- How bad and huge my breasts would hurt when the milk comes in. I mean, I did hear they get huge and engorged.... but what happened was Emma couldn't latch because they were SO BIG. In a previous blog post I mentioned how I heard, "If only more women had breasts like you!" a couple times in the hospital from different midwives. What I wish I would have know: to have a breast pump to help let the milk out, because Emma couldn't do it on her own. After 3 or 4 days of having HUGE breasts (it was to the point where I was laying in bed on my back, Joel had to grab my hands and help pull me onto my side because they were so sore and just HUGE. I heard someone jokingly say that while the breasts are engorged you could feed a whole village. And I believe it.) Joel found a nice breast pump for 50% off! I would totally recommend buying one before having a baby, just to help yourself out when the time comes ;)
- I heard you do a lot of laundry once you have a baby. I didn't completely understand WHY though. Sure I heard babies poop a lot... but I didn't expect the puke. And sooo much of it! Plus it is very unexpected, you never know when that fountain of puke is going to come up. It was to the point where I felt anxious feeding her, because I knew she would puke after. Thankfully my dear mother-in-love bought me a bunch of burp clothes that I keep stashed around all the main places where I feed Emma.
- To watch for signals from Emma when she is getting tired. I don't know why I never thought about it, but I was waiting to put her to sleep when she was overly tired. Since she was then overly tired she didn't sleep well at all. I now put her to sleep awake and she has taught herself to fall asleep on her own.
- Once I had Emma (literally seconds after) my first thought was, "She made it! She's here! Now I can focus on healing!" That was my biggest concern. I wish I would have expected the unexpected to happen. My stitches ended up coming apart, and that process of redoing them was almost worst than the whole labor part all together. I guess it's hard to know and expect the unexpected, but I still wish I would of known ;)
- Our first night in the hospital was kind of a mess. I was up taking care of Emma (and I had just given birth not even 24 hours ago), and Joel was so tired he was basically lifeless and couldn't function. What I wish I would have know, was to call the midwives to help me out! I didn't even think about it! I'm not sure what I was thinking actually, or if I was thinking at all. I knew they could help during the day, but I don't know why I didn't connect the dots as to why there was a night shift of midwives.
To go with this post, here are 9 Things I'm Glad I Did before and after I had Emma.
3 notes:
These are so interesting to read (and such good things to know). One of my friends posted a couple of months after her daughter was born and asked "Why didn't anyone prepare me for this and this and this?" But as I read through her list I realized that every labor, delivery, and baby is SO different it's hard to be prepared for exactly what your life will be like! This makes me want to make a list of things that I wish I'd known (about babies and life in general) - just because it's interesting to look back with 20/20 vision!
I totally agree about the giant boobs! I remember taking off my bra at one point and they were just dripping like a little fountain! (TMI?) Listen had a really hard time latching the first few days as well because of it. We had to run out and buy a pump. I've learned now that a lot of insurance companies (here in the states) will help pay for a pump.
I feel like no one really told me ANYTHING about the aftermath of birth. It'll be nice being a little more experienced with this next one... but I'm sure new and unexpected things will happen, of course!
This is a really fun post idea. I like reading about what other moms have learned through the whole delivery/becoming a mom experience!
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