As any mother of a one month old will understand, blogging has had to be put on hold. Trying to learn the ins and outs of my little one and honing all of my motherly instincts has been exciting, scary, time-consuming, and wonderful!
Today is Brenna's one month birthday. One month ago today, I was blessed with the most wonderful, beautiful little girl. Besides being a week later than her due date, the delivery went very smoothly. I was induced at about 8:00 AM. After a few hours of contractions, an epidural, about 45 minutes of pushing, and a vaccum, my sunshine entered the world. Everyone who has laid eyes on my Baby B has fallen instantly in love.
The month has been full of ups and downs and trial and error processes. The first week was difficult in that my hormones were crazy. Everytime she cried, I cried. There were hours where she would kick her little feet, get red faced, and cry at the top of her lungs. Nothing pacified her. When we realized she needed gas drops, our world was much brighter. From the very beginning, my sweet girl has been good to her mother and slept three to four hours in a row, throughout the night. Very rarely have I felt the new mother exhaustion.
The second week, Justin's parents came to help me. They were such wonderful helpers. They helped me calm down and stress less. We started our routine of going for walks and they helped me run the errands that needed to be completed. Brenna loves her car seat and sleeps very comfortably whenever we leave the house. We showed off our beautiful girl at Justin's school. Also this week, I left her for the first time to get a haircut. (I still feel great apprehension and have rocks in my stomach whenever she is out of my sight.) In the second week, we gave Brenna her first bath. We have come to realize she loves the water!
Week three brought my mother to help. It was nice to have her visit, at this point, because I was able to show off all that I had learned and realized about my little Brenna. We took a trip to my school. My class was absolutely awed by Brenna. They just kept saying, "She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." How sweet! Our low point during the week occurred when we took Brenna for her weekly check up and the doctor told us she was not gaining enough weight. She had only put on two ounces in a week. Mom and I went home and fed our girl! On Friday, we took her back to the doctor. After the scales told us she had gained 8 ounces in two days, we decided she was weighed incorrectly the first time. Way to stress us out for nothing!! It was absolutely wonderful to have my mom with me for a week. We missed her terribly when she went home.
The last week of Brenna's first month was very busy. Justin was in the end of track season and had regional and state meets. He felt that he was not getting any quality time with Brenna, and I just would have like him home for moral support and an extra set of hands (and lots of supportive hugs!). The first month has flown by in some ways, but I already can't really remember my world before Brenna.
By this point, Brenna and I are getting into our routines. She is such a sweet baby. She rarely fusses and when she does, I can usually calm her quickly. She really enjoys getting out of the house and running errands or visiting. (Yea! She is her mother's child!) The only thing that continues to stress me out is how much to feed her. I still question if her cry is a hungry cry, frustrated cry, need a burp cry... I am sure that I will continue to learn about my little sunshine, as she learns about her world.
