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The first few weeks...

There is a kind of reassuring, busy routine in hospital. There are nurses constantly flitting in and out, you know there is always someone there if you have a question, if there is something you're unsure of. Then you go home.

We came in the front door with William in the capsule and I just thought ok, now what? We had the bassinet set up in the bedroom, but I realised straight away there was no where to sit him in the lounge, where we spent most of our time. So began the routine of bringing the basinett out during the day, then carting it back to the bedroom at night. We got a co-sleeper, so I was able to get him up through the night, without having to get out of bed. I think even if I wasn't in a chair I'd be a fan of that idea!

Co-sleeper cot. The left hand side drops down and fits up hard beside the bed.

Even from the very beginning William has been a good sleeper. I had been getting up to go to the bathroom every night around12-2, then again about 5 before he was born. He would wake up every night at both those times to feed. I don't know if it was random coincidence, or if I'd accidentally discovered the secret to sleep training! I also discovered my kindle to be the ultimate breastfeeding companion, because it was quiet, it wasn't a screen per say, and unlike a book, it doesn't try to close itself all the time. We read the entire series of The Animals of Farthing Wood over those first few weeks. I kept getting in trouble from Tim because I'd read bits without him and he'd miss out.  

I was a cloth nappy baby and I'd always assumed I would use them for my kids. They are rather different to the ones our mums used now days. I had decided that I wanted to do a combination, so I had purchased about 20 MCN (modern cloth nappies) while I was pregnant and we quickly discovered that what worked best for us, is to use cloth at home and during the day, and to use disposible when William is sleeping and if we are going out. So I don't spend my entire life doing washing, but we save a fortune and reduce our waste- for such tiny creatures, babies sure have big environmental footprints!!

I find that I hear every noise William makes overnight. It wouldn't always wake me, but I'd know he's been stirring.

Just before we left the hospital I went to have a shower and get dressed. While I was in there, I noticed a sore on my but. It turned out that all that time in bed had left its mark. We were held up for a while, waiting to see a wounds specialist before we left the hospital, but they eventually let us go with some dressings. Over the next week or so, Tim got to regularly check out my but and put a clean cover over the sore. I also put a sheepskin on my bed at home to help make sure it healed up, as well as sleeping on my side, to keep the weight off it.

We had got a couple of bedside tables and Tim had put a table top onto them and they became our change table. It allows me to have any supplies I need handy and I can easily get underneath. For Tim, we have a little work stool. Our bassinet is quite big, so it will do William until he gets a bit bigger, but Tim is going to make a cot, so I can get him in and out easily.

Our change table.

It's rather odd, trying to get used to all the changes to my body. I still have a belly, but it's so little compared to before. My legs have gone from the swollen balloons to stick thin. They are so wasted! My incision is healing nicely, but I am constantly aware of it, trying to work out if I am doing too much. The physio came to give me my post surgery work out, but it turns out most of her exercises don't work, or aren't applicable to me.
I am getting after pains still too. They last for several weeks, while my uterus returns to its usual size. Mostly I notice them when I'm feeding. They feel like small contractions, just that same tightening of my stomach, leaving me wondering if I need to wee again. I still feel off balance. I don't have that big belly to support me now, but there is no core strength left underneath it either. I am so very top heavy as my milk comes in.
I'm stupidly tired, as is to be expected with a newborn. One night I am half asleep and think I'm still holding William. In reality I'm trying to breast feed a hot water bottle.

My bowel routine is starting to get somewhere near normal, but is still complicated by iron tablets to help bring my hemoglobin levels up. They are better, but still not where they need to be and I've got several weeks of postnatal bleeding to go yet. I've also been kept on Clexane for 10 days after I leave hospital, to make sure I don't get any clots.
A week after I get home, we notice swelling where the epidural was, so we take a visit to the after hours clinic. It turns out it is just some fluid build up, probably made worse by the Clexane. 

In those first couple of weeks there is a lot of time working out our new normal, trying to establish some kind of routine. He is a very cruisey baby and it is a lot easier on us than I had expected. Tim and William do a lot of tummy time together. I work out that just a standard pillow off the bed is the easiest way for me to carry him around and to feed him. He gets his first introductions to some of the animals.

Time flies.