This blog is in conjunction with my other new blog called The Birth of my baby son, which is under this link: theparentingadventures.wordpress.com
I had no idea even though I was trying to get myself prepared for when my baby arrived how tough and challenging it would be, being a new parent. My life has completely changed, and being that my son was born at 31 weeks instead of when he was supposed to arrive on the 9th January 2014, that added to the worry and the anxiety, as you aren’t sure what the next days would bring.
He is now over a month old and at home. I am still fighting with the baby blues, one minute I feel I am in control next minute I am in tears because the milk I’d got ready for my baby’s feed time had fallen on the floor, or when I cuddle my baby he instantly is looking for milk and wants to be fed, but when my husband cuddles him he just wants to sleep.
My mummy brain has so much to remember, Henry’s medicines, getting the write measurement of milk, bathing him, expressing, and as it Christmas making sure all my gifts are bought and shopping has been done, health visits, doctor visits and the never ending washing of clothes.
The bottles we had bought originally from the baby show at London Olympic in October on recommendation are useless and had to change the type of bottle Henry uses because he didn’t like the teat so had to change to a Avent Vari flow teat, so paid £26.50 on bottles that we don’t really use only to mix up the milk before adding it into his bottle he feeds from.
I never knew that babies even at the one month stage could make so many strange noises, and I worry about the noises and then I worry when he suddenly goes quiet. I try to sleep but can’t because I can’t help but listen to our new baby, Henry’s every sound.
I thought my husband had a lot of wind, our new son could fart the house down compared to my other half. You try to feed and wind your new baby the best you can without much coming up but no matter how careful your are his new clean clothes you just changed him into before his feed once again has regurgitated milk all over them, so you have to give an hour after his feed to change him once again.
Bath times are the funniest my other half and I agree at first we will get everything ready before had to help make it easier and to help make bath time peaceful time, but your other half goes a bit too far ahead and before you know it he had had decided to the strip the baby naked before the fresh clean clothes, clean nappy have been prepared and set out and bath has been run. You are like “hey mister I thought we were gonna get all the bits ready first before you have now made our baby completely naked” Our son is now screaming because he had no idea why he is now naked.
You try your hardest not to criticise your spouse but it is tough and now you are arguing because the peaceful and relaxing bath has now turned into a row and both parties (mum and dad) are now getting frustrated with each other as it seemed hubby was on a further page of our plan than mummy was. So now we both just want to get it over and done with, because the baby is now inconsolable too. Bath is finished all is right with the world again, until your baby starts doing the looking for milk movements and you know any minute he will be screaming for milk.
You try to keep calm try to keep baby from crying by rocking and cuddling and telling him “It will be alright milk is on it’s way” Like he can reply “Ok mummy I’m fine”.
My son had now got the knack of grabbing my fingers that are holding the bottle like a shark attacking a fish into his mouth and when you try to pull the bottle from him to wind him, he decides otherwise and continues to suck for milk and now you have milk over you and him.
Why are babies so hungry at night? At first you think “No he can’t be hungry yet he already drunk 100ml and now he wants more”, but you give in as he is screaming and crying gets louder and longer, nothing else seems to work and you decide to feed him hoping to make him tired, but no at 2 O’clock in the morning he is still wide awake. My new son had developed a little game where he will look like he will go to sleep so you put the bottle away and then cuddle him for a couple of minutes, and then as you get ready to put him into his cot he suddenly wakes again wanting more milk.
You can’t help but laugh at things your new baby does, the way your baby looks so innocent but can also be crafty doing the pretend to be a sleep or he will whilst feeding him which he kept doing when we first fed him in the hospital by bottle putting his tongue at the top of his mouth or keeping lips tightly closed, or he has decided then to fall a sleep for real, so you’ve ended up wasting half a bottle of milk.
Now I am gonna go downstairs to see if Henry has settled as daddy finished Henry’s morning feed whilst mum (me) drank my tea and tidied, and see what today parenting adventures will bring.
Who knows we may be able to get through a day without having any spilt milk and thank God the bath has been done until the next couple days or so.
Goodbye for now. Thanks for reading,
Carrie X
The parenting adventures 