Blog Archive

October 10, 2014

The fourth trimester

Thank God my pregnancy and the childbirth had no complications as I would have gone crazy when it came to the real challenge: postpartum. I can't say that we have not been warned during the childbirth classes but nothing can prepare anyone for this. The pain and difficulty does not end after childbirth and the reality has sunk in!:)) I thought that since I had a non-surgical delivery, the recovery would be instant but apparently that is not the case. The painful peeing and the dizziness I experienced, though normally expected from an unmedicated (pitocin and IV aside) delivery, was new to me. For someone who has never been sick/hospitalized since five years of age, you can imagine how annoying this is for me.:)) It is indeed true that being a mother is the most difficult job. Aside from trying to recover and dealing with pain, you have to take care of a child! This had not hit me during our hospital stay as the nurses gave constant assistance and from the excitement of finally seeing my child. I even refused oral medication for pain initially as I was not feeling pain yet as I was always in bed. About a week after our discharge, the extreme discomfort from the heavy breasts, aching pelvic area and being unable to sit properly due to the you-know-what has gotten to me and I finally took pain medication. Laughter is the best medicine but not during this time as it hurt down there though it was hard not to with Lily's antics. Thank God our parents are here otherwise the household chores would have amped up the difficulty level. My mom would bring up my meals after those sleepless, painful, tiring breastfeeding nights and she would burp and change Lily's nappies. My DH (dear husband, not domestic helper :p) would carry me up the stairs (as I was ordered to minimize climbing it), help put Lily to sleep and buy items I needed for my recovery and nursing. My parents-in-laws took over the child caring and household chores once my mom left. I couldn't imagine getting through this without any help. After the second week, the pain was manageable and the bleeding was not heavy anymore but I had developed some very itchy rashes. (And I thought I had avoided the stretch mark threat!) It was just in the lower abdomen initially then in the extremeties. I have yet to determine what caused it. The Ibuprofen and hormonal change after pregnancy are a couple of my suspects. I'm afraid to take antihistamine as it might affect my breastmilk so I temporarily resorted to topical creams/lotions/sprays like hydrocortisone, calamine, benadryl, and ice to numb the itchiness. The insurance nurse also recommended a baking soda or oatmeal bath. I wish the itchy rashes would subside soon for the sake of my sanity.

Anyway, enough about me and more of Lily. It seems that she got most (if not all!)of her physical and personality traits from me. Sorry, tatay! I'll let the pictures describe her appearance. Like nanay, she has that sideways look and serious expression going on. Sungit!:)) Like tatay, she farts aloud and motorboatslikes Nanay's boobs. LOL. So far, she is relatively low maintenance as she cries only when hungry (which is all the time though :p) and is not sensitive with using the baby products that we already have borrowed and acquired from the baby showers (e.g.diapers, toiletries, baby furniture). Good girl! Our little drunken master  is sometimes dramatic during her feedings that we can't help but be amused: she shakes like an addict needing her fix when she gets hungry, moans while sucking, violently unlatches and raises her hand like a champion/winner afterwards. Too bad I can't capture it through video as it would be hard to censor a nip slip.:))


Credits to Lily's personal paparazzi, Lola Emily Francisco, for all the photos in this post.:)

No comments:

Post a Comment