To all you mothers out there....I NEED HELP!
I have hit panic mode with 6 weeks left in this pregnancy. I'm looking for any and all advice in any and all areas...pre-labor, labor, hospital stay, leaving the hospital, first days at home, sleeping (or not), what to make Chase do for me, etc. :)
Okay, I'm really not panicking (too much) but I would like advice. Any great products I just HAVE to have? Things I MUST do before going to the hospital? While at the hospital? I think you get my drift.
We're on a 6 week countdown! Can't wait!
I have hit panic mode with 6 weeks left in this pregnancy. I'm looking for any and all advice in any and all areas...pre-labor, labor, hospital stay, leaving the hospital, first days at home, sleeping (or not), what to make Chase do for me, etc. :)
Okay, I'm really not panicking (too much) but I would like advice. Any great products I just HAVE to have? Things I MUST do before going to the hospital? While at the hospital? I think you get my drift.
We're on a 6 week countdown! Can't wait!
11 comments:
don't panic! breathe! i hear labor hurts so you get a needle stuck in your spine! i'm terrified and i'm not even pregnant! what's happening!
also i am sure chase will have to take care of you. that's the plus. he can squeeze your hand and give you kisses. he can take the baby to bed while you heal and catch up on sleep and nurse the lil girl. he can cook for you. also i think pregnant women need comfy slippers.
i don't know anything.
It hurts. I kept Henry in the nursery and just had them bring him to me at night. I figured I needed as much rest as possible. You are so tired afterwards. It's hard to recover from such a physical ordeal with little sleep! I loved my boppy and my kiddopotamous swaddle blanket. I could never get the swaddle right just using a regular blanket. We got a video monitor off craigslist. You waste way too much time staring at it but it's nice to know if they're stuck in the crib slats, etc. Get used to it taking you at least 20 minutes every time you need to go to the bathroom for the first few weeks after. Take your stool softener!! Ha ha, have fun!
Ha ha ha!! Ah, the joys. If you're planning on getting the epidural, don't stress about labor too much. It will hurt, but you won't be in excruciating pain, but you really won't notice the needle too much. Because you're busy focusing on other pain. :) But then it's all over quickly and you get to just hang out and have fun until it's time for the real work. FYI, pushing a baby out, even with an epidural, is seriously hard work (depending on how long it takes) and still hurts a little. But, again, it's not excruciating. So don't stress that. #1 best baby supply ever? Boppy. So many uses. It's awesome. Once little fly girl has arrived, enjoy every second. But when she's content or sleeping and you need to rest, send her to the nursery! Otherwise you'll end up not sleeping at all because every tiny squeak she makes you'll be jumping at. And tell the nurses that they had better not make you wake the baby up to feed her. UGH! She'll wake up when she's hungry! Some babies just go longer between feedings. Unless there's some serious specific reason they need to wake you up, tell them to let you both sleep. Everyone will be happier. Take lots of games, movies (and a dvd player: we didn't have a portable when Payson was born so I made Jason bring our big one and hook it up there :), books, etc to entertain you in the hospital. When you're waiting for baby to come or just passing time during the day between visitors and nap, you'll want something to do. Expect to cry a lot. If you think your hormones are insane now, just wait until after baby comes!! Ha ha ha! You'll feel a little crazy for a good few months after she's born. Um, don't have sex until YOU are ready!! I know that's gross, but husbands get anxious because it's been a while and just know that regardless of how long you wait, it doesn't feel nice. :( Poor stretched out va-jay-jay. And the first several times you poop after you have her, you're going to feel like your butt will explode. I swear it's worse than labor. It takes forever and I think I cried. It's miserable. Take B.B.'s advice and take those stool softeners!! I'll be back if I think of any other disturbing advice for you. :) Just relax! You'll be totally fine!
oh my gosh that long last comment FREAKED me out.
Um...I agree! I am terrified to go through this in 12 weeks! Are we sure it's worth it? Just kidding...I can't wait for my guy but still...I'm starting to freak out...good luck Meg...you'll have to give me all your advice once you're through.
Go into labor with an open mind, it may not go just how you plan it. Epidurals are heaven, don't be scared! Buy more than one nursing bra (I had to send brian to the store, he was very embarased) and get cream as you'll be extremely sore from nursing. If you are planning on nursing, know the first few days are the hardest, dont be afraid to ask for help. I'd also bring comfy clothes and snacks to the hospital for you and chase. Our basinet and swing have been essential and I have used my nursing cover a ton (If you don't have one let me know and I'll make you one). Get some sleep and good luck, she'll me here so soon! Don't worry about the recovery, you heal fast. -callie
Megan, my dear,
You have nothing to worry about. You are already a good mom! I've seen you interact with children and people and you've got it down. It's so different for everyone,
but it's amazing how much of it is instinctual(if that's a word) and it just comes to you as you go along. I'm so excited for you!
