Being Momma G: Day 5

Today was suppose to be Sean's birthday. Instead, our little man is 5 days old!

Today was also our last full day in hospital. We are due to go home tomorrow, and while I was pretty sure we would be fine, I couldn't help but feel apprehensive about leaving the hospital, where Sean and I had round the clock care and the midwives and the nurses were a button away.

With both nipples cracked, there was no other way to extract the milk from my body other than to use the breast pump. Lucky for me, the pump was extra easy to use, so much so that I could do it in my sleep, which was just as well as I needed to pump every 3 hours to get the milk supply going.

After using the pump on the left breast, I gingerly put the pump on the right. Using a more gentle setting, I managed to get a good yield, and was able to feed Sean when I brought him back to the room. Sean didn't seem to mind that he was getting the milk via a bottle. All good.

Sometime yesterday morning, the hospital's PR / Media lady came to ask us if we would like to participate in a photo shoot for the North Shore Times, who were doing a feel good piece on New Year's Day babies. Without hesitation, we agreed to be part of the story. The photo shoot was scheduled for 9am today in the nursery, and we tried our very best to get there on time. Alas, Master Sean held us up a little and by the time we arrived, the others were all waiting for us to complete the picture.

There were 6 babies in total born on New Year's Day at North Shore Private Hospital; 4 boys and 2 girls. Sean was one of those precious boys, and during the photo shoot, he was perhaps the most well behaved. The babies had a shot by themselves, then the photographer took a photo of all the mothers holding their babies, and then a photo of all the fathers standing behind the mothers holding their babies. It was all over and done with quite quickly, and for our troubles, we received a free bottle each of Mustela baby wash and baby lotion. Woot!

Today was going to be a busy day, for I still had not been to a physiotherapy class yet. Straight after the photo shoot, we went in search of the room where the physiotherapy class was to be held - at the other end of the building. Jonathan and Sean accompanied me to the room, and for a short time, I was the only person who had shown up for the class. The physiotherapist told Jonathan that if other mothers were to arrive, that he would have to leave as there would be a lot of discussion about pelvic floor muscles and some ladies may be uncomfortable having these discussions in front of a male. Just before the class was due to start, other mothers arrived, so Jonathan and Sean retreated back to our room for some male bonding time.

The physiotherapist was very lovely, and talked us through the trauma that our bodies had faced during birth, and are likely to face in the coming weeks. We were given some exercises to do, in particular exercises to strength our pelvic floor muscles. We were also told to avoid certain exercises, as this may cause more harm than good. The physiotherapist also talked about abdominal muscle separation and she examined each of us to assess our "gaps". If there was a competition for the biggest "gap", I won hands down. Everyone else in the room were about 1 or 2 fingers. Mine was at 5 finger widths. Yay. No wonder I was so sore.

The physiotherapist banned me from doing any heavy lifting for the next 6 weeks. Anything over 5kg would be considered heavy lifting. I was also restricted from doing too many exercises, and I have to wear a huge belly bandage 24/7 for 6 weeks to aid the rebinding of my abdominal muscle. The joys of having a big baby!

At the end of the class, I took advantage of the massage therapist who was onsite today, and asked for her number to book in a session in the afternoon. I'd not had a back massage since I found out I was pregnant, back in April last year, so just the idea of a back massage was enough to make me salivate.

The walk back to our room was a slow and long journey, and the physiotherapist was kind enough to accompany me all the way. By the time we arrived back, it was time to see Margaret again.

We again spoke about the breast feeding and the milk expressing. I told Margaret that I was now damaged on both sides, and she inspected my poor cracked nipples to see how bad they were. Margaret was keen for me to rest my nipples as much as I could so they could heal properly, and to continue expressing with a pump. Margaret recommended that we purchase the Medela Swing Breast Pump, because it was compact and easy to use. The nearest stockist was at Crows Nest, so armed with the information, Jonathan started doing some research on the internet to see if it was worth our while to get the Swing, or to go with another product.

