Need Mommy/Baby spotlight info

We are in need of another Mommy/Baby to spotlight for next Tuesday. Please email two pictures (newborn and recent) and information about birth date, ht/wt, funny story or labor story, etc by Monday, March 23 to mayflowersmoms@gmail.com. Thanks!

Mom and Baby Spotlight

This weeks spotlight is featuring me! MrsD_111106 or Leslie as I'm known in the real world and my wonderful son Nathan.

Nathan was born at 3:12 pm on May 8. He weighed 8lbs, 9oz and was 20 inches long.

The day that Nathan arrived started at 2:30 in the morning. I suddenly woke up with a strange pain and I knew right then that my water was starting to break. I somehow leaped out of bed and ran into the bathroom where my water broke just like in the movies. Brad was awake the minute I jumped out of bed and started getting dressed. I called my parents and my mom came right over. We were in the car by 3am headed for the hospital. It was really great timing since the hospital I was going to deliver at was about an hour away and I was so worried that we'd hit rush hour traffic. During the car ride, my contractions started and were 3 minutes apart. After having zero contractions to having one every 3 minutes was pretty bad. It was like I was induced.

Once we got to the hospital, we were sent to the triage area to check that I was really in labor (water broke, so duh). The contractions were so intense that they made me throw up, which is not fun while in labor. We got moved up to my room after about 30 minutes of paperwork (why do they have you sign so many papers during contractions??) and exams. I requested and epidural and the angel of a man who was my anesthesiologist showed up almost immediately.

During the course of my labor, they discovered that there was meconium in the fluid and I started getting a fever. Luckily I was able to sleep while I labored. I get to 7cm when the doctor started some pitocin. My contractions were starting to become irregular and Nathan was having trouble staying down in the birth canal. The pit worked for about 5 minutes, and then would start to wear off just like my own natural contractions.

After 12 hours of no amniotic fluid, the doctor said I could continue the pitocin for an hour or deliver by c-section. I suspected this would happen as it has for almost all of the women on my mom's side. We're a little crooked up in there so Nathan wasn't coming down straight and couldn't cause my cervix to dialate enough. We chose to do the c-section while Nathan was still showing a strong heart beat and not in distress.

Within 20 minutes of getting prepped for delivery, we had our beautiful baby boy. Because he came down crooked, he had a pretty big bump on the side of his head where it was pushing down. It's gone now, but it made his hair all crazy for a while. The only complication I had after the surgery was fluid in my right lung that appeared about a week later. I guess it can happen when you're stuck in bed for a few days. That was a whole other stressful ER visit.

Nathan is now 10 months old and a crawling machine. I'm cherishing every day I spend with him while I'm on leave from teaching. I have to go back in August and every minute is precious to me.

The picture on the left is Nathan while we were still in the hospital. Look at that head of hair!






The picture to the right is Nathan during our attempt at his monthly picture in February. It has proven to be quite difficult to get this picture now that his so mobile. :)

Mommy Baby Spotlight Update!!

We did not receive any emails in mom's interested in being part of the Mommy/Baby Spotlight for yesterday's blog entry. Due to this I will extend the deadline to send in your email with picture of you and baby and information to Sunday, March 1, 2009.
Please submit your photo and information to mayflowersmosms@gmail.com

Mommy & Baby Spotlight

This is our second Mommy & Baby Spotlight, and our spotlight is shining on Kimberly and Joey (bump name: iHeartJoe). Joey was born on May 1, 2008; he weighed 6 lbs 4 oz and was 20 in. long. Here is Kimberly's story:
We got off to a rough start having a fairly traumatic birth experience and emergency c-section (developed pre-eclampsia and was induced 3 weeks early) , awful postpartum care in the hospital, and intense postpartum depression. I had my ideal birth experience in mind, but knew to be open and flexible because things don't generally go as planned. Even still, I had a really tough time accepting the c-section and still struggle with the feeling that my body let me down. But in the midst of all that we managed to get one thing absolutely right, despite lousy help from my nurses and LC's: breastfeeding. Joey latched and nursed like a champ within our first few feeding sessions and I finally felt like my body hadn't failed me and at least I could do one amazing thing for my son! We were literally forced to supplement with formula at the hospital, which we instantly stopped once we were home and I was able to continue feeding my baby boy while he continued to grow and thrive! He is at his absolute sweetest during feedings and I love our snuggle time. I'm proud of myself for being able to stick with it this long and love the special bond that we have, in part because of this special part of our relationship.


