bubbanoble: Time in hospital

After delivering Eliza I was told that I would be staying in the delivery room for the night as there were no rooms in Maternity. This was ok, although being stuck in the room with no windows was pretty hard. The midwives are quite excited about the new development because each room will basically have a lovely view. Unfortunately their office won't have any windows, but it will just be more incentive to spend time in the rooms of their patients. :-) During the night I got quite severe after birth pains. I remember having it once with Daniel when I was feeding him, but it was just once. This time it was basically every 15-30mins. It was sending a shooting pain down my left side of my back and down my leg. I messaged a couple of people to pray for the pains to go away as it was stopping me going to sleep. After finally buzzing the nurse and taking some medication at 1:30am, the pain did ease but I still struggled to sleep. Also, the clock in delivery ticks really loudly! It didn't help me to sleep. I had a lot of adrenalin going through me which meant that I didn't sleep very well. It basically took me until 2am before my mind settled. Eliza stayed in my room all night which was a new experience. Daniel went to the nursery each night when I had him and then he was in his own room when we went home. Eliza slept pretty well but was a bit noisy that kept me awake too.

At 6am I woke up and couldn't really get back to sleep. One of the midwives came in to check on me and see if I wanted a cup of tea, which I accepted. She was then lovely and had a good chat with me. She used to be a lactation consultant so was chatting with me about my milk supply, feeding, my experience with Daniel, after birth pains, etc. She was very 'natural' with her ideas - using potions to help milk supply, herbal remedies, etc. She showed me pressure points in my ankles that help alleviate pain - the only challenge is that it is hard to do on yourself when feeding - but it did lessen the pain. She told me that the after-birth pains get worse with each baby - I would have liked to have been warned about this before experiencing the pain and so much of it! She spoke about how different bubs can make your supply more or less and so to not stress. I was worried that I wasn't producing colostrum yet, however, she showed me that there was some there so Eliza was getting what she needed. It was really nice having a chat with her.

After James and Daniel had breakfast, they came in to see Eliza and I. It was so nice to see them. Daniel was quite good again, looking at things in the room but not touching things. He was happy to sit and read books with James and I, play with his toys, look at Eliza and walk around. I really do love my boys. It was hard being away from them.

Morning cuddles with his sister

Reading with Daddy. Eliza's first story

After the morning hanging out with my boys and girl James and Daniel headed home for Daniel to have a nap. Eliza and I had some down time in the room. When lunch came, the midwife asked if I wanted to have lunch in the delivery room or in a room with windows. Silly question! I wanted windows. She said that Maternity was still full and there were no beds available, so I was going to stay on Level 5 in a room and hopefully move down to maternity tomorrow. I didn't care - I had windows and it was a pretty nice view too, being a corner room it had more light. It is amazing how claustrophobic I felt in the delivery room.

In the afternoon we had some more visitors. Grandma K and Auntie Sue came and were delighted to meet Eliza.

It was really nice chatting with them and they enjoyed having some lovely cuddles with her. Because the entrance is a long way from the room, Grandma came up in a wheelchair. James and Daniel had some fun playing on the wheelchair.

After Grandma and Auntie Sue left, James, Daniel, Eliza and I had some time hanging out. We read books,

had cuddles

and enjoyed playing with toys.
Daniel was still interested in Eliza. He would do something and then just want to look at her or see her. Then he'd move on to something else.

What are you looking at?

Saying bye to Eliza

James took Daniel home for dinner and to put him to bed and Mum and Dad came to visit. I found it very hard saying bye to my boys. I didn't like the idea of saying bye to James at 5 and not seeing him until the morning. I found nights very lonely - it is definitely different to last time. But after surviving today on minimal sleep (roughly 3 hours) it was probably good that I try to have an early night. It was nice chatting with Mum and Dad without the chaos of kids running around and they enjoyed more cuddles with Eliza.

