Parenthood Through Month Two - 5 Things We Weren't Expecting
Being a parent is something that you cannot prepare for. No matter how much you read, hear, get (sometimes unwanted) advice from other moms, nothing can prepare you for actually becoming a parent. There is nothing like it. Nothing more tiring, nothing more frustrating or confusing, yet nothing more rewarding. Since Hank joined our family, we have learned MANY many things; these are just 5 of them:
1. Time really does fly
"The days go by slow, but the weeks go by fast." That is one comment I heard several times while we were pregnant, and now I understand what it means. Hank is on his own schedule, so most days look pretty similar. We take walks and spend time outside, we eat every 2-3 hours, we change lots of diapers (see #4 below), we take many naps and I take more than enough pictures. Even though I feel as if I live every second of every day, before I know it, another week has gone by and Hank is getting older.
2. So much guessing?
It is amazing how many times a day I say to myself, "Hmm... Maybe this is what's wrong," or "Maybe this will fix it" or " Maybe he's hungry/tired/getting tired/has a dirty diaper/has gas/etc." Growing up, I always thought parents knew everything - or at least they thought that they knew everything - but now I know that parents do know a lot and it's because they have to learn a lot from day 1. You keep learning from the first day your bring home baby, drawing on your experiences from your own childhood, tweaking it all just a bit until it fits you and your baby and your family.
3. Our Google search history has drastically changed
A few months ago, the open Safari pages on my iPhone contained pages about different types of perennial flowers for the flower beds, when the newest season of Sherlock was coming out, the best restaurants to eat at in Rogers, etc. Don't get me wrong, I still look up random bits of information, but as I look at my phone now, all of the 17 open pages, ALL of them are answers to different baby questions. Questions (all currently open in my phone) about successfully cleaning a baby's nose, postpartum exercise, newborn hiccups, engorgement, infant sleep patterns, heat rash causes, symptoms, treatments & prevention, and a guide to infant poop with pictures. A guide to infant poop with pictures! Hunter and I laugh at this one, which leads me to #4 (... or should I say, #2?).
4. Poop, poop and more poop!
We could not have anticipated how many of our discussions would involve poop, nor could we have known how much our baby could poop! Hank has pooped on many things: almost every piece of clothing he owns, on me, on his dad, his Lolo (grandpa), comforters, carpets, his play-mat, his changing pad, and (drumroll please...) a jeans display at the Gap outlet in Branson! Turns out, breast milk doesn't take too long to digest, so Hank poops almost every time he eats, which is every 2-4 hours. And did I mention it's bright yellow? Thanks to the guide to infant poop with pictures, I now know that bright yellow poop is totally normal and is a sign of a healthy breastfed baby.
5. Life on little sleep is possible
Although it seems impossible for your body to function on less than 5 hours of sleep a night, you can and if you have a newborn baby, you will. It makes you irritable, forgetful and, obviously, very very tired. BUT when I'm awake at 2am, feeding our sweet baby, it's all worth it. It's all worth it.
Before we had Hank, there were plenty of times that I told Hunter, "Why do moms insist on telling me all these bad things about being pregnant, labor and delivery, and then being a mom, and talking about them as if motherhood is all terrible?!" But let's be honest, if I were to describe everything we've done so far, most of the things we do sound not fun. And they're not fun UNLESS you're doing it for something or someone you love. We would do anything for Hank. I would stay up all night every night if I needed to. And I know it's just the beginning, but our hearts are full. Parenthood is the best.
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1. Time really does fly
"The days go by slow, but the weeks go by fast." That is one comment I heard several times while we were pregnant, and now I understand what it means. Hank is on his own schedule, so most days look pretty similar. We take walks and spend time outside, we eat every 2-3 hours, we change lots of diapers (see #4 below), we take many naps and I take more than enough pictures. Even though I feel as if I live every second of every day, before I know it, another week has gone by and Hank is getting older.
2. So much guessing?
It is amazing how many times a day I say to myself, "Hmm... Maybe this is what's wrong," or "Maybe this will fix it" or " Maybe he's hungry/tired/getting tired/has a dirty diaper/has gas/etc." Growing up, I always thought parents knew everything - or at least they thought that they knew everything - but now I know that parents do know a lot and it's because they have to learn a lot from day 1. You keep learning from the first day your bring home baby, drawing on your experiences from your own childhood, tweaking it all just a bit until it fits you and your baby and your family.
3. Our Google search history has drastically changed
A few months ago, the open Safari pages on my iPhone contained pages about different types of perennial flowers for the flower beds, when the newest season of Sherlock was coming out, the best restaurants to eat at in Rogers, etc. Don't get me wrong, I still look up random bits of information, but as I look at my phone now, all of the 17 open pages, ALL of them are answers to different baby questions. Questions (all currently open in my phone) about successfully cleaning a baby's nose, postpartum exercise, newborn hiccups, engorgement, infant sleep patterns, heat rash causes, symptoms, treatments & prevention, and a guide to infant poop with pictures. A guide to infant poop with pictures! Hunter and I laugh at this one, which leads me to #4 (... or should I say, #2?).
4. Poop, poop and more poop!
We could not have anticipated how many of our discussions would involve poop, nor could we have known how much our baby could poop! Hank has pooped on many things: almost every piece of clothing he owns, on me, on his dad, his Lolo (grandpa), comforters, carpets, his play-mat, his changing pad, and (drumroll please...) a jeans display at the Gap outlet in Branson! Turns out, breast milk doesn't take too long to digest, so Hank poops almost every time he eats, which is every 2-4 hours. And did I mention it's bright yellow? Thanks to the guide to infant poop with pictures, I now know that bright yellow poop is totally normal and is a sign of a healthy breastfed baby.
5. Life on little sleep is possible
Although it seems impossible for your body to function on less than 5 hours of sleep a night, you can and if you have a newborn baby, you will. It makes you irritable, forgetful and, obviously, very very tired. BUT when I'm awake at 2am, feeding our sweet baby, it's all worth it. It's all worth it.
Before we had Hank, there were plenty of times that I told Hunter, "Why do moms insist on telling me all these bad things about being pregnant, labor and delivery, and then being a mom, and talking about them as if motherhood is all terrible?!" But let's be honest, if I were to describe everything we've done so far, most of the things we do sound not fun. And they're not fun UNLESS you're doing it for something or someone you love. We would do anything for Hank. I would stay up all night every night if I needed to. And I know it's just the beginning, but our hearts are full. Parenthood is the best.
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