Eliza's Birth Story pt. 4

Mom, Dad, Eliza, and I made it home Friday evening around 7:30pm. It was a painful ride home; I sat on my Boppy pillow the whole time. Standing, even if only for a little bit, was excruciatingly painful. When we got home, Dad went to bed, and Mom was trying to complete some task when Eliza started crying. I had to pick her up, and bounce with her. It was awful, and I was literally in tears trying to stand. I got to my bed and didn't really move for the next few days, except to go pee. Friday night was a rough time because I had to figure out how to change her diapers and take care of her while barely being able to move. We set up a whole changing station on the bed, but it was still very difficult for me to take care of her.

On Saturday, Matt was able to come back to Mobile and help out. My sister, three of my nephews, and my niece also came over that day to see Eliza and help out where they could. We all had a fun time hanging out with each other celebrating this new joy in our lives. On Sunday, I stood, coughed, and pulled a stitch. Then I was in even worse pain than I had been in before. It was well over a month before I could sit and do tasks even semi-normally again. My Boppy pillow became my best friend for a little while there; I did not go anywhere without it. I sat on it in the car, in chairs, in booths, literally anywhere that was not a couch.

Around 2-3 weeks postpartum, we found yeast spots on Eliza, and we had thrush. She had spots in her neck rolls, arm pits, leg pits, and anywhere else where there was a roll... and she had LOTS of rolls.. I had to make sure each time I changed her diaper to wash those spots off. I tried bathing her one day, by myself, and my middle sister and her husband (thank God for them) ended up coming over to help me. At this point, I still was not standing up fully on my own, so trying to bathe her was almost impossible. My parents were at the hospital because my dad had to have a stent put in. My sister and brother-in-law also helped dry her off and fully get medicine on all of her spots. It took a few weeks to get the yeast spots under control, but we finally did it.

Around 5 weeks postpartum Eliza would start screaming for HOURS, completely inconsolable at night time. I was still in so much pain from having her that I could not stand up and bounce her. My mom (thank God for her) had to do it most of the time, because I physically could not stand and bounce her. Please note that my mom had major neck surgery in July, so about four to five months before this time. She was not really in the place to be standing and bouncing her either, but she was better off than I was. My dad was also in a bit of a rough place physically too; we were all just an interesting show. I started cutting out gluten to see if that's what was making her scream. We were not getting anywhere, but I knew that it took a while. I just continued to keep it out of my diet. One day, we went to my sisters, and before we went there, I had a coffee with dairy creamer that I hadn't had for a few days. A few hours after being at my sisters, she started her screaming, and it hit me that dairy was the culprit. I immediately cut out dairy, and she became a completely different baby. She stopped screaming for hours at night. Her gas cut way down. I have read since then, that it takes about 6 weeks to get dairy out of your system, so you probably will not see a difference in a baby until those 6 weeks are over; however, I noticed an IMMEDIATE difference in her.

When I went to my 6 week appointment, the doctor that I was seeing ended up cutting one of my stitches because she determined that it was way too tight. That gave me a little bit of relief, but I still needed my Boppy pillow for a WHILE after.

I believe that was the last bit of the main struggles with Eliza's postpartum experience. If you have made it this far, thank you so much for joining! I know that with my pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum experiences with Eliza, I could not have done it on my own. I am BEYOND thankful for my people during that period. We would not have made it without them. I send prayers, love, and grace to anyone who is trying to do it on their own. God gave us people for a reason; lean on them! If you do not have any people or you are going through this on your own, please reach out to me! I would love to love on you, pray for you, and just be there for you!

A HUGE shoutout to: Matt

Mom and Dad (Matcine and Harvey)

Matt's parents (Susan and Kent)

Karla, Caleb, and their whole family

Katherine and Nick

Stacey Bufkin (my phenomenal midwife)

T'Lynn Farmer, Mrs. Margo Buisson, and CJ Rutland

Christina Villalobos

Janie Hitch (the OB that I got sent to)

Kate Fillingim

Dr. Sam Chirichella

AND all of our assorted family and friends that helped along the way