Wednesday 15 July 2015

My PPP - Post Pregnancy Post =P (Wordy post, sorry!)

So! The pregnancy is over~~~ Hello postpartum woes!

We've embarked on a whole new section of the parenting journey and it largely involves my parents & I slowly but surely turning into a trio of pandas. This is one of those milestones in life when your appreciation for your parents reaches a whole new level and especially towards your mom. Sleeping for 2 hours at a stretch is such a luxury now you would not believe! But this new little button of a housemate is worth it. At the moment anyway. I'm not sure I'll feel the same when going through those turbulent teenage years lol

Messed up sleeping aside, there's the leftover baby weight and kinda saggy paunch to deal with.

The Weight

I gained 14kg over the course of my pregnancy and lost about 5kg through the delivery of little Summer. Without much appetite for the week plus after my delivery, I was eating all 3 meals (confinement cuisine by mom no less) but in smaller portions than I used to. The fact that I was in some pain & discomfort from the episiotomy (the cut made to aid delivery) helped curb any wayward cravings I might have fantasised about.

So through just a lighter diet, I lost another 2 - 3kg. Still have about 6kg to lose but since this is just the 2nd week after my delivery, I'm still fairly optimistic =)

The Paunch

I got quite a shock when I realised there was a big potato sack-looking tummy left after the delivery. I'd expected the reduction in size to be more considerable but I guess one totally underestimates the mass of skin that's left after your baby bump has been deflated. Pfffttttttt.

Engaged a masseuse for the traditional Indonesian postpartum wraps & massage for 10 days and it really helped! The massages hurt (because the lady was on a war against cellulite) and the tight wrap wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world but the majority of the paunch shrunk and only some loose skin on the lower abdomen is bothering me now~ Some toning and tightening is definitely in order.

The Epidural 

I also wanted to share my experience with the epidural though. I think there are quite many people who're rather apprehensive and expect it to be painful so I thought describing the experience might be helpful somehow.

I'd been told I was 1.5 - 2cm dilated at the point of my admission to KKH but they figured I'd take a few hours more before anything exciting was going to happen so The Husband popped out to get some supper. Minutes later, I decided that pacing around my room to distract myself from the contraction pains (about 7 min apart, lasting about 30 sec each by this point) was not working anymore so I trotted myself out and asked if there was some painkiller I could take. As it turned out, I was 3cm dilated and could take the epidural already if I wanted. As a first-timer, I happily thought I could go back to my nice suite and relax with The Husband while waiting to deliver but no. My painkiller request was a one way trip to the delivery room and I'd left my phone up in the suite! Luckily The Husband came back and was directed to the delivery room before anything interesting started.

Sidenote: Take the epidural earlier during labour. You need to be able to stay really still for the anaesthetist in order to get the shot in right. There was another lady delivering some rooms away and she was screaming so loud I had to ask the nurse if that was a delivery with or without epidural. Long story short, she decided she wanted an epidural too late so she couldn't have it.

So how does the epidural feel like? Prior digging around the internet showed that experiences varied so I just went into it with a "what the hell, let's just get this over with" kinda mindset.

I have to say though, that I don't have a huge problem with needles and shots. E.g: A girlfriend had told me that the drip insertion hurt but I was fine with it. Anyway, the anaesthetist artfully kept the needles he was working with out of our sight...to prevent unnecessary freaking out I suppose. After asking The Husband to leave the room, I, seated on the bed, was told to bend over to expose my spine as much as possible.

Mr Anaesthetist (a man of few words) went "ok... I'm just going to clean your back first... Alright now injection on 3, 1.....2.....3..injection."

All I felt was a small pressure in my lower back. Then a second stranger, still small, very slightly prickly pressure as the thin tubing was inserted...imagine poking your spine with a fishing line. Moments later the drugs came in and I felt like warm water was being flooded into my stomach. It's like reverse peeing XP A strange feeling but not uncomfortable....just weird. And after that, it was SO GOOD. After almost 48hours of not being able to sleep due to the contractions, I was so happy to finally get some rest.

Just a little extra - As Summer was lying more on the right side of my tummy, the nurse had me lie on my left to encourage her to shift towards the centre. But by doing so, the epidural effects flooded to my left, leaving my lower left body COMPLETELY numb (totally surreal and quite funny) but still mobile. Problem was my right side could feel the contractions again! So I had to keep alternating between lying on my left and my back for a few hours until I was ready to start pushing.

During the delivery, I could move my legs and push very nicely without experiencing any pain from the contractions or the doctor doing the episiotomy so all in all, definitely no regrets on the epidural. Jury's still out on side effects and all, so Time will be the judge of that I guess.

Alright that'll be all for now, duty calls! And after that, hopefully I can squeeze in some sleep (^--^)v