Amos' birth

As you have probably heard, the baby is here! He was born on Monday, September 26, 2016. He weighed 7 lbs, 10 oz. at birth and was 21 inches long. Not a large baby by American standards (or even for my family, we normally have 8.5 and up pound babies), but that is large for down here. Amos is strong and healthy and packs food away like there is no tomorrow. He doesn’t spit up, and is now drinking 3 ounces of formula at a time! There is certainly no failure to thrive praise Adonai!

My Mom arrived in Santo Domingo on Sept. 25^th in the afternoon. Her flights went well and smoothly and we had a good evening getting some baby stuff and eating mofongo for dinner, because that is what I wanted. Monday came and I was prepared for my c-section. I had been told all this time that and exception to the no people in the room policy would be allowed because of me needing a translator. Obviously, Jonathan was the person that would be allowed in. However, as soon as they wheeled me in they slammed the doors and would not let Jonathan or my Mom into the room even though I speak little Spanish. I did ask for Jonathan but my request was refused, by my doctor who had told me he could be there. Needless to say, I was very upset.

After I was in the room, it took them 15-20 minutes to administer the epidural because I required 3-4 shots. Apparently, I need a higher dosage to not feel anything. This does not surprise me as it has happened in the past with numbing medicine and such that I needed more than just one shot. However, they did finally succeed in getting my completely numb and the procedure continued.

I am not going to lie; I was fighting back tears at this point. I was scared stiff, I could not understand what they were saying, they kept sticking me with needles and my family wasn’t around. Both grandparents and Jonathan were in the waiting room and I had to go through this alone. I have never needed Adonai more, and he comforted me as I walked through it.

At noon on the dot Amos was born with nice strong healthy lungs. The doctor the got him was Jonathan’s sister (one request that was honored) and she made sure he was healthy, cleaned him up, dressed him, and took him out to meet Jonathan, my Mom and Grecia. After hearing Amos cry, I relaxed and actually fell asleep for a few minutes while the doctors stitched me up. I was met in the hall by Mom and Jonathan who assured me the baby was healthy and the face splitting smile on Jonathan’s face told me he was everything Jonathan wanted.

I was then taken to my room for recovery. I was laying perfectly flat and I was not allowed to talk or move my head to prevent the epidural headache. I did well about not lifting my head but the not talking was hard. I did pretty good though and I was successful in not getting the headache.

I could not eat, drink or nurse until Tuesday but Jonathan’s family came to see the baby and Mom stayed the night to formula feed and care for the baby while I was incapacitated. Mom brought her Spanish dictionary too so that we could somewhat communicate with medical people when Jonathan was not around. We managed but it was hard.

During the night I started bleeding really hard. The nurse (only one on duty) decided to wait until morning to change my sheets. At 7am she came in, told me to stand up, go take a sponge bath then come back to bed. She sat me up for 30 seconds, stood me up and started stripping the sheets. Mom had to help me to the bathroom and help me sponge bathe and change clothes. Now, I had not eaten since about 8am Monday morning and then it was only broth. I also had been lying on my back since noon the day before and other than saline, had no fluids and I had lost a lot of blood. I stood up in the bathroom for about 5 minutes but then passed out. Fortunately, Mom is a former paramedic and was un-phased as she caught me on my way down; preventing a concussion from hitting the sink or tile floor (and the baby was in his bed asleep too so that was good). She called for the nurse who, of course, did not come, but I came too again pretty fast after hitting the floor and was able to get up with her help and hobble back to bed.  Breakfast was brought in a little bit later which helped with my dizziness. When Jonathan arrived later that morning, he told the doctors about it and they were not pleased. My doctor was supposed to get me up and about, not the night nurse. But all is well and that was my only fainting spell.

I was allowed to start nursing Tuesday evening and it went fairly well. Wednesday Jonathan had to return to work but mid-morning I had a muscular cramp that caused a lot of pain and made breathing difficult. I then had an anxiety attack because I felt like I could not breathe. Mom got the doctor and I called Jonathan so he could translate over the phone. Both the doctor on duty and my doctor were talked too and everything was cleared up. However, I was still having my anxiety attack so Jonathan took an emergency personal day and came to the clinic. I was under observation for an hour or so and then released. Wednesday afternoon Amos and I were finally home.

Wednesday night was rough as we had not bought more formula and I had a small milk supply. I nursed literally all night but it just wasn’t enough. At 4:45am Amos finally fell asleep and at 5:00 Jonathan went to the pharmacy and bought formula. He then headed to work. Sadly, Amos had to go get some vaccines that day (Thursday) but he was so exhausted from the night that he hardly cried. However, things began to look up after that and it has been as smooth sailing as can be expected from that point on.

As for my healing, it is going slow. I have been more active then I should have been so I am trying to force myself to slow down. Due to pain and soreness, we still use formula at night so I can have a break from nursing. Jonathan and my Mom are taking turns during the night and I nurse as needed. However, during the day I only nurse and so far Amos is doing very well with that. It is just a short term solution, but it is working for now. Amos and I each see our doctors on tomorrow so we will have an update on both of us then.  

Well, that is pretty much it. It was a difficult delivery, but Praise God, Amos is here safe and sound. And now begins the healing process for me and the growing process for Amos. Until next week; may the Lord bless your homes.