BindyJJnSwitch

She's here.

Zara - on her birthday
Originally uploaded by bindyjjnswitch.

It has been a while, the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of preparations, birth, recovery from surgery and shock of bringing a newborn home.

Zara was born 28 February at 9.06am by c-section. Sadly neither Daniel or I were "present" for her birth as the epidural insertion was a disaster area and I ended up with a general. That doesn't really matter, we got our girl and we brought her home.

The first 24 hours were a blur as I was whacked on morphine. I was falling asleep midsentence and generally unable to function. Very handy for a new mum. Watching my bub being cared for by Daniel and the midwives was very hard. I almost felt denied access to this little girl I worked so hard to carry to term.

After I insisted that the catheter and drips be removed I was much more able to start being a mum.

I was very pleasantly surprised that the pain after the caesar was not nearly as bad as others had claimed. I was up and about the following day without assistance. So I left hospital a touch early on day 5. I had totally expected to be a grieving crying mess while in hospital. Thankfully that didn't happen, until I walked out the same doors I did after Joshua and Jacob, this time carrying a bub. I had to hold her very tight for fear of dropping her in my distress.

Breastfeeding was so very easy until I got milk. Zara insisted on detaching and licking the milk off like a cat. Thankfully with the help of nipple shields, Lasinoh and some kind words I've now got feeding under control. So much so that Zara is peeing right through any nappy combo I put on her. I do not want to have to revert to disposables at home but I do think using them while out will save some potentially embarassing moments.

Zara does like to be held all the time. I was finding this frustrating and tiring, until we tried the HugaBub. Ahhh such bliss, she's happy I'm happy and my arms are free to continue working, nerding and potentially knitting! Zara loves the sling so much she forgets she needs to feed for an hour or so longer than when she's in the pram. This means that we go from silence to earpiercing screams in a matter of seconds when she realises she's famished.

Cloth nappying, baby wearing, breastfeeding and occasionally we resort to co-sleeping, all very hippy. I'm surprised at myself, really I am.

Oh yes and I forgot, Zara's cord stump fell off yesterday. An odd milestone, but one that signifies that she's well and truly her own person now.

posted by Bindy @ 9:22 AM