Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
I finally have a birth announcement!
Hi girls - I have a few minutes until the next nursing session so I wanted to pop on and say hello!
Abigail Rae was born on 9/5 via c-section (40w6d), after 16 hours of labor and 3 hours of pushing to no avail. Turns out my pubic arch is too narrow and her head was too round. Scheduled c-sections from here on out. We were going to wait a bit to do the section since one was already on progress, but her heartrate starting acting wonky so they expedited it. Her cord pH was on the low end and there was meconium in my water (which she ingested) so she ended up in the NICU for about 36 hours. It was pretty scary but she recovered very quickly and they just wanted to observe her for some time in there.
Unfortunately because of what happened, I only got to see her for a few seconds before they took her to the NICU at 3am and then I didn't get to see her again until 9pm the next night. I had a really bad reaction to the epidural and couldn't stop vomitting so they drugged me with something to help me sleep it off...which I did for pretty much the entire day. So I wasn't able to get out of bed for the first time until 9pm that night...poor thing didn't have a name until the next day!
I spiked a fever while I was pushing so they had to give me antibiotics...which destroyed my GI tract. So our first night home was a complete disaster - me running to the bathroom every 30 mins or so...us being paranoid about every sound she made (babies are noisy sleepers - I had no idea!!) and thinking she was waking up made us both crazy. I had so many meltdowns! I am FINALLY feeling better now - but it took all this time to get my stomach situated to the point where I am not nauseous anymore. I think I was in a calorie deficit from the diarrhea clearing out my system and feeling nauseous from lack of sleep and an empty stomach...combined with the fact that she is nursing. But things are improving now!
She is doing great with nursing, though I need to use a shield for now. My milk came in while I was still in the hospital, so she was able to gain 5oz overnight before we were discharged. We went to the pedi yesterday and she gained another 6oz! So she is already 3oz abover her birthweight. She is eating every 3 hours during the day and stretching her overnight feedings to about 4 hours - so we are getting some decent chunks of sleep now, albeit broken.
Here are some pics:
Re: I finally have a birth announcement!
Tracy she is beautiful!! Congratulations!
I'm sorry you had such a hectic experience and I hope you have a smooth recovery!
Congrats! She is beautiful. Glad to hear everything worked out ok for both baby and mom.
Jonathan Dean 4.5.08
Anna Capri 5.4.11
Yay Abby Rae! She is adorable.
Sorry you had a rough go of it in the hospital. I hope you guys are all doing better.
I swear I did my best to drink her out over Labor Day weekend...... Good to know I can save my effort the next time. My liver and head thank you in advance.
DD: 6-24-11
EDD: 9-20-14
CongratulatIons! What a crazy story. Glad everyone is on the mend and I hope you're recovery is smooth.
Make sure you're drinking plenty of fluids to replace what you lost and to help make milk! Best of luck!
Ps love the name.
Congratulations, she's lovely!
I had to use a nipple shield too, but am fine without it now. Good luck!
Congratulations- I love the name, and she is beautiful!
Sorry you had to go through such a terrible experience- I had a similar issue with Aisling, and am also c-sections from here on out- but at least I know that now and know I won't go through the hours of pushing, etc. leading up to the surgery next time! And I also had to do the nipple shield for the first while...I'm curious to see if I'll need one again this time or not.
Best of luck with the continuing recovery, and getting some rest. Can't wait to see more pics!
oh.. migawd she is beautiful! I love the little kissy face she is making. Sassafrass.
Glad to hear you are doing better! Congrats!
Thanks everyone! We are so in love. Her middle name is after DH's brother Ray who passed away 2 years ago. It just kinda came to us while she was in the NICU - we didn't decide on a middle name prior to me going into labor.
I am hoping once my engorgement goes down a bit I can try to get her to nurse without the shield. It makes feeding such a production! She is constantly grabbing at it and smushing it against her face. My cousin is a lactation consultant so she has been helping me with positioning and whatnot. She told me to get by with the shield for now and wait until she gets a little bigger before I really put effort into weaning her. I am trying here and there but it's a fight every time - I need like 3 extra hands to help me wrangle her into the right position! I'm just thrilled that she is getting enough milk from me to produce plenty of diapers and continue gaining weight.
Ask your cousin if something called 'reverse pressure softening' might help you out. It is a technique you use before you nurse to make your nipple more latchable. You take your 1st 2 fingers and put them on either side of the nipple and gently push some of the milk back into your breast. It's the equivalent of walking outside on a cold day with no coat on-it helps your nips stand out more so the baby has something to grab on to!
I had to do it a lot early on when I was super engorged. One of the hosp lc's taught it to me.