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It's was a mix of nursing, holding babe, trying to sleep, and eating.i was starving. Babe was born at 3 am after 56 hours of labor and very little sleep / food. Everything still felt pretty surreal . We were getting checked by nurses pretty regularly too.

I had a great birth, vaginal with an epi. I gave birth at 2:20pm and was in the labor room with the baby until about 4:45/5pm...being stitched, the baby being cleaned and weighed, and just kind of resting in there. Also I think our recovery room was being readied for us. DH was with me but no visitors were allowed. Once we moved to our recovery room we were allowed to have visitors.

I had to show that I could walk to be allowed to go to the recovery room (maybe because I had an epi?). So I walked from my bed in the labor room to a wheel chair two feet away lol. BUt honestly I was fine and able to walk comfortably. I think I showered the next morning? And put on some makeup.

I got dinner around 6pm the day I gave birth...nothing fancy but it tasted amazing because I was so hungry!

Once I was in the recovery room, there were nurses in and out every so often, but for the most part, DH and I were alone with the baby. I tried to sleep, but since we kept LO in our room, he nursed every hour and a half-two hours, so not much sleep for me!

Basically, we watched tv, I breastfed, we changed diapers, and talked to each other. Going to the bathroom and showering were also productions, due to the pads/bleeding/etc...everything takes a bit longer because you're moving slowly!

I had DS at 12:44pm vaginally after a loooong 26 labor, with 2 hours of pushing which ended in an episiotomy.

The first hour we had skin to skin time with DH & I & baby. Then our family (his parents, mine, my brother, and my cousin who is like a sister to me)... came to see us in the room (I delivered/recovered in the same suite).

We visited with them, the babe was in/out with some testing/his first bath, but we nursed and cuddled and visited for the first few hours. I was on an adrenaline HIGHHH. DS slept a lot, My aunt/uncle stopped by for a quick visit at 8? 9? pm. DH & I ordered dinner, watched some tv, bonded with DS, and we all went to bed. DS was with us the entire time. DH caught a few ZZZs, but I stayed awake and stared at the baby and changed his diapers, took my meds, fed him when the nurses would come check on us, etc.

I was physically exhausted and swollen, but mentally I was so awake it didn't even phase me. I showered the next morning with no issues ( aside from normal swelling/blood). We also went home that day (it was thanksgiving) so aside from a quick visit from an old friend that morning (who worked in the hosp), we did not have any non-family visitors.

Our hospital has you stay in the birthing suite for an hour after birth. As long as all checks out ok you have skin to skin and they clean you up. If you have an epi they let it wear off. And the nurse continues to check on you to monitor bleeding and such. A lactation consultant was on hand as well. We were allowed up to 5 people to be allowed in the delivery from but we chose for it to be just DH and I. When we moved to our recovery room we were able to do whatever we wanted really. The nurse came in every couple hours to check on me or the baby, and took LO for some tests. I was able to eat whatever I wanted as soon as I got in my room but DH had to go get it. Since I had an epi they warned me to be careful getting up on my own just incase my legs were still a bit weak. I gave birth at 3am so we tried to sleep but between the nurse coming in and processing everything I hardly slept. I think we had our first visitors around 9 or 10 am. I took a shower right before anyone came. And then every couple hours someone comes in either to take pictures or they need to do another test or whatever. The first 24 hours after I had LO it seemed like atleast every 2 hours a nurse or hospital employee came to the room.

At the hospital I delivered in, the rooms are all-in-one--labor, delivery, recovery, etc. It was nice b/c I didn't have to go anywhere or be moved.

-when do guests come visit?
Our hospital had an all-is-welcome policy, and my MIL was in the waiting room, so she came in after i was stitched up and everything.

-are you alone in the room with baby (or virtually alone minus some checks from nurses, etc).
Yep, I was left alone the first day, BUT the nurses come in *so often* to check on you. The second day, the audiologist, nurses, etc came by for more testing.

-do you sleep?
I did. I had been up all night, so after holding the baby for a little bit, i gave her to my MIL and i passed out for hours.

-when can you get up to freshen up? when will you want to get up?
I had an epidural, and you couldn't get up until it wore off. Mine was still there that evening, so I showered the next evening. Honestly, I didn't really want to get up. I wanted to sit on my sore bottom with an ice pack on my nether regions.

-when do you eat?
They warned me not to eat or drink a lot immediately following birth because i'd be likely to throw it all up right away. I had a granola bar and a few sips of water. But after a couple of hours, I got a turkey sandwich delivered to my room.

@Mrs D: I did have a room where I delivered in the same room, so I never had to leave, which was nice. And before visitors came, I changed into real clothes and combed my hair and put on makeup. I probably could have showered if I wanted to, but I had lost a lot of blood and felt weak standing up, so I didn't really feel up for showering that first day. And my appetite came back totally normal after I delivered. We had our middle of the night snack, then sleep, and then we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner as normal.

