Blog From A Broad

happy first week!

Mia is one week old today and to celebrate, she grew a bellybutton overnight. Her stumpy bit fell off at some point last night, leaving her with a slightly stickyouty bellybutton. 15 years from now, she'll probably be out getting it pierced or something. Gads.

One week postpartum and I'm still feeling like a million dollars and damn smug about the whole giving birth thing. I can do back labour on gas and air only! Hear me roar! I never set out to prove a point by birthing at home or go the non-drug route to look down my nose at anyone who chooses otherwise. I'm a wimp; I can complain for days about the most minute things. Have you heard about my allergies, asthma, RSI, or bad back? No? Because I could tell you about it for hours on end if you wanted me to. I didn't know how I'd cope with the pain of labour and truth be told, I didn't cope all that well. Put it this way: my throat is still a bit raspy one week later from all the screaming. But to look back on it all and know that I managed to give birth to Mia as I did, I can't help but feel proud of myself. So smug I shall be because damn it, it feels good.

Breastfeeding is going much better this time round, although my nipples are taking a beating. My midwife watched me feed Mia and said she's latching on well, but I must have had some bad latches because I don't think it should hurt this much. They're cracked as well, so the initial latch makes me wince in pain until she gets going. I'm using Lansinoh religiously, airing my boobs out after each feed, avoiding getting soap on them, changing breast pads regularly, and ensuring Mia latches on properly. The thing is, Mia's been a champion feeder from day one. She went on a feeding frenzy (every 1 1/2-2 hours) for the first two days before my milk came in, and latches on for a good long time each feed. She's now feeding every 3-4 hours for 20-30 minutes each time. I've managed to avoid the rock hard booby engorgement phase (probably because she drains me so well), but maybe all this wear and tear is taking its toll.

Otherwise, things are still going swimmingly. Mia's a happy little baby and makes the tiniest of noises. I am feeling hugely jet lagged, though. I'm great in the mornings but starting at around 5pm, I start to wilt. Last night during supper, I said that it was like when we go to California and eat on the first evening there, and it's something like 3:00 in the morning UK time. You know when toddlers fall asleep face first into their plates when they're really tired? I could totally see me doing that.

My birth story is almost complete. I'm trying to find various ways of spelling "AAAAAARRRRRGGHHHHHH!!!!" to avoid too much repetition. Stay tuned.