She has arrived!!!
I cannot believe that it has already been 2 weeks since our
sweet little Melanie LeeAnna joined our family. This has been the best delivery
and maybe the worst recovery. We have had good days and our bad days. This will
be a long one so beware I hope you have a few moments. Plus all the pictures J
This little girl is very special in so many ways. I am so
lucky that she picked me to be her mother. I cannot wait to see what she brings
to the family. She is already loved by everyone that has seen her. He brothers
just ADORE her and I mean adore they do not leave her alone. Oren always has to
be near her touching her or holding her if she is in his eye sight J She is very lucky to
have 2 amazing big brothers who will take care of her and be there for her. Daddy
is just in love with his little girl and is so excited to finally have a little
girl. I am just beyond thrilled to finally have a little girl to dress up and
later down the road have girl nights with her. I already love dressing her up
and she always has to have a bow on her head except of course when she is going
to bed. All that will have to be saved for another post.
First off I want to tell you about her name then I will tell
you about my birth experience because it was the best one. We have a hard time
agreeing on names. As it got closer to figuring out the gender we were trying
to figure out names and we came up a boy name but we could not agree on a girl
name. Well in December we found out Travis sister was not going to be with us
for much longer and we wanted to honor her in some way if it was a girl. So we
went through many names trying to figure out what we could call her if she was
a girl. Well in the middle of the night in December (and our ultrasound was not
till January) I woke up and I had this voice say Melanie LeeAnna is coming and
then I went right back to sleep. I woke up that morning and remembered the name
and I still get the goose bumps when I think about that night. So I went to my
mother in law the very next day and asked her if she would be ok if I were to
use her daughter name as my daughter name if Travis agreed to my name. To my
surprise she was thrilled as could be. So I told Travis the name and he loved
it. So then I had to decided how I was going to spell her middle name. Well my
father in law first name is Lee and I have a sister named JoAnna. So I put the
two names together and came up with LeeAnna. Her name is a very special name
and she will have a lot of people watching over her.
So we arrived at the hospital 6 am and waited which felt like
forever. We got into the room got ready and the lady said a different name and
I was like no that’s not me and she was like what wait. She had the wrong
chart. Came back with the right chart and then a couple minutes later another
nurse came in and had the wrong chart again. At this point I was getting a
little nervous but glad that they always checked information before doing
anything. Then the odd question the nurse asked me was what my birthing plan
was? I was like I am having a c-section what else is there. She then asked me
if I would like to do skin to skin contact with my baby. I was like you will allow that and she said
they are now allowing c-section mothers to do that as well because it is just
as important to those mother/ baby as it is to natural birthing mother/baby.
With my boys I only got to see them for just a moment before they took them and
Travis away while they fixed me up and put me in recovery. I always hated that
because it would be like 2 hours before I heard anything about my baby or got
to see them. So I jumped at the opportunity to hold her right away. So she came
our screaming and everyone told me she was a girl I was just thrilled and
relived she was in fact a girl (to many scaring stories about wrong gender) So
they cleaned her up a little and then they came and laid her right on my chest.
It was the most amazing feeling in the world. She was and is so beautiful. It
was amazing to finally be able to hold her and create more of a bond with her.
After a little bit they took her and did everything else that they needed to
do.
She weighted 7 lbs 10 ounces 19.5 inches long born at 7:57 am.
As I came into recovery room there she and Travis were. I was shocked because
that has never happened. And the moment I was parked in my bed and awake a
little they had her on my chest to try breastfeed. I was just so impressed with
St. Luke and how they treated my family and I. They even allowed my extended
family to come into the recovery room to come see us. They did not allow Travis
to have her alone or to go show her off because Melanie had to be my side the
entire time unless it was a nurse taking her to the nursery. We stayed in the
hospital for about 4 days. The last day and a half she had a hard time nursing
and I started to get my milk in so yeah it was been rough on both of us. She
passed all of her test and everyone just loved her and wanted to hold her (made
me feel good). The only problem that we came across was that she lost 10.8% of
her weight which is not good. So she left the hospital weighing 6 lb 13 ounces.
They do not like a baby to lose more than 10% so lucky for us my doctor likes
me and knows I will listen to her instructions and come and see her and she let
us go home when everyone else told her no. So we had to make an appointment to
go see her the very next day. I also had to feed every 2 hours and then
supplement with formula right after to try and get her weight back up. It was a
very long day/night. So we went the next day and she gained 2 ounces. So I had
to continue to feed every 2-3 hours but did not have to supplement formula
anymore. It was still really hard because she refused to breastfeed she just
wanted to the bottle. So we went in on Monday and she only gained 1 ounce this
time. We were all shocked because when she would eat a bottle she would eat a
lot. Doctor still wasn't very happy but happy enough that she is getting there.
She is going on vacation so she said she would see us in two weeks but if we had
concerns to come in and see one of the other doctors. Since then she has done a
ton better with breastfeeding but she has to be mad to latch on correctly and
get the flow that she would like. J
Overall she is doing well and we are all in love with her.
As for my recovery this is probably the hardest. I have had
a lot pain physically and emotionally. It has not been easy not being able to
help around my house hold my boys when they want mommy and move the way I think
I should move. C-sections have a recovery time of 4-6 weeks and man they are
the longest. Thank goodness for family and all their help we could not do it
without them. I have all of my family right here in the valley that have come
over and my in-laws have come from Pocatello. They have been so sweet and have
come down to help us out. For the first week we had Heather here to help with
the boys and keep things in order while I was at the hospital then on Friday my
mother/father in law came with Kim for the weekend to meet this sweet little angle
then they left and left my mother in-law here with us. She is staying with us
for two weeks (bless her heart) I am so grateful for her help and willingness
to leave her responsibility and come here and help my family and I. My ward has also been amazing with all the
meals and willingness to help us out (thanks for not letting us starve J)
Here are just a few a my favorite pictures that my amazing sister was able to capture for me. Thank you so much JoLyn Glascock. Memories were made and know I will be able to remember them forever.
This is the start of her many new born pictures. 
I saw this picture on Pinterest and had to have it for the boys.
This is for her Aunt Nono (we miss you and wish you where here with us)
My Handsome boys. They couldn't let sister have all the fun with pictures.
The boys just adore her. They are going to be amazing big brothers.