1st week: We had many highs including going home from the hospital; I think I had to reassure Paul that it was ok to drive a little faster. ;) We forgot the diaper bag on our first outing to the pediatrician's office. Kind of a newbie-parent move to have to ask the receptionist at the pediatrician's office for a newborn diaper and wipes. Lol. Apparently they've seen it all and had plenty on hand. The dogs have been awesome around baby Norah! I think they're disturbed by the crying in the middle of the night...aren't we all? Aside from that, they are careful and accepting of the newest addition to the family. They may even get more walks in the future when we get out more and more and walk Norah. They'll like that. :) My sweet Momma came and stayed a week and my sister Casi and her son, William, joined. My mom is a master swaddler and it made me feel a little more at ease having her there to know what to do. The noise level was intense with Norah and William in the same house, but we managed to make it work and have a few laughs in between the cries. It made me think about the kind of things my Mom had to go through with me when I was a baby. I realized even during pregnancy that becoming a parent, Mother or Father, means one thing: absolute willingness to sacrifice for your own. It made me look at my own Momma a little differently. :)
2nd Week: We learned our baby girl was struggling with reflux. Our Doc prescribed her baby Zantac which seemed to be working very well. We struggled with sleep, but who doesn't with a newborn in the house? We had my dad over to help with the baby, but he left that job to me and tended to the lawn work and trying to fix our somewhat dilapidated fence. He ended up cutting the cable line in the process...uh oh! We also had my sister Jami, her hubby George and their two angels, Lenea & Skylar, over for the weekend. It was nice to see everyone and share the 'baby experience' with seasoned veterans, but I was exhausted from the company after they left and looking to get back into 'figuring out our princess' with her Daddy.
3rd week: Was a testament to my ability to multitask as Paul traveled to Wast Texas for work, leaving me alone to fend for myself. I'm becoming a champ at maneuvering with the baby and getting things done with one hand. It's amazing what you can accomplish if you really try. ;) Also, I experimented with the Moby wrap (as did Paul) so that we could carry her with us and still get stuff done. The problem is getting her out of the darn thing. I'm going to try to come up with my own wrap that has quicker in/out access.
4th week: Paul had to travel again to OK for a few days and when he was gone I thought I was going to pull out my hair. Norah screamed and cried and wasn't consoled by ANYTHING. I finally had enough and took her to the doctor's office to see if her reflux medicine wasn't working. Memere and I had to wait about 20 minutes for the doctor to come in, and while we waited we listed to an inconsolable Norah scream for practically the entire time. Not the kind of crying that I've heard most babies do, but screaming like we were torturing her. It's awful to hear her cry like that. Doc gave us the bad news that Norah was probably developing colic. I've only read about colic in my weekly pregnancy-turned-mom updates but it sounds like some sort of torture camp: colicky babies cry for no less than 3 hours a day and that's on the low end. When the doc shared his own personal feelings of having 2 out of his 3 kids who had colic, this mama got a couple of tears in her eyes realizing that the last two nights that had left me extremely sleep-deprived and a stressed out/emotional mess were likely going to be the 'norm'. However, after thinking about what I had eaten over the last couple of days I realized (after some research...thank goodness for google) that I had been eating chocolate and had a few cups of coffee, both triggers for colic. Some babies can't process caffeine so that's a biggie!!! So after cutting those out completely and changing up my burping/feeding techniques slightly we're back to having a baby that still cries, but that is able to be consoled and doesn't get to those gut-wrenching screams where all you're seeing is gums and the top of their mouth because they're crying so hard...very hard to watch and feel helpless. Thank goodness that those couple of days seemed like a fluke and thank goodness that Memere decided to come and stay to help me when she did....I needed those breaks to take naps & to reclaim my sanity. 
