AngelzTears
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I've only been a mommy for a little over a week now and I've learned so much! Here are things I wish I had been told about before having my baby (feel free to add your own!)
Hospital:
Breastfeeding:
You:
Baby:
Hospital:
- Pack light, you probably won't use even half of what you bring! All I used was my boppy pillow, two shirts, one bra, one pair of pants, pads, shampoo, deodorant, toothbrush, camera, ipod touch, and one pair of socks. For baby all I used was diapers, wipes, and her coming home outfit.
- The hospitals pads are crap, bring your own!
- As much as I hate hospital gowns, I'm glad I wore one. I had a csection and I still needed to have my gown changed twice. I would assume giving birth vaginally would mean even more gown changing.
- Don't bring any kind of entertainment that requires you to use both hands. I couldn't use my iPod touch til after birth because I was rapped up in so many cords. I had the IV in one wrist and it's tube taped all over my arm, then the finger thing on my other hand, the blood pressure pump on my upper arm, and the baby monitoring straps all over my tummy.
- The IV in your wrist is extremely annoying and I never had mine removed until I was discharged from the hospital.
- You can still go pee while in labor, but the nurse has the help you take off all your wires and monitors and such. The IV machine comes into the bathroom with you.
- I wasn't sure if I was going to do epidural, but since I had a csection I had to. The epidural shot seriously hurt way less than getting my IV put in, and it was the best pain relief I have ever felt in my life! The nurses were laughing because I was smiling once I got it. lol
- The catheter never hurt being put in or taken out. I was really freaked out by the thought of having one, but it was great. I didn't have to get up to go pee after I had the baby and I'm so glad, because I don't know if I could have walked to the bathroom after having her.
- You have to write down how many dirty diapers baby had, how much she ate, how long she ate for, you even have to write how many ounces you have peed during the day (they give you a cup thing to measure your pee).
- Bring you own snacks. If you have food allergies don't expect the hospital to care when they bring you a meal. They brought me food with a note on it that said "wheat-free" on it. It wasn't wheat free. I got sick.
- Bring chapstick for your lips if they feel dry. I wasn't allowed to have water or even just ice, or anything at all for my entire labor.
- You probably won't sleep while in the hospital, even when baby is in the nursery. It seemed like once an hour I got my blood pressure taken, my temperature taken, checked up on, baby brought in for a feed, baby taken back out, even had my blood taken that first night. No sleep.
Breastfeeding:
- I never knew there was a specific way to breast feed. I thought you just put baby up to your breast and hope she latches on. You're supposed to wait til baby opens her mouth real big and put all of your nipple and as much of the areola in her mouth. Your nipple needs to be pointing up near the roof of her mouth rather than pointing towards her tongue.
- If your baby doesn't have the areola in her mouth and just the nipple, you will get cracked and sore nipples, even after just one feed.
- If you can't breastfeed or choose not to, don't let other people make you feel bad for it. I thought I could definitely breastfeed, and it turned out I couldn't and I had no support from anyone. It broke my heart a little. Just remember that so long as baby is happy and healthy, it's all going to be okay!
- It's really easy to lose your milk, so if you're solely pumping - make sure to do it often!
- Pay an extra dollar or two and buy the fluffy curved breastpads, not the flat ones. Trust me, you need all the comfort you can get!
- Even if you just pump, you will still want nipple cream. It's lovely!
- To break the suction of baby on your breast, put one finger tip in their mouth first, then pull them off. Don't just pull them off while there is still suction.
- Remember, if it hurts really bad - you're doing it wrong. It shouldn't hurt a lot.
You:
- Constipation after birth is terrible, so drink lots of water and have stool softeners waiting at home for you. It took me 4 days to use the bathroom, and the pain from going the bathroom actually hurt worse than my labor pains. lol.
- Still use your stretchmark cream even after you've had your baby. Especially on your boobs!!
- Go the bathroom as much as you can during nap time. The last thing you want is to be feeding the baby and really need to go. lol
- Your tummy after birth looks a bit like being 5 months pregnant. It gets smaller every day, so don't worry.
- On days when your stomach gets you down, buy a tummy wrap. It's a bit like a corset, makes you look a litter nicer.
- Make sure you have someone to help you for at least the first week if you've had a csection. I could not sit up on my own for a week, and I still can't if I have the baby in my arms. It's unbelievably inconvenient!
- Make sure you have advil or some kind of pain relief medicine at home. The pain meds I was sent home with ran out way before the pain went away.
Baby:
- If you're going to use a pacifier, always have more than one with you. Baby will spit it out onto the floor at the most inconvenient times.
- Even if you have a baby girl you are still at risk of getting peed on during diaper changes! lol
- Use an alcohol wipe on your baby's ambilical cord stump 3-5 times a day. If there is redness, oozing or an odor - that's not good.
- Buy infant tylenol and baby gas drops before you have the baby. You'll want them as soon as possible if your baby needs them.
- You might think you have too many blankets, but you will need them. Between the spit-up and diaper leaks I go through one blanket every other day. lol.
- Wash under her chin and around her neck daily. Milk gets stuck there easily.
- If you're going to take a nap with baby in the bed, try putting her in the center of your boppy pillow. It put my baby to sleep every time.
- If your baby seems to be crying for no reason feel her tummy, right above the diaper. If her tummy is hard then she's having tummy pains. Gently rub her tummy to help her relax.
- You will think your baby is the cutest baby on the whole planet and love him/her more than you ever thought possible!
I was induced at 39 weeks, but I was already having contractions every 3 mins when I got to the hospital. the csection part was unplanned though. I had the csection because I labored for over 12 hours and I never dilated, not even 1cm. 
