Elizabeth Helen

Announcing....

We got to the hospital and had an unexpected surprise when they told us there were no single rooms available.  Had we been in a double, Ben and the baby couldn't have roomed in with me. Not to mention just sharing space and a bathroom with a stranger. The sweet nun (it's a catholic hospital) saw the little devil in me...  So, thankfully, that resolved itself by noon the first day when there were discharges and we were able to get into a single room.

It was so wonderful to see her for the first time.  We couldn't believe she was finally here.  We've been worried about so many things and it was such a relief to have her safely here.  She is lovely!!  She doesn't look much like Samara did when she was born.  Samara was more "Bikman" and Lizzie is more ''Richins".

This was taken just a couple minutes after she was born.  She wasn't messy at all and her head was perfect, because she was breech and hadn't spent any time in the birth canal.  Her one leg was up by her head but they are both normal curled-up baby legs now.  I didn't cry when I was born and neither did she, until they started wiping her up.  My dad always told me how they were so worried because I wasn't crying.  The doctor said that he could pinch me and make me cry if they wanted him to.  We were both relieved to hear her cry!  

It was a good experience delivering here.  There were some great nurses, but the care is definitely less thorough than what we were used to.   I had a more adverse reaction to the anesethia than I did with with Samara.  I was really loopy all day and couldn't keep anything down.  Thankfully, that passed by the next day and it's already much easier to get around.  When I got out of bed, I could immediately stand upright.  It was several days before I could do that after Samara.  Communicating with the hospital staff was very comical.  Above is the national drink of Singapore, Milo.  Milo is like a drug in the maternity ward--that is all they wanted me to drink for the first 24 hours (even at the exclusion of things like broth and juice).  It didn't matter how many times we declined the offer of some "delicious hot Milo", we received two warm mugs several times a day.  You think they would get the hint when, after checking back on us an hour later, they found the two mugs untouched.  Nope.  Also, with Samara's birth, I lived on ice water--the hospital gave me (and every new mother) an enormous one liter mug that they'd regularly fill with ice water.  But here?  Nope.  'Ice' is a four-lettered word in Singlish.  Water is ONLY served luke warm to hot.    They refer to c-sections as caesars so that didn't do anything to help my hunger! 

The hardest thing about being in the hospital was being away from Samara.  She came to visit us every day and we missed her terribly.  We could tell she wasn't quite sure what to make of everything and kept asking, "Does she like me?" She been very helpful and sweet with the baby.  She's been eyeing a little doctor's kit at the toy store for months and was very excited to receive it as a gift from Lizzie.  Samara reached her limit of being apart from us during our last day at the hospital, .  She did not want to go back home with our friend when it was time to leave.  Ben took her out in the hall to talk to her and she said, "But Papa I don't want to go back home.  Families are supposed to be together".  It broke our hearts and we were very glad that we could check out early in the morning to come home.  After we got the baby to sleep last night around midnight, Samara woke up a couple times with nightmares about us being away.

One of our biggest concerns has been that Lizzie would have hip dysplasia like Samara did.  Hip dysplasia is much more common in breech babies.  The pediatrician's tests were normal and she was able to order an ultrasound that we did in the hospital on Friday.  The results of that also came back normal!  We are so thrilled.  We'll have her checked again in a month or two to make sure she doesn't develop it.  It's much easier to treat with the harness (like Samara had to wear) early on than with more invasive procedures later on. 

We are overcome with gratitude for sweet little Lizzie and the miracle of life.  We feel very very blessed to have two wonderful daughters.