That Newborn Phase

(photo cred: Mela Photography)

We're finally venturing out of the newborn hazy waters & we survived. This time has been filled with many changes, lots of late nights & early mornings... but mostly just a lot of love. A lot of love for this tiny human who keeps changing & growing every day. I don't think I ever understood just how much babies can change in a day before I became Olivia's mom. 

I love watching her change though. She smiles so much & already has a bit of a personality. She likes to sleep on her side or while being held. She tends to smile & giggle first thing in the morning when she wakes up, but sometimes it can take her quite awhile before she fully wakes up. The moment you take off her diaper to change her, she shoots her arms straight over head and straightens her legs with flexed feet all in one BIG stretch with the cutest little duck face. She sucks on her fist now & drools all over your arm while making bubbles. These are the little things I want to remember.

I have mixed emotions about this phase ending... I so badly want it to stay, while at the same time, I am loving watching her grow. I'm happy to say I've figured out what she wants with certain cries & that I'm actually surviving on just one cup of coffee a day. Although, there are days where two cups sneak in there. I've learnt so much over the past months & I want to share a few things I have learnt myself...

1. You do YOU momma! Do what works for you, your baby & your family. There were moments where I started to panic or stress about things I could be doing wrong, or better... but then I was reminded that God gave me & Jonathan Olivia. He entrusted US to care for HER & no one else.

2. Nursing is really hard at first. There were nights where she would wake up, hungry & I would cringe... I wanted to provide for her but I knew what was coming & I dreaded each feed. My toes would curl while feeding her from the pain & I would just cry through it. Every feed. However, slowly but surely & a lot of nipple cream later, it got SO MUCH BETTER. My recommendations... nipple cream & a good supportive nursing pillow. (Because you're upper back will hurt like it never hurt before). Be patient with yourself, your baby & get help from a consultant or your midwife if you're struggling with the latch, etc.

3. On that note... if nursing doesn't work & you need to supplement, or pump... then YOU DO YOU. You are doing everything right for YOUR baby. And mad respect to you momma! ;)

4. You're probably going to cry a lot, physically hurt a lot from labour & fight more than normal with your significant other. Communicate, try to be positive & remember you're both tired... just because your spouse isn't up at night breastfeeding doesn't mean he isn't allowed to be tired. 

5. No one can truly prepare you for the emotional roller coaster of becoming new parents. You just have to experience it for yourself honestly. But remember, you can always ask your family & friends for support or help!

6. Your baby will smell like Heaven. Biology is crazy, because I've never met a newborn baby that smells as good as how Olivia smells. It's just how it is. And it's lovely. (When they have't just pooped or tooted I mean).

7. You don't actually need a lot for the first few months. Obviously it's fun to prepare & get everything ready as there are things you'll need further down the road, but the first three month essentials (including that first week postpartum) for us were:

• diapers & wipes
• sleepers (with zippers are best!)
• blankets
• soother
• kid vitamin d drops
• noise machine
• swing
• wrap
• car seat (obviously)
• coffee
• nipple cream
• breast pads
• water bottle
• pre-made freezer meals
• snacks (granola bars of sorts were the best)
• laptop/tablet (for those long days of feeding & you're too exhausted to do anything but binge watch netflix shows)
• nursing pillow

Things I have yet to learn:

• how to dress my postpartum body
• how to get Olivia to nurse super quickly & discreetly while out in public... still takes a few minutes to get all sorted out.
• how to ensure I eat breakfast before 1pm

.... and I'm sure many other things that I can't think of right now.

Of course, we got piles of information & advice from a lot of people, but I found the best advice I received was always from our midwives. They always gave advice/provided information, but it was always followed with: "you can do this, you do what works best for you & your baby". They informed us of what to expect always, while entrusting us with making the decision that best suited our family. These are all things I've learnt in the past few months, so there you go! Enjoy!