Darian Elijah Pillay
Cade Israel Pillay
Friday, May 25, 2012
Sweet little wonder
It's hard to believe that a month has gone by since little Darian was born. But on the other hand, everyday has been such a blur that it's not too hard to comprehend. In between the feeds, baths, sleeps and nappy changes, that we've been parents for a full month.
What a joy our little boy has been. When I say I have the best baby in the world, I am truly not boasting or tooting anyone's horn. He has been such a blessing, he sleeps when he is meant to sleep, eats when he is meant ot eat and just does what needs to be done with no complaint. We've had a bit of a problem with winds but he never complains or cries about it. We've tried it all but everything seems to have the same effect and so we've just learned that even if it means sitting with him for half an hour to get him to break a wind, it's something that needs to be done. We've tried to put him into a routine and although we have a few days of him wanting to suck all day long he's been great. Deb, our midwife and our Plunket nurse are both really impressed with him and the progress he's made. He has steadily put on weight and is now a whopping 4.5kg's. We've had no issues with him at all and can't be more grateful.
I've had nights where I sleep for 4 hours but for the most part I'm getting a good 7 hours a night because he sleeps when he is meant to and wakes up every 3 hours for a feed.
Not much has happened in the last month, except of course the arrival of Cameron's parents and Bradley and Shamini who are all very besotted with our little man.
We go for his 6 week check up in a few days and this week is Deb's official last visit with us, that's going to be a hard one to deal with as we've been so attached to her for so long.
Here's the latest pics of little Darian.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Darian Elijah Pillay - The Birth Story
I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since my last blog entry, well in my defense it's been quite an eventful 2 weeks. We've welcomed into the world our son, Darian Elijah on April 16th. And we cannot be happier with our wee boy. He is the ultimate best gift in the world. Labour was not the easiest thing to endure, (and all the mums in the world say AMEN) but it definitely was worth every last minute. When I look at this beautiful face, all I can say is thank you Lord.
From the last blog entry I made mention of the Braxton Hicks contractions that I was getting, well in actual fact it was not just that, it was actually the start of early labour, and well, I was unaware that this was happening. I did ask my midwife and she said to me that is probably wasn't and that I should just take it easy. Well, we went through the entire weekend like this. The contractions came and went very irregularly, about every 10-15 minutes and by Saturday night they were coming in every 3-5 minutes then would go back to every 10 minutes then I would have half an hour of nothing and then it would start all over again. It was the LONGEST weekend of my life because I was in so much pain and discomfort. By Sunday I couldn't manage any longer and we got hold of Deb and she arranged to come by and examine me. When she did she noticed that I was only 1cm dilated and almost fully effaced (my cervix was down to 1/2cm) but because baby was still in a posterior position my cervix was asynclitic, which means that the position of baby in the uterus is to one side causing baby's head to not be in line with the birth canal. In other words his head was in front of my cervix, she then had to pull my cervix to the front, which I can tell you is one of the most painful things to endure! So what was happening was that I was having contractions but because baby was pushing in the wrong place my cervix wasn't dilating. Deb then told me to rest and take panadol, and lay on my left side and do things that would encourage him to get into the right position. She guessed that within the next 16-24 hours we would go into established labour. So I rested and took panadol and rested!! And prayed that baby would turn and that my cervix wouldn't go back and would stay in the right position. That night we had minimal sleep as the contractions, although still irregular were getting worse and worse in terms of pain. Cameron actually slept with a pen & pad in one hand and a watch in the other so he could time the contractions. But by morning, our position hadn't changed. Deb came by at lunchtime for another exam and although I was now fully effaced, I was only 2cm dilated. Baby was still posterior which scared me a little because I knew (and she kept reminding me) that I would have a painful back labour if he didn't get into the right position. She then gave me a herbal birth mix which would encourage