Till now i have benefited a lot with all your experiences...you all were great ... Time is approaching fast of rushing to the hospital any time
Can we talk something about the mamma's care after the delivery. Of course the doctor and the mid wife have told many things but nothing can beat a personal experience...
I would love to take health tips from you as this is our first baby and i am bit of a nervous...so what to do and what not to
thanks and regards

• Put as many prepared healthy meals (lasagne, Sauce, Veggiemenues...) in the freezer as possible
• If your visitors aks what to bring, ask them to take with them the ingredients for meals - and to cook them right at your kitchen. Or if they come in the afternoon, to take along a cake or so...it's not your job to serve them -you are the one to be cared for
• Ask them to give you a hand with the laundry. They will be happy to help you.
• Sleep. Take a nap whenever you can. Don't clean the house while the baby's asleep, but care for yourself, too!
• Drink enough (esp. when you breastfeed)
• Eat nutricious food (and ask your hubbie to remind you to eat and drink)
• While breastfeeding/bottlefeeding, don't talk on the phone. Concentrate on feeding your baby and try to enjoy this precious time
• find someone trustworthy who is experienced in supporting new moms (maybe a postpartum doula?). He/she should make you feel like being capable parents.

Wishing you all the best!

Here is something I wish someone had told me before my first child: you gonna bleed heavily after the birth (6 weeks for me!) and this blood will be very acid, thus very irritating for your already fragile inner parts... So store enough comfortable sanitary pads. The natural care ones from the coop are excellent, as they contain no bleach and only pure cotton.

something my OBY/GN told me that I found helpful was to expect to spend 8-9 hours a day breastfeeding at first... i thought this was ridiculous but when i started, and it was taking me hours to get the hang of it, her words came back to me and made me feel better. reassured me a bit that it wasn't just me doing it totally wrong
good luck with your birth

In the same vein, a kind of doughnut shaped cushion might be necessary for a few days especially if you've had an episiotomy.

i have my in laws coming during pregnancy. so not alone.
episiotomy...this is something i am really scared of...i hope everything goes well..how many days one take to recover from this ???

It's the stitches that are a bit spikey and uncomfortable, hence the doughnut cushion. The episiotomy isn't so bad (from my experience). The whole area is bruised and tender so you can't tell what is the cut and what is just general bruising.

All clears up over a few weeks. If not, your doctor has got some tricks up his/her sleeve...

I just want to say thank you to the OP for having started this thread -- and also to everyone for their great responses. I'm due with my first child in October and so this thread is also very helpful for me.

Aout07... I hope your delivery and recovery go very well!

If you know anyone nearby who has a newborn, try to visit them. That will give you a sense of what life with a newborn can be like (note the bags under the eyes, and the slow paced approach to life)...

Find a good supportive web forum. Pregnancy ones are not the same as 'been there done that ones' and what works for you won't be what works for the next mum.

Breastfeeding, whilst natural, is a learnt skill. If you haven't been around anyone who breastfed, you are at a disadvantage...check out your support network and for breastfeeding success my motto is 'don't take breastfeeding advice from anyone who didn't breastfeed for at least 6 months'...

My best 'almost famous' piece of advice - take the softest, most awesome toilet paper to the hospital, and your pillow - I took my pillow from home to all my hospital stays, and it makes me feel a lot more 'at home'...

Although others have said that they had bleeding for up to 6 weeks, take care if it does not settle down within a week or two maximum. I was very sick after my first due to retained placenta, and continued bleeding was a sign that something was not quite right - very ill - so please remember you can always phone the doctor/midwife/hospital if you don't feel right about anything...

What I did, or would have liked to have known at the time:
- Do keep your bra on, if you can stand it. It helps the tissue not get stretched out of shape when the milk comes in
- Don't hesitate to tell visitors not to come to visit with little children if they're ill
- Don't lift anything heavy
- Sleep when baby does
- Breast-feeding does not come naturally to all mamas, for some it's painful and frustrating, even if they want to. It can be a bit of a struggle, and lots of women go through this
- Hormones go a little haywire at first, so if you feel very impressed by your new mama job.. it's normal
- Listen to your instinct for both your baby and yourself.
- Maternal instinct really does kick in, and just can not be described
- You'll never be the same again.. really (and it's lovely)

__________________
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"Il mondo è fatto a scale, chi le scende e chi le sale"

If you want to breastfeed and have probs then you're entitled to a couple of consultations with the BF consultant at your hospital.

