In some ways I cant believe two months with Bristol have flown by so quickly. On the other hand, I vaguely remember the sleepless nights, the hellacious pain and frustration of the first 3 weeks or so and thinking will this ever get better....?
Oh yes, I am blessed with a beautiful, healthy baby girl. And I cant be more thankful than that. But let me tell you, those first few weeks are tough. Things did get better - thank the good lord. Im sure those memories will fade even further to the point where Ill be thinking...yah I can do it again. But let's recap, shall we?
The first two weeks are marked with a lot of pain - healing pain from the numerous stitches I had to endure (yah let's remember I got those stitches without any pain meds, damn that hurt). Oh & at 3 weeks post partum check up, I was told I had torn out some of my stitches which is probably why I had so much pain. Oh joy, that was fun. The pain of breastfeeding -- Im pretty sure for the first two weeks or so I nursed her with tears streaming down my face at every feeding. I'd also like to point out that I didnt shed a single tear during labor, thats how much this hurt. It was a great mix of struggling with my body to recover so I felt up to taking care of Bristol. What got me through you ask? Well, there is this song... "you're goin to miss this" by trace atkins. Well, I kept saying that to myself. Im going to miss her being so tiny & squished up so I better suck it the heck up and enjoy it while it was there. And its true - you do miss it. She grows soo fast and its gone all too soon.
There was the week of mastitis or as I fondly remember it - the week of hell on earth. I wouldnt wish that on my worst enemy! It was weeks of no sleep. What they forget to tell you is that if you decide to exclusively breastfeeding, you are the ONLY one that can get up in the night to feed her. Yah, thats fun. Im sure Ryan liked it because he really enjoyed his sleep. I remember nights stumbling back to bed to hear him snoring and I came ::this close:: to just throwing something at him to wake him the heck up! How much do you sleep in the begining you ask? Well, not much - she would eat every 2-3 hrs (if we were lucky), so if she ate for 30 min and then it would typically take another 30 min to get her to go back to sleep. That left a window of 1-2 hrs of sleep. But at this point you are so exhausted & wound up with anxiety that you pretty much don't sleep. But just remember, its worth it.
Week 3 I refer to as the awakening. The first two weeks are hard, but she mostly sleeps, eats, poops. After 3-4 weeks, she kind of woke up. This led to about 2 weeks of screaming awake time. It wasnt until around week 6 that she discovered 'happy awake time'. Happy awake time is great by the way, because she isnt screaming!
And then we have her first smile. The smile makes everything even more worthwhile.
Here we are at two months and in the morning I am greeted with a smile, a huge stretch and typically a small fart thrown in for good measure. But I'll take it any day over a crying baby. At this point, she pretty much knows that I = boob = milk. She smiles a lot for Ryan, but I think when she sees me she just thinks milk still. Hopefully, one day that'll change.
So here we are at two months, the pain becoming a distant memory as well as the completely sleepless nights. We aren't consistently sleeping through the night yet, but getting up one time is soo much better than 4 times! Be thankful for what you can get in my opinion.
How does she sleep? - Well, we start with tubby time -- which for some reason calms her right down. She could be screaming bloody murder & throw her in the warm tub and she will just stop. After tubby time, she gets on her sleep gown and I nurse her for a long time. Then we swaddle TIGHTLY with the miracle blanket & nurse a little more. Then she goes down with the sound machine playing sounds of the ocean (with light projector thingy on) and the ipod playing willie nelson lullabies. Apparently babies like noise. Put her in a quiet room and she will immediately wake up.
Oh yes, I am blessed with a beautiful, healthy baby girl. And I cant be more thankful than that. But let me tell you, those first few weeks are tough. Things did get better - thank the good lord. Im sure those memories will fade even further to the point where Ill be thinking...yah I can do it again. But let's recap, shall we?
The first two weeks are marked with a lot of pain - healing pain from the numerous stitches I had to endure (yah let's remember I got those stitches without any pain meds, damn that hurt). Oh & at 3 weeks post partum check up, I was told I had torn out some of my stitches which is probably why I had so much pain. Oh joy, that was fun. The pain of breastfeeding -- Im pretty sure for the first two weeks or so I nursed her with tears streaming down my face at every feeding. I'd also like to point out that I didnt shed a single tear during labor, thats how much this hurt. It was a great mix of struggling with my body to recover so I felt up to taking care of Bristol. What got me through you ask? Well, there is this song... "you're goin to miss this" by trace atkins. Well, I kept saying that to myself. Im going to miss her being so tiny & squished up so I better suck it the heck up and enjoy it while it was there. And its true - you do miss it. She grows soo fast and its gone all too soon.
There was the week of mastitis or as I fondly remember it - the week of hell on earth. I wouldnt wish that on my worst enemy! It was weeks of no sleep. What they forget to tell you is that if you decide to exclusively breastfeeding, you are the ONLY one that can get up in the night to feed her. Yah, thats fun. Im sure Ryan liked it because he really enjoyed his sleep. I remember nights stumbling back to bed to hear him snoring and I came ::this close:: to just throwing something at him to wake him the heck up! How much do you sleep in the begining you ask? Well, not much - she would eat every 2-3 hrs (if we were lucky), so if she ate for 30 min and then it would typically take another 30 min to get her to go back to sleep. That left a window of 1-2 hrs of sleep. But at this point you are so exhausted & wound up with anxiety that you pretty much don't sleep. But just remember, its worth it.
Week 3 I refer to as the awakening. The first two weeks are hard, but she mostly sleeps, eats, poops. After 3-4 weeks, she kind of woke up. This led to about 2 weeks of screaming awake time. It wasnt until around week 6 that she discovered 'happy awake time'. Happy awake time is great by the way, because she isnt screaming!
And then we have her first smile. The smile makes everything even more worthwhile.
Here we are at two months and in the morning I am greeted with a smile, a huge stretch and typically a small fart thrown in for good measure. But I'll take it any day over a crying baby. At this point, she pretty much knows that I = boob = milk. She smiles a lot for Ryan, but I think when she sees me she just thinks milk still. Hopefully, one day that'll change.So here we are at two months, the pain becoming a distant memory as well as the completely sleepless nights. We aren't consistently sleeping through the night yet, but getting up one time is soo much better than 4 times! Be thankful for what you can get in my opinion.
How does she sleep? - Well, we start with tubby time -- which for some reason calms her right down. She could be screaming bloody murder & throw her in the warm tub and she will just stop. After tubby time, she gets on her sleep gown and I nurse her for a long time. Then we swaddle TIGHTLY with the miracle blanket & nurse a little more. Then she goes down with the sound machine playing sounds of the ocean (with light projector thingy on) and the ipod playing willie nelson lullabies. Apparently babies like noise. Put her in a quiet room and she will immediately wake up.
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