Major Differences

November 2, 2012

Well I have now been officially a Mother for 2 days! What a journey! Before delivery and during delivery things were pretty standard to what I would expect had I given birth in the States. However, since then things were way different from what I would expect.

Here are some major differences that Justin and I have experienced:

1. They didn't let Justin hold Brayden when he was born. Justin didn't get to hold him until the next morning.

2. They wouldn't allow me to see Brayden either. They told me it was doctor's orders that I needed to sleep until 6 the next morning. However, I was being kept in the nurse's station so they could monitor me. This meant that not only were the lights on the entire night, but all the babies were in there as well crying their little buns off...including my baby. Not to mention the nurses talking and coming and going as well. No sleep that night...

3. Which means that they without my consent started giving Brayden a bottle with powder formula during the night when they knew my choice was to breast feed.

4. Since I was bed ridden the following day with a catheter, they originally told me that Brayden would have to stay in the nurses station the whole day, and they wanted to give him formula. I negotiated with them saying that Justin was there to help me.

This must have been unheard of to them since they gave me a strange look and were astonished that Justin was willing to change his diapers. Luckily, Justin was there otherwise I would have gone another whole day without seeing my baby!

5. They wouldn't allow me to eat or drink anything for 36 hours after the surgery. I felt like I had just ran a marathon, and they were denying me water and nourishment! I was so parched!!! I didn't feel that hungry though since I had a steady stream of nourishment coming in from the IV.

6. Lack of pain medication. To put it mildly, they would only give me some pain relief sparingly. They told me not even 10 hours after the surgery that I had to learn to control my pain. Well, let's just say I was not able to get any sleep that first day and night. I believe I got three doses of pain meds from the start to the finish.

7. I learned from my earlier hospital stay that they love needles. They do not believe in medicine in pill form, only shot form. I am again a human pincushion. Both of my hips look and feel like they have been beaten with billy clubs. I had one option one day to receive one type of medicine in a suppository form rectally. As gross as it sounds, I jumped at the opportunity to save myself from the intense pain of another injection.

However different everything is, they are monitoring Brayden and I very close so I know we are in good hands.