Things you've learned as a parent...

[St. Clown]

After week 1

- all of it is worth it
- No matter how many changes of clothes you brought, nope, you’re wrong.
- Bring a book
-*Everything* is in the splash zone
- the only pattern is that there are no patterns
- postpartum care is like the TI on PITI. They quote PI, but you’re NOT prepared for TI
- “Sleep when baby sleeps” is both correct and utter rubbish. Maybe this is true for non-newborns but you basically have to do everything else in the two hours (if you’re lucky) you get between feedings and diapers.
- babies have a unique knack for starting to scream the second you lay back down

The first few months require parents to cosplay as the waking dead, but with smiles on our faces wherever a visitor arrives.

The one nice thing is that for a few weeks, your baby can’t hear anything. While baby sleeps, you can do your stuff without worrying that you’ll wake the baby. That changes one day, and you have a new struggle - “How do I walk across the floor without it squeaking?” The answer, in my circa 1954 home is, “Without much luck.” Walking on my tippy toes was my best bet, and still is, but it’s far from perfect. And the entire main level is hardwood floors.

The two-hour feeding schedule, taking care of mom, her pumping, and our return visits to the ER and admission for postpartum preeclampsia has basically left our house a complete disaster.

We’re discharging today for the second time and baby was born 7/7. He’s spent like two nights at home.

Anyways, thank god for family and friends. I’m pretty sure I would have either had a complete mental or physical breakdown without them coming over.

My wife went through the postpartum preeclampsia. Man, that magnesium drip experience looks horrible. The doctor warned my wife, but no warning could do it justice. We had been home for a single night when we had to return. After her second discharge, we had just a few days where visitors were able to come to visit before the COVID lockdowns hit. That was both a challenge and a fortuitous event for us. I had more time at home to help care for my daughter, and the stress of trying to keep the house extra clean for visitors wasn’t omnipresent. My daughter and I took a lot of long morning walks once May arrived. That was a warm spring.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

TIL about post partum preeclampsia. I never knew it could be after. Sadly, a friend of mine had it right before giving birth and lost her baby an hour after delivery

 

[dxmnkd316]

The first few months require parents to cosplay as the waking dead, but with smiles on our faces wherever a visitor arrives.

The one nice thing is that for a few weeks, your baby can’t hear anything. While baby sleeps, you can do your stuff without worrying that you’ll wake the baby. That changes one day, and you have a new struggle - “How do I walk across the floor without it squeaking?” The answer, in my circa 1954 home is, “Without much luck.” Walking on my tippy toes was my best bet, and still is, but it’s far from perfect. And the entire main level is hardwood floors.


My wife went through the postpartum preeclampsia. Man, that magnesium drip experience looks horrible. The doctor warned my wife, but no warning could do it justice. We had been home for a single night when we had to return. After her second discharge, we had just a few days where visitors were able to come to visit before the COVID lockdowns hit. That was both a challenge and a fortuitous event for us. I had more time at home to help care for my daughter, and the stress of trying to keep the house extra clean for visitors wasn’t omnipresent. My daughter and I took a lot of long morning walks once May arrived. That was a warm spring.

Yeah the mag drip sucked the life force out of my wife. I’ve never seen her like that.

She had just given birth a week prior and there was strong evidence the epidural wasn’t placed well so she felt most of it (there wasn’t an opportunity to fix it). So she knows what a 10 on the pain scale is. She gave her headache a 6. A SIX, for 24 hours plus recovery while on the magnesium.

Every time she had to get out of bed with the mag, she required two nurses and a lift belt. And with the amount of fluids they pumped through her, she was using the bathroom a lot.

It’s basically necessary torture to protect your brain and body from full blown eclampsia. Really scary and awful stuff.

 

[dxmnkd316]

TIL about post partum preeclampsia. I never knew it could be after. Sadly, a friend of mine had it right before giving birth and lost her baby an hour after delivery

That’s fucking nightmare fuel.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

That’s fucking nightmare fuel.

Indeed. Some of us went to her home to move stuff out of sight.

What saved her and her husband, in my belief, was that they had a toddler that they had to get out of bed to care for.