A place in this world - peace series spin off - ellianas story

everything changes forever

This nurse is amazing and have so many good tips for me which I value so much. To get her to open her mouth wide enough I can use my nipple to tickle her lips to get her to open wide, or if that doesn't work, I can squeeze some colostrum, later milk, onto her lips. Then she told me how I will know if she is actually sucking properly or if she is just gumming on the nipple. If she is actually sucking, there will be a strong sucking-swallow-breath pattern. You can also see a rhythm in the movements of her head. Then when your milk comes in you should hear swallowing or gulping if she is sucking properly. And then if I need to adjust her, if she isn't sucking properly, I need to break the seal, do the lip tickling again and lath on again properly. My mind is blown by all she knows about this.

"Letting the baby take her time and not setting a time limit has shown to be good in the early days because she is learning what she is supposed to do" she says and then goes on to explain that it's important to drain the whole breast, at least one of them at each feeding. And if she doesn't drain both it's a good idea to pump the one, she doesn't drain or just make sure to start with that one on the next feeding. A baby her age should feed every 2-3 hours apparently.

"We have a baby girl Alex" I say, and he leans down to kiss me "we sure do" he says and caress her little head but is careful not to disrupt her little sucking motions. She looks so cute trying to suck, even though it hurts it's also precious.

After a little bit, I burp her, and the other nurse brings the basinet over to take Emilia down for another checkup. She is getting three things done. And not everyone does it, but we have decided that for us and our baby it's the right thing. She is getting the heal stick test. That's only taking a tiny bit of blood to screen for a range of different conditions. Then she is getting the vitamin K shot which is important because babies don't actually produce vitamin K in the womb, which means they don't have it when they are born. But vitamin K Is what makes your blood cloth, and that's obviously important if you were to bleed. Then she is getting the hepatis B shot which is something that the CDC recommends. Me and my sisters, and Alex and his siblings all of all of this when we were born too. They are also doing a test for her heart, only like checking her heartrate, and then they asked to do a hearing test so we said they could do that too.

The doctor finished stitching me up and now another nurse is sliding on one of those infamous mesh panties with the huge pad in it. Its more or less a diaper, let's be honest about that, but it's necessary, I guess. "i just need to press on your stomach" the nurse says, and I hold Alex's hand while she does it, it hurst like hell, but they're done soon.

After she also takes out the epidural and clean that all up, we are wheeled into a recovery room where we will be until we are discharged "I will swing by to check on you in a little bit. Emilia will be back when they are done. You're now free to eat and drink, but I will be back in a bit to drain your bladder again" the nurse says before leaving. Since I have had the epidural, I can't move from the bed until it has worn off, so they drain it, which is gross, but when I see the reward for all of this, my beautiful little daughter, I don't care.

"Alex could you help me put on one of those nursing bras" I ask him, and he does that. It doesn't feel nice having my boobs out, they have gotten big and are rock hard, not to mention that they are leaking and have been leaking during the pregnancy from time to time. So if I have a bra on, I can put in breast pads which helps.

"i'm so proud of you sweetie" my mom says as she comes over to us and I get emotional as I give her a hug. She has stayed a bit out of the way once Emilia was here to let Alex and I have that first moment for just the two of us, I noticed her doing that, but now I really want my mom.,

"Thank you" I say and sniffle. "But the most important thing. Are you proud of yourself. Because you have carried that little girl for over 37 weeks, you've given her all the nutrients she needs and kept her safe. And now you pushed her into the world. That's really incredible. Now you're not just a daughter anymore, or a fiancé, you're a mom sweetie. Now you have a daughter, you're a mommy" she says and her voice breaks as she is talking which makes me cry too.