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Northern California Babies
It's been a crazy couple of days :)
It is my pleasure to introduce Donovan Jones M...
Born 10.7.10 at 5:21AM, 8lbs 10ozs and 21in long. And the best part is he's mine - ALL MINE!
My birth story is pretty straight forward... Dovey was found to be breech at 36 weeks, so we scheduled an external version, but found him to be too big (estimated 8+lbs) and too far in my pelvis to flip. Scheduled a c/s for Friday 10.8.10.
Wednesday night I was laying on the couch, starting to doze off when I felt a small gush. When I stood up it was confirmed my water broke and we rushed off to the hospital. After some monitoring and an u/s we were admitted, but had to wait 6-8 hours for surgery because we had just gotten back from dinner and babies were being born left and right, so they got priority. Things were pretty uneventful as I couldn't feel my contractions, but was contracting every 2-4 minutes. Around 4AM my contractions were getting stronger and I was 3cm dilated. The Drs didn't want me to go into labor, so the pushed my surgery up and it was go time. I was really nervous about the surgery, but looking back I'm OK with how it all worked out. I didn't get the labor and birth I had envisioned, but I did get the water-breaking-and-rush-to-the-hospital scenerio. 
Once I was prepped for surgery, Dovey was born a short time later. The Drs and staff were awesome and really respectful with my wishes for skin-to-skin and placed him at my head after birth. They were also great about reminding each other numerous times NOT to announce the gender as I wanted DH to tell me.
Recovery has been going great. Sore, but not totally immobile. I am super swollen though, which I was not expecting.
Breastfeeding on the other hand has been rough, way more challenging than I had expected. The first couple days were great. He nursed right away and we were both happy. Then we had a rough night where he wasn't interested in latching, screamed his head off and literally pushed my breast away - all. night. long. The next night was even worse and by the time we left the hospital he was down 13% from his birth weight - which was HEARTBREAKING. He was close to being admitted for jaundice because he wasn't eating and lost so much weight. Luckily, his jaundice levels were still below the "cut-off" and we were able to go home. Apparently, he was born hungry and has zero patience for my milk to come in.
In the meantime, I'm pumping, pumping, pumping and supplementing with a SNS system. I'm hoping we can get back on track because I didn't realize how much I wanted to breastfeed until now. It's been a rough couple of days. For every step forward we seem to take 5 steps back.
So there's my birth story/breastfeeding woes in a nut-shell. I apologize in advance for the typos and poor grammar. I'm exhausted.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: It's been a crazy couple of days :)
The consultant I met in the hospital was OK. Are you with KP? Is there a consultant you liked?
Christian Alexander - 11/13/06
Amelia Rose & Owen Thomas - 3/29/11
Awww Char, he's such a cutie! Congrats!
Breastfeeding is SO much harder than it seems. Even when all is going well it can be challenging. I'd also ditto finding a great LC. Whenever I had issues or questions I sat in on the breastfeeding support group at Good Sam (even though I too delivered at KP). I've also heard good things about the BFing mom's support group at Harmony.
Kyva also had jaundice and we had to supplement with formula for the first few days until my milk supply was established. We were able to EBF after that.
Keep up the good work, MAMA!
Congratulations! He's a very handsome little boy!
Breastfeeding was SO much harder than I ever expected! Ditto all the pps who suggested a lactation consultant. They do help tremendously! And hang in there- it may take a while for both of you to get the gist of it, but once you do you'll really love it.
Congratulations, Char!! I'm so happy for you guys! He's gorgeous and you "sound" so happy.
I was also super swollen after my c-section, I swelled up like a tick about 4 days after. Apparently it's normal...and when it started to go away (around 1-1.5 weeks after delivery) it went away quick. Like 5 pounds a night, quick. Just expect to start peeing a lot and having night sweats!
Good luck with the breastfeeding, I didn't BF but my milk also didn't come in until late after my c-section. It was about 7 days after. I wasn't sure if it was because of the section or because T was in the NICU, but it was much longer than with DD.
Welcome home, Char and Donovan! Yay!
I'm so glad to hear that your recovery is going well. Hang in there!
