This is the piece of advice that I have heard my whole life, but lately I am beginning to wonder if it is suppose to be, "cry when your baby is crying." Now before my napping baby wakes up and tries to tell me that she's hungry, poopy, cold, or just going to cry for no reason, I thought I'd take a moment and share the first few weeks of Baylie's life with you.
Leaving the hospital was the most excited and scary time of my life. All of the way home Derek and I just kept saying, "This is really happening," "So we are parents," "why isn't she making noise?" "Drive slower." Okay so the drive slower cdomment was obviously me, but in my defense Derek kept turning around to make sure she was still breathing. So I am not the only protective parent:) We truly were flying by the seat of our pants but I will admit, we are doing a fine job!
We came home to a very clean house, curtiousy of my sister! My mom welcomed us with Chinese and kindly sat with me while Derek went to get my prescription filled. Our first night was sleepless but we were so excited I don't think we noticed for the first few nights.
Baylie was having trouble eating in the hospital and still hasn't taken to breast feeding so we had to resort to bottle feeding. This was a very hard decision to make, but after losing 10% of her birth weight, we really didn't have a choice. We are still working on breast feeding but she either just falls asleep or screams and cries until she can't even breath. I have never cried and prayed over something so much in my life. The up side is that I am pumping like a mad women and I am able to give her breast milk at every feeding. It is not the same and I will be sad if she never takes to the breast, but I am so thankful that I can at least give her the benefit of my milk.
Baylie had a hard time getting her days and nights figured out which caused some sleepless nights. Now we are getting between 6 and 8 hours of sleep total a night and we are very thankful for that. There are definately times when the only word to describe her is being a major "pill." There is nothing more frustrating then not being able to console your baby. I told Mindy today that I know my singing voice is terrible, but the fact that it is one of the only things that can quite my crying baby is such a beautiful thing!
All in all the first two weeks have been a tiring, extremely fun, and wonderful experience! Here are some things that Baylie has enjoyed doing so far:
~ At 5 days old she got to watch her daddy play 2 basketball games at the Hoop!
~ She celebrated her first Easter!
~ We took her to watch her first Salem Academy softball game
~ She loves tummy time on her jungle mat and can already scoot herself along
~ Auntie M and I took her on her first shopping trip to Keizer Station
~ She loves spending time with her daddy when he gets home from work
Baylie is awake now and currently sliding herself out of her papasan so I better go pick her up before she topples over!
1 comment:
Hi! I just wanted to encourage you in your breastfeeding/pumping journey and tell you that you are an incredibly dedicated mom to sacrifice so much for your little girl!! I exclusively pumped for a year since my daughter never got the hang of nursing either. If you have any questions please feel free to ask- there is also an AWESOME message board/support group at ivillage. It's at http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-ppexcluspump and the women there are what helped me keep going every day (along with lots of prayer, reliance on God and sheer determination). Another great resource is a book called Exclusively Pumping by Stephanie Casemore- but hopefully Baylie will start to nurse soon and everything will fall into place- don't give up!! Sometimes the things worth the most cost the most!! Baylie is so blessed to have you as her mom!!
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