Elijah is a week old today! :) Time sure flies when you have a newborn. All the days seem to be combined together as one long day. Even though we have a doula, I still feel so overwhelmed.
Hospital Stay- When we were at the hospital, the nurses were very overbearing. They came into our room every 2-3 hours to wake us up to breastfeed Eli. We were both exhausted and Eli was not interested in feeding at all during the first day. The nurses were also very pushy about breastfeeding. They said we should not bottle feed Eli until breastfeeding has been established. Meaning he should be exclusively breastfeeding for a few weeks before being introduced to a bottle. I understand the importance of breastfeeding and would love for Eli to breastfeed exclusively but Eli has a vigorous appetite and my milk didn't come yet. After being seen by the pediatrician at the hospital, she said we have to feed him formula. The nurses and lactation consultants (three of them) made us feel guilty about feeding Eli formula but we felt it was the right thing to do. During the second day, Eli was already drinking 2 ounces! There was no way my breastmilk alone would satisfy his appetite since I only had colostrum at that time.
I also had a lot of trouble sleeping at the hospital. We had Eli with us in the room during the day and we opted to send him to the nursery at night time (11PM - 7AM). The nurses of course made us feel guilty about sending him to the nursery at night but I was so drained physically and Danny went home during the nights to take care of things. Even with Eli at the nursery I couldn't fall asleep. I asked the nurse for Benadryl at night so I can sleep better.
Semi-private vs. Private- Our insurance only covers semi-private rooms but we were set on getting a private room. One of the nurses at Mary's office told us that we should ask for a semi-private anyway because if they run out of semi-private rooms then they will have to give us a private room for free. So when the nurse asked us if we wanted a semi-private or private, I asked her if there are any semi-private rooms available. She said yes there are semi-private rooms available. In my head I was like... darn it! hehe I was hoping for a free private room! She left for a little bit to check for us and when she came back, she said she got us a really nice room. We went up to our room and it was a private room! Just to make sure, I had to ask her again... this is a semi-private room? Turns out that there were so many empty rooms in the hospital that night, she hooked us up with a private room (sharing a bathroom with the room next door) for free!
Recovery- Because of the stress from the hospital stay and being extremely sleep deprived, I was physically and emotionally drained. For the first few days home I was extremely weepy and pretty much could cry on cue. I also had trouble falling asleep. I never had trouble sleeping before, not even when I was extremely pregnant with Eli at the end. It would take me a good half an hour to an hour to fall asleep and I would wake up after only a few hours later. I think I was just very tense and still very overwhelmed with the idea of having a newborn with us. Slowly but surely I was able to fall asleep easier. By Friday, I was pretty much back to normal. Danny said that night I fell asleep right away and started to snore haha.
In terms of pain... during my hospital stay, I was taking Motrin every 6 hours to management the discomfort from labor. After 24 hours, I felt aches everywhere and I realized it was from all that pushing lol. My entire body ached as if I snowboarded for days. I also developed a headache on Day 2 and the doctors think it could be from the Epi. Since it wasn't intolerable, I opted not to receive any treatment. I just drank a lot of fluid and lied down a lot. The headache went away after a few days on its own. After I got home, I stopped the Motrin because I didn't need it anymore. I feel pretty normal... just a bit tired from time to time.
Cultural Differences- My family gave me additional stress during this period. As soon as I got home, the house was full of people- my mom, my sister, grandparents, and doula. They were having a blast making food and checking the baby out. I just wanted to rest. They bombarded me with all their advices. I was not allowed to drink or touch anything cold (I understand the logic behind it so I was OK with this). I was not allowed to drink any water except for ginger tea. I had to cover up my whole body from head to toe... it's 80 degrees outside! They wouldn't let me turn on the AC (finally they let me later but the temperature has to be above 78). I have to be on bed rest the whole time. Every time I moved out of my bed they would yell at me. I wasn't even allow to sit up. The worst is that I am not allowed to shower... !@#$%^&* (Don't worry, I sneaked in a shower today when my doula was sleeping haha... It was the best feeling ever... phew!)
My parents hired us a doula to cook for us and take care of the baby. I've never met the doula before because my mom had booked her before even asking me. She is a 65 yr old Chinese lady that doesn't speak a word of English. She is a bit slow and resistant to our wishes. We want her to use the playtex bottles for Eli because he tends to spit up a lot. She has never seen that before so she was resistant to use it. She complained that he eats too slow using this bottle (we use the slow flow nipple) and the bottle is annoying to use (because you have to squeeze the air out before each feeding and every time he stops to burp, you have to squeeze the air out again). I had to repeat myself a number of times to make sure she follows what we wanted. She also complained about how often Eli poops lol as if newborn is not supposed to poop! To sum it up, she is very stubborn to her own ways and it's a challenge to get her to do things the way we want to. But we are getting the hang of it and now she is being more and more cooperative.
The food that I am allowed to eat are very limited. I've been on a very strict diet. Danny tries to sneak in some foods for me here and there. Last night I had a quiznos sandwich while the doula was sleeping haha and tonight I am going to ask him to get me some Italian food
Breastfeeding- I pretty much pump exclusively. Elijah only latches onto my right boob and he is a very impatient eater so after feeding on my breast for a few minutes he would cry for more. My milk came in 3 days after birth. At first I was only getting half an ounce and I was pumping every 3 hours. Every day, my milk production will increase a bit. Now, I'm getting 1 - 2 ounces each pumping session and I pump every 1.5 to 2 hours during the day. I skip my middle of the night pumping session because I'm too sleepy. We tried doing the middle of the night pumping at first but we decided it's just too hard and not worth that ounces of milk. Eli eats a total of 28 ounces of milk each day (3 - 4 ounces each feeding) and he gets breast milk 2 - 3 times a day. I really hope my milk volume will increase so he can get most of his milk intake from me. I only plan on pumping until I go back to work (after thanksgiving)... we'll see how that works out.
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