It's normal for your milk to take up to 5 days to arrive and it's also normal for your baby to lose weight at first. ***** nurses in the hospital were panicking me and insisted on weighing him before and after every feed, then took him away and insisted I pump for 40 mins then brought him back to feed. Then told me the midwife would decide on her first home visit if I was "allowed to Bf him or if I had to give him formula". Fortunately I had a nice midwife who just laughed and told me to ignore them, refused to weigh him for a week and then all was well! But I could have done without the stress in hospital.

Drink lots! Sleep when you can and if your OH comes home asking why his supper isn't ready and the flat hasn't been cleaned, tell him where to go!

Pampers bedmat in the car to sit on on your way to hospital in case your waters go!

Yeah same story for me. Babies lose weight after birth and IRS totally normal. But at the hospital the docs have that magic number: they can lose 10% of their weight, not one gram more.

My baby daughter was almost at those fatidic 10% and they were starting to try to convince me to give sugary water to her... I refused and I was right: my milk came the next day and she started putting on weight again!

And now, at 3.5 months old, she's so fat chubby doesn't even begin to describe it

I like Kanga's advice up there.
One thing I want to tell you is take it easy. If you have visitors don't move for them- get them to move for you. If you want to be alone with your baby and partner - cancel your visits... it's family time... and it's really important.
People might bombard you with advice - take what you want from it... but you choose what you do and don't do.

Best of all - enjoy that cute little bundle! Forget other plans for a little while and prepared for just being a full-time mother in those early day! Good luck and enjoy

If you want to breast feed then arm yourself with knowledge now rather than rely on the nurses after the birth - they give such bad advice - don't let anyone bully you into formula feeding and telling you that you are unable to breast feed. Good luck

You may never have felt so tired- babies have no grasp of when is day and when is night. So sleep whenever you can and ignore that pile of ironing. Life is really topsy-turvy for a while but it DOES sort itself out.

You may sit crying for no particular reason. Usually this is just the hormones, especially about 5 days after the birth which is the "baby blues" but try to talk to your OH. I know I sat wailing most nights around 6pm but it was just the hormones plus the tiredness and I just needed a good old wail to get it all out.

Breast feeding can be hard at first and it doesn't work for everyone. So take it easy on yourself. You are allowed visits from a health visitor who comes to your house after the birth, or you can visit one in your local town/village who often give good advice on baby/mum's health. There might also be an English speaking mums group who can offer advice.

On some health insurance you can also claim a cleaner to visit post birth apparently!

Eat and drink lots of healthy things, get other people to make it if you can.

Enjoy x

Hi there. Congratulations on your upcoming new arrival! I could write so much here...but the others have covered it fairly well. One thing that I wanted to note is that although it sounds like the nurses in the hospitals in Swiss Germany are a bit fussy with the nursing process, it looks like you're in Lausanne. I had my baby in Morges and couldn't have asked for a better experience. The nurses on the floor were all midwives and they were absolutely unbelievably helpful and knowledgeable about breastfeeding. They never offered, recommended or even referenced formula. So...there are lots of different experiences out there.

best wishes,
rebecca

such priceless advices !!! love you all..
fortunately the mid wife who gave us a birth preparation course was very experienced and guided us really well ..also the nurse to whom you can go any time for consultation upto 5 years of baby happens to be in the same building...
at the same time i have one family who had their baby just few months old so keep getting advices from her as well..almost all the experiences of CHUV are very good so kind of little happy about it...
i really need to work on my "take it easy and slow" skills though
all the best to you too carrie...

what a wonderful thread! Ok I have no children (yet) but the information is great...good luck aout!

It IS a great thread! Thanks everyone for your helpful advice as I'm 7 months pregnant and working with a French-speaking mid-wife (gulp!). So any extra advice is great considering I don't think I'll be able to concentrate on translating from French when our LO comes :-)

you should have asked your hospital for the contact numbers of english speaking mid wives.. i can speak and understand french now but for my pregnancy i chose all English speaking people around i.e. gynecologist, midwife, pediatrician, birth preparation course mid wife..for hospital visit also we asked for an English speaking nurse to show us around. actually i did not want to take a chance..ad moreover my hubby and myself went everywhere together and it was more of a reason to choose the english speaking persons..he speaks no french
do let me know if you have any particular doubt.. i am almost a Phd now in the subject
all the best