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mcatmay
member
Welcoming Penelope Tracy to the big wide world!
mcatmay
member
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My little girl made her world debut on August 16th at 11:26pm - she was two weeks overdue (we're fairly certain of the conception date from dating ultrasound and my tracking) but she came out a peanut - she weighed 6lbs 13 oz and measured 20 inches! This little girl knew what she was doing when she decided to stay in there longer.
My labor and delivery were not what i wanted it to be. Induction was done with pitocin but, for some reason, i didn't respond to it until they got to the highest dose they could give me without an OB (i delivered with MW). My contractions went from zero to ninety in about an hour - i also went from 5cm to 10cm in about an hour and so, no epidural for me. It was not my proudest moment in the world as i said several times to people that i wasn't sure i could actually deliver this baby this way. After nearly two hours of pushing, though, Penelope (aka Pip, Pippa or Poppy - we're still working on the NN ;-) made it into the world screaming her head off. My heart shattered in a million pieces and has never been the same since. I had no idea you could love like that.
She'll be seven days old tonight and has been (knock on wood) a fabulous baby for a semi-hysterical mother who over-analyzes EVERYTHING. She took to BF like a duck to water, has given me the past three nights with sleeping and only waking up for three nursing sessions before going right back to sleep. I actually feel human and able to think semi-rationally, which was not really a place i'd thought i'd ever been in again after not sleeping for three days straight after labor (did i mention i was a hysterical mother?!)
And, now, for the picture (edit: see above :-) - this brunette somehow gave birth to a blonde - she is the spitting image of my husband!!! We call this picture "the thinker" ;-)
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Re: Welcoming Penelope Tracy to the big wide world!
I can't see the photo but congratulations. Sounds like you are getting the hang of things. I love her name.
ETA: Now I can see it. What a sweetheart.
congratulations!! hope her good sleeping habits continue.
i also love her name, and i think poppy is adorable for a NN!
I can't see photos on my work computer, but I will look tonight from home.
I love her serious face!
Yay for feeling human. I hope it continues for you!
Wow, what a birth story! I can't imagine going natural on an induced labor like that - you are a champ!
She is beautiful. Great to hear that she's such a great baby. Congrats!
TTC #2: BFP 12/17/11, m/c 1/7/12 and D&C 1/12/12
baby blog/cooking blog
Congratulations!
I love her name and she is just a beauty!!!
Congrats! She's beautiful.
DD was also 2 weeks overdue, and wasn't quite as small when she was born - 7 lbs, 6 oz, but she dropped to 6 lbs 4 oz by day 3 and I was so happy she had had those 2 extra weeks to get bigger. (By 2 weeks she was back to her birth weight and by 9 months she was 95 % height, 75% weight, so she's fine now!)
I've been wondering about you since your last post was from the hospital. You are a trooper! congratulations on a beautiful daughter!
(what were you hysterical about?)
Congrats on your beautiful baby girl!!
Quite a story!
Off to the beach
DS 7/18/2010
Handy 2.0 Due Early August
2011/2012 Races
12/17/2011 Christmas Caper 10K
2/11/2012 Have a Heart 5K
3/17/2012 DC RNR Half Marathon
4/22/2012 10M Parkway Classic
10/28/2012 Marine Corps Marathon
Adorable!
And 5 to 10 cm in one hour with pitocin and no drugs?!? You're a hero!
Artslvr, I'm just not as big a fan of 'penny' as the other NN - not sure i can give a specific reason why, just doesn't roll off the tongue for me.
Sofka, I couldn't seem to relax after labor. I literally did not sleep for the following three days because i was getting completely conflicting advice about breastfeeding in the hospital. The lactation consultant would tell me i was doing great during the day and the nurses at night would tell me i was not nursing enough (i was nursing her hourly) because she was still rooting and chewing on her hands. I got extremely stressed about breastfeeding - when i went to my three day pediatrician appointment and saw that she had lost more weight, even though it was only 6% loss of body weight, i sat down and sobbed. I never knew the hormones, sleeplessness and overall feeling of not being sure you're doing the right thing could make you feel like this.Hence my feeling more human once i got a little bit of sleep.
Thanks, Ladies - i hope that the sleep pattern continues but i'm not holding my breath ;-) Just happy for the break now as i start on this journey!
post here anytime with questions and welcome to parenthood!
If you continue to feel this way please talk to your doctor about PPD. PPD can present itself as anxiety. You're still very early in the process of parenthood, so you'll likely be fine, but if you don't start to feel like yourself soon, please be sure to get whatever help you need.
And I mentioned DD lost 1 lb 2 oz (15%!), and the doctor wasn't even terribly alarmed. If she had lost more, we likely would have had to go back to the hospital. But we just stuck with a very strict every 2 hour feeding schedule for a few days and she gained! And then she was back up to her birth weight by 2 weeks so she was in the clear. 6% is WELL within the normal range for a loss.
I will tell you too, I totally understand random crying spells. I was miserable after DD was born b/c I was in so much pain and BF was not going well on top of it. I didn't leave my hospital room at all at the hospital until the last day when they had a new parents class before we checked out. I went and sat on a terribly hard seat and was in so much pain when I got up I broke down in the middle of the hallway. I can't tell you how much better I feel at the same time this year - back to myself completely.
Oh - and 2 weeks was my absolute low point b/c we were still feeding DD every 2 hours around the clock, she wasn't really nursing, and I wasn't quite pumping enough to keep up with her. We started to hit our stride once she could sleep for 4 hours at a time.