I'm not allowed to call my wife a wuss anymore...

[spencer rifle]

Do you get to help with feedings, or are you only fetch-and-place-and-change support?

 

[oldpink]

Thanks everyone. We're home. Mom and baby are doing good. The epidural was not an option because of severely low platelets. And cesarian was absolutely the last ditch option because of HELLP syndrome. It could have killed mom.

The lack of sleep is already setting in... Feedings every 3 hours aren't THAT bad.. but when he takes 90 mins to eat... That's not a lot of sleep.

I don't recall a time that my wife and I were both nearly as exhausted as we were in the days after we brought our one and only baby home, and it got even worse a week or so after, a result of us unintentionally getting our baby's days and nights mixed up, such that she would wake up at night and cry, wanting to be fed, then sleep during most of the day.
We were young and didn't realize the importance of keeping our baby girl awake for much of the day to ensure that she would sleep through the night, and out pediatrician explained our error to us when we actually took her in because we thought something was wrong with her when she kept us awake through the night, when we desperately needed sleep.
Our pediatrician's advice was to let her sleep only in short naps during the day, then keep things as quiet as possible and with as low light as possible at night so that she would sleep through the wee hours as she should.
Once we did that, it all went smoothly and we no longer (not joking here) felt as if we were going to have nervous breakdowns.
Just wanted to throw that out there because our pediatrician told us that our mistake was very common with novice parents.

 

[Woobie]

My only child was born without the benefit to my late wife of an epidural or any other artificial means of pain relief.
From start to finish, the whole process didn't take 12 hours, though.

Its supposed to last like 39 weeks or so.

 

[Woobie]

Congrats, OP! Glad mom and baby are well.

 

[Shadow8088]

I don't recall a time that my wife and I were both nearly as exhausted as we were in the days after we brought our one and only baby home, and it got even worse a week or so after, a result of us unintentionally getting our baby's days and nights mixed up, such that she would wake up at night and cry, wanting to be fed, then sleep during most of the day.
We were young and didn't realize the importance of keeping our baby girl awake for much of the day to ensure that she would sleep through the night, and out pediatrician explained our error to us when we actually took her in because we thought something was wrong with her when she kept us awake through the night, when we desperately needed sleep.
Our pediatrician's advice was to let her sleep only in short naps during the day, then keep things as quiet as possible and with as low light as possible at night so that she would sleep through the wee hours as she should.
Once we did that, it all went smoothly and we no longer (not joking here) felt as if we were going to have nervous breakdowns.
Just wanted to throw that out there because our pediatrician told us that our mistake was very common with novice parents.

Thanks for that info! Passed it on to the missus.

 

[terrehautian]

Thanks everyone. We're home. Mom and baby are doing good. The epidural was not an option because of severely low platelets. And cesarian was absolutely the last ditch option because of HELLP syndrome. It could have killed mom.

The lack of sleep is already setting in... Feedings every 3 hours aren't THAT bad.. but when he takes 90 mins to eat... That's not a lot of sleep.

Not sure where you live, but the one thing I can suggest is call the hospital where you live and see if they have a lactation specialist if your wife is nursing. If they are like what we had here, they are free adn here is what they do. They will weigh the baby, have momma try to nurse, then weigh again to see hwo much they are getting. If they are not getting enough, they might suggest supplementing with formula. We had to do that for three weeks. My daughter was a lazy eater. Then a year ago this week, I came home from work and she just decided to start nursing and it was amazing.

BTw, my daughter was never a good sleeper until just a week ago. Before last Saturday, she would go to bed around midnight-2am, get up around 4-6am for a bottle and sleep for a bit longer and then take a lot of naps in the day. Last Saturday I put her to bed at 11pm and she slept for eight hours straight! Then slept a couple more hours. It is a different world to be dressed and ready to take on the world by 10am with a happy baby rather then noon or later.

My wife didn't get a epidural until 7cm dialted with my daughter. The nurses said that was good for a small frame (5 and half foot tall, 125 pounds at the time) person even with a five pound baby.

 

[spencer rifle]

Be aware of allergies. Our oldest daughter was not sleeping well and very cranky and weepy. Turns out she was allergic to cow's milk. So my wife couldn't have any all day. After we put the baby down for the night, the food supplier would binge on ice cream, which would be out of her system by morning. Our nights got much more peaceful after that.