dog wow, sounds like a very lovely day. Motherhood is turning me into a forgetful moo, I can't even remember our first day home with V as I was so exhausted.
Birth story? Here goes...
Valentina was actually due on 14 January, which is DH's birthday. I was early, both sisters were early, DH was early, both his sisters and both his brothers were early, so we were expecting her to come much before. I packed my hospital bag before Christmas and received lots of lovely newborn girly stuff that I was really looking forward to putting her in.
For some reason, my third trimester was my worst, I was extremely tired and grouchy all the time, the mood swings were horrendous although I thought they were supposed to even out by that time. I asked doctor about it (probably in a threatening way as he looked a little scared) and he said nothing to worry about. Made DH sleep on the sofa the last week of pregnancy for various reasons (i.e. buggy drama, he grazed my foot in the night, I got too hot in the bed, etc. etc.)
So January 14th I am fuming because DD has not arrived. Poo! I am big as a house, sweaty even when the house is cool and windows are open, hungry all the time, and generally not very happy. VERY ready to be over being pregnant! I left it a few more days and called midwife, who said to try all the 'normal' things like curry, sex, long walks, massages, baths, etc. Nothing helped so I saw midwife 1 week after due date. She assessed baby and said she wasn't in any distress and didn't seem very big so it would be fine to let her come in her own time.
Night of 30th Jan, about 8pm I felt some twinges, had DH rush me to hospital who promptly sent me back home at 1cm dilated. Cue lots of impatient huffiness, foot rubs by DH, and excuses to eat lots of Ben & Jerry's . The waiting was the worst bit, contractions didn't seem to bother me at all [smug emoticon?]
I managed to go to sleep some during the night and when I woke up at 4.45 they were intense and close together, we timed it at about 3 minutes so apart we went back to hospital (Chelsea & Westminster) to be told I was 9cm dilated and nearly ready to push! There was no time to get TENS out (forgot it was even in the bag ) or have any pethedine or epidural or anything. So I pushed to high heaven, Valentina was massive and I had a second degree tear (midwife said she was impressed it wasn't third degree ) which was actually the most painful thing in the entire birth process. They put her on my chest and I thought, 'She isn't newborn, she's already a month old!' She was 9 lb 8 oz, and 23 inches long, had the pleasure of being the biggest baby born at C&W this year so far . We opted to stay in overnight rather than go home straight away, more so I could rest from the tear than anything else.
For the first 36-ish hours she didn't feed, just did some smelling and licking on the nipple, getting used to breastfeeding has been very hard, I thought it would come naturally but it really hasn't so I haven't felt too bad about topping up with formula and when she doesn't seem to be getting enough breastmilk anymore I won't feel guilty about switching her on to formula full time. We all had it and turned out okay, surely?
Okay, sorry that was so long-winded!