Being the oldest of 7 children, I saw my mom go through hell and high water with my siblings. I completely set myself up for the absolute worse with my son and I regret that because it made a good situation into a bad one. My son was born a week overdue, 9lbs 6 ounces. Healthy huge perfect baby boy. He breastfed and slept good. He cooed and smiled real early. He was real close to being a perfect baby. I feared SIDS because of the nurses horror stories, I feared sleep apnea because I suffered from it as a baby, I feared EVERYTHING! I basically did not sleep for the first week. My mother in law found me one night at 4am rocking my sleeping son and I was staring at the tv which was turned off. I learned how to completely ignore everything in my house but my child, cause of course dishes can't compare to a diaper needing to be changed! I learned a new side to my husband. He had never held a baby before our son and every time he held him it made me cry.
My advice to you would be:
1) Know that you can not predict ANYTHING
2) Even if you plan to breastfeed, have a small can of formula and a bottle ready in case
3) You can not spoil a baby
4) Hold your child and relish every single second
5) Fully plan on a second kid, because once you get over the labor and get them home, you realize why woman go through it all in the first place!
My childhood I grew up wanting to be a lawyer, travel the world, never marry,and NEVER have kids.
Well I have never been out the US, married the most incredible man I've ever met, had the most beautiful son, currently trying for another one, and don't want to do anything for the rest of my life but be a mother. You truly can not prepare for the emotions you will feel when you see your child for the first time. I tear up still just thinking about it! I really hope you will update as to your own experiences! :) Good luck and take everything in and breathe because you don't want to miss a second of it!Mommies was the first weeks home with baby better or worse then expected? What advice would you have for me?
expect to be tired! very tired.
try to get someone to watch the baby for you
the first few nights. it'll make it much much easier.
if the doctor tells you to take 5 baths a day.. do it!
it helps so so much. oh. make sure you have tucks at home.
you will be up pretty much all night and day.
they will wake up alot, most wake every hour to two hours for feedings.
always think of the diapers. make sure theres no rash. try to have the baby sleeping next to your bed. it makes it lots easier. keep clean bottles and formula on the kitchen counter to be prepared faster. you will feel like a zombie. and you will feel like it will never end but my son is now 10 months old and it flew by fast. it does end. and the baby WILL sleep through the night some day. my advice.. take it easy and relax. dont be afraid to accept help from others.
I was really tired and sometimes emotional. My husband was a huge help. I thought it would be worse than it was. I just fell more and more in love with my son every time I took care of him. I got frustrated at times but never directed my frustration at him. I tried to sleep when he was sleeping. House chores can wait lol. It is a lot of work to have a baby; it is the hardest job you will ever love. Congrats and good luck.
Being in the hospital was great...all the nurses helping and family constantly coming by. It really hit me hard when we got him and I freaked out that I wouldnt know what to do!! It was super hard at first I have to admit. I have never felt soooo tired in my life but thankfully my mom was there to help for the first two weeks so I could sleep during the day. I had no clue what I was doing and really, the first few months are a blur now because of how tired I was, and how hard it could be at some times. Now she is almost a year and is doing great! You really just catch on and learn things as they grow. Good luck!!!
honestly for me it was rosy and wonderful.
i mean i was sleeping in 2 hour intervals, breast feeding on demand, didn't care for food just slept when i could. luckily though my daughter was a very good baby. did not cry or fuss. she did not cry inconsolably like everyone said she would and she did not keep me up like everyone said she would. she'd wake up. eat. and she'd fall right back to sleep... i kept her in my room 24/7 and still do today and she's 5 months old. anywho, it was wonderful.
just a lot of nappy changes, breast feeding round the clock and sleep when baby sleeps you should be fine!
i thought i would handle the lack of sleep better, i found that i had real trouble sleeping during the day, so i couldn't really catch up.
My son was 5 weeks prem, and i had to wake him for feeds every 3 hrs regardless, for the first 6 weeks!
He had poor sucking reflex so he was b/f for an hour at a time.
my poor hubby went on alternate night feeds for me with expressed milk so i could get at least 4 hours sleep straight. (and he still went to work) i ended up crashing and switching to formula because i was a wreck, and my son wasnt getting enough milk from breast.
it was slow going but we eventually got to the point we could stretch his feeds to 4 hours and he now sleeps 6 hours at night, absolute bliss!
with my oldest my boyfriends mom basically took over. I was 16 at the time so I didn't mind. She knew what she was doing and I just watched and learned.
With my 2nd my husband and I expected the worse, before she was born we said Mommy can sleep at night while dad sleeping during the day. well. Our daughter slept almost non stop. She slept maybe 18 hours a day, we still got to spend time with each other and it was nice.
with the 3rd, It started to get worse, but not really at the same time. I had a 3 year old and a 6 year old, plus my new born. Some friends of mine were worried about me, so they moved in for about 3 months. They helped me with the older ones and the new baby, but really I think I could have done it with just me and my husband
The 4th one was hard. I had no one there with me. Just my 4 kids. a 4 year old a 7 year old and 1 year old. My youngest came about 3 weeks before my due date, so my husband didn't have the days off and had to work the day I came home with baby. I cried all day long and my kids didn't understand. After being home alone for about 4 hours I called my husband crying and he came home and told his boss to stfu and he'd be back in about a month. That helped more then anything having him home with me to remind me to breath.
