What did you wish you knew about Labour and those first few days with baby?

[tippytoes]

I wasn't afraid and I didn't really think anything would go wrong....but I wish I was a bit more prepared for the 'aftermath'. Even though I had a natural birth , 2nd degree tearing was pretty sore. It was really hard to get out of bed and couldn't sit up at all the first day. Stingy when going to the loo etc. My sis (a nurse) gave me a squeezy bottle and box of table salt. I put on tablespoon of salt in it and dissolved it, then squeeze over sore bits . I used this in the shower and when going to the toilet. It was like a salt wash and was very relieving. I think it helped a great deal.
Wishing you all the best!
Rach xx

[rufalina]

1 - I had c-sects so no help there... But I can say that with my elective sections it was possible for me to have my baby on the breast within an hour, and baby lead attachment is possible and still pretty amazing at that point.

2 - Not be afraid to admit that you need help with things, and to seek help where you can, like with breastfeeding and the baby, that it is OK to bug the nurses and midwives in hospital. Pepper them with questions, and seek help when you can. But to also realise that sometimes their advice is not the be all and end all, and to ask the nurse on the next shift for a different perspective if you feel uncomfortable with the way things are going.

[Vixstar]

1) I wish, even though I ended up having c-sections, that during my antenatal classes, they had taken the time, esp for first timers like i was, to explain the possibility of a c-section. Don't get me wrong, the classes were brilliant but kinda made me live in a world of expecting to have a natural birth. My gf lives almost the same story to tell that we both now feel like failures and get quite upset when we hear people 'just gave birth naturally'. (both had the same OBGYN, same hospy etc) After my first c-section I was in so much shock I never bonded with my truely amazing and gorgeous little boy and i beelive that led me down the path to PND. I felt I had failed from the moment we had a c-section.

Make sense!?

2 - Not be afraid to admit that you need help with things, and to seek help where you can, like with breastfeeding and the baby, that it is OK to bug the nurses and midwives in hospital. Pepper them with questions, and seek help when you can. But to also realise that sometimes their advice is not the be all and end all, and to ask the nurse on the next shift for a different perspective if you feel uncomfortable with the way things are going.

I could not agree more.

With DS#1...I felt / thought that because I was a woman, had been pregnant and had a bbay that I should know what to do and basically never asked a question for the whole 7 nights I was in hospital.

With DS#2...I buzzed them for everything, even to adjust my bed! I was making up for it! DS#2 was a darn noisy sleeper and had this squeak which drove me batty so he slept at the nurses station every night! I was the BOSS!!!

I also asked question about bf, even though I bf DS#1. I asked them because i felt I couldn't the first time and wanted to 'make peace within myself' iykwim.

xxxx

[Roryrory]

Labour - That I had a really high pain threshhold, a body that does birth well, and that there was nothing for me personally to be afraid of. Looking back, I am amazed that I got though the first birth the way I did. I was over 30, a professional career woman, first birth, posterior presentation, in a private hospital with an OB who made me push lying on my back, (which statistically should have lined me up for a c-section!). I ended up with a relatively drug-free birth (gas doesn't count when you are 9cm gone I say!), no forceps or vacuum but with an episiotomy. And I felt fabulous afterwards. The second was even better, with midwives at a birth centre and absolutely no intervention. I am so relaxed about the concept of birth a third time that I am having a this one at home(though privately I think maybe I am too relaxed sometimes?)

First days with a baby - That even though I had read EVERYTHING I could find on childcare and breastfeeding, had meals in the freezer ready to go, found breastfeeding to be really easy, everything went right, etc - it is still really a HUGE adjustment having a child. The simplest things can be insurmountable in those first few weeks. I had an "easy time" and an "easy baby" (early motherhood was like a Huggies commercial for me) but I still found it taxing - I can only imagine what it would be like to have the cards stacked against you.

[Rowellen]

Labour - breathing techniques for pain relief. I struggled at home but as soon as the midwife at the hospital talked me through it, it became soooo much more bearable, to the point where I had a drug free birth. Had I known beforehand, I could have stayed home a lot longer.

After birth - settling techniques. On the last day of the hospital we were shown "happiest baby on the block" and that made a huge difference. Not that it all worked, DS refused to stop crying unless he was held upright - no side or stomach for him.