Friday, May 4, 2007

Boobs, Etc.

I'm borrowing a $500 electric breast pump and I finally got my milk in! I've been seeing a lactation consultant and we've been doing things to trick Ziva into nursing. I've been pumping milk, putting it in a syringe with a long tube and slipping it into her mouth while she nurses since she can't be bothered to try if the milk doesn't come instantly. She is sooooo lazy when it comes to nursing! I rue the day they gave her that bottle. If I had known how tough that would make it I would've asked them to feed her with a dropper or something.
Another trick I learned was to squirt a little sugar water into her mouth, lead her to the breast and then squirt a little on the mipple right before she starts up. She thinks she's getting koolaid, but it's really just milk. I didn't think I'd have to trick her into eating.... I'm glad she's getting off the formula and that I'm at least physically able to nurse, but I'm looking forward to being able to nurse without using all the gimicks!!
Ziva's dropped a little weight since she's not getting her food pumped directly into her body. She's down to about 9 pounds 8 ounces, but the Drs. say she's still healthy and doing fine. She's been having bouts of incessant crying that last anywhere from 5-20 minutes but seem like an eternity. I think she's adjusting to being outside the womb and it's taking time for her to get used to everything. Mal and I can't wait until that period is over with!
She started to become aware of her surroundings a bit. When we lay down together she'll stare at our faces, which is good. She seems to be doing well!
I am totally exhausted, however. I haven't slept more than 3 hours a night since she's been here and now that she's gotten fissy in the evenings, I don't get to nap with her then either. Malachi goes back to work Monday... I don't know how I'm going to manage her alone. It's very overwhelming. Blah.
Well, we've been taking more pics all week. I'll try to post some soon, since Malachi is on baby duty for a bit!
Kristi

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Birth Story and Update

Malachi and I welcomed our daughter Ziva at 11:15pm April 27th! She was 4 FULL WEEKS past her due date! Ziva was 10 pounds, 1 ounch and 21 inches long. Her head was a whopping 13 3/4 around!I started having regular contrax at midnight on Thursday. I was up all night with them. Friday morning I had some serious bloody show and the contrax got stronger and longer. By the time DH got home at about 4 they were getting painful. I labored all over the house for several hours and finally at about 8:30 pm my waters started to leak and finaly broke. My body started pushing at about 9 pm but the contrax died down and I had a hard time pushing Ziva out. The back labor got to be so bad that I felt completely drained. Ziva's head crowned at around 10:45 but with no contrax and after more than 20 hours of labor I couldn't get her out. Malachi called 911 and the operator coached us. He had me get on my back and put his hands around Ziva's head to help her out. The paramedics arrived at about 11:05 and held my legs open and yelled for me to push. I could feel myself tearing and by now I was screaming like a banshee. Ziva finally came out all in one big push. She wasn't breathing well at first and the paramedics gave her oxygen. They immediately cut her cord, which I wasn't pleased about and started pushing on my tummy to get the placenta out. That sucked, but I delivered the placenta a few minutes later. We went to the hospital and Ziva was in perfect shape. I however have a 4th degree tear. The doctor said it looke dlike a bomb went off in my vagina. I had surgery and they kept us overnight.Malachi was amazing! He was wonderful! He rubbed my back through ALL the labor and was really encouraging. He wiped my butt when I pooed during labor and came home and cleaned everything up when it was over. For someone who was initially nervous about birthing at home he was fabulous! Even though we ended up at the hospital, it was a great experience. We had our homebirth and when emergency arose we were able to get help quickly. In my mind, it worked out exactly as it was designed to. The paramedics were quick and efficient and although I didn't like that they cut the cord, forced the placenta out or kept Ziva away from me until we got in the ambulence- plus one of them had the nerve to say "Home delivery is for pizza only. Next time go to a hospital.," -they get helped me find the strength to birth Ziva and gave her the help she needed after the birth.
Ziva and I are now working on nursing. She was given formula from a bottle at the hospital and now she's too lazy latch on a draw the milk out from the breast. We're seeing a lactaction consultant and trying to come up with ways to coax her into latching on and staying put.
She's sleeping well- she's only up 2-3 times during the night for attention and feedings. She's got a great personality and is easy to calm down when she gets agitated.
Maachi is great with her. She falls asleep right away when he holds her. I'm sure they're going to have a great relationship as time goes on. He'll be a wonderful father and I know she's going to be crazy about him.
I guess that's it in a nutshell. I'll try and get some more pics up soon and to post quasi-regular updates!
Kristi