Lilly’s First Week

Hi!  I’m back!  Did you miss me?  Life here has been busy and full, but I’ve been doing my best to take notes about our days so that I can remember them & also to share with you!  I should be back a bit more regularly as the three of us settle into a new routine…  Until then, I’ll just post some notes/pictures about our first weeks together as a family of 3.

—

What an amazing week it’s been.

(Here’s where I should probably warn you that this is officially about to become a “mommy blog” — because being a mommy is pretty much consuming my life right now, and because 90% of my readers are friends & family members anxiously awaiting more baby photos.)

We are pretty much in awe of this baby girl that has joined our family.  It’s crazy how long Jason and I can stare at this  little creature that possesses only eating, pooping, sleeping, and crying skillz.  We spent much of our two-day recovery time in the hospital just staring at Lilly, asking each other, “Can you believe she’s ours!?” and processing what had happened in the previous 24 hours.

Lilly’s Nana & Auntie Ashley came to visit us in the hospital, as did the friends that were with us the night before Lilly was born.  Other than that, we had fairly limited distractions (limited = a relative term, since we had nurses, doctors, and room service peeps stopping in every few hours), and we tried to just rest and bask in our new parent-ness.  We did send Lilly with the night nurse for a few hours each night (and I felt some major mama-guilt that my baby was less than 24 hours old and I was already shipping her off with someone else).  She had a few crazy bouts of choking on mucus during our waking hours, though, and both Jason and I were worried that we’d fall asleep so deeply that we wouldn’t wake to hear her choking in the night.  In fact, I spent most of Lilly’s first week worried that something terrible would happen to her while I was sleeping, and that I wouldn’t wake to hear her struggling to breathe or clear mucus/vomit/spit up from her throat.  Terrifying.

We arrived home to find that Nana & Auntie Ashley had cleaned the entire house while we were in the hospital.  What a gift that was!  Especially since I haven’t wanted to do anything at all this week besides snuggle my girl…  And, in fact, pretty much all we’ve done around here this week is love on our baby.  The classes that we took before Lilly’s birth instructed us to do nothing but feed & snuggle the baby for the first two weeks of life, and although I’m usually not good at following instructions, these are ones that I’m VERY happy to follow.

Lilly’s grandpa & uncle Trevor showed up later in the day to meet Lilly, and between Nana, Grandpa, and Uncle Trevor, we were able to take a few long naps.  I felt better knowing that while I was sleeping, my baby girl was being cared for, but the first night, I woke in a “WHERE’S MY BABY!?” panic before realizing that she was just downstairs.  Thanks to Nana, Grandpa, & Uncle Trev for also cleaning up the porch & mowing the lawn.  Jason and I enjoyed the extra hours of baby snuggles we got in while you were helping out!

Our second day home, we realized that Lilly had a bit of jaundice, which the pediatrician said would probably clear up if we continued to feed her every 2-3 hours and undressed her & sat in a sunny window.  We hadn’t been feeding her that often — she was asleep and nearly impossible to wake, eating about every 5 hours or so.  We made even more of an effort to wake & feed her, which was tricky, and truthfully, a little frustrating (at one point, we had her totally undressed & laid a cool wet washcloth on her and she continued to sleep).  Eventually, though, she got the hang of it, began eating every 2-3 hours, and the jaundice cleared up nicely for her doctor’s appointment on day 3.

We found out that she had lost 9 oz in the first 4 days, so were instructed to continue to feed her every 2-3 hours for the rest of the week.  Although the thought of being baby’s only food source once she was out of the womb was really strange to me during pregnancy, breastfeeding has felt much more natural now that she’s out.  I’m feeling particularly lucky to be able to feed her, even though it’s been painful.  All I have to do is look at her content “I’m full” face, and it becomes worth it.

We lost power twice during Lilly’s first week home.  Not a huge problem, but being without electricity & water is slightly more stressful when taking care of a newborn (and recovering from giving birth).  I hope Lilly will like her country life, even if it includes the occasional indoor camping episode.

We also gave Lilly her first at home sponge bath on Day 5 of life.  And, since she decided to do a giant poop up her back, about an hour later Lilly had her second at home sponge bath.  And, while we’re talking about poop (you guys! my life is so glamorous!): later in the week, Lilly was having some constipation issues, which resulted in some serious crying.  Jason google searched for solutions, and we ended up laying her on her back & bicycling her feet in a move we refer to as baby marathon or baby Tour de France.  After much crying and straining, our kid finally had a giant bowel movement & Jason and I were so happy you’d have thought she won the Nobel Prize.  Seriously.  I never thought I’d be so happy to change a diaper.

As far as my recovery goes, I’m still feeling on top of the world after having such a smooth delivery.  If I could use just two words to describe how I’m physically feeling this week, they’d be: jiggly and leaky.  I have no abdominal muscles whatsoever, and it’s really strange to have to continue to roll out of bed instead of just sitting up.  The amount of leaking going on here is insane – I’ve never been a sweaty person before, but suddenly, I’ve just been drenched.  And the crying!  WHOA.  Again, I’m not typically an overly emotional person, even managing to avoid most pregnancy mood swings, but OHMYGOSH I can suddenly burst into tears at any moment.  I think these are officially referred to as the “baby blues”, only in my case, I don’t actually feel blue at all.  In fact, it’s the opposite.  I look at this beautiful baby girl that just joined our family, and I love her so much that all I can do is cry.  She is just so awesome, and we are so blessed to have her.

If I feel sad about anything, it’s that with each passing day, she’s getting older, bigger, and I know that some day, she’s going to start telling me “no” or asking for the car keys or moving out of my house.  She’s been out less than a week, and already such things seem unbearable.

Also, each day that passes brings us closer to the day when Jason has to return to work, and I’m already dreading it.  We’ve been having entirely too much fun as a family of three, and Jason has been taking such good care of his girls that it’s going to be very. very. sad when he goes back to work.

{this picture might be our all-time fav. love her little furrowed brow!}