UK Life Part 9: How I survive as a new mom at the first month #mommystudentlyfe

Assalamualaikum..

Hello again, it's been 3 months I haven't write anything.

Yes,  I'm busy become a new mom and a master student too, it's not easy giving birth and taking care a newborn far away from home, although the health services and facilities in The United Kingdom is better than in Indonesia. The most important are it's FREE! haha

However, I start to enjoy my new role. Now my baby already 3 months old.

As I mentioned before at the title of the blog,  "How I survive as a new mom at the first month." I still can't believe, I can survive as a new Mom hahaha. I'm not kind of "keibuan or mommy" person. I write this blog to share my experiences on my first month after giving birth and hopefully, maybe other new moms have similar experiences. Additionally, the objective of my writing is as a memory storage, so when I have another baby (In sha Allah but please not now hahaha), I still remember the important things. However, I try to summarized all of challenges during first month after giving birth.

First thing first is about Breastfeeding, at the first week is not that easy. My nipple was getting hurt because y baby sucks it too hard. I tried to use nipple cream from Mothercare and Boots but nothing can heal it. Then, my mommy gave me "minyak tawon" (I don't know in English, Wasp oil??), it's kind of traditional oil from Indonesia and it was working on me! I was surprised that this oil can heal it so quickly.  

Two weeks old

My mother came to England for 2 weeks to help me and gave me some lesson about becoming a new mom in traditional ways:

1. I drink a herbal called "jamu kunyit asam" and my mom give the recipe how to make it. boiled water and a teaspoon of turmeric, half of teaspoon of tamarind and brown sugar.
2. I have to wrap my tummy with Javanese herbs which contain lime betel, lime and eucalyptus oil (kapur sirih, jeruk nipis dan minyak kayu straightway), but I just can stand to wrap it for 2 weeks. hahaha after that I wear bio oil and do some exercises to bring back my tummy. Seriously, my tummy condition after giving birth is so bad ugly hahaha. However, every new Mom should proud of having it. 

2 Weeks old

Moreover, I had some challenges during the first month as a new mom:

1. I had lack time of sleep. Until now my baby always wakes up at night to breastfeeding. Although, the frequent become less. at the first month, my baby always wakes up for each 2 hours. And I still can;t believe I was through it. I'm kind of sleepy person, I love to take a nap but when you become a mother, everything has changed. You turn to be more mature, and more responsible. As you now, I raise my baby by myself and my husband. We are such a great team. I am taking care a baby at night and he cooks for me. I also grateful that my husband can take care the baby too especially when I have a class. He can change her nappies and bath her.
2. The baby wardrobe was one of my problems. My baby was born with length 55 cm and weight 3.8 kilos. She was a big baby. Although, I had prepared for her clothes and nothing fits her. Lesson learned: don't buy too much baby clothes before she/he born. 
3. Baby bath for a newborn was not a problem at all, I learn from my midwife when I was in the hospital and I also watch how to bath a newborn by youtube. Here I give you the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0x4Kpy0Z88&t=473s  I found that the western giving bath for a newborn is better than Indonesian way. (ada tehnik nya mandiin baby, ga asal). so your baby will enjoy bath session and not cry.
4. My baby was born with not straightway, she was too big for me so I got an episiotomy.  Because of that, the doctors worried about my baby's' hips. The doctor doesn't let me wrap (bedong kl bahasa jawanya) her until she is 5 weeks old. 
5. My baby got cold when she was 2 weeks old. It's usual a baby's got cold during the spring season because there are a lot of pollen out there. However, as a mom, I could't stand to see my baby suffer and hard to breathe. So I called 111 (Health Emergency Call in the United Kingdom) and they told me to bring my baby to the hospital to check her condition. Thus, the doctor didn't do anything. She just said that she will be better when the weather become warmer (summer time). It took 3 weeks for my baby to be healed. 
6. My stitches were so hurt, I can't walk straight until 2,5 months. At the first month after giving birth, it was the worst challenges for me. I used to a mobile person, love being active. But at that time, my stitches was so hurt. A day after giving birth, I don't ask painkiller (sorry). I just drink paracetamol, and it was the worst day of my life hahahaha.. lesson learned: never act as a strong girl when you are not! it's okay to be not okay, it's okay to cry when you feel hurt.

Karenina 

And how I didn't get any baby blues?

hmmm, I was wondering too, I survive until now hahaha.

The point is: "DON'T PANIC,  JUST GOOGLE IT" haha.

When we don't know what happen when my baby suddenly cries without any reasons, just keep calm and hug her/him. Then you can observe her/him identify the problems. I know it needs time, we need time to learn and adapt what baby needs. Although, don't forget to verify the source of information when you google about baby's' kinds of stuff. Therefore, I also download an application name "BabyCentre" from Apps store, it was a good app for preggo mom and new mom. Thus, when you know the problem and can solve it, it feels so great, such a big relief!haha

Don't forget to pamper yourself, buy something that really makes you happy. For me, I bought a nice bag and makeup from myself to myself. And when the baby is sleeping, try to get sleep too. Take a rest and be relax. 

Love to do makeup after giving birth, I found my happiness when I do makeup.

However, when a baby become bigger, the challenges become bigger as well.

There were other challenges in the second month, I will share you on the next blog.

I give a little bit a sneak peak (Wael aaa hh haha), my husband got a baby blues!! oh no......

Saturdate

Hopefully, my blog can give you some insights how to survive as a new mom.

Au revoir

Bisous

UKT