The Birth of Julia
Dear Family and Friends,
Hi everyone! I’m finally getting to the blog again…I know many of you are anxious to hear how labor went and how Julia is doing. Thanks for being patient! Our priority the past few weeks has of course been taking care of our sweet Julia and getting to know her. We really got lucky, this girl is such a good baby. Taking care of a newborn is a LOT of work but we really enjoy being Julia’s mommy and daddy. The fact that she is so good is a bonus!
First off - thank you to all of you who visited us in the hospital and at home, and for all the gifts, emails, cards, and flowers. If I haven’t responded to your email and this post doesn’t answer your questions, you will hear from me soon – I’m a bit behind!
So where do I begin??? In order to get this done and on the blog, I won’t get into too much detail – my first go at it Kirk thought was a bit much. I am writing an official birth story for Julia so she can read it someday…I’ll save all the gory details for her!
We headed to the hospital around 1:00 p.m. Sunday – we had called the nurses a few times to see if we should go in. My contractions weren’t quite doing what they were supposed to but they were definitely real and definitely were hurting! Upon examination, I wasn’t dilated much but a nurse discovered my cervix was "stuck" and once that was taken care of…we were full blown in labor and didn’t get a break until she arrived! We packed books and things to do but there was no time, all we did until 9:40 p.m. was labor. Kirk was an awesome coach – he was the perfect blend of being encouraging, keeping us on track with our birth plan, and getting out of my way when I needed! I had to move pretty much the entire time I was in labor (I sat in the tub a few times, sat on the birth ball, and tried just about every position we could think of) – being so physical took a toll on both Kirk and I. Who knew a dad would be sore the next day!!! The nurses said we were a good team, maybe they say that to everyone but I feel like we really were. With Kirk’s help, we were able to have the birth that we imagined. Actually, I have to say that Julia’s birth went even better than I expected. It hurt like mad – I’m not much of a swearer but according to Kirk I was spewing some pretty serious expletives (I don’t remember this). But I made it through without pain meds and without any medical interventions. I can’t say that I didn’t consider pain relief towards the end (I guess you’d have to ask Kirk how many times we "discussed" pain meds) but I’m so happy that I was able to stick it out. I pushed for an hour and a half – our nurse was amazing in helping me find the perfect position to push her through (oddly it was flat on my back). In fact, our nurses were amazing throughout. They gave Kirk and I ample time by ourselves but were always there when we needed them. They took the time to read and know our birth plan and respected our wishes and helped us achieve our goals. Maternity nurses are amazing – I don’t think they get enough credit, they honestly do most of the work and then the doctor swoops in at the end to pull the baby out and take care of the mother’s "needs" afterwards! Not that I’m not completely thankful to my doctor for helping us through our pregnancy and to get the little bugger out - I’m just very happy with the help we received during our stay at the hospital. And those nurses sure do have some tricks up their sleeves! Twice I was saved a few hours by tricks to get my cervix to cooperate (and twice I about hit the ceiling, but hey, taking a few hours off of labor was well worth it!).
Julia was just perfect when she was born. She demonstrated her lung power right away but quieted right down when they put her on my chest. She was very alert and just looked me in the eyes. She fed immediately and did just great. I held her skin to skin for a while before I let them take her to finish the tests (they were able to do some things while I was holding her).
Julia did really well the first night – all three of us slept in the room. And the next day we had several visitors and she did just great as the star! Both sets of grandparents were able to be at the hospital and it was a very special day. Julia’s middle name wasn’t announced until Kirk’s dad arrived because she was named after him (his name is Gerald Dean) – let’s just say Grandpa was very moved.
We stayed in the hospital until late Tuesday afternoon. Before I left, my nurse arranged for a professional to come in and do reiki on me (reiki is a funky practice centered around the body’s energy – I’ve had it done before and eagerly welcomed it that day!!!). I was also able to get a good nap in before heading home.
Julia was a very hungry baby her first few days – she wasn’t quite satisfied with the colostrum I was providing. Her weight went down to 6 lbs the day we were leaving – every baby loses a little but she was getting close to the 10% loss that they do get a little concerned with. Julia’s pediatrician suggested supplementing with formula until my milk came in (which happens as soon as 3 days after birth). I wasn’t a huge fan of giving her cow’s milk but didn’t want the little thing to be starving and miserable. I was also relieved to find out that we could do "cup-feeding" so she wouldn’t have nipple confusion. Kirk eagerly took on cup duty and was able to share in feeding Julia for about a day and a half. She was much happier and slept better because of it. And thankfully she continued to breastfeed just fine and seemed to prefer it. My milk did come in (while at Walgreen's) and breastfeeding since then has gone very smoothly. Kirk is anxious to help feed Julia again and will get to after a month so she and I can make sure our breastfeeding is solid.
We’ve been home for over a week and a half. Like I said at the beginning, we are incredibly lucky that our little girl is so good. She’s had some bad nights but the good ones are becoming more prominent (each night seems to get better and better). Both Kirk and I have taken turns dealing with the bad nights so that the other can sleep. We are getting used to a new sleeping schedule and already are feeling like our lives are forming a new routine and it feels good. Newborns are extremely time consuming so I’m very happy that I can be gone from work without much worry (thanks to my self-sufficient judge, highly-experienced court reporter, and sharp intern). Julia really needs her parents and we both are happy to give ourselves to her.
Alrighty, so I may not have been as brief as I had hoped and maybe there are details that some of you may have been happier not to have learned. But now you know that things here are awesome. I absolutely adore my new baby and I absolutely am crazy in love with my husband (we celebrated our 6 year anniversary yesterday!).
Life is wonderful.
