Baby Comes Home - trouble in paradise!

In hindsight, those first weeks home are the toughest we experienced. We thought we were ready for anything, but there is not a book you can read that can truly prepare you. I admit that I certainly can't prepare you. You can go some way to preparing yourself simply by knowing that your life is about to be turned upside down, and your expectations will be challenged... it sounds corny, but if you step aboard that ride, it is in my experience, the ride of your life.  

It turned out our baby liked booby... though those first few days in the hospital were a little sketchy, but by the time we got home Iris had it under control. Excruciatingly sore nipples... but under control. We had friends who'd not been able to breastfeed and knew how difficult it had been for them, so we felt fortunate. For us, breast feeding was great because as long as Iris was there (and she always was) we always had a pre-warmed feed with us, and a pacifier, and a nice emotional bonding device, and... I could go on but the point is breasts are great (even if they aren't the breastfeeding kind).  The formula feeding / breast feeding debate is a sensitive one but I am an advocate of the philosophy that if you can you should, and if you can't there is an option too. I was a bottle fed formula baby and apart from having three eyes (an extra one in my forehead), no one would be able to guess it! (Bad taste I know, but someone will laugh).

I had three weeks off work. Those weeks were a blur where we transitioned from full nights sleep and doing whatever the heck we liked, to very broken sleeps, running on adrenaline, and putting a massive halt on the social calendar.

We learned to hear slight tonal differences in crying and became adept at changing nappies. Nappies in fact became a major focus of our lives. We had already devoted countless hours to reading dodgy websites about the various virtues of different brands. Totally baffled by the choice, we set a middling course and bought a couple of sampler packs.

In fact the nappies we bought were not very useful in those early stages. The young fellow grew so quickly, and the poo was so frequent and gooey that we found a much better solution!

NAPPY SERVICE! Each week the service would deliver 50 clean white cloth nappies (USA: Diapers) to our door. Each week they would collect very dirty ones. This saved us so much time, so much waste and so much mess... and it only cost $40 per week. I would definitely recommend this - even as a gift - in those early months.

There is an awful lot of nappy changing! By the way, an excellent device for fastening (terry towelling) cloth nappies is the Snappi. They do a fab job - so you don't need to use safety pins.    

You can get them here: Snappi Cloth Diaper Fasteners - Pack of 3 (Light Blue, Bright Blue, White)

and find out more here: http://www.snappibaby.com/

After 3 months we started using our own reusable cloth nappies. We put significant research into making our decision - so I'm going to devote a whole entry to it! Nappies, boosters, night time nappies, bamboo, micro fibre, washing machines, squirter hoses, nappy liners... and so on to follow!

At the hospital

I have to admit that this part of the journey is a bit hazy. I can remember the highlights. Meeting the young man for the first time. Those wonderful first noises and actions he made. Cutting his umbilical cord. The meconium poo and the first bath and massaging him with olive oil... but not the kind you eat ok!!

There was learning how to put on a nappy - we had a few ideas, but the midwives had lots of new techniques to show us. The smell, a wonderful odour of fresh warm skin, without a hint of sourness.

We stayed at the hospital 4 days. Our heath insurance afforded us a private room (though this was not guaranteed). We were happy with this. I stayed on a very uncomfortable sofa bed each night. I didn't want to miss out on anything. We braved the hospital food and supplemented it with better takeaways. Sushi was a hit. A highlight was the visit of a friend who sneaked in a bottle of bubbly, two dozen oysters, half a crayfish and a fantastic dessert. Unbelievable. In hindsight we seemed to be drifting in some kind of pleasurable dream bubble.

Midwives were overall fantastic, though we didn't like the one who tried to extract and feed our boy breast milk with a syringe (without a needle of course). Our other problem with the midwives was the variable nature of their information. Sometimes it seemed we were getting very old fashioned advice. Not to say that it was totally wrong - but we just seem to like a more open minded approach.

After 4 days it was time to go. I had the baby safety capsule strapped into the car. I wasn't entirely sure how to use it. (There's a tip - work this stuff out before you try to use it for the first time! This is serious business, please read up on this stuff!)

It was strange to be home. I now had three weeks off work to help Iris and to start to get to know this new boy!