My precious boy arrived on 7 Oct 2011 (38wks) via elective c-sect - no surprises or shocks this time compared to Alicia's arrival. Well, actually I had a couple of surprises that day as Alex turned out to be heavier than estimated in the week before and the gynae popped her head over the barrier to tell me that choosing c-sect this time round was a wise choice as it turned out that the umbilical cord was not only coiled around his neck twice, it was coiled around his waist too. That would mean another emergency c-sect if I hadn't chosen elective c-sect. :) Phew. Anyway, chances weren't high for me opting VBAC as the previous delivery of 3D2N was too traumatic and unless you've been through that, I think you'd hardly come close to understanding why elective c-sect is my preferred choice of delivery.
Anyhow, Alex was a proficient little sucker as he was already nursing while I was in the recovery room after surgery. That was my idea of how breastfeeding after birth should be. This time round, I had many ideas about how I'd wanted the postpartum hours and days to be as I felt that we missed out on a few important things the last time, starting with only being allowed to nurse Alicia 12 hours after delivery due to some miscommunication. Fortunately as it wasn't emergency c-sect, I had time to tell the nurses and midwife that I wanted to breastfeed as soon as I could and I was certainly pleased with my little boy's performance. :)
What I wanted this time was time to be with my hubby, Alicia and Alex after the delivery. Just us. The last time I had so many people crowding around me after delivery that I totally missed out on the tender moments I should have had with my hubby and Alicia. Thankfully, this time I had a couple of hours of quiet time with my hubby, Alicia and Alex, bonding together as a family, time to reconnect as we celebrate the arrival of the newest family member.
Next wonderful thing that happened was that Alicia was allowed to stay over as well so after settling down, hubby went to set up the playpen that we borrowed from a friend for the hospital stay. She was quite an angel really during that period of time we were there, hardly throwing a tantrum and being ever considerate towards mummy. I guess all the chats I had with her earlier helped her. :)
Jealousy truly only set in later, and I'm not sure if it's purely due to the inconsiderate and thoughtless comments made by my mil that caused it. If she didn't cause it, she certainly made things worse by repeating comments like 'I don't love you, I love didi' every day she came over. Coming over every day was already unnecessary (twice a day at that!!!) because I really don't need my floor and toilets cleaned every day and it really frustrated me because there I was trying my best to show Alicia that she wasn't displaced by her brother and there my mil was negating all my efforts. Imagine having to calm a screaming girl every day on top of the stress of coping with a newborn and preschooler on my own (I only ordered confinement food so I did everything myself). Tsk. But this confinement was already much better than the last time round, where I did everything myself too, but my mil was around all the time and I couldn't rest at all coz I'm a light sleeper and her waking up the baby to play when I finally put her to bed was really infuriating for a sleep-deprived zombie with freaking painful nipples.
Anyway this time I suffered from painful nipples again due to improper latching by Alicia as we were experimenting with the positions of tandem feeding at the hospital. What was more unbearable this time was the engorgement that started at the end of day 1. Because I was feeding two, and I breastfed through pregnancy, the milk supply came in I guess, immediately. Breastfeeding was great though, with my two competent suckers, lol. And this time, I made sure that I wasn't the animal on show in the zoo (my mil watched me like a hawk the last time and refused to leave when the lactation consultant was teaching me how to bf for the first time). There, another achievement this time round. No one to keep asking you frustrating questions like 'why is she crying?', 'why doesn't she know how to suck properly?', 'what's wrong?', 'are you doing it right?'. Truly, I nearly got depression because of such behaviour from my mil the last time and I was not going to let myself get into such a situation again, ever.
The first month quickly flew by and as time passed, I realised that I didn't really like to breastfeed both of them together so if Alex could wait, I would feed Alicia first so that she'd feel that she wasn't always second place. Other times I would sneak out of the room while she was still sleeping in the morn and feed him first, giving her the false impression that I fed her before her brother. Little things like that made her feel good and she's more or less accustomed to her lil brother now (Alex is almost 4 months). Though she doesn't fuss about being first to drink milk anymore, I still tell her how I let her drink first sometimes just so that she'd know that mummy still thinks she's very important and that little brother is very loving and giving to let her have milk first.
Though I had more than enough milk for the two of them in that one month, I was quite stressed sometimes because I was worried that what if I gave Alicia the other boob and suddenly Alex needs to drink again? Well, in the end, none of that happened though you can't really blame me for worrying about the little boy.
Im glad to say that this time round, i've only 3.5kg left to shed and am still shedding wt gradually and consistently. I'm hoping to lose all the pregnancy wt soon n lose the 5kg I didnt shed after having Alicia! Wish me luck! :)
Anyway, like I mentioned in an earlier post, though my blog isn't updated often anymore, I still update my facebook page so do join me if you haven't already done so! :P
