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First Weeks with Wren

We are about 2 weeks into being parents! It has come with many joys so far (and many short sleeps). The cat is annoyed, the baby doesn't understand night time, and my body is still taken over by hormones and birth aftermath, but we are doing OK.

Wren has had many visitors, and she seems to like it. She is the most calm while in a room full of chatty people who are passing her around. Our friends and family have been very generous, bringing us food and a whole second front of gifts (mostly pink clothes, hehe). We had so much food for a while, the fridge was jam packed. I think Tim ate about a dozen cookies and a dozen cupcakes in 4 days. We are finally starting to use all the food we stockpiled in the freezer, which is good because we need to make room...

For MILK! Holy milk. We have been blessed because breastfeeding is going very well. Wren is very enthusiastic about nursing, and so are mah boobs. Sometimes they are a little too enthusiastic. I would say Wren nurses about a dozen times a day, and I am also able to pump 5-10 oz for freezing every day. Leaking is an issue, but I have read that it will lessen as the baby and my body adjust to feeding habits.

Wren's umbilical stump just fell off, but its still kinda like a little wound. She is definitely growing too, some of the onesies she was wearing in her first week are now too small. She's currently an in-between size, newborn clothes are too small and 0-3 month clothes are too big. I am avoiding buying any clothes for her current size, which means we have to do laundry constantly so she can wear one of about two sets of pajamas that fit. At first I thought we had way too many blankets, but I am constantly using blankets and pillows to wrap her up and sort of serve as outfits, or create a complicated arrangement for comfortable breastfeeding.

We are working on a sleep routine, but nothing has stuck just yet. Each night has been a bit different for her sleep, periods of wakefulness seem randomly scattered through the day. There are only a few days before Tim has to go back to work, so our current strategy of taking "shifts" during the night is not going to work so well. It'll have to mostly be Mama's shift so Daddy can sleep.

I have started to get some of those mother fears and worst case scenario worries. I feel a surge of panic whenever someone is holding Wren and walking around. I imagine them tripping and dropping her, crushing her, I imagine her falling off things and I have much fear of SIDS. I suppose these are natural feelings, but it is stressful.

I may eat these words, but I feel like for now, we are doing pretty good. Wren is a good baby and darn it she is really cute.


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