Thanks be to God for this journey into parenthood and the miracle of new life! We are doing well here. Life seems to be returning to “normal” and we are begrudging this normalcy as all we really want to do is continue to stare at baby, take naps with baby and ponder what these next 30 years (yep, it is a running joke around here that parenthood goes into the 30s in Greece) will be like.
Pregnancy was nine months of preparing for a new baby.
Now that the baby is here, the reality that this little one will grow into an adult became a reality. Lord have mercy on us!
The first week I was tired and my mother was a great help as I tried to sleep when the baby was sleeping during the day. I was pretty protective of the new little one and refused to let mom “babysit” in the middle of the night, even though I was exhausted.
Week two I finally felt all the adrenaline from labor was out of my body and strength was rapidly being regained.
On the labor note…yes, I would chose natural childbirth again. Overall, everything progressed great. We got stuck at 9.5cm for about 4 hours, but at the point of complete despair (I seriously was hoping for a long time that the doctor would walk into the room and say we had to do an emergency C-section) they said I could push 3 times. The rest is history. We could blame the on-call doctor for not letting us push earlier, and the nurse who wasn’t nearly as good as the first nurse we had, but in the end all the travail is so worth it and when we are helpless, then we realize where our true strength and help is coming from!
This week (week 3) I feel even better and am determined to get an hour walk every day and possibly even sneak off to Curves a few times. I could probably even start running, but we have decided not to invest in a baby jogger and I am still getting used to being so attached to baby…. can’t go very far when you never know when he may be hungry. So, who knows if I’ll ever get back into running again. Baby usually eats every 3-4 hours, but has gone 7 hours without eating (that was a great night!) and as frequently as every hour to two (though these seem to becoming mostly late evening events).
Baby is doing great, thanks be to God. He is gaining an average of 2 ounces a day, and at his 5 day lactation consult visit, had gained 3 ounces instead of losing the average 5-7% that baby’s usually do the first week. He weighed in at 10.2 yesterday at the pediatrician! No, except before my milk came in, I am not waking him up to eat! He is just a big guy…being 22.5 inches at birth. He did get a bad heat rash, which made me cry, but I felt better after the pediatrician reassured me that newborns can get this even if they are not too hot due to their sweat glands not being completely open yet. It has been pretty muggy here lately though, and we only take him outside in the early morning due to terror of baby getting a mosquito bite in the evenings.
It looks like we are going to get some visitors from Greece (hooray) in a month or so, and my Greek has taken backseat in priority lately. So, besides loving baby and adjusting to this new phase of life, I do hope to dust off the Greek books. Language learning is NOT my strength, and I am going to be humbled someday when my toddler or school-age son speaks better than me. Mr. S. is talking Greek to the baby, and so it is nice to be hearing the language a bit more around the house.
We still don’t have internet at home, and we don’t feel comfortable putting up pictures of baby to an unsecured blog…just an idiosyncrasy we have. We hope in the future to make a secure blog and will update baby pictures and our ever changing contact information there.
So, this IS the last post of Elisa’s Wanderings. If you find yourself missing hearing updates, please do call. I love when the phone rings and it is a friend from far away (206-359-5968).
7 comments:
I'm very sad. It's so hard for me to do phone calls easily...maybe it will get better in the U.S. However, there is always snail mail, I supposed!
Wow! One hour a day walks, Curves, and/or jogging already??? Aren't you supposed to take it easy the first six weeks?
I too am sad about the lack of blogging to come. I will miss reading about your thoughts and your life.
You can post photos to flickr that only friends and family can see and add comments too. I hope you will be able to find a blog host that you will feel comfortable sharing about your wee one and family life. Of course we will continue to speak frequently on the phone. Our love to baby boy and Mr. S.
Along Jen Marie's line of thought, you can create a password-protected blog using Blogger (which you use now). Then you can give the password only to the friends and family you trust and want to share with.
Thanks for the ideas. Yes, when/if (no promises on a timeline here) we get more reliable internet connection at home we will make a secure way for family and friends to see some pics of baby Athanasios.
Honestly, I am getting used to not having internet. It is one less distration, when I am one that is easily distracted. And though cost of living is great here in rural Minnesota, for some reason internet prices are ridiculous...and for now we just keep putting it off and saving that $700 or so a year. Hey, if we are going to all this trouble to cloth diaper to save some money...it is a lot easier saving money by not having internet at home!
For now, I parasite off neighbors wireless signals when they are available. Interestingly, lately in the middle of the night when I am up anyway to breastfeed there has been a consistent good signal. And on that note...time to go back to sleep. Baby Athanasios just slept a 5.5 hour stretch, but the next one never is as long!
It sounds like you both are adjusting to parenthood very well.
Congratulations. Your little one must be 2 months old already!! I hope he is sleeping through the night. How nice that your Mom was able to assist for a while. Best wishes,
Judy
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