@Mrs D: Depending on where I am when labor starts, I totally plan on jumping in the shower right away once I start feeling real contractions. And as long as everything's going okay, blow-drying my hair and putting on makeup, lol! I've also heard at my prenatal yoga classes that the hospitals won't let you eat or drink antything during labor so as long as you feel comfortable with it to get in all the water, popsicles, etc. before leaving for the hospital so you feel a little less deprived while there. Because it could be a looong time before they finally let you eat.

Immediately following labor baby was laid on my chest for skin to skin (my hospital is a big proponent of this). While she was on me they were stitching and cleaning me up. Then after a bit (felt like 10 minutes but was probably shorter?) the took her to clean her up and weight/measure her right in my room. Right after they did that everyone left for what my hospital calls the "Golden Hour". During this time it is only daddy, mommy and baby. The nurses do not come in at all to bother you and no visitors allowed. This is hospital policy. I loved this about my hospital!
After this hour they take her to the nursery for some new born testing. During this time the nurse helped me get up to get clean up, I took a sponge bath (shh don't tell my mom!). I think when we were doing that DH went out to grab some things from the car and go get me my post delivery meal!

LO stayed with us except for the few times they had to take her for testing (newborn screening, etc). So we used those times to catch a quick nap. But other than that it was just staring at her, nursing, changing, etc.

It was the most euphoric time of our lives. We needed little sleep and were just so in love getting to know our baby.

I wish I could remember exactly also, but it's kind of a haze! I delivered ~ 8 am. Did skin-to-skin. Got moved to our room. I think the first 4 hours were just all about skin-to-skin and trying to feed. DH did snap a picture of me passed out, holding the baby. Visitors started arriving right around lunchtime. I knew they were coming, so at some point I had gotten up to use the restroom and shower. The first time I went into the restroom, I immediately noticed I had sprouted like 20-30 white hairs! I put on a bit of minimal make-up.
When the visitors started coming, one after another, both baby and I seemed to have the energy to keep up. Looking back, I think it was a tell-tale sign of her personality!
Honestly, I never finished a single meal in the hospital. But my BFF did bring us Del Taco, which we scarfed down. They were the only ones who really held the baby and let us take a breather, instead of just wanting to talk and ask a million questions. I think I lived on adrenaline during the day, but that night was ROUGH! Baby wouldn't sleep unless she was held. Even all the nurses tried helping. It was tough. But looking back on it, it was SUCH a special time and I would hold her all night all over again. It goes so fast!

I'll do my best with what I remember. I gave birth on a Sunday at 7:15 pm, vaginal, no meds.

Immediately we did skin to skin. My DH, mom and doula were in there with me. My doula was assisting me in getting DS latched for the first time will the OB stitched me up and nurses were buzzing around. It ended up taking about an hour to get him to nurse and we did skin to skin for almost 2 hours. One nurse I could tell was in a hurry to get us out of the room and to our recovery room, but I didn't care. We took our time. We probably spent a lot more time than usual in the labor room.

After about 2 hours my step dad, brother, grandma, uncle all came in to see the baby. My step dad picked me up Mc D's on his way to the hospital. They only stayed very briefly and left. My mom and doula stayed behind. I grazed my food. The nurse finally was able to get the baby away from me and did all her measurements and stuff. DH finally got to hold him after all that!

The nurse had me get up and use the restroom and put me in my lovely mesh undies. then we packed up and we all moved to the recovery room around 11 pm I think. I met the night nurse, my mom and doula left and it was just DH and me with the baby! I was pretty wound up and couldn't sleep. DH and I slept on and off through out the night. It is hard to sleep with a someone coming into your room every hour. I held the baby because he seemed to do better sleeping on my chest compared to the bassinet. My son was super sleepy and we had a lot of failed nursing attempts. The dang night nurse was so annoying. She was worried that he wouldn't nurse and kept coming in constantly to check on us. She kept trying to get DS to latch. Then he had to get a heel prick to get his blood sugar levels tested. She even wanted to give him a bath at 3 am. It's pretty normal for a newborn to be very sleepy the first 24 hours so I don't know why she was so worried.

I finally took a shower the next morning. And then just laid in bed a lot holding the baby. We didn't get many visitors. The ped came in the morning to check out the baby. A lady came in our room to take his photo. We stayed an extra night b/c DS just wasn't wanting to nurse and everyone thought it would be a good idea we stay one more night to get more assistance with the nursing. And just like the books say, he became more interested in nursing around 24 hours after his birth.

I had an emergency c section and she was born at 930pm. My parents came into our l&d room around 1015. We were moved to the post partum floor around 3am. I was pretty out of it for a few hours. Our hospital doesn't allow visitors until noon, so that's when our family came back.