Here’s the super fast story version: M was born at 2:57am on the 12th (early Monday morning)! I had my unmedicated birth, mostly thanks to it going shockingly quickly! 7 lbs. 3.1 oz., 19.5″, healthy, and doing very well! I’ll post a more detailed birth story later sometime, but figured I had to get the announcement posted already!
It was clear pretty quickly that while M looks almost exactly like B did as a newborn, she has a different personality! B was so laid-back and easy, never really cried, ate all the time. M gets bothered by being moved while she was comfortable, hates getting her diaper changed, and will cry very angrily about them! She cries when she’s hungry too, whereas B would just make happy hungry sounds and gnaw on his hands. We had to learn quickly with her that baby crying doesn’t equal something majorly wrong! She nurses just fine, but differently so I’ve had to adjust my idea there too. From birth B would eat frequently (every 1-2 hours) but only ever one side at a time and not very long, and he had like super rooting reflex. M will snack because she’ll fall asleep, but when she gets a good amount she’ll eat on both sides for 10-15 minutes and go a good 2-3 hours between sessions. I guess that’s more “textbook” of her. And omg she has a super latch, ouch. But no super rooting reflex, I can brush her cheek and she won’t often turn but instead get confused and just open her mouth or turn the wrong direction, etc. and then get angry when there’s nothing there! Silliness.
The two ways she is like B are that she can pretty much hold her head up already and when she’s awake she’s super alert. Like if you have her against your shoulder, she can lift her head right up and turn it and hold it there briefly. And then when she’s not sleeping (which seems like she does pretty much all the time!) she’s just looking around at everything with her eyes all wide. And she doesn’t just stare, she follows things with her eyes a bit and it really looks like she’s observing and taking notes!
The first full night in the hospital was a little rough as we were figuring her out. I do actually remember that first night with B being hard and overwhelming too, but I had no idea what I was doing and was so exhausted I was totally out of it. M is just more complicated! 🙂 We did figure out that she was having gas pains, and once we did it got much better on how to make her happy. It’s even better now that the gas pains are going away as her system adjusts or whatever. Now the issue is getting her to sleep on her own sometimes… or I’ll be spending a lot more nights sleeping with her in the recliner in the livimg room!
I don’t think I did really feel that insta-bond and knowing that I did with B. I’ve been so afraid of that. But I also am starting to think that part of it might be because “knowing” her has preceded actually meeting her or even her physical existence. It is certain that she is perfect for us and we all love her very much!
Enjoying my Sunshine 