the contractions and told me to come to the hospital by 6pm that evening for another exam. So I took her herbal mix, 2 drops on my tongue every 10 minutes and suffered through contraction after contraction after contraction, but they were still so irregular. By 4pm we decided to have an early dinner in case I went into labour and I then went and had a long, hot shower to help with the contractions. By 4:30pm Cameron called Deb and told her I wasn't managing with the pain and that we were gonna head off to the hospital. We live no more than 5km's from the hospital but it felt like the longest car ride I ever experienced. We got caught in peak time traffic on the motorway and got to the hospital just after 5pm. We met Deb there who told us in no uncertain terms that we were not leaving this hospital without a baby! By 5:30pm I was admitted and was changed into a hospital gown. Deb did another exam shortly after and found that I was 5cm dilated and was in established labour. She then broke my waters and got me some gas for pain relief. The contractions were still coming in hard & fast and still irregularly. Baby was still in the wrong position and that meant the contractions were "coupling", this meant that instead of having a contraction every 3 minutes I was having 2 consecutive contractions every 3-5 mins. Needless to say it was extremely painful and by 6pm I had aptly requested for the epidural!!! Sadly for me, both the on call anaethetist and obstetrician were in surgery so it was quite a wait for an examination and the drug. Let me tell you one thing about me, I am a sucker for pain, if the pain threshold went from 1-10 I would be somewhere around 1.5. I cannot take pain and labour pain was no walk in the park. The Anaethetist, a lovely Nordic lady named Mikayla, only came in to see me about 7pm, I remember her asking me if I knew what the risks were and I don't know if I was rude in my response but I said something about yes I did my research! All I wanted was the DRUGS!!! I had about 3 or 4 contractions while she was busy giving me the epidural. I remember Cameron standing in front of me and trying to keep me calm. I felt so vulnerable in that moment and all I can remember is him telling me how great I was doing and how proud he was of me. After the epidural was given I remember looking around the room and my mother was nowhere in sight, poor thing couldn't handle me in pain so quickly left the room. She came back a few minutes after and was amazed at how calm I was. I could finally talk and take in the fact that I was in labour and about to have this baby. By 19:45 Deb noticed that baby's heartbeat was dropping and quickly called in the hospital midwife and the obstetrician, it happened twice in about 5-10 minutes and they quickly got me prepped for theatre in the event I had to be rushed into surgery for an Emergency C-Section. I was so calm about it though, I wasn't afraid & I just committed it to God. I knew that I was in good hands and that nothing was going to go wrong, my mother disappeared round about then as well, she later told me she was going into the waiting room to pray every time she disappeared. Cameron stood right next to me throughout this and kept checking if I was ok, he knows me so well and thought I would be panicking with all this happening, but I was just so calm and kept reassuring him that I was good. Deb and the rest of the team kept an eagles eye on baby's heart rate and because the monitor kept moving they decided to put an internal monitor on baby's head to get a better reading on his heart rate. After the two decelarations his heartbeat got stronger and remained there for the rest of the evening. Although I was still prepped for theatre, we never got there. Deb told me to rest and sleep, which I did. The last thing I remember was telling Deb I could feel the contractions again, she then gave me a top up and I told her that I could feel the pressure to push. She examined me & I was fully dilated and ready to push, this was at 22:10. It happened so quickly. One minute I was asleep the next I was actively pushing. When preparing for the birth, Cameron would always say he would not be down the business end but come time for baby to be birthed, he was the first one to check baby's head crowing and the first one to be down there checking things out! Deb made sure he was involved in everything and really made him feel part of the whole experience, I really appreciated that. Even my mother who said she would stay in the waiting room so she didn't have to see me in pain, was right there holding the mirror up so I could see baby's head, etc. They were both so involved, it was incredible. I pushed for a full half hour and baby was born at 22:40 on Monday the 16th of April. It was THE most amazing experience of my life.