5th week: which ended 3/27, was awesome. We've been trying to push ourselves to go out into the world and do things like 'regular' people with little Norah in tow. We've tried to time our outings so that she's fed right before leaving and it's been awesome. It's allowed us the freedom to go out and have Paul and Kali time (mini dates) to just enjoy each other's company and reflect on how our lives have changed over the last couple of weeks. It's awesome to be able to have that time with my husband to look at him and remember how much love we have in our lives and in our family. :)
Breastfeeding is difficult & messy but very very rewarding! We have been very blessed that Norah knows just what to do intuitively when it comes to nursing...I've heard some bad stories about breastfeeding, but we've been lucky. I think I have been changing my shirt twice if not three times a day since we started this journey...but it's all a learning curve. I burp her in the middle of feeding and refrain from fast movements or I'll get hosed! Lol. It still astounds me that I can provide all the nourishment our little girl needs...for quite a long time in her life. I'm going to try to make it a full year of breastfeeding with her. Of course that means pumping for daycare, date nights, nightly feeds etc. but it's well worth it when you weigh the nutritional benefits. We've made it out in public several times by now and I've had to feed her twice in public. I don't think I will EVER be one of those women who's comfortable 'whipping them out' in public to feed. Don't get me wrong I will do whatever it takes to feed my baby girl and I do think it's a wonderfully natural, beautiful thing; however, exposing myself in public is JUST NOT ME!
Nighttime is getting easier and easier over all; however, like most other things with a newborn each time you think you've got something figured out and there is a schedule in place something changes. We actually recently had our best night since birth...only woke up twice between 10pm and 7:30am a few nights ago. It was awesome! We've also started having Paul do one of the feedings at night so Mama can sleep a little longer in between nursing. We're still having to experiment with different bottles/nipples to find the perfect harmony in between not enough milk and Norah becoming exceedingly pissed off, versus too much milk at one time and choking. W're staying positive though, she has no problem going back and forth between breastfeeding and bottle-feeding. That's great! I can't wait until we can sleep a solid 5 or 6 hours at night but for now we're at a pretty good average of 2 1/2 hrs between nursing/feedings and rocking her back to sleep. BathTime has been interesting lately. She really seems to enjoy being in the water and feeling the warmth as I dump little pink pitcher after pitcher over her tummy and head. However, she has had great timing for pooping, peeing & throwing up on me & in the water. Oh, what's having a newborn in the house IF NOT extremely messy business! Haha!!
We've been struggling to even put her down while she sleeps as she seems to need the warmth of our bodies holding her and the positioning of being on her tummy (which is a big no no when they are sleeping alone in their cribs due to SIDS) so it's been interesting to try to find the perfect time to do bathtime or take a walk or have tummy time. But with each passing week she's getting bigger and stronger and allowing us to put her down in the swing, in her bassinet or wedged in the boppy for longer and longer without crying. We've been working on getting her to go to sleep on her own too...with the help of Mommy or Daddy's hands cradling her chest, a pacifier and a little lamb (one of the best gifts ever...from Ryan & Jeremy) that plays white noise. I've learned what patience truly is...
Some of the best moments after the last couple of weeks include:
- Watching Paul play with Norah. He loves singing crazy 90's songs or rock classics! He's crazy so anything goes...even a little 'gangnam style' this evening!
- Watching her develop a relationship with me. Just today she looked up at me and smiled the biggest 'I know who you are and you make me happy smile'.
- Refalling in love with Paul...even through some of the more challenging 'what the heck are we doing wrong, this is crazy stressful' moments. I especially loved the night that we finally finally finally got Norah to calm down and sat down to eat a little spaghetti. We were both sooo stressed out! We were watching "Chopped" on Food Network and he remarked about how much he loved Seafood. So I asked Paul if he liked ALL seafood? Of course he said yes so I took a big bite, chewed it up a bit and opened my mouth and muttered 'see...... food!' I love being silly with him! It's just us being ourselves.
- Having everyone comment on how beautiful she is...especially from the newborn photos. They were able to truly catch her beauty! It's magical.
And probably the best moment was a few days after Paul came back from Oklahoma and I had rocked her to sleep and I was able to sit down with Paul, watch tv and cuddle on the couch, realizing that the colic nightmare from just a few days prior seemed like it had gone away and we could relax and 'enjoy the ride' again. We're having so much fun with Norah but working hard at making each situation work for us too. We strive to still have 'a life' even if it isn't the life we had before where we can enjoy our friends and families company. We do not want to be hermits!
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