Bringing Baby Home

To continue the saga of Piper's grand entrance into this world...

When we arrived home that Wednesday afternoon, we were greet by our sweet furbabies who were quite confused why we had not been home the past 2 nights.

It was kind of eerie actually. The house was just as I left it that Monday at 12:30ish. There were dishes in the sink, clothes to be put away, towels needing washing, etc..

Now we were adding to our household a newborn- a life of diapers, pacifier hoarding, Gerber formula, and bottle washing.

Life was great! Seriously though, who knew how much fun hand washing bottles and all their parts would be so fun. To answer the question- no I did not and do not breastfeed and I'm cool with it. Kudos and more power to those who do!

The dogs did not even realize we had an extra human when we came home until she made a noise in her car seat. We had put her on the table when we walked in so I could sit down for a minute in a sturdy backed chair- I was more comfortable sitting in a wooden kitchen chair than on the couch or recliner. Go figure.

Piper on the other hand was more comfortable in her MamaRoo. BEST INVENTION EVER! New moms- it is worth every penny. It does all the rocking, swinging, bouncy motions and has a built in noise machine and speaker you can hook your iphone, ipad, ipod, i-whatever into and play while baby rocks or swings or bounces. For babies who like to move trying to sleep- excellent. Instead of having 4 different bouncy, swingy, rocky thingies around the house we have the all in one magic machine we keep in the living room.

The first week Andy and I camped out with Miss Priss in the living room due to the fact I was incapable of climbing into our bed that happens to be almost 3.5 feet off the ground. The ongoing joke in the house was I needed to use Emmie's doggy steps to climb into my own bed. Anyways, we each had our own couch, Piper in her Mamaroo, and Emmie and Ellie slept wherever they could watch Piper best.

It was a science to strategically get myself off the couch and standing up on my own so that I could fix her a bottle about every 2-3 hours that first week. First I rolled on my side, then pushed off my right elbow at an angle, sat up, and rocked backwards until I had enough leverage to heave ho up onto my feet. Yes, Andy always volunteered to do anything I needed so I didn't have to get up, but I wanted to be able to get up and do things. I took to heart the advice I was given for a speedy recovery- the more you move the better you'll be. I walked laps around our kitchen island sometimes to keep my sanity. Did you know that for 6 weeks you're not supposed to lift anything heavier than your baby, push, pull, do laundry, bend over, or take a bath- you can only shower. The first 2 weeks you can't drive unless you have been off your pain medication for atleast 3 days. Another word of advice- NEVER EVER EVER wait until you are desperate for pain relief to take your medicine. Once you feel discomfort take your meds, your abdomen will thank you later.

After the first week, I attempted to climb what felt like Mount Everest and succeeded. I could finally sleep in my own bed, and boy was wonderful. I used the same technique to get up and tend to Piper at night, only this time she was 2 feet away as she slept in the basinet of her pack and play. She was a perfect newborn. Slept 2-3 hours at a time, drank 2 oz every 2-3 hours, and always went right back to sleep. Never fussed, whined, or let out a cry unless she was hungry or needed a diaper change.

As she grew, so did her appetite. We increased to 2.5, then 3, then 4 oz of formula to now 4 oz of formula every 3-4 hours, and at night 4 oz of formula paired with rice cereal. After her cereal and bottle, bath time, and a few snuggles, sweet baby sleeps til 3:30 am in which she then needs a diaper change, goes back to sleep, and wakes up at 5am for a bottle, and then we start all over again.

Let me back up. We started rice cereal about 3 weeks ago because of the fact my baby was hangry- not hungry- hangry. She became angry if her appetite was not satisfied in a reasonable amount of time. 4 oz every few hours was just not doing it anymore, so we added a little cereal and it was like magic. The child was content and began sleeping sounder at night. Now yes, some believe "babies can't eat off a spoon til their 4-5 months of age." For those that do, we'll just say my child is in AP. She can down that cereal off a spoon in around 15 minutes. Knocks out that 4 oz of formula in around 8.

We take our meals seriously around here folks.