day 3 -- postpartum ups & downs

(stress + meltdown = hypertension) + prayer = (provision + gratitude + peace)

Shelby's pregnancy-induced hypertension returned with a roar overnight last night. This morning it was even higher. It didn't take long for us to realize that the stress of healing from major surgery, postpartum hormonal changes, missing her firstborn, breastfeeding challenges and adjusting to a baby who cries a lot more than Riley was finally taking its toll. After the visiting pediatrician told her that she should begin nursing Kendall every 2 hours rather than 3, that pretty much did it for her. Those of you who know of the pain of nursing in the early days can feel her dread at the thought of doing it 12x per day instead of 8. All this produced a meltdown around mid-morning...not long before our first visitors were due to arrive.

The highest blood pressure reading occurred just after she found out that our infant car seat could not be found. Neither of us can figure out what happened to it as it wasn't something that we loaned out and we have all the other parts that go with the car seat, such as the base, headrest & stroller. Her BP was 150/110, a far cry from the 120/80 or less that she normally has.

Finding out that Riley shed a few tears over the thought that he might not get to see his mama didn't help (his trip was delayed today, not canceled). She makes a great effort to pay attention to him when he comes and it broke her heart that he was missing her enough to shed some quiet tears over it. Seeing how much my boy loves his mama, made me love him even more.

So prayers were needed to a) find a car seat that could replace our missing one and b) peace over the other things for which we have little to no control over.

She did have the sense to ignore the (male) doctor who would be insensitive and short-sighted enough to add yet another burden on to a new mother. Even the nurses were rolling their eyes at his suggestion that she nurse more frequently. Newborns have a normal drop in body weight prior to a mother's milk coming in on day 3-5, so Kendall's was totally normal. Even if it had been a dramatic loss (it wasn't), we would have been fine with supplementing with formula for a couple of days to bring Kendall's weight up.

By the early evening, our prayers for a car seat were answered when two of our friends offered to let us use theirs. One is being delivered tonight (thank you Lisa!).

Additionally, Shelby enjoyed a long visit with Riley this afternoon and Kendall was a more content baby. I was able to employ some of the "Happiest Baby on the Block" techniques that were never needed with Riley, but seem to help with Kendall.

Shelby also got some encouraging feedback from the lactation consultant so this is helping her though the first week of breastfeeding in which it can be quite painful. Kendall seems to be taking to it well, so we expect that things will get better in the coming days.

By the end of the day, Shelby's blood pressure had fallen to 118/72, a sure sign that her stress level had also fallen as these prayers were answered.

Even though the experience of having a child is far easier this time than last (we actually spend our days doing normal stuff rather than in intensive care) we're still finding ourselves stretched thin. There are plenty of good parts to the day, but even so it seems that the stress level can push into the 'red zone' very easily. During the 'downs' we are very glad to know a God who tells us that He will never give us more than we can handle. For that, and for His workings in everything we do we are very, very grateful.

Jonathan & Shelby