Love,
Carrie
Hi everyone! I’m finally getting to the blog again…I know many of you are anxious to hear how labor went and how Julia is doing. Thanks for being patient! Our priority the past few weeks has of course been taking care of our sweet Julia and getting to know her. We really got lucky, this girl is such a good baby. Taking care of a newborn is a LOT of work but we really enjoy being Julia’s mommy and daddy. The fact that she is so good is a bonus!
First off - thank you to all of you who visited us in the hospital and at home, and for all the gifts, emails, cards, and flowers. If I haven’t responded to your email and this post doesn’t answer your questions, you will hear from me soon – I’m a bit behind!
So where do I begin??? In order to get this done and on the blog, I won’t get into too much detail – my first go at it Kirk thought was a bit much. I am writing an official birth story for Julia so she can read it someday…I’ll save all the gory details for her!
We headed to the hospital around 1:00 p.m. Sunday – we had called the nurses a few times to see if we should go in. My contractions weren’t quite doing what they were supposed to but they were definitely real and definitely were hurting! Upon examination, I wasn’t dilated much but a nurse discovered my cervix was "stuck" and once that was taken care of…we were full blown in labor and didn’t get a break until she arrived! We packed books and things to do but there was no time, all we did until 9:40 p.m. was labor. Kirk was an awesome coach – he was the perfect blend of being encouraging, keeping us on track with our birth plan, and getting out of my way when I needed! I had to move pretty much the entire time I was in labor (I sat in the tub a few times, sat on the birth ball, and tried just about every position we could think of) – being so physical took a toll on both Kirk and I. Who knew a dad would be sore the next day!!! The nurses said we were a good team, maybe they say that to everyone but I feel like we really were. With Kirk’s help, we were able to have the birth that we imagined. Actually, I have to say that Julia’s birth went even better than I expected. It hurt like mad – I’m not much of a swearer but according to Kirk I was spewing some pretty serious expletives (I don’t remember this). But I made it through without pain meds and without any medical interventions. I can’t say that I didn’t consider pain relief towards the end (I guess you’d have to ask Kirk how many times we "discussed" pain meds) but I’m so happy that I was able to stick it out. I pushed for an hour and a half – our nurse was amazing in helping me find the perfect position to push her through (oddly it was flat on my back). In fact, our nurses were amazing throughout. They gave Kirk and I ample time by ourselves but were always there when we needed them. They took the time to read and know our birth plan and respected our wishes and helped us achieve our goals. Maternity nurses are amazing – I don’t think they get enough credit, they honestly do most of the work and then the doctor swoops in at the end to pull the baby out and take care of the mother’s "needs" afterwards! Not that I’m not completely thankful to my doctor for helping us through our pregnancy and to get the little bugger out - I’m just very happy with the help we received during our stay at the hospital. And those nurses sure do have some tricks up their sleeves! Twice I was saved a few hours by tricks to get my cervix to cooperate (and twice I about hit the ceiling, but hey, taking a few hours off of labor was well worth it!).
Julia was just perfect when she was born. She demonstrated her lung power right away but quieted right down when they put her on my chest. She was very alert and just looked me in the eyes. She fed immediately and did just great. I held her skin to skin for a while before I let them take her to finish the tests (they were able to do some things while I was holding her).
Julia did really well the first night – all three of us slept in the room. And the next day we had several visitors and she did just great as the star! Both sets of grandparents were able to be at the hospital and it was a very special day. Julia’s middle name wasn’t announced until Kirk’s dad arrived because she was named after him (his name is Gerald Dean) – let’s just say Grandpa was very moved.
We stayed in the hospital until late Tuesday afternoon. Before I left, my nurse arranged for a professional to come in and do reiki on me (reiki is a funky practice centered around the body’s energy – I’ve had it done before and eagerly welcomed it that day!!!). I was also able to get a good nap in before heading home.
Julia was a very hungry baby her first few days – she wasn’t quite satisfied with the colostrum I was providing. Her weight went down to 6 lbs the day we were leaving – every baby loses a little but she was getting close to the 10% loss that they do get a little concerned with. Julia’s pediatrician suggested supplementing with formula until my milk came in (which happens as soon as 3 days after birth). I wasn’t a huge fan of giving her cow’s milk but didn’t want the little thing to be starving and miserable. I was also relieved to find out that we could do "cup-feeding" so she wouldn’t have nipple confusion. Kirk eagerly took on cup duty and was able to share in feeding Julia for about a day and a half. She was much happier and slept better because of it. And thankfully she continued to breastfeed just fine and seemed to prefer it. My milk did come in (while at Walgreen's) and breastfeeding since then has gone very smoothly. Kirk is anxious to help feed Julia again and will get to after a month so she and I can make sure our breastfeeding is solid.
We’ve been home for over a week and a half. Like I said at the beginning, we are incredibly lucky that our little girl is so good. She’s had some bad nights but the good ones are becoming more prominent (each night seems to get better and better). Both Kirk and I have taken turns dealing with the bad nights so that the other can sleep. We are getting used to a new sleeping schedule and already are feeling like our lives are forming a new routine and it feels good. Newborns are extremely time consuming so I’m very happy that I can be gone from work without much worry (thanks to my self-sufficient judge, highly-experienced court reporter, and sharp intern). Julia really needs her parents and we both are happy to give ourselves to her.
Alrighty, so I may not have been as brief as I had hoped and maybe there are details that some of you may have been happier not to have learned. But now you know that things here are awesome. I absolutely adore my new baby and I absolutely am crazy in love with my husband (we celebrated our 6 year anniversary yesterday!).
Life is wonderful.
Love,
Carrie
posted by Cara | 3:25 PM
1 Comments:
Congratulations! I am SO PROUD OF YOU and Julia's wonderful birth! I was hoping it would go that way for you. She's a beautiful baby!
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