Labour, Birth And Recovery.

I was induced on the 16th April 2013, little did I know what I was truly in for. A long 2 days of labour,  my partner, my mother and 2 midwives were with me in the birthing suite as we were patiently waiting for a little bundle of cuteness to be born. The day I went for inducement due to gestational diabetes, I reluctantly chose to help out with a study the hospital was conducting. I was to either have the gel or the balloon, unfortunately for me I got the balloon, BIG MISTAKE! 

So once the balloon was done I sat back in bed and again waited, fifteen minutes later I started to get some intense cramping that as hour and hour went by got worse, my partner had to listen to me moan and groan all night in agony from the contractions the balloon was causing. 7am came and finally they took the balloon away, only to be told I was 2cm dilated, what a joke! 8am and they broke my waters maybe this was going to fasten things up surely? Lunchtime came and everyone in the birthing suite was taking guesses on when Xavier would make his grand arrival, meanwhile im sitting in bed not a care in the world not knowing how bad my contractions were going to get.

 I wanted a drug free relaxed birth, yea right... My plans soon changed when after a day and a half  I was still in labour. Everytime one of the midwives checked he still wasn't dilating as fast as they thought, so I ended up on a fit ball bouncing for dear life hoping this would wriggle him down. Still very determined to not have any drugs, by that night and check after check he was dilating but still not fast enough, seriously I thought id never meet this little man. So after many times of saying no to drugs I finally gave in when I realised how exhausted I was getting, I had the gas and a epidural. In hindsight I would definitely get the epidural asap so I could remain relaxed and not get as exhausted as I did. 1am came and Xavier finally decided it was time to meet us, he was beautiful and well worth every second of pain and exhaustion I went through. Then came the battle of diabetes again, Xavier was having to get checked every 2/3 hours for his sugar levels due to my gestational diabetes (which I know longer have) I had to feed him as much as possible and I have never been so sore! By day 2 my baby had to be taken into special care as his sugar levels dropped a sufficient amount enough to be worried, my partner and I were doing skin to skin contact with him and trying to get him to attach as much as possible for my supply to increase. 

Day 4 and Xavier was back in with us and out of special care nursery, by the end of day 4 my supply finally came in and breastfeeding became a whole lot easier! My abdominal separation was thankfully only 4cm wide so that closed up very easy, except I did have an incredible body ache that no one warned me of. The after birth contractions were probably the worse, everytime Xavier attached while I was feeding him I was popping down the panadol, now anyone who knows me knows I never take panadol or any sort of drug unless its really needed. I was crying and telling my partner that I couldn't continue to do it, luckily he supported me and pushed me into continuing and knew it was a baby blues moment of insanity as I really wanted to breastfeed! Luckily by day 5 my body was recovering well, Xavier was feeding well and I was showering, doing my hair and makeup by this time, sinch! 

Day 7 we were finally aloud to take our little bundle of goodness home! Blessed beyond comparison we were ecstatic and totally in love with one another. I think that car ride was the longest car ride home ever, we had a fragile week old baby in the car so understandable. Overwelmed and very nervous our little Xavier was abit shakey at first in the new environment so alot of skin to skin contact happened that day. By the end of the first week thankfully my stomach was pretty much back to pre baby and I was nearly fitting in my old jeans, size 6 pants again I was a very happy lady! The afternoon of our homecoming we took Xavier out to our nearest shopping centre, we were probably the happiest two people alive and couldn't wipe the smitten smiles off our faces. We were a family. 

Sleep.

 'It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.'

 This is my favourite quote and very appropriate for my blog post this week. I have decided after much thought about what I was going to write about this week in the end it came down to sleep. Something I haven't had much of this week, Xavier unfortunately is getting his 7th tooth on the way, is right in the middle of a wonder week and has a terrible cold. Sleep, something mums never really get enough of! 

 Xavier was a dream baby from the start, all he ever did was sleep!! Every 3 hrs he'd wake for a feed then he'd pass out again and go back into slumberland. I look back now and wish i'd taken every chance to sleep when he did instead of watching him sleep and doing housework. Well Xavier's sleep pattern soon changed as he became more and more alert, my dream baby was not such a dream sleeper anymore. While everybody else was telling the world how their babies were sleeping several hours I'm sitting listening and feeling very jealous, why was I the one with the baby who thought night time was for partying?? I then had to start wrapping his arms tightly as he couldn't sleep with his arms out, this helped a little but not a great deal (soon the wrapping habit became a great deal to get him out of it).

 By 4 months he had to be swaddled for EVERY sleep and I tried several different wraps, he was still waking every 3 hours with the occasional 4 hour. I read an article in which it described how swaddling a baby can cause problems with their legs as they are supposed to sleep like a frog (legs spread) so they're legs and hips can grow in the correct direction. This terrified me so then became the long 2 month struggle of getting Xavier used to be unwrapped. This was fine, except I then got him into a habit of needing to be rocked to sleep, so basically I replaced a habit with another habit. still all my friends babies were sleeping through the night and I was still getting up every 3hrs at the age of 6 months old, I started to think maybe it was something I was doing wrong? I was feeding him food by this stage, giving him plenty of bottles and an overload of attention and affection, what was I doing wrong?

