Thursday, April 7, 2016

Embracing Parenthood

Being a first time parent to a newborn baby is hard. Here's some of the challenges we've dealt with thus far:

  • He didn't have enough wet diapers by day 3 so we had to supplement with formula for 5 days.
  • We both had to take antifungal medication for 2 weeks for a suspected case of thrush (which I still don't think he actually had).
  • He's still dealing with jaundice - the levels are relatively low but it still hasn't gone away completely.
  • He got a diaper rash.
  • He's a pretty poor napper and has gone 6-7 hours without sleep.
  • He spent much of the first 3 weeks cluster feeding.
  • He started rejecting the bottle this week after 4 weeks of getting at least one bottle a day.
  • It takes at least 1-2 hours to put him down for the night.
  • He still wakes up 4 times a night.
  • He wakes up at 5-6am fussing but not hungry, so it's very challenging to know how to soothe him. Sometimes he just wants to be held but often times he'll continue to whine as he's being held. 
But it hasn't been all doom and gloom. Here are some of the positives:
  • After my milk came in, we've been able to exclusively breastfeed.
  • His latch is great (no more pain for me!) and he's gaining plenty of weight. He gained almost a pound a week for the first 5 weeks! He's now 12 lbs 10 oz at 6 weeks.
  • I managed to feed him 2 oz from a bottle last night during a dream feed - while that's not a full feeding, I'm starting to feel hope that he won't starve when I go back to work. 
  • He naps well while being held - this isn't an ideal or sustainable long-term solution but there's nothing like a newborn cuddle so I'm trying to enjoy them for as long as I can. Plus, I just successfully put him down for a nap drowsy but awake for the first time ever! He's been napping for over 40 minutes after 15 minutes of fussing. Let's see how much longer he can go.
  • We have some amazing friends who have been bringing us tons of food and help us hold him so we can have a free moment to eat with two hands.
  • All my diaper stockpiling has been working out well! It's been great not having to stress about running out of diapers on top of everything else we worry about.
Most importantly, Jeff and I love him more than anything else. Even with all the poopy diapers, night wakings, spit up, and fussing, we love and cherish being his parents. This time goes by so fast - we already miss his early newborn days because with all the weight he's gained, he looks like a completely different baby now! Dare I say, God willing, we already know we want another one?

Finally enjoying a Geisha's Kiss from Sushiritto! Although I just found out breastfeeding moms should avoid tuna. :(


2 comments:

  1. I knew it would happen but I still could not believe how quickly the babies changed from week to week starting from Week 1 to even Week 12, it's amazing! LB wouldn't sleep unless ze was laying on someone for the first several weeks either and I confess to starting to worry that ze would never sleep on hir own. Thankfully, that phase passed.

    I was skeptical of the Sushiritto idea but you've convinced me I have to give it a try. I'm easily persuaded when it comes to sushi :)

    When do you go back to work?

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    Replies
    1. End of June - it definitely feels too soon!

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