Hi everybody! My big news is that I am now the proud mommy of a 12-day-old baby boy. Sean Charles arrived almost 3 weeks early on October 24, weighing 6 lbs. 8 oz. and 19 inches long. My water broke at midnight that Friday night and after 19+ hours of labor including an hour of pushing he came out as an emergency c-section. By that point I had almost no amniotic fluid left so the contractions were compressing the umbilical cord and causing him to become distressed. Of course, by that point he was pretty well wedged down in the birth canal. He did have pretty bad jaundice so after going home Wednesday we were re-admitted Friday so that he could get treated for that overnight. However he is now doing very well, eating up a storm (he thinks B-O-O-B-I-E spells "Mommy!") and gaining weight appropriately. We also found a new renter for our house, so things are starting to settle down nicely.
On the stitches/staples thing - I had staples, and heard that the other option would have been glue. There were a dozen that they cut out before I went home and I can't say that I found them to be the most painful part of the process. (And fortunately the post-pregnancy pooch covers them so you can't see how disconcerting they probably look.) For example, the lovely hemorrhoid from pushing was pretty uncomfortable. I have spent the past two weeks living on a blow-up ring. Very classy. Actually one of the worst parts was how much my legs and feet puffed up immediately after the birth, evidently from all the fluids I got after getting the epidural. I couldn't bend my legs more than a few centimeters which made getting in and out of the hospital bed miserable and the skin on my feet was so tight it was painful. They are completely back to normal now, thank God!
aspotofTea - YES, the constipation is bad. I'm not going to lie to you. I didn't poop at all in the hospital, which I understand is pretty normal, and once I did when I got home it's a sloooooow process. They should give you stool softeners in the hospital. Mine did not give me any to bring home, so I would advise having some on hand for when you are released. As of yesterday I'm past the constipation and have gone straight past normal to diarrhea. ARgh! Also, what I have been experiencing is that other than the "second day worst" thing is that you can feel pretty good for a couple of days and then have a sudden relapse. You stretch the wrong way or get up too fast and get a shooting pain in the incision.
I have had my mother and sister staying with me which is indescribably wonderful. Take all the help you can get, both in the hospital and at home. Take all the pain medication you need and don't let anybody make you feel guilty or less of a person for it. Your body heals better when it's not in pain. Fortunately my in-laws aren't speaking to us again because, evidently, my husband doesn't visit his mother enough (yes, I know it doesn't make sense - she's crazy!) so we don't have to deal with too many visitors.
Congrats to charr and good luck to everybody else who is still waiting on their little bundles of joy! I have a finite time to finish up some other things on the computer before I turn into the boob fairy again!!
