Week one and then some

1 week old

Well its official. Not only is our baby over 1 week old, but we have also survived 1 week at home on our own (well sort of). Having a baby has thrown our schedules to shame and stirred up a million different emotions. Whoever said this was easy (did anyone ever say that?), was wrong! 

Sleeplessness

Many moms and dads will tell you that having a child will allow you to realize how few hours of sleep you can function on. Boy is that right. Not only am I getting interrupted 1-3 hour chunks of sleep, but then when day time rolls around, and baby naps, I just can't get myself to sleep. I've never been a napper and I'm sort of wishing I was. Honestly, though- there have been a few rough nights, but for the most part, Riley will sleep for 1 to sometimes 4 hours at a time before fussing. And when I say fussing, its because she hasn't yet let out a huge scream to let us know she's awake. Its been quite tolerable. Don't get me wrong, I'm still tired and running on fumes, but I know we don't have it as bad as most. 

I can't get ANYTHING done!

I am so surprised at how quickly the days have been going by. I know the first few days Luke and I forgot to eat and all of the sudden we'd look at the clock and it'd be 2:00pm. A successful day now involves getting the baby ready, fed, and maybe accomplishing one household task. Today, we went for a walk, and felt pretty productive. Yesterday we visited some co-workers and went to JC Penny. Big day out! It does feel nice to get out of the house, because I'm already getting a little stir crazy, but its exhausting and requires a lot of preparation.

I am a slave to my breast feeding baby

So, people told me that breast feeding was challenging, and I've been lucky enough to have a cooperative baby (most of the time- the middle of the night is a different story), but boy is it time consuming. I feel like I am glued to the couch because this child is hunnnnggrryyy! During the night is about every 2 1/2-4 hours, during the day its more along the lines of 1 1/2-3 hours. A 1/3 hour-45 minutes a pop, that's a huge chunk of our days. Then there's coordinating visitors and outings around her irregular feeding schedule. I know a lot of people who aren't comfortable being around a woman nursing, so it makes it difficult at times. I did invest in a nursing cover, so that makes me a little bit more comfortable. 

Fear

I think the biggest challenge that I've dealt with this past week and 1/2 is the emotional side of things. Fear has pretty much taken over my life. I started with fearing labor and delivery, then it was fearing breast feeding, then it was fearing leaving the hospital, then the lack of sleep, now- I fear my husband going back to work. I've been lucky enough to have him with me for 2 weeks. He's been so helpful, is so good with Riley, and comforting me. We also have been able to establish some sort of normalcy in our lives together with this baby. Now he's going back to work and it'll be me alone trying to find "normal." Luke's left me alone a few times and I feel like I was too busy doing this or that to find time to go to the bathroom or feed myself. I assume it will get better. I haven't cried in 2 days so that's a start!

1 week check up

She's healthy! We visited the pediatrician on Monday and left feeling great. She has already gained all of her birth weight back. She was born at 6 lb 11 oz, left the hospital at 6 lb 6 oz, and on Monday, weighed in at 6lb 12 oz. He also said since she is gaining weight and has good color, we don't have to wake her in the night to feed her. For those longer stretches of sleep (lets hope there's many more of those) in the night, we can get a little bit more sleep. Developmentally, she's doing great. Holding her head up, responding to light, and her eyes follow us when we talk to her. She's doing great! I already feel like she's changing so, so much.

Newborn photos

My lovely friend Shari came over today with her gorgeous new camera and offered to take some pics of our little peanut, so here's a few of my faves! I'll post more later.