It was a little difficult to imagine life with a baby in all these months of pregnancy. There was the wonderful moment Owen took his first breath and only minutes later the labour nurse started coaching me on breastfeeding. She gave us a crash course on baby care from 11pm till 3am. It was so overwhelming and I'll admit, I was a little scared with everything all at once. But that maternal instinct kicked in just hours upon his arrival. And with such little sleep in the first week I can't believe how wonderful even his car alarm scream crying and dirty diapers are to me. In other words, every moment I have with Owen is something very special and I can't believe how happy the idea of being this little boy's mom for the rest of my life makes me.
We are very lucky to have been blessed with a great baby. He spends the day napping and when awake being held in my arms. He is not very fussy and loves to make eye contact with everyone who visits. He then sleeps through the night to be awoken for feedings. We installed dimmer lights in our bedroom and the nursery and I feel that that has really helped with Owen waking to feed and immediately going back to sleep. We've chosen to have a co-sleeper for the first few weeks to be able to attend to him in the newborn stage. We get 8-10 hours sleep a night, so I can't complain. Especially since I was getting WAY less sleep while pregnant finding myself frequently getting up at 2 and 3am to watch TV and eat a bowl of cereal. Interupted sleep is just the norm for me so there really isn't any adjustment in the sleep department.
The breastfeeding has been going very well too. It was a bit of a rocky start, but we got through the initial kinks and are full speed ahead. Hopefully we will continue this way because I'm nervous about what I'll do if I need help. There are always lactation consultants working for the Niagara region available to help mothers, but they have all been re-stationed to administering the H1N1 vaccine and have cancelled all breastfeeding clinics.
It's really hard to express how life and love changes once you have a child. I know I had difficulty imagining it when people around me started families, but now I know what they experience, it really is the most wonderful thing I've ever gone and continue to go through.
2 comments:
We had SUCH a difficult time with breastfeeding in the beginning. I ended up seeing a lactation consultant, who was wonderful, and got through it. Even though it was tough, at no point did I ever want to give up and go to formula. There was one day in the hospital that we had to supplement two feeds with formula because he lost 12% of his birth weight and I was so upset that we even had to do that.
I felt like breastfeeding was promoted as being so natural and "easy" all throughout my pregnancy. Then Cooper would not latch properly, and because of that, lost too much weight in the hospital... and when he finally did latch, he was an "inefficient" feeder because he was taking too long to feed. It was SO not easy! But SO worth working through those bumps.
Well, I'm still nursing Cooper and tomorrow he will be nine months old. (He is eating solids now as well, mind you.) I really feel like it has contributed to the strong bond that I have with him.
I am so happy that all is going well for you. I also dealt with a bit of the baby blues for about 3-4 weeks after Cooper's birth but even that was worth it. It is so amazing to have a baby that YOU made, a whole new human! I am so in love with my son and I can't imagine life without him, or even what my life was like before him.
Please keep writing and posting pictures, I love seeing and hearing about Owen. :) xo
Good for you Emily! I agree, nursing is hard and very time consuming. You have to devote yourself to it. Very few girls I know have stuck with it. I think a couple months into it something creeps up and for different reasons they decide to quit. With all the decisions you must make for your baby, I know breastfeeding was a top priority for us.
The hospital is where we ran into trouble too. I actually had a few nurses who seemed very frustrated with having to show me the ropes, sometimes multiple times so I understood how it worked. It made me feel embarrassed.
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