Confessions of a First Time Mom - Survival of the first 8 weeks

Its been a little over a month since my last post as I have been VERY busy taking care of a newborn. Which made me realize I needed to write a post about this experience before I forget. 

First thing I want to say before I write anything for this blog post is “I’m sorry”, I want to apologize to all the moms out there, because before I became a mom of a newborn, I was judgmental about what new moms did with their time, I mean all babies do 18 hours a day is sleep... Bahaha (insert evil laugh here) ohhhh did I have a rude awakening when I brought home that precious little baby. I just had no idea... and I don’t think anyone can understand unless they go through it themselves. May be it’s Gods evil plan for women to have to birth a 7 lb little human out of your who-ha and then not let you sleep for 7 days straight on top of dealing with hormonal changes. I read so many books on pregnancy and newborns, took the classes, and NOTHING can prepare you for that first week with your newborn. It’s beautiful and horrible all at the same time. I am hoping this blog post resonates with all the moms out there and gives some guidance to the newborn mom that might be searching on the internet at 3am who is sleep deprived looking for clarity, or someone who they can relate to because they think they are going bat shit crazy.
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Sleeping: Sleep? What’s that? Babies sleep 15-18 hours a day as a newborn... but what they don’t tell you is it’s 15 min here and an hour there and don’t forget they will have roughly 12 dirty diapers a day, that’s roughly changing a newborn every 2 hours and you have to feed every 2 hours.... and if you are pumping... you have to find time in that 2 hour slot too. So between changing, feeding, pumping, and putting the baby to sleep... that gives you may be a 20 min nap time every 2-3 hours if you are lucky because you also need to find time to eat and use the bathroom!!! How do you survive? Well you kind of don’t, you become a zombie mom for at least that the first week. On top of that, the hormonal stress and the pain in your who-ha will leave you crying in the 5 min shower you were able to get while your husband watches the baby. I don’t know how all the single moms do it?! Hats off to you! It truly is the hardest job in the world! The sleep deprivation will KILL you and if you were like me as a first time mom, waiting for your milk to come in while the pediatrician is telling you your baby is dehydrated did not help the situation! Which leads me to...

Breast Milk & Formula: I had to supplement with formula which I felt horrible about because I wasn’t producing the nutrients my baby needed. My milk came in on day 3, I can’t imagine being a mom and the milk not coming in till day 5! This added on a lot of stress, especially because my baby was born 7 lbs 2oz and dropped to 6 lbs 4 oz. I knew I had to supplement because the baby needed it, and man did she down that formula! We bought a pack of @Enfamil Liquid Formula, no mixing... just screw on the nipple cap and go. When my breast milk came in, it was learning to get the baby to latch right. Your nipples HURT! Mine bled, they were very very sore. I highly recommend hiring a lactation consultant to come to your house and help you with breast feeding positions. Your back will hurt from leaning over a lot. The side lying hold was my saving grace, I would be able to get a cat nap while feeding the baby. I had my husband watch over us so I didn’t roll over on her in my sleep. YIKES! I am sure there are accidents as such, because again, the Sleep Deprivation is real!

I got SUPER lucky with a sleepy baby. Kenna was sleeping 4+ hours on week 1 and has been consistent so far all the way up to 8 weeks. Her record is 9 hours straight. I let her feed and sleep on demand but have been super strict with a nighttime routine and she has it down. Let’s just hope it stays that way.
The first 4 weeks we were going to bed at 10pm, right before bed I would feed Kenna on the breast, but at night my milk supply was depleted, she was always still hungry. So we would give her pumped milk from earlier in the day and get her super milk drunk and that allowed her to sleep longer.
After week 4, Kenna started to refuse the bottle and would cry and cry until she exhausted herself and pass out. So we stopped giving her the pumped milk after feeding after she had tantrums 2 nights in a row. She was going to sleep just fine without the pumped milk which was great because then I was able to start a stash.
There is a down fall for having a sleepy baby... I have a bit of a supply issue. She would fall asleep when breast feeding and not empty the breast. I let her become a snacker and that hurt my supply. It took me 3-4 (15 min) pumping sessions to get 2 oz of milk and worrying Kenna wasn’t getting enough, we were weighing her with the Hatch Baby to make sure she was gaining. I was taking Lactation Supplements and Mother’s Milk to help with supply but both had the ingredient Fenugreek which made me SO GASSY and the Baby Gassy! It was awful, she was so fussy and we looked to Gripe Water and Simithicone. The gripe water did not work and the gas relief only seemed to work a little bit. A girlfriend of mine told me to look into Legendairy Milk who sells products for breast milk supply. None of their products have fenugreek in it, which is great! After switching, I am no longer gassy and neither is the baby. I am also pumping more now; 3-4 oz in one 15 min session, I think that is help from the supplements and tincture but also because baby is eating more as she is growing.

Pumping: I purchased a Naya Smart Pump in January 2018 for $800, it was back ordered and arrived in June. My insurance doesn’t cover breast pumps because I am grandfathered into an older insurance plan. DO NOT buy a NAYA! Waste of money, the pump is great itself but the company's customer service is horrendous.  I ended up buying a Spectra S1. 

Clothes: I bought Kenna a TON of clothes and she only wears 1/4 of them. Why? Because I realized baby clothes need to easy and with 12 changes a day I put her in the sleep and play outfits because then I didn't have to worry about socks and I knew she wouldn't be cold. One zip and done! 

Overall, its been a rough 8 weeks but also wonderful, I have been enjoying all the cuddle time I can get, lots of pictures and videos to remember these memories by. And now I go back to work! Thankfully, husband and I work from home so Kyle will be able to take care of the baby and we hired a part time nanny to come over and help as well. Looking forward to going back to work as its been a long time and will be playing catch up.  To all the mamas out there... I commend you, newborns are not easy!