She had a big weekend, her first weekend at home. She saw all three grandmothers, one great-grandmother, and one grandfather. In addition, we had friends come bearing food and enjoyed their company as they met Juliana.
This week has been Brian's first week back at work. Although Juliana's birth on Friday was perfect for Brian to take the following week off of work, I do think that it would've been a little bit easier if he had gone back to work on a Wednesday or Thursday, instead of Monday where he needed to be at work for the full week. We are doing well though with Juliana's sleep schedule. Some nights she's fussier than others, but mostly this is because her digestive system is trying to fully figure itself out.
The biggest things I've learned this week are:
(1) I need to take the opportunities to sleep during the day and my Mom has been immensely helpful with that by taking Juliana and holding her so I can sleep for a few hours at a time. They say, "sleep when the baby sleeps," and they're absolutely right. My problem is that since I'm feeling much better and more recovered from labor and delivery, I want to jump back into doing things at my normal pace, forgetting that I haven't had a full night's rest.
(2) Never wake a sleeping baby (and listen to your own instinct instead of the "experts"). The doctor told us that for 2 weeks we should make sure that Juliana never sleeps longer than 4 hrs between feedings. Earlier this week, after being startled out of a deep sleep realizing that it had been 5 hrs since she last ate and hadn't woken up yet, I realized it was pointless to stress and worry about it. I understand the validity of it in the first few days as we're trying to get my milk supply established, but since she's growing, happy, content, and sleeping, I decided to forget the "expert's" advice.
(3) I now understand why my Mom enjoys long showers. I've set up my night routine such that after the night feeding I take a nice, long shower. Reflect on my day, take the time to relax, and take the moment to myself.
(4) Always relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy; it's a natural process. Even when my toes are curling from a painful latch, or my frustrated self is coming out when Juliana's fussy and I don't know why, I remember to breathe. Just as during labor and delivery I would breathe slowly and deeply, subconsciously sending each breath to the baby, and thinking about that little heart beating, I breathe now. For as much preparations as you take for pregnancy, labor, and delivery, it does seem like all the advice, the watching over every detail, the constant doctor's visits, ends once the baby's born. Or, you get tons of unsolicited advice.
(5) I am an extremely lucky and blessed girl. The support system surrounding me is immense, and I revel in the encouraging emails, text messages, and phone calls (which always seem to find me when I feel my lowest emotionally). I believe for this reason, and the constant prayers being said for all of us, I am able to be so relaxed and calm. And this reflects on my baby, and my husband. Brian, and his inability to stress out about the small stuff, keeps me grounded. I couldn't ask for anything more.
Any now some pictures, since I'm sure that's what most people are interested in, instead of my rambling thoughts!
This is one of many, hilarious, "food coma" poses. Each feeding can be so funny because of the faces she makes and the expressions she has.
Yes, we weighed her in the bamboo salad bowl on our food scale when we were paranoid about her weight gain (or lack there of at first). Brian is the artist behind this photo.
Finally a picture of her smile! And I know you might think it's a "gas" smile, but it's been fun to watch her begin to smile during REM sleep, and then the next day or two start smiling at you when you talk to her.
She still hasn't perfected finding her fingers, but is getting much better about it.
Here's our "drama queen," pretending to be Anne of Green Gables, reenacting the Lady of Shallot.
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