'I couldn't cuddle her': First-time mum Kieren-lea had to wait months to 'connect' with her daughter
By Nikolina Koevska Kharoufeh |
Baby Emilia's journey to her milestone first birthday this month was very different to most other kids.
And the numerous challenges she and her parents Kieren-lea and Josh faced started well-before she was born.
"?You're just kind of focusing on birth and how that's gonna go and how your life is going to change. But it all changed when I was about 28 weeks along," Emilia's mum recalls to 9Honey Parenting.
READ MORE: The $17 insulated lunch bag beloved by foodies
The family from Box Hill were thrown quite a curveball during their exciting journey of welcoming their first baby, when Emilia remained in a breech position in the womb all the way through to her birth.
?A breech position is when a baby is lying bottom-down in a woman's uterus, rather than the head-down position deemed safe for delivery.
Due to her position, Kieren-lea was scheduled into a planned caesarean section for delivery, and was informed that Emilia might have hip dysplasia.
"?The general requirement for any baby born breech is that they may have hip dysplasia," she explains.
For a daily dose of 9Honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.
"We had checks on her hips when she was born, and at the time they said they couldn't tell straight away so we came back for an ultrasound when she was seven-week-old."
Though the new parents truly believed that their little girl would be fine. "It won't happen to me kind of thing."
They were however told during the ultrasound that she indeed had hip dysplasia and was required to undergo hip brace therapy for a number of months. ?
READ MORE: Charles and Camilla confirm overseas royal tour
"We were shocked, but you then go straight into mum mode and we asked 'What is it that we need to do?'," she recalled.
"You kind of just get catapulted into this new world, when you're already trying to navigate your new world as parents. So that was definitely challenging."
And the challenges kept coming for the family.
?"From the day that she went into a brace we had to change the types of clothes she was wearing, how we were feeding her, how we were holding her, how we were laying her down because she can do tummy time."
The next four months were filled with uncertainty and the new parents had to regularly adjust to new obstacles.
READ MORE: Little House on the Prairie star dies aged 78
One of the ?hardest being the fact that Kieren-lea felt as though she couldn't really physically bond with her little girl.
"I couldn't cuddle her really closely. As silly as that sounds," she tells 9Honey Parenting.
"It felt really awkward at first to be holding her and it didn't feel very natural. I guess as a first time mom, you just want to be able to hold and comfort your baby จC grow that connection with them and it felt like the brace was inhibiting that."
And another worry the parents had was being able to nurture their newborn baby's skin and keep her clean and healthy.
READ MORE: Downton Abbey star 'kicks husband out of home'
"She was in the brace 24/7 and would only come out once a week. ?So we could only properly bath her during that one occasion and we were always worried about her developing nappy rash."
The mum commends Huggies for launching their new nappies with a zinc enriched layer which will help parents like her who have to deal with the small challenges of hip dysplasia.
The nappies are clinically proven to help protect against irritation and maintain healthy skin pH levels.
"It means they don't really need to be stressing about nappy rash when they've got so many other things that they need to be looking out for."
Approaching Emilia's ?scan when she was around six-months-old, Kieren-lea and her husband were nervous but hopeful that their daughter could finally have her brace removed.
"We had high hopes and we were counting down to the scan."
And the family were relieved when they were told little Emilia's hips had adjusted and she no longer needed to wear the brace.
READ MORE: The smart baby monitor that gave this mum her sleep back
"You could just see the relief in her face when she was moving her legs. She hadn't really moved them in four months and you could see how she lit up and was so excited," the mum recalled.
"I remember I put a pair of sock on her for the first time, which is the smallest little detail but she played with them for ages. She was pulling it off and exploring her toes because she hadn't really seen them."
?The family could finally start to enjoy the simple yet heartwarming everyday moments with their daughter like tummy time play, sitting her in a high chair to explore new foods and introduce a night-time bath routine.
"It was just the freedom, that's what we could enjoy."