Got Milk?

I'm curious; how long after you all gave birth did your milk come in? I was told that mine could arrive as early as Friday evening, but here I am at 5:40am on Sunday morning and it hasn't come in yet. Molly has been getting a little frustrated lately because she's not getting as much out of me as she wants.
I talked to the lactation specialist on the phone yesterday and she recommended that we give her an ounce of formula because she could be dehydrated (symptoms difficulty feeding and extremely dry and peeling lips). I was extremely hesitant because I plan on breastfeeding but her pediatrician had also recommended an ounce or 2 if my milk came in a little late. So, yesterday we gave her an ounce and, even though I still wish we didn't have to, it was so nice to see her so content with a fuller belly. I ended up giving her another ounce this morning around 3am because she was so fussy.
I have this fear that my milk won't come in. I'm sure it will but I have no clue when. Hopefully, I'll post back in a couple of hours with good news cause I don't want to have to use any more formula but I also don't want her to lose too much weight before her first pediatric appt tomorrow afternoon (Monday).
So, I'm curious as to how long it took for your milk to come in. And if you have any advice for a frantically rooting baby who doesn't seem to be getting a lot of nutrition from you. I'm not too concerned yet but it's nice to know there are people out there going through similar issues!

-Emily <><

p.s. she's still the most beautiful thing in the world!!!!

Can we say overwhelming?!

Yes, I have been overwhelmed with both the greatest amount of pain and the greatest amount of love that I have ever experienced in my life, in a matter of seconds. Our little girl, Molly Champion Duncan, arrived yesterday, January 13th, 2010, at 5:06am after about 9 hours of labor. She was a surprising 6lbs 15oz (surprising cause everyone, including the midwife, thought she'd be at least 8 lbs and thank goodness she wasn't!). A nice 20 inches long. Head full of dark hair. And of course she's the most beautiful baby I've ever laid my eyes on! (No offense to the rest of the children on this blog!)

Molly is just a name that Todd and I like. We had unofficially decided on it before we got pregnant, and then I changed my mind after we found out we were pregnant but it was still Todd's favorite. Eventually I came around and now I couldn't imagine her being anyone but Molly! Champion was my grandfather's middle name and would have been mine if I had been born a boy. My grandfather was a wonderful man and so I wanted to honor him through Molly. Hopefully it won't cause too many tears growing up!

I won't leave too many details about labor/delivery yet, though don't worry, I'm not afraid to share! I will say that heading to the hospital Tuesday afternoon was the farthest thing from my mind that morning. At our doctors' appt, my blood pressure was elevated and I had protein in my urine. After a close examination of my placenta yesterday, our midwife, Meredith, said I actually did not have preeclampsia.....yet, but if I had gone on with another week of pregnancy, there could have been complications. So, quite unexpectedly, we went home, grabbed our bags and a bite to eat, and headed to the hospital. Our last requirement of Molly, that she wait until our midwife get back in town, had been met so it wasn't a bad thing to go a couple of days early. I wasn't sure how I felt about her being born on the 13th but Todd just says that 13 is her lucky number!

Ok, so I'm already typing more than I planned at this sitting so I'm going to give you the overview now and then return later and fill in any details that I may have left out. (It is pretty satisfying to be sitting in my hospital bed, cuddling with my new daughter and listening to her sweet breathing, with my husband just a few feet away sleeping on what I'm sure is the most comfortable sleeping surface there ever was (!) while listening to lullabies on the computer)

Ok, so we got to the hospital, they started me on pitocin which my body seemed to react pretty favorably to. About 8 hours later I was screaming that I didn't think I could make it drug-free any longer. The midwife encouraged me to make it through a few more contractions and then she would check to see how much progress had been made. Well, that check found me 10cm dilated and ready to push so the odds of getting that last minute epidural seemed to fly out the window. After about 30-45 minutes of the worst pain of my life, out popped my beautiful baby!

To answer the question everyone is asking, I am glad I went drug free because I found that I felt I needed to prove it to myself that I could do it. Having now done it, I don't necessarily feel the need ever to prove it to myself again! :-P

I can fill in any details that people may be curious about or answer any questions y'all might be having, just feel free to ask! I can't wait for you all to get to meet her! She's just perfect!!!

Emily <><

lessons

I wrote an entry on my personal blog that I thought was worth sharing here as well since it is all about the things I am learning from being a new mommy. Check it out here. Hope you and your little ones (or little one on the way!) are doing well and settling happily into your new life together.

baby duncan!!!

In case any of you haven't heard or seen on facebook, Emily went into the hospital last night after, at her doctor's visit, she had high blood pressure and some protein in her urine. They started the induction process sometime last evening. I'll let her share all of the stats (and her name!) but baby girl Duncan was born early this morning around 5am and mom and baby are both doing fine! 1 more down... only 1 to go!!!

-Greer

Personal and Private

I've never felt so much pressure to share personal information as this time in my life. What is it about having a huge belly that makes people think you owe them your life story? From whether I want to have a natural delivery, or whether I have stretch marks, people think that it is their business to know my business. I found this article today, and I'm starting to see that this is just my first year of many where my privacy may not be so private anymore. http://community.todaymoms.com/_news/2010/01/12/3745577-breast-feeding-whose-business-is-it-anyway ~ Andrea

So close to the finish line!

Andrea and I were talking the other day about how we have such a skewed since of when babies come because all 3 of you who have had babies already, had them as much as 2 weeks early! Here I am, 6 days from my due date and wondering where my baby is!!! Hehe, just kidding! But really, I am pretty much ready for her to arrive!

Our midwife is out of town and gets back Monday night so I'd prefer for the little girl to hold off until then but really, I'm ready! Right now I'm trying to decide if I'm going to go back to work any next week. I think I'll take half days on Monday and Tuesday and then take off the rest of the week but we'll see.

I'm so ready to meet my little girl and share everything about her with all of you!!!

Stretch Marks....

Yuck! I was so happy with how few stretch marks I was getting, until last week! All of the sudden, with only 2 weeks left to go, the stretch marks seem to be making up for lost time. I was wondering if any of y'all have any advice or products that you like to use? I've been using regular Palmers Cocoa Butter but I know they have a stretch mark product. I haven't tried it yet; I wanted to check with y'all first.

Now that I'm full term, and it's 2010, and everything is in order at home, we are fully ready for our little bundle of joy to arrive. That being said, I am now jumping at every little ache and pain my body is going through. I am so anxious that I think everything might be attached to labor! I'm sure that once contractions really start, I will know, but in the mean time, I'm going to second guess every little feeling!

I'll keep you posted when things actually do start!
Emily <><