FIRST MONTH
On Monday September 19, 2016 at 6:02 am Timmy and I welcomed Thomas Rye Cocores, after 60 hours of pre labor pain. I mean of course the moment I was waiting for would give me a run for my money.
He came out looking exactly like his daddy, it was terrifying. How could I have given birth to TIMMY! Through my whole pregnancy I kept wishing he would come out looking like me, not that Timmy is a bad looking guy but I think since I was carrying Rye I just assumed he would look like me. So when he came out I was just so in shock, also I laughed because I thought it was karma.
Those first couple days in the hospital were pretty tough because every 2-3 hours a nurse or a doctor came in and checked our vitals, and kept pricking and poking us. I would have just gotten Rye to take a nap and then they would come in and wake him up. The day of discharge you couldn't have gotten me out of there fast enough. I was so excited to bring Rye home and have the pets meet him. Once we got home life never felt so complete.
The first month was full of lots of sleeping and eating. He smiled a lot while he would be eating or during his naps. He became more alert towards the end of the first month.
Surprises:
I had breast reduction so I never thought I was going to be able to breastfeed, but Rye latched right on and I produced milk, but not enough milk for him to live off of so I would give a bottle at every other feeding.
I had heard of co-sleeping, but didn't think that was a right move for our family. I mean I love snuggling with Timmy its my favorite part of bed time so for that to be interrupted was not ok. Rye refused to sleep in his bassinet, the only way I could get him to sleep was having him sleeping on top of me but that could be dangerous because he could roll off. My sister told me about side lying, this is where you sleep on your side and baby falls asleep breast feeding on their side. You have to make sure no pillows or blankets surround baby because they could suffocate. It took a few days to feel confident and comfortable with the decision to co-sleep and now I never want him to leave the bed, but I know there will be a time when he will have to sleep on his own. I do miss snuggling Timmy.
The minute we left the hospital we got out of the house and did activities or went out to eat and numerous people would stop us saying wow you are out of the house already. I always assumed that's just what you do, but it's not common for new parents to leave the house. I wanted Rye to get adjusted to our life style, we were not going to slow down because we had a newborn and I am very happy with that decision. He was just as a part of our journey as we are a part of his.
Challenges:
The first couple of weeks Rye was non-stop sucking on my boobs, so after awhile my nipples were so raw and hurt badly. I never heard how painful breastfeeding was, just how it's such a wonderful experience, and maybe because I wasn't prepared to breastfeed and not knowing anything, but man it was painful. What eased the pain was wearing gel pads by Lansinoh and I wore a nipple shield.
We had family in our house the first 3 weeks of bringing Rye home. As great as it was to have family around it was really exhausting to have constant interaction with people for that long of a time. I really just wanted to stay snuggled up with Rye instead of entertaining, but I felt rude not being involved in social interactions, so I powered through those 3 weeks. I think if I am ever i that situation again have people not stay as long or they should get a hotel or AirBnB,
