Friday, August 14, 2009

Victory!

The baby is sleeping in the M.oby wrap! First time I've gotten her comfortable in a carrier (though I put it on too loosely, so she's pretty low near my waist--as a result, I'm not doing anything too crazy). I was able to make and butter my toast while holding the baby!

And our son is now one year old and will be arriving home next Thursday. I'm getting nervous about his transition, so any prayers you can spare would be greatly appreciated!

I'm working on writing the birth story as well as about the whole hemorrhage/surgery thing. In the meantime, here are some random thoughts:

1. Thank God for blogs--without them, I would have been totally unprepared for how difficult nursing is. As it is, I'm only partially surprised. How do you get a baby with a tiny little mouth (and a mind of her own, too) to open wide enough?

2. I have heard reaffirmed by medical personnel in the last few weeks that redheads (a) bleed like crazy and (b) can just expect a lot of soreness while starting to nurse. Aren't we lucky?

3. Stitches after delivery are painful. Stitches after your original stitches from delivery have torn out are even more painful. More about that when I write about the big stuff.

4. Babies are amazing. I could just sit and look at her all day. One nice thing about nursing is that I get to spend a lot of my day doing just that.

5. A lot of people have offered to help. It's the kind of offer that I have often made--the "let me know what you need" thing. I know I'm sincere when I say it, and I'm sure they are, too. I know we're really going to need the help in the next couple of weeks. How do I actually take them up on it? I know friends who have had someone set up a Care Calendar for them--would it be bad if I did this for us myself? I feel kind of tacky doing it myself.

10 comments:

HereWeGoAJen said...

I think it would be fine to set up a Care Calendar for yourself. It's a do unto others type thing and sometimes you have to allow yourself to be the recepient. You wouldn't mind if someone else did the same, right?

I'll be praying for your family as your son comes home. One year old babies are very adaptable so I am sure you'll get into a routine soon.

JellyBelly said...

holy cow! i'll be praying for you! two babies are going to be a lot of work!

Anonymous said...

oh wow, I look forward to hearing more about your daughter AND YOUR NEW SON. goodness! very exciting!
My husband was in a cycling accident a few weeks ago, was hospitalized and broke his femur. I got alot of the "let me know what I can do." His injury was much harder on us than I would have expected, and I really needed help. But I also had no idea how to turn "let me know what I can do" into actual help. I think the care calendar is a good idea. People can sign up for it or not; it will give them concrete ways to offer their help to you ... I think you and others will benefit and appreciate it. I think it's totally fine to set it up yourself, but if you feel too weird doing it, could you ask another friend to send out the email or whatever for you?

Sew said...

I wish like heck I could come over and help you! I would be just as dumbfounded as you though, don't take that the wrong way. I mean, just sitting in the room with you staring at the miracles. I would just fall on the ground. :) hahahaha

I just can't believe it! I am so happy for you! Can't wait to hear!

Also I didn't click on the care calendar and I don't know what it is, but I would ask for help. :)

Vent-ilation said...

It sounds amazing! (Despite the hospital stories.) The Care Calendar sounds like a terrific idea -- especially with baby #2 arriving soon and already being one-year old. You'll need tons of help, I'd imagine, especially since you're nursing. Knowing ahead of time exactly when help will be there and what they'll be doing should help things go smoothly. Much smoother than someone just showing up saying, "what can I do?" while you're trying to nurse and get to know your son and take care of yourself. You don't need to worry about delegating to well-intentioned volunteers on top of that. Congrats again!!!

barbie said...

I've been waiting for a post from you! so glad everything is going well, do you have a local Le Leche League near you? they are really helpful with nursing issues. Enjoy your little miracle!

Anonymous said...

Congrats! I lost a lot of blood when I had the twins. Are they having you take extra iron pills. Ooh, the woes of getting your body back in functioning order. So worth it for babies though.

Nursing education said...

I am currently studying for the NLN CNE certificaion exam, this blog contents was recommended as a resource and it has been very helpful in preparation for the exam. It is not only an excellent resource for the exam, but also an excellent resource for the novice nurse educator. For those of us in nursing education for a number of years, this blog is excellent at refreshing us and providing new ideas and innovations in nursing

Amy @ This Cross I Embrace said...

Ack!! Somehow I missed this post! Baby bow coming home tomorrow, yippee!!

I am in serious need of more photos, can you email me some??!

Sooooo happy for you and your expanding family :)

Beth said...

Please feel free to email me if you want to talk about nursing. It does get easier in a month or so - much easier. regs78 at yahoo Plus I want to know their names :)

 

Made by Lena