At night Rach came to visit which was lovely. She was so excited to meet Eliza and it was really nice to just sit and chat about everything with her. Unfortunately she had to go to a meeting so left after 30mins. It was nice to hear that a lot of the feelings I was experiencing were normal and that Rach had also experienced them with her different pregnancies/post pregnancies. This night I slept a lot better. Eliza slept for 12 hours which I was a bit concerned about (but also grateful for). She did wake me up a couple of times with cough ups (which were pretty gross) but she re-settled each time too. As a result I had a broken nights sleep. In the morning I woke Eliza up for a feed because we were a little bit concerned about how long she slept. The midwife was happy though because she was feeding well now.

The physio came in the morning to talk about my progress and different exercises to help my recovery. When she walked in she was so taken by how I was sitting with Eliza. Just previosuly Eliza had had a feed but was not happy to be back in the bassinet so I just had her on my lap. The physio was talking to me and just kept pausing because she just found the picture so lovely. She said 'I just want to take a photo of it for you' so I gave her my camera and she took a couple of photos for me. She said that I looked very natural. She also found Eliza adorable and kept getting distracted while talking with me. She was very friendly.

After Jens being sick yesterday she came in to have some Eliza loving (and so sister time). It was nice to see her and chat with her about stuff. I do love how much she supports me. It really means a lot!

I had been to a breastfeeding class this morning just to refresh my mind of how to do it with a newborn bub and also to ask about supply. When I arrived I was the only one, so I chatted a little bit with the lactation consultant about my feeding history with Daniel. Eliza woke up and needed to feed so she showed me how to attach her properly as I already had some blisters. It was still tricky to do on my own though. The class was helpful though and the lactation consultant did say that I should have had a referral considering my feeding history. This was an area that James and I found 2nd time round I had been overlooked a few times and was kinda left to look after myself, unless I asked for help (which I didn't really do as I didn't want to be a pain).

Dad was kind enough to look after Daniel so that James could come and hang out with me for a little bit and give Eliza her first bath. There was a class at 12 so Eliza, James, Jens and I headed down. Eliza didn't mind having her hair washed by the midwife, however, she wasn't very happy during her bath! Quite different to Daniel's response in the bath.

Not a very happy chappy

After the bath James went to take Daniel home for a nap and then they came back to visit after rest time. Daniel had some lovely cuddles with Eliza.

Brotherly kisses

Daniel just seems so big at the moment, but he will always be my baby boy!

My baby boy

On Saturday morning Eliza woke up at 2am and I started to feed her. After 2 hours of trying to settle her and feed her it just wasn't working. Each time I held her she would settle. Then I would put her down and she would start to cry. I changed her nappy and then put her down. She would cry. I kept trying to feed her and put her down. The midwife came back around and was suprised to see that I was still up after 2 hours. When she came in I started to cry. I just didn't know what to do. I was tired and had tried all that I knew to do and it just wasn't working. Loss of confidence big time! She took Eliza down to the nursery for me and said that I was to get some rest. I managed to get a couple of hours sleep but when I woke up I was still very teary. When Dr Keogh came to visit (Dr Booker had gone on leave today) he asked how I was. I said it was Day 3 and started to cry. He was so lovely and gave me a hug. He then spoke with me about taking things a day at a time and that every new mother goes through this on Day 3. I apologised because he saw me on Day 3 with Daniel too. He said that he knew the tears were really because I was seeing him. He was such a lovely man. I went down to get Eliza from the nursery, feeling a little bit better after the chat, and the midwife (Narelle) told me to wait as she wanted to talk to me. This of course made me start to cry as I felt like I had done something wrong. Instead she said that she wanted me to go and have some me time without Eliza. She didn't like that I was upset. The message she got when Eliza was dropped off was that I was upset and Eliza wasn't to go back up to me until she needed to. She said that we both reached braking point and I did the right thing by seperating us both. She said that it took her 20mins to settle Eliza and that it wasn't easy. She said that after the 20 mins she put Eliza on her tummy and after a short time she let out a massive fart that made her better. But it really wasn't easy. So yeah, really I stood no chance. She also mentioned that she wasn't happy that I was upstairs as they had no idea of what was going on with me (or the other lady across the hall from me). She wanted us both moved downstairs.

Narelle sent me outside to get some fresh air, told me to go back upstairs and have another nap and that she would call me when Eliza was waking up to be fed. I went outside and called James up - more tears but it was good to chat with him and lovely to sit in the sun. When I went back to my room James and I facetimed so that I could see Daniel - again, more tears. It was lovely to chat with him though. We even read a story over the phone which was very sweet. I couldn't wait to get home to my boys. Hopefully tomorrow, if she was feeding well, putting on the right amount of weight, etc. After a short rest Narelle buzzed me to get Eliza as she was starting to stir. She said that there was a settling class in the morning that she would like me to go to as both Eliza and Daniel were such different bubs. This changed my plans but was important for me to go to.

After feeding Eliza we headed down for the class. Basically Narelle spoke about how tummy time will help you identify if your bub is happy and full after a feed, or if they need more milk. During the class Eliza was used as an example and she started to bob her head up and down and open her mouth lots. This showed me that she was still hungry. I needed to feed her quite a few times but it eventually showed me that she was happy and full. I was so worried that Eliza had tummy problems, but it turned out that I had just overfed her.

When I headed back up to my room, James and Jens were heading down to maternity with some of my things - I now had a room downstairs. This was great, but also stressful as I now needed to move, it was lunchtime, Eliza needed a feed and Jens, Howie, Oscar and Mary had come to visit, as did James and Daniel. It was just overwhelming. After feeding Eliza I tried tummy time to apply what Narelle had said. After 4 times putting her on her tummy she finally stopped rooting and being upset and seemed to be content on her tummy. This was good to see as I didn't believe it could happen after trying so many times. I felt like she just would never settle. I am glad that she finally did and that she was able to lie there, content.

I was grateful for Jens sticking around to support me through that time. It wasn't easy and I was 2nd guessing everything I was doing. I also had some skin to skin time with Eliza.

After lunch we moved down to my new room. It wasn't as bright the room upstairs but it was nice to be in the vicinity of the midwives. Over the rest of the day my tears continued to be on and off. Day three really is annoying and hard. Fortunately I was blessed with some lovely midwives who were supportive and willing to chat. One in particular came in and spoke with me about feeding - as I had a lot of redness - and settling - as Eliza was still slow to settle and I was struggling as I was feeling like I was constantly feeding her and I didn't feel that was right. I didn't want her tummy to get upset again. So hard to know what to do. She was very good, very realistic and very supportive. She gave Eliza a cuddle which settled her and then popped her down in the bed.

Eliza went to sleep. At this stage I was feeling like everyone else could settle her, besides me. But as we spoke I regained some confidence and reality. Take things one day at a time and it is normal to be feeding constantly in these early days. Jens and Grant came to visit at night and it was nice to be able to sit and chat with them, and for them to have cuddles with Eliza. Again it was hard not seeing James since he went home with Daniel so he could have dinner and sleep, but I was looking forward to tomorrow when I could go home with them both (as long as Eliza was the right amount of weight).

When I was ready for sleep the midwife took Eliza to the nursery so that I could have a good nights rest before going home and also so that she was in the nursery for being weighed before her next feed. When she was brought back to me, she had lost less than 10% of her birth weight - she now weighed 3.2kg. So exciting that she is a good weight! So exciting that I get to go home in the morning!

In the morning I was concerned about the redness on my breasts. There were definite lumps and tightness. The midwife was working with me to massage, use oil and have Eliza feed as much as possible to drain them. She was so lovely and totally understood that I just wanted to go home with my boys. She had Deb, the lactation consultant who I worked with with Daniel, come and check on me. Deb was very happy with the weight Eliza was at, the way she was feeding and just wanted me to focus on the redness and work on trying to have that go down by tomorrow. If it hadn't gone down I was to call her. The midwife had me promise that if there were any problems when I went home that I would call Dr Keogh to talk about it. James and I promised that we would. It was home time! For the March Photo Scavenger Hunt I took a photo series of Eliza going home. It was pretty cute.