Monday, July 12, 2010

Twelve days old today!




First lesson of parenthood: Be sure to feed and hydrate your child.

The first night we had Quinn home, Mike and I were totally impressed by how much she was sleeping. The three of us slept a good six hour stretch that evening together in our cozy bed and were able to take multiple naps the next day (which was nice considering we had been awake for 24 hours prior to coming home!) We were thinking, "holy cow! Miracle child over here! Who said babies don't sleep?! She's an angel!" Well, when our midwives called to check up on us, we told them the good news and they FREAKED out. "You have to feed her every three hours!! No wonder she is sleeping so much!! Have you checked her for jaundice?!" Mike and I looked at each other with "ut oh, how did we manage to forget to feed her?" faces. Whoooooooooooooopsies! So needless to say, since that phone call we've been on an every three-hour feeding schedule. We wake the little bean up, whether she wants to or not, every three hours for nursing and a bottle. Our little itzbeen gadget that our awesome neighbors bought us has been a huge help. It's like a swiss army pocket knife... but for parents! It helps you keep track of her last feedings, diaper changes, sleep schedules, etc. We've mostly been using it to help us remember when she needs to be woken up. However, the last few days she's been waking up on her own and letting us know that she is hungry. We're slowly but surely developing a little schedule. We'll see how long this lasts...haha. But it seems to work well so far. Mike and I take turns feeding and changing her and have developed a little tag team system. Maybe I should get some t-shirts made or something..."Team Burp and Poop!"


Second lesson in parenthood: When a baby's hoo-haa is exposed to cold, he or she may or may not urinate/poop on you! It's a toss up. Figuring out the changing table situation has been interesting, that's for sure!

Quinn enjoys urinating and/or projectile pooping at the most inconvenient times:
-when we have just removed her dirty diaper and are reaching for a clean one.
-when we have wiped her down completely and are in the midst of applying diaper rash cream.
-when we have just changed her clothes into fresh, non stale milk-smelling ones and the poop squirts up the back of her diaper into her dress.
-when we think she is finished projectile pooping and we have wiped the table and all surrounding objects down...and then she super squirts it all over something inconvenient that we need in that exact moment, like the diaper wipes.

Third lesson in parenthood: It feels surprisingly good to be thrown up on.

Never thought I'd utter that or the following statement out of my mouth, but I anxiously await creamy milk to squirt out of my child each time I feed her. Seeing a little baby struggle with gas is so difficult to watch...they have no control over their ability to get that fluid down without air bubbles invading their insides. She arches her back and gets extremely frustrated. You can tell she's still hungry but there's no room left in her little sugar-sack looking body. I hate seeing her in pain! Therefore, I am like an air bubble bursting assailant!! I like sitting her up and resting her chubster cheeks in my hand as I pat her back...waiting for the moment where I will hear a big belch out of her mouth (or bum) so that we can go back to feeding. Mike enjoys it too, as well as the old "lay her over the shoulder like a bag of rice and pat the back" move. He's a pro at it! Many a shirt have been destroyed by these methods but they are well worth it! Spit up, burps and farts are now welcomed in this house!




All in all, things are getting better and easier each day! The last three days have been quite a bit easier, but each day before that has been pretty difficult, not because of Quinn but because of how tired and crappy I had felt physically. Not only did I catch a bad cold the day after I had her, but I also wasn't expecting how much my body would hurt. Everyone talks about the struggles of labor but no one talks about how difficult things are afterwards. What's that about?? Three or four days post-pardom, muscles that I didn't know I had were aching, it hurt to bend down, lay down, sit up, go to the bathroom, lift anything, take a shower. I had no energy at all...I have never felt so lethargic! I'm not sure how I could have taken care of Quinn if it weren't for Mike constantly helping and for the friends and family that we had in town who were cooking, cleaning and taking care of the animals/house/etc! (THANK YOU!!!!!!!!) I also started taking my placenta pills once my cold started to go away. We had taken our placenta home after the birth (eeeeek! Sounds creepy, I know! I couldn't really look at it...haha!) and Katie arranged for Lindsey to come and dehydrate it and grind it up to be encapsulated and consumed. It contains tons of beneficial hormones and vitamins that are lost after pregnancy. I'm not sure if me taking them has contributed to me feeling so much better...but I'd like to think so! Thanks again Katie for doing that for us :) I'm glad that the road to recovery is finally taking shape, especially since Mike has been travelling each day and I've had to take care of Quinn without his help while he is in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. We are slowly but surely developing a routine and it feels good!

2 comments:

Sara Sites said...

she's sooooo sweet!!!

Unknown said...

I love the t-shirt idea. Rob and I have always handed off parenting duties to each other through the years and we called it "tag-team parenting" - too funny that you used the same phrase.

Related Posts with Thumbnails