How soon can I hold my baby?

[tcbgirl 0]

Well, I am in the process of getting Cigna to approved. Have not send it all the document yet since I need a sleep study too. I am just wonder though, after surgery, how soon can I hold my baby. My 12 month old is about 20 lbs, he is very attached to me. If insurance approve me, my mom will be taking care of him for me both day and night. My baby sleeps with me and my husband; however, he will not let his daddy hold him.

When can I resume my normal activities?

Thank you so much,

Alisa

[TQUAD64 9]

My doctor told me not to lift anything over ten pounds the first week. Ask your doctor what she/he recommends.

[heartfire 4]

I had a 6 week, 10lb lifting restriction. That's about a gallon of milk!

Can't go grocery shopping b/c tho you might get help getting the groceries into the car, when you get home, you need to get them in the house somehow. DH would make sure I was stocked up before he went to work for his 72hr shifts.

Can't lift the baby onto the changing table. My DD climbed onto the bed and I put her table pad there so we managed. Couldn't lift her to clean her and change diapers, had her lift herself.

Can't lift baby in and out of car and seat. DD was old enough that she can climb in and out herself.

Can't get baby in and out of the tub. DD learned to climb in and out with help.

DD is 2 so we practiced stuff before surgery and I talked about it often to make sure she realized that I wasn't going to be able to pick her up and she was going to have to be careful with mama's tummy. She loved being able to do more for herself tho we had some issues with the picking up. Not many but since I'm home all the time, I'd take her hand and we go find somewhere to sit that she could climb in or on and get into my lap and we'd snuggle like normal. I kept things as normal as I could. Gave her responsibilities and had her "helping mama" like only big girls can do. She really did great.

Not sure how your 1 year old will do tho. I think you're going to have to do some tough love stuff and have DH take over a bit more on the baby care. Your baby is going to HAVE to let your DH do for him. Esp the first few days after surgery. You just plain aren't going to be up to it!

Since baby sleeps with you, make sure you have a small pillow to cushion against your stomach so if you get kicked in the middle of the night, you're okay. Startled, maybe, but okay. Keep that pillow handy too for lap time. I had to have it over my stomach before DD leaned against me for awhile. It just hurt too much otherwise.

Hang in there. Don't panic. And really just start practicing and thinking about how to make things work. Literally think about how you do things as you do them in the normal course of a day and see how you can change it or if you're even going to be able to do it for awhile. You'll come up with your own ideas about how things will work for you. Best wishes!