When I was pregnant I had lots of daydreams about what my sweet little newborn baby would be like–how he would look, how he would smell, how his cry would sound, what it would feel like to hold him. For the most part, what I had imagined was actually pretty close to reality, but there were several things we encountered those first few days in the hospital that threw my husband and I for a loop. Here are five things you might learn about your newborn in the hospital that you weren't expecting:
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1. His first poop is like you will never, ever believe. You may have heard about meconium–the tarry, black substance that makes up your baby's first bowel movement–sometime during your pregnancy, but believe me you'll be pretty surprised when you open up that first diaper to find a load of thick, sticky gunk. Oh and don't you go thinking it's a one-time thing … oh no, you might be scraping that almost impossible to clean stuff off your newborn's cute little bottom non-stop for the next few days.
2. He might have a weird alien head. The first time I saw my son I really thought that he didn't have that cone head that you typically see on baby's who are delivered vaginally. I would've sworn it to anyone. But when I look back on pictures from that first day, he definitely did. It wasn't severe or exaggerated but it was indeed kind of pointy. His head settled into a nice round shape within a couple of days, but it was funny-looking when he was first born. And if you think a C-section baby won't have it, you might be surprised. Depending on how far your baby descends into your pelvis before its arrival, he may still come out looking a bit like Dan Aykroyd.
3. The sweet little one might all of a sudden start gagging. In all the research I did before giving birth to my son–and trust me, it was a lot–I never once read anything about newborns gagging post-delivery. The first night we spent in the hospital room with our son, my husband and I were terrified by a sudden choking nose he was making. My husband, who thankfully knows CPR, immediately turned him over in the hopes that whatever was lodged in his throat would fly out. Of course, it was impossible for anything to actually be stuck in his throat–he had only had colostrum. After talking with a nurse, we learned that newborns gag a lot due to the birth fluids that have built up in their noses and throats.
__4. He'll be sleepy pretty much non-stop. __Even if your baby appears alert immediately after delivery–drugs or no drugs–within a few hours he will likely succumb to a serious case of the sleepies. Most people know that babies sleep a lot so you would think this wouldn't be too concerning, but when you're trying to make sure your newbie eats every two hours so he doesn't lose too much weight, but you can't get him to stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time, you might start to freak out a little. Just remember that it's normal and that very soon, you'll be yearning for that six-hour stretch he did in the hospital.
__5. They do a lot of sneezing. __No, your just-born little one doesn't have a cold, or allergies, for that matter. But due to the aforementioned fluids he will probably sneeze a lot in those first few days. In fact, the sneezing may go on for a couple of weeks. Not to worry, it just means his body is doing work to clear things out.
Image via Yuliana Gomez
