Okay, it's been a while since I last posted. Having 2 blogs unnecessarily complicates blogging. Add living to that and time drags on between posts for one or both blogs.
I had baby J on December 23rd. He was born by cesarean after 25 hours of hard labor. There were a number of complications and in the end it was necessary and best to have a c-section. He was very healthy having 1 and 5 minute Apgars of 9. He recognized Mama's voice when she talked to him as the nurses checked him out. When she talked to him, he stopped crying. The nurses needed him to cry for the Apgar, so they shooed Mama away until they were done with him. I had some issues with bleeding and they even called for blood for a transfusion, but at the very last minute they were able to get the bleeding under control. I was periodically "shocky" for two weeks afterward, but I'm pretty healthy now. In fact, I feel very close to my old self. I still get tired easily and I'm still a bit sore, but it's all normal for c-section recovery. My bleeding has already stopped as well, and no more bleeding after 3 weeks is doing pretty well. As horrible as the c-section was for me, if I have to I will do it again. Next time I'd like to try a VBAC (vaginal delivery after cesarean). I've read that 70% of women who try it succeed. But if I don't succeed, the next c-section will be much easier to handle, since I've gone through it once already.
Husband and I are settling into parenthood very well. We have learned how to figure out what baby J wants and needs most of the time. Sometimes we're baffled, but this is normal for parents of children at any age. He's a very good boy, and he loves his family. He hasn't slept through the night yet, but he's only a month old, and some nights he only gets up once. He usually will 2 good nights then one rough night. Rough nights are where he demands to be up for 2 to 4 hours in the middle of the night. He has been very good when we've brought him out with us. Breastfeeding has taken some time for us to get used to, but we've finally come to be comfortable with it.
I have taken a Medical Separation from Academic Duties so I have the first 6 weeks of school off from TA duties. I wasn't planning on taking any time off after a vaginal delivery, but the c-section requires a longer recovery period. Now that I'm at four weeks recovery time, I'm feeling much better, but I still can't be on my feet for more than a hour or two at a time. My labs are 2 hours each, and I have 2 consecutive labs. So that's 4 consecutive hours on my feet. Not doable for me at this point, but given a few more weeks (which thankfully I have) it shouldn't be a problem. I get to start exercising (gently) in 2 more weeks. I could walk some now if the weather weren't so terrible. But I intend to start with swimming, then after a couple of weeks I'll probably try low impact aerobics.
Mother-In-Law is coming for a visit next month, and she mentioned that it would be nice if we could have baby J baptized then so she could be there for it. We had to do a little maneuvering to get it done, but we worked it out. Sister R and her Fiance are going to be baby J's godparents and have arranged to come out for the baptism as well. :) Mama is making him a baptismal gown. It's gorgeous!
No comments:
Post a Comment