Ju Ju Bean's First Week

Baby Girl is nearly 1 week and 3 days now and I figure that I should write down some of my memories of the first week before the weeks start running into each other. I know the first week is the "honeymoon" period with the baby where they sleep all the time. Crankiness and sleeping issues will rear their heads later on...but for now, JuJuBean is an ANGEL.

Nursing

She is a wonderful nurser...I just can't get over the difference between her and my little Nugget. With Nugget, I felt like such a FAILURE at nursing. I couldn't get him to latch on. I was prepared for a similar experience with JuJuBean. I stockpiled nipple covers to help with the latch because I thought my "flat nipples" were the reason I couldn't get Nugget to latch. Turns out, Nugget just was a lazy latcher and didn't suck hard enough. I think JuJuBean could get milk out of my elbow if she wanted! This being said, my nipples hurt A LOT and lanolin and lansinoh soothie gel pads have been my best friends. I am making enough milk for her to gain 2 ounces every day AND put 5 ounces in the freezer, which is also amazing because Nugget had problems gaining weight and didn't reach his birth weight until nearly two weeks post partum. JuJuBean was at her birth weight by 6 days post partum! It's wonderful to feel like "a natural" at something after years of feeling like such a failure as a woman because I couldn't conceive the old-fashioned way (or heck, even the "high technology" way).

Sleeping

JuJuBean is sleeping in 3-4 hour stretches. I've been getting in the habit of going to bed around 8 or 8:30 after we put Nugget down and then getting up to feed her around 12 am, 3 am, and 7 am. I've been having problems falling back asleep, though, due to my overactive mind or hunger or my aching hamstrings (I need to stretch more!). But, generally, I think I eek out 4-6 hours of sleep and that appears to be enough to get by. Baby Girl is co-sleeping with us for now. Once she starts sleeping for longer increments, I'll move her over to her bassinet. There is nothing better than waking up with her snuggled in my arm.

Sibling Love

I wasn't sure what to expect from Nugget. I'd heard that there would be some behavioral issues and possibly some regression in speech and potty training. Nugget has been so wonderfully sweet with Baby Girl. He will bring her toys and binkies when she cries and seems to be so proud of her. At the park on Sunday, he took the hand of one of his playmates and dragged her over to the stroller, saying "come see my baby sister." And, he's actually had a bit of a break-through with the potty training: he's VOLUNTARILY been indicating that he needs to go "poo-poo" and been going in the toilet!

My Post Partum Body

Recovery has been much better this time, too. I had problems sitting on any surface other than one of those sexy hemorrhoid pillows the first few weeks with Nugget, but that hasn't been an issue this time. I stopped pain meds when I left the hospital and haven't needed them since. I don't go back to the OB until 6 weeks, so I guess we'll see how my level two tear is recovering (only one long running stitch). My belly is still pretty mushy, but I'm surprised how much my uterus has shrunk already. I'll have to take a picture tomorrow and post it. I haven't attempted exercise of any sort, but my muscles feel pretty tight and I'm craving some yoga and easy walking. I was chomping at the bit with Nugget to get out there and get active and lose the pregnancy weight, but I just don't have that drive this time. It's a little concerning to me that I just don't care about getting back in training shape or really any shape. Maybe this will change as I become less sleep deprived, but it just seems like it would be a huge EFFORT to get out there and I'd rather just take it easy. Plus, standing for extended periods of time isn't exactly comfortable. Every day, I vow: I will walk today or I will do a yoga video today and it hasn't happened yet. Maybe by 2 weeks post partum I will have to force myself out there. Plus, I miss my pregnant belly. I miss feeling Baby Girl move around in me...sometimes I will lay her on my belly just to feel her jerky little movements again.

My belly four days post partum:

My Mental State

In reading the literature that they gave me from the hospital, I noticed a section on post partum depression listing "crying jags for extended periods of time" as a symptom. I definitely had that with Nugget. I would lie in my bed and cry for an hour to two hours and not know why. I don't have that this time. I'm just so stinking happy. I can't count the number of times each day where I just want to BURST I am so happy. Looking at my two little people, I feel so blessed that they are here and we were able to have them. I wonder if part of my post partum depression last time was just the huge adjustment to having REAL responsibility and the burden of breastfeeding was just WAY more than I thought it would be. Since I've already made the adjustment to total lack of control of my schedule, maybe the transition wasn't as difficult this time? I was also very sleep deprived with Nugget as I would feed him every 2-3 hours and the pumping/nursing/feeding process would take 1.5 hours, so at most I would have an hour or less between feedings.

I hope I'm not painting an overly rosy picture, but everything has been so much easier than I thought it would. I love my little angel.