I tried to post earlier this morning (an hour of my day wasted) but it would not post and then I lost the darn thing altogether. So we're going to try this again...
A little under 3 months ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl that we named Lily Mae. Around the time we came home from the hospital I had this great idea that I should start a blog about my new life as a mommy. And...it never got started. I'll go into things more throughout my posts but our first month was a little rocky. It seemed like Lily would never get over needing to be held all the time. We couldn't get anything done around the apartment and nevermind having to go to the bathroom! In these last 3 months the blog idea stuck with me but even after it started getting easier to put Lily down on a playmat or in her crib I just never got the motivation to get going on it. So I might seem like a copy-cat now that my sister has started blogging about her mommy experiences just today, but I swear I came up with the idea on my own! Her blog just kicked me in the butt to start. Her blog can be found here if you're interested - which you should be, 'cause it's awesome.
Lily Mae (short for Lillian Mae) is our first child. She has completely changed our lives in so many ways. The most obvious way is in our sleep patterns. My goodness, I expected less sleep but I guess I didn't really think there would just be this cloud of sleep-deprivation hanging over our home at all times. Ha. It could be worse, I know. My husband remembers quite well how "worse" it was in that first month. She was a clingy baby from the start - which is great but she had to sleep on one of us during naps and at nighttime. We had tried to use a Pack n Play in our bedroom at first but she wouldn't sleep in it. We'd swaddle, unswaddle, reposition, walk and bounce, and repeat but eventually we noticed that the reason she kept waking up was her startle reflex. She'd be perfectly relaxed and sleeping one second, then BOOM! the next second her arms would shoot straight out to her sides and her eyes would open and she'd be awake.
We noticed that she slept great while we were holding her, either cradled or upright on our chests. So we resigned to letting her sleep however she would sleep. The first few days/nights didn't seem so bad. After about a week we were drained. Shane, my husband, wouldn't actually fall completely to sleep while holding her in fear that she'd roll off of him. And I could sleep knowing I'd wake up the second she twitched, but I was uncomfortable sleeping on the couch. But what could we do?
After that first month we at least had a rhythm down. But we still had another month of this. My sister let us borrow their Moby Wrap to try. Shane would wear that at night with her in it while he did homework (yes, he was juggling a full-time job, new baby, and a full semester in college) and then he'd sleep in the recliner with her still wrapped up. I got to sleep in the bed, but I'd jerk awake at the slightest peep from the living room. By this point though, Lily was sleeping about 4 hours at a time so the late night feedings weren't constant. And then one day she fell asleep while nursing so I thought I'd try to lay her on the couch just so I could use the bathroom. Since I could see the couch from the bathroom I decided I'd try to lay her on her tummy to see how she'd do. It was great! She slept that way for almost 20 minutes. I couldn't believe it! So naps started to become monitored tummy-time. (Now it is just how she sleeps. We made sure she was able to turn her head on her own and wouldn't sleep face-down before we let her stay that way in her crib.)
One day right before she was 2 months I texted Shane while he was at work. I told him I thought it was time to try to get her to sleep in her crib in her own room. I just had this feeling that we might be able to make it work. He came home for lunch and told me that just that very day he'd had the same feeling and was going to bring it up after work. So we gave it a shot. The first night, as all first nights, was rough. She was down, she was up, she was crying, she was too tired to sleep...
Within a couple nights she figured it out. She would sleep her 4 or 5 hours, wake up to eat, and go back to bed. Not long after that she was sleeping 6 to 7 hours straight and then taking a good morning nap after eating. We even had one night that she slept for 11 hours and then took two more long naps during the day.
At almost 3 months old she is still sleeping pretty well. Five to six hours, eat, diaper change, back to bed for 3 or 4 hours. And she's really getting used to our schedule. I'm home all day but Shane works in the afternoon till late at night. She usually goes to bed around the time he gets home so I can get some sleep. Nap times are still "whenever she will sleep." It's easier to tell now when she's getting tired so I can start rocking her before she gets crabby.
Well, I have probably started rambling so I'll quit while I'm ahead.
This blog will be full of stories of my pregnancy, delivery, and random hilarious (and not so hilarious) poop stories. Why moms like to swap poop-stories, I'll never know...
No comments:
Post a Comment