Mary Liz

wedding photography + Videography

July 14, 2021

Lincoln’s Birth Story – Part 2: The first 48 hours

Lincoln is here! He is squishy and perfect. I am exhausted, excited, and huuuungry. After they wheeled us to our room we got all settled in. (We didn’t make it out of triage) I honestly don’t remember too much of this. I just remember feeling very hungry and wanting to send pictures to everyone.

I kinda forget that we had Lincoln during the Pandemic because our hospital didn’t have a ton of restrictions. I never had to wear a mask. Tim only had to wear one when someone else was in our room and even then they didn’t really care. And he was allowed to leave the room. So we ordered Postmates and Tim went to pick it up down stairs while I texted everyone the exciting news 🙂

My fist meal was a cheeseburger from the Habit haha

Lincoln basically slept the first 24 hours of his life, which is normal. We had to nurse him every 2 hours, this was very difficult for us, (my breastfeeding journey blog coming soon). We stared at him a lot. Nurses came in and out of the room checking on us. We gave birth in a Birthing Center at the hospital so we had a queen size bed 😳 Omg it was amazing. Tim didn’t have to sleep on those rock hard couches. Tim packed his iPad in our hospital bag so we spent the afternoon watching Big Bang Theory, Friends, and probably Seinfeld while we held Lincoln and just relaxed.

Our hospital stay was ok. Some of the nurses were really nice and some of them were not so nice. I didn’t love someone coming in every hour to do all the test and what not. It’s not that I didn’t want the tests done I just never knew what was happening. I almost wish there was a check list they gave us and they would check things off as they went so I knew what to expect or I could pick what we wanted and didn’t want. They would come in and tell us in medical terms what they were doing and it was very overwhelming and confusing.

My other midwife came in to check on me and she was just so sweet and kind. She sat on the bed next to me and we talked about Lincolns delivery and how I was feeling. She said the team was texting each other and were amazed and proud of me. That felt soooo good to hear. I was very very very very very sore after. I was a little surprised at how sore I felt. I’m not sure why. I think I had it in my head that I would feel great after but that wasn’t the case. It was very hard to get out of bed and walk around. I was pretty disappointed about that at the time. I wanted to feel strong and amazing after but I guess thats not always how it works ha

Our first night was pretty easy! Lincoln slept and we woke him up to feed every couple hours. We were thinking “what this is so easy! we’re pros!” Little did we know…. In the morning his Pediatrician came to check on him. She took him out of the room and we couldn’t go because of Covid so that sucked but it was ok. He was only gone for like 10 minutes. They did all the other tests. This day was very overwhelming. We wanted to leave as soon as we could so someone was always in our room finishing all the tests and doing the paperwork. Then they thought he had a little jaundice because one of his levels was low so we had to wait to get approved to leave. (He was fine, eye roll) Before we left everyone kept saying, “He will probably be awake for the next 24 hours” and we brushed it off because we were in baby heaven. We left the hospital around 4pm. Soooo I was at the hospital for about 32 hours total.

We settle in at home and I will say one thing, LINCOLN DID NOT SLEEP FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS. Oh man. That first night at home was like a battle field. 1) Your a new parent trying to figure out what to do. 2) They eat every hour. 3) They poop every hour. 4) They cry a lot. 5) your soooooooooo tired 6) And as the mom your body is sooooo sore. Every single muscle is sore. Giving birth to him was a 6 hour intense work out.

I have one image in my head from that night like it was out of a movie. I was standing at the bedroom door and Tim was in the living room rocking Lincoln and were just staring at each other like “What the eff did we get ourselves into?!” It was roouuuggghhhh 😂 haha The first 6 weeks are the hardest. From healing, recovering, learning how to be parents, him changing almost every day, sleep deprivation, breastfeeding, learning our new roles as husband and wife, its ALOT. If you’re going through this or will be soon, give yourself grace and know that you are not alone. Every family has been through it and every new momma is also up in the middle of the night with you.

It will get easier! Up until 5 months is pretty challenging but now he mostly sleeps through the night and its amazing.

Here’s what I would have done differently or what I will do next time:

  1. Sleep more at the hospital! We stayed awake watching TV when I wish we would have been napping
  2. Try to get VERY CLEAR information about what tests they do after delivery. I would have asked them for a list so I could see it all in writing before going into labor. I am paying them for a service. I trust them and know they were doing was best for Lincoln but it was just overwhelming for me and would have loved to be more prepared.
  3. With all that said I do not regret being in a hospital. I’m really glad we deiced to do that. I’m not sure if we will be in a hospital next time but if we are I will definitely be pickier and voice my concerns more now that I know what to expect. It’s so hard to know what to do as a first time mom and I think thats just the way it is so not complaining 🙂
  4. I actually LOVED not having visitors haha I was sore, tired, and overwhelmed. Thats definitely something we will do again next time. No visitors until we get home.

Breastfeeding journey and postpartum blog coming soon!!!

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