The Tuesday evening - first evening after the c-section - was quite restless even though I was exhausted from not sleeping the night before. I was place in the C-section recovery ward which has 6 beds and 6 cribs. The Royal Surrey County Hospital was very busy and all beds were occupied. As I still had a catheter in and was unable to move, the midwives on duty were looking after Liam, changing nappy, etc. Feeding times they would come to me and put him on my breast to feed. I was in a ward with 5 other women and babies. Two of these babies cried the entire night non-stop making it very difficult to sleep. Two o'clock in the morning, two of the ladies - one beside me and one across from her - starting having a conversation out loud with one another. As you can imagine, I was quite unimpressed as I was in dire need of some rest after the ordeal Gavin, myself and Liam went through.
Liam, on the other hand, just seem to sleep through it all! He was in a see-through cot beside my bed, except when the midwife took him to change his nappy. It was amazing and terrifying, all at the same time to watch him sleep like that. Liam and I also had lots of skin-to-skin contact and it felt amazing to have this little body cuddle up against yours. So innocent, so helpless and so utterly reliant on you.
The next day my catheter was removed and I was allowed to shower! Oh was that an awesome experience! The first steps I took my legs did feel very wobbly but Gavin was there every step of the way to make sure I have someone to hold on to should I need some stability. One of the midwives were kind enough to look after Liam while I had this refreshing shower! I may even say that that was the best shower I've had in my life!
