Keeping Me Humble

I've been wanting for several days now to fully write the narrative that was Bryony's and my birth experience, but it is long, complicated and full of emotion (at least for me) and I want to give it it's full due. So, I'll wait until I have time to write the entire story rather than give a fragmented account on the fly.


In any case, I thought I'd just give a few little tidbits from her first week of life that have kept us busy:

Bryony welcomed her first visitor, Mrs. Gonzalez, last Wednesday.
Mrs. G. declared that Bryony is actually her baby; with all the black hair, obviously she doesn't belong to either Adam or me, and since Mrs. G. once had a full head of black hair, it's easy to see that I was just carrying this little girl for ten months to pass her along to her real mother--Mrs. G.

Thursday I found that Bryony had vomited blood all over her bassinet. I was petrified. I got Adam out of the shower and we drove her back to the hospital--this time the pediatric emergency room--where they took us in straight away. Luckily, we found that Bryony is just fine--her blood work checked out great. It's actually her mother who's got the issue; after several days of nursing, I had some seriously raw, cracked nipples that were draining blood, which she was ingesting during nursing. I was advised to discontinue nursing until my nipples healed, and pump in the meantime.
So the breast pump and I have gotten to know each other quite well. It's mutual dislike. But my nipples are pretty much healed and fortunately, Bryony has gone right back to nursing from the breast. I am very happy.

Yesterday (Monday), I woke up to find that my incision was draining to the nth degree.
There was serous fluid all over my night clothes, and I ended up soaking through several towels I placed over the incision. I had Adam check out the issue and he said it looked as though I might have busted a suture, so once again, we went back to the hospital. After finally finding the right doctor's office, a nurse and doctor inspected the area and determined that it was not infected but just draining, which accounts for the additional pain I've been having. Most of the drainage has subsided today, so hopefully I won't be ruining any more clothing!

Bryony is doing just fine, just crying and eating and pooping like any normal baby would.
We're still trying to get her switched over from her night-active schedule to a day-active one, with little luck. You'd be surprised how difficult it is to keep a newborn awake...all the things that would keep an adult awake--bouncing, singing, talking, carrying her around--all seem to put a newborn to sleep. I'm not quite to the "been driven crazy" level yet, as I continue to put it all in perspective, but I am definitely being put in my place, day after day, by a baby. It's quite the eye-opener.