Saturday, January 27, 2007

The First 3 Months!!

FIRST 3 MONTHS:
The first 3 months are a bit of a blur because my husband and I are in our 30s and Joshua is our first child. I didn't even THINK about eating and when it did sneak in my brain, I didn't even know what I had a taste for. I was losing all my pregnancy weight! I lost about 20 lbs in 2 weeks. And you know, I had a terrible rash. The doctors said that I had a reaction to the antibiotics that they gave me in the hospital. At first, I thought it was the hospital sheets I was allergic to. Then I thought it was stress. After about 3 weeks, I asked the doctor. He said it was the ampicillin. Well, I was trying to nurse my son so the doctor couldn't prescribe anything. He told me to just take Benedryl. Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I called him and he called me in some medicine. I had to stop nursing. But at least he got a little bit of my milk. That's better than none at all.

The first time I was able to get a shower and brush my teeth was wonderful!! After I fed him, changed his diaper, and he went to sleep, I tried to get some house work done. But he didn't sleep long. Then we did the routine again of feeding, diapers and him sleeping. I was so tired, that it was DAYS before I got my shower, etc. Then I tried the suggestion: sleep while the baby sleeps. I tried. It might be for 10 minutes or it might be 1 hour.

My husband and I did shift work. Sometimes he would do the midnight shift and sometimes I would. But whichever one of us did the shift, it was done in the living room. Our nursery wasn't set up completely yet and to keep whoever was sleeping from waking up, we put the bassinett in the living room with one of us sleeping in the recliner.

Eventually we moved the bassinett in our bedroom (when Joshua started sleeping a little bit longer). Finally one morning I woke up to the bassinett moving back and forth. What happened was when Joshua started waking up, he would kick. He kicked so hard, it shook the bassinett. That was when we said "Ok, he's ready for the crib." By then, the nursery was 95% complete. He took to his new bed and his new room right away. We never had a problem.

I was going to be home with my son until May. During my time with him, I was tired, but I loved that child! At first I used vent-air bottles, then I soon switched to playtex premier nursers (uses liners). Those suited my needs better. I bought four 4-oz at first. Then later on, I bought four 8-oz bottles.

Now, with me being a first time mom, I gave him 2 oz every 2 hours and then he'd either cry some more or go to sleep. He cried mostly. One day (as embarrassing as it is) I realized that 2 oz was definitely not enough at one time. When we realized that, we started giving him 4 oz bottles and he was a much happier child!! I tell my husband now that when we have another child, I'm going to get him or her a 6 oz bottle the day he or she comes home and just see how much he/she wants out of the 6 oz. Then we can go from there. Next: To Work or Not to Work Outside the Home

No comments: