It's A Great Day To Be Alive: Life as a Mommy

Our hospital stay was great. When I arrived to my postpartum room my awesome friends in L&D decorated the room, a cute, giraffe pillow pet greeted me when i got into the room. It was a great surprise. Claire was such a sweet little baby, I was enamoured with her. I just kept starring at her thinking to myself, how did we create such a beautiful, precious person?! Breastfeeding went great, she wanted to eat all the time! I guess the 2nd nigh she started to cluster feed. I hate to say this but, that was painful and exhausting! I could bearly get her off and she would want to feed again. The nursery nurse said that it was normal, she was trying to get my milk supply to come in. About 3am I felt like I was going to pass out from exhaustion, I called the nurse in the room and asked for a pacifier. I know, I know...I read the books...no pacifier for the first 6 weeks until you have established breastfeeding. What a wimp, right?! Fortunatley, we didn't have any nipple confusion issues, and the passy gave me some sleep and some sanity for that matter :)

Going home was so exciting! I just couldn't believe that she was all mine forever! When we got home we were greeted with some beautiful flowers and a wonderful aroma of chicken spaghetti in the air. Thanks to Granny Janny (my mom, which by the way she hates that name. My sister and I gave it to her as a joke cause she is way too cool for a name like that.) The next few days were great, so many visitors coming to meet our precious Claire for the first time. Everyone fell in love with her immediatley.

I made a vow to myself that I would never forget how hard it is the first few weeks. And also to never sugar-coat how hard it is to any first time moms. I figured by doing this 1) I will be expecting the worse with our next child so maybe it won't be so bad and 2) So new moms will have an idea and also know that No, they're not the only ones. I swear no one told me how bad it was going to be those first few weeks. Although, some of my friends did say they told me, maybe I was in denial becuase how bad can a sweet baby be, right?! Wow! It is rough, especially after that newness wears off the first week.

After the first few nights of getting 30 mins of sleep here and there I started to break all the rules. I started with her just sleeping on my chest. She slept so soundly and it was so sweet. Not to mention I was able to catch some z's as well. Then, I fed her in bed and oops, fell asleep while feeding her more times than I care to admit. But, she would eat and fall asleep right next to me. I always made sure she was supported with blankets so she wouldn't role over or suffocate. This continued on for several weeks and then one day I let her take a nap on her stomach...another rule broken, I know! But, from that moment life got better. She slept so much better on her tummy! Within a few days I purchased a monitor that monitors movement, inculding breathing, and is very sensitive. Still to this day, Claire is a tummy sleeper and sleeps like a champ in this position. From about 5 weeks on sleeping and life in general seemed to get back to somewhat normal.

We are at 10 weeks now! She is growing like a weed! She went for a checkup last week and is now 12lbs 3oz and is in the 90th percentile for height, weight, and head circumfrence. Pediatrician said that she is doing great, growing proportionatley, and is just a big girl! She has a handful of tricks now. I can stick my tounge out at her and sticks it back at me and smiles. I make an "OHHH" noise and she copies it back to me....so stinkin' cute!!! She has rolled over a couple of times from front to back. And, she continues to hold her head up for longer amounts of time every day. She has literally been pushing her head up and holding it up since she was about 12 hours old. She is so strong! I can't wait until she starts to laugh, sometimes her sweet, little smile bring tears to my eyes. And lastely, she has 2 little teeth buds on her bottom gums!

Life as a Mommy is GREAT! Although stressful, worth every second!