Things you should know...

After giving birth to our first born, Oliver, I wrote a comical little list titled Things they should tell you when/before you get pregnant.  I'm working on another list now that Wynter is born, but thought I'd share this one in the mean time.  Enjoy! Laugh!  It's meant to be comically true!

Things they should tell you when/before you get pregnant:

1. That no matter what you think labor will be like, it won't and you'll hate it and wish that you'd never gotten pregnant (at least until you hold your baby, then all memories of how painful it was will pass).
2. Labor and delivery are so traumatizing to your body that when all is done you will shake like nobodies business and feel extremely cold.
3. Again, after it is all done you'll forget how hard and awful it was and all you'll be able to think about is how precious your baby is and how happy you are now.
4. Nursing is very difficult. Baby has to learn as well as you how to do it and it can be very frustrating for both of you and may end in tears on both ends as well.
5. No matter how healthy your baby is you will constantly be checking on him/her while he/she is sleeping to make sure your baby is still alive.
6. No matter how much you think you'll love the time to relax and take it easy for the first few weeks after baby is born, you will end up feeling like you have no time/energy to get things done and you will feel discouraged that your kitchen is a mess, or your floor needs vacuuming, etc.
7. You will NOT want daddy to go back to work and it may cause or add to a bout of depression when he does.
8. Everything that seems out of the ordinary will freak you out and cause you to call grandma in the middle of the night for advice on whether to call the doctor. Then in the morning you will call the doctor, still very worried, and find out that there is nothing to worry about.
9. Your appetite will not be what it was when baby was in your womb, but if you are breastfeeding then you will still need to eat regularly and very healthy.
10. You may think that it will be okay that baby wakes up lots during the night because daddy can help with that... the truth is that (if you are breastfeeding) he can't help and so there is no reason for him to get up and you may feel jealous of all the sleep he is getting.
11. The breast pump is a breastfeeding mother's best friend! Buy one! Rent one! or borrow one from a friend! You will not regret it!
12. Pitocin absolutely sucks! Do everything you can to avoid it. It will make your contractions extra painful.
13. As much as you may be tempted to drink castor oil in order to induce labor, don't do it! You will hate yourself later. It is a very very bad idea. Yes it works, but there is a price to pay and it isn't pleasant.

There are many other things that I am sure I will add later, but I can't think of them right now. Honestly, the thing that is most important out of all of these is this:

Breastfeeding is difficult. It can and most likely will be very frustrating. You will want to give up. You will feel like a failure when you can't get your baby to latch on and nurse. You might be up with your baby for 2+ hours just trying to get him to nurse and finally your baby will be exhausted and fall back to sleep and you will feel horrible that your baby is hungry but there seems to be nothing you can do about it. You may turn to a breast pump for help and then feel even more like a failure for giving up so easily. It will drain you emotionally and physically, especially if you really want to breastfeed. If you expect it to be easy, you will be devastated when it isn't. However, when your baby finally does latch on and nurses till he/she is full there is no greater joy and relief than to see how content he/she is.

Some comical notes on this: 

I did try castor oil again, ignoring my own advice.  I won't ever try it again.  It didn't work this time.

The shaking I had last time was most likely due to the pitocin I had in my system, not my body going into shock. I didn't have pitocin this time and did not end up shaking or feeling so cold.

The breast pump is still, in my opinion, a mothers best friend.  But I will also add that it can become your worst enemy too.  Either you will love it because it is helpful, or you will hate it because it is time consuming and annoying. 

A Christmas Surprise

Wynter Olivia Whiting, 8 hours old. (Photo by David Sanders/Arizona Daily Star

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Our daughter surprised us by being born on her due date at 5:48 in the morning on Christmas Day.  The whole process of pre-labor, active labor, and delivery went so quickly.  Part of that is due to the fact I didn't realize I was in pre-labor, and only recognized this fact as I was transitioning into active labor.

During pre-labor I ate a bit of dinner at my Mom's house on Christmas Eve before they headed off to church, though not much because I wasn't feeling well.  Pre-labor for me felt like indigestion and constipation and I simply thought I was experiencing a random bit of pregnancy discomfort, not anything that would lead to labor.  I also whipped up two batches of fudge during this time, took a bath to ease the increasing discomfort, and tried to go to sleep (which was impossible because of how icky I felt).

At around 9 in the evening, 4 hours after I first started feeling sick, I began to realize that I may actually be in labor.  I searched the internet to see if others had felt this way at the beginning of labor, or if perhaps it was just some Braxton-Hicks contractions.  By 10pm I was fairly certain I was in labor.  The discomfort was beginning to feel more and more like contractions.  I contacted my sister and asked if she'd be available to come stay with Oliver when we needed to head to the hospital, and I started making sure everything was ready to go.

I was determined not to head to the hospital until absolutely necessary because I wanted to avoid as much hospital intervention as possible, and at midnight I decided it was time to call my sister and have her come over.  At 1am Christmas Day we headed to the hospital where they said I was about 7cm dilated and admitted me.  I spent a lot of time walking the hospital despite the increasingly painful contractions.  I ended up having my water broken by the doctor because I was fully effaced, and 10cm dilated, and they thought the only reason I wasn't ready to push was because there was too much fluid keeping Wynter from dropping low enough.  It wasn't long after my water was broken that I began to push.

It was so different this time around.  With Oliver the urge to push was very strong and I was unable to resist it.  I also didn't experience the "ring of fire", and felt only relief when delivering him.  This time there was only a faint urge to push, but I was determined.  Though it felt like much longer to me, I'm told by both my Mom and Andrew that I pushed for a total of maybe 15 minutes before Wynter was born.  This time I felt everything, the ring of fire, the stitching up afterward, the pain of after-birth cramps... everything.

Wynter Olivia Whiting was born at 5:48am, December 25th, 2011.  She weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces at birth, and was 19.75 inches long.  Due to coming through the birth canal so quickly her head was perfectly round, not cone shaped at all.  She had some bruising on her face, but it went away quickly, and a small hemorrhage in her eye that the doctor said will fade with time and won't affect her eyesight at all.  She was born perfectly healthy, with only one minor thing we do have to diligently watch, a herniated belly button. (A herniated belly button is due to the abdominal lining not closing fully before birth and normally fixes itself.  The only way to fix it if it doesn't resolve itself is with surgery, but that is normally not considered until 4 or 5 years old as it can take that long for it to resolve on its own.)

Today marks 2 weeks since her birth.  The time is flying by and we are savoring every moment.