I read several different books and articles on sleep, sleep patterns and ways to improve their sleep and daytime routine. Nothing worked! Thankfully by 7 months he was doing 5 hour sleeps, better than before but I would really like a full night. Obviously my exceptions were high which I now realise is unfair to expect out of baby, I certainly never slept ALL night, I get up for bathroom breaks and a glass of water so why was I expecting so much out of a little baby?

 By month seven Xavier was now sleeping unswaddled and after many nights of what others may call control crying but I like to think of it as teaching him independence and safe sleeping. I never let him cry himself to sleep but would let him grizzle and id settle, grizzle and settle until eventually he gave in. If you do your research into the crys etc this way of safe sleeping is fantastic! After nine long months Xavier suddenly started to sleep through, wow a miracle happened my little baby decided to give his mumma a rest! Unfortnately this only lasted a month but I enjoyed every bit of it while it was happening. 

 My baby is now 10 months old and still not a great sleeper, I have gotten used to it and I know one day he'll be grown up and sleeping the day away. So for now I'm leaving the books, leaving the fact that other mummas babies are sleeping through and appreciating the fact that I have a healthy baby boy who is growing beautifully. 

Six months - Ten months

Following on from the growth period of six months of age as Xavier is now 10 months old! 

10 months of pure joy with the love of my life.

 Month Six- As I said in my first blog post Xavier was now sitting up unaided, saying 'dadda' and nearly crawling. At this age I was experimenting alot more with Xaviers food as by the new health guidelines for first foods you can now feed your baby anything and everything except for honey! So we had alot of fun trying new things and seeing what he enjoyed and what he decided he didn't really like. 

 Month Seven- Growing like no tomorrow and going up to size 0 and size 1 in clothing, his chatter is unbelievable and im now seeing alot of myself in Xavier. He is gentle and loving and definitely an extrovert! By 7 1/2 months I had a crawler! I don't think anyone can warn you on how fast they can crawl and the places they can now hide! I found from this month to the next he was wearing ALOT of hats and beanies to cover the many bruises he was giving himself. 

 Month Eight- Within two weeks of crawling he was now standing up on things! I now understand why they call babies and toddlers octobabies as you would think they had 8 arms with the amount of mess and naughtiness they can get themselves into! Cleaning the house, eating meals, having a shower, all these things just became a little more difficult now that I had a little spider baby crawling everywhere and anywhere! Although I was incredibly overwelmed by how fast he was, I was also the proudest mumma and could not boast enough about how well he was learning.

 Month Nine- Crawling, standing, crawling, standing and walking along furniture. My baby isn't such a baby anymore and I think by this month I realized that when I was tring to squeeze a size 0 on his chunky thighs. Time to get out the size 1s, something I wasn't ready to do until at least 11 months. He has now learnt 'nanna' and 'mumma' yes really I got a mumma, and it hit me like a ton of bricks, wow I really am a mumma aren't I! We get 'ellos' and highfives, Xavier now throws balls and catchs them and has learnt a new fun game of unpacking everything in his site (not such a fun game for me). 

Month Ten- 10 short months later my little baby is now a little boy, he has taken a bundle of the cutest steps all on his own and has developed a loving personality with a serious attitude. We now have 4 teeth with another 2 currently on the way (very tired mumma at the moment). Three meals plus a day and now he even eats 2 whole weetbix in the morning like a champ! When he isn't going through the teething phase which feels like a constant thing he sleeps right through the night. I've been a mumma to an amazing little boy for almost a year now and I couldn't be more proud. If I had to tell myself something 10 months ago while I was in the ward having my baby with 2 days of labour i'd say 'Hannah stop being so stubborn for once in your life and take the damn drugs, take the damn drugs Hannah and relax!!!' I never knew love until I held my son for the first time, I never knew courage and I certainly never knew happiness. Its unconditional and never ending.

The Wonder Weeks

When Xavier was just a newborn I had a few suggestions on studying a thing called 'wonder weeks'. There are 10 different leaps that your baby will go through in a space of 1 1/2 years of their lives.

These leaps are where your baby will become more fussy, irritable, harder to get to sleep or even more fussy with bottles/food. Not every baby will show this behavior as each baby is so different but on a an average scale it happens with most.

1- Changing sensations (4 1/2wks - 5 1/2wks)
2- Patterns (7 1/2wks - 9 1/2wks)
3- Smooth transitions (11 1/2wks - 12 1/2wks)
4- Events (14 1/2wks - 19 1/2wks)
5- Relationships (22 1/2wks - 26 1/2wks)
6- Categories (33 1/2wks - 37 1/2wks)
7- Sequences (41 1/2wks - 46 1/2wks)
8- Programs (50 1/2wks- 54 1/2wks)
9- Principles (59 1/2wks - 64 1/2wks)
10- Systems (70 1/2wks - 76 1/2wks)

There is a fantastic App for Apple and Android called 'the wonder weeks' which explains more in detail about each leap, what your baby may experience during this leap, what your baby could possibly learn after the leap has finished and at what leap stage they are by a special chart. It is by far the greatest App a mummy could have! Its only $99c and worth every cent!

Xavier has been very on par with every leap and every change the app says hes going through and it puts my mind at ease knowing its not something im doing but rather what his mind and body have to do to learn and grow. Fantastic 10/10!!