Hi! My name is Amanda. I am 22, and am happily married for 2 years this July to the most amazing guy that I've ever known named Cody. It is thanks to this man, that I am proud to say that I am the mother to a beautiful little girl named Chessa born 10/7/2009, and a handsome little man named Liam, born 6/10/2011.
My first birth was a hospital birth that went perfect, as was my second birth. I couldn't have asked for better hospital deliveries. My doctor and I have a very close bond, and she knows exactly how I feel about certain things, and I know that if anything happens, she will know exactly what to do, with my consent that is. What I've come to find that I believe strongly in, in my time being a mother, is:
vaccinating on time.
circumcising right after birth.
breastfeeding primarily.
baby-wearing.
non-CIO.
co-sleeping.
co-bathing.
healthy foods AND junk foods.
pro-choice.
Our first daughter, Chessa Jean-Marie, was born at 3:53am on October 7th, 2011; all 6lbs 13.5oz and 21in of her. Long story short, I went into labor at home a few hours after bringing my husband to work. Once I started timing contractions I realized that they were close enough that I should probably get to the hospital, and ended up having my mother come get me to bring me in. at 10pm, we arrived, got set up in a room, and when the nurses finally checked me, I was dilated to 4cm and fully effaced. By 11pm when my husband arrived, I was dilated to 6cm, and doing fairly well without pain medication. Around 2am, things started getting pretty intense, and after being checked again, we realized it was because I had hit transition and was at 8cm! About another hour, a shot of Stadol that really did nothing but make me dizzy through three contractions, and I was at 9cm, and my doctor who had arrived earlier had me move to my left side because all that was left was a bit of lip before I could start pushing. I tell you what, being on my side was the worst possible pain that I could ever imagine...Finally though, after maybe two contractions, I said that I needed to push. After being checked and told I was 10cm and could push, it took about 15 minutes for our beautiful screaming bundle of joy to come into the world. Luckily, I only tore enough to need two stitches. Chessa did AMAZING during the whole labor...her heart rate stayed at 145 through the entire thing, and she scored 10/10's on both apgars at 1 and 5 minutes.
We had a bit of trouble with breastfeeding right off the bat, I believe mainly because I was not allowed to do what I thought and knew was right from the beginning...let her sleep! I had nurses coming in every 2-3 hours, forcing me to try to wake her up to try and eat, and I think that it was that experience that was the worst part of my hospital stay. However, that being said, Chessa was given small amounts of formula, and needless to say didn't lose any weight between birth and her one week appointment. That, I can say, I am happy for.
Chessa breastfed/bottle fed breast milk for about 4 months, before we started having issues again. I partially blame this on the major difference between the bottle nipple and my nipples...and mostly blame it on the fact that as a first time mother I was insecure and too self conscious to whip out my boob in public to feed her without having to drag out the blanket, etc etc. This is probably the thing that I most regret, is that I wasn't able to feed her for longer because of these insecurities.
6 weeks:
3 months:
As of right now, Chessa is a happy, healthy 2 year old, who's discovered that temper tantrums make mommy go insane, and has all of her first year teeth. Her daddy and I could not be happier that we have such a wonderful, and intelligent daughter as our first born, and are looking forward to the many years that we have ahead to watch her grow and blossom into the young woman that we'd like her to be.
Liam's birth story:
http://forum.baby-gaga.com/about1765967.html
6 weeks!:
