The honeymoon period is ending...

First afternoon home. Cuddles with Daddy.

At exactly 1:55pm today, little Daisy will be one week old. I CAN NOT BELIEVE how fast this week has gone! Yet, at the same time, it has felt as though time stood still. The first week of motherhood has definitely seemed like being in a time-warp.

Crazily, it was hard for Hubby and I to leave the hospital. We were just getting the hang of things, cocooned in our warm, dark little room with the help of nurses, lactation consultants, and the nursery at night, and then (all too soon, it seemed) we were out in the bright, white light of a Monday afternoon, heading home with our daughter for the first time with tears in our eyes. The change was evident right away in Hubby's driving style, pulling over when a "mad mom in a mini-van" tailgated us down a Folsom side street. We would have been laughing at ourselves if we hadn't already been crying at the ludicrousness of it all.

Yes, there has been a lot of crying (99% tears of joy or just being overwhelmed with emotions, I might add) in the last 7 days - and from both of us. Hubby is a bit confused about how he managed to "contract" baby blues although it has become quite entertaining, laughing through our tears whenever one of us starts to sob for no good reason.

Now, the next transition is that Hubby is easing himself back into work today. For both of us it is just too soon, but needs must. There is just NO WAY I could have got through the last week of recovery and motherhood without him. We've mad a GREAT team and enjoyed every minute of our time together, figuring out parenthood for the first time. It hasn't always been pleasant (and believe me, after a c-section, there are some things you just never thought you'd have to "share" with your husband) but, at every step of the way, it has been a reaffirmation of our love and friendship, which has now exponentially grown to encompass our love for Daisy. He has sworn that he won't cry when he leaves us today but I can't promise the same thing, so I think overall it's probably just a losing battle. Although we both know he's coming back (and as soon as he can, if he has anything to do with it), irrationally it feels like he's going to be gone forever. I think it has more to do with the recognition that our blissfull little honeymoon period is coming to an end; we're mourning for that as much as him being physically gone for a few hours a day.

As for me, I'm recovering pretty well. Between my two surgeries int he past 13 months, I've discovered that things are rarely as dire as you anticipate them to be before-hand. I'm already getting around pretty normally, although I'm slow and have my limits (which I AM respecting.) We're already back upstairs, sleeping in our bedroom, and I'm not having any problems negotiating the stairs or the majority of basic tasks around the house. Obviously, lifting anything but Daisy and bending down to pick stuff up off the floor is still a problem, so I'm not doing those things (which is where Hubby has come in VERY handy.) My incision is still pretty sore and starting to feel tight as it heals. Hubby has assured me that everything looks normal down there and I'm taking his word for it - just like for my hip surgery, I refuse to look at it. If I can't see it, I can't visualize it, if I can't visualize it, I can almost ignore it and not freak out.

Breastfeeding has been going relatively well also. As I said in my previous post, I never thought I would get past 2 days, let alone a whole week, although I definitely see the potential to get frustrated with it at some point in the near future. But, we'll see... I think it's safe to say that I've remained open beyond most people's expectations in this department and I intend to remain so. Right now the biggest challenge is keeping up with my little munchkin's needs and trying to keep her awake enough to eat enough at each sitting. We're working on it. I am also pumping - the world's most surreal experience I might add. It's important to me that Hubby also get that special bonding time with Daisy and, hopefully if I can produce enough, Mum and Dad can also.

Daisy herself is doing well, although her clock seems to be backwards right now. She's super sleepy all day (we literally can't wake her up sufficiently!) and we barely have a murmur out of her and then, as soon as it gets to 9pm+, she becomes the complete opposite - impossible to stay asleep, fussy, yelling, inconsolable, and wriggly. Hubby and I have been splitting the night shift and seem, so far at least, to be able to minimize the impact on one another's overall sleep quota but I'd be lying if I said it was easy. More than anything it's frustrating because we can't figure out WHY it is that she's so chill during the day and yet the opposite at night. Of course, there's probably a multitude of reasons and some of them are not even "solveable", so we're not stressing out about it. She's only a week old, for heaven's sake, and we're all new at this. We're cutting each other some slack - me, Hubby, and Daisy. I'm aware that some of it might be something I'm eating that is getting through to my breast milk, so I am going to start a food diary today to see if there are any patterns. However, the time deliniation of her behavior (night/day) is so consistent and specific that I'm inclined to believe that this has little to do with the overall problem. I guess we'll play the elimination game and see what comes out of it.

What else has happened this week? Well, Daisy had her first pediatric appointment and passed with flying colors. Hubby, however, was told to "chill out" by the doctor, haha! Hubby's Mom (aka: Grammie) came down on Wednesday (or was it Tuesday? Jeez! Who knows anymore?) and hung out with us for the afternoon which was really special (see pic below.) Meanwhile Mum and Dad being down the street has been really nice. They have been cooking for us, running errands, and popping over, if only briefly, at least once a day. It's comforting to know they are there.

Here are some other random pics from our first week of parenthood... enjoy!

On our way to our first Pediatrician appointment


Cuddles with Grammie


Morning cuddles with Daddy


Morning cuddles with a bleary-eyed Mummy


All dressed-up and ready to head home from the hospital