Well the wait is finally over....
Liam Daniel Reynolds arrived on Saturday, 8 December at 12:38 am. He's a big boy- over 23 inches long and 10lbs, 2 ozs. Below is his first picture...
I wish I could say labour was fun, but they don't call it labour for nothing. My waters broke at 2 am on Friday morning and I was so excited that I took a shower and shaved my legs (which was near impossible) and got all ready to go into hospital. I didn't want to go in too early, so I waited until my contractions were around 5 minutes apart and lasting for over 30 seconds. We went down to hospital at 5:30 am and they admitted me. I was only 1 cm dilated and they transferred me to a ward to wait for me to go into established labour. I'm not sure if it's because I was so exhausted or because I was put onto a post natal ward because they had no room in the antenatal ward, but I laboured there all freakin' day. The pains started to become much much worse around 6:30 and after an examination put me at 3 to 4 cm dilated, I was transferred down to the labour suite. This was a much more relaxed atmosphere. There weren't screaming babies and visitors in and out. I was labouring hard from 8:30 to 11:00 when I was fully dilated and started to push. It took me ages to get this big kid out! Over an hour and a half of pushing!! I used gas and air, which I didn't like and got a shot of pethidine which I don't think worked. By the time I decided on the epidural it was too late, so I had to go it alone! Ollie was brilliant throughout, but I think he's been a bit traumatised from the whole incident. I screamed as though I was being killed. Ugh, it was pretty horrible. But all worth it in the end when our beautiful baby was placed in my arms.
Think he looks massive in this picture... need to not put him in horizontal stripes! And do you love the throw back to John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever??
I had a few complications after the birth because of his size and the size of the placenta. I lost a lot of blood and my hemoglobin levels dropped from 12 to 7. I needed 2 transfusions and I'm still only up to 7.8. They considered giving me another transfusion, but I was so eager to get home. I was on a shared ward with about 7 other women and babies. It was impossible to get much sleep and I think that's really what I need to fully recover. I'm still really weak and haven't gotten my appetite back, but I'm at home with Ollie and our beautiful new son and over the moon!
Proud daddy...
At home with my new man...
Right, so it's a bit tough at the minute. He doesn't have any routine established (think it's a bit early anyway) and he's up and down and screaming his little head off. Breastfeeding is really tough. He still won't take the breast without the nipple shield and he wails his head off for a good while before he takes it. We're still topping up with a bottle now and then, but I'm starting to express as well- if he wants a bottle, I would rather give him a bottle of breast milk. I knew it would be tough, but there are times when he won't stop screaming and I feel like crying myself. But we must persevere... we'll get a wee routine established soon.
