One week old

My baby is one week old today. This afternoon, we were walking around Tesco doing our shopping, when Charlie reminded me that at the same time last week I was still pregnant. Seems bizarre to me because I already feel that this Little Woman has been part of our lives forever.

And no wonder – it’s amazing how much you can fit into one week when you’re on a 24 hour work day.

One day old
The first 24 hours of Little Woman’s life passed in a blur for me. Despite the gentle build up to labour, and the easy delivery, I found the aftermath of the birth traumatic. I’ll write about it in more detail when I’m able but suffice it to say that from the moment of her birth I was on the clock for the delivery of the placenta. Eventually I had numerous interventions, a postpartum hemorrhage, and ended up on a drip for two hours to help contract my womb and stem the bleeding. The only bright light in the middle of all this trauma was my little baby girl. I tried my best to ignore everything being done to me and focus on her instead. Within a few minutes of birth, she latched on and was feeding happily, exactly as I’d wished and prayed for in the lead up to her birth. My poor baby was bruised and battered from the birth (or from having her head deeply engaged for months before her arrival!), and I was so pleased to be able to comfort her on her arrival into the world by feeding her.

After a few hours, I was moved up to the ward. Through my whole pregnancy, I had attended the Midwife Led Unit in my hospital, and in that unit, the room you deliver in is a private room, where you stay for the duration of your time in hospital. It includes a pull out couch so that a partner can stay with you. A few weeks ago, we decided that my mother would attend the birth rather than Charlie, and that Charlie would spend the night in hospital with me instead. The night I delivered however, someone rang in sick so the Midwife Led Unit was closed and I had to attend the public maternity ward instead. Rather than in a private room, I spent my first night with my daughter on a six bed public ward, a fact I could have coped with except for the disappointment of realising that Charlie could no longer stay with me. Visiting hours were over by the time I reached the ward, but they made an exception and allowed him up to me for a short time to meet his daughter.

And she was ready to meet us. Despite her swollen face and badly bruised nose and eyes, she was wide awake and alert, staring at us, drinking us both in. When Little Man was born, I was surprised that he immediately slept because the books all suggest that following an unmedicated birth, baby will be wakeful and alert. It seems Little Woman is a textbook baby in that regard.

Through the night, she fed and fed, and when she wasn’t feeding, we stared at each other, getting to know one another. I had so much colostrum, and I could tell she was getting it because it wasn’t long before the meconium nappies started.

Latching her on the right side proved easy, but because of the drip in the crook of my elbow on my left arm, I couldn’t manage to latch her and get her to stay latched on that side. When I’d arrived on the ward, the nurse told me to ring the bell at any stage during the night if I needed help with feeding, so the next time I tried feeding on the left side that’s what I did. I hadn’t met the nurse or midwife who came to help me but she immediately seemed put out by my request for help. She asked if this was my first baby, and when she found out she wasn’t, she asked had I not fed the last one. I explained that I had fed him for seven months. “What’s the problem so?”, she asked me. I was quite taken aback. I explained that my baby wasn’t latching on that side and that given that I had experienced a lot of problems last time, I was keen to avoid them this time and get it right from the outset. She brusquely helped me to latch my baby on the left side and quickly left. I’d say the curtain hasn’t even dropped closed again as she left when baby popped off again. I didn’t bother calling for help again after that. Instead I used my trusty iPhone and between text messages to my sister in law and re-reading the Getting off to a Good Start chapter in the Jack Newman book on my Kindle app, I gradually adjusted her positioning over the course of a number of feeds during the night and eventually we achieved a good deep latch on the left side.

At about 4am, when Little Woman fell asleep, I tried to sleep myself, but the sound of another mother’s tears from one side of the curtain, snores from the other, and babies crying elsewhere in the room, I found it impossible. The next day when Charlie came in, I told him to get me home, and so just after 1pm we left the hospital. That night, I slept in my own bed, and we fed regularly through the night. Little Woman slept for an hour or two in her co-sleeper and the rest of the night in my arms and we all woke rested the next day.

