From Hospital To Home: The First 10 Days With A Newborn Baby

This is a very TMI post. Warning. TMI. Too Much Information. Ok? TMI.

Day 1: The birth, the nipple shield, and the hospital corridor

You can read about the labour and birth here. This is what happens after the baby pops out.

Baby goes from being squeezed out of my vagina to lying on my naked chest, and I get to cuddle him until the placenta is removed. (Did you notice the TMI warning at the top of this post? hohoho) Oh my god, removing the placenta is the worst.

Ok not the worst. Going through labour contractions and pushing out a smol giant is the worst.

I don’t know why but my placenta was really big this time. Bigger than usual. And the midwife had to pull really hard on the umbilical cord to get the placenta to dislodge from my uterus wall. It weighed more than a kilo.

What the heck so painful. It leaves an open wound in my uterus.

I swear pulling the placenta out hurt more than pushing the baby out. Because the placenta removal took around 20 minutes, but pushing out the baby was done in less than 2 minutes.

Anyway, once the placenta is out, the baby is taken away to be weighed and measured and washed and dressed.

And I’m left alone with the midwives to be stitched up. Do you wanna know about this part? Oh lord, THIS PART. This is what I gotta keep reminding myself will happen when I get baby fever because THIS PART is the most painful. Oh, I keep saying everything is the most painful.

EVERYTHING IS THE MOST PAINFUL.

Let’s skip past how they get all the blood clots and other stuff out of my uterus. And the long ass needle that is used to inject anesthetic inside the vaginal wall. And the stitches. All the stitches. Inside, outside. Stitches. Then an hour later the doctor comes back and sticks their finger up your vag and your butt. Omg. Why. Swollen and bloody and torn and stitched.

Yeah. It sucks. NEXT.

They brought me a meal and the baby. He was all squishy and soft and round and red. I called him “Elias” but he didn’t respond. I called him “Yacob” and he shuddered. I called him “Ibrahim” and he opened his eyes.

Ibrahim it is.

Apparently Ibrahim chose a very busy day to be born because there were no beds available in the hospital. So we had to chill in the corridor for a few hours until we finally got a spot in the maternity ward later in the evening.

Here’s my view of the corridor from my bed with my cute sock.

We didn’t mind waiting. There was an atomic explosion of sticky gooey jet-black poop in his diaper. I realised I didn’t pack enough wet wipes. We breast-fed for a while. Then cuddled. Then breastfed. Then cuddled. And listened to mums pushing and new babies being born in the rooms right next to us.

Such a special feeling to hear itty bitty babies scream right after birth.

From one of the rooms, we could hear a lady push while the nurses encouraged. Then where there should have been tiny angry baby cries there was silence. Then there was wailing and sobbing from the lady. And there was sadness everywhere because the baby was a stillborn.

We got our bed on the maternity ward around 6pm. Had dinner. Settled in. By now my nipples were getting sore and cracked. TMI, remember?

I have always struggled the breastfeed my babies when they were teeny weenies because my nipples are short and wide. I couldn’t with Ayub and Sulaiman. When Aisha was born, I went to a breasfeeding specialist called Gina’s Place for help and she showed me how to use a nipple shield. CHANGED MY LIFE COMPLETELY.

So later that night we busted out the Medela nipple shield and Ibrahim was happy and I was happy and we went to sleep.

Day 2: torn and blistered nipples, cramps and body pain, and being stuck in the hospital

Hmm… where to start.

My nipples were torn and blistered. How bout that. I wonder if other women suffer through this like me. Or is it just me. So painful. Thank goodness for Medela Purelan nipple cream. That stuff is magic.

My whole body wasn’t very happy. The cramps were pretty intense as my uterus contracted back to its normal size.

Doctors made their rounds in the morning. Gosh, why do they have to stick their fingers up there. IT IS SO SORE. 🙁

Everything was cool except that I majorly fucked up and couldn’t be discharged lol. You can ask me about it in person coz I ain’t gonna say why here 😛

Ibrahim was looooovely. Cuddly and squishy and so sleepy. I’d put him down in his tiny cot, turn to have a drink of water, and go back to see him fast asleep. Sleepy, squishy, cuddly baby. So much poop.

