DEEGAN IS HERE! (Part 2- Postpartum)

Delivering Deegan was the best experience in my life. I instantly fell in love with those chubby cheeks and that blonde hair! After the delivery, they delivered the placenta which wasn't too bad...2 pushes and it was out...my mind was on my new son, so I didn't pay attention at all. But I did overhear the nurses rambling about how big my placenta was...someone joked that it was 8lbs, not sure if they actually weigh it or not? LOL. After that I suffered from discomfort while my main nurse pushed on my stomach to see how much I was bleeding, by the way...I could feel the blood coming out and it was sooooo uncomfortable. But once again, my mind was on Deegan! So every 15 minutes my nurse had to check for bleeding, by pushing on my stomach...REALLY hard. She had told me that she didn't like what she was seeing and that I might need a possible blood transfusion...that was scary! So every 15 minutes she was checking...until 2 hours had passed and we ended up moving to our post-delivery room, where the new nurses still checked on me every 15 minutes...it eventually got better and I stopped bleeding as much!

Before we transferred, Darrell had gotten my yummy mcdonald's for dinner *omg, I was sooooooo hungry!!!!*...luckily, they had a mcdonald's at the hospital because their cafeteria food was gnarly! About 20 minutes after delivering, I began breastfeeding right away with the help of our main nurse, Miss Courtney. Deegan latched on right away and had no problems...it's amazing how naturally it comes!

We got to our new room and I felt relieved to get a little more rest than I had in the delivery room. The nurse had to help me use the restroom which was a pain in the booty omg! I could barely walk and I couldn't just wipe, I had to blot myself dry which was horrible. It took me about 30 minutes just to go to the restroom and clean up. By the way, if you're a very shy person...get over it! Because the nurses will see and have no choice but to help with everything. I even had a male nurse check my bleeding...talk about embarrassing! I'm sure I could've requested a female nurse...but Darrell was there with me so I wasn't too worried.

The Navy Hospital doesn't have a "nursery", so Deegan roomed-in with us the whole time, which I would've preferred anyway. I truly believe that it helps you prepare to be at home with him. The first night...no rest lol. The nurses were in and out checking on us and I was too nervous about watching Deegan to make sure he was breathing and everything. I continued breastfeeding, but it became more painful eachtime. I tried manually expressing my milk, but there was no colostrum coming out! I requested to see a lactation nurse...

The next morning the lactation consultant came in and checked me out. Turns out, I had blisters on my nipples...OUCH!! And she discovered that Deegan was sucking wrong, but latching right. She recommended that we use a nipple shield and since I wasn't getting much colostrum, to feed him formula using a tube and syringe and placing it next to my nipple shield. So in the end, he was getting satisfied while my body was still getting the "signal" to make more milk. Let me tell you...we ended up staying an extra night because my nurse was concerned about his feeding habits, because he did lose some weight. This breastfeeding routine was highly difficult, because I needed Darrell's help with the syringe...so every 2 hours we were both awake and feeding. This worked during our stay, but ended up being a disaster and I'll explain why in a different blog!

The hospital stay was quite annoying...the food was nasty, the bed wasn't that comfy...I needed exercise, and we were dealing with a newborn for the first time. Darrell had to go run errands a few times throughout the day which left me alone with our angel...which was scary at first but helped prepare me for when Darrell goes back to work. Deegan got circumsized on Day #2...POOR GUY :( The nurse was like "did you hear him screaming?"...thank God that I didn't!! Once again...POOR GUY!! So glad it didn't take that long to heal!

Day #3 rolls around and my nipples were still sore, even from using the nipple shield lol. But Deegan seemed more satisfied with the formula, so I was happy. The lactation nurse checked on us again...and then the pediatrician went over some things with me. He had broken blood vessels in his eyes from the stress of his birth (big baby coming out of a small space....hello!! lol glad that was the only thing that happened to the poor little man!), and she assured me it would clear up soon! Also, he had a little bruising on his face, which could've developed into jaundice...so she advised me to see the dr. the next day and to put Deegan in front of the window for a few minutes a day. Other than that, my little guy was in good shape! She also prescribed him his amoxicillin for his kidneys, which is what the nephrologist had wanted before his kidney ultrasound! So after long talks, we were discharged! YAY!

Leaving the hospital was VERY scary. Knowing that we're so far from family and friends...we had eachother and a newborn! Scary, but we did great. Deegan actually slept very good for his first night...and we actually got more rest than expected as well!! :)

xoxo Dez