What’s that? Did somebody say something? I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you. There’s a baby screaming in my ear. I also can’t smell anything, since I have a sinus infection and no use of my nostrils. At this point, I’m lucky I can still see through my puffy, half-shut eyes. Who needs all 5 senses, anyway?
As if that’s not enough, here’s another thing to make a new mom crazy: conflicting advice. I ran into my neighbor at the park yesterday, and she mentioned she had a 6-week-old niece. So we started comparing notes, and here’s what I found out:
- While my pediatrician insists the optimal indoor temperature for a newborn is between 70 and 72 degrees, her sister’s doctor claims that babies need to be kept in a cool room.
- While my baby wakes up every couple of hours demanding to be fed and won’t sleep longer than 2 hours at a time, her niece sleeps so long she has to be woken up to eat.
- While her niece rarely cries, my baby cries intermittently around the clock for no apparent reason. Is he cold? Hot? Hungry? Gassy? Damned if I know.
- That newborns nurse 8-10 times a day, 2-4 hours apart, and that each feeding can take an entire hour by the time you do both boobs, burp and change the baby. So THAT’S what I do all day, in case you’re wondering.
- The wide variety of bodily fluids that are part of a new mom’s day.
- The laundry; my WORD, the laundry!
- The random, inconsolable fits of crying, usually around dinnertime. (By the baby.)
- The random, inconsolable fits of crying, at any time of day. (By me.) Those hormones are a bitch, I tell ya.
- That satiny, silky newborn skin. (That is, until the baby acne erupts.)
- That fuzzy, wuzzy newborn head. (Cradle cap notwithstanding.)
- How heavy that infant car seat is, no matter how small the infant you’re carrying in it is.
- I don’t bolt out of bed at every noise the baby makes during the night. Just every third noise.
- Forget sleeping when the baby sleeps when there’s a 2-year-old around.
- I don’t change the baby’s diaper and outfit the minute they get dirty. What’s the rush?
- I can let the baby cry for a minute or two without feeling like my heart is being torn out with rusty grill tongs.
- I have no choice but to let the baby cry sometimes; say, when my older son yells, “Mom! I need help on the potty!” or “Is that smoke?”
- Whereas last time I had taken several hundred pictures of the baby by this point, I have gone entire days without photographing my second child.
LINK O’ THE WEEK: Constant product recalls. Add that to the list of what makes a new mom crazy. The latest is drop-side cribs. Read this, too.
7 comments:
You're doing great, Mama!
You poor woman. As you well know, things will ease up soon, just keep hanging in there! Your son is a handsome little man!
I heard about that ban on drop-side cribs too. While safety is important, knee-jerk reactions like this law really irritate me. For one, I am short (5' 1") and having a side-drop crib is a life saver. As it is, trying to put my daughter down with the crib at the lowest setting is difficult. I can only imagine trying to do it if the side didn't drop down! So the solution would be that I'd have to use a step stool. Now THAT'S safe isn't it? Let's trade one danger for another. UGH! I'd like to know if it's really the manufacturer's fault that the cribs had issues or a user error. I'm guessing the latter.
Sorry for the rant!
I don't know whether to laugh or cry reading your adventures! I'll soon be there in less than 10 weeks with a toddler running circles around my legs. I am learning what to expect from your posts, so thank you! Everyone has been telling me how rough it is with a newborn and two-year-old in the beginning and that it gets easier, but when does it exactly get easier I haven't been told. Good luck!
Such a beautiful pic! I love your posts! A gauranteed smile every read. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, all! We'll survive, I'm sure of it.
From what I understand about the drop-side cribs, the problems have been mainly in cribs that were assembled wrong or taken apart & put back together. So, no, I'm not throwing out our crib & rushing to buy a new one.
Amazing post! I loved reading this. I am also a mom of two young boys - 3 and a half and 1 years old. I was way more relaxed with my second baby, however, it was way more challenging since I also had a 2 year old at home demanding a lot of my attention! I'll be back... love you blog! (Found you nap warden, who is in the process of re-designing my blog, too!) Keep up the great work!
"Is that smoke?" - you crack me up. I hope things are getting a little easier for you...the first six weeks are HARD!!! But he's so cute. Love the picture.
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