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February 2011 Moms
baby Quinn here 2/17 - mama spent 12 days in hospital (PIP)
Hey all!
I am *completely* out of the loop but hope to catch up soon. I have been home from the hospital for the past two days and am now sitting down to post my birth story and the aftermath. So, here goes:
Little Quinn was set to be born by inducation on 2/16 (due date 2/15 and they didn't want him getting any bigger) - well, after 17 hours on pitocin and staying at 6cm for 6 hours, they realized his little headbones were not fitting through my pelvis, so a c-section it was. I was ok with this, as I had had a feeling all along that he was just TOO big! So, my "lil big man" as some friends are calling him was born at 12:44am on 2/17 via c-section, and was 9lbs13oz and 22.5 inches long! Big babies run on my husband's side of the family (also partly why I thought he would be big). I am only 5'2" and still can't fathom how a nearly two-foot long baby was in my uterus!
He was beautiful, perfect, and wailed like a champ when brought into the world. Unfortunately, because of his size, my ute tore in a place they didn't see when they pulled his massive shoulders out, and I started bleeding internally after the c-section. My hemoglobin dropped from 12 to 8 and did not go up despite two blood transfusions, so back to surgery for me. The hardest part of that for me was coming out and having my husband kiss me, crying.
The next day the issues continued, as I developed the awesomely rare condition of post-partum pre-e, with all the symptoms some of you know too well - swelling of hands and face, crazy bp, liver functions all wacky, etc. On top of being on Demerol, I was totally out of it from the other meds for the pre-e - they put me on magnesium, bp meds, Lasix, everything.
THEN I developed an Illius, which I guess is a bowel blockage. That required a nose tube to try to suck air out of my stomach (didn't work, but that gave me two more days on a liquid diet - by the time that came out Monday morning I had not eaten solid food since the Wednesday before!) Things started to improve after that, but then I spiked a random high temp of 104, requiring four more days in the hospital to bring it down with heavy-duty antibiotics. Luckily my ob understood my desire to breastfeed or at least give Quinn my milk from pumping, so she picked meds that would not go into my milk.
Needless to say, I am still struggling with breastfeeding. It's hard since he's so used to the bottle now, and he's eating at least 4 ounces of formula at each feeding (hungry boy!!). At his one-week appointment he already weighs 10 lbs, so he really is a chunk. Today I am meeting with a lady at the La Leche League to get hands-on advice, so to speak. She said if I really dedicate myself to increased pumping and trying skin-to-skin contact to get him to latch at every feeding, the bf'ing should come in time. Fingers crossed!
I love my little boy so much - he is beautiful and amazing. He already tries to hold his bottles (I swear!) and is super alert and interactive. I just love to kiss him and love him - being a mom is awesome and exhausing and all I'd hoped it would be. Anyways, thanks for reading!
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Re: baby Quinn here 2/17 - mama spent 12 days in hospital (PIP)
Congrats on your LO. You've been through a lot already but I'm happy you are ok now and home with Quinn.
As a mom whose DD had nipple confusion due to the spoon, cup, and bottle I used to get her output up I understand your dilemma. I must say it was rough at first (2 weeks). I pumped, used a finger feeder, nipple shield and bottle to get my girl on track and now she has been exclusively breast feeding for 6 days and has gained 2 lbs at her 1 mo check up. It will be inconvenient at first but stick to it. Theres nothing like be able to just stop and feed anywhere. Oh and don't doubt "skin to skin contact" it makes a world of a difference if you want to B'f. Remember we are mamals first. GL and keep us posted.