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Friday, October 10, 2014

She is there! We have our little lovely baby girl !



Somehow, most of what happened in the labour ward is in a haze and although labour really felt long, I could not tell you how long this actually took, if hubby had not told me. Monday to Tuesday night, around 3 am I woke up and at first I was not sure, but after a few minutes I absolutely knew that this was ‘it’. Not BH, not gas, not anything but real labour contractions. You know what, this made me happy, as it was the signal for what we have been waiting for all the time.

3930g, 50cm long (head circumference 37cm), healthy and with broad shoulders, like a wrestler! Well, that’s what it felt like when I pushed her out. I thought she got stuck, but she didn’t, all it takes is ‘push,…Push… P U S H !!!!!! Very good, she’s almost there, only one more time….’  Actually, when the midwife said that, she meant it. Only seconds later I had our beautiful little one on my belly. Hubby was with me, holding hands and he was as happy as can be when she protested a little. I think she was pretty tired from the last 14 hours, so she took a little nap as soon as she could. After cutting the umbilical cord and her being in my arms for a moment, hubby had some time with her while we were cared for.

Our little one has brown eyes and pretty dark brown hair, which is definitely from hubby’s side of the family, as we are all blond here from the continental side of the family. She is such a cutie with tiny hands and feet and has such a lovely smell. When she is on my belly, I have an additional cushion under my head, so that I can smell her away as much as possible. I love her smell.
Smelling her is not enough for me, though. In some moments I am afraid of waking up and finding out that all was just a dream. Sounds probably completely weird, but I cannot change that either. And in one of these moments I need to hold my little one, to actually see, touch and smell her, to believe that she is here and real. You know, she is the best that ever happened to us.

Maybe you have guessed that we had a few days in the clinic, and thank God I had a nice midwife there who helped me with latching her on the first time. I mean, it is not that it is difficult, but doing it wrong can definitely be painful, and therefore it is so much nicer if you have someone to check whether you are doing it right. 

During the last days, everything was somehow surreal. No, I am not on drugs, well, maybe on happy hormones. I must have a lot of these, as I am sweating loads of them out. Fuzz brain and what have you is here. At least I don’t have to worry about things which should be done in the household, since my mom is here to help for the first days.

Everything is somehow overwhelming. Hubby is happy,  baby is happy, I am happy, but nevertheless, now that we are back home with our little babygirl (for the name, see below), so many things are somehow different. I am always on alert, listening out for her, probably far more than necessary, but I cannot change this (and don't want to). During the last night she was really hungry and I didn’t sleep much. This was a little better the days before, when we had a two hour rhythm.

From Friday to Saturday has been my first night back at home, with a lot of restlessness, because the situation is so different from the comfortable circumstances in the clinic. There, the nurses looked after the babies for a while, so that we mommies could get some more sleep. I did that and had baby when she was hungry, crying, and during the day. Day one was a sleepy day for both of us, but then she became hungry. I love nursing, apart from that it happens around every two hours. Knowing that it would be (at least) that often and experiencing it for real are definitely not the same. Nevertheless, I enjoy these moments endlessly and experience them as deeply satisfying … with side effects.

Just as the milk coming in has been different than I had thought. I mean, my breasts have grown  during pregnancy … but now they are really heavy and have been expanding again (I think I need a 'handle with care' sticker now). 
Throughout the week their weight has absolutely increased, which seems to be good. But they are really dragging me down! Baby does get enough milk from me. Not having enough  milk for her was something I dreaded so much. Weeellll, now I wonder why, as there is more than enough in this milk bar and my worries were without any reason. 
One additional piece of advice that I got: to minimize engorgement, nurse often. For me, this is most important to obey during the nights, when I’d like to sleep, But even when baby and I are sleepy, I better nurse her around every two hours. I don't know why, but just thinking about it makes me smile.


Baby's got a name!
Our little honey bee has three forenames. The first and second are from Scandinavia, and the third one is from hubby’s family. The funny thing is that one of my friends also goes by that name. Nevertheless, apart from being written in the passport probably no one is going to use it. … Apart from me, here in Smacking Bottom.
So, I have permission to publish that our little sunshine’s third name is Mathilda. Baby has got her name now in my blog! To see her name here, published, is strange. After such a long time when Mathilda was only known as ‘baby’ here, I can use her name, which is great. 

As some of you know, hubby would not allow to tell more, which I still find pretty disappointing. Well, I can tell you Mathilda’s first and second name are the best ever, of course. :) What I also found a little vexing was that in 15 years she will probably have every detail of her life in her Facebook account, readable for everybody.






If anything of what I wrote tonight was not understandable, this might just be from me trying to tell so much and not finding the words for any of it. I don’t think that I am able to organize my thoughts clearer than this at the moment, since I am pretty excited, tired, happy and also a little bit overwhelmed (positively).

I have not even had time to see what I have missed here in Smacking Bottom during this week. I’ll try to catch up again quickly and I am sorry for not having commented. Someone kept us a little busy here, I guess.:)

I wish you all a very happy and lovely weekend!

22 comments :

  1. Congratulations!!! I'd been wondering, given your absence in these parts... so glad everything went well for you.
    rest when you can.
    Mathilde is a lovely name.
    big hugs to you all.

