Welcome back, friends. As you can imagine life is crazier than ever for us since we welcomed our 5th child so this post is a month long catch up. I’m hoping to get back into regular blogs now that things have calmed down. We shall see.
Ironically I’ve struggled with adjusting this time. That’s a first for me. With my other children I never missed a beat. It was a breeze and we fell into a new routine each time quickly. Sure having a newborn is always a big change but as far as schedule goes and finding a new flow, it was smooth. Not this time. Granger had latch issues from day one. He cried a lot and didn’t sleep well at night. His latch would improve then it would get bad again. It was a lot of up and down emotionally. On top of that my older children were all 3 on Christmas break and my husband works 6 days a week so I jumped straight into taking care of 5 kids by myself. Not to mention my 2 year old adapting to not being the youngest anymore or having just my attention all day. She was now sharing her week days with her newborn brother AND her older siblings. As a breastfeeding mom, it’s time consuming. Newborns typically nurse 20-30 minutes every hour or two. That’s roughly 30 minutes every hour that I was feeding Gray and not able to focus just on my other children. Mom guilt for neglecting to give them all of the attention that I wanted to plus having to find time to do household chores while also nursing a toddler too was very hard on me. The little to no sleep was beating me down physically. The baby is a month old now and we are finally figuring things out. The big kids went back to school so that helps with my time management. When they get home I have already finished my household chores and spent quality alone time with each of the younger two kids so I can focus just on the bigs between baby feedings. Gray sleeps in 1 1/2 hour spurts pretty regularly so I’m getting more rest at night. He’s less fussy and his latch has improved. I’m feeling less like a failure and more confident in myself as a mom of five. I had hit this point where I thought to myself ‘I’m officially just a mom. No more Callee. No more pampering myself on occasion. No more cute outfits with nice hair and makeup done.’ I’m slumming it in hats, leggings, and tees with less than 60 seconds put into throwing on makeup. However, Brian gave me a long pep talk about the importance of never losing sight of the importance of still taking care of me. He said that he can only do so much to take care of me but I have to also make myself a priority as much as possible. It was the reminder that I needed. Not only am I emotionally doing better but I have lost all of my pregnancy weight plus some. I didn’t need stitches so I physically felt pretty normal shortly after birth. Brian and I managed to wait a whole 2 1/2 weeks to get back to baby making. Oops. All in all I’m just feeling so much better. Our routine is good. My stress levels are minimal. My kids have adjusted to adding him to the family. We found our normal and it feels amazing. I feel amazing. If you are struggling with life as a mom, don’t be so hard on yourself. Grace. Grace. Grace. It’s the hardest responsibility in the world. It’s the scariest and most important role that we will ever have. It’s a lot, y’all. It’s okay to take awhile to find your groove. It’s okay to ask for help. Aside from Brian: My mom, grandma, and mother in law got me through. They took the older kids to sports practices and dentist appointments. They made us dinner on nights that we were busy. They have picked the kids up from school and brought them to me so I didn’t have to leave the house. They have helped with laundry and errands. My mom even sat with my littles so I could get a quick manicure. They are just all around incredible and I am so lucky.
Brian is on cloud 9 to have another boy. The first thing that he does when he gets home is ask for baby cuddles. He has picked up the slack with our older kids. He cooked 90% of the meals for the first several weeks after I gave birth. He gets the kids ready for school if I’m asleep when it’s time to get up. Not just that but he’s taken care of me too. He is such a loving and nurturing soul. He baby’s me big time. Now more than ever which says a lot because anyone who knows us knows how much he caters to me. The way that he takes care of me so passionately is 100% why I haven’t had postpartum anxiety in a severe way. He isn’t able to help much with the actually baby part of this because I’m the one with tits but he helps with everything else which in return helps me greatly. I get super emotional when I think about all of the ways that he’s there for me. I wish that I could repay him for just how much he’s rescued me.
The big kids are obsessed with their brother. Our toddler is mama hen big time. If he cries, she gets so concerned. She tells us to hurry up and get him. She doesn’t like it when anyone but me or Brian holds him. She stands over them and just watches him. She kisses him on the feet a million times a day. The other 3 kids have an incredible habit of hand washing all on their own. They change their clothes the second they get home then wash their hands. They even started lysoling their shoes outside before bringing them in. It’s extremely precious. They don’t kiss his face or hands. They just naturally are so mindful for germs and protecting him. I had no clue that they were listening to me before he was born when I was explaining why germ control is very important. Hudson is probably the most crazy about him. He is so so thrilled to have a brother. He is truly in love with him. Draws him pictures all of the time and brings him little ‘boy toys’. He makes forts and has me get in it with the baby. He can’t wait until they can play together. It makes me even more thankful that we had another boy.
As for the baby himself, he’s growing so much. He’s over 9 lbs now and 22” long. We naturally treated his jaundice with sunlight therapy in our living room. Perks of having a giant window wall. His latch is great. He’s sleeping better. He smiles and giggles. He can roll from his back to his sides and he has great head control. He’s a little tank baby and so chubby. We love him so much and are so happy to have him in our lives.
6 DAYS POST PARTUM 👇🏻
Post a Comment