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Original poster

Your first day at home with your newborn baby as a first time mum - what did you do?

69 replies

Saffra · 11/09/2011 12:00

I'm now 38+2 and trying to imagine what it will be like to come home for the first time with our new baby. Would love to hear what you did on that 1st day, how you felt and whether you had ANY visitors at all....!

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MyNameIsInigoMontoya · 11/09/2011 16:44

Mine with DS was pants. We left hospital round lunchtime (had been in a few days due to CS), just as they brought the hospital "lunch" which was pate salad - just a few bits of lettuce and a few slices of pate [hmmm] so I just nibbled a bit of the pate as DH said we would eat when we got home.

When we got home though, DH became (uncharacteristically!) cr*p. DS wanted feeding as soon as we got in, so while I was sat feeding on the sofa he got himself some lunch - but not me! By the time DS had finished he had also finished, and as I was really tired, he insisted I should go upstairs for a nap while DS slept. I was not keen as can't usually "do" naps and just end up feeling groggy and horrible (and I hadn't eaten yet!), but he insisted...

So I went upstairs reluctantly, lay awake for a bit - and then just as I was finally asleep, DH burst in in a panic shouting "he's hungry, he's hungry!" as DS had started crying. So I got woken up with a jolt, feeling groggy and awful, starving as hadn't had any proper lunch, and immediately had to feed DS again! Luckily after I gave him an earful DH got his act together and the rest of the day went better... putting DS to bed for the first time in his moses basket that night was lovely.

I can't even remember the first day home with DD now, probably because DS was still quite tiny then too so we had our hands full!

CharCharGabor · 11/09/2011 16:46

We nipped down to the pub! :o I was desperate to show DD1 off and we didn't know what to do with ourselves so went down the road to celebrate for all of an hour. Glad we did as the day after she woke up properly after recovering from the birth and I spent the next 6 weeks as a virtual hermit feeding, feeding, feeding!

iskra · 11/09/2011 16:49

Thought you meant first day at home after partner went back to work.

First day back from hospital - shuffled in from the taxi to the house. Tried to find a comfortable place to sit. Breastfed. We had my mum who had been cleaning/shopping/organising for us while I was in hospital with DD. My parents in law visisted.

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Bumpsadaisie · 11/09/2011 17:00

I also walked around the house marvelling at how wonderful it felt not to be pregnant any more (it must have felt good as I had episiotomy and stitches and even with those it was MUCH better than being pregnant!)

I'm 35 weeks with DC2 now and my DH reminded me that in a month or so I will be back to being "me" again and how nice that will be. I have been pregnant since January, for goodness sake, it is now getting on for October! Must have a word with whoever dreamed up the process as it is far too long!

Bumpsadaisie · 11/09/2011 17:02

Zeebo respect to you!!

RitaMorgan · 11/09/2011 17:23

I got back from the hospital late afternoon after being in there for a few miserable days - I washed the blood out of ds's hair (finally! He was born with lots of hair and it was all matted and gunky - all the time I was in hospital I kept asking if I could wash his hair but never got the opportunity), DP made us a big bowl of pasta and pesto, and we watched some episodes of Sherlock on iPlayer. It was the lovliest evening ever after a stressful, horrible hospital stay.

WorrisomeHeart · 11/09/2011 17:35

We got home around 8pm after being in for a week so I fed DS and then put him to sleep in the Moses basket. Then littered around the house reading cards, calling family, uplifting photos and expressing. Then the next day I had to go back to the hospital to have my BP checked so I left DH and DS at home with expressed milk and riddled off. That felt very surreal - everyone else was just going about their business and I was desperate to get home. But I did get a bit of a nap in one of the private rooms while waiting for my BP to come down - probably the best sleep I'd had on the PN ward all week!

WorrisomeHeart · 11/09/2011 17:36

Not littered - pottered! Stupid phone..

OhYouBadBadKitten · 11/09/2011 17:44

I showed dd around the house - convinced as I walked through every door that I was about to bonk her head on the doorframe. I sat on the sofa a fair bit and fed her about a gazillion times. i think i cried too.

TheFeministsWife · 11/09/2011 18:34

Got home and my mum, sister, sister's boyf and DSD were all waiting for us with a chippy lunch. I set them all to work on the housework whilst I went to bed with dd. Got up had another takeaway for tea then left dd downstairs whilst I got a salt water bath (MW recommended for tear) then went back to bed with dd (co-slept). Was a lovely day, it's shame I didn't have the same when coming home with dd2 - landlord was having unnecessary work done on the house and refused to leave it for a few weeks so came home to a house full of builders . Had no support from DH as his mum was really ill in hospital, and he was depressed as he'd just lost his job. DSD was 13 and going through a horrible phase, and dd1 was 3 and having nightmare tantrums and clung to DH and wouldn't go near me. If it hadn't been for my mum I think I would have lost plot, did result in me getting PND.

