1st Night - Rebel to the establishment
I was still exhausted from birth and having missed out on dinner, there was nothing better to do than get acquainted with my baby. However, she had similar ideas, and would not be left in the bassinet that the hospital provided.
After picking up and putting down a couple of times (with a pee bag attached, so I was trying my best!), I gave up and just let her rest on my chest for the remainder of the night.
With nurses coming every 4 hours to give me pain medication, and her shifting once in a while during her sleep, or waking up for a feed, I didn't get much sleep. However, the joy of realizing that "I just popped out a baby!!!" and she's all mine kept coming back and shocking me awake.
The night nurses were really good, but come daytime, the experienced nurse was having none of the "sleeping on my chest" crap. I got a stern telling off for having to be careful, and 'not to fall asleep doing this'...
2nd Night - Panic Attack
So Andrew and I were really proud of ourselves for getting discharged out of the hospital after only 1 day.
That night, while we bond over nappy changing and breast feeding, we noticed at 9pm that Sophie had red welts like finger marks on her back. Puzzled as we didn't handle her very hard or much on her back, we decided to pay more attention on where we lay her.
By the 12am feed, her back was covered with red welts with white pimply tips in the middle. Shocked that she's developed some kind of allergic reaction to my milk or our house, or the air, we called the hospital and was advised to take her to the emergency suite.
Once there, the staff commented about the speedy return after learning she was only 2 days old, while we panicked quietly with her fast asleep in our arms. The good news was that it was a rash that often happened to newborns in the first couple of weeks. Its bacteria which causes a reaction in babies, and should go away by itself eventually. The pediatrician reassured us that it doesn't hurt her, and that the spots might shift around, go away then come back for a period of weeks. But if it developed into raised pimples then to bring her straight back.
By the time we were sent home, it was 2am and we were absolutely exhausted, but also relieved that we didn't cause this emergency and that our baby will live.
I now know what its like to worry like a parent...
1st Week - Breast Milk Fail
I was really proud that I had produced colostrum as soon as I gave birth so my baby could drink this quality milk that only I could provide for her.
Lactation classes and various websites etc all say that new mothers should nurse as long and as often as possible to induce the milk to come in. So I was up all night, sometimes nursing for up to 2 hours straight! So by the end of the first week, its no wonder that both my nipples were raw from over suckling (hey, I'm a trier!).
Unfortunately when the midwife came for her first visit, she noticed that Sophie's weight was down. Then by the second visit, it has reduced by 10% of her original birth weight. Devastated, and very concerned about her well being, we decided to buy some formula as back up so she doesn't starve.
Feeding her via a cup that was given to us by God Mother Serene (and in accordance with hospital regulation), we did our level best to pour the milk into her and she literally lapped it up like a kitty cat. It is really cute to watch, but also distressing as she's not feeding from me. While Andrew gets to feed her, I watch from the side lines with a bag of peas firmly attached to my boobs and feel like a complete failure at the same time.
The good news is, my milk came in after 5 days, and thanks to the special diet of pork hock and peanut stew that my mother cooked diligently every day, I had a steady supply and by the middle of the second week, she has successfully gained 105g, and by week 3 had reached 3.78kg!
It took a few formula, sore nipples, massaging to get there, but boy was it worth seeing her growing and getting heavier! Although... at the same time, I do miss the tiny meowling thing she was when she first came out.
Oh Crap... What have I done???
Ears:
During the hospital stay, a hearing nurse came by to do hearing check as part of the health program for newborns, funded by the government. After two attempts, the nurse asked us to come back after a week, as it seemed either there was blockage in her ear cannel and require cleaning.
So after a week, we went in to see her again, fearing that our baby might be deaf, as she doesn't seem to respond to any sound stimulus from us or the endless construction work going on right outside our window.
Keeping our fingers crossed, we held our breath as the nurse did her test. After a pause, she was pronounced healthy and able to hear as normal. We breathed a sigh of relief that we have a normal baby and moved on to worrying about her eye instead!
Eye:
By day 3, we noticed her left eye glued shut from yellow secretions over night. Andrew looked online and suggested pink eye, which immediately send us into overdrive panicking we are going to kill our baby.
Luckily there was a slot available close to the time after her hearing check, so we went in to see the midwife the very next day.
It was NOT pink eye, just gummy eye. So after being advised to bath her eye in breast milk, and clean with saline solution, we were sent home. Again, relief that it wasn't anything too serious and we were soon acquainted with the miracle of breast milk. It took a week, but it cleared up very nicely!
... only for it to get transferred to the right eye... sigh...
Bum and Tongue:
After 2 weeks of not eating very much and excreting green or marmity looking poos (and hardly any wees), we were suddenly confronted with angry red welts on her bottom that looked very sore.
Concerned that we might have given her nappy rash, we consulted the midwife. Given in conjunction with the very sore breasts (some lump happening), and the stroppy way she was feeding (long and not gulping very much), I was given anti biopics (in case its mastitis), and anti fungal cream (in case its thrush).
Both cases are not good, but we went with the thrush option first, coupled with strong pain killers (which later gave me diahorrea). When most of the symptoms disappeared apart from her bum rash, we stopped the thrush treatment. Unfortunately the next afternoon my right boob was not very happy, so I put myself on antibiotics (which gave me diahorrea also).
By then the white coating on Sophie's tongue was so pronounced that even I had to agree that it is thrush we are experiencing. Again, relief that it wasn't mastitis, but also worry that our baby has thrush (I felt so unclean... cos of course it was me who gave it to her, not her to me!).
Growth Spurt:
The beginning of week 3 saw Sophie getting unsettled and not able to nap after the 5pm feed. Try as we might, sometimes she doesn't get sleep till after 12 am!
We tried everything, sleeping on chest, sleeping in big bed, rocking, singing, swaddling, warm baths etc.
On hot nights, I even sleep with her on the living room couch, but always, very difficult to sooth. Possibly with the nappy rash/thrush bottom, she's become very fussy about her nappy. So this is now the routine that we go through after 5pm:
Nappy check, feed, nappy check, burp, nappy change, feed again, nappy change, put to sleep, nappy change, put to sleep again, nappy change, feed again, nappy change...
You get the idea... We went through a box of 160 nappies in the space of 1.5 week! She's got a very expensive bottom!
All in all, I think we are surviving well (thanks to my parents who are leaving me soon), but its getting harder not easier every day.
Friends and family have been a constant source of positive encouragement and support - thanks everyone!
Andrew has been a champ, doing lots of nappy changes and baths that breaks his back cos of his great height. The hot weather hasn't really helped, as it makes her fussier and she can't settle well.
All we can do is take it in our stride and take it one day at a time.
I leave you with a video of Sophie in the process of doing a poo after a nap.
Unfortunately my narrative got lost in the recording, but its pretty self explanatory.
