CARA BAIK DIET SEHAT: Isla's 1 Month Update

Whew! What a whirlwind month 1 has been!

The 3 days Isla and I spent in the hospital were total bliss. I had the best nurse in the world taking care of us.

While I was in heaven (or close to it) Austin was flooding. I knew there was some bad weather because at one point a nurse came in to lock everything down and told me we were under tornado warning. I had no idea the extent of the damage. Wimberley, Tx is where my husband grew up and it had horrific and deadly flooding that weekend. Fortunately (due to Isla's arrival) Brandon's parents were staying at our house here in Leander. Sadly, many of his friends homes suffered damage and some even lost it all.

The day we came home from the hospital, Leander was under tornado warning. Brandon had cleaned out the closet under the stairs and the sky was black and green. I was very overwhelmed.

Avelyn was pretty cute when she saw me come home. I wanted to try to make her feel good so I told Brandon to bring Isla in the carseat and I would go inside first. Avelyn ran up to me and then stopped suddenly. She looked at my face and down at my (now flat) tummy and said "Where baby Isla go???". It was so precious! She handled her new sister's arrival as best as could be expected. She really didn't pay too much attention to her unless Mommy was holding her and she wanted Mommy at that point. Why did I suddenly switch to 3rd person? LOL

The adjustment at home for me was pretty intense. At day 4 I came down from my immense high of giving birth and falling in love. My hormones hit me like a train. I was crying all the time. I turned into autopilot mode but just kept crying all the time. If I was changing Isla's diaper and Avelyn needed something, I cried. I cried because I was happy. I cried because I was sad. Oh boy, did I cry.

When I get depressed in any way (which is extremely rare for me) I tend to withdraw from everyone around me. I had so many sweet friends texting offers of help and well wishes. I had family calling on the phone wanting to check on me. I felt overwhelmed with a need to respond but I was totally unable to do so. It was a rough time.

At 3 weeks old, Isla came down with Viral Meningitis. We didn't know what was wrong at the time. I was getting her ready for church and noticed that while her legs and head felt fine, her tummy felt really hot. I took her temp and it read 102. I took her straight to the Children's Hospital and had a friend meet me there to pick up Avelyn. Brandon had just gone back to his ship the week before. Once there, she had to undergo so many tests. When a baby is less than a month, they take a fever very serious. I don't want to relive that week so I won't post all the details here but it was extremely scary and hard. Brandon had to come home from work and Isla and I stayed in the Pediatric ICU for 5 days.

While I was so relieved when she was released, my depression/baby blues was worse than ever when I came home. I felt like my whole world was flipped upside down (because it was). At 4 weeks postpartum I started to exercise (more on that on another post) and finally I started to feel like myself again. I tried to put on a brave face for everyone and act like everything was normal and fine but that first month was a really, really hard time for me!

Isla started getting colicky while we were in our ICU stay. She would cry/scream/fuss every night from 8pm-12am. It was really hard. Thankfully, with Brandon home we could switch on and off with her and he really was able to soothe her. He downloaded a white noise app that she LOVES and still uses to sleep at night. Avelyn has been really used to me always doing her bedtime routine and it was very difficult for her when I couldn't be there. Brandon took her swimming and kept her busy during the day, but she started waking up again at night to get time with me.

Throughout this period, Isla threw up a lot but managed to still put on a full pound about every 10 days. She loves to nurse and cuddle!