May 19, 2011

• The first four weeks

   

  It’s not that I’ve forgotten to blog; my hands have been a little full lately!  But it’s more than that.  Our first four weeks since Miriam was born have been more difficult than would normally be with a new baby. Here’s a brief summary:

  Week one: Chaotic and happy, the first week flew by.  I discovered that Miriam was mixed up about her days and nights!  She slept all day, and woke all night.  But I didn’t actually mind…the days were so noisy that I welcomed these quiet nighttime feedings as a way to bond with my darling girl.  Aaron took this week off from work, so we really enjoyed the time together as a family.  Miriam never left my arms the whole week!

  Week two: Recovering from what seemed to be my smoothest delivery yet, I hit a major glitch.  I found myself on the floor in serious pain.  Sharp and painful contractions turned into one 90 minute contraction of unbearable magnitude.  I was overwhelmed and was crying, vomiting and incapable of functioning.  Motrin kicked in and finally lessened the pain. We were about to head to the emergency room, but since the pain seemed to be managed by the motrin, we opted to wait until morning and go to my doctor.  It turns out that I had retained fluid in my uterus.  Since my cervix was already closed, the uterus was contracting in heavy, hour or more long contractions attempting to push it out.  We don’t know what the fluid was, how it got there or why.  All day at the doctors office with painful tests and procedures that no woman should have to go through 10 days postpartum.  They had to open my cervix again to allow the fluid to come out.  Aaron’s parents took the boys for a few days and this helped us get through the week.

  Week three:  The boys came back and promptly came down with strep throat.  They were generous enough to share it with Aaron and I.  By the end of the week, we were in the doctor’s office again getting shots for the most awful case of strep ever.  Plagued by a monumental sore throat and fever, I spent most of the day in bed and had strange dreams ( I dreamed that Mr Potato head and Ham visited the planet of the silver surfer-of Fantastic four – yes…I told you it was strange!  I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried!) My throat was so swollen, they couldn’t even get a cotton swab in it…fortunately, they were able to successfully swab Aaron’s throat and gave us both a shot of antibiotics. Aaron lost seven pounds…I lost weight too and lost my milk supply.  Spent the rest of the week trying to get it back up, hoping , praying it would come back.  Whew…glad that’s over!

  Week Four: Relapsed into strep throat again, after only two days of feeling normal.  What a nightmare!  By the end of the week, I finally felt better and we packed up for a first family ‘vacation’ – a trip to a (almost) flooded New Orleans for Aaron’s cousin’s wedding.  Miriam was not quite four weeks old, but she and the boys were real troopers and traveled like pros.  We enjoyed walking around New Orleans and seeing the flooded Mississippi river.

  Week Four and a half: Realized that I’d been to the doctor once or twice every week since Miriam was born.  This week was no exception.  Caleb had been complaining of an ear ache for awhile now.  I’d had the doctor look at it (when we were there for something else)  He said it was a mild ear infection – Caleb’s first one ever – and that we could let it run it’s course.  If it gets too bad, we could come back and get something for it.  It got a little worse and I thought about taking him in, but then he suddenly declared he felt much better and began playing like normal.  The only problem was, he couldn’t hear us.  Alarmed, I decided to take him in first thing Monday morning.  But by then, a strange puss had started coming from his ear (I know, TMI) I thought it was a sign he was healing up.  The doctor disagreed.  Turns out Caleb’s ear drum had burst!  This relieved some of the pressure and helped his ear to feel better, but the infection was still running rampant.  Another round of antibiotics. (when you take one round of antibiotics it weakens your immune system and opens you up to other illnesses…a vicious cycle!) 

  We are resting at home now, hoping the storm has passed and that we can just enjoy life with our new baby now.  I would love to feel normal and well again for more than just a few days!  But with all of this, I must admit it is not as difficult with three as I had imagined it to be.  You just do what you have to do and get through and it’s really not all that bad.  (only four and a half weeks into this, so it’s subject to change!)   Miriam is sleeping in three to four hour spurts and I am sleeping SOOO much better than I did when I was pregnant.  I don’t mind waking up to feed her because the sleep in between is so much better than it was before I had her.  Plus, I have my baby to enjoy   I am enjoying every minute of our time…can’t believe she’s already a month old!  She had her first haircut, a trim really (she had a mohawk!) Aaron and I sit here in the evenings and look at each other and just grin.  “I feel like we are starting to have a full quiver” he says.  I agree.  It feels so much more like family to me!  Though I still feel like there’s someone missing and we will definitely add more to our quiver, if the Lord allows

  • 3:21 pm
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