After lunch, the massage therapist arrived and worked her magic. Sean was fast asleep, and I was going to enjoy my pampering as best as I could. The massage therapist was awesome; before I knew it, I was fast asleep, which was the whole point of the massage. I continued to nap for another hour or so after the massage was finished.

When I woke, Jonathan had completed his research and decided we should purchase the Swing. I was feeling rejuvenated from the massage and nap, so he left me and Sean to head up to Crows Nest. It didn't take him long to return, and shortly thereafter, Mum and Georgianna arrived for cuddles and photos.

Sean was adorable for Mum and Georgianna, and Georgianna managed to get some really good photos of Sean before we went to give him a bath. As Jonathan had already bathed Sean earlier in the week, it was my turn to wash the little man. We were also keeping an eye on the clock, as we were due to have our "celebration dinner" at 6pm in the hospital cafeteria.

Sean didn't enjoy getting his hair washed or his head wet, but he did seem to enjoy floating in the water. With Jonathan hovering over me, keenly watching what I was doing, I ended up letting him finish the job.

Mum and Georgianna left after the bath, so Jonathan and I could get ready to head to our "celebration dinner". We left Sean in the nursery and headed downstairs. The hospital cafeteria was decorated with a string of Christmas lights, and the tables were set just as you would expect from a cheap 90s pub bistro. We were offered a sparkling wine upon arrival - not the best, but this was a hospital after all. Our entree arrived - a rocket salad with cherry tomatoes and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It wasn't too bad. We looked around to see what the others were having for their mains - some kind of beef dish and some kind of chicken dish - and thought they didn't look so bad. Imagine our surprise when our dinners arrived and looked nothing like all the other mains.

We received two claggy plates of pasta that looked like it had seen better days. The what looked like a cream sauce was dried in clumps on the pasta, and the pasta looked overcooked. There were a few tired prawns on the pasta. None of it looked very appetising. The plate was stone cold, and while Jonathan bravely started de-tailing and cutting up one of the prawns to eat with his first mouthful of pasta, I openly prayed that the pasta was at least hot in temperature.

It wasn't. The pasta was cold. As were the prawns. Yuck.

I ate one mouthful of pasta and told Jonathan to not eat any at all. This dish was one big pile of salmonella waiting to happen. We asked the lady who served us to take the pasta back to the kitchen to be reheated - there was just no way we were going to risk getting food poisoning from eating a lukewarm prawn pasta dish. After taking our dishes to the kitchen, she returned to tell us that the Chef was unimpressed with our request, and that the dish should be eaten cold, just as it was served. Jonathan and I joked that the hospital was trying to drum up business - serve food that makes you sick, so the doctors can look after you and charge you for your stay.

When the pasta dishes returned, they looked even less appetising than before. We asked the server why we were served the pasta and not the same dishes as everyone else, and she said it was because the pasta dishes were a "special order" for us, due to our "special requests". When we were asked whether we wanted to be part of the celebration dinner, we told the lady that I was allergic to coriander and neither of us wanted to eat onions. Hence the "special request". At this point, we both decided to leave the pasta uneaten and returned to our room to work out what we should get for dinner.

As we were so close to St Leonards, we decided to have noodles from Ace Noodles at the bottom of The Forum Building. Ace Noodles was pretty much all we ate in the couple of weeks leading up to us moving house, and we had missed having noodles from Ace Noodles, so while Jonathan went out to get the noodles, I went to collect Sean from nursery so we could all have dinner together.

Over noodles, Jonathan and I lamented that we would have gotten better food had we stuck with the hospital menu. Instead, we enjoyed the lovely noodles that we had missed since moving to Denistone. The servings either got bigger since the last time we bought food from Ace Noodles, or we were eating more controlled portions of food - either way, neither of us could finish our order.

After dinner, Jonathan went home to prepare for our return tomorrow, and Sean and I tried to sleep. Sean was having another unsettled night, and the midwife who was looking after me suggested that I leave the little man in the nursery overnight, with instructions to the nursery staff to feed him formula when he woke up, so I could get a good night sleep. I desperately needed sleep, so I agreed.

We go home tomorrow, and we can't wait! The start of a new chapter of our lives awaits!