We had been toying around with the name Darian Elijah for months now, we knew we wanted the name Elijah as a middle name but couldn't decide on a first name. A few months ago we came across the name Darian and loved the meaning, "Upholder of the Good". And we kept saying it over & over & over again so by the time he was born we both knew that this was the name for him. I remember after I got the epidural and was calm, I kept saying to Cameron is that his name, are we gonna spell it "Darian" or "Darien" which has a whole different meaning, "Gift". By the time I was fully dilated Cameron said "A-N, we're gonna spell it DARIAN" so when he was born we already knew what his name would be.
Darian was 3.545kg's at birth and was 52cm in length. And UBER-CUTE!!! The moment Deb placed him on me I cried, I cried for what seemed forever. It was so hard to believe that after all this time, after all that pain and discomfort, he was here, in my arms.
I was then moved to the ward and stayed for a few nights. When Cameron left that night I cried, it was the first time we'd spent a night apart and it was scary. Not because I was alone with baby but cos I hated being away from Cameron, called me a baby why don't you!!! LOL! But I didn't sleep a wink that night, although Darian did, he slept soundly and was a real champion with the breastfeeding. It took me a few time to get it right but he knew exactly what he was doing and by morning I didn't have to call the hospital midwives to help me with getting him latched. Everything was going well but Deb asked me to stay one more night just as a precaution, but the midwife on call that night said to me that she was happy and that if I wanted to go home that morning they would arrange it with Deb. So that morning I called Deb told her I wanted to go home and she came in to discharge me. Both mum & Cameron were excellent help for me and they took turns each day that I was in the hospital to come spend time with me so that I could have a moment to go shower or sleep. I think the first night when Cameron was there, I slept while he watched baby and he stayed in the same position with baby until I woke up, it was priceless! We got home on Wednesday morning, and he looked so cute in his capsule (car seat).
He actually was so well behaved in the car seat, he slept all the way home (we still stopped at the pharmacy for a few things we needed for him & I) and when we got home he was so peaceful we actually left him in there a few minutes before taking him out. The feeling of bringing him home was so overwhelming. I mean when I left there was no guarantee that I would come back with him (until we got to the hospital and Deb gave it to us) so actually coming home with him just took my breath away. And the fact that I wasn't on that uncomfortable hospital bed and had two extra sets of hands to hold him and take care of him while I took care of myself was the best.
Mum then gave him a good bath and a rub down and he was all settled in.
Our first few nights were a bit rough, he just wouldn't settle and I would take him to my mum in the middle of the night for her to break his winds and settle him and would have a little sleep while she sat up with him. But other than that, and that's mostly due to him not being able to break his winds and me not being able to do it properly every time, he has been amazing. Once we got into his routine he has been feeding every 3 hours and sleeping in between, he wakes up just before his next feed is due and once he's had a nappy change is ready for his feed and another sleep. The nights have been much better too, I've been having a good 3-4hour sleeps at night and am getting used to the bouts of sleep, so much so that I am wide awake through his feeds, the first few days I would battle to stay awake through his feeds and would rouse Cameron so that he could talk to me while I fed baby and wouldn't fall asleep. But honestly, we have been blessed with an amazing little boy and cannot complain. The last few days he has been really struggling with his winds and for the life of me all the pharmacies and supermarkets in Auckland have run out of gripe water (problems with the manufacturer/wholesalers) so we've stuck with Infacol (suggested by Deb) and my mother's Dutch medicines, which I have just recently stopped as I don't want to over-medicate him with different things.
We now are looking at arranging his dedication in a few weeks, so that we can have it done while all the family is here. So that's my next organising project. Cameron's parents arrive in less than 2 weeks (May 10th) and Bradley & Shamini arrive on the 22nd. So we are so looking forward to Darian meeting his family, and my first Mother's Day on the 13th.
In the past 2 weeks Deb has come round to see him quite often, at his first weigh in post-birth, he put on 180g and from that weigh-in last week til this week, he has put on a whopping 310g, placing him at 3.880kg's. He is filling out so well and is so strong, that Deb's suggested starting tummy time for a few minutes a day so he can work on his strong neck muscles. He is feeding very well and as a result has a nappy change every 3-4 hours (in between feeds and naps). He has really long bouts of awake periods where he is getting accustomed to his surroundings and our voices. He loves music and is very responsive to singing or music playing (Loves his Daddy's singing). He also loves his baths although hates being naked(go figure). The minute you take his clothes or nappy off he starts crying and moaning but once he is on the water he is calm and happy.
