Motherhood-the first three weeks

Because it has been a crazy few weeks, I thought I'd write some of it down so I can remember what it was like for future reference.

The first week-The hospital stay was nice. Nurses rule. They take care of mom and baby so well. I knew that I would be going through a lot of recovery after delivery, but I think I was so focused on the pain of the labor/delivery, that I didn't really think about what happens afterwards. Man, everything hurts. Just to get out of bed is a chore. Sitting is super uncomfortable. Making a trip to the bathroom has never been so much work. The bathtub at the hospital is a godsend. I took about two baths a day. I also took advantage of hospital food, the nursery at night and the slippers the hospital provided. The first 24 hours was the biggest blur. I hadn't slept for a day, family kept showing up and I was really struggling breastfeeding. Tyler was a huge trooper. I don't think I changed a diaper during the entire hospital stay. Because nursing wasn't going very smoothly, he took care of all of the cup feedings. He entertained guests when I was pumping. When he came back in the morning and I was still sleeping, he just went to the nursery and rocked you for a while. Not only did I feel physically out of sorts, I was enotionally whacked out. I remember on the morning we were being discharged, I sat in the bath and cried because I honestly thought that you liked your father more than me. Like I said before-emotionally whacked out! During our first night at home, I was so paranoid that I didn't sleep. I was worried that I didn't do something correctly during the day and something bad would happen during the night. Since then, I think I'm just so exhausted that sleeping has not been a problem! You liked to sleep too. You slept a lot. We had to wake you up for every feeding. See my future post on nursing for more info on that topic. It's been....a rollercoaster we'll say. Everyone said that I'd graually start to feel like myself and I guess thats partially true. I can walk and sit and go to the bathroom normally, but I'm not like I used to be. It's great that you lose 20 pounds right after baby is born, but then it stalls. And most of your "normal" clothes still doesn't fit. So you're stuck wearing odd things because your maternity stuff looks weird and your normal clothes is too small. Add in the fact that it needs to be easy to nurse in. Ugh. So there's my rant on that.
Within these first three weeks we've had numerous weight checks and visits from the lactation consultants and gone to two weddings. You do really well on car rides, and enjoy walks in the stroller. You'd rather be held upright than the traditional cradle hold. Your eyes are a gorgeous blue just like your daddy's and I hope they stay that way. You were very content for your first bath, but you've screamed during every one since then. You've recently been very awake during the mornings and very sleepy in the evenings. You love being in your swaddler at night and do very well sleeping in the bassinet overnight. Huggies diapers are not your friend, but Pampers are awesome. You generally like being held while napping during the day, but if you're tired enough, you will sleep in your car seat or your bouncy chair. You also like your paci. Mommy thought she was going to be against them, but honestly, I don't care anymore because it seems to calm you down when you just want to sleep but don't know how to get yourself there. You don't react at all to Prudence's barks. (There also will be a future post on Prudence's reaction to your arrival!) We are very lucky to have Daddy home. You are definitely a two person job right now! You still like to have your hands up by your face. You are super gassy lately and you fuss until you get rid of it. On occasion you laugh in your sleep which in turn makes me and Daddy laugh. You have some hair and it's a very light brown. I can't help but to smooth it out every time I hold you. We sometimes call you Coy Boy as a nickname. I can't believe you are three weeks old already. Before I know it, I'll be sending you off to Kindergarten. (Hopefully between now and then, Daddy and I get to sleep more than 3 hours at a time!) Well, that's a run-down of the first three weeks! I'll check in again soon!