Major Milestones

Oliver at two days old, barely awake.

   Oliver is almost two weeks old and I find myself brimming with pride over some funny little things. First is his prowess at breast feeding. This may not be impressive to anyone else, many of you might think, "he's a baby, that's what he's supposed to do..." But breast feeding isn't necessarily something that comes easily to all babies and all moms. Some babies get it right off the bat, and some have troubles. Oliver had some trouble at first for a few reasons. First of all, he had a more than normal amount of jaundice after he was born. All babies are born with a small amount of jaundice, in the womb the placenta does the job of removing old red blood cells for the baby, and after they are born their liver must take over, and it takes a few days to get the levels under control. Perfectly normal and not at all harmful. However for some babies their levels are higher than normal and in the worst case scenario they go under special blue lights to break down the blood cells through photo therapy. Oliver had a bruise on the top of his head from the delivery (sorry for 

Oliver at almost two weeks old,
looking suave

that little man!) As a result he had more red blood cells to break down making him more jaundiced than normal. He wasn't so bad that he had to go under the lights, but he did struggle with extreme sleepiness as a result (also a totally normal side effect.) This creates a major problem when trying to feed him because we couldn't wake him up to eat. Breastfeeding was basically not possible at that point because he wouldn't wake up to do the work to get the food, so I ended up using a breast pump to get him the necessary food and we also supplemented with a little formula. I wasn't really happy about having to give him formula, but the nurses explained to me that the best way to get him over the jaundice is to help him pee and poo as much as possible. The broken down blood cells would come out in his waste and help to lower his bilirubin levels. So of course, you do what your baby needs. Luckily we only had to supplement him for a few days until my milk came in. The jaundice started to lighten up after about four or five days and Oliver started to be more awake. Once he was more awake, he took to eating like a little shark, his appetite has been really healthy ever since and he is already two ounces over his birth weight! I may be over analyzing him, but I am pretty sure I can see his cheeks already getting chubbier and a little double chin starting to develop! I am so excited because I absolutely LOVE chubby babies. 
  

This face says it all!

   The other major milestones that we have hit may only be funny to me, and I am not sure why I am proud of them. My family has always been amused by poop and fart jokes and having a baby acquaints you with poop, pee, puke and farts on a daily basis. There are many things I have heard about having a baby boy, and I think all of them have come true in the first two weeks. I couldn't be more pleased to be pooped on. People have all told me to expect golden showers. Not that I didn't believe them, I guess I just didn't realize how often it could happen. Everyone told me to watch the cold air hitting his little weiner when I took off his diaper, that it would make him pee right away. Totally true, and it happens almost every time I change his diaper. He peed on me four times in two days! Then this morning, he peed up in the air all over his own face! The look of confusion he got was priceless. I know this is a strange thing to be proud about, but for some reason the fact that my little boy is living up to some of the earliest expectations of his gender fills me with motherly joy. 

And then there was Oliver

How quickly things change...

My last post seems like ages ago, as you can see there is a good reason for that! Welcome to the world Mr. Punch, or more officially Mr. Oliver William Selvan!

Just as I had been contemplating writing a blog post about how impatient I was getting for Punch to be born and my efforts to induce labor naturally (eating jalapenos, talking three walks a day, incessant bouncing on the yoga ball...) Cinco de Mayo rolled around and with it a busy Saturday. We had two standing invites: my friend was hosting a Kentucky Derby party and another group of friends were having margaritas and nachos for Cinco de Mayo. I was sick and tired of my fruitless efforts to make myself go into labor and decided that a busy day with friends was just what I needed to take my mind off being 39 weeks pregnant with swollen feet the size of Easter hams. The weather was absolutely beautiful and Easan and I drove around in his Jeep Wrangler with the top off all day. I refer to the car as his Monster Truck because it has huge tires on it and makes a healthy amount of noise. All day I was secretly hoping that the bumpy Jeep rides and full schedule of events would help me go into labor, but I wasn't going to voice my hopes for fear that I would jinx myself and nothing would happen. The day was excellent, the Derby party was filled with mint juleps and great hats and I went to bed around ten thinking all was normal. 

12:00 am, I wake up to use the bathroom and wonder if my water has broken. I start having pains, but they are coupled with some serious bathroom action and I was pretty sure that the nachos might have given me some kind of stomach bug. I thought that it would pass eventually and I could get back to sleep. It is funny to me that after an entire week of trying to induce labor, I didn't recognize it when I was in the thick of it. I guess I was thinking that I would have the gradual labor that all the books and birth classes told me to expect. For those of you not familiar with child birth, the SOP of labor that I was lead to expect was six to twelve hours of early labor, starting with light cramp-like pains 20-30 minutes apart that gradually get stronger and faster. They tell you to practice pain management techniques such as breathing and various positions and movements that help you deal with it. They advise you to eat and distract yourself with movies or card games to pass the time. You aren't supposed to even think about the hospital until your water breaks or your contractions are five minutes apart and one minute long. For me, the pains (that didn't exist until I awoke at midnight) started at five minutes apart and one minute long. And they really hurt.

I dealt with that, persisting in the notion that I had a stomach bug, for about three hours. When I started puking, I decided that I should at least call the doctor to ask for a professional opinion. She advised that I come in to the hospital and they would check me out and see if I was in labor. I woke Easan and we went across the street to the ER (my house is literally across the street from the hospital, very convenient.) By this point, I was in so much pain that I was having trouble functioning, I couldn't walk through the contractions, I couldn't talk or think to answer the questions that the ER staff was asking me. All I could do was clutch something and grit my teeth and wait for it to pass. We got up to the labor and delivery ward and they put us in a room to get us started. There was no question to them that I was in labor and at that point I made a pretty serious decision. Throughout my entire pregnancy I had wanted to do a totally natural child birth. Everything I read indicated that it was the best choice for the welfare of the baby and mother and that with coaching and pain management techniques it could be an amazing and rewarding (but challenging) experience. I was determined to try my best to do it without pain meds or induction drugs. Perhaps if my labor had been the way I had been told to expect, I could have weathered the storm but at that point, I had just about reached my max. My pain was at a 9 out of 10 on the pain scale, I couldn't get any relief from changing positions and I had little relief in between contractions. I had been standing for the last four hours because that was the only position that wasn't excruciating and I was exhausted from it. I decided that I wanted the epidural. Easan did everything he was supposed to do, ask me firmly if I was sure I wanted this,  reminding me that it could lead to other interventions. I was positive that if I was to gain any control over my experience I needed the epidural. I wasn't disappointed, the drugs allowed us to get a few hours rest before the hard work began.

Overall, I was in labor for just under twelve hours. Punch was born at 10:17am. Like we knew it would, the epidural lightened up my contractions and I ended up pushing for almost two hours. But it was in relatively little pain and I was very calm and able to enjoy the experience. The medical staff tried to get me to agree to some Pitocin (an induction drug that makes contractions stronger to speed up labor) but I maintained my stance that I wanted to avoid it if at all possible. They didn't force me and we got through just fine. Punchy came into this world 6 pounds 13 ounces, 20.5 inches long with a decent amount of blonde hair. Easan cried like a baby and so did his dad. It was very sweet. We named him Oliver William, Oliver after Easan's Grandfather and William after my father.

Oliver ready to leave the hospital,
his pants are a little big on him!