I know it's a cheesy title for this post, but I think that it really sums up the last three weeks for us! Adam & I are so in love with our little girl and I know that this time will be something that we look back on with so much fondness...but boy, has it been hard. Harder than I ever thought it could ever be.
Before becoming a mother, I thought "Heck, how difficult can it be? Babies - especially newborns - sleep all the time." Um, not necessarily...and they also eat. And poop. And cry. Cry? Try SCREAM. For hours.
Emery has been a little more high-maintenance than anticipated. She's beautiful and amazing and there are moments throughout the day when Adam & I are just in awe of what we created and what we have to look forward to with her. On the other end of the spectrum, I wouldn't call our little girl an easy baby! She definitely doesn't sleep all the time and when she is awake she unfortunately isn't very happy. She still suffers from her reflux and has developed some issues with gas that make her extremely uncomfortable. She is also now going through her three-week growth spurt which makes her even more fussy and hungry ALL the time - so she is eating every hour or so during the day, which is very hard on me since I am breastfeeding. We're trying out some medicines for the reflux and I am staying away from certain foods to help her with the gas (who knows if that'll work, but hey it's worth a shot!), and these growth spurts don't last forever...so I am hopeful that over the next few weeks life might get a bit easier.
My saving grace is that thankfully she is better at night and tends to go 3-4 hour stretches before waking up to eat. I still only average about 5-6 hours of sleep a night (not consecutively, of course) but it's better than being up every 1.5-2 hours to feed her. Again, since I am breastfeeding Adam can't really help with the nighttime feedings - and since he is back at work now (boo!) it wouldn't be fair for me to ask him to wake up at 3am anyway. Needless to say, I am very tired and it doesn't help that I have a very hard time napping during the day. Emery does take a nice long nap in the mornings, but I'm up and trying to get a few things done...before she wakes up again and wants to eat and cry the rest of the day.
I don't mean to make it sound all bad - there are amazing moments when she makes us laugh, times when she makes us completely melt, and times when we look at her and just cannot believe how lucky we are to have and raise a baby. I know that these wonderful moments we have with our daughter will outweigh the hard first couple of weeks...and people say that we won't even really remember them (I hope they're right!). We're taking it one day at a time and every day I think we make a little more progress as we learn what her needs are and what soothes her. It's really a learning experience for all three of us!
Below are a couple more pictures of Emery - I think she has changed a lot over the last few weeks! At her 2 week doctor's appointment she was already 8 lbs, 10 oz! Told you she was a hungry girl. I assume that by now she's at least close to 9 lbs, if not more.
We are truly grateful to our close family and friends who have done SO MUCH to help us out - the dinners, taking her so we can get a break for a while, and just listening to us vent and offering amazing advice and suggestions. Adam and I would not have been able to make it without your support and love.
-Michelle & Adam
Emery & I having a very interesting conversation:
She fell asleep this way and I thought it was just adorable (don't worry, I didn't leave her unattended there!):
Tiny hands - and Adam's attempt to be an artsy photographer:
1 comment:
It's perfectly normal to feel frustrated and upset when things don't go "as planned". Joey had screaming fits for hours as well when he was weeks old. The only one that could comfort him was my dad, so my poor dad had to drive over during random hours and cradle him so that we could get some decent sleep. Babies are funny and particular like that! I hope she gets better!
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