Declan

Our last baby!  Declan is almost a month old, so I figure I should get around to writing about his birth. Poor blog.  If I want to share something publicly, it goes on Facebook.  And most things I want to extrapolate on end up in my journal.  I'm having a hard time figuring out what I want this blog for anymore! One drawback to Facebook is that nothing is really recorded or publishable, so maybe I'll start writing my posts in both.

Declan's delivery wasn't at all what we were expecting, but it was pretty uneventful all around. I got induced with Kael, and the twins came a month early, so I figured this would be another quick one like Mia's.  Four days before his due date, my sister was visiting and we picked up Zach's mom at the airport.  I woke up at 1:15 in the morning and started timing contractions for the next half hour at 2 to 5 minutes apart.  So I woke up Zach and we figured we'd head to the hospital.  Contractions stopped once we got there, but since I was dilated to a 5 and strep B positive they said they wouldn't let me go home.  They wanted to get two rounds of antibiotics in, and once they started that there was no going back.  We waited around for those, and then waited around for my doctor to get into work and give the okay to break my water.  I got the epidural I thought I wouldn't have time for. (It didn't hurt nearly as bad as the one I got for Kael's delivery and I was so relieved.) They broke my water around 11:00.  Even with the epidural I was feeling contractions, but they weren't showing up on the monitor.  They believed the monitor instead of me- even asking whether I'd like to start Pitocin now or later ... totally ignoring the fact that I was at a 7.  (These doctors and their Pitocin- holy cow.   I told her I'd hold off and see if I kept progressing.  No wonder everyone is surprised I haven't had a C-section- good grief.)  Finally I was in so much pain and feeling the need to push with each one, I was very frustrated that the monitor wasn't showing what I was feeling and had to convince them to check me again at about 1:00.  Sure enough, I was at a 10 and he was born 15 minutes later- exactly 12 hours after I'd woken up that morning.

I've been thinking this baby's 9 lb 4 oz weight may have been a little exaggerated at birth.  I was so pumped full of liquid, he might have been retaining a lot of water, too.  My feet and legs looked like this for a week.  And he looked kind of bloated in his first photos, too.

He eats "like a champ" and still isn't back to his original weight.  He was only 8 lbs 7 oz on day 6. Even though that is still more than any other of my babies has ever weighed their first two weeks, the pediatrician was saying I should pump after feedings and feed it to him on top of the regular feedings.  Which doesn't make sense to me.  Why not just feed him again and skip the middle man.  I decided to just ramp up his feedings before the next weigh-in and see what happened.  I just went in today and he's "only" 9 lbs.   So when the doctor asked if I was given a lot of IV fluids during delivery a huge weight left my chest.  Zach had never seen a delivering mom so pumped full of liquids as I was.  (They were trying to keep my blood pressure up.  My body hates epidural medicine and tries to faint.) The doctor said they've been starting to notice a trend with moms and babies in the same situation, so I don't have to worry about starting pumping or formula anymore.  Whew. Glad my usual doctor wasn't there today- this one had her head on.

 So funny how the doctor is supposed to be there for your baby's health, but really most of the time all they do is prick your kids and take their blood for no reason, make you drive in and disrupt hours of your schedule each week for no reason, stress you out for no reason...  I am grateful however, that in my kids' cases it's all been for no reason.  I don't think I can ever complain about anything baby-related... ever.  4 uneventful pregnancies, 4 problem-free deliveries, 5 healthy kids.  I spent so much time preparing for the inevitable catastrophe I almost can't believe my own statistics.  It's such a relief to have that stage in life over with.

He's started staying up between the second and third night-time feedings.  So this week it takes me 12 hours to get 6 hours of sleep.  I seem to remember this trend with the others before they started sleeping in 6-hour stretches. I hope it's on the horizon.

He's still a little yellow.  But his bili levels keep dropping, so they're not concerned.  The doctor I talked to today said they've stopped recommending putting babies in the window for jaundice.  Good grief- nothing stays the same for longer than a year. No wonder post-partum depression is higher now.  There's so much more to stress over than if you could just stay home and take care of your baby. Put them in the most uncomfortable position possible for sleeping, worry about feeding them enough even though they're perfectly fine. I guess it's a trade-off.  At least I don't have to worry about polio or cholera or whatever.