And don't forget about the nursing advice I gave you, so your husband isn't making fun of your "not quite even" figure. haha! Love you!
My advice is to get a REALLY good pump cause that's the only way I got sleep. I would give Ben the bottle with my milk in it and go try and get some sleep. Also I agree start doing the laxatives NOW. I wish people would have told me that before or after I had Brayden. Oh my goodness, I thought I was giving birth again it was an absolute nightmare. I was in so much pain. Ask for the epidural right away, don't wait. Those contractions are enough to kill someone and I've had 7 kidney stones. Contractions are unbearable. I'm right there with ya though, I'm due in 4 weeks, oh boy, here we go again. Good luck you can do it!!!!
wow, lots of good advice. i think i'll revisit your blog with a notebook and pen next time i'm pregnant. i don't want to go into too much detail here (for stone's sake haha), but the first two weeks of breastfeeding were the hardest part of the whole thing for me. i had all of the top secret, expensive, creams and they were a waste. i read somewhere that the best thing is to just express a little bit of milk and rub that around the area and then let it air dry and this was really the best method for me. i wanted to give up and quit every single day (probably every three hours actually haha) but some how it's true-- give it two weeks and you'll be fine. EPIDURALS ARE HEAVEN!! they're amazing. i can honestly look back at my labor and say it wasn't a bad experience. oh make sure you eat a lot before you go... my labor wasn't even that long and i was still starved and begging for food. CJ's advice for stone would be to change all the diapers he can. i didn't change a diaper for the first two weeks because CJ felt that was the only way he could help. i think it was good for both of us to let that be his role. definitely buy a swing... babies sleep good in swings. coop struggled with napping for longer than 10 minutes at a time when he was new, so i'd put him in the swing and he'd sleep atleast long enough for me to shower and brush my teeth :) but make sure that by around 3 mo you're letting her fall asleep on her own in her crib... we're still kicking ourselves for that one (coop STILL needs to be rocked to sleep). you will both be great! we're excited for your sweet little princess to join the fly fam. good luck! we love you guys!
Oh, and my epidural didn't work. And it's apparently quite common. And pushing WAS excruciating.
Holy cow! I forgot the most important piece of advice! How?! I don't know. But I'm glad I remembered it. Because it seriously SAVED me!
So, nursing. You're going to hear all kids of horror stories. I've done it twice. Once the hard way and once the easy way. With Payson I was engorged and raw and I hated nursing. I was secretly SO glad when the doctor said she wasn't gaining enough weight and told me I had to start formula feeding her.
With Jack, I felt guilty for the way I had handled things with Payson and decided to try harder.
FIRST, I read the Nursing Mother's Companion (Here it is on Amazon, totally worth it! hhttp://www.amazon.com/Nursing-Mothers-Companion-Revised/dp/155832304X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk). That book was VERY informative. And then after Jack was born I referred to it multiple times in the first week or so. It was SO helpful! Women refer to it as the nursing bible. It really is.
SECOND, Pineapple. Fresh is best, but canned is fine. Start eating it right away, after the birth. My aunt learned this trick from her doctor. My mom got mastitis once with Maren and my aunt got her some pineapple right away. Within an hour she was fine. She shared the trick with me and it saved me! I had Jason bring it to me in the hospital and I never even noticed my milk come in. I ate it every day, as much as I could stand, for the first week or so. And then if I ever felt engorged or anything, I'd grab some more. Later on I saw a plastic surgeon on Oprah say that he tells all of his clients to eat pineapple after surgery because there are natural pain relieving chemicals in it. Awesome. It seriously works. You won't feel that pain that everyone talks about.
And THIRD, ask for help!! Have the lactation counselor at the hospital come in and help you. She'll touch you and stuff which will be weird at first, but it seriously makes a HUGE difference! When you're doing it wrong, IT HURTS. A LOT. When you're doing it right, it's completely painless. It takes practice, and some babies are easier than others, but if you figure it out, it's totally worth it!
So that's my biggest advice. Because nursing can seriously be stressful, frustrating, and painful, but it really shouldn't be! GOOD LUCK!!
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