Baby Girl OH is Here!

[orangehibiscus]

I had a baby girl yesterday evening. I ended up with an epidural, but I did have a vaginal delivery. I have a 3rd degree tear, and I’m super sore, but baby girl is so worth it all! We still don’t have a name for her yet. We have to figure that out very soon!

Long birth story:

I drank the labor induction smoothie on Sunday 3/17/19 around 10am. I started contracting around 3:30 that afternoon. We checked into the hospital at 8pm for our scheduled induction. I was 4cm dilated and 70% effaced. OB decided to let me continue on my own since I was having regular contractions. Well those fizzled out overnight.

My OB checked me at 5am, and I was 4.5cm. OB broke my water in the hopes that things would get going again. OB came back at 10am, and I still wasn’t really contracting. I started Pitocin then.

My contractions definitely picked up with the Pit. I was coping well with them. I walked around L&D quite a bit. I also bounced on the labor ball. After a few hours, the Pit was making me have very strong contractions, and I was not handling them well. Then I decided to get into the tub because I’ve heard that it can really help with easing the pain of contractions. Well those people have to be liars because the tub didn’t help anything! At this point I was not handling the contractions well at all, and I was starting to push with them. I got out of the tub, and the nurse checked me. I was at 7cm. I knew I couldn’t keep laboring like that without some pain relief. I asked for the epidural. Right after the epidural was placed. I was completely dilated. Since I was numb, they let me labor down, which was amazing. I pushed for an hour, and my baby girl was here! I have a 3rd degree tear, and I’m very very sore today. Baby girl peed and pooped all over the OB when she was born and peed on me while doing skin to skin!

Baby girl has been nursing ok, not horrible not fantastic. She seems to be really gassy, so I’ll have to look at what I’m eating. We still don’t have a name picked out yet. We have to figure that out since we’re being discharged tomorrow morning!

We’re so in love with her! She’s absolutely perfect!

PDQ: I will delete this soon.

*poof*

[pambee]

Congratulations!! Her little nose 😍

[Eames]

Congratulations orangehibiscus!!! You are both so beautiful!

[jewelsofthenile]

congratulations orangehibiscus you guys both look beautiful!

[haleyscott]

Congratulations!!! You guys are beautiful! I can’t wait to hear what name you pick.

[bex15]

Congratulations!!! You are both gorgeous, I’m so happy for you!!

[lemondrop]

Congrats orangehibiscus!!! She’s so beautiful!

[tapdancer]

Congrats you both look great

[Wicket]

Congratulations you guys look great! I had a 4th degree with my first. I hope it feels better soon and heals well!

[jacks]

Congrats! You both look gorgeous! I’m so happy she is finally in your arms!!

[snickerdoodle]

Congrats! You both look beautiful. So happy for you. I hope healing goes quickly.

[loorin]

Congrats! Beautiful picture - hope you heal up quickly.

[Deleted]

Yay congratulations!!

[Yogurt]

Congratulations! 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈❤❤❤❤
I am so happy for you!

[Tlex]

Congrats!! Just a thought before you upend your diet, sometimes they take in a lot of air while learning to latch and nurse, that could be the gas culprit!

[babystandish]

Ahhh yayyy!! Congratulations!!

[Eames]

Regarding diet, I was reading about how milk is actually part of the mom's vascular system, not digestive system, so diet shouldn't play a huge part unless there is a major allergy or something. I know some people have reported differences with diet changes though.


But her digestive system is just getting going so there might be a lot of burps and farts! I mean my boys are pretty much constantly tooting! 🎺

If you are already getting her latched, you're doing awesome!

[remi]

Ah congrats!!!

[orangehibiscus]

Thanks y’all! We just got home a couple hours ago. We named her *poof*! It’s so amazing to see H with her. He’s a fantastic daddy.

Nursing is not going well. She doesn’t like to open her mouth very wide, and I apparently have large nipples. She went about 10 hours yesterday without eating. She’s still very gassy, and she hasn’t pooped in over 24 hours. I’m still trying to nurse, and we ended up using a nipple shield. She did well with that for her 3am, 6:30am, and 11am feedings. I haven’t been able to get her to nurse in the last 4 hours. I’m getting very frustrated. I’m sure she doesn’t want to eat because her belly hurts. L&D nurses said to give her 48 hours and then to call the Pedi if she still hasn’t pooped. She’s has gas drops. I wish I could do something more to help her.

[bonzo]

Congratulations again! I love the name!

[bex15]

Gorgeous name orangehibiscus! I’m sorry about the nursing issues, that sounds very frustrating.

[Yogurt]

I am sorry nursing is presenting some challenges. I highly recommend seeking out a well reviewed lactation consultant, most likely outside of the hospital staff. (I never had much luck with the hospital lactation consultants.) I'd have her mouth looked at for ties or other possible issues that may be posing challenges because they can so often be easily corrected if that is the case.

We are currently doing bottles and breast while he learns to nurse. It took my baby about 5 weeks last time to get the hang of it.

Hang in there.

[pambee]

I love her name!! 😍

And I'm sorry you're having troubles, I agree with yogurt that it would be beneficial to find a LC, preferably a IBCLC if you can. I also found the ones in my hospital to be not super helpful, but the ones at my pedi office were amazing.

As for the gas, bicycling his legs helps my guy the best (he's been really gassy the past few days too), and gently rubbing his tummy in circles. I would try that in combo with what you're already doing, I'm sure she's just adjusting to life on the outside and will regulate soon! You're doing great mama, the beginning is so so hard.

[loorin]

We had trouble nursing for awhile too - DD had a tongue tie and when she was very new if I could get her latched, she would suck a couple of times and be done. Taking big deep breaths (like when a doctor listens to your lungs) when she was latched was a trick I was taught to help remind her to suck. I also used the lactation consultants at the pediatrician and found them more helpful than the ones at the hospital.

Her name is beautiful.

[Eames]

Hang in there. Is your milk coming in? That's when I always have problems because my breasts get so engorged and babies can't latch onto basketballs. But it will regulate in time.

This time we got through it with nipple shields too, and we are still using them. With my daughter we did a supplemental nursing system (sns) and she got the hang of it after 2 weeks or so. I have flat nipples and the babies have such small mouths still. You're doing great. Have you tried pumping at all? I found that helped a little to bring my nipples out.

I know it can all be so frustrating. If it's been awhile you can try giving formula with a dropper too. With DD that seemed to "wake" her up enough to get her interested.

Good luck and join us in the breastfeeding thread if you want for commiseration, cheering on, etc.

[Deleted]

Sorry about the breastfeeding challenges. I have no advice (I had no milk to give DD...) but I hope you're able to get it resolved soon! And her name is beautiful

[orangehibiscus]

Thank you!! Nursing has been much better today. My milk has started coming in, which I think has been helpful. There aren’t any LCs in my town. The closest is about 2 hours away. She has eaten more frequently today though. Still waiting on that poopy diaper!