We would like to thank Kimberly for sharing her story with us and for the picture she submitted.

Our next Mommy/Baby Spotlight will be on Feb. 24th (Wyatt's 9 month birthday) so please send in your submission (with info and picture by the 22nd). You can email us at mayflowersmoms@gmail.com

Have a great day!!

MOMMY & BABY SPOTLIGHT

This will be our first Mommy & Baby Spotlight and our featured Mommy & Baby: wendyj & Baby Ian

Ian was born on: 5/14/08, weighing 4 lbs 8.5 oz and measuring 17.5 in

The best advice I got was to not take everything about motherhood so seriously (gotta love my Mom!). Reading into every little thing will do nothing but drive you to insanity, and you'll miss the wonderful things happening between you and your baby. I had a tough first couple of months, first by ending up back in the hospital right after Ian and I were first discharged, then with breastfeeding, and Ian's time with colic. I seemed so paranoid about everything that my mom finally told me to relax and enjoy my son. Oddly enough, that seemed to snap me out of my craziness.

Here is some advice from Wendy on colic, breastfeeding and postpartum:

Colic - don't be afraid to take a break from the craziness, even if it means putting him in his crib and walking away for a few minutes to compose yourself. Actually, I just read in Dr. Ferber's book last night that letting them cry in their crib for a few minutes is a good thing because the babies with colic may actually be overstimulated and also need time away from although the cuddling and rocking and such. Go figure?

Breastfeeding - If you can't, it's not the end of the world. I actually gave up breastfeeding at about 8 weeks because I was not really producing anything, and because I was still getting my blood pressure down and getting over my c-section, I really felt like I had nothing left. Making the decision to stop was probably hardest thing I've ever done. I felt horrible for weeks afterward. But as I started to follow my mom's advice (from the last email), and let the stress that I was feeling over it all go, I started to really connect with my son. We weren't fighting each other anymore. Those middle of the night feedings became a bit more special because I was actually able to snuggle him and enjoy that closeness. And knowing that he was gaining weight and growing like a weed after starting out so tiny, I knew I was doing the right thing for him

Postpartum - Let all the craziness out! I had no clue I was going to feel and think all that I did after I had Ian. I cried at least 3 times a day, for seemingly no reason at all. Thankfully, I have a wonderful, compassionate husband who just let me be irrational and cry on his shoulder. It also helped to talk to my mom and friends who were also mothers and dealt with baby blues...Also, don't overdo it right out of the hospital. I had a c-section, and there were days that I thought I felt OK, so I would do things that I normally did before having Ian. Big mistake. I would hurt for hours later because of just going down to the basement to do laundry.

First picture is Wendy & Ian when Ian was a month old and the second is Wendy & Ian during the holidays:





Wendy,
Thank you so much for sharing with us! You are truly remarkable.

For those that are interested in participating in the next Mommy & Baby Spotlight please email: mayflowersmoms@gmail.com!

Have a Great Day!

Mommy and Baby Spotlights

Starting next Tuesday we will be doing a spotlight on Mommy and Baby. This will be done every other Tuesday and all we are asking is that you either leave a comment or email: mayflowersmoms@gmail.com with the following information:
1. Name of Mother and Child (screen name if you don't want to reveal name)
2. DOB for child
3. ht/wt at birth
4. A funny story, heartwarming, advice that you were given that you felt has helped the most or just anything you would like to share about Mommy and Baby.

Also, please include a picture of baby and mommy.

This week please have these in by: Sunday Jan. 25th!