Howie's First Month

Our first month jkjk

Hambug's first month flew by. Abuela stayed in Austin with us for a week to help out since I was recovering from surgery (and because this was my first baby and she didn't want me to shake him like a Polaroid picture), then B stayed home for about two weeks. So that was almost a full month right there. Abuela's help was invaluable during that first week home. B went back to work that week to catch up on some assignments, so it was Hambug, Abuela and I hanging out at home eating up my freezer meals. I ate a lot of soup this week and Abuela made a great salmon meal for us to devour while hovering around in utter exhaustion.

Hambug

Hambug was amazing. We just stared at him for the first few days. He pretty much just slept through the first two weeks. Everyone told me to sleep when the baby sleeps, and I didn't. I wanted to stay up and watch him sleep. I am now going to impart that bit of knowledge out to all you future moms - sleep when the baby sleeps. You'll do yourself a favor. The first month he still had his day's and nights mixed up and we were awake for hours in the middle of the night and took mini naps during the day as can be expected with a newborn. We did a lot of snuggling this month.


lots of snuggling

 My sister in law gave us a book called "The Contented Baby" and it really helped me to understand the schedule of a newborn. The book helps parents to schedule feedings, exercise, and naps to get babies to sleep through the night faster. There are a lot of theories on why this is a good book and many on why it is ridiculous. For us, it was amazing. You can find your own path, but it really helped us. So, I fed him, bathed him, and put him to sleep on a schedule and it worked! He learned his nights and slept for a relatively long time at night. Once we got him on schedule he was taking about 4 naps during the day (i think) and his last feed for the night was around 10 pm and that sleep lasted until about 4 am (this is considered a long time in babyworld). We really thought we mastered the baby.


Parents - 1, Sleep Deprivation - 0

Recovering from Surgery

Sooooo, things are gonna get real over here so if you are squeamish just look away. LOOK AWAY NOW! Now that we have those guys out of the way we can get down to the nitty gritty. I think it's  safe to assume that everyone knows I'm gross. I get a kick out of grossing people out. Luckily, I am accepted anyway. It might be another episode of "When keeping it real goes wrong" but we'll just have to find out.

The hardest thing that I had to deal with in the hospital was the first step out of bed. That was a doozy. By the second evening after the surgery the nurses took out my catheter (sexy, I know) and I had to walk to the restroom on my own. That first time I tried to support my full body weight on my tiny little feet (which was a losing war from the jump because my body weight to feet size ratio was JACKED!) was painful. I felt shocks run up my abdominal muscles and they cried out "die now. go lay down and die." Even my muscles are dramatic. I didn't feel the incision too much, but my muscles were just all wobbly and they didn't know how to function anymore so that was wack. I took the second step and it was a little easier, but it was still very painful to stand up straight. So I didn't. I just hobbled my silly, fat butt over to the restroom by myself. I tried to use the restroom..and I distinctly remember hearing crickets. There was no urine to be found. My body was releasing fluids like crazy when I had my catheter (can we just say that they are heaven and hell all rolled into one little tube) and I was shedding all the fluid my body was clinging to. But when I tried to use the restroom, nothing. It was a mind thing. I was so afraid of the pain that I just hobbled back to bed. Eventually a nurse showed me a trick of just pushing on the side of my stomach and it came right on out much like a squirt bottle. By that evening my mom had me walking the hallways around the hospital. She made sure I stood up tall and straight and that I took it very slow. Thanks for that mom.

From there the usual suspects showed up: ghastly amounts of blood, enough gas to heat a hot air balloon, and lack of energy. The most pain I encountered post-delivery was gas and pooping, and stomach cramping. (I told your ass to look away) I ended up having to go back to the hospital that first week because that kolache (THAT ONE) came back to ruin my life. There was lots of stomach cramping and pain associated with that. We went to Ikea like the second week so I could find a reclining chair to nurse in. That was fun.

Breastfeeding

We stayed in the hospital about four days and it was great. The hospital we delivered at was really great. The staff was fantastic, the nurses were a blessing and the room - was the shit. We had a coffee maker, a microwave, a sofa bed, and a mini-fridge. The evening nurses would hoard bags of snacks for us before the kitchen closed (or the sneaky staff ate them all). We had fresh peanut butter, sandwiches, fruit, fresh juice all stockpiled in the mini-fridge so that we could snack in the middle of the night when Hambug woke up to nurse.

Breastfeeding was hard at first. I won't tell anyone what they should or shouldn't do. Do what you want, do what you can. B and I were committed to breastfeeding exclusively. We went to a class while I was pregnant that answered a lot of questions that I had and it gave us a realistic picture of what to expect. If you are pregnant and thinking about breastfeeding I strongly encourage you to take a class at your hospital or through La Leche League or somewhere similar. My hospital was very encouraging to all new moms when it came to breastfeeding. They would not give him any bottles the entire time we were in the hospital unless we instructed them to or if there was a medical need for it. Luckily he is MY child and he latched on right away. This kid wasn't gonna miss a meal.

I started eating oatmeal every morning during the entire last month of pregnancy to aide in milk production. My milk came in probably my last day in the hospital. Before that it was all colostrum. You can read about all that somewhere else. The hard part was nursing through the pain and exhaustion. It is a little painful at the beginning while my nipples toughened up. They were sore, but it all comes down to technique. The correct latch is not painful. It took a while for us to get through it painlessly.

Words cannot describe the awesomeness of breastfeeding for me. I was tired, sure but all I had to do was look down at this little tiny body that we made from scratch and it was all worth it. B helped out immensely by waking up each time Hambug woke up. He changed his diaper then brought him over to me so that I could nurse. B would go back to sleep while I nursed and it really turned into our special time. I held him close and whispered all the special words a mom gives her new baby. Words really cannot express how beautiful this time is for us. It is still beautiful. Everyday.

Hambug's Rundown

• Whenever he got fussy B and I sang to him and he would calm down to listen. It got to a point when we were communicating via song to keep him from spazzing out. Imagine the Sound of Music minus the talent.
• He was fascinated by hands. The itsy bitsy spider is the greatest thing ever.
• Cutest lip ever
• Hambug is actually Pancake's baby. She sleeps under his crib and will not leave any room that he is in. She follows him everywhere, and when he cries she whines. We now call her Nurse Pannie. When we ask Nurse Pannie "where is your baby" she panics and goes to search for him.



Nurse Pannie



*** I promise all of my posts wont be this long ***