And I hope you guys have your BF routine down very soon. I'll be thinking about you guys!
I thought nothing could be harder than the actual act of getting pregnant....then I breastfed. Sounds like you are doing it all right. I didnt find any great lactation consultants...but got help with La Leche and friends. I was lucky and didnt have any latch problems...but did have some supply issues so I can talk with you about that if you wanted...But sounds like you are doing a great job.
I rented a hospital pump and it was coverd with my KP insurance and they even pick it back up when you are done. Just in case you didnt know/have that already....
br
DD2: February 2014
Congratulations! He is gorgeous!!! I'm so happy for you all. Breastfeeding is really not easy. I don't know how we have survived as a species for so long since I would imagine my kid would have starved or had to drink from someone else in the "old" days. If I was not 100% committed to it, I never would have continued. I can really see why people just change over so early on.
I also had the 13 % drop in weight, had to use the SNS system, had to supplement a little with formula (oh the horror, lol), and had to pump after every feeding. UGH~! It's exhausting, truly, but the milk eventually came in, for what it was worth, she ate and still eats like a little bird. No, I think birds eat better than DD does! Good luck and remember it's going to get easier.
Yay for a great update! You do "sound" happy and I'm so thrilled for you. I'm sorry the swelling was a surprise! I had massive massive swelling and could barely move my legs after my cesarean.
It sucked. But like K said, it was gone just before the 2 weeks mark. It disappeared almost overnight.
As for the breastfeeding and jaundice, we had a rough start, though I didn't know it at first. DS got jaundice and had to spend a night in the nursery under the bili lights. That was day 4 and my milk had finally come in and I thought my boobs might explode. I pumped and nursed and tried to use an SNS (but failed). We did a tiny bit of supplementation with formula using just a nipple with no bottle attached. It worked well for us -- he took it but didn't get confused about it and went right back to nursing once we were done with the lights. If he gets frustrated by trying to get let-down it can help to either hand express to start or try to get it started with the pump.
DS lost about10% of his birthweight and it took him more than 2 weeks to gain it back. Other than the formula we gave him in the nursery when he was under the lights, he was just getting breastmilk even though he was "slow" to gain that weight back. We visited the newborn club at KP and the lactation consultants there were fantastic. They were encouraging, and kind, and even though C wasn't gaining that much as quickly as most docs hope to see, they encouraged us to just continue BFing. They did a feed and weigh with us and said things were great and it really helped me put all my focus on keeping us both fed and hyrdrated instead of on how many oz he weighed.
Later when I had other issues I went to the Harmony BFing support group a few times but I found the new mom's group there to be a better fit for us and we went to that weekly for a long time.
Good luck Char!
When I saw D on FB, it was in happy tears.
He is adorable and congrats. When time allows, I would love to meet him :-)
Awwww! Congratulations!! What a great birth story and thank you for sharing! I forgot how much I love reading them
And, welcome to this world Donovan!! Be nice to mama! Your milk will come soon enough for you! be patient!!
BIG HUGS to you and your new family! and sending you lots of BM and SLEEP for everyone, especially for mama.
Cupcake's Blog
I'm soooo excited for you Char!!!
I know those first few weeks with Breastfeeding are rough. We did the SNS system and pumping... I've had lots of time to look back and think about how I would do things different.... don't hesitate to reach out for support/ask questions/help/vent/ whatever you need!
GOOD LUCK with your beautiful new baby boy! Time seriously flies, so enjoy those precious first moments.
He is seriously just the cutest baby! I love that he is ALL YOURS too.
Congratulations and good luck with breastfeeding. I also had to use an SNS and it was soo hard. It makes such a difference to have a good support system who are accepting that it is hard and good at reminding you all of the reasons you wanted to breastfeed in the first place. Don't ever be afraid to come here for support or find a good LC.
Congratulations again Charmama! Sending good thoughts your way that everything works out as you want with breastfeeding. But if it doesn't for some reason, definitely don't feel like a failure if you can't/or don't breastfeed or a failure if you have to supplement with formula. There's nothing wrong with whatever works out for you and D. It's all about what works best for you and your family, and to me that's the most important thing to remember.
I do hope though that things work out how you want though!