2.5 Weeks In

She’s 2.5 weeks old already. We weighed her yesterday on our scale at home and it said 8 pounds even. It’s already beginning…the number of times I’ll say this time is going too fast. And I feel even more it’s good to make note of the days before they pass too quickly and my sleep deprived mind forgets. I made notes in Elizabeth’s early days and they are still some of my favorite to look back on.

A Look Back at your First Week

9/25/14 – You were born at 5:55 pm

9/26/14 – after just 36 or so hours after checking in to the hospital we brought you home.

9/27/14 – we took our very first, very short walk around the block.

9/28/14 – your first time to the park that is literally less than 1/4 mile from our house

9/29/14 – first trip to the pediatrician’s office

9/30/14 – first trip to Target as a family of 4

10/1/14 – first trip to storytime at the library

10/2/14 – first time to BSF (One week old!)

Meghan at 2.5 weeks

Your first week home was a bit of a blur. Grandma came to help the day that we all came home from the hospital and just 24 hours after arriving she slipped on a step and broke her ankle. Mommy took her to the ER while daddy stayed home with you girls. After all that crazy she stayed for a couple more days and snuggled you up.

At 2.5 weeks old, you are just starting to wake up a bit. Up until now, you would eat and then fall right back asleep and now we are able to see your beautiful eyes a bit more often, thankfully not that often at night! You continue to be a textbook baby…Elizabeth was textbook with a bit of grumpy and we have yet to see the grumpy come out in you. Although it’s still early and I KNOW this will all change probably daily or weekly until you are older, but as of now you are a sweet and content baby. Especially with a sister who loves to cuddle you and squeeze you up. You rarely cry unless you have a gassy tummy or need help going back to sleep. At night you are sleeping longer stretches, longest was almost 5 hours. Usually you wake 3 times in the night, 3-4 hours from your last feeding so mommy is actually getting some good stretches of sleep.

Mommy at 2.5 weeks

This time around Mommy was a bit smarter. We all learned a valuable lesson the first time around with your sister and so I have been really diligent about making sure I am not over-doing it. It may seem given the list of firsts during your first week that we did a lot but I can assure you that we did not.

After Elizabeth was born, I didn’t know how to just sit and relax. Because she slept so much and I felt pretty good, I jumped right back into life full force and as a result ended up struggling with PPD and being really frustrated towards Alex. I kept our house, went about errands, and resented the fact that he didn’t help more. Before Meghan came we talked a lot about how things would look. We enlisted my mother to come and stay for a bit (although that looked much different than expected) and we worked far more as a team. After a couple of days home it became evident that my day would go much easier if we did something that was regular and consistent for Elizabeth. She was acting up a bit and as soon as we started to go out a bit more it ended. I really think she was just bored.

This time around I should also mention that recovery was far easier. I didn’t tear and didn’t need any stitches and so my soreness was quite decreased. Nursing came easily to Meghan and I and so that didn’t take a lot of learning either. Other than our short walks or short trips out for an hour or two in the mornings, I’ve been laying low at home. And that means for the most part our house is a mess (for us). It’s a phase but we’re giving each other grace this time around and both pitching in because we know the payoff of me taking it a bit easy is worth it.

We still head out most mornings to do an activity or we just stay home and play downstairs. I shower every other day it seems so far and take naps most afternoons. Thankfully I’ve been getting some good stretches of sleep at night and rest in during the day. I’ve realized it takes a bit more planning and prep at night to get out for activities, but it seems having done this once before definitely helps. I know what to expect (for the most part), I know when to rest (for the most part) and I know when to let things go.

As far as postpartum depression goes, I’m really trying to only do what I can and let things go which is really hard for this German girl. I want to do everything myself…obviously help is appreciated! Alex has been amazing again this time around and so helpful. It has really helped that his schedule has been a bit flexible allowing for us to have man to man coverage for outings and just extra hands for cuddling and hugs. We’ve been trying very intentionally to have special time for Elizabeth…which is easier right now while the baby still sleeps quite a bit.

One day we will climb out of this mess but right now it’s a mess I’m delighted to make.