1 Week Old - The things I have learned!

I simply cannot believe how fast this first week has gone! My little boy is 1 week old already and has changed so much it is hard to believe.

Here is a picture of him taken this morning:

This week has been full of many more highs than I expected and a lot less lows than I expected. In fact the only lows I've had this week have been with regards to feeding, as we have had a lot of problems in that area. We are almost sorted though I think, which is a great feeling.

The thing I realised this week, is that there is a LOT to learn. Here are some things I have learned so far:

Breastfeeding doesn't come as naturally as they say it does - There are a lot of factors that contribute to whether or not it works. Lucky for me, technique was not a problem so I skipped most of the nipple problems that most new mum's have. I mean, I got sore, but no grazes or pinching or anything. The biggest problem for us, was that my milk didn't come in until day 5 *sigh* - and they say breastfeeding is 'natural'.

I was discussing the fact that breastfeeding doesn't come as naturally as we're all lead to believe with a midwife at the hospital and she agreed saying "It is natural, but it is a learned art". I wish someone had have said that to me earlier on as it made me realise that my son and I are BOTH trying to learn something simultaneously, with no prior training, so of course it is going to be testing - for both of us!

There is something worse than poo explosions - My word there is... it's called the poo volcano, or projectile poo. Yesterday my delightful little boy managed to squirt poo to about 1/2 a metre over the end of the change table. Luckily I happened to be standing at the side at the time so I avoided getting covered, but the carpet was a mess.

When we went to the hospital yesterday to have him weighed, I mentioned what happened to the midwife. Her eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together claiming that it was great news. Maybe for her! She didn't have to clean it up!

Apparently there is no etiquette that people stay away on the day after a baby is born - We had SO many visitors on the first day that it was ridiculous! As a result, Matty put a message up on facebook asking for everyone to give us some space. I mean, we love the fact that everyone wanted to meet our little man but seriously... on the first day?

The thing that you tend to forget too, is that even when there are no visitors you have nurses, physio's, obstetricians and the tea lady coming in and out too. It felt like it was an endless stream of people. By the time we got through the first two days I felt as though I wasn't as close to my son as I wanted to be, so we spent a lot of time on the third day having skin to skin contact and just enjoying each other. I will certainly be putting some visiting restrictions in place the next time we have a child!

It is important to keep on cuddling - You think I'm talking about cuddling the baby, don't you? Well nope... After the first day being full of visitors and the second day being full of trying to get the breastfeeding happening, I realised I felt like I hadn't had a decent cuddle with Matty since the birth. Sure, we'd kissed and cuddled and stuff, but only in passing.

At the end of the day, doing the dishes instead of having a cuddle isn't going to make your marriage great, so I've made it my motto to remember to keep on cuddling the husband.

I am sure I will continue learning as the weeks go by, but I am really looking forward to it as it has been a long time since I've been challenged!