Friday, June 24, 2011

7 weeks after birth of 4th child

My son is 7 weeks old.  When he was born he was sick and had to spend a week in the NICU (which traumatized me by the way).  I swear I came home from the hospital with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  When he was sleeping I studied his chest thinking, "He's not breathing!"  And then thinking, "He's breathing too hard!"  When my husband put him to sleep in his crib, I practically hit him upside the head with my Boppy pillow and screamed, "How can I see when he quits breathing if he's not right here with me?!"  I should point out that my son was only sick for a short time and his problems were completely resolved by the time he left the hospital.  He didn't have to have to be on any medication or come home with any monitors, so my husband wasn't completely off base when he looked at me said, "You need to ask your Dr. for a pill for that or something."

So......it only took my baby about 2 weeks to totally train me.  After the crib incident with my husband, I decided it was best just to sleep with my baby.  ( I had a C-section and couldn't even bend over to wipe my own ass, let alone roll over, so I wasn't real worried about smothering my child.  In fact, I still couldn't get up into our bed, so I was still sleeping on the couch.  But.....I'm sure no mother ever thought they would smother their baby, so I worked it out where I slept sitting up - leaning on the arm of the couch - holding the baby in the crook of my arm.  7 weeks later, here we still are.

I'm also breastfeeding and thanks to the NICU who obsessed over how much my baby was eating and made me believe that unless I nursed him for an hour he wasn't getting enough - I study his fat rolls everyday, just to be sure they are getting fatter.  My husband can't get out of the shower without me saying, "Hey- would you weigh yourself and then hold the baby and weigh yourself again?"  I basically have had a boob in his mouth since he came home; I don't even bother wearing a shirt anymore.  I'm guessing it's okay for your baby to double their weight by the time they are 7 weeks old?

The ironic part is I am not a new mother.  I have 3 other kids!

And yes, before you ask......I meant to have four kids.

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