The first week was a crazy week. When things were moving on to a positive note, we thought it would be smoother sailing... But we were so wrong...
Confinement lady arrived on the 23rd, when Stacey is 8 days old. When the agency's boss brought her over, she had to tell her and remind her what needs to be done. Not being judgemental, but she didn't seem capable or experienced enough.
True enough, she seems a little inexperienced. How the conversation started was when my mum brought her out to do some marketing shortly after she arrived, she asked my mum what I eat and what I don't. What jumped out was throughout the conversation she mentioned that she can cook and it is ok for me to take cauliflower and a kind of none scaly fish, and boil barley for me. We knew that we need an replacement. We made a call to the agency a few hours later after she arrived to request for the change.
The replacement was quickly arranged and another confinement lady arrived on the 26th. This lady is definitely more experienced than the previous one, but she was a little lazy. When she left 20-odd days later, my kitchen was in a mess and looked like it had been used for 20 years even though we had moved in for barely 3 months. There were gravy and oil splatters all over, even on the ceiling. The cooking ware and utensils were greasy and there were burnt stains on some of them. Kitchen wash cloths and the floor were oily as well.
After she left, the hubs and I then had to spend one whole afternoon cleaning the kitchen up. We scrubbed, wiped and washed the kitchen, and threw out the old wash cloths. Suddenly the kitchen looks new again. Even when I was almost cooking everyday for the past 2+ months during the rest of my maternity leave, the kitchen still looks brand new.
And it also didn't help that parenting styles were a little different. Every time when Stacey is due for her feed, she would cry for milk. The hubs and I are ok with Stacey crying a little, and we want her to learn to be a little patient. But the confinement nanny thought otherwise. Every time Stacey starts crying, I would be walking to the kitchen to prep her feed; the confinement nanny would be walking towards Stacey's cot, picking her up, and patting and rocking her. We would keep telling her not to do it, but she would keep doing it.
Also, she can really eat... When she wakes up, she would eat something, be it instant noodles or crackers, etc. Then hubs would go out and grab newspapers and buy back some food. She had no qualms downing that for tea-break. Then she still could eat a mountain of rice for lunch. In the afternoon, she would be looking for food for another tea-break. Then she still, again, could eat a mountain of rice for dinner. In the 20-odd days she was around, we finished close to 8kg of rice. When I was almost cooking everyday for the past 2+ months during the rest of my maternity leave, we only finished about 3 kg. The amount she eats in a day is probably the equivalent of the total hubs and I eat in a day. Not that we mind, but it was crazy and a little shocking.
As for my recovery... 1 week was over and I was still hurting. Day by day passed and Stacey was soon approaching her 2 week young mark. Still it hurt, badly. I was barely making through the pain with painkillers and stool softener.
Perhaps requesting to see the gynae in 2 weeks was a blessing in disguise. When I went to see him, I complained about the pain. He took a look and reassured me that the stitches were healing well. Then he looked somewhere else and told me it was because of my piles that I was hurting badly. Why did it took me so long to realise?! He then prescribe a cream for me to apply.
For the next few days, I diligently applied the cream after baths and "baking cakes", and the pain quickly subsided. I stopped my painkillers first, but still kept sitting on my swimming ring as it felt a little "raw" down-there.
I then reduced the frequency of applying the cream thereafter, only applying if it hurts after "baking cakes". I also kept trying to sit without my swimming ring on different surfaces from time to time.
Soon, it no longer hurts after "baking cakes" and I stopped applying the cream altogether. I also weaned off sitting on my swimming ring! All this recovery was just in time for Stacey's 1 month old baby shower!
After the crazy first week, the next 3 weeks were trying to bear with the pain, trying to recover, trying to "implement" our parenting style while trying to not let Stacey get used to the confinement nanny's parenting style, and also trying to keep my supply up to match Stacey's increasing feed, etc, I was really shagged out.
And because I was crazily shagged out, the only things I can remember for Stacey's 1 month old baby shower was:
- Being mobbed once I appeared with Stacey in her stroller. Fine, I wasn't the one being mobbed, I was only a bodyguard escorting the main star of the event.
- Sitting at a corner hungry with bare minimal appetite. Wanted to badly get food but hubby and family were busy walking around entertaining people. It was only when my jiemeis arrived and after they have gotten their food, I went to get food while they jagah Stacey. But I barely ate...
- Stacey knocked out on milk and slept allllllll the way through the entire event.
- I didn't take a single photo. Serious.