Today marks one month since God brought baby girl into our
lives! She is such a blessing and we love every moment with her. She is such a
wonderful baby and makes life easy for us. I wanted to take the time to write
what I have learned about Aria and myself in this one month period.
Like I said Aria is a wonderful baby. From day one she has
not been much of a fusser. She sleeps pretty much all day and wakes up every
two hours on the dot to eat. She is up to 4 oz a feeding and will drink every
drop. After her meal we change her and she is back to sleep no problem. She normally
spends about two straight hours up and alert at some point during the day. Sometimes
she spends more than that awake. She will just sit there looking around and
taking it all in. we swear she is trying to talk already too. She will just coo
and grunt when we talk to her. We have never been around babies much so bringing
her home was a scary moment for us. We weren’t sure what to do or what to
expect with a newborn. What have we learned? Babies take up a lot of your time.
You spend every waking moment doing something baby. Either feedings or changing
diapers, talking and playing, or preparing for the next round while they nap.
We were told all along that we would need a lot of diapers…well that is the
truth. She seems to be going through at least 13 diapers a day. We have learned
that gas drops are a life saver. I really didn’t want to get in the habit of
using any type of medicine on her, but one night she would not settle so we
gave the drops a try and it was like magic!
Now, what I have felt during this month? Complete love for
the most part! Right after we got home with her I had my moments of crying. I was
sore from the birth and tired emotionally from the fact that we had an
earthquake the day we brought her home and the realization that I would not be
able to breastfeed. From the beginning I wanted to breastfeed. I wanted her to
get the best nutrition she could get and I also wanted to make our bond as
strong as possible. I breastfeed her in the hospital and once we got home with
the help of a pump. At the two week mark I noticed my milk starting to slow
down then it stopped all together. I was so disappointed, I felt like a
failure. When we took her to the doctor to check on her jaundice the doctor
said that we would need to put her on a formula supplement anyway to help get
rid of it. It would jumpstart her liver. So that made me feels a little better.
I was also so sore from the birth. The only
thing that hurt was the pull of the stitches. After two weeks I started
itching, I don’t know what was worse. Here I am at the 4 week mark and I can
FINALLY take a tub bath and I can’t wait! I have almost no itching or pulling
and I have stopped bleeding! I felt like I was getting diaper rash myself.
Within a month I have never felt so much love in my life! I
love my baby girl more than I can explain. Every time I look at her pretty
little face I smile. She lights up my life in a way I didn’t know was possible.
I stare at her constantly thinking to myself how precious life is and I am
amazed at what we created! I feel so I have also felt even more in love with
Andrew. He is a wonderful father. He helps me with everything morning and night
with a smile on his face! After giving birth and experiencing this feeling I can
honestly say that if I found out I was pregnant tomorrow I would be ok with it
:0)
