Babymoon.

Blogging will be light over the next few weeks, I'm thinking.

It's so hard to know what the most important details are to post, with a two-day-old baby. 

Birth junkies will want to know that the labor was fairly short, not terribly hard --- the tough part, only about two hours long --- though it culminated in about 60 somewhat scary seconds of shoulder dystocia.  Particularly since this is the second time I've had that problem.  But all's well that ends well.  We had two midwives and two female friends come over --- the friends helped our kids and so Mark could be with me the whole time.  The boys missed the actual birth, and I'm kind of glad because it was a bit frightening.  They came up after Mary Jane started to cry. 

LLL types will want to know that nursing is going ehhhhh, so-so.  After two boys I thought I knew what I was doing.  MJ has a bit of a latch problem:  a receding jaw and a tongue thrust.  She does ok when she latches on, but it takes a good 5-15 min to get her latched.  We're working on it.  I had a former League leader, a friend's mom, over at my house today for a couple of hours to remind me of all the things I've forgotten because my second child was such an easy nurser.  After 6 years of continuous nursing I am back to Square 1, that being the Square Where You Need Half A Dozen Pillows Within Reach At All Times.

If family dynamics are your thing, well... can you come watch my boys for a couple of days?  No, it's not that bad, yet, but I've been intermittently VERY overwhelmed!  They love their new sister, but the energy around here is very charged!  Jumping and screaming and yelling and fighting and all that.  I suppose they will settle down eventually.  We are trying to keep Oscar's routine close to normal --- that seems to be helping some. 

Me, I'm doing ok.  The afterpains are something fierce!  Worse than labor, a few of them.  But I think recovery will be fairly swift.  Home birth rocks.  Give me a couple of days.

Comments

[Kelly]

Tongue thrust is a little unusual in a newborn. It is usually more related to bottles or pacifiers.

Tongue thrust coupled with receding jaw and shoulder dystocia I think would suggest you consider getting her a chiropractic or cranio-sacrio adjustment. I took Gregory in at three days old and he slept almost 14 hours straight afterwards , with nursing breaks, of course. He had been extremely fussy prior to that, and I delivered in an odd position.

Not the same situation, but still, with the dystocia, getting her lined up a little better could help with the nursing.

I'm not sure what to tell you about the boys. I had a longer recovery after number three myself, and lacking husband and family support, the other two just watched waaay too much tv for about three weeks.

Kelly

[bearing]

I've been thinking about getting an adjustment myself. I've never seen a chiro before for anything, but after Oscar I had hip pain for months, and I'm feeling a lot of the same sensations now. ISTM that if a chiro is good for anything, postpartum hip pain would be one of them.

She's latching better already --- I think we are slowly getting the hang of it.

[Kelly]

Yes, that's how I came to get Gregory adjusted. I was having a lot of pelvic pain, and while I was there, the chiro adjusted Gregory as well, when he heard what his symptoms were.

I was kneeling, but leaning to the left when I gave birth. The chiro said that my pelvis was twisted because of that. The relief was instant. Ahhh!