My Ayden bear was born on Friday, 7 Ramadhan 1438 (corresponding to 2 June 2017), in case you couldn't be bothered to read my birth story :p
I was at JPMC for two nights after his birth and everything was a whirlwind. Husband and I had been waiting for 9 months for him to arrive earthside and come 8:05am that day, everything revolved around baby.
Literally everything.
As it turned out, I bled a lot (according to the medical staff attending my birth) and had to be administered syntocinon to prevent more blood loss, to which few days/weeks later I found out it also helped speed afterbirth -_-
The next thing after skin to skin, I was asked to direct feed little bear.
Nothing came out.
I blamed syntocinon for messing up what my body was supposed to do by itself-- I couldn't nurse until the second day, and then dread filled me whole: baby had to be fed on formula. So ensued a hysterical mama bear for God knows how many times on little bear's birthday. My trooper of a husband and my cousin had to talk some sense into me to make sure little bear is fed even if it meant formula, and "breast is best" went down the drain. That was an epiphany in itself: there was no room for shaming mothers, still is, never will be when it comes to sustenance for newborns and babies alike; mothers know what is to be done to make sure their baby thrives... no matter what route they have to take.
I also received guests AN HOUR after birth. Decked in my hospital gown, sleep-deprived look and wheeled in to my room, I saw my husband's family members, which was fine because baby had his tahnik straight after. The madness started when we began to receive MORE guests than what the hospital policy dictated, and I felt so hopeless. My postpartum environment was in no way tranquil-- the air was filled with too much chatter-- and two hours in, I still couldn't nurse. Shushing people didn't work from behind the curtains, and I had to ask my husband to get visitors out of the room.
Every two hours when they asked me to nurse, nothing came out, and I cried some more.
I delivered the birth news to close family and friends on my side an hour after birth, and thankfully they arrived after I managed to calm myself down. Two of my close friends were slightly furious that I did not tell them that I was going through contractions (though surges would be my prefered word! hehe) while our group chat was buzzing with our mundane stories (hahaha).
**
In my birth case, I had the freedom to have a birth plan. It was rigid to say the least; I wanted a natural labor. My delivering doctor was (really) not too keen on my refusing episiotomy when she read my birth plan, yet she honored it (she has to duh, we were paying). At the end, I had second degree tears and some sutures after-- I was willing to compromise on that as I mentioned in one of my previous entries. The discomfort was something else altogether, and I could feel the doctor's fury as she sutured me up, because in no way the suturing process was gentle!
The birth plan is not something I can take for granted: some if not many of us just do not have the privilege to choose how our births go. I can only imagine the furor and disdain mothers might get if they become headstrong in the labor room-- even I almost screamed at my midwife for insisting a VE to be done, which to me is much worse than labor itself. I can remember my upset when she explained the procedure to me and its so-called necessity when really VEs are not the only way to tell how far you're in labor. In fact, they can slow labor especially with the upset that you experience knowing you are not dilated wide enough yet your contractions are coming much closer-- mine was already 5 minutes apart, I had the bloody show, and after VE at 2am I was only in the first stage of labor.
Mommies (and daddies, too!), no matter how your birth process is, remember it is for the best! We are all looking at a healthy mommy and baby at the end of everything. Also, from a mama bear, please use nursing balms AHEAD of time so when the time comes for nursing, the discomfort will be lessened! That is one advice that I left unheeded and had caused minor upset with me, hehe.
On another note, I cannot brain so much and I don't know the chronicles of the US of A today. Something about Attorney-General Sessions going against the orange president now? And the Russian interference saga ongoing? Policy wonk mode is almost zero.
More postpartum chronicles in the weeks ahead for all of you, in sha Allah!
I was at JPMC for two nights after his birth and everything was a whirlwind. Husband and I had been waiting for 9 months for him to arrive earthside and come 8:05am that day, everything revolved around baby.
Literally everything.
As it turned out, I bled a lot (according to the medical staff attending my birth) and had to be administered syntocinon to prevent more blood loss, to which few days/weeks later I found out it also helped speed afterbirth -_-
The next thing after skin to skin, I was asked to direct feed little bear.
Nothing came out.
I blamed syntocinon for messing up what my body was supposed to do by itself-- I couldn't nurse until the second day, and then dread filled me whole: baby had to be fed on formula. So ensued a hysterical mama bear for God knows how many times on little bear's birthday. My trooper of a husband and my cousin had to talk some sense into me to make sure little bear is fed even if it meant formula, and "breast is best" went down the drain. That was an epiphany in itself: there was no room for shaming mothers, still is, never will be when it comes to sustenance for newborns and babies alike; mothers know what is to be done to make sure their baby thrives... no matter what route they have to take.
I also received guests AN HOUR after birth. Decked in my hospital gown, sleep-deprived look and wheeled in to my room, I saw my husband's family members, which was fine because baby had his tahnik straight after. The madness started when we began to receive MORE guests than what the hospital policy dictated, and I felt so hopeless. My postpartum environment was in no way tranquil-- the air was filled with too much chatter-- and two hours in, I still couldn't nurse. Shushing people didn't work from behind the curtains, and I had to ask my husband to get visitors out of the room.
Every two hours when they asked me to nurse, nothing came out, and I cried some more.
I delivered the birth news to close family and friends on my side an hour after birth, and thankfully they arrived after I managed to calm myself down. Two of my close friends were slightly furious that I did not tell them that I was going through contractions (though surges would be my prefered word! hehe) while our group chat was buzzing with our mundane stories (hahaha).
**
In my birth case, I had the freedom to have a birth plan. It was rigid to say the least; I wanted a natural labor. My delivering doctor was (really) not too keen on my refusing episiotomy when she read my birth plan, yet she honored it (she has to duh, we were paying). At the end, I had second degree tears and some sutures after-- I was willing to compromise on that as I mentioned in one of my previous entries. The discomfort was something else altogether, and I could feel the doctor's fury as she sutured me up, because in no way the suturing process was gentle!
The birth plan is not something I can take for granted: some if not many of us just do not have the privilege to choose how our births go. I can only imagine the furor and disdain mothers might get if they become headstrong in the labor room-- even I almost screamed at my midwife for insisting a VE to be done, which to me is much worse than labor itself. I can remember my upset when she explained the procedure to me and its so-called necessity when really VEs are not the only way to tell how far you're in labor. In fact, they can slow labor especially with the upset that you experience knowing you are not dilated wide enough yet your contractions are coming much closer-- mine was already 5 minutes apart, I had the bloody show, and after VE at 2am I was only in the first stage of labor.
Mommies (and daddies, too!), no matter how your birth process is, remember it is for the best! We are all looking at a healthy mommy and baby at the end of everything. Also, from a mama bear, please use nursing balms AHEAD of time so when the time comes for nursing, the discomfort will be lessened! That is one advice that I left unheeded and had caused minor upset with me, hehe.
On another note, I cannot brain so much and I don't know the chronicles of the US of A today. Something about Attorney-General Sessions going against the orange president now? And the Russian interference saga ongoing? Policy wonk mode is almost zero.
More postpartum chronicles in the weeks ahead for all of you, in sha Allah!
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