Week 1 – Aug 20 – 27
We spent most of the first week in hospital due to my recovery from the labour and surgery. Recovering from this double whammy was tough. My body felt like it has been hit by a truck, with the added exhaustion of a newborn on top. Learning to feed E was really tough – I struggled, gave in to formula a few times when my body couldn’t cope, and ended up rending a pump to take home and express when it all got too painful.
It was also hard seeing Alec bond with E so easily and quickly while I was stuck in bed. For the first several days, my only interaction would be to feed her, which was excruciating, then hand her back to Alec as it was too painful for me to get in and out of bed to do anything else. Due to this, it took me a lot longer to bond with my little girl. It really helped going home, as by this stage I had recovered enough to be more mobile, and because I was expressing to give my body a chance to recover from the botched feedings, I was able to spend time with her that wasn’t just a painful experience.
Our first week was filled with wonder that we had created such an amazing, perfect little person. Everything she did was juts amazing. “Did you see that burp?” “Awww what a cute fluff!”. Typical new parents in awe of their perfect offspring.
Despite being a bit early, Eloise was in great health. The only drawback was a little bit of jaundice, requiring her to be placed in the photobooth for half a day, and to have some extra follow-up doctor appointments after coming out of hospital to monitor her jaundice levels.
Week 2 – Aug 27 – Sept 3
Sleep deprivation hit in this week! Eloise started to get bad wind during the night, and hated being put on her back to sleep in her crib. She would go down peacefully, only to wake herself every 10 – 20 minutes, writhing in pain from the gas. This also equals no sleep for mum and dad … My routine this week conceited of napping from about 10:30pm – 2am, when I would get up and relieve Alec from duty, then feeding and calming the baby from 2am – 5am, where she might fall asleep on my chest for a few hours. 8am – hand over baby to my mum and go back to sleep for an hour or two, until E needed to be fed again. Gah. So exhausted. I spend the days feeding her, changing her, going back to sleep for an hour or two, then repeating. The end of week two the amazing initial feeling of awe has worn off, replaced with bone-shattering tiredness. “When will she sleep?” Will she EVER sleep?” “Will I ever sleep again?”.
This week we had a bunch of firsts – first sponge bath, first real bath after her umbilical cord fell off, first tummy time, first go in the bouncer. She also started to notice her surroundings and try to life her head. She also tries to roll herself over in the crib so she can be on her tummy. She is much more alert this week, looking around with her big blue eyes. She is the cutest thing I have ever seen, even when she’s working herself up into a major hissy fit.
Exactly two weeks after she was born, we had her newborn photos taken. They were fun but exhausting for us all, particularly E, who pooped on me twice, and peed all over Alec. Babies minus nappies = disaster.
At her doctor’s check-up this week, she’s put on an average of an ounce a day since birth instead of losing weight, which most babies do. At two weeks, she’s at 7 pounds 12 oz, up from her birth weight of 7 pounds 4 oz.
Week 3 – Sept 4 –
Things are a bit less chaotic as we all get to know each other better. Little E gets plumper and cuter every day. We still can’t get E to sleep on her back in the crib, so are looking into every other option we can. Borrowing a swing from neighbours, buying a sling to wear her around the house in. Alec and I had our first outing with her on Sunday in the Baby Bjorn carrier, going to lunch at a local French patisserie, then a walk to Cobble Hill Park.