It's been just over three weeks since Julia's birth. To say that things have been an adjustment is an understatement. I haven't had more than three hours of sleep in one sitting since Julia arrived, and with the way things are going, I don't think I will for the next few months (or years, or decades, at this rate). Tom is also suffering from new baby sleep-deprivation, and since he is still working, it has been really hard on him. One side effect that I think
is related to the lack of sleep is that I am clumsier than usual. Today, I fell and landed on the buzzy chair. I bent the frame and thought it was a goner, but Tom somehow managed to get it back to a decent version of its original self. The main thing is that the buzzy function still works! Julia loves to sit in that chair and stare at the little raccoon, owl and what I think is a squirrel (although it's hard to tell--it also could be a hedgehog). Julia is likewise obsessed with the owl on the bumper in her crib. She doesn't yet like to actually sleep in the crib, but we're working on that!Nocturnal Baby
Julia sleeps through most of the days and is awake through most of the night. Last
night, for example, she was asleep from 11:30 until 1, then up from 1 to 3 am, then back down until about 5, and then up until 7, and then down until 8:30. We then slept from 10 until almost noon. While in the womb, she would become active around bedtime most nights, usually around 10 pm, and this is similar to her pattern as a baby. I really hope she gets her days and nights figured out soon! We had one miraculous night when she slept for 5 hours straight, but that hasn't happened since.Pillows Everywhere.
The many pillows that used to keep me in the proper sleep position are now fixtures at two chairs in the house where I nurse most often. It's hard to get the baby into proper nursing position, and the various pillows help keep the baby in the right place. Some are more malleable and can be shoved into various shapes, and others just offer height or firm support for your arm or elbow.
The Successful Swaddle (or How to Make a Baby Burrito)
Julia seems happiest and most likely to sleep well when she is tightly swaddled. Tom insists that she likes to have her hands out, but I am tough and keep her wrapped up like a burrito when she's swaddled.
Nursing is hard!
I'm not going to go into details about nursing to spare any men who might be reading this, but let me just say that nursing is TOUGH, and any woman who has even tried to do this deserves super big kudos. It does get easier, but those first few weeks were really ugly and resulted in many frustrated tears on my part. That also may have been a function of the sleep deprivation, so it's hard to tell, but the pain was real enough. I still shudder thinking
about it.Initial Observations About Being A New Mom:
1. You can eat pretty quickly when you have to. I was a fast eater before, but you have never seen food disappear as quickly as it does when I have a baby who just started crying when I took my first bite.
2. (Corollary to #1) There is no such thing as a relaxed meal time. When you are not holding the baby or feeding the baby, you are on borrowed time. You are just waiting for the baby to wake up and be hungry. So remember rule #1 and eat quickly.
3. The phrase "sleep like a baby" was obviously coined by someone who had never had a baby. Babies, at least brand new ones, don't sleep for any reasonable length of time, and when they do sleep, it is pretty fitful.
4. The first few weeks after a baby arrives, big accomplishments include such things as taking a shower, getting dressed or cooking something to eat. Managing one of these tasks in a day is a win. Managing two is great. Getting all three done is practically impossible and therefo
re a huge victory. So far today, I am at two of the three, but that is just because Tom stayed home today for Good Friday and I had an extra set of hands. Plus Julia, true to her nocturnal self, has been out like a light the past few hours between feedings. If she would just sleep this well at night!5. You have a 1.5 to 2-hour window in which to run an errand. This means that the errands you used to run with multiple stops to, say, the grocery store AND Target, are pretty much out for now. You have to decide what can wait and plan one outing per day, if you're lucky.
6. You will go through a lot of diapers. We typically go through more than 10 diapers a day. Some days have been as high as 15. And wipes. We started out with one pack and one refill. Yesterday at Target (my one errand--see number 5), I bought the 480-pack of wipes. Let's see how long that lasts!
7. You won't remember what the freedom of just going out to dinner with your husband feels like. You will fantasize about a day in the future when you have a babysitter
and can actually go do something, although you realize that the whole time, you will probably be worried about the baby and thus will not enjoy it anyway.The RASH
Many people have asked if my awful horrible pregnancy rash has gone away yet. Most people with PUPPP find relief within days or weeks following delivery. Well, unfortunately, my PUPPP rash is not only still in the picture, it has brought a friend along to the party: hives. They are awful, itchy, and they come and go all over the place. There is really nothing you can do about it other than wait it out. It's been more than three weeks and they are worse than ever. I am just hoping that things right themselves and I get my skin back. For now, when my hands and neck break out in hives while I'm out on my one errand, I just hope that people are too focused on the baby to notice that I'm covered with red splotches. Unfortunately, Baby Julia inherited my oversized hands and feet; hopefully she will be spared my overly-sensitive skin.
Someone is waking up from a nap, so that's all for now!
