2 weeks ago, February 15, 2018 at 6:51 PM, we welcomed our sweet new baby girl into the world. Amelia Blake Cervino, who we are calling Millie. Her birth was fairly uneventful, although not the most pleasant labor experience.
I was actually scheduled to go to the hospital the 15th to be induced, but woke up at 2 AM that morning with fairly intense contractions. I called around 5 and was told to head to the hospital and they had a room ready for me anyways so they could see what was going on. After we got checked in to the hospital they hooked me up and sure enough I was having steady contractions so they thought they wouldn’t need to really do anything to get things going and everyone seemed fairly certain with how far dilated I was and how low the baby was she would come fairly quickly. But she had her own plans I guess. After a little while my contractions totally stopped, so they did start pitocin. Then things just weren’t moving along. They upped my pitocin and contractions started back up… and then they stopped again. This is pretty much how the day went. Eventually I asked for an epidural and had a terrible reaction to it which didn’t happen with my first two kids. It made me shake violently and feel like I was going to puke, and basically feel miserable. And we continued the pattern of contractions starting and stopping even then. But then after feeling like I had been in labor forever and things weren’t progressing in about 5 minutes I went from 5 to 10 centimeters and was being told it was time to push. With 2 pushes (pain free thanks to that terrible epidural, talk about love/hate) I heard our sweet baby girl cry and was told we had a healthy baby girl! After 2 days in the hospital we got to go home and adjust to being a family of 5!
The first week at home Millie was the sweetest sleepiest baby who never cried and I did a lot of bragging about how easy she was. Week 2 things got a little more… difficult. Now Millie seems to cry any time she’s not being held (yikes) and loves to cluster feed which is exhausting and makes it hard to chase the other kids. She’s still sweet and loves to snuggle and sleep (so long as someone is holding her). It’s funny how different she is than both Maddie Grace and Tripp as babies. Maddie Grace cried nonstop no matter if she was held or not, and Tripp was the most chill baby who never cried no matter what.
As for the rest of our family… I was a postpartum mess the whole first week. Lots of crying for no reason, still hurting, feeling overwhelmed. Weirdly working some was therapeutic to me. Texting with friends about random things to get my mind off of what’s going on in our home also helped. Tom worked from home the first week but was really good about taking time outs to help me and the kids, and also taking time for himself to relieve some stress. He has been back at work away from home (and even out of town one day) this week which has been a struggle for me. His biggest issue has been losing his temper with the older kids (and he’s picking up a lot of slack for me in taking care of them) and they can be a lot sometimes so I understand!
Maddie Grace is very excited about her new baby sister and loves her so, so much, but has been acting out. She throws major tantrums about random things, like which sippy cup I give her. Tripp has had the hardest time of all of us I think. Poor guy – he’s been my baby his whole life, and he doesn’t really like strangers in general, so welcoming the new baby just didn’t come easily to him. He pretty much ignores the baby, ignores whoever is holding her, etc. But the second I’m not holding her he’s in my lap snuggling me. When I wear her in a carrier he will let me play with him now and if she cries sometimes he will acknowledge her and say “baby crying mama” but he still doesn’t want to touch or get to close to her.
Things I’m loving for a newborn? The Halo Bassinest, Dock-A-Tot, Boppy Comfyfit Baby Carrier, Muslin Blankets, and Beaufort Bonnet Converter Gowns top my list.
Thank you for all your support and well wishes on my social media posts. It hasn’t been easy for me to open up with what I’ve been struggling with but I think it’s important to share how hard postpartum is in case anyone else is going through the same thing! You might see me blogging less over here so make sure you follow me on Instagram (and watch my stories) to see what we are up to!
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