On the eve of 1 month

New family with a brand, brand new Baby



Baby will be 4 weeks old tomorrow! A month! Time is truly flying by. As I've told many people, I've already had 1 or 2 (or 3) bouts of crying where I find myself in a panic at the thought of her growing up. I blame it on the hormones. She has changed a lot already and I already find myself looking at "old" photos of her and talking about "when she was first born" as though it were a distant memory that is threatening to slip away. One night last week as I lay in bed, I vividly remembered the first night she was born and how all three of us were tucked into bed for our first night as a family after the birth team left. I don't think I slept at all. I stared at her all night and watched her chest rise and fall. I wanted to make sure she was ok. And I loved looking at her and reaching over and touching her little hand as she slept so peacefully. She was finally here! I still have moments when I am surprised with the reality that she is here and is ours and is growing and changing and is simply amazing. Her little sounds, her expressions, her movements...all amazing...

She's a party girl

Baby attended her first 'meet the baby' shower last night. We had requested no shower before she was born as we preferred something after she was already here safe and sound - slightly superstitious I guess. It was really nice to see everyone and both S and I were very grateful that everyone took time out of their busy schedule to come and meet her. Last night's get together was mostly for family...another 'meet the baby' shower is happening next Sunday....mostly for friends. Baby is a very fortunate little girl to have so many wonderful people in her life! The gifts were much appreciated (yes, even the pink, frilly, "muffin top" outfit that made S cringe lol). The host of the shower also made custom chocolate bars with photos of Baby on the packaging - very cool idea. Tomorrow, S, Baby and I and my 2 nieces are heading out to see my Grandma, Aunt and another very good friend. I'm looking forward to it! Baby doesn't have any living grandparents but she is lucky enough to still have a healthy, happy great grandmother in her life.

Sunshine!

At least I think there is some sun out there today! Yesterday there was definitely some blue sky happening earlier in the day. It takes us a bit longer to get out of the house these days so we missed most of it. Must work on being more prepared I guess. Or just plan for the unplanned. Baby spit up all over herself and S on the way to the car yesterday. After a quick change she was wide awake and ready for another snack which I don't like to rush as it makes both of us anxious. So, we take our time and leave when everyone is content and ready. Which takes time. Good thing I don't have to be anywhere on a strict timeline these days.

Baby has become more and more vocal the last few days. She grunts and growls and meows and all sorts of other interesting sounds. I guess I haven't spent a lot of time around newborns because apparently they are noisy little things!!! She also laughs in her sleep quite regularly. Her mouth breaks into a smile and she shakes as she giggles. She's cute as a button and recently loves snuggling chest to chest which both S and I also love. It's such an amazing feeling to have a little warm bundle of love totally relaxed sleeping next to my heart.

Oh, and we bought some pink clothes for her. Who knew I would enjoy dressing her in pink??

2 Weeks Old!

Oh, how the time flies!! Some days I can't remember life without Baby and some days it seems like she just arrived! We have settled into somewhat of a routine. Baby sleeps for a couple hours at a time in her snuggle nest inbetween us during the night which is great! I'd say I end up with about 4-5 hours sleep a night - much better than the ohhhhh 45 minutes or so I got the first few nights!

We were told that some babies spit up more often than others and if they are going to be "pukers" then it usually starts around the second week. We suspect Baby may be one of them as she's spit up quite impressively 3 times since last night. I think I'll start wearing plastic clothes and dressing her in plastic clothes as well since we will obviously both have to change our clothes several times a day otherwise. She's nursing amazingly well which I'm so grateful for. After the first day of nursing my nipples were so sore and cracked and bleeding that I was literally in tears every time I fed her. I suffered with it for 2 more days and then at the midwife's suggestion I pumped for 24 hours, fed her via syringe/finger and gave my nipples a break. The next morning I tried again and voila! no pain! I was SO relieved and so very happy. Breastfeeding is very important to me and I'm so glad I'm able to do it with joy now. Baby is an awesome eater! Even when she does spit it back up on me after she eats it!

Some photos

Encapsulation

Our doula, Michelle, came by today for a visit. It was the first time I'd seen her since the birth. It was nice to sit around and chat about the birth. How it went, what happened, etc.

She also brought over my placenta. She dried it out and we are going to encapsulate it. The cord is dried intact and we'll likely plant it somewhere. When I first read about women ingesting their placentas after birth I was pretty grossed out. I imagined a raw, wet, dripping bloody piece of meat hanging out of someone's mouth and it made me feel queasy just thinking about it. When I heard about encapsulating it and all the amazing benefits that could be reaped, I changed my mind and decided it was something I really wanted. It's currently sitting in a canning jar on our coffee table. If you're over to our house, please don't mistake it for coffee.

1 week old!

To celebrate Baby's 1st week she had her first tummy time. She slept through it. It was exciting for us though.

We finally started taking photos. Our doula took lots of photos during labour and the birth but we hadn't gotten it together to take photos for the first couple of days. Luckily, A took a bunch on NYE - we're grateful she captured that night for us :) (Thanks, A!) Now I just have to download the photos we've taken and get them online for others to see.

But first. Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Jump into 2010

Wow, a lot has happened in the 9 days since I've posted.

Our daughter, aka Baby, has arrived!! She was born on Dec. 30, 2009 and is delicious and amazing! I'd like to try and write out our birth story but that may take awhile. For now, some snippets of the birth and our new life in the past week:

• Baby was born as home, as planned.
• I pushed her out in our bedroom on the floor - I think about this moment often and I'm still so emotionally overwhelmed by the experience.
  
• I wasn't aware of the massive hormonal shift and rushes that happens after birth and with breast feeding. Wow is all I can say.
• Breastfeeding was very challenging for the first 3 days. It takes more patience and commitment than I expected. (I'm enjoying it a lot now though!)
• The sleep deprivation that S and I are dealing with is beyond what I expected. Some times I have no idea how I am even conscious. Each day it gets a tiny bit easier to deal with.
• Baby is super cute and seems really laid back so far.
  

So much for posting daily anecdotes of life with a new baby. Or perhaps the lack of posts in itself can be interpreted as the true commentary on the first few days of life with a new baby in our home.

Watch for Baby's birth story and for lots of riveting stories about diapers, breastfeeding and figuring out this whole parenting thing.