Newborn Squeal

Wow, I am finally a new mom and still in shock that I have a little baby girl! Months and months of labor and birth preparations finally paid off and finally a little squirmy baby in my arms!

But despite the preparation, there were a lot of things that I wasn't prepared for. The recovery after the birth was quite painful (which I knew, but didn't know how bad it would be). It took 2-3 weeks before I could actually sit down without hurting and getting in and out of bed was very difficult. And here I was supposed to take care of my new baby! Luckily my parents were here for a week to help out with Natalie!

Breastfeeding was not as much of a problem as I expected. It took 3-4 days before my milk came in and during that time, I had a very hungry baby who just wanted to nurse all day! But as soon as the milk started flowing, her serious little expression changed to contentment. I still remember the "drunken milk" expression on her face after she nursed and then promptly took a nap. It is the best expression in the world to new mom. I could just picture her saying, "Yes! That's the stuff!"

Naptimes were awesome as well. They weren't kidding when they said this was the newborn "sleepy stage." Natalie would sleep for 7-8 hours during the day and I felt like I had so much free time! Two 2-hour naps and one three hour nap! Then she was ready for bed between 9-10p and would wake up once every 3 hours at night. We never had the problem of her wanting to be up at night; when we went to bed, she somehow knew it was her bedtime, too. For that I am grateful!

But for a couple hours in the evening, Natalie would get extremely fussy and it was very hard to get her to calm down. Sometimes it would take Chris' daddy touch to get her to sleep and sometimes I think she just exhausted herself out. It was very furstrating! I just had no idea what to do to help her! One of the things that she liked was to be bounced up and down over and over and over again. Chris would walk circles around our living room with Natalie in the air--up, down, up, down, up, down! He was really getting a workout! Good thing this stage did not last long!

I loved this newborn stage for what it was--the newness of having a baby, how she would fall asleep on my chest, and we enjoyed nursing so much! But I also couldn't wait for my baby to start playing and exploring the world. I couldn't wait to see her smile, laugh, and play with her!