Today marks Madison's first week old birthday...
Time truly flies,although the past week has been much of a fog to Chris and me..
THE FIRST NIGHT
We were admitted to ward 82 Rm 25 in KKH, and the first few hours were a torture. I had to CRIB ( complete rest in bed ) as I had an epidural. If I did not PU in 6 hours, they were to catheterise me! Then the horrendous nausea set in, which was likely a side effect of the epidural. I had taken 2 tablets of Maxalon (my own) in the delivery suite, but they did nothing to curb the sensation...
Thankfully I was able to PU at 5Pm and after a short nap the nausea passed. Madison was finally wheeled to our room and as I was totally breastfeeding she was to stay with us in the room during the stay.
Lots of people popped by to visit, although I was pretty much out of it.. and of course the photography sessions that followed. I received plenty of gorgeous flowers as well.
Chris stayed in the same room as I did but he got a crummy sofa bed while I had the fancy automatic hospital one. As the epidural wore out, EVERYTHING started to ache! The epi site was SORE and I was bleeding( which is normal ) , and I'd never felt so weak in my life...
Breastfeeding was also painful.. not forgetting that Madison needed to fill her tiny tummy almost every hour by the clock. Then the stress that she had not passed much urine or meconium... we felt pressured and caved in to 1 supplement of formula at 11Pm.. after which we regretted as she became agitated at the next feed when food did not seem to come easily to her.
WE DID NOT SLEEP on the night of the 13th!
THE FIRST DAY...
Pa arrived early to bring me his homemade soup and noodles for breakfast, which was godsent as breakfast arrived close to 9 am!
Madison was wheeled out at 0530h for her morning bath, and only returned past 8am... she was STARVING by then, but we managed to console her with breastmilk..
Chris' mum, Neil and Anthony popped by and took more photos...Anthony was really helpful and helped us with transferring stuff into the car..
Chris and i decided to stay only the 24h, so we were to be discharged just after 1Pm...Dr John Tee came by to check on me, and soon we were being organised for discharge. The neonatologist came to the room to screen Madison, after which she was taken for tests : hearing test and metabolic screen.
I tried to breastfeed again in the ward and I found it extremely painful. The lactation consultant came to check on the latch on, but I was surprised that she told me to consider supplementation if Madison did not pass much urine or meconium.. that really stressed me out and was sorely tempted to cave in to formula at EVERY feed! Thank goodness for Chris, who insisted that we persist with total breastfeeding...
Subsequently another LC came along, the vivacious Teo Yen Ping, who demonstrated how to massage the breasts and unclog milk ducts. She is pro total breastfeeding and did not encourage any supplementation. Armed with her advice I started to feel more confident and persisted with TBF.
We were discharged at 1PM on the 14th, and made our way to the Novena house. IT was exhausting just to make the trip home and climb into bed to await her next feed.
Pa and Ma hosted a BBQ dinner party that night but I was really too exhausted to come down.
SUBSEQUENT few days...
What I remember at this stage:
1. PAIN: extreme-- from breastfeeding and latching, at the epistomy site, lower back and neck from feeding...
2. EXHAUSTION: protracted lack of sleep since Madison's arrival... not more than 2hours in a row since the 13th of March...prolonged sitting for breastfeeding...
3. MOOD SWINGS: ranging from sadness that she is changing and growing up so fast, to elation and amazement at the miracle of nature..
4. STRESS: initally over her passing urine and stool, then over her jaundice ( which is still ongoing), then her skin...etc...
BUT like everyone says.. at the end of the day, it ultimately feels WORTH IT...
So far we have made foray into the Botanical Gardens and East Coast Park for brekkie..
The rest of the day is usually spent revolved around her naps and feeds, apart from the afternoon trips to KKH for her serum bilirubin tests...
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