Honestly it would be exhausting, but wonderful at the same time. You will look at your little one and fall in love. You'll smile everytime you look in to her eyes, and you'll always want her by your side. You might not get as much sleep as you used to, but it isn't so bad. You'll eventually get used to it, and find yourself waking up before she asks to be feed.
educate yourself. i have never been around babies so when i had mine i was clueless. he would cry and wouldnt eat and just cried. i am so grateful my mom was there. learn as many baby songs as possible. that was the best way to calm my baby down. talk to your pediatrician to learn what home remedies he/she suggests for normal issues such as gas,constipation,not eating, not sleeping. when all else would fail i would vacuum or take my son for a car ride and he would calm right down. good luck. sometimes its hard but it is so worth it. congratulations!!
i didnt had no sleep at all.my husband was pcs to another duty station(us army).i was on my own for 4 months till i get to be with my husband.i didnt had any shower for weeks.had to feed my baby every half an hour.i breastfed so it was easier for me then walking to the kitchen and making her bottle every 2 hours.whew!
lifes hard..but its all worth it at the end..
my bub is 2 weeks tomorrow... when my milk came in it was so hard.. she was hungry all the time and didnt want to be put down.. i was upset because her latch hurt and i was sotr and tired.. it is soooo much better now at 2 weeks.. i can put her down and shes ok.. she doesnt always screamfor baths and nappy changes now..
everything is so much calmer, but the first few days were really shocking.. but once u hit 2 wks u will be fine
alot of diaper changing. But for the most part the baby just sleeps and eats. But it depends cause every child is different. But that's what it was like with my first two. I have about two months left to find out how this one is.
Amazing. It wasn't until they were about 4-6 weeks old that I began to notice a difference.
My advice...don't expect things to stay the way they are/will be for the first few weeks. :) Good luck to you and your family.
I tried to do too much.
You should sleep as much as you can, whenever the baby is sleeping. Don't worry about other things. Get your sleep, that's the most important thing.
my advice
DONT SHAKE THE BABY
* I planned on a natural drug free birth (even had a tens machine on hire ready to go)
* I planned to breastfeed for one year (didn't have one bottle, pump or formula on hand)
* I planned on having a girl (knew this one was a 50/50 but we did the recipes %26amp; timed intercourse etc)
What ended up happening...
I had a c-section.
I had a boy (wouldn't change that for anything!)
I was unable to breastfeed but almost died trying
I had to have a c-section due to baby being big %26amp; transverse so had my c-section at 38weeks due to blood pressure being too high. I had a beautiful 9lb 2ounces boy (he would've been over 10lb if I went to 40weeks). I breastfed in hospital, we had some latch issues but were working through them, my nipples were cracked %26amp; bleeding after three days but we kept trying. My baby lost more than 10% body weight which is a big 'no, no' %26amp; they pumped me to see how much I was producing %26amp; could only get a few drops out so they didn't give me the choice but put him straight onto formula. My Ob put me on maxalon, a drug to help stimulate the milk to come in. Meanwhile I was complaining to the nurses that I felt feverish %26amp; really unwell, they kept telling me that I had 'milk fever' %26amp; it was common when your milk was coming in. They sent me home %26amp; I returned to hospital the following night in an ambulance with a massive infection. They wouldn't re-admit my son as they said 'he wasn't sick'. I had to have IV antibiotics every few hours, the strongest antibiotics available, three different types. I had a cat scan %26amp; xrays to try to find the infection but they couldn't find where it was coming from, meanwhile my veins were collapsing due to the antibiotics %26amp; they had to keep on resighting it, they said if they had to do it again they'd have to do a central line so they strapped my arm into a board so I couldn't move it as the IV was in the crook of my elbow. I was so sick I thought I was going to die but I still got up every two hours to pump which was damn near impossible with one arm. I also took blessed thistle %26amp; fenugreek %26amp; drank as much water as I could to encourage my milk to come in but nothing happened.
I recovered after 7days in hospital %26amp; returned home to my angel, the first thing I did was to bring in a lactation consultant to help me %26amp; she referred me to a naturopath. I did everything %26amp; my milk never came in which devastated me, it was something I didn't even think could or would happen.
The first few weeks were so very difficult as my husband works 12hrs a day %26amp; couldn't take any time off but we managed some how!
When my son was 3weeks he was diagnosed with severe reflux %26amp; subsequently also colic %26amp; constipation. That's probably been the hardest part as some days he's gone 24hrs literally not sleeping %26amp; just crying. But some how we just keep on!
Now we're at week 10, I've all but fully recovered, my son's reflux is resolving slowly %26amp; he's in the 90th percentile for his weight! Life's getting better!
My birth %26amp; the following weeks were nothing that could be planned for but you cope %26amp; it's all worth it in the end just to see your baby smile!
I hope you have a better time with it but just remember no matter how tough it gets in those first few weeks, it will get better!
Good luck %26amp; congratulations!
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