When raising a child, discipline is necessary. But in the case of a newborn, that is quite impossible. The first wk was pretty much spent in the hospital. Was admitted on Wednesday and discharged only on Monday. The pain from the wound was pretty bearable the first two days and I was up and about by the second, albeit just walking a short distance to the nursery. By the third day, I thought that I could walk further and decided to visit a primary school friend A who had just delivered on 12.11 and was staying at another ward. But Alas! she didn't pre-empt me that it was the last room down the corridor and it was an painful walk literally. the worst part was, shortly after I've arrived, her gynae arrived to do her daily rounds and I had to make myself scarce! So back I went, with each step being agonising. THe pain was so bad that the painkiller didn't do much magic. In fact, the painkiller's effect only lasted probably half an hour? Enough for me to walk myself to the toilet and back. The pain level on a scale of 10 was probably just a 2? Nothing beats the labour pain! On a bad day, it reached and agonising 6; on a good day, it went down to a glorious two.
The older I get, the lower my threshold for pain it seems.
In addition to the pain in the wound, I had to accept another pain, both mental and physical -- Breastfeeding! In order to stimulate milk production, it was necessary to let the newborn suckle every 3hours which means to say, I had to wake up in the middle of the night and with the help of the nurse, shove the nipples into lil bub's mouth! as the nipples were not roughened out initially, the suckling caused much abrasion and there was an underlying crack appearing. By day 2, we were told that lil bub had mild jaundice and had to go under phototherapy. In order not to disrupt the process, the nurse suggested i rent a breast pump for $20 and pump out my milk. Being a first-timer, naturally i heeded her advice. WRONG MOVE! the nurse instantly switched the pump to its maximum causing the cracked skin to rupture and there, in the medela bottle, was Strawberry milk. My tears rolled down uncontrollably. The hub had to use a tissue to cover it up. It was heart rendering to see that lil bub had to swallow that, though it is said that it's fine. My body has since been telling me that it's succumbing to entropy.
The pathetic amount of milk pumped (which supposedly was pretty good for Day 3)
the subsequent episodes for breastfeeding was tough. Improper latching caused my nipples to be sore. Many a times i wanted to give up but for the sake of the lil bub, i persevere. The hub wanted to go home each night but stayed on to accompany me till the end. The poor thing had to sleep on a sofa bed which gave him tremendous backaches. There was simply insufficient rest for both the hub and I, given the endless stream of visitors we had. It's either we would be entertaining the visitors and repeating the story over and over again, or i had to be a cow. mooooo.
Monday 14 November 2011
Jaundice -- Cleared
Me -- cleared
Lil bub and I went home :)
this is probably the 3rd bouquet of flowers the hub gave me. it's really meaningful to have come this far with him. To think that I found him to be annoying during our younger days.
The man behind the scene. Come to think of it, it's really not an easy task to bring lil bub into this world.
My hospital confinement food. YUCKS! Plain and vegetables were yellowish. the only thing I appreciated was the milo. In fact, I was hungry for more than 24hours as once epidural was injected and enema (which must be the most amazing laxative) was given, no food was to be taken. First question after my operation, I asked Dr Tay: When can I eat? haha
Bonding time with daddy dearest :)
The older I get, the lower my threshold for pain it seems.
In addition to the pain in the wound, I had to accept another pain, both mental and physical -- Breastfeeding! In order to stimulate milk production, it was necessary to let the newborn suckle every 3hours which means to say, I had to wake up in the middle of the night and with the help of the nurse, shove the nipples into lil bub's mouth! as the nipples were not roughened out initially, the suckling caused much abrasion and there was an underlying crack appearing. By day 2, we were told that lil bub had mild jaundice and had to go under phototherapy. In order not to disrupt the process, the nurse suggested i rent a breast pump for $20 and pump out my milk. Being a first-timer, naturally i heeded her advice. WRONG MOVE! the nurse instantly switched the pump to its maximum causing the cracked skin to rupture and there, in the medela bottle, was Strawberry milk. My tears rolled down uncontrollably. The hub had to use a tissue to cover it up. It was heart rendering to see that lil bub had to swallow that, though it is said that it's fine. My body has since been telling me that it's succumbing to entropy.
The pathetic amount of milk pumped (which supposedly was pretty good for Day 3)the subsequent episodes for breastfeeding was tough. Improper latching caused my nipples to be sore. Many a times i wanted to give up but for the sake of the lil bub, i persevere. The hub wanted to go home each night but stayed on to accompany me till the end. The poor thing had to sleep on a sofa bed which gave him tremendous backaches. There was simply insufficient rest for both the hub and I, given the endless stream of visitors we had. It's either we would be entertaining the visitors and repeating the story over and over again, or i had to be a cow. mooooo.
Monday 14 November 2011
Jaundice -- Cleared
Me -- cleared
Lil bub and I went home :)
this is probably the 3rd bouquet of flowers the hub gave me. it's really meaningful to have come this far with him. To think that I found him to be annoying during our younger days.
The man behind the scene. Come to think of it, it's really not an easy task to bring lil bub into this world.
My hospital confinement food. YUCKS! Plain and vegetables were yellowish. the only thing I appreciated was the milo. In fact, I was hungry for more than 24hours as once epidural was injected and enema (which must be the most amazing laxative) was given, no food was to be taken. First question after my operation, I asked Dr Tay: When can I eat? haha
Bonding time with daddy dearest :)