First Weeks of Motherhood

Since the day I shared our exciting news with the world, I have been bombarded with well-meaning advice and warnings. These ranged from, "You'll never sleep again!" (definitely an exaggeration) to, "You're whole life is going to change" (duh) and a million others. So I braced myself, especially for these first few weeks when Eleanor joined us at home and prepared for the absolute worst. Imagine my surprise when I actually slept better with Ellie in our room than I had when I was pregnant. Instead of waking up every time I turned over and every hour to empty my bladder, I was only woken up every three hours or so to feed and cuddle her back to sleep. I've tried to sleep when she sleeps and all-in-all I feel relatively well rested and prepared to take on each day. Things have been far from the terrible nightmare mess that everyone seemed to think it would be.

Newborns sleep... a LOT. This meant our little sweetie has spent the majority of the days and nights in the past two weeks asleep. With our parents (now Ellie's grandparents!) around, she mostly napped on them but she seemed just as content to nap in her bassinet. During many of her sleeping periods I dressed her up in adorable outfits and took pictures - because I could! I also had time to work on her baby book, enjoy sunshine in our garden, edit said photos and many more things. 

Along with sleeping a lot, Eleanor spent several evenings cluster feeding non-stop for several hours. As I am exclusively breastfeeding, that means she needs me for all that time. Instead of being frustrated or saying that there's no way she can be hungry again, I just feed her as soon as she shows hunger signs and put on a movie (or two!). Eleanor had lost 11% of her birthweight at the beginning and I was determined she would gain it back. With her being jaundiced, she preferred to sleep instead of eat, and it was quite a task to keep her awake!

We've had a few outings since Eleanor was born, but with my recovery from the c-section and establishing my supply for breastfeeding as a priority, these trips were short and close to home. Our first trip was to gymnastics (5 minutes away), to say hello to a few friends. Our next, and first real trip was to a shopping centre nearby for lunch and a bit of dress shopping (for her, not for me!). We weren't quite quick enough shopping as she ended up needing to eat just as we packed her up to go home. So I pulled out my breastfeeding pillow and told Paul and my dad to go entertain themselves for half an hour. There was no need for them to wait in the car while she ate! Halfway through feeding she got really fussy and I decided to change her before we finished the feed. I pulled out the diaper bag and got ready to change her in the backseat. I opened up her diaper and... projectile poo! All the way out of the car and down my leg and covering her diaper bag! Well done, Eleanor! Without a change of clothes, I finished changing her then climbed back into the car to finish feeding. Finally Paul and my dad returned so we could head home and I could change into a pair of less poo-covered trousers. That night Eleanor projectile pooped all over Paul and the nursery, so both of us had a taste of new parenthood. 

Poo all over the nursery!

 So yes, life has changed, but in a wonderful way. And I'm sure there will be many sleepless nights ahead of us, but at least for now things are holding steady. Paul and I are quite a team, with me feeding our little one and Paul becoming a burp and changing master. We share snuggles during the day and we tag team nights so I can get uninterrupted sleep early on while he feeds her a bottle.  I take Eleanor out of the bedroom in the morning so Paul can catch up on some uninterrupted sleep. I am not looking forward to Paul being back to work but at least he's just a shout away if I desperately need him.

One of the pieces of advice that I heard a lot is to enjoy every moment and not wish them away. This is a piece of advice that I wholeheartedly agree with. She'll only be this little once and so I am soaking in every cuddle, every sound and movement and facial expression. I've taken a thousand pictures and videos and I'm sure I'll take a thousand more. I let her nap on me and breathe her newborn scent in deeply and I don't even feel the least bit guilty about it. There is nothing more important than taking care of my baby and helping her grow and thrive. This is my job now, and it's the best job in the world.

All her adorable little parts!