20 of being a mommy & Imke's Birth Story

20 days of being a Mommy ;-) The time really flies – and Imke is growing soooo much! She has grown 4.75cm since birth & her weight is now 3.470kg! And her little cheeks are getting so chubby – it is too cute for words!!

I don’t think I can really describe the last 20 days – exhilarating, exhausting, wonderful, frightening, emotional, nerve wracking, filled with love, love, love………………..

I was not prepared for how much I would love this little girl – I thought I knew, but nothing compares to this overpowering sense of love & wonderment every time I look at her little face. I love her so much it hurts my eyes to look at her…….

The c-section went smooth; my blood pressure just dropped a whole lot & I was in recovery for a little longer than is usual. I felt very dizzy & cold but otherwise fine. Beforehand I was so scared of the drip & catheter (strangely enough I was not scared of the spinal tap LOL!!) but none of it was sore at all.

They had a bit of trouble getting Imke’s head out (since she was breech) – her ears seem to get hooked LOL!!! But it all went so very quick – from the cut being made to her being placed on my chest was maybe 7 minutes in all.

It was absolutely amazing to hear that first cry – my heart just melted & I was crying right along with her! What an amazing, amazing moment seeing your child for the fist time :-)

I was up & about the day after the op – was quite sore but I think the quicker you get up the quicker you heal. My milk also came in very quickly – I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I was roaming the hallways so soon!

Breastfeeding….. now that is another story all together LOL!!! Imke’s little mouth could just not latch correctly – my nipples were soooo sore after just one or two feeds. As soon as we got home I started expressing milk cause I hurt just too much. So she still gets the benefit if breast milk but from a bottle! And Jeroen gets to share the joy of feeding his daughter. She is also very very voraciously hungry LOL!!! So we are topping up with Formula as the breast milk is just not enough for her :-)

I am healing very nicely – sometimes the place where the inside stitches were seem to hurt (I am sure they are dissolved already though). The wound is healing nicely – my gynea has given me some kind of tape (almost like masking tape?) that I put over the wound & then rub bio-oil or tissue oil over until the tape falls off & then I just put a new piece over. He said that would minimise the scarring & prevent keloids from forming.

Emotionally the last 3 weeks have been very very up & down! The tears pour for no reason at the most random moments! Never underestimate the changes your hormones will be going through ;-) But I have not felt sad or blue or anything like that – there are just moments where I have felt a little bit overwhelmed by it all. It is so frightening to realize that this little human being is totally & utterly dependent on you for her EVERY need.