Our First Week

To say our first week was a blur is an understatement!

I knew breastfeeding was going to be hard but I apparently never realized just how hard and exhausting it would be. That along with the exhaustion built up from the whole labor and birth process, staying at the hospital, being extremely sore, trying to take care of a newborn, and figuring out how to be a brand new parent is just plain hard!

The first week MJ was up every 1-2 hours at night. I've had a bit a of the "baby blues" at times. It's definitely an overwhelming feeling to be 100% completely responsible for this brand new person who is completely and utterly dependent on only you, especially when nursing. The downside of nursing is just that, only I can provide food for him (and nursing hurts!). On the other hand, now that we're both getting the hang of breastfeeding I'm beginning to enjoy that time together, watching him, being that close, being able to provide for him, and growing the bond between us. It's also still a bit serial to think that we made this little guys. We tried for 3 years and now we have him in our arms to sit and stare at and go over every little feature, who he looks like and what he's going to be like as he grows....

I know I have still not recovered or even gotten use to the whole "no sleep" thing yet, but it's definitely getting better and a bit more manageable two weeks in. I definitely would love to sleep more than 1-3 hours at a time but I really do love that quiet time together in the middle of the night.     

Our little man in the hospital

Going Home! He was not a fan of his car seat at first, that or he didn't want to go home with us just yet.

All better, now that he found his fingers to help soothe himself

Stretching out on his awesome monogrammed blanket

Newborn!

Chillin' with Daddy trying out his new paci

Milk Coma

Tummy Time

While in the hospital I took the advice from other moms to send baby to the nursery at night. Although I still didn't get much sleep from all the adrenaline of giving birth, being in an unfamiliar environment, constant interruptions, a semi uncomfortable bed, etc, I was able to physically and mentally rest while knowing experienced nurses were watching over my brand new baby. They brought MJ in when he was getting hungry, helped me with nursing or latching if needed and came to get him when he was done.

Another thing I am glad we did was limit visitors that first week to only the grandparents, and even they didn't stay long during those first few days. Just learning and adjusting to parenthood was enough!