    Del

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  2. Hi DF, thank you! It started at night, hubby looked at me as if I was nuts when I thought about switching on the computer and flatly prohibited that (I still think that there would have been enough time). I think I am going to get a few more 'No way, José' answers in the near future, because my thinking doesn't go much beyond Mathilda at the moment.
    Anyways, I never got the chance to publish my labour-has-started entry here. We are super happy, tired, and over-excited.

    hugs

    Nina

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  3. Congratulations to you both Nina!! That is wonderful news, I'm so happy for you :) Mathida is a lovely nane :) Enjoy every moment and rests when you can.

    Hugs
    Roz

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    Replies
    1. Hi Roz, thank you! We are so happy that I don’t even know how to express it! Mathilda is hungry, otherwise she’s sleepy and we two try to sleep at the same times. Works often, but during the day I have the problem that I want to be awake, at times ! Nevertheless, I try to get rest and we have our own rhythm for now and having her is so special for us.

      hugs

      Nina

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  4. You did wonderfully writing your post! I miss the feelings of the first few days with a new person. I actually felt a little lonely at times that I had to now share him with the rest of the world, even though I was so grateful he arrived.

    The boob thing is brutal right? LOL...It will 'slow down' soon and hopefully you can stretch out the hours from nursing a bit further. Ah I just love the little noises babies create. ALTHOUGH sleeping like a baby is a brutal saying. They make so much noise and wake ever few hours. Who wants to sleep like that!

    So wonderful Nina!!!

    love
    willie

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    Replies
    1. Hi Willie, I am fully with you about sharing and missing the time when the little one was only mom’s. It’s so different and although I am absolutely happy that Mathilda is there, I also miss this special connection, and that she was just mine at first (yep, I know, I have whined because I couldn’t wait to have her out of the bump).
      LoL, I have not known that my boobs could be that heavy! Nursing helps best, so, feeding Mathilda often is my way of surviving this. Hopefully, the hours of sleep will be a little longer after a few weeks, though I couldn’t really sleep much anyway at the moment. For now, I am glad when Mathilda makes a few noises, because if she does not, this keeps me more awake than anything else.

      hugs

      Nina

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  5. Welcome to the world Mathilda!!!! Congrats Nina and hubby on this wonderful life changing event. So very happy for you :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Faerie, Mathilda has heard you and mumbled her kind of ‘thank you’!

      hugs

      Nina

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  6. Fantastic news. Always a little broody here, this made me more so. I spent the entire afternoon holding a friend's six week old baby girl last month. It was wonderful ... And that smell!
    I used to prod mine when asleep to check their breathing and loved the fact that my second one snored from a very early age!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Janey, I am fully with you about holding babies, and definitely about the smell, too! I love that smell and I am sure it is positively addictive. LoL, I become pretty nervous, when I cannot make out Mathilda’s noises. I mean, I don’t want her to cry, but I’d also love to have a little snoring from her all the time. Besides, that’s awfully cute in babies!

      hugs

      Nina

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  7. Congratulations on your baby girl! I love her third name, it is precious. And you were right about the gender all along! The first few days with a new baby are so exciting and surreal.It's very normal, all the things you're feeling. Your post was very understandable, by the way. Fuzz brain be damned! I am so happy for you and can't wait to hear all about your new mommy adventures, as well as any other adventures you have :-)

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    Replies
    1. Hi River, thank you! I should have made a bet about something big, but I’d probably have lost then. This is Sunday evening and we are still extremely excited and I guess a bit nervous too, because we still have to learn so much about what Mathilda does and also what she sounds like. She sounds slightly differently when she wants milk, compared to her crying when she is just tired. Well, for me she sounds differently, hubby hasn’t heard the difference yet. I think if I had to deal with more than Mathilda at the moment, everything would be a complete mess, because I forget everything but her.
      I can’t wait to write a little more again, though any other adventures are currently absolutely non-sexual for sure! And I have not even had time to catch up, yet! I’ll better only make small plans for the coming weeks (written onto my post its).

      hugs

      Nina

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    2. Smart momma taking it slow! An overwhelmed new mom is no fun :-) Enjoy this time, cause it goes by so quickly. Before you know it she'll be sitting up on her own and getting into everything shortly after :-)

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    3. I'd love to have 'Smart momma' as a title! Sounds neat. Hey, what do you mean with her getting into everything? Boys? I mean, she is a real cutie and has already daddy twisted around her little finger (well, me too!)...:-D

      Delete
  8. Congratulations on your little bundle of joy! I'm so happy that labor went well and everyone is home and healthy:)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Lillyanna, thank you! We are so happy about our little one, she is such a cutie!

      hugs

      Nina

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  9. Congratulations Nina, having a baby is a pretty big deal! Sounds like you did great. And kudos too on having a midwife, my wife is a big proponent of them!

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  10. Hi foothills, thank you! I am so happy because we had no real problems and Mathilda is healthy and doing fine. Uhm, we were oversupplied, the midwife did almost all of the hard work, but there were two doctors standing around, too. So, IF anything had happened, they would have taken over. We are happy that they did not have to interfere.

    hugs

    Nina

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  11. What a beautiful birth story, congratulations on your beautiful daughter!! Enjoy that wonderful new baby smell...I definitely miss that :)

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  12. Hi Jennelle, thank you! Mathilda is wonderful and her smell...yummy yummy, I cannot stop breathing her in, the family is already laughing, because my nose seems to stick on her most of the time.

    hugs

    Nina

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  13. Oh.........It seems mouse missed this post! Thrilled to hear (er, read) things went well.

    Welcome Mathilda!

    Hugs,
    mouse

    ReplyDelete

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