What a crazy ride…

First, I will apologize now for the randomness of this post, my head is swimming with thoughts and emotions and it may not all make sense!

So, Dominic is now 2 weeks old and I can’t believe it. I feel like so much has happened and I’ve learned so much in just these 2 weeks.

Becoming a mom is something that NO one could have prepared me for. Yeah sure I have read every book, listened to every bit of advice, and I’ve even been called “a natural” but still – the moment he came out, I all of a sudden became absolutely clueless about this whole parenting thing. Why is he crying? Is his poo supposed to be THAT color??? Is he supposed to sleep this much? And all of these questions came up during the first, oh… 5 minutes!

Oh, and let’s not forget about the crying. No, not him. ME. Holy moly, how come no one warned me about the hormones??!! My body pretty much gave me the finger after Dominic was born. Not just physically but emotionally. The first week home I think I told Angelo I needed to be committed. I was definitely hit hard by the “baby blues” and it was not pretty. I felt like I was such a failure because Dominic was crying or gassy. It was ridiculous. I didn’t even want to have visitors, I preferred to sit with my baby and be sad that I was a failure. Crazy. After about a week I had to have a talk with myself and realize that babies cry, that’s what they do, and it is not a result of my mothering skills. Once I came to terms with that, I started to get better. Now, I love being a mom and look forward to going out more with him and having my life be a little more “normal.”

Things are definitely looking up now that week 2 is over. We are establishing a routine, which is pretty easy when your baby does little more than eat, sleep, and poo. He is a pretty good little sleeper, too! For days now he has slept pretty decently at night. We put him down for the night around 10 or 10:30pm and he sleeps until 3:30am! That’s amazing for a newborn! We feed him and put him down again and he sleeps until 8 or 9am. YES we are thanking the Heavenly Father for that! The only thing that remains really difficult is breastfeeding. We had difficulty from day one and by day 3 we had to put him on formula. He does wonderfully on formula but now my own milk has suffered. I’m on expensive herbal supplements that are supposed to help but so far – no luck andI really am beginning to think that I need to move on. I will give it one more week, but at least I am ok with this decision. As I said before, last week I was pretty upset about everything and this was a BIG item on the list.

Dominic is such a joy to us, there is no doubt in our minds that he is a gift from God. I continue to hope and pray that I can be the mom that He wants me to be.

Thanks to everyone who has come to visit us, bring us food, or simply gave us a call. It has been so uplifting and encouraging to hear from friends during this life changing moment. Nothing can *really* prepare you for this change, but it sure is a lot easier when you have friends and family by your side.

Here are a few pictures from week 2…