This is Marley in her Santa outfit.
And a picture of our friends Scott/Jennifer's baby, Halle. She was born 3 weeks before Marley and looks huge in comparison.
Holy cow - I meant to post a very long time ago but I guess it goes without saying that I've been absorbed in baby feeding, diapering, pumping, etc. The days all blur together (I know I'm preaching to the choir for the moms out there).
Where to start . . .
I got pitocin at 4:30am, OB broke my water at 8am, started having pain right away, got epidural at 8:15am and started pushing at 8:30am.
The delivery was quick but ended kind of ugly because Marley was face up (and slightly turned to the side) and got stuck on my pelvic bone. I pushed and pushed (the epidural didn't take on part of my right side and then wore off after pushing for some time) and finally the OB asked if I wanted a c-section or the forceps. He used the forceps and it hurt like hell but she was out in less than minute and it was much better than the constant pain of trying to push her out when she was stuck. It took him an hour to stitch me up and then my stitches broke about 4 days later. OB said it was better to let it heal on it's own (greater risk of infection if you re-stitch).
Marley has not been gaining weight (she's still below birth weight) so I've been supplementing every feeding with breast milk or formula and feeding and pumping every 3 hours.
I've got some hormonal weepiness but am not sure it's baby blues. This is so hard and so good at the same time.
Thanks for everyones support and all your good wishes! Sometimes I still can't believe Marley is real and here - pure blisss!
