Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Introducing OZL!!

APL and I are both extremely excited to announce the birth of our son, OZL, who is one week old today! OZL was born last Wednesday, May 30th. He weighed 6lb 14oz and is 20.5 inches long. Because he was breech (meaning his butt was pointing at the birth canal rather than his head) I needed to have a c-section. The surgery went really well and he and I are both doing great. 

So far (knock on all the wood ever!!!) my joints are all behaving. I think it must be some kind of birth-induced remission, because my joints are doing markedly better than they were last week when I was on bed rest, even though I am still pretty immobile. (Though I am also still taking a maintenance dose of prednisone, which probably helps.) That's not to say I am currently pain free - my incision hurts, my nipples hurt from adjusting to breastfeeding, and my back and shoulders are sore from figuring out the best ways to hold him - but I don't have any complaints about my joints right now. And that is awesome. 

I've got zero idea how long this relief from joint pain will actually last, so I've already started pumping to build up a supply of breastmilk in our freezer. That way, if/when I reach the point where I need to stop breastfeeding and re-start my RA meds, we'll hopefully have a supply of breastmilk so we can extend the health benefits to OZL a bit longer. In the meantime, I'm super grateful not to have to deal with joint pain on top of everything else right now. 

And I have fallen completely in love with my little boy. Everything I went through to get pregnant and everything I dealt with during my pregnancy has been 100% totally worth it.

10 comments:

Stephanie Kay said...

Aww.. so sweet! Congratulations!! I agree - children are 100% worth it!!

Melissa said...

I'm so glad you and the baby are OK! And I'm glad you're at least getting some reprieve from the joint pain for now.

Gisela said...

Congratulations. Best wishes to you and your beautiful boy!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!!! Keep making healthy choices and the flare ups will be at a mininum. Good luck. I am so excited for you guys!!!!!!!!!!

Mandy said...

Yay!!!!!! Congratulations!!!! So glad things went well and you are doing ok. Baby O is very very cute and love the picture if you two at top!

L."Wren" Vandever said...

What a beautiful child! Congratulations!

Helen said...

Wonderful news! He's lovely - so happy for all three of you, and also very happy to hear how well you're feeling. I'm so glad you're getting to enjoy these first few weeks without the distraction of joint pain.

Congratulations!!

Laurie Grassi said...

Congratulations, Mariah! He's beautiful. I hope everything continues to go well! :) L

Leslie said...

Beautiful baby boy! Good job! Congratulations!

Mirela said...

Congratulations! What an adorable gift he is. You did it! What appeared to be Mission Impossible has now become Mission Possible. You gave RA-ers with dreams of parenthood great hope. Thanks.