Good luck, insist on no visitors until you're ready, and don't lift a finger to do any housework!

bail · 11/09/2011 19:07

No family came around as mine passed away and DH's abroad.

So our new little threesome arrived home, DS was sleeping, we put him in moses basket and ordered pizza and watched a film.

We kept stopping the film to say how incredible it was that there was another person in the flat. 'Our' little person.

It was a wonderfully quiet and relaxed way to start, and really set the tone for coming weeks.

Oh, I forget... I was in bloody pain following the episiotomy (sp?)

iliketeabutprefercoffeetoday · 11/09/2011 19:54

My mum visited the first day, then my sister and dad came the next. They all stayed in a nearby b and b which was really nice as they were in my house during the day, and away in the evening. They were great - did grocery shopping, did all the dishes, laundry, housework etc, just generally looked after me and dh so we could concentrate on learning how to be parents. I think if you have vistors who are going to make your life easier in the first few days (i.e make meals, help you out) then they are welcome, if they are going to expect you to serve them then don't let them come in the early days.

Other than that, the first few days are a blur - think hormones and sleep deprivation are the reasons for that!

Moulesfrites · 11/09/2011 19:55

cried, breastfed, took paracetamol, cuddled my ds, stared at him while he slept on my chest, cried some more.

HecateQueenOfWitches · 11/09/2011 19:57

I cried a lot and shook and felt totally out of my depth

TheNationalTruss · 11/09/2011 20:00

Cried, bf, cried some more, locked myself in the bathroom to cry and avoid visitors, cried.

ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged · 11/09/2011 20:04

Gosh, I can't remember... and it was only four weeks ago!!! It was all a bit of a blur.

Um, walked round the house showing LO all of the different rooms, put cot into our room, tried to feed crying LO, read The Baby Whisperer in a desperate attempt to work out why he was crying so much, slept a bit, ate a bit, probably cried. I'm really not sure!

Natzer · 11/09/2011 20:09

Cried and stared at her for hours. (the crying was partly hormones but mostly because we had waited for 4 years for her).

I tell my friends who are expecting not to commit to anything for the first week. I had my mum up for 5 days on day 3. All she wanted to do was go out for lunch or go for a walk, Breast feeding really failed! Wished I had stayed in bed with dd for at least a week without seeing anyone.

Its making me so broody thinking about her being so tiny, and she's only 4 and a half months old now! And we have decided she will be the only one!

MargeryDaw · 11/09/2011 20:10

I also fed my DS a lot and also cried a lot - I'd spent a very stressful month in hospital and felt totally overwhelmed. I think I went on like that (crying for no reason, a lot) for about two weeks until things started to fall into place - more than anything I think I needed time to get over my awful hospital experience.

mousesma · 11/09/2011 20:15

Got home around lunchtime after 3 day hospital stay and put DD in moses basket in front room. My Mum visited for a few hours then at about 6pm DD started crying and I fed and fed and fed and fed for about 6 weeks.

ravenc · 11/09/2011 20:16

I sat looking at my dd in her moses basket thinking god you are mine took a while for that to sink in. Rang my mum every 5 mins in a panic about what to do lol second one was so much easier :)

inmysparetime · 11/09/2011 20:19

I got home, got changed, changed DS, then we went out to a freshers week wine evening. That really freaked out the freshers but I had a great time and all my friends got to coo over DS without me having to make them tea or anything (and I got to have a nice glass of wine!)
I will await a good flaming for being a negligent mother now.

Iggly · 11/09/2011 20:30

It was dark and I remember us sitting on the sofa with DS, him cuddled up under my/DH's chin. Then went to bed. Not much really! We had a lovely time - a proper babymoon with no visitors the first couple of weeks which was ace. We spent a lot of time in our dressing gowns feeling very tired.

NightLark · 11/09/2011 20:34

Its 5 years ago now, so may have rose-tinted glasses on, but:

arrived home (free from postnatal ward at last, so happy),
chatted with both sets of grandparents - DH had organised buffet food for all,
drank a very small amount of champagne,
suffered the crippling embarrassment of having my breastfeeding technique commented on by my dad,
and felt a bit astonished really. A very small baby seemed to take up an awful lot of space...

NightLark · 11/09/2011 20:36

oh, I remember the news coming on with some article about another awful famine, and pictures of little children starving, and I was crying my eyes out and so was DH. I remember looking round and being so surprised he was crying too.

Flisspaps · 11/09/2011 20:37

Sat down and put the telly on, Deal or No Deal. I remember as DD always danced to the music before she was born and I thought it very fitting it was on when she came home :)

Fed DD, looked at her a lot and sat with DH on the sofa and had a chippy tea, DD went into the moses basket when we ate and I felt that she was very far away :( She was only at the end of the bloody sofa

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