Posts
10/03/2008
Day 5: Some Things I've Learned
Posted by MothMan in : fatherhood, photography, ramblings
I am 5 days in to being a father, and I've already learned a few things.
I'll share these lessons learned with you. None of them are profound, they aren't anything that every other parent didn't also encounter/learn... but it's just been fun to learn them for myself as I've come along.
- It doesn't matter how reserved and shy you are... when you are walking around carrying your little bundle of happiness, and people stop and look and comment, you can't help but want to show her off.
- I have said the word "boob" more times in the last 5 days than I have in the previous 34 years of my life.
- I'm OK with talking about boobs in front of anyone, as long as they know I have a new baby.
- Despite having been with my wife for about 10 years, living together for about 8 1/2 of those years, I have never actually looked at, studied, poked and prodded her boobs as intently as I have these last few days. (if you sense a recurring theme in some of these, it's not a coincidence. Boobs become exceptionally important)
- Little baby 'chicken arms' are surprisingly strong when trying to hold them out of the way of the boob they are trying to feed from. In general, babies are tougher and less fragile than they look. (but don't get me wrong... be gentle!!)
- If you are uncomfortable holding tiny babies (I was), once you have your own, you just figure it out, almost immediately
- The opportunity to stare into your little ones open, alert, eyes for extended periods of time is very, very, precious.
- Being peed on is not a big deal, and in fact is quite amusing.
- Simple things become miracles... for example:
- Successfully getting baby to burp
- Seeing baby latch on perfectly after only a few attempts
- Seeing baby's jaw movements move from chewing to deep sucking and swallowing while breast-feeding
- Sleep is a beautiful thing
Things are going well. Emma and mom are both slowly figuring out the breast feeding thing and every day it gets a bit easier.
We had our home visit from the nurse this morning, and Emma put on about 3 ounces of weight since she's been home, so she's turned the corner on the weight-loss, and is doing great.
We are happy. Tired but happy.
11 comments:
Congrats on the wonderful world of being a dad.
Yep, not shocked that your finding out about the boob subject. I think there are a few more issues you'll be going through, but I'll leave that for later.
It scares me that I know tons about this subject, but don't have any kids.
::shiver::
Oh, absolutely... that's why I labelled my title as "Day 5... I'm still a Daddy Noob to the extreme. :)
I still can't get over how adorable she is, amazing. Glad to hear you both are well, and everything is coming along nicely. I know she has got a lot of healing to do, be sure she doesn't over-do it. I know I did after my c-sections, and I regretted it after awhile because it took me so long to heal. lol
Take care :)
That baby is just too darn cute!
I'm one of those that looks at new babies and freaks about holding them. They are just so fragile looking...and wiggly!
I'm a little weird...I look at new puppies and think the same things.....minus the whole boob thing!
Chica: Yeah, she must get that from Lisa's side. :p And yeah, Lisa will take some time to recover... I'm playing Mr. Mom and have taken over the cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. Lisa's just got to look after herself and the baby and I'm trying to take care of everything else.
I still feel guilty when she's up with the baby on her boob (there's that word again) all night though. >_<
LMC: lol The wiggly thing is a struggle, for sure. I've realized that I'm not very good at putting diapers on... those little legs just squirm and kick so much, it takes me a good 5 minutes to get the thing in place... and even then it's usually not on very well. lol
She is just gorgeous Shawn. Takes me back to baby Jemma days so much!!
I am so proud of your wife for breastfeeding her. I was/am a big proponent of breastfeeding- especially when you have had a c-section. It really bonds you with your babies. Not having them the "normal" way can be upsetting-especially when you laugh and it hurts like hell for a long time.
Lisa really needs to be in her own little baby and her world for a while. That way she will heal, baby Emma will really attach (in more ways than one) and you can get some sleep too.
Emma will be a much healthier baby because of the breast. My kids never had one single ear-ache and never even got sick until they were weaned at 15 months for my son and 18 for Jemma cuz I went back to work full time.
Kudos' for you both!!
HUGSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Thanks. :)
Yes, Lisa and I knew from the get-go that we would go the breastfeeding route (assuming there was no problems preventing it).
It's been a bit trying at times in the early going, but we know it will pay off for us.
We've got some formula as a backup just to "top up" Emma's hunger when she keeps wanting more and more and Mom is just spent. But so far we've only used a bit of formula once or twice a day, so that's cool with us. :)
Congratulations. What a great post. I love reading how Dad's are dealing with fatherhood. There are tons of moms willing to write about it all but you don't get many men willing to do it.
Kudos to you for caring enough to leave a detailed account for future reference. My kids are 3 & 5 and I will tell you that staring at them is still amazing to me.
Thanks for reading and commenting, onangelwings. :)
Rest assured, more posts of this type will definitely follow. :)
Oh she is the most precious little thing! :)
We definitely think so. :)
Thanks for reading Lux.
Post a Comment