AS we’re sure all new mums will agree, the first couple of days after giving birth are a physical and emotional whirlwind – not to mention totally exhausting from all the visits from family wanting to meet the new arrival.
Someone who knows first hand what it’s like to feel overwhelmed by visitors in the immediate aftermath is mum-of-three Katie Bowman.
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The Australian mum blogger, 29, shared a photo on Facebook earlier this week shortly after she gave birth to her first child and urged other families to give new mothers and babies some time to bond while still in hospital.
Posting the photo of herself sitting on her own on the side of the bed while her baby is being passed around, Katie wrote: “A picture really is 1000 words.
“This is me, roughly 24 hours after giving birth to my eldest. I have no idea who took the picture but you can probably tell how I feel just by looking at it.”
Begging families to hold off on meeting the new baby, Katie continued: “One or two days. Is that too much to ask for? One or two days for a new mum to come to terms with the fact she had a tiny human emerge from her body.
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“One or two days for her to finally have a shower and wash the sweat and blood from her body. One or two says for her to push through the pain of her store nipples as she learns to breastfeed.
“One or two days to try to have some sleep because she is absolutely exhausted.”
On top of this, Katie recalled how “learning to breastfeed is no private affair” as nurses often have to help the baby latch on at first.
She continued: “Our vagina or stomach is in a world of pain. More often than not, there’s been a cut somewhere.
“You struggle to get comfortable in that hard hospital bed, because no position feels okay. You can barely sit, stand, lie down or walk.”
Everyone is so excited to have a photo with the new baby, the new mum doesn’t get a photo with her own damn baby!
Katie Bowman
Describing how loved ones are desperate for “the bragging rights to say they saw the new baby within 24 hours”, she added: “They simply must satisfy their need to hold this new baby.
“If you don’t allow them to come visit you in the hospital, you’re a selfish, delicate, drama queen.”
Admitting that “some people can’t wait to have visitors”, Katie concluded: “This is about people who have tried to ask visitors to wait a day or two but been made to feel like they told them they can’t be in the baby’s life.
“The next time someone you know has a baby, remember how tired this new mother looks. I know you are excited but remember it is not your right to visit a new baby, it is a privilege.
“If that offends you, go home and put it in your burn book.”
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Katie’s post has since racked up over 11,000 comments and 80,000 shares online from mothers with similar experiences.
One replied: “This picture breaks my heart. Everything you said was so true. My husband’s aunt and grandma still don’t talk to us because I asked if they could wait a couple days to see our son because I was overwhelmed and that was almost seven years ago.”
Another added: “You look so forgotten and lonely. This photo broke my heart.”
A third wrote: “As a midwife I tried to keep visitors out, but the abuse that this then directed at me was truly nasty.
“But new parents just need time alone with their baby, to recover, and simply say hello and cuddle the little one.”
In more parenting news, this mum revealed she was “C section-shamed” by her midwife who claims she should have had a “proper birth” at 32 weeks.
And this mum revealed her four-year-old was her birth partner and helped deliver her baby brother in the living room.
Plus this busy mum makes her baby eat in a paddling pool to save messand has even sewn dusters onto her onesies.
