I promise I won’t be blogging about every single detail of every single day but these first couple of weeks have SO much stuff happening and so many useful things to know and remember!
After delivery I felt great. Super great! I was upbeat and happy when everyone was in the room. After everyone left (and after I called Dad) Elizabeth told me I had to go pee in order to be allowed to take out the IV and that if I couldn’t go pee within the next hour I’d have to have a catheter put in and have to leave in the IV too. Zach and I struggled into the bathroom with the IV but I told them it wasn’t really fair seeing as I’d had NOTHING to drink. I couldn’t go but promised them if they would load me up with some drinks that I’d go before the time needed to do it.
With the Bradley Method Dr. Bradley suggests having OJ after delivery. He said that it rehydrates you the quickest and that most new moms say it’s the most awesome thing they’ve ever tasted. Omg I LOVED it. I think I drank around 10 of them while in the hospital! Within that hour I also gulped down a HUGE mountain dew and three to four cups of ice water. Needless to say, I DID pee when they came back to check me. I was super mad though because they took almost TWO hours AFTER I peed to finally take out my stupid IV.
Once we got to the postpartum room (they had Kye in the nursery) most of the visitors came with us and kept me company. While I will never forget the moment we announced Kye’s name, I think this time spent together with my closest friends and family will be the time I cherish most. We laughed and told (and re-told) stories from the delivery. We all took pictures gathered around my stupid hospital bed (which made REALLY loud noises every time you touched the mattress). While I still felt wonderful, I did wish I could have a shower and I had the shakes very badly. It’s like I couldn’t control my legs. I think this bothered some people but I had read about it and new it was a natural thing that happens to many women after delivery.
We told the nursery to bring us the baby whenever he needed to be fed. They said he may end up not needing it during the night which would allow us a little more sleep. Of course Zach slept in the room with me and once everyone left we tried to get some shut eye…but it was pretty impossible! We kept talking and talking about how we couldn’t believe we had a SON and how excited we were for the dogs to meet him (random I know but we sure do love our dogs). Zach fell asleep first but I had a difficult time sleeping. I ended up calling the nurse at 3 am for some more pain medicine (800 mg of IBProfin) because when I’d start to fall asleep I’d feel the soreness from the stitches “down there” and I’d re-live childbirth. I just kept having that feeling of him coming out of me. Not that it was a bad feeling, I just couldn’t sleep because of it.
This night also started my bad dreams. Since then when I sleep I have awful dreams about me dying. So strange! I also have a LOT of drool and wake up choking on it! Random!
They brought Kye in and we did some more feeding. Zach and I were pretty mad because his face was TORE up with scratches! How good could they have been watching him through the night if they let him get so messed up like that? Luckily, Rachael had sent me a list of things to pack for the hospital and I had brought some mittens with me! You’d think the HOSPITAL would have covered his hands with something but nope!
The nurse brought me a donut thing to sit on in the tub and told me to soak in the bath for a little while. I did that and it helped with the situation downstairs. I didn’t shower though! I know that is SUPER gross because I was MEGA sweaty after delivery but I really wanted to go home that day and I just had this feeling that if I showered I’d be tempted to stay the night.
I was surprised by the amount of blood though…I had heard from so many people that is was going to be so bad that I’d stain my pjs. The hospital actually has you wear these stretchy undies with a HUGE pad that goes longer than the panties on each end, then another pad on top of that, then you are LAYING on a huge mat thing on the bed! I didn’t even leak through the small pad once! Maybe I just got lucky or maybe people worry for nothing?
Also I was SHOCKED at the pain in my arms. I had done an awesome job preparing for childbirth. I did 200 kegals a day and 180 pelvic rocks. I also did several squats and other exercises taught by the Bradley Method. One thing I didn’t do? Work out my arms. And honestly, why did I bother working out my legs so hard? You don’t really use your legs when pushing…you use your ARMS to hold back your legs! So my poor arms had to do so much work that they weren’t even nearly prepared enough to do. Needless to say, they were so so so weak. I think this also contributed to my breastfeeding problems…I was too weak to really hold him properly!
I thought breastfeeding was going okay…but I know now that it wasn’t. It was super duper painful throughout the WHOLE feeding which isn’t supposed to happen. I knew I had to keep at it but it was frustrating because no one really helped me. The nurses acted like I was doing it right and even the lactation specialist seemed to think so! This gave me false confidence and it took me almost a WEEK to finally figure out (on my own mind you) what I was doing wrong!
