Our new normal life

For the very first time since our little Quint's birth, it is just me and my baby at home this morning. We're at a break between company and Quint's Papa has gone to work today. I'm in fairly good comfort and haven't had any pain medicine today, though yesterday I overdid it and hurt pretty bad for several hours.

We're starting to learn our little boy's habits and/or alter them if we can. Last night, after some cluster feedings between 7 and 11, he gave us 4.5 hours and then 4 hours between feedings! And he was mostly quiet between those. Hubby took the first shift and brought the baby to me at 3:30 to feed. That's 11pm to 3:30am!! And Hubby got to sleep most of that time! This is huge great news! I fed him, changed him, and tinkered with him until about 5am and then he slept through until about 8am when I woke him to feed because I thought I was going to explode. We've got a 4 ounce bottle that we can feed him sometime soon during a night feeding and I've got another ounce in another bottle I've started. We meant to do that last night, but Hubby was so tired that he seemed a bit tipsy. Not the best time to start something new. Maybe we should plan to do that as an 11pm feeding instead of a 2am feeding. I haven't explained to Hubby yet that it might never work for me to try to bottle feed the boy. The boy is not dumb. He will know the boobies are right there, so what's this bottle thing about.

I've been really surprised at how easily I've shifted into Mommy-mode. It doesn't seem un-natural or like something foreign, which I had been a little concerned about. There was a day or two at the very beginning when I really didn't want to be the baby's only food source, but I got past that. I do need to work on focusing on Hubby more and giving him some undivided attention at times. That IS possible, I'll just have to seize those moments and put something else off. It's amazing how tasks are now divided in my mind into three categories: 1-things I can do while nursing 2-things only I can do while not nursing and 3-things others can do for me while I'm nursing or otherwise tending the baby. Very few things fall into the second category, but it's annoying to realize that personal hygiene ALWAYS falls into that category.

Hubby has been really spectacular about fetching and carrying. He has understood from the beginning that I don't want to be under "couch arrest" but getting around is really more difficult those first few days home. Sure I can get myself some ice water from the kitchen, but getting settled again where my bottom is comfortable can be a trick. That's getting to be less and less of a problem at 16 days after birth, but twice now, I've overdone it and set myself back by a couple of days on my bottom recovery. And I've realized that I'm a big wuss about pain. But narcotics are only occasionally necessary.

How did any child survive infancy without gas drops? It's amazing what those things can do! And it says right on the bottle not to exceed 12 doses per day! Seeing how our little guy can eat up to every 2 hours, that's a dose per feeding!

More later on the trivial details of our new normal life with our darling son!