My dr. showed up around 8:30 and by 9:45 I was pushing. I pushed for an hour which was quite a challenge to do when you can't feel anything but everyone in there (my husband, the nurse, and my dr.'s intern) kept telling me I was doing great. My dr. was called back in at 10:45 and I pushed a few more times and baby Hadley was there. They put her on my chest and of course I cried a little. I was in shock that she was ours and that she just came out of me. She weighed 7lbs. 4oz. and was 19.5 in. long. Thus beginning a new era in our lives.
The first few days were a whirlwind. I wasn't really in much pain at all, just cramping, although I did faint in the bathroom before I was moved into the couplet room. Luckily Jon was there to catch me. However, the breastfeeding was the biggest struggle. She didn't want to latch on right away and she also didn't want to wake up to eat either. We had to work pretty hard to even get her to open one eye. The pediatrician that came in the first day said he wasn't worried about her not eating right away, it was perfectly normal for her to be very sleepy the first few days. The nurses on the other hand were very adimant that if she hadn't eaten in the first 24 hours then she needed to be bottlefed. Our pediatrician said, "no, let's wait it out and keep trying." Which we were thankful for. The next day the lactation consultant came in and worked with us as had one of the nursery nurses that night and we were feeling a little better about it. By the evening of Thursday she was latching on and doing a little better, but not latching on correctly. Having read that if it hurts the baby is not latched on correctly I knew something wasn't right but I hated to take her off because we had worked so hard to get her on. Anyways, this mistake cost me for the next few days. I had super sore nipples and found it almost unbearable to nurse her whenever we hd the opportunity.
Much to our dismay we had to stay an extra day in the hospital since she still wasn't eating all that great. But by Friday around 2 we got discharged! Finally! Poor Jon was tired of sleeping on the hard pull out bed and we were both tired of being cooped up in the hospital room. Friday and Saturday proved to be two of the most challenging days for us as we tried to get her to eat. We had used a syringe with formula and our finger to "train her tongue" and get her going now this seemed to be the only method she would accept for eating. Saturday morning we had to take her for a weight check and she had lost 1lb which was too much. The pediatrician gave us until the following Monday to get her to eat better and gain some weight or we'd have to look at pumping and bottlefeeding.
My milk had come in Saturday so we were hoping this would make things better. While her appetite seemed to be getting better she still was not latching on. Saturday night I think Jon and I were wondering if this was going to work. I was becoming more comfortable with the idea of pumping just to save all three of us the frustration, but as the story goes she started latching on better and by Sunday night I think a huge weight was lifted off of us. We didn't have to use syringes anymore and I was able to bear any pain that came with the feeding because I knew we could fine tune stuff as long as she got the latching on. Monday morning brought another trip to the pediatrician for a weight check and she had gained 6oz! Which was a lot. Woohoo Hadley! Although in my head I wonder if the nurse didn't read the scale right but whatever, she had gained some weight and that's all that mattered.
The rest of the first week went better. We've had a lot of visitors, not much sleep and tons of food brought to us. We almost didn't have room for our precious gallons of milk. Just recently Hadley has started being really fussy from about 9pm-2am. She'll want to nurse about every hour and for only 5 or 10 minutes. As soon as we try to lay her down in her cradle she'll wake up wanting more. We haven't given her a pacifier yet (well we did for a few minutes and then decided against it) mainly because of all the breastfeeding issues we had. We didn't want to sabotage any of that until she was a pro at it. I certainly do welcome this change in schedule though as opposed to the not eating at all!
We went again this morning for another weight check (office policy is that if they're under 7lbs they keep a close eye on them). She was only 6lbs 12oz so still gaining weight but not as fast as before. We have her two week check up next Thursday so they'll check her again (obviously) and hopefully by then she's up to 7lbs. or past it.
Jon has been a great support through all of this and is already a wonderful dad! He's going to go back to work next week and while I'm a little nervous I'm also ready to get into a routine of being at home all the time with the baby. Hopefully soon little miss Hadley will get into a regular feeding schedule so we can start to plan things a little better.
We have certainly appreciated all the prayer, encouragement, and support from everybody! We look forward to watching our little girl grow into the person God wants her to become. We think she's the cutest baby we've ever seen and feel blessed that God gave her to us. I think that's the majority of the story, if I left something out or someone has a question let me know.
Little Hadley with mommy and daddy just an hour old.
Lounging at home on her first day
The happy family (can you tell we're losing sleep?)
