Newborn won’t sleep unless held and I’m losing it (post emergency C-section)

Hello,

I’m a few days postpartum after an emergency C-section and honestly having a really hard time. We came home yesterday and I have slept 7 hours total since Wednesday (c-section was early Thurs morning)

Our baby will only sleep if he’s being held. The second we put him down in the bassinet, he starts crying almost immediately. We’ve tried waiting until he’s in a deeper sleep, putting him down super gently, etc., but it doesn’t seem to matter. It’s just my husband and I for support.

The problem is I’m recovering from surgery and also dealing with a lot of anxiety after a pretty traumatic delivery. Even when my husband takes over and I should be able to sleep, I can’t. I’m just lying there wired and anxious. So we’re both basically running on no sleep and I feel like I’m spiraling. I don’t feel like I’m healing. I have the nausea and can’t keep anything down which isn’t helping the incision (I reached out to my OB about this but haven’t heard back yet). The few times I’ve tried to lay down and sleep I am just in pain and keep reliving the c-section.

I guess I’m wondering how long does this phase usually last? Is there anything that actually helps them tolerate the bassinet? And realistically…what do people do to survive this stage safely? I think if I could sleep with the baby and my husband in the same room I’d feel a lot better, so getting him in the bassinet for any amount of time would be a win.

I feel guilty even typing this because I love him so much and I feel like I should be stronger about this, but I’m exhausted and overwhelmed and just not sure how sustainable this is.

Any advice (or honestly just reassurance that this gets better) would mean a lot.