Two days old
I left the hospital in such a hurry that I never received my prescription for pain medication. By day two, I was definitely feeling my stitches and realising that paracetamol wasn’t going to cut it. Thankfully though everything else was going well. Little Woman and I were getting to know one another, and we managed a couple of different feeding positions, including the rugby hold which is one I never mastered last time around. Over the course of the day, the meconium nappies disappeared and were replaced by brown poos instead. Great reassurance that the feeding was going well. We returned to the hospital for her 24 hour cardiac check. On the way out the door, I caught sight of a poster advertising the Midwife Led Unit and the wave of emotion and disappointment that washed over me nearly stopped me in my tracks. But I took a deep breath and walked past it.

Three days old
The feeding is continuing to go well, but I’m getting tender. Between feeds I’ve been applying Multi-Mam compresses, which seem to be helping a lot. I’ve also been trying to minimize damage and maximize recovery time by only feeding one side per feed. Thankfully I seem to have plenty of supply to facilitate that. Between days two and three, my milk came in and my baby girl seems to be thriving. The swelling is starting to go down on her little face as well, and each day we are treated to a better glimpse of her features. Between feeds, she’s continuing to sleep peacefully, and I feel I’m starting to recover a little.

Four days old
I hit a low point at about 7am today. Little Woman fed through the night last night and I’ve been so sore since. Especially on my right side. On a trip to Tesco, I discovered Tommee Tippee Hydrogel pads, and I’ve been using them since to give relief between feeds. I never heard of them last time around, but I’m glad I found them this time. They are working really well. Thankfully I’ve been able to continue feeding just one side per feed, so I feel I have a chance to recover.

I collected a prescription for stronger pain relief from my GP today. I badly needed it. My stitches are tightening up and I’m finding them very sore. Plus it helps with the latch pain while I get used to feeding again.

I noticed a yellow flush to Little Woman’s skin and eyes today, so I started using the Total Baby app on my phone to track her nappies and feeds again. I’m feeding on demand so I’m not using it to try to schedule feeds or anything like that. It just helps me remember when the last feed was and anticipate the next one – something my sleep deprived brain needs help with!

Five Days Old
We had our visit from the Public Health Nurse today. The heel prick test wasn’t as traumatic as I’d feared. Her weight has dropped since the hospital, but given how well she’s been feeding and sleeping, and how frequent her wet and dirty nappies are (we’re up to 8 a day!) I have no fears on that front. After all we left hospital very early, and I think a lot of the weight she lost has been in the form of the swelling going down.

Six days old
That nasty cord is gone. I can’t believe it. It took weeks with Little Man, and is gone already this time around. I’m delighted because I hate it – it’s such a worry that it will get infected.

Feeding continues to go well. I think the pain peaked yesterday. At least I hope it did. My right side is cracking slightly unfortunately. I don’t think it’s a latch issue because I only have pain for about 10-15 seconds after she latches. The problem occurs at the end of a feed when she has a tendency to throw her head back to come off. Ouch!

Her swelling from the birth has reduced even more, so that now we can see her nose emerging, and her eyes are losing the puffiness. The white of her left eye is still badly bloodshot, the poor thing. She doesn’t seem to mind though.

One week old
I’ve started pumping off about 10-15mls at the beginning of a feed to relieve engorgement. Otherwise I can’t get a good latch and I’m just causing myself more pain and trauma. After each feed, I offer her the expressed milk using the finger feeding with a syringe method described on the Jack Newman site. My brother and his wife used it with their son too a few months back so I knew it would work well. It’s so easy, I don’t know why it’s not taught to new mothers in hospital.

I have no interest in storing up milk as yet, and I also don’t want to risk an oversupply (something I suffered a lot with last time around) so by feeding Little Woman whatever she is interested in from the expressed milk at the end of each feed, I’m happy that my supply is being kept closer to her demand. And she seems to be doing well with this system as the yellow has faded from her eyes and skin and the plentiful supply of wet and dirty nappies continues.

So there you have it. A blow by blow of our first week together. 🙂