Our First Two Weeks

From the beginning I was pretty against being induced because I knew that it carried a higher risk of having a C-Section. Claire was due to arrive on May 25^th, 2012. That day came and went with no baby or any real signs of her coming. So, we waited for the 29^th to roll around so we could be induced. I went over that evening and started receiving the pill at 8:00 pm. They administer these pills every 4 hours in hopes that some dilation will happen. This was not the case for me. By 11pm I was having some major contractions but none that were very productive. By about 1am I was so miserable! They were starting to come harder and closer together which would’ve been great if they were bringing my baby! We went all night with contractions every 5 minutes and finally my doctor arrived.

He was concerned because we had a hard time tracking Claire’s heartbeat all night. After exhausting all of our options I started to get worried about Claire and asked my doctor if it was time to prepare for surgery, he agreed and off we went for an emergency C-Section after 16 hours of labor. I was very nervous about the procedure but was more concerned about Claire. Come to find out the umbilical cord had wrapped around her neck a couple of times.  I very impatiently waited to be introduced to my daughter, and when I finally got her in my arms the previous 17 hours all went away. I was in love! But the happiness didn’t last for long. My doctor expressed some concern about feeding her and thought it was best if she was life flighted to St. George or Salt Lake……without me! I was to choose either my mom or Chris to go with her. I freaked out. How was I supposed to let my less than an hour old daughter be taken away in a helicopter without her mama? She would’ve been away from me for 2 days. That may as well be a lifetime to a new mommy and baby. There was no way I was letting them take my baby from me.

As I was laying there saying that Chris should be the one to go with Claire I heard this voice in the back of my head saying “you have to be our baby’s voice. If the doctors, nurses or staff try to do something that you know isn’t in her best interest say something. Never disregard your instincts. You’re her mother and you know best.” It was the voice of one of the mothers who I had the pleasure of meeting with before Claire was born. I refused to let them take her. I begged my doctor to at least let me try to feed her. He agreed to call my plastic surgeon’s office and at least get a second opinion. I turned to my mom and said “please call Angie, please ask her to come over here and help us. They just can’t take her from me.”

Before I had been out of surgery an hour I had been on the phone with Dr. Schmelzer’s office making damned sure that they made it clear that we were ok to at least take a day to try to feed Claire. I also took this opportunity to schedule her first consult being the prepared person that I am. My mom had contacted Angie and told me that she was on her way. There was some relief for me but not much. I was so scared that they would change their minds about giving us the opportunity to try before taking her away.

Angie came over to help us feed Claire and she took to the bottle right away. Angie couldn’t get over how a like Claire’s and her daughter’s clefts were. It’s so comforting to know someone who has gone through something so similar to our situation. Angie and her family have been a real blessing to ours. And I am happy to say that since that first time there hasn’t been one concern about Claire’s eating habits. I will never be able to thank Angie enough. She saved my sanity that day, I will forever be grateful to her for what she did for me and my family. I’m also forever grateful to my mom who pushed me to reach out to her.

After getting over Claire’s first hurdle it was my turn to have some struggles. I felt great in the hospital and was excited to be released and take our little one home. Our first night home was as expected. It was hard on me due to being so sore from the surgery and against all my previous statements I had to let her sleep in bed with me because I could not bend over. I was in a lot of pain. I eventually had to give in and stay at my mom’s house. I had blinding headaches from the spinal block and just felt miserable. I was so sad and felt so guilty that I couldn’t be and do everything that my daughter needed.

I had been pumping for Claire so she could get the colostrum for her immune system and I decided to keep doing it. After 2 days her poor little butt had a horrible rash and so did her chin, plus she had a blister on the roof of her mouth by her cleft. I had given her thrush.  Poor Claire had a couple of hard days with me. We were both ready for the long exhausting weekend to be over so we could go to our first checkup.

I don’t know what we would’ve done without DoTerra Oils that weekend. Thankfully my mom and I had just discovered them and she had received her oil kit. We used lavender on Claire to help her sleep, and in her diaper rash cream. We used melaleuca on her feet and jaw line to help with the thrush, and DigestZen on her belly and feet to help her gassiness. I was using Past Tense for my headaches and it was the only thing that helped at all, although it didn’t seem to last a real long time any relief was welcomed.

Claire looked great and had gained an ounce. I asked for some pink swizzle for her poor butt rash, even though the lavender had helped a lot what mom doesn’t want pink swizzle on hand?  He said that all we could do for her blister was keep an eye on it and as long as she kept eating we were ok. As for me my incision looked great and wouldn’t ya know it? He recommended caffeine for my headaches. Dr. Pepper was my cure!

We headed home feeling much better. The caffeine did the trick for my headaches and I mixed some lavender in with Claire’s pink swizzle and after 1 day her chin was cleared up and 2 days after her butt rash was gone. Sadly, her poor mouth wasn’t looking any better. She was a trooper though. She ate and ate some more up until she was 2 weeks old when we ended up in the Emergency Room.

Claire had been pretty fussy for a couple of days and I had noticed that her blister was getting worse. I had started wetting her nipple before feeding her thinking that it may not rub so badly if there was a little slip to it. This worked but eventually she wasn’t wanting to take her bottle and when I finally got her to there was blood on her nipple. I was so worried. I debated with myself all day about taking her to the Emergency Room, and I finally decided we needed to.

They gave us some Tylenol and numbing stuff and sent us on our way. For anyone who comes across this issue, the numbing solution is a bad idea. She got it on her tongue and down her throat so it was impossible to feed her after, which was what the goal was. It was a really long night but she started eating regularly again the next day. I made an appointment to see our doctor anyways.

Claire surprised us at that visit by gaining an entire pound! We were all so proud! To have everyone be so concerned about her eating; concerned enough to want to take her away, then to have her gain a whole pound in 2 weeks! It was pretty vindicating for me. Looking at her mouth he decided that she still had thrush in her mouth. He also thought that the blister was a pressure ulcer. He prescribed her some mouth wash for the thrush and we are hoping that the blister will start looking better if the thrush isn’t irritating it to.

We had a very interesting first two weeks, as I am sure every new family does. She was such a tough little girl through it all. We had a tough start, but it only made us stronger.