What to expect the first week home with your baby.

When I started my journey into motherhood I thought I was prepared. I had read a few books and considered myself ready to begin this adventure. It didn't take long for reality to set in and I found myself tired, confused and defeated.
The first shocker was the morning after the birth. I stood up to go to the bathroom and a splash of blood and urine hit the floor. I had had an episiotomy during the birth of my first son and it damaged my bladder control pretty badly. It took a while to rebuild the muscles that stopped the flow of urine. When I hit the call button on the hospital bed a nurse hurried in and reassured me that this was normal. The incident terrified me and I felt upset that no one told me to expect this.
The next hit was when I started breastfeeding. It was something I knew I had wanted to do since before I conceived and in a breastfeeding course offered by the health clinic in my neighborhood I was taught that breastfeeding, if done properly, doesn't hurt. Well ladies, that is a load of bull. No matter how well you do it, it hurts. I give every pregnant woman I know this advice: Get some Lanolin cream!
No one had shared with me this nugget of wisdom. By night two, my nipples were so sore that I couldn't nurse my son without pain. I remember being on the floor of my kitchen that night crying because my baby wasn't eating very much and my breast hurt so much. I thought that maybe I could bottle feed my little one some breast milk so I tried my Gerber pump but it didn't offer adequate suction to suck anything. At 11:30pm we were on the road looking for the nearest drug store open at that time of night. A helpful clerk told me about Lanolin cream and helped me pick out a breast pump (Medela (works like a dream)). That night I pumped and pumped and managed to get about one tablespoon of milk. I cried some more. No one had told me that before your "milk comes in" that you produce very little and that that little bit of milk is enough for the baby. A newborn baby's stomach is about the size of a quarter. Not much is needed to fill that.
To help smooth the nursing transition you should apply the Lanolin cream as soon as your nipples get sore. Also, it does stain a bit so always use it with a nursing pad.
On top of all these woes my episiotomy wound made it hard for me to sit straight up in a chair for the first few days, until the swelling went down. Then for the next nine months, I experienced discomfort anytime there was pressure on the scar tissue. In my second birth I tore pretty badly but the wound healed quickly and I have not had discomfort since then. In fact, it tore along the previous scar (from my episiotomy) and allowed it to heal properly.
I bled (about the same as a menstrual flow) for weeks and weeks after the birth of my baby and it took me over a month to be comfortable enough to resume very gentle and very slow intercourse. It take a while to get back to normal. I tell you, the bleeding after the baby is born makes up for nine months of not menstruating.
There were other unanticipated events. You will never understand how much spit up, drool, poop, sweat, milk and pee you can be covered with at the same time until you become a new mom. Yuck! Milk especially. I had a very strong let down and I would get milk everywhere when I had let-down. The let-down reflex can hurt, by the way. 
I never knew how tired I would be. Lucky for new-moms, newborns sleep a lot. But I never took advantage of it and I was downright fatigued. Don't ignore people who tell you to sleep when the baby sleeps. I sure wish I wouldn't have been so preoccupied with dishes and reading.
These are my nuggets of truth. I hope that they help you to be a little more prepared for your exciting and exhausting journey!
Sincerely,

Myriam Black

See also my articles on what you should know about tests and procedures during pregnancy, labour and delivery and the hours after delivery at:

http://www.squidoo.com/pregnancytest/

http://www.squidoo.com/birthrisks/

http://www.squidoo.com/birthprocedures/