Month 1 in Review: Mom's Point of View

• Sleep is rare. The age old advice of sleep when the baby sleeps is near impossible. The baby only sleeps minutes at a time. You can't even measure their sleep in hours at a time. I remember screeching to Mark... "if I sleep when the baby sleeps, when do I eat or go to the bathroom?!?!"
• It gets better. What they don't follow that up with is that it gets better when they are 3-4 months old. For a first time parent, that is almost an eternity. You have to keep in mind that previously, my idea of exhaustion was an all-nighter. I have now pulled an all-monther. That is a whole nother level.
• Newborns all have gas to some extent. Some worse than others. And some process it easier than others. Before you reach for Mylicon, try Gripe Water. It is an all natural herbal supplement alternative. It was our saving grace when Mia was about 10 days old until recently. Literally, we could hear her digesting as she was taking the water. Incredible. Don't say I never told you. For some reason, no one ever mentioned that to me!
• Newborns seriously need to be swaddled. NEED TO BE. Every little motion wakes them up. Especially so swinging little arms. The tighter the better. The Miracle Blanket was recommended to us. Initial reactions: 1) OMG, it's a baby straight jacket. 2) This thing is impossible to use. 3) This can't really work. Give it some time. After the 5th night of using it, we were sold. It does take a little practice for both baby and you. But it does work. We can't sleep at night without it now.
• A follow up to the previous bullet. Most babies do not immediately adapt to their bassinets, pack 'n plays, cribs, etc. Wow, I thought I could just take the baby home and drop it in there to sleep. We have not yet spent a night in any of the afore mentioned sleeping devices. The first 10 days were spent falling asleep in mom's arms. Seriously. She knew when I was setting her down anywhere else. So miserable for me, but at least I was getting a few minutes of sleep at night. Since then (and the swaddle), we've been successful with her sleeping in her swing. We have not advanced past that...
• No matter how strong you are, it takes more than 2 weeks to recover from delivery. Somehow, that point was lost to me. I had no idea that I would still be "recovering" at 4 weeks. And as you read my earlier post... probably for another 2 weeks.

And so these are the thoughts as I recall them. Forgive me, I haven't had much sleep.