Just be happy!

Hello everyone, I'm having a little spare moment here (with the baby sleeping on my chest), so I thought I should come back and update you guys.

Well, I had an ultrasound on Thursday (11/17) to check and see if the baby was in the correct position, she was, even though she hadn't dropped yet, however, she had umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, which the doctor's consider normal, no big deal. BUT for my husband and I, it was a SUPER big deal, due to our history of losing our first son at 34 weeks because of a knot in the umbilical cord.

So... after we had the ultrasound we went to see my midwife and I told her that now that I knew that my baby had a cord around her neck, I would not be able to sleep anymore until the baby was in my arms, that said, we decided to get induced. My husband made some calls to arrange care for our little man and we went home to grab a few things we needed and headed to the hospital.

I was given Pitocin for almost 24 hours, but my contractions never really picked up, so we got off of that and got the midwife to come and check how dilated I was and to check if the baby had dropped. The baby had dropped and I was at 4cm, so they decided to break my water and after that the contractions came fast and strong. I walked around the birthing floor of the hospital until I could no longer stand the pain and came to the room and asked for the epidural. The main anesthesiologist could not be found, so the nurses had to find another one, but that took a little while and by the time he came and gave me the epidural injection my contraction were too strong. The nurses and the anesthesiologist were leaving the room telling my husband and I that in 20 minutes I would no longer feel pain, as they were at the door I told my husband "the baby is coming now". My husband rushed to the door and told the nurse station what I had just told him and they came quickly and delivery started. I felt everything, other than my knees and feet (ha! how useful is that?) and it was hard, exhausting and at moments I thought I could not do it, I still can't believe I had a "natural" birth, even though I took the epidural.... (after the baby was born the epidural kicked in! LOL).

Anyhow, my little miss was born on the 18th, weighting 8lbs 13oz and measuring 20.75". She has a head full of dark hair, her skin is so soft and she smells so good that I have fallen in love again.

Last Monday we took her to her first doctor's visit and found out she had jaundice and it was really high, so a bilirubin bed was sent to our house on the same day and little miss stayed on it for 24 hours/day for 4 days. She was allowed out just to be fed and changed and I tell you, it was heart breaking not being able to pick up my baby and comfort her every time she cried. You know what else was hard? The little man caught a cold and had fever all night and all day Wednesday. When both of the kids were crying at the same time, I broke down and cried too, I felt like my heart was being torn in 2 pieces.

I am beyond thankful that my sister decided to fly all the way from Brazil to meet her niece and help me for a week. The night the little man had the fever, my sister slept in his bed with him, which put me on ease.

It has been crazy here for the last 8 days - since the little miss got home. My mother-in-law had surgery on the same day my sister arrived, she had found out last month that she had breast cancer, but thankfully she found it out early enough and was able to get the cancer out before it spread to her body.

And then Thanksgiving came and we could go anywhere because the baby had to be in the bilirubin bed, so my husband ventured to the store, bought a turkey and we made a small dinner for us and my in laws (mother, father and brother). I was so tired that I ended up overcooking the vegetables. But hey, we have a newborn baby at home and no sleep, so I can be forgiven, right? hehehe. We just didn't want to let such a special holiday to pass by, we have so much we are thankful for this year.

Anyways, I hope my post makes sense... I am little fuzzy in the head with the lack of sleep, but I am in love with my new baby, my husband and my son. I am happy we are healthy and I know that I'll find my rhythm again at some point.

Have a great weekend. Cheers!