1 Week Old Malaya

Breastfeeding isn't as painful anymore. My angle was all wrong. It still hurts, specially when he clamps onto the nipple faster than I can get all of it in. Props to Ninong Jerome for linking me to the La Leche League Website. xD

No serene nursing photos for juu. At least not yet.

Chris and I ran out of clothes yesterday. Chris just packed light, while I didn't have too many shitproof/breastfeeding friendly clothes. Lola Diana suggested we leave the baby in her airconditioned office while we go Ukay-ukay crazy.

Spell separation anxiety. >.<

We promised to be back within an hour, because that's the time frame he starts his feeding+pooping+pissing+grok time combo. I'm food, and daddy's the asswipe, and we're both crazy about grok time.

To those unfamiliar with the ukay-ukay, it's a kind of store that sells second hand clothes. I heard the clothes are stolen off the dead bodies of first world country-people and shipped across the sea as relief goods but packaged and sold to cheapskates like me. A lot of these clothes are of a surprisingly wonderful quality, it just takes mad skills to sift through the piles and piles of clothing for something you like. A good blouse could sell for P30 to P200, depending on your bargaining skills and the time of the day.

So off we went, away from Malaya for the first time since birthing him. It was surreal to be unpregnant and un-child locked again.

We did our errands at a break-neck speed because Chris kept imitating Malaya's near-cries. I'm pretty sure we could have gotten better clothes at half the prices we ended up if I had time to haggle. Nevertheless, we still found pretty awesome stuff for cheap, so I'm not dwelling on it. Chris points out that buying second hand clothes is another way to starve the beast.

When we got back to mom's office, Laya was still asleep. Lola said he barely made a peep.

The race against time winded me (that, and the boy fed good before we left lola's office), so we went over to the local snack bar to get some grub. The waitresses were surprised to see me, all making comments like "Weren't you pregnant last time you were here?" (the day before I gave birth). They were all wonderfully attentive. Malaya remained asleep in my arms the whole time.

And then we all got home and buried the placenta.

It wasn't completely dried out when he kicked it off, although the cord itself was dry and leathery. Auntie Cheryl suggested we wrap the placenta in banana leaves and bury it where the rain falls to encourage cool thoughts.

Malaya's "elder sister" was buried in the shade of an avocado tree. 

I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed I didn't get to see the cord fall off on its own. Chris got a little sentimental, considering the placenta had been with Malaya since his conception.

It's surprising how we ended up not getting grossed out over it, although the stench of meat was truly disgusting. I regret not preparing dried herbs to powder it in to keep the smell away. I regret not taking better care of it, but I do not regret keeping it around.

I truly believe that it helped keep Laya from going hungry those first few days when I was having a hard time feeding. In fact, the first day, I doubt he got anything out of me at all.

It's also curious to note that babies do not have functional immune systems at the beginning of life, while mothers eat the placenta to aid with postpartum healing. I'm grateful to the placenta for keeping him healthy this first week of his life, and in invisible ways for the rest of his life.

RIP. You did well Placenta, you did well.