The First Two Months of Motherhood......

What I learned the first two months …….

Babies cry. Man do they ever cry. Especially mine. Hungry? Nope. Diaper change? No. Too cold? Too hot? Tired? Gassy? Who knows. Sometimes babies just cry. I would say for the first month there were uncountable bouts of unconsolable crying. I believe now that it was just an adjustment phase. Baby was saying “Where am I? How did I get here? PUT ME BACK!!!!” They gave me a DVD on Purple Crying at the hospital. After a few weeks, I watched it. Disappointing. I know I can’t shake a baby, just tell me how to stop her crying already!!!

I was frustrated, upset, even annoyed at times. And tired. Man was I tired. The first month, babies do not know night from day. All new moms hear the phrase “Sleep when baby sleeps” BEST ADVICE EVER!!!! You never know how long baby is going to sleep for, but take advantage of it. Speaking of sleep, I should mention that my daughter did not sleep still for the first two months. She would not sleep in a bassinet and I didn’t feel comfortable co-sleeping as my partner is a random limb thrower. She was in a moving soothing chair that went back and forth slowly, and that was the only way I could get her to sleep over an hour at a time.

Post-partum depression? Not me. Loved my new role as a mother. Didn’t necessarily enjoy every moment, but that’s normal. Totally normal. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. With so many adjustments, you are bound to have mixed feelings at times.

Breastfeeding. Dear God, nobody told me my entire abdomen would cramp up every time my baby was on the boob. Apparently this is your uterus shrinking back to size. Ouch! Not the best feeling in the world. (This went away after the first month.) And my poor boobs….. achy and sore from baby learning to latch and the new flow of milk (which still baffles me…..where does it come from anyways????)

This leads us to diaper change. Look, you WILL get pooped on. It is just bound to happen eventually. The hardest thing is to not scream when you see a bright yellow goop shooting out at you. If you do scream, baby will most likely scream too. My advice? Get everything ready before you take off the diaper and get diaper change done quickly. I am thankful I have a girl…….many mothers who have boys have some crazy stories about opening the diaper and the sprinkler turns on. I can seriously deal without washing pee off the ceiling, thank you very much.

Overall, the first two months were full of ups and downs. With hormone levels out of whack, being awake throughout the night, and watching so many hours of crap television, I am surprised I made it through. BUT I DID!!! And you can too!!!