“Hey Google, My Nipples Hurt.”
“Okay, how do I take care of a baby? I don’t really know and I’m not sure why the hospital let me go home with one.” Anyone ever think that? Anyone thinking that?
The first week I have heard termed, “the survival week.” Just survive. (Now that I've been through it, the survival days and weeks can definitely last longer than that as well as come and go along the way.) It’s also a week of crazy hormones. You're learning how to connect with and feed your baby. You're still physically recovering and will be for a while. You're immediately losing sleep. You'll probably have at least one doctor appointment. And there’s still the need to keep up your home and family (and now visitors as well) unless you have great help and support.
“Hey, Google. Why is my baby crying?”
“Hey, Google. How do I know my baby is getting enough milk?”
“Hey, Google. What can I do to help breast engorgement?”
“Hey, Google. My nipples hurt and I haven’t slept for 30 hours. Can you come help me? Oh wait, you’re a phone. Never mind.”
Sigh. Ugh. Swear. Repeat.
There are the smiles, the tears, the anger, the overwhelming thoughts and feelings, the peaceful and euphoric times on cloud nine and way more. The good and not so good. Some moms connect with their babies right away, and others don’t. Both scenarios are normal. Sometimes you’re mainly alone to process and adjust and you so desire someone to be with you and understand you. Other times you have person upon person wanting to meet the baby and help, yet all you want is space.
Sometimes everything starts out well but once you get into the flow of things, it gets worse. The extra support is gone. The partner is back to work. The sibling toddler is finally understanding that this new child is going nowhere and taking all his/her own time with mom away. Cue regression and hashing back.
It’s the same with breastfeeding itself. It could be awesome from the start or it could be horrible from the start and you’re ready to give up if you haven’t already. It also could have started off well and gotten worse or vice versa, started out rough and gotten easier.
Breastfeeding. Newborn care. It is a whole new season of life and environment of living when you’re in this stage. And it’s different for everyone. Talk to two different moms who had similar postpartum experiences and you’ll still hear two different perspectives from each of them about how they dealt with it and what they thought of it.
Join me in this category as over time, I will address more specific things within these topics. It’s a wild ride, but one absolutely worth taking, and one that requires support, no matter how strong you are, even if you’re a “grin and bear it” kind of person.
"Hey, Google. Over and out."