Monday, July 20, 2009

Long Over Due…

This post is exactly four months over due. I have thought about posting many times. I’d think, well, it’s been so long, why even bother. Then I’d think, but it’ll be a great way to close the pregnancy chapter and begin a new motherhood chapter. My life when I was home with the babe was so much different. I’d go days without turning on the computer, and I loved it! Now, I’m back at work and sitting in front of one for eight hours a day and I feel like something’s missing. So I’m going to play catch up – I’m going to just do it quick, like removing a Band-Aid and move forward.

Welcome to the world:
Dominick Frank Mazzarella arrived at 10:29 a.m., on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ. Dominick weighed in at 8 pounds 13 ounces and measured 20 ½ inches long. Our lives are forever changed. Our hearts have so much love for our new little guy and we truly feel blessed to have him.



The birth:
The docs were concerned that he would be too big to fit the natural way, so I reluctantly agreed to have a c-section. And in hindsight, I’m rather glad I did. It was pretty much painless, accept for the recovery. Dr. Crane himself walked me into the OR – I liked his take charge mentality! No need to wait for a nurse to escort me! He grabbed my IV bag and off we went. The spinal was so easy! I didn’t feel a thing, hardly a pinch and all of the sudden; I couldn’t feel anything below my chest. Frank was waiting anxiously outside in his hospital supplied scrubs. He was so excited to wear his scrubs, to see an actual surgery and of course meet his new son! The c-section went as planned and within 15 minutes, out pops Dominick – chewing on the doc’s finger while he suctioned and screaming when they lifted him out.



I’ll never forget my first sight of him under the surgery lights, this very clean I might add, beautiful baby boy. I started tearing up and all I could manage to say was, “He’s so beautiful.” Frank followed him over to the warmer, taking pictures all the way while Dominick proceeded to pee on the nurses while they cleaned him up. Frank followed Dominick into the nursery to get weighed and measured. And of course our ecstatic family was waiting anxiously. My mom, step-dad and Frank’s parents and sister were all there with cameras ready. They were peaking through the blinds trying to figure out if the new baby that came into the nursery was theirs. When Frank came in, they figured it out! My favorite picture is one the nurse took of them all peering into the glass. I missed the entire show since I was in recovery.

There, I received an extra shot of something to take the edge off the pain. There I stayed through the shakes, which is NO FUN! A rotation of our family came in and out to wish their congratulations. We didn’t get back into our room for quite some time. And we got stuck in the old wing, right across the hall from the family kitchen and nurse’s station. My room didn’t even have a shower! But at least it was private. We didn’t really seem to care we got shafted on the room, because we were flying pretty high on the birth of our little boy.


I couldn’t help but think about what I’d just been through and the best way to describe it was, surreal. A life just came out of me – a living being with fingers and toes and lots of hair. I know it happens every day, but it truly felt like a miracle to me.

Hospital stay:
Frank was an absolute ANGEL in the hospital! He took care of me as if I was the Queen of England! After seeing what I went through with the surgery, Frank was more than willing to help. I could get used to this! He stepped right up when ever I needed anything, or when ever Dominick needed a diaper change. I don’t think I changed more than a few diapers in the hospital. And Frank instantly became a wiz at swaddling. My mom came up one morning to help so Frank could get a break. Dominick was still so new and slept a lot. We had to wake him for feedings and we did send him to the nursery at night. It was fun just staring at him, taking in every little bit of his wrinkled little body. We were ready to head home on Friday. We could have stayed an extra day, but we were ready to bring our new family home.


Home Coming:
My parents and Frank’s parents were so great in helping get the house ready. My mom cleaned the house from top to bottom to make sure it was spick and span for the little guy. Frank’s parents were there to greet us and had decorated the house with “it’s a boy” banners! They also went to the drug store to get my medicine and a few necessities for us. Ozzie welcomed little Dominick into the family immediately with a nice wet kiss in his ear and hasn’t left his side since.

The first few days were a blur. But having everything ready, washed and all the prep was definitely worth the time and effort.

Breastfeeding:
I was exclusively breast feeding and Dominick would eat every two hours. We started to supplement when he lost more than ten percent of his birth weight. It was a very tough decision for me to start supplementing. I was 100 percent dedicated to exclusively breastfeeding, but my body had other ideas. I never produced enough milk for Dominick and I was devastated. I would pump every two hours and nada. I did this for over twelve weeks and I’d get maybe an ounce between feedings. A full day of pumping would give me about 5 ounces and that was not enough for our little guy who was taking two ounces at each feeding. We even tried breast feeding him first, and then giving him the formula. But he wanted to eat so badly, he would get so frustrated because there wasn’t enough breast milk. He’d scream, and scream. Why put him through this if he’s getting so upset? That’s when we decided to use formula. As Frank was giving him his first bottle of formula, I was bawling! It definitely was a mix of postpartum hormones and disappointment. We’ll try again next time – that’s for sure!


That’s the story in a nut shell. I’ll add some posts chronicling his first four months. A blog name change is in order.
We refer to the above picture as "baby drunk." He's very satisfied after a nice feeding from mom.
It’s nice to be back. It’s nice to have a place to document all that life throws at me. And, my apologies again! Sorry this took so long!

1 comment:

erin said...

Oh my goodness!!!
Welcome back!
Welcome to the world little Dominick Frank!! Congratulations, you guys!