Stay at the hospital

Day one went pretty well. I went down at 6:30am and fed little Pi and had some cuddles for a while. After, the nurses ran me through how to change the cloth nappies they use at the hospital, how to mark his wees and poos on the chart and how the baby sensor works (The alarm that sounds when it no longer detects movement). Pi had to be checked by the doctor, so it wasn't until about 11ish when he came up. I was so happy to have him in my room. The poor little guy has been scratching his face, and surprisingly the nurses haven't really done anything (I did point it out). Husband is bringing the nail clippers and mittens tonight so at least I will be able to do something about it. The formula lady came and spoke to me about the benefits of formula, and later one of the nurses showed me how to make it.

I was always adamant that I wanted to breastfeed exclusively (even with the formula given the first night), but from about 8pm to 2am, Pi was waking and crying, so after feeding him, burping him, rocking him, cuddling him, I gave him a top up of formula (about 10mls). I felt bad at first, but it really helped. Mind you, neither Pi nor I slept well last night (or not really at all). I think I had about 2 hours, so I will have a nap in a bit. Pi has been sleeping well all morning though (mainly cuddling in my arms) so maybe he is just confused by when Mama needs to sleep. We will get there, and I am sure there are many more nights like that in the future.
The food, however, has been really great. Super healthy and loaded with vegetables. Very Japanese though.

Day 3
Pi is clearing out his system well, which is great, and latching on like a champ. I was a bit worried about nipple confusion as I read so much about the warnings in the books, but so far (touch wood) he seems to have no problem sucking away. Though whether is it comfort sucking or not, I don't know. Speaking of clearing out the system, I cleared out my own this morning. Thankfully, it wasn't the solid block I was dreading (I have heard it is like giving birth again sometimes) and hardly hurt at all- at least that is one thing I have. Maybe it is all the super heathly food. Yay! The stitches are slowly healing- it still hurts like hell to cough or really even move, (let alone sit) but they ARE healing. My tailbone is also really starting to hurt now, but I am sure that will pass. Don't get me started on the nipples,but that might also be because of feeding every two hours....

Today, I also learned how to bathe Pi "japanese style". I HATED Japanese style. Basically it involves filling a bathtub ALL THE WAY and holding the baby in so he is floating. This was really hard so me to do, and I was fretting about him squirming and me drowning him. Basically, you wash areas bit by bit with a gauze cloth and soap. Very different to what is in the books that it recommended in the west, which is now to not
bathe the baby until the umbilical stump falls off, and then it doesn't need to be everyday, nor do you need soap- and certainly only a little bit of water. Ah well, I know that Japanese way now though, and Pi did survive. We also cleaned his ears and nose and stump after too (the stump was cleaned with ethanol- again, something that has shown to be not needed).

Day 4-
Pi doesn't like to sleep at night. He is awake with his eyes wide open so much, but then come the day and he sleeps the whole time, where I have to wake him up for feedings. Too bad I can't sleep the whole time though. His feeding is going really well. I am so happy. The nurse is getting me to weigh him before and after a feeding to see how much he is drinking, and feed by feed he is drinking more every time. Sometimes he is finished after 10mins, but most of the time it takes about 40mins, mainly because he keeps falling asleep, or just enjoys taking his time. I am sure it will get better. His leavings are slowly turning more yellow than black or green too, and he is leaving a lot of leavings, so he must be drinking well. Because today was Sunday, we had extended visiting hours. 10-8pm today, instead of 3-8pm (those are the hours for husbands too), so most nights when Husband finishes work, he gets here about 6:30 and has only an hour and a half to spend with us- which really sucks. So today we had a nice day just sitting around in my room and him having lots of cuddles with Pi. Today, I also had my check by the doctor. Apparently the stitches are healing well and my utereus is now the size of a fist, so all is good there. I have also had another blood test (hopefully the last one in a while) and Pi had a heel blood test, but looks like the results are fine, and he is not jaundiced (which is lucky, because they keep in them in a box for 24hours here).

Day 5
Pi still likes to play at night, so I am running on about 11 hours sleep in the last 144 hours. You can imagine how tired I am, but I look at his little face and suddenly it doesn't seem at all that bad. He is very awake right now, so hopefully his habits will start to change a little bit. The nurses come in an check all the time, which is great for health, but not great for sleep. I finally got Pi to sleep at 3:15am, and at 3:45am the nurse came in and woke us both up. Needless to say I wasn't incredibly happy with that. Ah well. I did have an absolutely lovely foot massage this morning. A 30min complimentary reflexology session was included in the stay- and it was absolutely magic. I usually am not a fan of massages, but obviously my body needed it. I also had another final check from the doctor, and all is well for my discharge tomorrow. One slightly annoying thing though, is I have been billed for 8 days, even though it is more like 7 if one works it out like a stay in a
hotel (Tuesday-Tuesday). Oh well, babies are expensive, and so far this clinic has left us 304000yen out of pocket (not including the monthly checkups)...

Here are some pics of my room and the food over the stay. Three big meals a day and an afternoon treat. It was delicious!