The First Week

I can’t believe that Finn is a week old already!  We’ve been home since Sunday, and slowly settling into a routine.  Before he was born, I noticed he was most active between late afternoon and sometime in the middle of the night – and that continues to be true now.  He eats every 2-3 hours from early morning until mid-afternoon, and then he eats every 30-75 minutes, and is fussy in between.  I watched the Happiest Baby on the Block video over the past few days, and that has helped with the fussiness – it even stopped a major meltdown in mid-cry this evening.  Amazing!  As much as the repeated feedings are driving me crazy, I am glad that he’s taken to breast feeding as well as he has.  We don’t have it down perfect, but we’re doing well enough that he’s almost back to his birth weight.

My parents are here, and while traditionally they aren’t the best help, they’ve been trying.  While I was in labor Jamie, Heidi and Alex discussed my parents – specifically my mom – and how she didn’t really help Jamie after either child was born, even though she came and stayed for several weeks each time.  That led to them deciding to make a list of things that caregivers should do for a new mom – they did a list that was generic that Alex is now going to use for all her new moms, and then a separate list that was just specific to me and things I’ll need.  I was a little worried that my parents would be offended by it, but instead they’ve really done much more to help since they got the list, usually without me even asking.  It has made things so much better, especially since I’m restricted to going up and down the stairs just one time a day.  So right now my mom comes up when she hears us up around 9-10, and brings me breakfast.  Once Finn has eaten too, she takes him downstairs and I sleep another hour or two until he needs to eat again.  After he’s fed, I shower, and go downstairs and spend the day down there, until around 8pm.  It’s then that I really feel the need for some space, and when I’m most likely to be emotional, so I learned very quickly to go up before I hit my own meltdown point.

The crazy thing is, as soon as I find a routine that really works, Finn will change and we’ll have to start all over again!  At least I’ll know him better by then – half the challenge this first week has just been getting to know him.