Postpartum/recovery

Immediately after the C-section I returned to my room, the same room I was laboring in. Since I was still numb from the chest down, I was turned to my side so that I could breastfeed Gerritt. My doula kept helping Gerritt to stay latched on. He was alert & eager to nurse. I wanted to elevate my head to hold the baby in my arms, however, I was advised against doing so for at least 3 hours to prevent spinal-induced hypotension. So I stayed laying flat until about 2100. I was happy the surgery was over and I had a healthy beautiful baby in my arms. It was strange not to be able to feel and move my legs. I was relieved when the anesthesia started to slowly wear off & I could turn myself in bed within 3 hours after surgery. I continued to feel comfortable even after spinal anesthesia wore off due to the Duramorph injected earlier. It provided pain relief for about 18 hours and after that time I started taking oxycodone & Tylenol. One of the best advices I received was not to eat or drink large amounts of fluid for 12 hours after surgery to prevent postoperative nausea and vomiting. So I felt great postpartum with the only medication side effect experienced being generalized itching (thanks to Duramorph).
We didn't get much sleep that night since Gerritt kept waking up every 2-3 hours & crying. I ended up rocking him all night long. The mother-baby unit was short of nurses that day (due to a large number of laboring women - the result of last winter's power outage & wind storm), so my husband & I did all of the diaper duties.
The next day, I took my 1st walk & ate regular food. I found myself being constantly hungry and thirsty. Much of the day was spent learning to breastfeed & keeping our baby warm & dry. The urinary catheter was discontinued later that evening & I was relieved to be able to urinate on my own. It was difficult to get in and out of bed & to walk standing up straight due to the pain in my abdominal incision. I kept taking oxycodone & Tylenol on schedule, every 3 hours, which allowed me to do my motherly duties. That night we didn't get much sleep either since Gerritt kept waking up about every hour & crying from hunger. Newborns are born with good fluid & fat reserves, which should allow them to survive on a few drops of colostrum (fluid produced in the breasts until the breast milk becomes available), however, Gerritt was not satisfied with colostrum alone. Since my milk hasn't come in yet, I ended up asking a nurse for SNS (Supplemental Nursing System, which allows the baby to breastfeed while being supplemented with formula via a tube attached to the nipple). Gerritt still continued to fuss & wake up often. We finally learned that we were not feeding him enough (we were giving him 10-15 cc of formula instead of at least 30 cc every 3 hours). Needless to say, I was in no shape to go home on our third day in the hospital. My husband & I were like walking zombies. We were very fatigued & kept falling asleep in mid-sentence. Since I had a long labor which ended in a C-section & was still in considerable pain, my surgeon thought it was a good idea for us to spend a 3rd night at the hospital. I was so relieved! We took our evening nurse's advice & let her watch the baby & feed him formula while we slept from 1:30 to 7 am. That was the longest stretch of sleep we got since Gerritt's birth & we felt like new people in the morning.
On October 4th (Thursday) we were discharged around 5 pm. It was a beautiful sunny fall day & I remember thinking how the world would never be the same. I was a changed person & as we were driving home with Gerritt in his car seat, everything looked different. The next few days were filled with Gerritt's mother/baby visit on October 6th (where he got weighed & checked for jaundice), his 1st pediatric appointment on October 8th, & learning to breastfeed. I ended up having a home visit with a lactation consultant due to my condition of flat nipples. Breastfeeding did not come naturally & was quite a time-consuming process with application of a nipple shield, correct positioning, trying to keep baby awake during feedings & pumping afterwords to stimulate more milk production. My milk has come in on the 4th day after the delivery & I've experienced swollen & tender breasts. As I continued to breastfeed & pump, take hot showers & apply heat packs, the tenderness subsided within a couple of days. It was such a miracle to observe my body's capability to produce what baby needed most - breast milk! Since I wasn't producing enough milk to keep Gerritt comfortably full, we ended up supplementing his diet with formula after each feeding. Our efforts paid off since he surpassed his birth weight at his 2-week check up. Gerritt weighed 8 lbs 1 oz at 1 week of age & 8 lbs 11 oz at 2 weeks!
It was wonderful to have my American Mom Chris here with us for about 10 days after Gerritt's birth! Her delicious meals kept us nourished & her emotional support was invaluable. I found myself experiencing baby blues soon after coming home. A combination of fatigue, surgical pain, changing hormone levels & a huge change in our lifestyle made me feel deliriously happy some times ("This baby is such a God's miracle & I can't believe he is my son!") and unable to control crying spells at other times ("I am a failure since I wasn't able to deliver vaginally."). I quickly found out that my day as a new Mom went a lot better if I was able to start it with a hot shower (which felt like a luxury) and a good breakfast.
I was amazed at how quickly my abdomen flattened out after baby was out as well as such a rapid weight loss. I weighed 145 lbs on the day of returning home from the hospital (18 lb weight loss in a 4-day period from pre-delivery weight of 163 lbs!). No stretch marks, varicose veins or hemorrhoids - not bad for a 1st baby! :-) Some major physiological shifts took place within a few days after delivery: my swollen feet & ankles disappeared allowing me to fit into my old shoes again; so did my nasal congestion & frequent sneezing (I was able to sleep using only 1 instead of 3 pillows); no more heartburn & frequent urination; & my wedding ring was not tight any more. However, I continued to be constantly hungry & thirsty. 500 extra calories per day are needed to produce breast milk, so no wonder I continued my pregnancy eating habits post-partum! Also it is amazing how quickly I started to forget all of the unpleasant details associated with pregnancy & childbirth. Must be nature's way to ensure I do this again some day! :-)