The first days at home!

Wow. I am a mom. I have a baby. This thought was a little bit crazy to me at first, but is finally sinking in as I get in the groove of things. Having a new baby is terrifying. At least, it was to me. What were we going to do? How was I going to take care of this little creature? I wasn't even sure if I could change a diaper correctly.


The first few days at home had its ups and downs, but mainly ups. The first night/full day was awesome. She slept and woke up every 3 hours or so to eat. We thought this was a piece of cake. Of course, by early the next morning she wanted to scream and cry and we couldn't soothe her for long. Like I've said about most things early on in this process, it is kind of a blur now, or I've blocked it out, but early Saturday morning after a feeding she got this horrible case of hiccups and just started screaming and crying and wouldn't stop for long enough to get a nap. We rocked her, changed her, sang to her, etc. In retrospect, it probably wasn't even that bad... probably a normal thing, but the fact she had been so good the day and night before had us thrown. She was acting like she was hungry so I just kept trying to feed her which wasn't a good idea and she would just scream at my chest.

We were about to just fix her a bottle of formula since she wouldn't eat, but I decided to try to get clam and I called the nursery at the hospital and got the lactation consultant to call me. Susan, who also taught our Expectant Parent classes was AWESOME. She was totally calming and soothing and just very like "Oh, this is normal, bla bla" She told me I was having an "overactive let down" and was probably choking the baby everytime she tried to eat because milk was just shooting to the back of her throat. Made sense to me. She gave me a way to get some of that out before I fed her and also a new position to feed her in where I layed on my back and put her on top of me so she would be the one doing the work. This worked beautifully.

I know all babies cry and most of the time its for no reason, just them communicating, but with a brand new baby on our second night home, with 2 tired parents, the crying she was doing was just heartbreaking and frustrating to both of us.

Rob's parents came by on that Sunday to visit us and so did Courtney. We needed swaddling help and even a car seat instruction. She was so sweet to give up her Sunday afternoon to do this for us and it made me feel better momentarily. My mom had left Saturday morning in the midst of Emmeline's screaming to go to Wilmington to take care of Maison and would be back Sunday. I loved having visitors and hearing about the outside world! Being at home with a new baby can be a very lonely feeling as well, especially for me because I can't drive and had been so sick and couldn't get ouf ot the house. Courtney was kind enough to take me out that afternoon to run to the drugstore while Emmeline slept at home with her grandparents and Daddy.

Emmeline is now 9 days old and we are getting a handle on everything. We have been lucky enough to have my mom here since we got home from the hospital. She hardly sits still and is always cleaning, doing laundry, organizing (she re-did my closet!), holding the baby, cooking (or heating things up!) bringing us our dinner. I don't know what we would have done without her these first days and I am afraid of what it may be like now that she left this morning. (May 5th, Thursday) I am also eager to get in a routine with the baby on my own. I know the other stuff will get done. I am lucky to have a great husband who is starting to pitch in a lot more around the house. It helps so much and means a lot to me.

Sorry I have rambled, but there is just SO SO much going on its hard to remember everything. I will update with pictures as soon as I can get them uploaded.

All in all-
*Emmeline is a great eater and sleeper. I couldn't be more pleased for the moment.
*When she isn't napping in her moses basket, she naps on one of us or in her bouncy seat. Put her in the swing twice when crying, but didn't like it at that time. May try when she's calm!
*We don't know who Emmeline looks like, but she is darn cute and I can't believe how different she looks from week to week and even day to day some times!
*She gets the hiccups a lot and is so cute when she does. She sits there wide-eyed and every time she hiccups gets even more wide eyed. Its pitiful, but cute.
*She LOVES the blinds/curtains behind our bed. When Rob gets up for work, she has normally just fed and has some good awake time. She just stares at them. They are black and white design so I think that, and the light coming through the blinds has a mesmerizing effect on her.