My Biggest Project Yet

In fact, he's three weeks old today. (He was a New Year's Eve baby.) I now totally understand how this mom gig can be a full time job. I've been spending almost eight hours a day just feeding him. Plus there's all the time that gets eaten up by cuddling and staring at him... not that I do that. Heh. He's turning me into a big softy.

Having him (his nickname from the get-go had been Bear) around has been a lot like I expected and at the same time, totally different. Breastfeeding has been, um, challenging. Much harder than I was led to expect. And by hard, I mean painful. I have come to the conclusion that if someone doesn't go through a period of initial breastfeeding pain, that they are very, very lucky. Even with classes, a super-supportive husband, and a slew of nurses and lactation consultants- the pain. Sleep is the other big challenge. It didn't seem like it would be such a big deal at first, but that was before the newborn drowsiness began to wear off.

On the other hand, labor and his delivery was no worse than I expected. We had a few small complications, but Bear and I came both came away from it healthy. I've unexpectedly lost almost all of my pregnancy weight, which I attribute to the breastfeeding and a curious absence of appetite (despite being ravenous during early labor and my sisters-in-law's tales of increased stomach capacity after giving birth). It's actually kinda tough to pack in all the calories I need per day. Also, cloth diapering has been much easier than I expected. It helped that we bought a no-brainer package from a local baby store (which I highly recommend if you, like me, are totally overwhelmed by the diaper options out there). We're washing our own, and it's much, much easier than I anticipated.

All in all, I'm pretty tired, a little sore and blissfully happy. Time to go stare at the baby.