We are so blessed with our little Darian and have enjoyed every minute of every day we've shared with him.
Here he is at 2 weeks old...
From the last blog entry I made mention of the Braxton Hicks contractions that I was getting, well in actual fact it was not just that, it was actually the start of early labour, and well, I was unaware that this was happening. I did ask my midwife and she said to me that is probably wasn't and that I should just take it easy. Well, we went through the entire weekend like this. The contractions came and went very irregularly, about every 10-15 minutes and by Saturday night they were coming in every 3-5 minutes then would go back to every 10 minutes then I would have half an hour of nothing and then it would start all over again. It was the LONGEST weekend of my life because I was in so much pain and discomfort. By Sunday I couldn't manage any longer and we got hold of Deb and she arranged to come by and examine me. When she did she noticed that I was only 1cm dilated and almost fully effaced (my cervix was down to 1/2cm) but because baby was still in a posterior position my cervix was asynclitic, which means that the position of baby in the uterus is to one side causing baby's head to not be in line with the birth canal. In other words his head was in front of my cervix, she then had to pull my cervix to the front, which I can tell you is one of the most painful things to endure! So what was happening was that I was having contractions but because baby was pushing in the wrong place my cervix wasn't dilating. Deb then told me to rest and take panadol, and lay on my left side and do things that would encourage him to get into the right position. She guessed that within the next 16-24 hours we would go into established labour. So I rested and took panadol and rested!! And prayed that baby would turn and that my cervix wouldn't go back and would stay in the right position. That night we had minimal sleep as the contractions, although still irregular were getting worse and worse in terms of pain. Cameron actually slept with a pen & pad in one hand and a watch in the other so he could time the contractions. But by morning, our position hadn't changed. Deb came by at lunchtime for another exam and although I was now fully effaced, I was only 2cm dilated. Baby was still posterior which scared me a little because I knew (and she kept reminding me) that I would have a painful back labour if he didn't get into the right position. She then gave me a herbal birth mix which would encourage the contractions and told me to come to the hospital by 6pm that evening for another exam. So I took her herbal mix, 2 drops on my tongue every 10 minutes and suffered through contraction after contraction after contraction, but they were still so irregular. By 4pm we decided to have an early dinner in case I went into labour and I then went and had a long, hot shower to help with the contractions. By 4:30pm Cameron called Deb and told her I wasn't managing with the pain and that we were gonna head off to the hospital. We live no more than 5km's from the hospital but it felt like the longest car ride I ever experienced. We got caught in peak time traffic on the motorway and got to the hospital just after 5pm. We met Deb there who told us in no uncertain terms that we were not leaving this hospital without a baby! By 5:30pm I was admitted and was changed into a hospital gown. Deb did another exam shortly after and found that I was 5cm dilated and was in established labour. She then broke my waters and got me some gas for pain relief. The contractions were still coming in hard & fast and still irregularly. Baby was still in the wrong position and that meant the contractions were "coupling", this meant that instead of having a contraction every 3 minutes I was having 2 consecutive contractions every 3-5 mins. Needless to say it was extremely painful and by 6pm I had aptly requested for the epidural!!! Sadly for me, both the on call anaethetist and obstetrician were in surgery so it was quite a wait for an examination and the drug. Let me tell you one thing about me, I am a sucker for pain, if the pain threshold went from 1-10 I would be somewhere around 1.5. I cannot take pain and labour pain was no walk in the park. The Anaethetist, a lovely Nordic lady named Mikayla, only came in to see me about 7pm, I remember her asking me if I knew what the risks were and I don't know if I was rude in my response but I said something about yes I did my research! All I wanted was the DRUGS!!! I had about 3 or 4 contractions while she was busy giving me the epidural. I remember Cameron standing in front of me and trying to keep me calm. I felt so vulnerable in that moment and all I can remember is him telling me how great I was doing and how proud he was of me. After the