First week being a mummy

The night before coming home - he was up all night and would only settle on me - I didn't sleep :P

A week ago today Squidge and I came home from hospital and began our family life together with the hubby.  It's been the most amazing, wonderful and tiring week I've ever had, and I've been somewhat emotional.  It's been filled with ups and downs but it's an experience I wouldn't change for anything.

The week started off very difficult.  Apart from being very sore from the stitches and the long labour (read more about that here), I'd also had a sleepless night at the hospital the night before - Squidge just wouldn't settle - no nurses were on hand to help me and I had no idea what he needed (it turned out he wanted more food, but I had no idea).  Needless to say it's been a big learning curve for me (and the hubby).  He'd only settle on me, so I had to stay awake until about 5am when I managed to get him to sleep for an hour, I was utterly exhausted.

Our first night at home was no better - we learned that cluster feeding existed the hard way and didn't get any sleep until 7am once we put Squidge in his Poddle Pod (what a life saver!).  We did discover a day or two later that keeping the lamp on in the bedroom seems to stop him cluster feeding and feeding normally, we've learned to sleep with the light on now :)

The next couple of nights were much better, he'd sleep for a good couple of hours between feeds which is enough to keep us feeling human.

The highlights

• Watching Squidge's face and all the little expressions he pulls when he's sleeping
• Endless cuddles from the little man, and knowing how well he soothes when cuddled up to me
• Seeing his Daddy take care of him - melts my heart - hubby is such an amazing father
• His smell - a mixture of milk and the Aldi non-bio washing powder
• Finally being able to express enough milk so that he's almost 100% fed on breast milk and not formula
• Going to the breastfeeding clinic yesterday and seeing Squidge latch on and successfully feed, then him feeding again when we were back at home, twice! (here's why it's been so stressful) 

The lows

• The frustrations I've had with breastfeeding - I've shed many tears over it
• Sleep deprivation
• So many poopy nappies!!!  As much as some of them smell horrendous, it's mixed with pride that he's filling them :)
• Finding it difficult to get on top of everything like the washing and housework - we've been so tired we just don't have the energy for it

It's been the most wonderful week of my life and one of the most difficult.  We've had immense support from the hubby's parents who have taking loads of washing away for us, brought food over and a gazillion other things I couldn't even begin to list (thank you both) :)

Georgina <3

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