Brandon, Chrissy and Mom all came up to visit. They brought us “It’s a Boy!” balloons (and a transformer one haha) and some Dove chocolates for Zach. Mrs. Charlotte and Mom left to go shopping for some clothes for their grandson. I thought it was a really good idea for the two of them to go do that together. We had NO clothes and we wanted them to pick out his outfit to wear home.
Kye stayed in the room with us all day which was nice. I had decided to not bother trying to sleep while at the hospital since I knew we’d have lots of visitors and I knew the nurses would be barging in every 15 minutes or so. We did end up having lots of visitors including: Mema, Zach’s Aunt Cheryl, Mr. Rusty, Uncle Steven, Jerry DeLoach (from church), Casey, Courtney, Ashley, Katie, Aunt Karen, Kathy Malone (from church), Seth, and Crissy.
It was funny because my nipples were hurting so bad that the hurt just TOUCHING them so I chilled all day with my boobs hanging out, fully exposed to the world. If anyone knows me they should know by now that I’m not a modest person and will strip down in front of pretty much anyone without really thinking about it (long line for the dressing room? Just stand in front of me and I’ll change in a corner of the store haha). So it didn’t really bother me to have my boobs chillin but I wonder if it bothered anyone else?
I even left them for show for the nurses haha! And if you’ve ever been in the hospital you know there are a millllion nurses who come in and out. They would knock, I’d briefly cover up, see that it was a woman, and uncover again. Well I got sick of that routine so when someone knocked on the door I just left them hanging out and said come in…and OF COURSE it was Kye’s MALE pediatrician who I have NEVER met before! So embarrassing! Zach said he was reading his chart and didn’t see anything but still!!!
On top of the IBProfin they also gave me a stool softener…well that thing didn’t do crap (haha pun intended!). I HAD to poop (I’m a “regular” person) and when I went it was so painful and super huge. I actually called the nurse and one came in (my first and last time seeing this chick) and I had her check out the poop and look at my stitches while I was on the toilet to make sure I didn’t mess them up! My mom’s stitches fell out after she had me so I just wanted to make sure…but still I’ll bet she hated that job!
Something I didn’t expect were all the flowers people sent us! I knew people send flowers when family dies, but I didn’t know they sent them when a baby was born! Usually I’m not a BIG flower person but I truly loved the ones people sent us and they continue to put a smile on my face when I look at them while I’m nursing! My brother’s (Ryan) family sent us the coolest thing…beautiful flowers in a adorable red fire truck! It is Kye’s first real “boy toy” and it’s a permanent fixture now in his nursery! My Aunt Amy and Zach’s Aunt Cheryl also sent flowers and my Nana sent a BEAUTIFUL house plant that is so pretty it looks fake! It’s also going to go in Kye’s room…I hear the oxygen from live plants is super healthy for the baby and we were planning on getting some type of plant for in there anyways 🙂
I have never stayed over night in a hospital before and I loathe hospitals. They really scare me. Originally Zach and I planned to try to stay for two nights because we could get more money from our Aflac policies, but once my due date got closer and closer I told him I wouldn’t be able to handle more than one night. And I think once we were there he agreed with me! We both missed our OWN bed and just wanted to take our baby home…especially after the scratching incident!
One thing to remember while at the hospital: take all their stuff that you can. I “lost” the nasal aspirator they gave us for Kye so I could have two. I asked for extra lansinoh cream, extra “down there” pain spray, extra stool softener, tons of extra oj, and an entire extra care set that included an extra spray bottle for “down there” cleaning and all the extra hospital size pads. It’s kinda cool how all that stuff works because they have a little scanner (like one from a retail store) and they scan your bracelet then scan the item so you get charged for it all.
While I loathe hospitals, we did have some great memories there! One thing that will always stick out to me is when Brandon told Chrissy that she needed to hold the baby. She was nervous and just didn’t want to which is TOTALLY okay with me! You could tell she still loves him and is super pumped about being his aunt, but it just takes some people awhile to feel comfortable! I never liked babies either (but I love my own haha). What stands out about that conversation is what Casey said. Casey and I have never had the most buddy-buddy relationship but when I was consoling Chrissy Casey spoke up and said that she’d only seen me hold Colt a couple of times and that she was shocked to see how natural I was holding my own baby. Okay, maybe it doesn’t sound like a compliment but it was one and it was nice of her to chime in and help me make Chrissy feel better!
