Ethan - Week 3

Today marks three weeks since Ethan was born. It is so hard to believe and time really is flying by. Everybody said that it would, and they were not kidding! Ethan has been such a joy and a blessing to our lives. Sometimes I just look at him and am in awe that he is actually here with us and that I was able to get through pregnancy and labor and delivery without any real complications. (I was oblivious to the scare that occurred when he was born so I never experienced that fear or anxiety until well after the fact.) It still seems absolutely surreal that Patrick and I are actually parents and that for the rest of our lives we have a son. Here's a little bit about how he's doing so far:

Ethan is a champion sleeper at night. I could not ask for more at this stage in his development (although I am so looking forward to the day when he drops one of his two middle of the night feedings! Alas, he is too young for that just yet...) After his 10:00 pm feeding I put him down in his pack n play in our room (I am way too overprotective to let him sleep in his nursery yet...why did I spend so much time, energy and money putting a super cute nursery together? By the time I feel comfortable letting him out of my sight it will probably be time for his "big boy" room. But I digress...) He's up again every 3 - 4 hours but as soon as he is done feeding I put him right back down and he is out like a light. I hope this doesn't change because it has made my life much easier. I can drop back into sleep immediately these days so it helps to have a baby who does the same at night.

Days are a different story...After I feed Ethan during the daytime hours, he will spend the next 20-30 minutes having some quiet alert time. During this time I will put him on his activity mat and he'll kind of pay attention to some of the toys on it. (It really depends on the day though, because sometimes he is oblivious to the objects around him.) He'll follow my finger if I move it around in front of him and I also sing him some of the classics - NKOTB's The Right Stuff, Hangin' Tough, and I'll Be Loving You Forever as well as the theme song to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. (Hey, it's one of the few songs to which I actually know all the words!) I've started giving him some "tummy time" during these awake periods, but he is not a fan of it at all. He makes these pathetic little whimpering sounds as he strains to pull his head up and I usually feel so sorry for him that tummy time doesn't last for more than a few minutes.

After about half an hour of awake time he falls asleep again until it is time for the next feeding. However, during the day if I put him down in his pack n play he wakes back up after a few minutes crying to get out. He will sleep for the next hour or two in his bouncy seat, vibrating chair, or swing though, so that's where he has taken to napping during the day. I'm not sure if this makes me a bad mom yet, but my survival instincts are to keep him (and me!) happy and this arrangement allows me to shower, do things like update this blog and work on his baby book, and even eat all my meals. (I've heard of new moms claiming that they forgot or were too busy to eat, but this new mama has thus far not had that problem!) Perhaps one day I will address the issue of putting him in his actual bed for his nap times, but considering we are only three weeks into getting a routine established I will take what I can get. If anybody has any advice to help though, I am all ears!

I can officially say that all the pregnancy pounds are gone (I am floored by this because I have not yet been cleared to exercise and I am not missing any meals or snacks!) but I will say that half of my pre-pregnancy wardrobe does not fit yet. I'm not sure if some serious time in the gym will fix this situation or if my body has changed forever (I'm starting to think that it will be the latter of the two, but we'll see.) I feel very fortuante to be in this situation, but at the same time I am really hoping that I'll actually be able to fit into the rest of my clothes sometime in the next couple of months. Seeing as how I am unemployed, I cannot afford to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe so whatever no longer fits is just lost and cannot be replaced. Ugh!

I had no idea how much your body goes through to support a pregnancy and labor/delivery. I am definitely feeling a lot better these days than I was initially, but I am still not close to being fully recovered. Oh, and here's a story for you - so one of the first days that we were home I was so sleep deprived that when I was walking down the stairs I managed to slip and fall down our large set of stairs. Fortunately I was not carrying Ethan at the time (it scares to think about what could have happened!) but I landed squarely on my bottom and slid down until my feet hit the floor. I had to call the doctor's office since I landed right where I'm all stitched back together and was humiliated to have to talk directly to the doctor that had just delivered Ethan and tell him about what a ridiculous new mom I had become. Here's my advice to everybody out there - allow people that offer to help to help you so that you do not become the sleep deprived person falling down the stairs. In those early days I told Patrick to sleep in the guest room so he wouldn't be up with the baby and could get a full night's sleep. Ha! That arrangement has changed and now in the middle of the night he helps with what I need and I'm more rested (although he's slightly more tired.) I somehow thought that I could do it all...evidently it took falling down the stairs to show me that I cannot!

Ethan and I are at home together most days and I am really looking forward to getting the all clear from his pediatrician to start bringing him out into the world. Hopefully at his one month appointment we'll ge the green light to start running errands and things of that nature together. I'm going a little stir crazy being stuck at home all day every day and getting out to run errands would make all the difference in the world. It's been way too hot for me to take Ethan on many walks around the neighborhood (we've done two so far in three weeks) but I will say that if he has a super fussy day that his stroller/car seat is going to be my lifesaver. As soon as we put him in his car seat (which connects to his stroller) that kid is out. We've taken him over to our neighbor's house several times and pretty much just left him in the car seat the entire time because it puts him right to sleep. I can see why some parents end up taking their kids for drives to put them to sleep because I honestly believe that a car seat/stroller has magical powers. Hopefully I won't have to put them to good use, but since Ethan is a baby I am sure that my days of "purple crying" are coming in the not too distant future and I want to have several potential solutions ready in my arsenal to make those times as manageable as possible for both of us.

There really isn't too much to report from here right now. Yesterday was one of the first days that the three of us were able to spend alone together as a family since Patrick went back to work and it was wonderful. I love our little family so much! Tonight Patrick and I have our fantasy football draft so cross your fingers that I get some good picks. This is the first time that I've been able to field my own team and I am excited but nervous about it. I really want to do well, but I am going in with low expectations since I really haven't ever done this on my own before. I'll keep you posted on our progress.