12 days old and one week at home

We have a blog for Dillon Marie, but I thought it only appropriate that my friends get the mommy's perspective of all things Dillon Marie. Of course, this is for my friends eyes only and not D's daddy's eyes because some things that I say may break his heart. When Greg looks at his baby, you can just see that his heart melts at the sight of her and this child can do nothing wrong in his eyes. He is wholly and completely in love with this child. His very first and with good reason cuz, I don't want to brag, but c'mon...she is pretty darn cute, right?
This first entry will be pretty long because I'm already 12 days behind in recording the events of Dillon's debut.

I was in labor for about 21 hours (the last five under the soft blanket of epidural) and after not dilating any more from 6cm and needing to be at 10cm before you can start pushing, the dr is recommending that we consider c-section b/c now the baby's showing signs of distress and I have not made any progress. So, we go with the c-section and thank goodness we did because when the doctor pulled her out, it turns out the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice! That was what was preventing her from moving further down the birth canal, thus preventing my own cervix to continue dilating. Oh, what a stressful situation, BUT I am kind of happy that I got to experience it all - labor (sucks), epidural (heavenly), c-section (big fan). Hah! I mean, I hear that recovery is much quicker when one gives birth vaginally, but hey...I'll take c-section please. Labor really blows!! Of course, please don't take my word for it. Everyone should go through labor at least once b/c everyone's pain tolerance is different and everyone's labor pains I think are different. I have several friends that give birth vaginally, many without epidural even so my respect to those girls cuz I certainly couldn't pull it off and would never deign to try it again! No thanks! Hah!
We spent five days in the hospital - the perfunctory three days of recovery after a c-section and then two extra days. Turns out Dillon had a bit of jaundice so she had to stay one more day to sit under the heat lamps. I wish I had taken picture of her b/c it was so cute. They stick these white "sunglasses" on her and sun her under the lights and she just looks like a little diva by the pool. I too, had to stay in the hospital two extra days because it seems I developed an allergic reaction to the betadyne dye that they use on your belly in prep for the c-section. I was going a bit stir crazy in that hospital and poor Greg was shuttling back and forth between hospital and house to do some work, visit with the baby, shuttle my mom back and forth too so she can visit Dillon and me at the hospital.
Okay, can we talk about the first night back from the hospital? First thing - when we were headed to the hospital to give birth, one of greg's friends gave us some sound advice. When the nursery comes to take your baby from you for the night. Let them. You will need the sleep. Plus, if you want to keep your baby in your room you will have to keep the lights on all night b/c they want to make sure that there is always vigil over your newborn that they are still breathing, etc. Greg can't sleep with the lights on so off to the nursery Dillon goes. The newborn baby needs to feed very 3 hours in the night time so the nursery takes the baby and they can either feed your baby for you (formula) or they will reel her back in to you every three hours so you can breastfeed her. We opted for option two.
Well ladies...I don't know what the nursery was doing in those three hours with my baby, but she did not just feed every three hours. My first night back from the hospital was a rude...rude awakening. I was up every hour on the hour feeding this child and when I wasn't feeding, then I was changing her diaper. And with the diaper change, she's grumpy and needs to be appeased so back on the breast she went. What an ordeal! BUT, all the sucking and switching between breasts apparently builds in your milk supply so who am I to complain. It's hard to believe that a mother is always producing breast milk whether the breasts feel full or not and in fact, when your baby nurses on one breast when it is not engorged, she is actually getting a fattier version of the milk which fills her up more and doesn't just run through her system.
Anyhoo...motherhood. Every day is different. I think that might be the most adjusting that I am experiencing - the lack of organization, regiments. Something that works one day might not work the next. However, one thing that works great? Having Dillon sleep on my body at night. She sleeps straight through the night, 4-5 hours! Yippee! I mean, most pediatricians caution against that because she then looks to me to sleep, but I feel like she is just a wee babe and she has time later to recondition herself to sleep in her own bed. :o)