Life with a newborn

I am emerging from the silence. We managed to post some pictures in the last couple weeks for you all, but typing up blog messages was a little more than we could manage (as was returning phone calls - sorry!)


Congrats to the people who guessed the correct birth weight for our not so terribly big Annalise - 7 pounds 6 ounces.

The last almost 3 weeks have been intense. We adore our little miracle baby who has taken over our lives. Everyone said we wouldn't get any sleep, but we thought they meant we wouldn't get much sleep . . . we didn't realise that they literally meant we wouldn't get any sleep at all! We didn't sleep for the first 48 hours. Now I have graduated. I had two 2-hour sleep sessions last night - a new record amount.


Here are some of the things we have learned in the past 3 weeks:


1. Expect the unexpected (like a C-section after fully dilating and pushing for an hour or a fountain of pee from a little girl whose diaper is already pee filled)


2. Capitalize on the moment (if she's sleeping, lie down and if you're lucky you'll get 30 minutes rest - of course, you might prefer to use that 30 minutes to eat or go to the bathroom)


3. Hospitals are a terrible place to rest. As soon as your never-sleeping baby finally falls asleep you can count on IV medication changes, vital signs monitoring (me and baby), visitors, hospital meals, and the birth certificate and hospital baby photo people loudly entering the room.

4. Hospital nuseries can turn away your baby if she is "too fussy." There is nothing more depressing than having your baby brought back to you screaming after 30 minutes in the nursery because their professional soothers couldn't soothe her (although she had been fed and changed and sent to them asleep).


5. You can't drive after a C-section. Maybe this is something everyone else knows, but this took me completely by surprise. They originally said no driving for 2 weeks, but at our recent doctors appointment she extended it to 4 weeks. That's a long time to be carless.


6. You can never take too many photos. I find it funny that I stare at her all day and then when she is sleeping I stare at the photos of her that we have taken.


7. Babies come with an extreme learning curve. It's not just the baby herself, but also working all the of the baby paraphernalia. All of a sudden you have to learn how to do a billion things you might have never done before - things like working a breast pump, strapping a screaming baby in a car seat, nursing (enough said), buttoning baby outfits, and changing diapers. These things become even more challenging when they are being done on less than 4 not consecutive hours of sleep.


8. Diapers with wetness indicator lines are the best. That way you don't have to initiate the screaming sequence by taking off/peering inside the diaper to see if it's dirty.


9. Friends and family are invaluable. Thank you to all of you who have helped out and brought food or helped us take care of Annalise.


And finally . . .


10. You can desperately love someone who never does anything for you except take your time and your sleep and scream in your face. Every time you look at her you can be amazed by how precious and special she is and how lucky you are to have her.



Here are a few photos to enjoy (courtesy of my father)


Our beautiful girl and Dave playing with her

Our family all together (we missed you Auntie Char and Uncle Brandon!)