Recovery and Week 1

We survived week 1! With a surprising amount of ease, actually.

Overall, mommy-hood has given me a sense of completion. I have never felt more alive and happy. Brooke is truly the best thing that has ever happened to me. She’s a super chill and easy going baby. She only really fusses when she’s wet or has a little gas in her belly. Eventually, she farts super loud like a grown man and then moves on with her life without a care in the world.

C Section Recovery: This has been the most difficult part of my week. I’ve never had surgery before, let alone major surgery. Most people don’t understand how major of a surgery a Cesarean Section actually is. They open your belly with spreaders, cut the muscle, take all of your innards out to get to the baby, they flush your uterus before stitching it back up, they reassemble you and then stitch it all back together. I had 17 staples in total. I had my staples out today and that has helped with my level of discomfort tremendously.

My biggest areas of discomfort are when getting up, especially after I sleep. Everything is really tight and rigid. The best way to describe it is it feels like they staple your skin too close together and every time you move it tries to pull apart. It’s a pretty awful feeling. Since having the staples out, I have some relief.

The hardest part is that since you are recovering you aren’t allowed to do shit. No driving, no lifting anything heavier than the baby, no housework, no exercise, no nothing. I can drive once I come off of the pain killers (in another week) and they suggest you refrain from the lifting and housework until you are at least 4 weeks out and then no exercise until 10-12 weeks, maybe longer depending on your level of discomfort.

It’s been really hard letting people do things for me, let alone asking for help. I’m a weirdo and totally enjoy cooking and doing housework. I hate not being able to vacuum. I have tons of people vacuuming for me, but dammit, I WANT TO VACUUM.

8 Pro Tips for those facing a  C Section Recovery

1. Have an AWESOME support system that is willing to help you. Help you all the way around. (There are some pretty awful things coming out of you and you’ll need to be able to let it all out.)
2. Skip the binder and wear compression bottoms. I have lots of compression tights from running and they are amazing. The binders roll up and are super uncomfortable.
3. Dry your incision with a blow dryer on cool. Seriously.
4. Keep a pad pressed against you incision to keep it dry. Moisture breeds bacteria, which breeds infection.
5. GET UP AND MOVE. It sucks at first, but it will really help your recovery.
6. Pooping won’t hurt. The hospital will give you stool softeners and it’ll be the most glorious moment in your hospital stay when you finally do poop.
7. Drink all of the water possible. It will help with everything.
8. Don’t over do it. See #1.

My mom has spent the last 2 nights with us and sadly, is leaving tomorrow. She has been amazing. She’s kept laundry moving, doing some grocery shopping, vacuuming, walked the dog, cooked meals and watched Brooke for us when I got my staples removed this morning. It’s definitely helping me not do too much all while giving Brooke some much needed Nana snuggles.

Also, there’s something super comforting and reassuring having your mom around when you’re learning the whole parenting thing. Just to have them reassure you that you aren’t screwing anything up. And since she’s a Nurse mom it has made me feel even better.

Breastfeeding. I love breastfeeding. I cannot get over how much I love it. I was so worried about it initially. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do it, or Brooke wouldn’t get the hang. Also, I was a little concerned that it’d be…weird, for lack of a better word. Until now my nipples have been this sexual thing and now they’re suddenly this natural food source. It hasn’t been weird at all. Brooke is a total champion at breast feeding. She took to it much like I did.

My nurses at the hospital were amazing and gave me tons of tips and pointers that the lactation consultant didn’t. I got lots of the old school advice from them, which I tend to love.

I’ve had no issues whipping my tit out with company over to feed her. Kevin has also been amazing about it and totally supported me feeding in public. He’s really had my back about it. I thought it might be awkward at first, but it really has just felt natural. I tried covering her once while I nursed, but she was sweating after so I haven’t since. I figure if someone has a problem with it then they shouldn’t watch me nurse. Pretty simple.

I was super nervous in the hospital because she lost 7oz. They gave her one more night to start to gain weight before they wanted to start supplementing and she put 2 ounces on that last night. WOOHOO! Our pediatrician (who I just LOVE) did a home visit on Monday and Brooke had gained 4 ounces since leaving the hospital. Our Doctor told us that anything between 1 oz and 1.5 oz is a good gain, so the fact that she’d gained 2 oz a day was fantastic.

Her latch has been great and I haven’t had a single sore nipple or crack. We are nursing on demand and she eats for 30-45 minutes at a time on each breast. She “pets” my boob while she eats, as though she’s telling it, “good boobie”. It cracks me up. I love how I still get something between just she and I that no one else can have or experience.

Sleep. I think Brooke sleeps more than I do. She’s settled into a little routine where she eats around 11pm and then sleeps until 4am, eats for 30-45 minutes and sleeps until 8-9am. It’s amazing.

We swaddle her in a Halo Sleep Sack and she is out cold. She sleeps through anything and everything. Including the dog barking his head off.

She sleeps in the Halo Bassinest and it’s been perfect. It swivels into the bed, plays music (including a heart beat), has a vibration feature, a light, the front arm presses down, so putting her back in at 430am is a breeze, and it even has a nursing time on it. Definitely one of the best gifts we received. Thanks, mom!!! Look! A Brooke-urrito!

We’ve been doing Tummy Time and she is a fan for about the first 5 minutes and is then fairly certain we are torturing her.

Huckleberry and Brooke havedone really well together. I was super nervous because I kept hearing horror stories of people being like, “Oh, we had tog et rid of our dog.” But, he just watches her very intently and guards her. He is super gentle and really just wants to kiss her. He circles her monkey blanket during tummy time almost like he’s making sure no one breaches the perimeter of it. We are hoping this trend continues and they become the best of friends.

We had her newborn pics done on Monday and I cannot say enough good things about them. We’ve only gotten one back as a “sneak peek” and I just…gahhh…she’s perfect. I can’t stop looking at her. I’ve never felt more love in my life.