This is my first day home by myself with Holden.  Rob had to return to work today, and boy, does his contribution to the whole childcare operation become obvious once he is no longer around to help!  It took me until noon to feed Holden, change a few diapers, give Holden a bath after peeing on himself (again), take a shower, drink a cup of coffee, and eat a bowl of cereal.  My lunch has been sitting in the microwave for an hour, awaiting an opportunity to get off the couch and get it.  Holden is a great baby—he really is.  Problem is, he does not want to be put down in a co-sleeper, boppy, or crib for even 5 seconds unless he is REALLY passed out.  He wants to be held ALL THE TIME.  He did manage to sleep for about 25 minutes, which is how I was able to sneak in a shower.  I am at least grateful for that.  We have his 2-week pediatrician appointment this afternoon.  I am curious to see how much weight he has gained.  He seems much bigger to me—he is heavier and looks much more filled out than he was at birth.  They (the pedi) mostly wants to see that he has regained his birth weight by 2 weeks, but I would not at all be surprised if he is inching up near 10 lbs. already.  He eats ALL THE TIME!  Which is great for me, because it’s making me lose weight like crazy and dang, it’s a hell of a lot easier than getting on the treadmill!  I usually pump milk in the morning so that we have a supply for going out around town (it’s hard to breastfeed in public with a baby that takes sometimes 15 minutes to latch on), or for when I just need a break and can have someone else feed him.  I have been lucky in that I have had no supply issues at all—I am so amazed at the female body’s ability to produce milk!  Holden had 4 oz. from the bottle this morning, plus he nursed for a few hours off and on all morning.  I don’t know exactly how much he is eating at this point, but I definitely am not worried about whether he is getting enough.  

Okay, so I do want to say a few things about recovery, as promised.  Most childbirth classes tend to focus on the labor and delivery part of having a child, but devote little or no time to the recovery portion of the experience.  This is a mistake for several reasons.  First, from my own experience, I spent a total of 3.5 hours in labor and delivery.  I then spent 4 days and 3 nights on the maternity ward recovering.  From my perspective, the preparation for the recovery portion of this whole experience would have been so much more relevant and important!  Due to the rapid nature of my delivery, we did not use any of our relaxation tools (massage oils, music, etc).  This isn’t to say that they aren’t useful, just that for our purposes, we didn’t end up being in a position to use them.  However, because we were in the maternity ward for so long, there are several things that ended up really coming in handy (and several which would have been helpful had we known we would have been in the hospital for so long). 

 

• Drink your water.  Drink it up.  Have a Nalgene bottle on hand and keep it filled and cold.
• Metamucil.  The hospital gave me stool softener, but trust me, you’ll appreciate the added benefit of fiber (but hopefully, you won’t have a 3rd degree tear that will necessitate this stuff).
• iPod and iPod player.  I cannot emphasize the importance of this enough.  Pre-load with relaxing music.  We kept the music on 24/7 at a low volume.  Holden was familiar with the music, so it helped soothe him and us.  Even the nurses commented on how relaxing it felt when they’d walk in the room.
• Adult diapers.  I laughed after delivery when I glanced at the woefully inadequate pads I had packed.  The hospital will provide diaper-like pads for your use, but it wouldn’t hurt to have your own on hand as well.
• Lansinoh (nipple cream).  I had to send Rob home to pick ours up.  I hadn’t packed it because I figured my nipples wouldn’t get sore within just a few days.  I was wrong.
• Nursing tanks are optional.  Frankly, you’re going to be topless for several days after you deliver anyway.  Skin-on-skin contact is a great way to get the prolactin flowing—the nursing bras and tanks can wait till you get home (unless you want to cover up for guests visiting you in the hospital).
• “Granny” underwear.  Pack underwear you don’t care about so you can just toss it when you are done.

 

 I’m sure I am forgetting some things, but that is probably the bulk of what you should bring with you for recovery.  A couple of other notes about our lengthy hospital stay:  Don’t be afraid to stay the maximum time alloted by your insurance.  You will get valuable help from the nurses and lactation consultants.  They can also take your baby to the nursery so you can get some much-needed rest.  They are your “back-up” so take advantage while you can because once you’re home, you’re on your own!  Expect the unexpected.  We would have gone home on Tuesday, but it was discovered that Holden had a touch of jaundice and required treatment under the UV lights.  Here’s our little Kosmonaut with his goggles to protect his eyes from the light:

Holden hated being in the “pod” for his treatments, but luckily he only needed it for 24 hours before his bilirubin counts were low enough to discharge him.  The day after we got home from the hospital, we had an appointment with a lactation consultant/nurse practitioner at our pedi’s office.  She weighed Holden.  He was 8 lbs, 1 oz, down 9 oz from his birth weight.  This is not atypical for babies to lose weight after birth, but the jaundice makes babies sleepy and less willing to feed.  And the less they feed, the less capable they are of riding the body of bilirubin.  The LC instructed us to feed Holden every 2 hours for 24 hours (whether he wanted to feed or not), and feed him in between those feedings if he was showing signs of hunger.  If he only fed off one breast, I was instructed to pump from the other breast and then feed him that milk from a bottle later on.  It was a VERY tough 24 hours.  I didn’t sleep.  But the next day at our appointment, Holden had gained 5 ounces!  Very respectable weight gain for only 24 hours!  The LC was pleased with this and told us to make sure he feeds once every 2-3 hours, but that there would be no need to continue to force him to eat from that point on.  Music to my ears, let me tell you!  Lactation consultants are awesome—they will help you!

Once you’re home, there are some things that are critical, including a freezer full of food:

This preparation was perhaps the most critical of all.  I am SO GLAD we had this food ready to go.  Good nutrition is really important for your recovery and for making milk.  It was so nice to just thaw some stuff and then essentially pop it in the oven before dinner time.  You don’t have to leave the house to enjoy good stuff!  If you do anything at all to prepare for the weeks following birth, do this!!!!!!  Also, big thanks to Sarah for her chili recipe.  It was absolutely delicious!

Another suggestion (and this is highly personal) is to limit your visitors within the first 2 weeks.  We had 2 good friends stop by briefly in the hospital while we were there, and then a friend came by to visit after we came home (she happened to be vacationing in VT at the time).  Grandparents waited till Holden was nearly 2 weeks old to come visit, at our insistence.  This was a smart move in my opinion.  This way, Rob was around for 2 weeks to help out with things, and now that Rob has gone back to work, my mother will be here this afternoon to help out during this next week.  It would not have made sense to have visitors descend on the house so early—I think the chaos would have been too overwhelming for us all.  Again, it’s just a personal opinion.

Okay, it’s almost 2 PM and I really should attempt to eat some lunch!