Labor - None. Hammie arrived right on time at his scheduled c-section, which had the advantage of allowing me to shower and shave my legs before heading to the hospital, but the disadvantages outline below.
Planned C-Section - So, as most of you know, Fraser arrived via emergency c-section after I was in labor for 28 hours, so I had the option of scheduling a c-section for my second child. I had no desire to go through 28 hours of labor again just to end up with another c-section, and everyone I spoke to who has had repeat c-sections told me the planned kind have much shorter recovery periods, so I opted for the repeat section. In retrospect I will chalk this up to further evidence that I should never pay attention to anyone else's advice or experience where my children are concerned. First, the anesthesia I was given before the operation didn't kick in fully before the operation began. Oh yes. So, basically, although it was a hell of a lot better than someone operating on you without anesthesia, the entire operation was very painful until they gave me a nice big dose of morphine. Morphine, in case you were wondering, wears off insanely fast however, so by the time they were sewing me up again I could feel that too. Yeah, it rocked. The best part really is that it wasn't just the speed with which the anesthesia reached peak effectiveness that proved to be a
The bottom line, of course, is that Hammie is fine and that is really the only important thing to know about the surgery. That, and the fact that unless they invent some magical way to remove a baby from a woman's body that doesn't involve labor or surgery, or unless the doctor agrees to totally knock me out next time, I'm not sure I see a third child in our future.
Recovery - Recovery is improving, but has generally really really sucked. The only reason I think this recovery is any better than the last time is that I knew what to expect and am therefore not as horrified by the fact that I cannot sit up in bed at all or get out of a chair without a serious struggle. In fact, this time I needed a morphine drip post-surgery, which I did not get with Fraser.
Fraser - Fraser has been great with Hammie and with the entire "where did mommy go?" experience. When he came to see me in the hospital he was clearly confused, and basically avoided me like I had the plague, which was clearly much harder on me than on him. Since we've been home however, he has been perfectly normal with me, and seems to understand that I can't pick him up right now, but am happy to sit on the ground to give him a hug. He gets more comfortable with Hammie every day, and keeps trying to nuzzle Hammie's head like he does with the cats.
Hammie - So far Hammie has the newborn baby routine down very well (eat, sleep, fill up your diaper). He is sleeping very well at night, only getting up about three times, which I fully attribute to the fact that (a) he is a newborn and therefore only awake for incredibly short periods anyway and (b) I am not dicking around this time with trying to get him to sleep in a crib, or a pack and play, or whatever other baby contraption people have suggested will work, and instead Hammie sleeps with me. Critics of co-sleeping be damned. I'm a hell of a lot happier and better rested now than I was when Fraser was a week old.
Breastfeeding - Fraser never learned to latch on when he was a baby, so I pumped and fed him breast milk from a bottle for four months (and saved up enough frozen breast milk that he had breast milk for 8 months). This was an insane amount of work, and in retrospect very frustrating since I think he could have learned if I hadn't followed the lactation "experts" advice and did the whole pumping/bottle routine while we waited to have the "tongue tie" she saw evaluated. (The specialist didn't think the tongue tie was an issue, but by then Fraser was a bottle man and there was no going back). Hammie is doing much better learning to breastfeed, though he still is having his issues. Mainly the problem is that it takes him forever to latch on so that he's pretty much spent his energy by the time he starts eating, and only eats for a few minutes before passing out. So, I'm changing his diaper and stripping him down to wake him up on a regular basis. There are some days (or hours) when I feel things are going well and I'm sure this will work and there are many more days when I feel like the whole breastfeeding concept is for the birds and I must be the world's biggest idiot to be putting myself through this. Oh, and all those people who say breastfeeding shouldn't hurt at all are either living in the magical fairy land of denial or just enjoy screwing with new mothers' minds.
So, that is the basic update from the land of McBeth. I hope everyone is having a good time preparing for the holiday season!
4 comments:
Joe and I just wanted to send our congrats to you. Hammie's beautiful and Fraser looks like a great big brother. You're doing a great job. :)
Hi Zandy and family,
Congratulations on the new addition to family. Breastfeeding can hurt in the beginning but is such a joy and a time/work saver once you get going.
Congratulations Zandy! Although I have never met you - I feel bonded to you through motherhood. Take care of yourself - better yet have everyone else take good care of you!
Dear Zandy
Congratulations! How exciting for you all, two boys! HAPPY CHRISTMAS. Wilf and I may be coming to the States next year so could pay you a visit! Love Lizzie xx
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