Early Lessons

Some things I have learned in my almost-three-weeks of motherhood:

1.  All of the parenting books and advice in the world cannot actually prepare you for the first weeks of motherhood.

2.  Sleep deprivation is infinitely more difficult to cope with when you realize that you may ever actually have an opportunity to sleep well again.  It is very different from lost sleep when you know and can look forward to catching up with a good eight hours after exams/work/ whatever else is keeping you up passes.

3.  Some babies do not like to be put down.  Ever.  Period.

4.  It's amazing what you can accomplish one-handed when you don't have a choice.

5.  After a bath, Bug will almost always have an explosive poop.  The only question is whether he will then also pee on me and himself while I try to clean him up.

6.  Babies can pee in the own ears.  Seriously.

7.  A clean sleeper will invariably lead to spit up within half an hour, if not minutes.

8.  Growth spurts suck.  Literally.

9.  You cannot "sleep when baby sleeps" if baby refuses to sleep anywhere other than on you.

10.  Poop and pee and lack of sleep notwithstanding, you have never known a love like the one you will feel for your child.

Samuel

My little Bug is finally here! Samuel James was born on March 19, 2013 after 33 hours of labor. He is precious and amazing, and words simply cannot express how smitten I am. 

Delivery was difficult and downright scary at one point - his heart rate began to dip into the 40s (yes, the 40s) during contractions. I didn't know what was going on at the time, only that all of a sudden there were no less than ten doctors in the room, including high risk specialists who I recognized, and cardio specialists (his heart rare had been high or "tacky" throughout the last six or so hours of labor). I was told the baby needed out NOW, and to push, push, PUSH without breaks. Vacuum suction was used because it was so urgent that he be born right away. I was so terrified! It felt truly surreal. But in the end, all was okay, and my little Bug was born healthy and beautiful after just 30 minutes of pushing. I suffered numerous tears because of the speed at which he was delivered (things weren't given a chance to stretch out), but obviously that was totally worth it.

I have a baby. He made it out alive and well. I still can't quite believe it. :)

I'm not going to lie, the past two weeks have been very difficult. I had problems breastfeeding which were eventually resolved by use of a shield, Bug refuses to sleep lying down AT ALL, ever, and he is a bit colicky (he may have reflux). We are in survival mode, and functioning on less than 2 hours of sleep per day. I may do a post about this later. Through it all though I have not lost sight of just how blessed I am. I love him so, so, so much. I didn't know it was possible to feel such love before I met him. What I thought was "love" before cant even compare.

On that note, I have a diaper to change. I actually love doing that, because I get to play with his little toes when I do. He hates it. Lol

Anyway....more later. When I find a way to get a bit more sleep!