Thursday, January 2, 2014

Lilah's birth story - better late than never

My dashboard here on the blog tells me I haven't posted since May.  Wow.  It's already nearing the end of October.  That's a long time.

One month ago today Jay and I went to the hospital after dropping our four monkeys off with my mom.  At 1:44 that afternoon we welcomed Lilah Ruth into our family, into our world.  She was 9lbz 10oz and 20 inches long.  It took me the better part of two weeks to realize we had FIVE children!  It still sounds funny when I say it.

I wanted, initially, to write a long and in depth birth story for our dear Lilah.  But really what is there to say?  I had a scheduled c-section.  I could mention that they were running behind and we were scheduled for a 12pm OR time and ended up heading back shortly after 1pm.  I was really so at peace with everything.  I had a small bit of anxiety about the spinal because it took them quite a few tries last time to place it but I was really at peace.  I had gotten the ok from my doctor to have music in the OR and had Jay help me get the playlist onto the MP3 player.  I look at Lilah's birth and I just want to recount the ways that God was there.  First, the spinal took on one try.  ONE try!!  It took almost 20 minutes with Sierra.  Then I find out that the anesthesiologist is a believer.  What a blessing.  The surgery was text book and went very smoothly.  One hour from the time that they walked me into the room they wheeled me back out.

The nurses were great about letting me get my hands on Lilah as soon as possible.  Lilah's sugar was borderline so they gave her a tiny bit of formula with a cup - they got my permission first.  Every other sugar check for the next 24hrs was excellent.

We ran into problems with feeding our precious girl though.  She dropped a full pound by our release from the hospital. She dropped all the way down to 8lbs 3oz at nine days old.  I began pumping and supplementing after nursing sessions.  I had two lc's tell me her latch was great but she wasn't having enough dirty diapers when she was just nursing.  After supplementing she began to gain and I'm thrilled to say that although she's not at birthweight yet she was 9lbz 4oz yesterday at her one month well check.  She has gained a full pound in three weeks!  We're continuing to nurse, pump, and supplement and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

She's just amazing though.  The kids love her.  We love her.  Ha, we've already talked about baby number six.  Yeah we're crazy.  No definite plans but no definite not happening either.

And another huge praise is that while I certainly have days where I'm at my wits end and incredibly overwhelmed as I'm sure any new mama has experienced, I haven't experienced depression or anxiety in the after math.  That's HUGE.

January 2nd, 2014 - Lilah is three months old now.  A couple of nights a week she still gets a two ounce bottle but she is primarily breastfeeding and growing great.  Just before Christmas she weighed in at 12lbs.  She's a very high needs baby which accounts for some of the reason that I haven't been able to post on here. But I adore her.  I love watching her personality emerging.  I love watching her watch the other kids as they run around like little crazies.  I would LOVE it if she'd find a sleeping pattern she likes for both day and night but eh.  This time is fleeting.  And she's awake. 

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