Week one:
Week one, in some ways, was probably the easiest of the weeks for me. I was on some sort of baby high and I was really feeling good. Sure, I wasn't getting any sleep and the first night home with Melia was absolute hell with her crying and fussing all night. I ended up sleeping with her on the couch just so she would sleep. The night after was the same deal; she wouldn't sleep unless I was holding her. But despite the poor sleeping conditions on my part, the day time was pretty golden. She slept most of the day, I had my best friend Sophia here with me and my mom was beyond helpful as well. The hard part about week one was my body changing. My hips and back were moving back into place and let me tell you how weird that felt...seriously weird. Some days it hurt so bad, simply standing up from a sitting position I would feel my pelvic area shift and move and I would have to walk carefully. Weird stuff. There was also all the post-pregnancy bleeding. Let's be honest here for a minute about my bleeding situation; I have scary blood. I'm a heavy bleeder, my blood is thick and it doesn't like to clot. So everyone was worried about my post-pregnancy bleeding. Yes, it was bad. Yes, it was weird to see blood, especially considering that for 9 months, I hadn't seen any sort of trace of blood at all. But it didn't actually seem all that bad and by the end of the week, I felt like I was ahead of the bleeding. So that's how it went for me. Pretty okay. Not great, not awful, but okay.
Funny story about my milk coming in. So all the women I know kept asking me if my milk had come in the day after she was born and day two. Well. your milk really comes in between days three and five; usually later if you were induced. So I wasn't too worried about it because Melia and I really got the hang of nursing really fast. I was warned that it would be so painful for weeks. Yes, it was weird and hurt to get used to, but by day four or five, I was fine. No more blisters or pain. So here I am, on the phone with my mom day three post-pregnancy talking about which pump to buy and when we thought my milk would come in. It was 7:00pm and all of a sudden, my shirt is dripping. That was only slightly awkward...
So how about Melia in the first week? Wow, she was great. Minus the first two nights at home, she slept so well and her eating schedule was like clockwork. It made things real easy for me and even though I was seriously sleep deprived, I was able to stay awake during the day simply because I wanted to be with her. She changed and grew everyday and it was easy to just be there and love her.
Week two:
This was a world different from week one. For me, I now actually felt okay; my body had stopped moving in weird ways, the bleeding was well, still there but I got used to it. However, the sleep deprivation definitely caught up to me by this point. Not only that, but Melia really was giving me a hard time. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday she cried constantly, all day and was completely unconsolable. It made it absolutely impossible for me to even pretend to get anything done and with Scott gone at work and school all day, I just lost it. Come Tuesday evening, we went up to my parents for the rest of the week. Man was that nice. Scott and I were able to catch up on sleep and pass her off when she got too hard to handle. We also learned up there that she was only crying as hard as she was because she was just tired. She discovered how to keep herself awake and would stay awake too long therefore becoming overtired. So once we figured that out, we were able to soothe her to sleep.
When it was time for her two week appointment, I was really excited. The pediatrician we chose used to live behind my parents so I was really excited to see Todd and surprise him with this brand new baby because I knew he didn't know I was even pregnant. Sure enough, when I saw him at the office, he was really surprised and excited to see us. It made the visit easier I think. During the appointment, we learned quite a bit about our little girl. She is quite strong and eager to grow. She weighed in at 8lbs 13oz (73%) and measured at 20.5 inches (67%). She seems to have inherited her dad's head and measured at 37.2cm (96%); we'll just have a genius baby I guess. She grew so much! It's not everyday you find a baby that actually GAINS that much weight in their first two weeks. We were really happy to know that she's so healthy and happy.
Week three:
This was probably the hardest week. Melia seemed to be sick; she went through way more diapers than she had been, and those diapers were a lot looser than usual. We thought she had diarrhea. We let her 'poop it out' for a day and when they were still loose the next day, we went to the doctor. He confirmed that she did indeed have diarrhea, but that it wasn't much of a concern at this point. He explained that she doesn't have a fever and since she was still eating well that it was most likely just a bug or that she has a milk intolerance. He then told us that if she continued to have loose stools for another week and a half, to bring her back and they would do some other tests to make sure everything was okay. The good news is, she has since regained her normal poops and I am less worried about it. The remainder of the week was pretty normal I suppose. I am definitely getting used to having her around; not showering until about 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon and just being a mom. We had a real big day yesterday too! It was her first day out to make extra visits. We loaded her up and took her to campus with us!! Ooooh it was so good to get out and see so many of my friends. We of course went to Women's Chorus and showed her off and everyone just loved her. She did really well with all those new sounds and people. I was quite please. We then went across campus to see my professor friend, Brother Parry. He was the high councilman for my freshman ward and he also knows my family. I took his Humanities class....twice...and we have gained a pretty good friendship. I really like to talk with him and enjoy seeing him on campus. He was thrilled to meet Melia. He doesn't have any daughters and has always wanted one so it was really exciting for him. I was happy to see him with her. She slept the whole time, but once he had her in his arms he just kind of waved us off jokingly and said, "Okay, you guys can go do whatever you need to now. We're good." Haha. He's a great person.
That brings us to today! Four weeks old. It's crazy to see how much she has changed. Melia, physically, has really gained a lot of strength. The day we brought her home, she was able to lift her head and hold it up for a few seconds so I'm sure you can imagine what she can do now. She really holds her head up and looks at us really well when we have her up on our shoulder. Actually, just today we discoverd that she can pretty much sit up mostly by herself. We keep a hand behind her because she still isn't strong enough to hold it for very long, but she can sit up, with her neck supported by herself for a good 10 seconds. She does great during tummy time too; she is going to be rolling and crawling in no time! She moves her legs like mad and if she gets them just right, she can scoot herself a little bit. Since she hasn't really caught on to the fact that she has to also lift her head to move effectively, she never makes it very far at all. But when she is on her back, she can make it to her side pretty easily. She gets stuck there, but still, four weeks old and she's moving this much? Impressive if you ask me. She is also starting to vocalize quite a bit and we're getting smiles here and there. I always get to see all the cute stuff because I'm home all day everyday. We have some pretty good conversations, Melia and I. Mostly consisting of me saying, "Oh yeah? Is that so? I didn't know." In response to her little coos and squeaks. She's picking up and learning so fast, I am so lucky to be her mom. I have learned a lot about myself in this last month. It's hard for me to believe that it's already been a month, but at the same time, it's weird that it's only been a month. No matter how you count it, we will Keep Moving Forward.
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| Melia is one month old today! This is her showing off her strength sitting up mostly by herself |
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