The First 48 - Part 2 of My Hospital Stay

Truth: Aside from managing pain and generally feeling like you were hit by a bus, the first 48 can also be hard because of lack of sleep and worrying about your baby and their health. I slept maybe 6 hours the entire time. This is pretty normal, but don’t worry; your hormones will have you wired and ready to power through. Keep reading to cover the rest of my hospital stay details.

Checks

Even if you don’t need a nurse to wheel you to and from the bathroom, they will be paying you frequent visits to make sure you and baby are doing okay. They will take you and baby’s vitals and make sure your uterus is still contracting back to normal size. They do this by forcefully pressing on your stomach while peeking into your cute disposable panties to see if your bleeding stops when they remove their hand. They also press to feel how high your uterus is; it should lower back down closer to its original position in the days after you give birth. This is super uncomfortable, not just because they’re looking at your bloody mess of a vagina, but it is very painful. You don’t magically stop having contractions when the baby comes out, but they’ll feel more like strong period cramps for at least a few days. So having someone repeatedly aggravating the area does not feel nice. You are already sore, but you might be sorer after these checks.

Baby

Very shortly after your baby is earth-side, they will undergo a lot of medical procedures as well. Most commonly, the first things that happen are weight and height measurements, hepatitis vaccine, vitamin K shot, and this glossy swipe over their eyes. Myles also had to have glucose tests every 4 hours for the first day of his life. I did not have gestational diabetes, but this was to make sure everything with him was normal since his size was so abnormal. These were really sad for me because they had to prick his tiny feet! He ended up being all good, just a big boy!

There will also be neonatal doctors that come to your room to check on the baby. They’ll check their reflexes and talk to you about how the baby is acting. They will give you tips if you need them, and they will probably ask what pediatrician you have chosen. So, do your homework and pick a doctor before your baby is born.

Your recovery nurse will also check on the baby when they come to check on you. My nurses were so nice and would show us different swaddle techniques too! If you’re lucky, they’ll even change a diaper or two. The biggest thing the nurses want to know is status; they’ll want to know when the baby last ate, when the baby last had a dirty diaper and if it was pee or poop. If you are keeping your baby with you and not in the nursery like we did, it is helpful to keep a list of every feeding and diaper change. I just kept a running list on my phone, and we actually did this the first few weeks at home, too. It’s so important to track these things, because it will help you keep baby on a schedule and quickly figure out why they are crying.

Finally, the nurse will have to take baby to the nursery to do things like the hearing test, circumcision, vision test, etc. I freaked out whenever Myles was away from me, but whatever is happening, it will be okay! They won’t bring the baby back to you screaming; every time they brought Myles back he was asleep, even after being circumcised. They know how to comfort babies, and while it might not be as good as having their mama with you, your little one will do great.

Sleep Long story short, you won’t get any in the hospital.

Long story not short, there are several reasons you might not sleep.

1. Your baby will probably not be on any type of schedule straight out of the womb. They will probably not want to sleep in the medically correct bassinet, and they will probably want to be on you 24/7. I say probably, because there are magical babies that are born sleeping eight hours a day, even though it’s unlikely. If you’re reading this, I hope you have that magical baby!

2. You will probably not want to sleep. I basically had to be forced to try to sleep. My mom would come visit and take Myles to the little couch next to my bed, and she’d send Mike home for a nap and try to make me sleep. Usually, I wouldn’t be able to. All I wanted to do was stare at Myles. I always had to make sure he was breathing and okay. I didn’t feel like I could ever take my eyes off of him. The only time I could sleep was when he was right on my chest. Honestly, my hormones were surging and I was totally wired. (Men don’t have this hormone surge, so don’t be mad if your partner has to go home and nap for a couple hours!)

3. Someone will come and bother you. As soon as I would close my eyes for an hour, that would be the time that the cleaning people came, the trash people came, the doctor came to check me, the nurse came in for shift change, the cafeteria lady came to ask what I wanted for breakfast. One time, I tried to take a quick nap, and I counted literally ten interruptions in one hour and gave up trying to sleep. Even if you don’t have a baby that loves to sleep, I promise you’ll get more sleep when you go home!

Breastfeeding

When you are about to deliver your baby, hospital staff will ask you whether you plan to breastfeed or give your baby formula. I will be making an entirely separate post on this, but it was such a huge part of my first 48 that I also need to address it here. I made the mistake of telling the staff I planned to breastfeed. I really did want to breastfeed, but I didn’t plan on putting too much pressure on myself to do so if it didn’t work out. Needless to say, it didn’t work out for me. So many people had touched my boobs, squeezed them, rubbed ice on them, pulled them, and tried to get Myles to latch. It just wasn’t working, and after 6 hours of his life without eating, he was screaming.

At that point, I had to literally argue with a nurse to bring us some formula. Once he had something in his tummy, he instantly felt better. You’ll be going through SO much during this time, that even if you plan to breastfeed, tell them you might try a combination so that they put less pressure on you to exclusively breastfeed and won’t deny your baby nourishment in the form of formula if needed. I got so sick of people telling me his tummy was the size of a fingertip and he didn’t need food yet; I knew what he needed. Whether or not you end up breastfeeding, you and your baby will be okay. Honestly, the lactation consultants were the least harsh about the “need to breastfeed” because they know how hard it is!

I know this was a ton of information to take in over just 2 posts, but so much happens during your first 48 hours as a parent. If you take anything from this, I hope you will simply take it slow and not beat yourself up for anything during this time. No matter what you planned, just get through it any way you can. It’s so physically and emotionally challenging, and you might feel like you’re walking through a fog. That will last a lot longer than your hospital stay, but it eventually lifts and you will find a rhythm when you settle in at home.

#truthmom

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