Amelia Claire
Praise be to God! I gave birth to a beautiful healthy girl on March 16. My daughter’s name is Amelia Claire. She weighed 8 lbs and measured 20 inches in length. Life has been such a roller coaster for me since my last post in February.
My due date was March 14. On the 17th my husband and I were supposed to drive to Southern California to pick up his three wonderful kids for spring break in Oregon. We had been praying for an early delivery. If we didn’t, there’d be no way for us to have the kids for spring break. When I was at 40 weeks with a definite sign of my body preparing itself for labor, my husband and I decided to ask the doctor about inducing. The OB in gave the ok for the following morning directly after the day I asked about it. Wow! So this was it, a sure date. My baby, of unknown gender at the time, would be in my arms sooner than I expected. I couldn’t be happier!
Having previously decided on having a natural birth, I was slightly disappointed I wasn’t waiting until the baby started labor. I didn’t like the feeling that I was making a selfish rash decision. All in all, I knew it was our only choice if we wanted to have our other three kids in our house again, for the second time ever which is a big monumental life altering change. Consoling myself that even though this is my first birth it’s not my last and comforting myself that as a mother figure in their lives, I was doing the right thing for my other children whom I love, setting a good foundation for them. Showing my husband they’re important to me was also a consideration.
The pitocin reacted soon after administration into my body. During the wait of monitoring my contractions, I played card games with my husband, not a bad way to experience labor in my opinion. (I love games. I don’t even care about winning.) Nurses kept increasing the amount entering my veins, but I eventually came to point that I had been on it for so long my contractions were no longer increasing in strength or quantity. At 2 AM Wednesday, they stopped the IV flow of oxytocin. Finally able to eat solids again since Tuesday morning, I ate a little bit and instantly fell asleep now that my body could relax.
At 8 o’clock in the morning, my amniotic sac was punctured. That’s a feeling unlike anything I’d ever felt. Contractions increased gradually to a 7-8 range of pain with quicker intervals coming every 5 minutes by 11 AM. My doctor check on me at noon saying I still need to dilate more despite my frequent contractions with the feeling to push at a pain level of 9. I had been in back labor for the past 22 hours and being exhausted as I was, I handled the pain one contraction at a time with my husband massaging my back constantly. Hearing she would then go on her lunch break and didn’t expect to check up on me until 1:30 disappointed me and set real fear in me. I was afraid I didn’t have the energy or mental control to make it until then. (You see, I had made the bad mistake of watching the clock for the last hour knowing when she would check on me and expecting a bigger change in dilation based on how my contractions had changed. I was terribly wrong.) My husband, as my solid rock, constant support and comforter, was the reason I was able to have a natural childbirth without swearing, little screaming, and no regret. God’s gift to us as humans to create life is still a miracle even with the curse we endure as ancestors of Eve, such an amazing miracle!
My doctor was paged out of her lunch break to come check on me at 12:30 PM. When she decided I was ready to push, I was surprised, relieved, and unsure of what to do. The nurses and my doctor helped by telling me exactly what would be best. In 3 contractions with 3 pushes each, I delivered my angel, Amelia Claire, at 12:56 PM on March 16, 2011. Since my dad worked in the hospital, my husband was able to personally press the button that played a tune throughout the hospital indicating a baby was born. Her APGAR was 9/10 (which is perfect anyway), and daddy got to take pictures of her first bath so I wouldn’t have to miss a moment of her wonderful new life. Breastfeeding was started and showing promising signs of being a breeze. We were relocated to another room to recover in, all happy three of us.
I was discharged at the same time I had to say goodbye to my husband who left from the hospital to drive to California with a willing and wonderful friend. They made the 32-hour drive round trip without stopping for a night of shuteye so that neither Amelia or I would be without him for too long or him without us. He kept his hospital admittance wristband on the whole time just to be able to have a visual and physical connection to our new daughter and me. After the road trip, he would pick our baby and me up from my parents’ house and drive his three kids and us home, for our first time home since Monday morning.
It was such a calm victorious and soothing return home for us on Saturday. We took the whole family (I love that it’s finally a family of six!) to a church we attend in the evening on Sunday. Our friends were surprised to see us, but the staff of the birthing center wasn’t calling Amelia and I rock stars for nothing. It was the first time for us to introduce the kids to our friends, definitely an important opportunity. My husband went back to work on Monday and I started my job, as a stay at home mother, a mother of four no less.
Suddenly being the mother of 4 kids after just giving birth was more difficult and better than I expected. Amelia is amazing! A perfect first baby for me to experience, a perfect baby to be the youngest of four for me to look after. She sleeps well, hardly cries, and as I thought then, ate well. Apparently though, she was losing weight still when I took her in to her two-week doctor’s appointment. After having a lactation consultation, I’ve found the problem lies with me. For her to get a full feeding, she has to nurse for 2+ hours. That’s too long. We’ve supplemented with formula and her weight has gone up, thankfully. Reasons for lacking in supply, production, whatever it may be, vary. I’ve been told to try teas, herbs, iron, relaxing, additional pumping, etc. will help.
Being a new mother is hard work. Every decision is difficult to make and wracked with guilt. With all the advice and opinions out there coming my way, I don’t know how to choose the best solution. Does it get easier as you go along?
God, help me be a good mother to my children. Amen.
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