Baby Reuben Week One
Saturday, May 29th, 2010What a week! This week was a week of learning for me. Learning how to breast feed, learning how to change nappies (!!), learning that you can function on so much less sleep than you ever thought possible, learning that 0-3month old clothes are way too big, newborn clothes are too big, and tiny baby clothes are still a little too big! And of course you only bought 0-3m clothes (thank goodness for grandparents!)… learning that you still look 5 months pregnant straight after having a baby!
Baby on his birthday:
I also found that as happy as I thought I was about his birth there were so many things that bugged me about it – and writing his birth story was very therapeutic for me and helped me feel much more positive about it. All I will say on the matter is that my next birth experience will hopefully be very different. And being back home in New Zealand where you can choose your midwifes and have much more say in your healthcare will facilitate this! I also learnt that no matter who is with me, I need to stick up for what I want and stay strong, not just about the birth but also with regards to parenting etc, because I am the one that has to deal with the outcome.
Parenting is way, way harder than I could have ever imagined. Yeah everyone says its hard and maybe I was just naive but really there is no way to explain it until it happens to you. It’s not that I’m not really enjoying it as well, but I think its good to be realistic about it! I have a whole new-found respect for all Mums & Dads, and especially single parents, I just couldn’t have got through this week without the support of my wonderful husband and my parents.
All in all this week totally flew by in a mixture of tiredness, nappies, feeding, emotions and wonderful snuggly new baby-ness. Having a baby is the most awesome thing I could ever imagine.
Highlights of the week:
- Having a tiny baby that is mine to hold and cuddle and kiss whenever I want!
- Seeing my husband in a whole new light.
- Having my Mum & Dad here to help with everything.
- Seeing what Reuben will look like when he smiles! (Yeah I know it’s just gas haha)
- Having a happy, alert baby. He really is such a chilled out little man, he seems such an old soul. I can’t wait to get to know him better.
- His cord falling off! Such a relief that it fell off so early, just 4 days after he was born. It made me nervous cleaning around it and making sure it was safely out of his nappies etc.
- Learning that after only 5 days Reuben had regained his birth weight. Go me, I am a feeding machine haha..
Lowlights of the week:
- Learning that breast feeding hurts way, way more than I could ever have imagined. Reuben has a pretty bad latch on at the moment, and is really ‘nipple feeding’ instead most of the time.
- Sleep deprivation. Enough said.
- Crying at everything for no reason. I had to go to bed one night when my parents and husband were watching a movie it was making me so ridiculously sad.
- Still not having a name for baby! (obviously I have changed this post to update his name
)
Baby day 1 (after scratching himself in the eye and having it get a bit swollen):
Newborn babies sleep so much more than I could ever imagine. He is only awake to feed and then he goes back to sleep! When he is awake though, his eyes are so big and wide. I wonder how much he can see and what he is thinking…
