Lia

Meet my daughter


Amalia Lapid Juan

She turned one week old today. Well, tonight, to be precise. After 19 hours of labor with regular and excruciating contractions, she refused to descend and my cervix refused to dilate more than 6cm. They did a C-section on me to find that her umbilical cord was around her neck. This was at 9:07pm on February 16, 2006.

I might give a detailed labor story next time. They weren't kidding when they called it LABOR. But for now, i have to hurry with this update because it's been over two hours since my darling's last feeding, and so she'll wake up any minuted.

It's been the most eventful 7 days of my life! And of Lia's of course. Every feeding is an event, every poop, every burp. And I wish I could have told you all what's been happening on a day to day report but right now, we're camped out in the living room downstairs where I have easy access to the only bathroom in the house. And it's the first time I've been upstairs where the internet computer is, because we're going back to the doctor this afternoon to have my wound's dressing removed. Which meant I had to put on something other than dasters (house dresses), which lead to the frightful discovery that I HAVE NO CLOTHES! Nothing fits. Because when Lia left my womb, what was left was a hugely grotesque Mimi. I have to wear a binder to keep her tucked in, and to help with the pain. I CAN'T WAIT till I can work on getting rid of this thing! I want to be like Heidi Klum and Kate Hudson and get my figure back to exactly as it was before I got pregnant.

But enough about me, more about her! My dearest darling sunshine of my life. Labor was awful, breastfeeding is painful, walking and peeing is a pain, and taking a shower is like a full body workout. But just looking at her makes it all worth it. Mike is no less ecstatic, he ADORES are lovely baby daughter, he changes her diapers more than anyone else, frets at every hiccup and has waged war on all mosquitos in the known universe. He wishes he could breastfeed! He obviously doesn't know how painful it is.

Speaking of breastfeeding, it was relatively easy for me, because she latched on right away when she was given to me 6 hours after she was born and I have been breastfeeding ever since. Except the time in the hospital when I got a fever and she couldn't come near me and she had to drink glucose water from a cup and my poor husband was beside himself with worry. Fortunately, the fever subsided and we went back to breastfeeding right away. It is, however, WAY more painful than I had expected, and there's all sorts of stuff about it that I must now admit could be put in a whole text book. My tito, who's a neonatologist, came over yesterday to look at Lia and showed me some videos (in his Palm. sobrang astig.) of the proper way to breastfeed, the different holds and positions and all that. There's details like, the first 10 mins of breastmilk is rich in protein and the rest is rich in fat. So if you want protein-rich milk for your baby, feed her 10 mins at a time on each breast. Astig no? Too bad I'm too tamad to switch breasts. Oh! And that malunggay capsules are really good for breastfeeding mothers. He's the expert. I now take those capsules 3 times a day. And now I'm producing more milk than she wants to drink and woke up this morning with huge wet spots on my bedsheet from milk leaking out of my boobs. It's crazy! We have to tickle her foot to keep her awake while she's feeding otherwise she'd fall asleep 10 minutes into latching on. Which we shouldn't allow daw, said my doctor tito jojo.

Sigh. I'm a mother! I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. For now, I just want to be able to walk without pain, enjoying how loving and tender and excited mike is about his daughter, and get enough rest in between.

Ok, I have to go eat now, have to see the doctor in about an hour. We'll be moving up here tonight so there should be more updates and photos from now on.