Mummum holding Nora
Garrett and I recently had to pass a milestone that all parents pass at some point; leaving Nora for the first time. Some parents manage to do this within the first weeks of their baby’s life. It took Garrett and me six months.
Garrett and I wanted to offer this prime-time babysitting opportunity to the Grandparents and Great Grandparents before offering it to anyone else. Both my parents and Garrett’s parents would have loved to watch Nora but were busy and unable to do it. Garrett’s Great Grandparent’s, “Mummum” and “Poppop,” however were free and were very excited to make the trip and watch Nora …
Sayle and his bottle
When I was about 8 months pregnant, I found myself in random conversation with a woman in a ladies’ restroom. We made minor chit-chat about my pregnancy and then she asked me “so are you going to breastfeed?” I immediately thought “wow-random and very personal question,” but I informed her that was my intent. She went on to tell me how important it was to breastfeed and all the benefits babies get from being breastfed. It was just the typical kind of lecture any pregnant woman expects to get while in the restroom of a restaurant. Robin is the lactation consultant at the hospital and without her I doubt I …
The first time I took Sayle to dinner was psychologically scarring as a new mother. My husband’s family wanted to go to the Japanese steakhouse before they went back to England. Reluctantly I agreed to go–I had to go to a restaurant sometime.I timed it perfectly. I fed him before we left and headed into Jacksonville. Then we waited for a table…then we waited for our waitress….then we waited for the chef. Sayle was eating every two to three hours and we were nearing the two hour mark when the chef finished cooking my filet. This was a perfectly inconvenient time for Sayle to wake up, so he did. As he started stirring I tried …
During the hospital discharge process the nurses had me watch a video about purple crying and shaken baby syndrome. I never heard of purple crying and there was no way I was ever going to shake my baby. While I tried to dismiss this video the nurses were insistent I watch it. The purple crying period can start at around two weeks of age, peaks at two months, and the infant cries for no reason; they are not wet, ill, or hungry. They are difficult to near impossible to soothe and the crying comes unpredictably.
Just as the video stated, Sayle started this phase around three weeks old and he continued until …
Sayle's first day home
Coming home with Sayle was terrifying. I did not have the security of the nurses with me 24/7 and I was scared to death that he would have a need that I couldn’t meet. I had help. My mom was still down and my father came down too, but neither of them were nurses. Everyone encouraged me to get some rest, but I was restless. I tried to relax, but my mind just raced with the craziest thoughts. What if the house wasn’t clean enough? I had been nesting for 6 months-the house was spotless. What if the house was too hot or too cold …
