Baby Duty

Mothering a newborn is just as I remember so far – looking at your new baby brings an immediate and unstoppable smile to your face and the total bliss you feel when he nestles into your shoulder is so addictive.

So far Chris is a predicable baby. He sleeps a lot during the day and then at 10:00pm he’s awake and wants to eat, eat and then eat more. The last three nights (in the hospital and then here at home) he’s been hungry but I’ve been too tired to stay awake the entire time he’s eating. When I do wake up and try to move him to the bassinet he wakes up and is looking for more to eat. It’s amazing how much energy I seem to have at 3:00 to talk/sing to him and then feed him one last time before we’re both too tired to keep up the charade any longer. Averaging a little more than 4 hours of sleep/night so far.

When I woke up for good at 8:30 today here’s what I found…

June 26, 2009

Though he’s easy during the day, because he’s sleeping so much, and Nicole’s not here (she’s at daycare) having Jim around to help is very nice. Today I’ve boiled the parts for and already used my electronic pump, finished painting his dinosaur characters for his window treatments, and made good progress in my addictive Twilight series book. Still need to work on the bumpers (I intend on finishing them this weekend) and paint the letters of his name for the wall.

I reminded the sitter that Nicole will be home with me from now on. She’s taking sisterhood slowly. She still calls Chris “Baby Michael” half of the time (where did that come from?!)

Nicole holding Chris for the first time!

but she’s always very gentle and doesn’t seem jealous from what I’ve seen. I think it helps that the visitors have been consistent with their attention to her and often come bearing gifts for her when they come which gets her all excited. I’m both intrigued and a little nervous about handling her strong need for attention and activity and balancing that with Chris’s needs and developing schedule. I think I’ll need all 7 weeks of my maternity leave to accomplish this successfully.

Physically I feel better today then any day yet. I did fill the Vicotin and Motrin prescriptions and have taken a pill of each for pain since I’ve been home. Intense cramping has turned to a mild painful annoyance since Tuesday and my stitches (I got many due to tearing) really only bother me when I get up and down too frequently. Other than being painfully engorged (hence the pumping already) I’m starting to feel like my normal self already.

Side note – the deck’s in progress – we have concrete supports in and the lumber for the frame was dropped off about an hour and a half ago. Still on track for a July 11 completion.