Well, we’re about 10 days into parenthood and so far so good. Before becoming a mom there were a lot of things I didn’t understand about motherhood that I’ve now figured out:
1) What do stay at home moms do all day? Answer- feed their newborns. I spend literally 8 hours a day feeding Nicole. While she only eats between 15-35minutes of that time, it’s a process to get her to wake up and then eat continuously. I can’t wait for my electric breast pump which goes on sale Monday (saving us $40) – it’ll be so much more convenient and nice to have Jim be able to help and to save some of the 8 hours mentioned in item #1. While I don’t mind nursing, since it is such a long job the emotional part of it is outweighed by frustration of rousing a deep-sleeping baby into being an active participant in eating.
2) I directly correlate my confidence in being a mother by how well Nicole eats.
3) I always liked attending weddings but I never understood fully how much goes into one until I had my own. Since then I think I’m a better gift giver (go off the registry don’t make decisions for them!!) and more appreciative of the little touches that make the day special. Likewise with motherhood, there are things that have proven to be incredibly helpful and, wouldn’t you know it, they came from experienced parents. Probably most helpful have been the meals that were given/offered as cooking after being up all night and day with a baby is the last thing I feel like doing.
4) Likewise with eating, I know I’m losing weight because I’ll skip meals (really bad, I know) and not realize it for an hour. I am making a concerted effort to drink a full glass of water post nursing each time.
5) Last night Nicole slept in her crib the whole night - hooray for cuddling with my husband after a 10 day hiatus. (NOTE: she was in a sleeping unit in our bed with no chance of us rolling on her or endangering her. Besides, even if we physically could we were so mentally aware of her being there I think we both woke totally up before moving an inch!)
This is a hard job. It's still kinda weird to think that she's here to stay and someone isn't going to come get her like we were just baby-sitting or something. I have no idea how full-time stay-at-home mom's do it. If nothing else, I crave for the time that Jim gets home from work. My hats off to them a million times over.
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11 comments:
You could make #4 the new fashion diet for hollywood- the Baby Diet. Just think how much money you could make on books etc and then on all the baby-stuff for all the newborns. That would even be good for the economy, no aging society any more!
I'm so glad to hear things are going well.
I need to come see you all soon.
Great blog Karen, really interesting insights!
I should go on the mom diet! I agree with Katrin, sell books, make it the new 'in' thing!!
Karen, I think that you and Jim are fantastic parents!
Tom and I should come visit soon.
Let me know when you are going stir crazy and need to see someone, I totally understand that and I will come over and chat for a little while. :)
Glad to hear you're surviving. It seems weird to hear you say only 10 days, it seems like longer for me, so I'm sure it seems MUCH longer for you!
My favorite comment that you made was the one about no one coming to get Nicole. That it's weird that she's "Yours". I imagine I'll probably feel the same way with my first kid. I always kind of imagined that would be the way it felt, so it's good to see you think the same thing!
I'll try to come down this week to visit if you're up for visitors!
ps. I'll even bring lunch! LOL!
Lol at Katrin - really, you're amazing, though. :-)
Hey Karen,
Laura KIpp again...I've been reading your blog to see how life is going for you with a newborn since I don't know anyone with a baby right now. Hope you don't mind? I just wanted to share that I'm breastfeeding too, and that was the most stressful, confusing, and frustrating thing about my first 3 weeks with Ella. I was doing the 3 hour scedule thing like the hospital said, but she would want to eat at 2 hours, or be asleep and not want to wake up until 4 hours. I finally decided 2 weeks ago to stop looking at the clock and just feed her when she signals she is hungry, and its been so much better! I guess she feeds more often b/c she is small, but that's ok b/c she is happy and only gets fussy from gas. Good luck!
Someone once told me that if you can get through the first two weeks of breastfeeding, you're good to go. That's usually true. But I think it's more like 3 weeks :) And don't forget that newborns go through a major growth spurt around 2 weeks, so Nicole might be wanting to eat every 20 minutes or so for a few days. Just a warning :)
Hey dear, when you have a sec, check your e-mail. I just want to make sure I have the Ok from you before coming to visit...
I'm so proud of you with everything you are doing as a new mom. It's no joke... it's freakin hard work. People didn't understand what I was going through...
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