Two Weeks into this Journey

I made it past the two week hurdle! Everyone says that’s the hardest part, right? In reality, it hasn’t been terrible. However, it hasn’t been what I expected, that’s for sure. Apparently, no matter how much you read or learn about babies, there’s always a surprise. So here’s my list of unexpecteds:

1. My recovery period. This was my biggest surprise. I don’t know how I thought I was going to get this abnormally large-headed baby out of me without my body noticing, but for whatever reason, I totally underestimated this part. I thought by the time I left the hospital, everything would be perfect. WRONG. When I left after 3 days, I was still moving about the speed of a turtle, and groaning with every movement I made. Let’s not even discuss sitting. It didn’t help that most of the women there at the same time as me had c-sections, and were practically running compared to me, despite being 20 years older. Yes, I was by far the youngest person there. You would not believe how old some of the women in that maternity ward were. Anyways, the recovery has not been fun. Thank God Paolo’s mom came for the week after I left the hospital to help. We wouldn’t have made it without her, seriously. By the Monday after (5 days post-partum), I was finally seeing improvement, but it was then thwarted by the visit to the embassy, which required far more walking and movement than I should’ve been doing. Once again, didn’t really plan for a recovery period. So that set me back a few days. Finally, by this past Monday, I’d made more progress, and am able to move around a bit without wanting to die.

2. There is so much poop. I mean, I knew babies pooped a lot, but really? He eats, and then poops 10 minutes later. And he eats a lot. We had about 100 disposable diapers, which he used in less than 10 days, then we switched to cloth diapers. They aren’t quite as convenient, but at that rate, it’s just throwing money away. Especially when he pees/poops as we’re changing the diaper.

3. The erratic sleep schedule. I mean, of course I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping a ton, but I thought newborns slept 16-18 hours a day. Who are these babies that make the average? Not mine, that’s for sure. He sleeps maybe 12 hours, on a good day. And it’s incredibly inconsistent. As in, he sleeps all day and none at night, or vice versa. And he’s not much of a napper. Unless I’m holding him. If he’s being held, he’ll sleep like an angel. At night also, which can be quite tempting when you’re sleep deprived. I let him sleep next to me the first week, but the past few days, he’s been sleeping in his bed.. at least until I inevitably fall asleep while feeding him. He’s sneaky!

4. The abundance of feedings. I read it would be about 8 times a day. Alessandro eats about 12 times a day. At least. He doesn’t let more than 2 hours pass without eating, sometime less. That’s a lot of time spent feeding a baby.  I’m starting to feel like a cow.

5. Being over-protective. I told myself I wouldn’t be that parent, but I am. I don’t want dirty people touching my baby, or kissing him. There’s not a lot I can say or do about it without being rude, but I cringe every time it happens. I mean, I don’t mind clean people touching him, but the neighbor who smokes like a chimney and has long, nasty fingernails? There’s no polite way to tell someone to stand 10 feet away at all times..

6. How many noises babies make. Alessandro is constantly making noise. Cooing, grunting, crying, snoring, etc. The first couple days, we rushed to his side every time we heard anything from him. But we quickly figured out the code to his noises, so now I know lots of grunts mean to get the diaper changing stuff ready, or that coos mean to leave him alone, he’s finally happy!

7. The preparation to go ANYWHERE. To go anywhere, I have to: 1. Make sure the diaper bag is properly packed. 2. Make sure Ale is freshly changed and fed. 3. Put on his snowsuit. 4. Put him in the carseat/stroller. And that’s just for him.

8. Losing pregnancy weight is not nearly as bad as everyone says. That is, if you didn’t go all Jessica Simpson and gain 65 pounds. I haven’t actually weighed myself since giving birth, but it has really amazed me how much my body has changed in the last two weeks. Immediately after giving birth, there was all this ever-so-attractive skin just hanging on my stomach. A week later, that was cut in half. This week, it’s just a little pooch. That’s not to say that I’m ready for bikini season, but it sure is nice to look in the mirror and not see this huge person anymore.

9. Motherhood is messy. Poop, pee, spit-up, the list goes on. However, childbirth was good preparation for this. After that experience, not much grosses me out anymore.  But I never thought I would get poop on my fingers during a change and then forget to wash it off after.

10. How quickly I turned into “THAT mom”. You know, the one who always posts pictures of her kids on facebook, or can’t talk about anything else. Granted, it’s all new now, so I’m going to do my best to not turn into a soccer mom. Seriously though, my baby is super cute, so everyone wants to see him, right? 

Anyways, it has definitely been a time of learning for us. We’re adjusting though, and it’s so much fun to get to know Ale, even when he doesn’t let me sleep. Which for the record, last night he slept 5 hours in a row; I was so happy I could’ve cried! He’s growing so much already; it’s crazy! He’s still got the newborn look, but he somehow looks like he understands things sometimes, and I can tell the newborn stage will be gone soon. Which is why I finally took his newborn pictures today. I had to do them myself since that is apparently not really done here, so that’s why I waited so long. Like I said, the recovery was more than I was expecting, and I wasn’t really up to photos the first week like I’d planned on. So we had a little shoot this afternoon, and let me just tell you, newborns are not easy clients. First of all, I couldn’t get him to go into that deep, coma-like sleep. Then he peed as soon as I took his diaper off. And then he realized he was naked and cold and screamed. So it was a short shoot. But I got a couple decent ones! I haven’t edited much yet, but here’s the best so far..

 

 Ciao for now,

Kathleen