Morgan and I are looking a lot happier these days.
That's partly because my stitches are healing and I finally fit back into a pair of my old jeans again.
And part of it comes from Morgan deciding that she can eat at Mom's. The first night home from the hospital she went from 6:00 at night until noon the next day without eating anything except one bottle. She was wailing and hungry, and I was sore and desperate, but she just wouldn't latch on. That next day we visited a nice lactation consultant, who helped a lot, and Morgan's pediatrician helped me to get a free breast pump from my insurance company. It's taken a little while, but I think we've finally cleared that hurdle. She's now eating steadily and everyone involved is a lot happier.
However, as her eating disorder resolved itself, she began struggling with sleep. She would fight and fight to stay awake, and it seemed like the only way she would sleep is if someone was holding her. That was cute for about an hour, and then I realized that my whole life would be spent feeding and holding her. Being slightly more ambitious than that, I frantically started reading all the baby help books I had received as gifts and confidently laid aside without opening. One book introduced a new concept to me: baby doesn't have to be asleep before you put her down for a nap. Here I had been rocking her to sleep and then putting her in bed - no wonder she didn't like that. I also decided that she could cry herself to sleep a little and it wouldn't kill her. Since last night on, I've tried putting her to bed when it's nap time, asleep or not, and let her cry a little bit, and it's worked just fine. See?
Hopefully this combination of eating well and sleeping well at the same time (remarkable concept, I know) will keep Morgan looking this cute and healthy and her mommy sane.
And here's the reason Morgan always wants to be held now: Grandma Boizelle. The woman who can't get enough of her first grandchild and has to tear herself away from the crib. My mom is a notoriously deep/long sleeper, and yet she keeps sending me to bed in the middle of the night so she can take care of Morgan. That's the true mark of grandmotherly devotion.
And since she's been here, it's been homemade meals every night and wonderful baked goods. Erik nearly cried when he came home and saw this.
Life is good, Morgan is a blessing, and life is truly getting easier every day.
5 comments:
Hang in there! My first two weeks were pretty miserable too, breastfeeding is a lot harder than it looks! You and the baby are looking great :)
Great commentary- I too was so concerned about HAVING the baby that I didn't think to read up on feeding and sleeping norms until after Asher arrived.
Lots of good books and advice out there, and it's wonderful to have a mom around for those first few weeks when you realize that a baby is going to be more life-changing than you first thought.
Love the pictures- keep 'em coming!
I'm kind of jealous of you.
I miss those first few days from the hospital when all it really is about is holding and feeding your baby. (except for the insanely sore 'baby bottles' OUCH!)
Those days are gone too soon :(
Morgan is such a cutie and I am a sucker for Grandma/Granddaughter pictures - It's the worlds most perfect bond!
Glad to hear that everything is going well! Can your daughter come teacher mine how to sleep? Mine seems to have forgotten.
New Grandma's are great, aren't they?! It's been fun to see my mom kick into gear with my nieces and nephews! Glad things are going well. Keep it up! Miss ya!
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