Well it's taken me a month to get any kind of blogging happening but better late than never, eh! What a huge month its has been. Wonderful, challenging, loving, rewarding, sleep deprived, happy and stressful. I'm sure you parents out there can relate. I am a self confessed drama queen and I do tend to make things more difficult than they need be, I guess putting unecessary pressure on myself to do things right. But OH I am just loving being a Mum!! Of course I dont get everything right but Shane tells me I am a great Mum and we can tell that Alex is happy, so thats good enough for me.
We have the most beautiful little boy and he is such a happy baby who is easy to settle. The poor dear and I had to spend 5 days in hospital with a urinary tract infection, which was incredibly scary for us to say the least. It was quite a traumatic time for us especially watching the Dr's and nurses putting needles into our little baby, just 10 days old. SO many horrible tests all of course necessary but quite a few told us they hadn't dont such and such a test on a baby so young before.. not very reassuring! Happily to say after a 2 week course of anti-biotics Alex is well and gaining the right amount of weight thank goodness.
He is feeding 3 hourly now which is a relief after a couple of weeks with hourly or 2 hourly feeds. This was necessary due to a mild case of jaundice in the early days and then of course the UTI. It was challenging for me and Shane, to say the least. Especially for my poor nipples not having long enough between feeds to heal. But we are getting there and so this 3 hourly feeding and the occasional 4 hr break is a welcome relief.
Shane is back to work now and our routine is settling into place, for the time period anyway. Obviously I do the nights as I feed Alex, then Shane gets up around 7.30am and has some play time with Alex while I put the washing on and do bits and pieces around the house. Alex usually settles back to sleep after an hour or so of playing so we are sometimes able to both go back to bed for a nap. Shane has more time with him in the late morning and this is usually when Alex has his bath or shower. Shane baths him but I find showering easier for me as I can sit down on my shower stool and hold him securely. I'm a bit nervous using the baby bath but it will get easier as Alex gets older. He feeds 3 to 4 hourly over the day then as most babies do, cluster feeds in the early evening. I was prepared for this as many mums had told me about the 'witching hour'. So I make sure I have had a substantial lunch so that I can purely concentrate on Alex in the early evening. He feeds off and on til about 7 then we both go to bed. During the night he usually feeds at 9pm, midnight, 3am, then 6am, fairly predictably. Getting up in the night is getting easier for me but I found it so challenging at the beginning even though I am also a night person. All in all I was only getting 3 or 4 hours sleep broken for a couple of weeks there so its much better now that I am able to nap during the day and get more sleep during the night.
It's working out really well with Shane's working hours of midday -ish to around 10pm at night. It enables me to concentrate on feeding Alex in the early evening instead of making dinner or being distracted. It's also really lovely that Shane has the precious play time with him in the mornings.
It's lovely to have our little routine for the moment- I am aware it will change depending on Alex and the next growth spurt which will be any day now. It's a relief for me to be able to get the house work done again. Shane did a fantastic job while I was getting the feeding established in the early days but I am more than happy to have my duties reassigned to me :-) Shane is in charge of feeding us now which is also a relief for me. It amkes sense as he is naturally good at that and I am naturally good at the housework!
Its also been a wonderful help to have had my Mum visit us weekly, helping me with housework on a Sunday or bringing a meal during the week. I have alot more energy too now which helps me get organised and get back into something somewhat closer to our former life, with remembering to pay bills etc.
Thank you all for such lovely heartfelt wishes and comments. It was so lovely to read them when I have had a few minutes to spare. Alex is awake now so I best be going... see u next time :-)
Xxox
