Release 2.0

Wow, second labor went so much more smoothly than the first.  Baby Ellie arrived on June 5th, two days past her due date.  I woke up at 7am with mild cramps and had my "bloody show" (even though I already lost much of my mucus plug the Sunday before...TMI?).  The cramps were about 10 minutes apart and quickly grew in intensity.  By 9am, they were 5 minutes apart.  Based on horror stories I'd heard about second babies coming super quick and moms not making it to the hospital in time, we promptly packed our stuff and went to the hospital with BB and Ah Ma.  We got settled in a room by 9:40ish and the nurse checked my dilation - 3 cm.  At this point we talked to the anesthesiologist about having an epidural that was half the dose (Frog had written a letter explaining the complications I had last time with my bladder).  Luckily the anesthesiologist was very open to following Frog's suggestions.
Soon after, my water broke as I sat on the bed.  Then the contractions really started coming hard.  Thankfully, I was able to breathe through the pain better than last time.  No hyperventilating and thinking I was going to lose my sanity hahah.  It was still beyond any pain I'd felt before but at least I wasn't panicking.  Luckily I didn't have to bear it long before the epidural came (which hurt - I don't remember it hurting before).  After that they checked my dilation again around 11:45am - 8cm and the baby's head was pretty much coming out.  My OB arrived just in time to prep and deliver.  I gave two pushes and baby was out!  Badge, Ah Ma, and Spike were all there to witness the gore of body fluids and blood and new squiggly baby.  They even set up a mirror so I could see all the action.  Following tradition, Ah Ma had Monkey on facetime, pointed at my nether regions.  In her other hand she recorded a video.  She's such a good multi-tasker.

Baby was healthy as can be when she came out, weighing 7 lbs and 1 oz.  I had a minor tear but other than that everything was pretty textbook.  The hospital stay was nice, despite the incredibly gross hospital food.  Badge stayed with me and everyone else flittered in and out.  BB spent most days playing at Spike and Frog's.  He showed mild interest in the baby but otherwise continued to run around with the crazy energy of a toddler.  Baby was a natural latcher but was so sleepy the first couple of days that she would always fall asleep at the breast.

Once home, Baby started becoming fussy at night, wanting only to breastfeed.  We assumed she was just comfort sucking so during one night of desperation I gave her the pacifier.  The next day, she started rejecting my breast and crying when I tried to breastfeed.  Oh no, nipple confusion??  Cursing myself, it took a day or so to get her back on the breast.  On the fourth day, we took her to the pediatrician for her follow up.  Poor thing had lost 15% of her birth weight (now she weighed 5 lbs and 15 oz)!!  Within 10% is ok but 15% is way under.  Also her jaundice level had elevated to 16 since she was dehydrated too long.

The primary reason of course is that my milk hadn't come in.  I could tell my milk was starting to come in that fourth day (as compared to the fifth day with Max) but I didn't want to risk anything so we decided to supplement with a little formula.  I didn't want to disrupt breastfeeding so the pediatrician gave me this tiny tube feeder that you can slip in the baby's mouth while they're latched to the breast.  This worked out pretty well and I was able to get 20ml into her after breastfeeding.  We fed her every 2 hours.  The next day, we took her back to the ped and she had gained almost 4 oz.  Amazing!  We also repeated the jaundice test (saddest thing in the world because they have to prick her heel and squeeze about 100 drops of blood out of it).  It was down a little to 15.6, whew.  That day, I stopped supplementing formula (mostly because she didn't seem to want it after breastfeeding and my milk had fully come in).  We took her in one more time the next day and she'd gained another 3.2 oz.  Whoo hoo!  The ped said we could skip another jaundice test; she was confident it would resolve itself now that baby was getting fluids.

As for myself, it's been about 12 days and I'm mostly recovered I'd say.  I haven't had insomnia, night sweats, anxiety, or crazy hormonal issue thank god.  All in all, doing pretty well.