Last week when I decided to write about my New England Road Trip, I looked back to see when I had last posted. Imagine my surprise when I realized I had written a blog in late September, but never posted it.
Actually, I was not surprised at all because I was functioning on about 4 total brain cells. Good news is, I still have the never-published content and before I start posting new alive-baby-parenting content (which I fully intend to do… I’m determined!), I figured I would publish my 7-month-old post. Next week, I’ll post more about my current thoughts – it will be fun to see how much has changed!
Whew! We are back on the blog. I will probably get 3 paragraphs written before I am once again needed as a milk maid, so this may be brief.
A is healthy and he is GROWING. And I do mean that in all caps. That boy eats and eats and eats, and he is packing on the pounds! He is almost 4 pounds heavier than he was when we left the hospital, so he has basically gained 70% of his weight in 8 weeks. Imagine if that happened to you? Yikes.
Being a new mom of a living baby is HARD.
There are a few things that no one really talks about, and since so many moms gatekeep this VERY important information, I am going to share it.
- Breastfeeding is the devil, I don’t care what anyone says. I am 100% convinced that anyone who says it’s easy and they are “lucky” is lying. I don’t believe it is easy for anyone. There are far too many products on the market to ameliorate a myriad of issues related to it for it to be “easy” for anyone. I believe that people get used to it, but I don’t believe that it’s just fine.
- Another fact that was gatekept: newborns are LOUD AF when they sleep. I don’t know who came up with the term, “sleeping like a baby,” but NOT MY BABY. I asked a mom friend (hi Randi!) why my child sounded like he was in horrific agonizing grunting pain every time he slept but appeared peaceful and she called them “gremlin noises,” which is exactly right. My son is a bridge troll. Supposedly it gets better with time. TBD. I’ll tell you this, it’s impossible for ME to sleep through, no matter how calm he looks. This brings me to my next point,
Being a new mom of a living baby is HARD. But being a loss mom of a living baby is harder. I know way too many ways for him to die.Every little noise sends me into complete panic. Yes, he LOOKS calm but IS HE DYING?! The answer in my brain is YES, NO QUESTION. You should see my 4 am Google searches. They almost all start with, “is something wrong if…” or “is it normal if…” or “is my 6 week old dying if…”
My husband and I have been experimenting with all different types of sleeping arrangements, different rooms, splitting time in the night, splitting rooms, switching sides of the bed, having family come to help, etc. We have been playing musical chairs with the couch, our bed and the guest bed. So far, nothing has really worked to reduce my anxiety besides just me removing myself from the rooms our baby is in. My husband’s been taking nights completely solo, even though he has been back at work for over a month. While I hate that he has to do that, I need to make sure I’m awake and alert during the day when I’m alone with A. It has definitely been a balancing act, and again, I’m so lucky to have a supportive partner.
I won’t even get into the “mom guilt” associated with not being able to sleep in the same room as my child, but that could be a whole other post and I’m already on borrowed time – valuable time that I could be sleeping!
Oh yes, another point I wanted to raise. I LOVE FOOD. But I had never been faced with the question, “if you had one hour and you could either eat or sleep, which would you do?” If you asked me 3 months ago, I would have said eat. Not anymore. Eating has been a huge challenge because my answer to that question is always “sleep,” and it wins every time. But I know I need to fuel my body and I’ve been asking some mom friends for their easiest, “eat this over your child’s head while feeding them” snacks because I have been struggling to figure it out. As an always-chubby-kid, never once in my life did I hear a doctor say they were “concerned about my rapid weight loss,” which is what my nephrologist said to me last week. HA! Someone please call my childhood pediatrician. Anyway, I’ve stocked up on protein bars and pretzels and cheese slices and trail mix, and other things I can easily munch on. Another reminder here not to comment on a woman’s body, because every time someone says I look “great for just having a baby,” it reminds me how I am struggling to find time to both care for my child and eat food.
For some reason I thought that babies would take a lot of naps, probably because the internet says so. What they didn’t say was, your baby will only take naps ON YOU, on your chest, with you 100% ramrod still and barely breathing. God forbid you have to get up to pee: cue meltdown.
OR, the other option, they’ll nap in a carrier, strapped to your front, while you are walking. God forbid you stop walking: cue meltdown.
Depending on his nap of choice, I either get <2000 steps for the day, or >16,000.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the cuddles, and he smells like a newborn, which is the best smell ever, (sometimes mixed with poo), and I feel so incredibly lucky to have him in my arms. I just thought I’d get more done. Alas, there is a season for everything, and this season is not the one for productivity!
I will be on the blog whenever I can manage, but for now, you can find me covered in bodily fluids (some mine, some his) and on the floor, saying things like, “What do you see? A wall? Cool!”
