.
Please continue to pray for my fully recovery. Everybody is so nice but I feel, overly protective. Since I've been back Home I've been up and about and I get scolded all the time. I even took Audrey to the beach when she was 4 days old. It was so hot.
Okay, I better stop here. I love you all so much. Enjoy the pictures.
-JOY
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