Octavia H
Meet Octavia, mother of one, as she recounts her first night at home with her new baby after a 72-hour labour! Initially struggling with feeding, she quickly learned the importance of asking for help and the value of teamwork with her partner.
I’ll never forget that first night at home with our new baby. How were we going to know what to do with this tiny little thing? I had a 72-hour labour, which meant I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept for days, and now here we were at home with our new baby girl, and it was bedtime. I tried to feed her, but my milk hadn’t come in yet, and nothing seemed to calm her. The more she cried, the more I panicked.
We called the hospital, and they were amazing. They explained that little A’s tummy was the size of a cherry and only needed a tiny amount of milk. They suggested I manually extract the colostrum into a syringe and give it to my partner. He would then take A to another room and feed her the 5-7 ml. We could then be reassured that she had all she needed, and he could rock her to sleep, which he did.
Incredible advice. I realised at that point there were going to be a lot of unknowns and that it’s okay to reach out and ask for help from those around me. There will always be someone who has been there or who can support me!