Postpartum care at home?
You may be expecting your baby at any time and have heard that Queen Mary is not offering hospital based postnatal care for all birth givers at this time. For those of you who have an uncomplicated birth, you will be going home for your postnatal care, however anyone who has any complications or a c-section for example, will still receive care at Queen Mary for as long as is required. If you have planned your birth to include a day or two in hospital, then this will possibly feel very concerning and stressful for you and your partner.
This doesn't need to be a disaster though. Think about what you were hoping to gain from staying in hospital for that time, and then consider how you can replicate that at home - as if you'd had a home birth instead.
There are a few things that come to mind:
Resting
Timing of visitors
Food supplied
Help with feeding and baby care
Most of these things can be managed at home with a little planning and communication - and you might find, in hindsight, that you preferred it that way after all!
Resting: in hospital you would spend a lot of time in bed with your baby close by. When you go home, go to bed. Stay there for 2 or 3 days - even longer. Have your baby's bassinet close to your bed, or even on your bed if that's possible. Make sure you have everything you need close by and snuggle up for good skin to skin time.
This leads quite naturally to thinking of visitors: In hospital your partner would most likely be able to be there with you all the time, but other visitors would only be allowed to visit at certain times. At home, you could ask for the same courtesy, but ask your visitors to take the important role of supporting you with meals, washing, shopping, etc - the things that you would not have to think about if you were still in hospital.
New babies don't enjoy being passed around from person to person, so in these first few days the most helpful thing for your visitors to do is support you so that you can spend time getting to know your new baby, how to look after and feed them. Think about which visitors you are comfortable with in the first few days, and then when other visitors can start to arrive and let people know.
Think about where in your community you can get help with feeding and baby care. Many areas have groups that can provide free support to you and your partner with feeding your baby. Search for breastfeeding peer support and you should find at least one or two options.
Websites that are helpful:
KellyMom.com Breastfeeding and Parenting
English Language Videos - Global Health Media Project
English Language Videos - Global Health Media Project
The Breast Room | Facebook
Breastfeeding SOS - BreastfeedingSOS
GET HELP | La Leche League New Zealand
The Safe Sleep Seven - La Leche League International (llli.org)
BASIS – Baby Sleep Information Source (basisonline.org.uk)
There are two links to Global Health Media Project above, one has help for breastfeeding small and new babies, the other has links for breastfeeding and common problems.
The unknown and unexpected is always disconcerting, and sometimes scary. But you can do this! You are the expert on you and your baby, even if you don't believe that yet. Reach out for support - sometimes just having someone to talk through things with can be the best help of all!