Layla's 3 week birthday

We have been celebrating each of Layla's weekly birthdays with cupcakes from Trophy cupcakes. Here is a recap of the last three weeks.

Week 1:

We spent the first 36 hours in the hospital, getting hassled around the clock by nurses and doctors, including a really scary Russian night nurse that seemed to be constantly yelling at us but we figured out later it was just her accent.

We got almost no sleep, and almost no help from the hospital staff (who was more concerned about taking our vitals than about helping us with the baby, who entered the world pooping and HUNGRY). When they asked if we needed to stay a second night we were quick to say NO.

We had just barely figured out nursing when we left and we hadn't slept in two nights so we weren't really prepared to be at home either. I was especially unprepared for how freaked out I would be - I couldn't sleep because I was so worried the baby w0uld die (obviously she survived). Also the baby was still pooping and HUNGRY and it took some effort to figure out how to get us all to bed when she had so many seemingly complicated demands.

Fortunately for me I was having some sort of awesome baby-high that made sleep completely unnecessary for the entire first week we had her at home. That came in pretty handy because by Tuesday I still wasn't sleeping even though both the baby and the Studly Hubby were sleeping great (the baby nursed nonstop for the first 3 days but after that started taking nice long naps at night to sleep). The doula came for a visit Tuesday night and I asked her about all my deepest darkest fears (will she die if she is too cold? can I suffocate her with my boob?). The doula reassured me that we were doing everything right and showed us some neat tricks to get the baby to sleep even better so that I could go without nursing her for four hours in a row sometimes.

So we survived the first week, but by the end of it I was pretty wrecked. On Thursday, her birthday, I had some Trophy cupcakes and scheduled a massage for myself.

Week 2.

The massage absolutely ruined me. I finally relaxed, which meant I could sleep, and then my body demanded MORE sleep, and I basically passed out for the weekend. Unfortunately the baby didn't agree with that. She preferred to eat all weekend. The Studly Hubby did his best to try to make it work for both of us and by Monday we had all agreed on a good routine and I had caught up on a lot of my sleep. This was mostly due to my amazing ability to sleep while I nurse, something the Studly Hubby helped us figure out in the early days.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were awesome. We had good weather, went out for a bunch of nice walks, the baby was well behaved, and we all enjoyed each other a lot. Wednesday night my mom came into town, and we had more cupcakes on Thursday to celebrate Layla's 2nd week birthday.

Week 3:

The third week was great. Having a mother in town is really helpful. She addressed many more of my fears and helped me work through some of the next big hurdles like taking the baby to a restaurant, putting the baby in the moby wrap, getting the baby in the carseat and driving across town, going out for a walk when it's raining, and bottle feeding (with pumped milk, which I also figured out in week 3). By Wednesday (today) I had accomplished all of this and more, and the Studly Hubby was back to work and cooking dinner for all of us and the house was staying pretty orderly. Tonight we are having more Trophy cupcakes and celebrating getting through Week 3. I have another massage scheduled for Saturday, and I will be going BY MYSELF which will also be a whole new thing (something I haven't done for 10 months!).

Every week is a major adventure!

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks:

Recovering at the hospital

Our first couple of days at home, I wore my pajamas every day!

The Studly Hubby showing off the Moby (with the baby in it)... now he can see what it's like to be pregnant!!

Me with my Studly Mommy at the beach on Saturday... lovely day!