Week 3 Postpartum: Things are getting easier
Monday, July 22nd~Sunday, July 28th
The third week Postpartum started with the 2-week checkup. The night before I had barely slept, the baby was extremely fussy and wanted to drink all the time. I had planned to pump some milk to take with me to the checkup, but my husband was watching youtube again in his room and I had to take care of the baby alone the whole morning. I was sleep deprived and very irritated. I was very close to crying.
When it was almost time to go I tried to pump the milk, but baby kept on wanting to drink. I was running out of time, baby was crying, my breasts were leaking and my husband was not here to help (he decided to make lunch last minute…). I had barely eaten anything yet, which didn't help with my mood.
I eventually managed to pump around 50ml of breastmilk and with a little delay we were off to the hospital. After my urine test we went to the ob-gyn reception.
My husband decided that instead of waiting for our turn that he would use the waiting time to apply for the maternity leave allowance (I needed the stamp from the hospital to apply for it).
I wanted to stay and apply after the check up. We had a little fight over it and in the end he went to apply with the baby while I waited at the reception. When we were called he was still waiting for the application, so I had tk go and get home. My mood was not getting any better…
The check up itself went without a problem. The midwife weighed the baby and she had gained an average of 45g per day, which is 1.5 of what is normal.
I was told that I should be careful to not get postpartum depression. The questionnaire I had filled out at the reception showed that I was not doing too well mentally.
The check up was over withing 10 minutes and we could go home again. We went to pay and change the baby's name on her jnsuran e card. Baby started to get a bit fussy, so my husband gave her the milk I had pumped before leaving. I was glad now that I went through the stress to pump in the morning.
My father-in-law then arrived to take us home. After a little struggle to get the stroller folded we were on our way home.
Back home baby was so exhausted that she slept almost 4 hours. I wish I would have known how much she would sleep beforehand. I regretted not using the time to catch up on sleep myself.
The following days went by quickly. We started to go for more and longer walks occasionally. The baby seemed to really enjoy it. Unfortunately it was still too hot to be outside during the day. We also bathed her every three days and on the days we didn't I just gently washed her skin with a washcloth.
I was wondering if we should wash her more often since we started going outside more.
She had some small spots that looked like pimples from when she was born (the doctor told us that they would go away on their own), but this week she also got a lot of small white pimples on her forehead. She looked like a teenager with bad acne. I decided to wait for a few days and if it wouldn't get better to consult with a doctor.
My husband was still doing all the groceries and cooking this week which I was immensely grateful for, but he was also gone for long stretches of time to talk on the phone with people or watch videos and seminars. I felt alone with the baby a lot of the time.
On a better note, I noticed that baby started to sleep a bit longer during the night. We had a few days where she would sleep for four hours at a time. On other days however she would not sleep at all and constantly feed.
On the days she was cluster feeding my breats would start hurting again.
For my mental state I noticed a huge different between days I got good sleep and the days I didn't. When I didn't get sleep I would be cranky and very irritated with my husband. I also wouldn't get anything done in the house. On the good days I was happy and managed to do a lot of the cleaning.
Babys are really unpredictable. One day they are happy and content and other days they will just cry constantly and nothing you do will console them.
I was hoping that The good days will get more whole the bad days (especially the sleepless ones) would get less soon.