Day 3: my milk comes in, the baby has jaundice, we finally go home

I woke up in the morning with my boobs swollen and heavy and borderline engorged. My milk had come in. Baby drank as much as his little tummy could handle, but a lot of it stayed in the nipple shield.

During rounds in the morning, a doctor found that Ibrahim has jaundice and ordered blood tests. They came to take him away, and when he came back there was a tiny bandage on his hand.

He was cleared. I was cleared.

WE FINALLY GOT DISCHARGED.

Well, it took many hours from the time the doctor signed off on the papers to us actually leaving the hospital and getting home, but it’s ok. We got there in the end.

The three kiddies were waiting for us at the front door. Ayub rushed to the sofa to sit down and carry the baby. He knows the drill. He oohed and aahed and cooed and giggled at his tiny new brother. Sulaiman seemed quite happy about having another brother too.

Aisha was in shock probably. Quietest I’ve ever seen her.

It was night time. Got baby ready for bed. He went to bed. And proceeded to wake up every hour from 1am until 7am.

Aisha also woke up a lot. And cried a lot. Lots of tears. Lots of cuddling. No sleep for Mama.

Day 4: baby hates his first bath and generally looks like a skin-peeling alien

After having his first bath (which he was NOT a fan of), Ibrahim spent the whole day sleeping. Waking up occasionally for noms. But otherwise just totally out of it.

He’s still a little jaundiced. His skin is starting to peel. He sleeps much better that night.

And I felt pretty good too.

Day 5: I do not feel good

Everything was cool. The brother came to visit the nephew. The kids played video games. Lots of laughing and happy faces. Ibrahim spent most of his time sleeping. This baby doesn’t cry. He’s my favourite.

Oh, the brother Adam ran his stupid fingers all over the baby’s face and the baby had acne the next day, which lasted for a week. Stupid Adam and his stupid fingers hahaha.

AND THEN…

Night time came and my breast got super engorged and it was so incredibly painful that I felt cold all over and was shivering and the pain was throbbing and unstoppable and just kept going so I cried myself to sleep. Sad.

Got Ibrahim to keep nursing on the engorged breast throughout the night. But he’s such a good sleeper he hardly woke up.

Eventually the pain subsided. Later. The next day.

Gosh, engorgement feels like death sometimes.

Here’s a cute picture of Adam spoiling his nephew.

Day 6: chilling at home on a public holiday

Fantastically uneventful day. Sulaiman holds the baby for the first time. I wish every day was like this day. Perfectly mundane and satisfying.

Day 7: the poop, the umbilical cord, the registration, and Aisha

One week old. Ibrahim’s umbilical cord falls off. I did something and Mr Ninja registers the baby and gets his birth cert.

Ibrahim = legal.

I poop a poop that feels like I ripped some stitches out. I google what to do if post-natal stitches get ripped out. Google says to keep your legs together and hope for the best. You can’t re-stitch. Just pray you heal on your own and don’t end up Quasimodo-ing your lady bits.

Aisha warms up to the baby and spends time carrying and cuddling and laughing at him. Mostly laughing at him. Especially when he farts or sneezes or coughs or cries.

Day 8: the baby gets circumcised

Sorry baby. Better to get it done and out of the way.

My dad picks us up to bring us to the hospital. He gives Ibrahim a man-to-man pep talk.

Went to Hospital Islam Az-Zahrah in Bangi. In and out. RM430. I think. Or RM340. Something like that.

Ibrahim is totally high on anesthesia and loopy as heck. Sleeps most of the day. Wakes up feeling woozy. Drinks his boob and go back to sleep.

Day 9: back to normal

Cute.

Small.

The circumcision clamp fell off a few days later.

Day 10: the nurses make a home visit

They check Ibrahim. He’s gained 200g. They clean his belly button and stuff. They check me. They say to be careful. Some stitches are coming loose. Ok.

Yeah. That’s 10 days with a newborn.

It was pretty chill. Except for the pain and stuff. But to be honest, I forgot all that pain and discomfort once I got to cuddle that squishy baby. So squish. So babe. So love.