epidural was given I remember looking around the room and my mother was nowhere in sight, poor thing couldn't handle me in pain so quickly left the room. She came back a few minutes after and was amazed at how calm I was. I could finally talk and take in the fact that I was in labour and about to have this baby. By 19:45 Deb noticed that baby's heartbeat was dropping and quickly called in the hospital midwife and the obstetrician, it happened twice in about 5-10 minutes and they quickly got me prepped for theatre in the event I had to be rushed into surgery for an Emergency C-Section. I was so calm about it though, I wasn't afraid & I just committed it to God. I knew that I was in good hands and that nothing was going to go wrong, my mother disappeared round about then as well, she later told me she was going into the waiting room to pray every time she disappeared. Cameron stood right next to me throughout this and kept checking if I was ok, he knows me so well and thought I would be panicking with all this happening, but I was just so calm and kept reassuring him that I was good. Deb and the rest of the team kept an eagles eye on baby's heart rate and because the monitor kept moving they decided to put an internal monitor on baby's head to get a better reading on his heart rate. After the two decelarations his heartbeat got stronger and remained there for the rest of the evening. Although I was still prepped for theatre, we never got there. Deb told me to rest and sleep, which I did. The last thing I remember was telling Deb I could feel the contractions again, she then gave me a top up and I told her that I could feel the pressure to push. She examined me & I was fully dilated and ready to push, this was at 22:10. It happened so quickly. One minute I was asleep the next I was actively pushing. When preparing for the birth, Cameron would always say he would not be down the business end but come time for baby to be birthed, he was the first one to check baby's head crowing and the first one to be down there checking things out! Deb made sure he was involved in everything and really made him feel part of the whole experience, I really appreciated that. Even my mother who said she would stay in the waiting room so she didn't have to see me in pain, was right there holding the mirror up so I could see baby's head, etc. They were both so involved, it was incredible. I pushed for a full half hour and baby was born at 22:40 on Monday the 16th of April. It was THE most amazing experience of my life.
We had been toying around with the name Darian Elijah for months now, we knew we wanted the name Elijah as a middle name but couldn't decide on a first name. A few months ago we came across the name Darian and loved the meaning, "Upholder of the Good". And we kept saying it over & over & over again so by the time he was born we both knew that this was the name for him. I remember after I got the epidural and was calm, I kept saying to Cameron is that his name, are we gonna spell it "Darian" or "Darien" which has a whole different meaning, "Gift". By the time I was fully dilated Cameron said "A-N, we're gonna spell it DARIAN" so when he was born we already knew what his name would be.
Darian was 3.545kg's at birth and was 52cm in length. And UBER-CUTE!!! The moment Deb placed him on me I cried, I cried for what seemed forever. It was so hard to believe that after all this time, after all that pain and discomfort, he was here, in my arms.
I was then moved to the ward and stayed for a few nights. When Cameron left that night I cried, it was the first time we'd spent a night apart and it was scary. Not because I was alone with baby but cos I hated being away from Cameron, called me a baby why don't you!!! LOL! But I didn't sleep a wink that night, although Darian did, he slept soundly and was a real champion with the breastfeeding. It took me a few time to get it right but he knew exactly what he was doing and by morning I didn't have to call the hospital midwives to help me with getting him latched. Everything was going well but Deb asked me to stay one more night just as a precaution, but the midwife on call that night said to me that she was happy and that if I wanted to go home that morning they would arrange it with Deb. So that morning I called Deb told her I wanted to go home and she came in to discharge me. Both mum & Cameron were excellent help for me and they took turns each day that I was in the hospital to come spend time with me so that I could have a moment to go shower or sleep. I think the first night when Cameron was there, I slept while he watched baby and he stayed in the same position with baby until I woke up, it was priceless! We got home on Wednesday morning, and he looked so cute in his capsule (car seat).
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