I also will never forget how excited Mom and Mrs. Charlotte were when they came back from shopping! They got him SO much stuff! A couple new born things but mostly stuff to wear when he is older which is great because he only stays at home right now so what’s the point of a bunch of cute outfits? You could tell that they had a great time together which was neat since they haven’t ever done anything just the two of them before. I think they hit up every store that sells baby clothes in town (which surprisingly, for Valdosta, is quite a bit).
Another great memory from the hospital is watching Ashley hold Kye for the first time. She’s never really held a baby baby before and, while she was nervous, Zach coached her up on it and she did awesome. It was so sweet to see her go from being kinda awkward to holding him comfortably in her arms
As I mentioned before, I did not cry during delivery or when Kye was born. My first tears were shed shortly before we left to go home. Duh, we wanted our son circumsized..but I didn’t realize how much it would affect me! Kelly (the nursery nurse and a friend of ours) brought him in and showed us his penis in order to explain how to care for it. Seeing my little boy with his red penis made me REALLY bawl. I couldn’t help it! Just realizing that WE chose to do that to him (even though I still wouldn’t take it back) just really hit me and made me cry! Of course Mom, Mrs. Charlotte, and Mr. Rusty all thought this was precious because it was me being a mommy! During that time as well Kye was fussy and I could feel a tingling in my breasts…it was TIME to feed the child! I felt very rushed and very stressed and just wanted Kelly to hurry up with her instructions so I could feed my baby. While both of these things took place during only a 10 min time span those 10 min really made me realize that I am a Mom!!!!
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That fire truck was really cool. BTW, your camera is really good at making people look great! I remember thinking that I really didn’t want to have my picture taken because I had been sooo busy all day and hadn’t showered or anything! But it actually turned out cute. And I thought that it was really funny that I didn’t want to be next to you in the pic because you would make me look even worse, which is hilarious since I don’t want to have my pic taken with someone who JUST had a baby 😉 Nice camera, we both look great (maybe it is just Mommy Glow).
It sounds like everything went so GREAT!!! I am so so glad…. The pictures really show how happy you are… you look beautiful!
I had a perfectly “normal circumcision” without any post-operative problems – until I hit puberty and my penis began to grow. The god damn unethical piece of shit “doctor” who cut me removed to much skin – tight circumcision. Fucking ouch.PAINFUL ERECTIONS – hurt like hell. There‘s nothing more painful than the penis growing and the lack of slack causing almost unbearable pain. Painful erections – they felt like somebody was burning your skin with a flamethrower or bathing you in boiling hot water. That‘s how much this shit hurt.And of course, the usual side effects from circumcision took place. A dried-out and calloused glans that was desensitized from years of being unprotected and rubbing against my underwear. A painful circumcision scar. The need for lube to masturbate or have „comfortable“ sex. A gradual loss in penile sensitivity. I am 31 years old and I can‘t feel my penis when I have an erection. Sex is awful because I hardly feel anything and I have to jackhammer my female sexual partners to feel a little something, maintain an erection and orgasm. Needless to say, this hurts them and the lack of foreskin also causes them soreness and vaginal pains.I hate being circumcised. I hate that MY BODY and MY CHOICE were violated and pissed on by my ignorant “mother” who has never apologized what she did to me. She doesn't have to live with the physical and emotional pain her decision caused – but I do. I have to feel this pain every single day of my life.Fuck circumcision. It is genital mutilation and anybody that supports this barbaric crap is a criminal in my eyes and should be locked up for life. American “doctor$$$” are mostly clueless, ignorant and greedy dumbasses that value profits over ethics. A true doctor adheres to his Hippocratic Oath (First Do No Harm). The “doctor$$$” that perpetuate this brutal genital mutilation surgery should all be thrown into the most vile prison in the country with the worst of the worst criminals and they should be labeled as child molesters – they would not survive the night and that‘s exactly what they deserve for ruining the [sex] lives of so many men and their partners.I hate being circumcised. I hate having the opinion of another person carved into MY PENIS for the rest of my miserable life. Fuck circumcision.