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
Oh no poor bub. That must have been a bit scarey and stressful. So glad he's ok now.
ReplyDeleteThose first few weeks are very out there aren't they. Especially the first time round.
My little one showered with Daddy mostly from newborns too. Started at first because our split system died when Ethan was 2 weeks old, middle of August, so it was just too cold to bath him. Took a month for it to get fixed. So by then we were into a nice habit of showering. Brian loved that time with Ethan. It became their special thing to do. It was hen second nature to add Eli into the mix too. Much easier on me too :)
They still shower now at 3 and nearly 2yo. Rarely have a bath. Every couple of weeks they might have one with Brian but that's about it.
Brians working similar hours to Shane atm. It's been a bit of an adjustment doing the evening routine with two toddlers on my own, but I try to remember back to my single mum days and how it worked for me then. Mind you I only had one child then and he's now 15!
Brian had a month off when both our boys were born. He too took over the house duties in those first few weeks. But by the end of the month I was itching to get back into it. Babies and I were in a routine. I was getting more sleep, things were settled so I wanted to get back on the horse.
I was so grateful that Brian was able to take that time though.
So wonderful to have your mum around to help like that too.
Wishing you all the best.
Lovely to hear from you Sarndra, I have been thinking of you all. Poor little Alex having the infection but it's great that he recovered well, obviously he has a good constitution. I'm glad you've found a routine that works for the present, it will all get easier as you go along I'm sure. Cyber hugs.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear things are going well and that you are settling into a routine. Sounds like happy days at yours! :)
ReplyDelete~S.
So glad to hear that you're all settling in and just able to enjoy each other now.
ReplyDeleteI've raised 6 kids (3 my own) and I never stopped being amazed at all the little changes that came with each day, working up to the bigger ones. But I loved how you described it..." wonderful, challenging, loving, rewarding, sleep deprived, happy and stressful". It's all that and so much more!
Congratulations again and enjoy the time with your little one.
Gee you did have a rough time at the beginning. So glad to hear you have a routine that suits you worked out and that he is thriving and happy. You can't ask for more than that! And how good is it that you have a dear hubby to cook yummy meals for you. A bit of planning and sharing can make life with baby so much easier and less stressful for all. Good job!
ReplyDeleteCheers - Joolz
I'm glad you are both well once more and have settled into a descent routine that works for your little family.
ReplyDeleteNot a smooth beginning and stressful on any parent but glad you can enjoy your parenting now. Make sure you take lots of photos as dates/events can't always be recalled years later. Routines are wonderful as then nothing is overlooked.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely weekend :).
Cheers,
Robyn
So enjoyed reading your reflections this morning Sarndra! You guys make such a wonderful team :-) Those early days are so hard and you have done SO well getting through them. Thinking of you stackloads and so enjoyed our catch up :-)
ReplyDeleteMuch love my friend,
Lus x
So nice to hear all is well..
ReplyDelete~~HUGS~~
you are doing a fabulous job! you do know that, right?
ReplyDeleteSo lovely to hear from you - I missed you!
Love that you work so well together as a team. I remember when my husband came home from work I enjoyed him taking over baby duties whilst I went to the kitchen to cook etc...
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like all is going well - enjoy these precious moments :)
l
x
So glad to read a post from you. Sorry to hear about the hospital visit, which I am sure was scary. Seems like things are going well now and the fact that Shane is an involved father (which I never doubted he would be without really knowing him, but knowing how his mother is, which is why I am not surprised...I hope that made sense...lol)
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day!
Good to hear from you Sarndra. Glad all is going well. Take it easy and enjoy these precious first few months which pass so quickly. The housework can wait!
ReplyDeleteAhhhhhh Sarndra.....welcome to the 'real world' of motherhood! It's dammed hard work but oh so lovely ;) Yes I did warn you that breast feeding is not as easy as you would think and yet I don't know why considering it's the most natural thing in the world to do??? But it really gets going in the next couple of months and you will find that you can drink a cup of tea and read a magazine and feed all at the same time!!! It sounds lovely that Shane has those morning hours with you and as you have said dinner time is nortorious for fretful babies so in lots of ways what you guys have going is ideal plus just you and bub.....I found that the more pepole in the mix at this time of night was disasterous and both bub and I didn't cope with a lot of commotion at this time..... I found 4pm to 8pm pretty ardous as bub was colicky.....so maybe get some soup up and have a cup of soup for your dinner to get you through??? It must have been very stressful with Alexander unwell? My sisters baby ended up with a UTI at 2 weeks of age and my sis said that what they did to her in hospital was horrific to witness....so I can imagine how hard this must have been for you :( Get your nipples out in the sun.....hard I know but you could sit near a window with the sun streaming in.....vit D does wonders for healing skin. Girlfreinds have use nipple shields before but I didn't like them....but they will toughen up just you wait and see....ahhhh and then they get teeth!!!!!!!!!!! Your next big challenge might be a growth spurt in which they seem to feed continously night and day for maybe 2 or 3 days.....don't fret Alex will be building up your milk stores and concerntrating on growing and then things will settle down again. Hang in there I am sure that you are doing a marvelous job and be kind to yourself....not easy I know. X Chrissy :)
ReplyDeleteHappy to ear your baby is fine! Those first few months are really scary for me. But later on we get use to it! Taking care of our kids are blessing!
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