Shiloh River Royale

Brace yourselves, this could be a long one!

Shiloh River Royale

Actual due date November 4th.

Scheduled cesarean date October 29th.

Born on Monday, October 21st 2019 at 10:47am

via emergency cesarean.

Weighing 3.51kgs

52cm in length

and a head full of luscious dark hair

She’s here! She is finally here! And my lord, she is perfect in every single way. I’ll be upfront now and tell you that I think our daughter is the most precious little human on earth and that I love her with a love I didn’t know existed.

Birthing Shiloh:

During the final weeks of pregnancy I was experiencing hours at a time of low foetal movement. On the first occasion our OB sent us straight to hospital for monitoring. Baby was found to have a healthy heart beat but was recognised as being a little sluggish. On the second occasion, I was eating some Smarties and noticed that Bub wasn’t responding in her usual way to the sugar intake, we went straight to hospital to hear a strong healthy heartbeat, relieved we went home reassured. Finally a week later, she was playing the sloth game again, so with our hospital bags already packed, we bundled everything into the car, just in case, and went to the hospital hoping to be sent home once again reassured and ready for our birthing date the following week.

8:30am - foetal monitor placed

9:30am - the monitor had picked up bibs heartbeat but also some regular contractions!! Our OB suggested perhaps our daughter would be born later that afternoon… OB checked to find I was already dilated 2cm. Surgery was scheduled immediately.

By roughly 10:30am I was in theatre, cannulated, catheter inserted, unable to feel anything from my breasts down, half naked in a room with almost a dozen people, my wife gowned up sat on a stool next to my head holding my hand and telling me everything was going to be ok and our OB was making the first cut of the surgery.

At 10:47am our daughter, Shiloh River Royale, entered this world. Our little tiny bundle came covered in vernix with an unimpressed look on her face until she met with my nice warm skin for a few moments. Soon to be whisked to a little side table for quick obs, clean up, tagging and measurements. Finally my wife tidied up our baby’s umbilical cord and brought her over to my anxiously waiting self (now being carefully sewn back together on the other side of the curtain.

By midday we had cleared the recovery section of the hospital and were wheeled back to our room on the maternity ward, our daughter bundled carefully on my chest the whole time.

Everything happened so fast I remember the day in snippets. Moments that have been etched into my mind for eternity. There I was, staring into the eyes of tiny life I had been carrying for 9 months, nothing could have prepared myself, or Temira for the flood of emotion we experienced in these initial hours / days.

Moments of thanks:

Aside from our daughter, who I could gush about for novels, I have to thank my wife, Temira. I cannot thank her enough. For 9 months she has been by side for every step of pregnancy. She has been kind and patient and unselfish with her love. From the moment Shiloh came into this world, Temira has been my rock, my anchor. She whispers in my ear reassurances and encouragement, she ensures our baby feels a constant presence of love, she has wrapped both of us in her protective arms and not let go.

More moments that stood out from our time in hospital was our interaction with the teams at the hospital. The midwives graciously assisted with our chosen method of bottle feeding. They prepared a bottle to be ready in the theatre so we could feed Shiloh as soon as possible. No one passed judgement or tried to sway our decision.

The surgical team we informative, yet gentle and very kind. Our anaesthesiologist was amazing. She talked us through everything on the spot, reiterated and even checked in. She even helped to take photos of Temira and I in the theatre room once Shiloh was with us.

Our Obstetrician however takes the cake. He hands down made very moment as memorable as he could. Not only throughout our pregnancy but during the labour/cesarean and every day during post-op. He patiently answered my every question no matter how ridiculous and ensured that I was going home fully informed and ready to care for our baby. Temira is a natural (of course!) so it was just me who needed to get the rope down pat.

Home with our newborn:

Here we are, 5 days later, with our beautiful baby asleep in her bassinet. It’s almost 1am. Theres a burp cloth on my shoulder and a warmed bottle in a thermal bag by my bedside ready because at any moment Shiloh will wake for her next feed. Temira and I have been taking turns to ensure we each are able to have good quality sleep and time doing precious things, like feeding and changing Bub.

Each day we have adjusted our routine slightly, we have made little changed in our home as we need to accommodate our new lives. Temira has supported me endlessly as I am still in recovery from surgery.

We have been on short family adventures, brunch for my mums birthday (what better gift than a grand baby right!?) and gentle walks around our local estate, in awe of the baby in the pram we’re pushing.

As for Shiloh:

She is breathtaking. She smiles, lifts her little head, feeds every few hours and already has a very distinct cheeky personality shining through. I’ll attached photos so you can see her beautiful mop of hair! She makes waking up every few hours a pleasure. In fact I even love changing her nappies (yep, you heard right!). She cries as they all probably do, but she also smiles and she loves that moment when she is finally dressed again and get belly tickles on the changing mat.

Her first tummy time was beyond belief when all of sudden she wiggled into an almost crawl position and rolled herself over. To say we are super proud parents is an understatement.

We arrived at the Parenthood door with no expectations. We set no birth plan nor did we imagine a home routine. And I am grateful that this is how we are starting this new chapter of our lives, because every single day we are amazed, our dreams are always exceeded. We take all the wins and we appreciate the ability to learn along the way.

If you’re still with me, thank you. I told you it was going to be a long one. I hope you have enjoyed reading and as always if you have any questions about any part of our journey please, ask away! As first time mums we are constantly learning and as we do we are always happy to share with others.

If you’re not following us on Instagram, and you LOVE baby spam, jump onto @lovedbytwomums and get all the updates as we post them. In fact, you can even get some snippets right here on the blog site!

Until the next blog update, take care!

With love,

By two (very content) mums xo