My baby boy is three weeks old today. When I set up this blog I imagined posting days after my due date, watching whole series on Netflix as I waited for him to arrive, blogging about packing my hospital bag and baking lasagnes (and more equally riveting topics). But as it turned out, my Jack was a week early. He didn’t want to be I don’t think, and the labour was anything but smooth, but two tense days and one emergency C-section later, here he is.
Nothing can prepare you for being responsible for another person. Albeit a really, really small one.
Here are some of the things I’ve learned so far, about the early days of parenthood
- Time. There is no point planning to do anything. Because your little bab will sleep like an angel (for 3-hour stints) one night and the next spend the whole night screaming, thrashing, feeding, pooing and generally being pretty hard work. Which WILL leave you incapable of functioning the next day. They’ll also spend several days feeding every three hours on the dot and then one or two wanting milk at least every 10 minutes. And there are only so many John Lewis parent rooms in existence. I’ve only found time to write this because Adam has come home from work and taken the little man out for a walk.
- Breastfeeding. Even when your baby feeds like a dream, it’s hard work. Every single midwife, breastfeeding expert, parent, health visitor and butcher/ baker etc etc has an opinion, advice, wisdom on the matter. But sometimes your baby just doesn’t want to do it right.
- Water. I’ve never known thirst like it. Drinking all the water in the world while breastfeeding is a good idea.
- Terror. I’ve never, EVER experienced fear like the fear for my little boy’s health. For a first time parent pretty much anything they do is scary. Are they breathing too fast? Are they too hot? Have they slept for too long? Luckily, GPs, midwives and health visitors take your baby’s health as seriously as you do.
- Hormones. Prepare to cry a lot. Through frustration, happiness, upset, tiredness. And if your baby cries for longer than 5 minutes, you’ll likely start too. Now is also a good time to watch a few Richard Curtis romcoms and have a good sob. I watched About Time on Netflix while feeding Jack and had a good 10 minute weep at how beautiful it all was.
- LOVE. Overwhelming, all-consuming, scary amounts of love for this little thing that you’ve brought into the world. And the responsibility of keeping them safe forever.
I’ll do my best by you, Jack.