1. The first night we were home, Brady was downstairs with some of the family visiting and Brian and I were upstairs putting Griffin to bed. Griffin and Brian are about to start story time, I'm in Griffin's room putting something away, and all of a sudden, the water works start. I'm like, "crap." I walk into where Bri and G are and head right for the tissue box. Bri sees me and says, "what happened to you between Griffin's room and our room?" I start hysterically laughing...while I'm still crying...and say, "I'm crazy. I have no clue."
2. About 2 weeks in you realize why you cry. B/c you realize it is solely up to you to feed the child who is NEVER full. Latching on like leeches with a million sharp teeth. I know, I know...it's NOT what it's supposed to feel like. Whatever. I hate breastfeeding. I'm a huge supporter of the whole process. Heck...I'll even hold your boob for you if you need me to. But just don't ask me to do it...until we have our next baby. B/c even though I know how much I'll despise it all over again...I owe them what I can give them. Even if it is just a short 3 weeks.
3. You'll hate when people tell you to give them the baby so you can sleep. I thought, FOR SURE, that I was going to easily be able to pass Brady off at any given moment so I could play with Griffin, sleep, shower, etc. But no. I was so very wrong. I was like a Mama Bear protecting her Cub all over again. I wanted to do it all. The feedings, the changings, the baths...but that's passed. Thank goodness. B/c I was getting tired.
4. Showers will happen at the most random times. I remember being in Brady's room, freshly showered, just sat down to do the nighttime feeding. He ate, I propped him over my shoulder, and he let out the best burp (you Mama's know what I'm talking about), and I was like, "Yesssss!" Until I realized it wasn't just a burp...but an intense amount of spit up. Down my shirt, on the glider, in my hair...So I laid him down, b/c he was fat, full, happy, and sleeping, and I marched myself right back into the shower. 2 in one day?? Almost unheard of.
Regardless, you spend a lot of those first few weeks in a complete daze. It's a pretty even mix of being on the verge of a complete meltdown, yet blissfully happy.
Brady spent the first month of his life rockin' the newborn clothes. It took him an entire month to get back up to his birth weight :-( He was SUPER sleepy the first 4 weeks. And honestly...waking a perfectly good sleeping baby to breastfeed (which you all know how I NOW feel about that) was pure torture. But finally...he made it back up to 9lb4oz by week 4!
During those few weeks he would wake about every 4 hours...life was definitely not rough and Bri and I were getting enough sleep. Our routine was the same as it was when Griffin was born. The baby wakes, Bri gets up with him, changes the diaper, then hands him off to me to feed. I can't even begin to tell you how good it feels to be a team when the baby is first home. The fact that Bri didn't just assume I had nights under control since I was breastfeeding always made life easier...and it helps that I didn't need to wear a flashing sign to get that point across either. I'm just that lucky :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment