I love new baby smell. New baby smell will cure practically any ill. I can still remember being in the hospital that night with Piper after Josh had gone home, just soaking everything in.
That first night also taught me two things – I hate hospitals. Just moving from the birthing suite to the ward took hours and I was starting to feel faint because I just wanted to get out of the air conditioned box and into some fresh air. And the second thing is that when you are recovering from a c-section they give you awesome drugs and when you are recovering from severe bruising and some tearing they do not. And they were stingy with the panadol and nurofen which meant I had trouble sleeping on that first night.
I checked out the next day because the day after that was Riley’s birthday and because I was more than happy to self-administer my pain medication. After a week I didn’t need it. But for the first few days taking both panadol and nurofen every four hours helped to build up the pain relief effect and I was much more comfortable.
I loved that I could pick up Riley and carry her like a baby when she came to the hospital. I loved that I wasn’t attached to anything and I could move around. I loved that I could leave the hospital as soon as possible and get home. And when I was home I could just bask in the happiness of her birth and I did exactly that. I loved that Piper was born away from the harsh environment of the operating theatre.
But more than any of that I loved being a mother second time around. Everything was so easy. I was able to really enjoy her newbornhood and her babyhood.
She might be nearly one, but I still smell her head and the back of her neck and she still smells like baby to me.
And now? Now I think I could do it again.
I agree with the stinginess of hospital pain relief. 2 panadols every four hours? If my pain was that mild, I could handle it at home. Being in a hospital usually indicates something more severe than what they call “mild discomfort” .