Sunday, October 13, 2013

Things they don't tell you: Baby edition

Want to know what they don't tell you in all those baby books?  Well, I've made a little list to inform you on a few things.

1.  Breast milk, when left somewhere for too long (i.e. a shirt, bra pad, blanket, etc), will stink.  Sour breast milk does not smell good.


2.  You get used to the smell of sour breast milk.  This can be uncomfortable for you if you are being social and don't smell it on you (until you're in said social situation) from when your baby unlatched and it sprayed everywhere.


3.  Baby acne is completely normal and sucks.  Ellie has it really bad right now and it makes her look like a little teenager.  I can't do anything about it, except wait, and it sucks.


4.  Sleeping next to your baby is awesome and super convenient, but she will make so many sounds it will drive you crazy.  It's even worse when you're first learning her sounds and wake up each time she sighs or moves around.  Don't worry.  You do get used to it and become aware of when she is really awake and when it's just her trying to pass gas in her sleep.


5. Taking a really good picture of your squirmy infant is almost impossible.  This must be why people do photos of them sleeping.


Case and point.  A lot of blurry movement going on and she hardly ever looks right at you.


6. Sometimes your baby will be weird and it will take loud noises and/or a LOT of movement to calm them down.  For instance, Ellie really likes both of those things.  The vacuum will put her to sleep.  I even discovered that the hair dryer is one of her favorites.  Confession: I may have put it on the "cool" setting and let it sit while turned on underneath her swing.  She fell asleep almost immediately...until I turned it off, that is.


7.  Any fear you had of holding a newborn will quickly disappear and you will become a pro at maneuvering your baby.  You'll even become so good that you can do it one-handed.


7.  You really don't remember the pain of birth.  You can tell someone that it was really painful and intense, but you honestly can't say what, exactly, it felt like.  And, honestly, it is well worth every uncomfortable moment of that labor.  Even though you don't think it at the time because I seriously did tell Nick that we weren't going to have anymore kids.  I've changed my mind since then.

7 comments:

  1. I love these posts, FYI.

    And it sounds like you guys need to buy a noise machine!!!

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  2. I remember there were quite a few nights when my son was a newborn that I would have him in bed with me and I couldn't get a wink of sleep because I was so aware of his movement, breathing, etc.
    It's amazing how quick new moms catch onto things, I remember being awed by how natural everything became.

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  3. I'm glad to hear the fear of holding a newborn goes away. It makes me *so* nervous!!

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  4. I think you are a genius to have the hair dryer running. Just do what works for you and your baby!

    I have heard that about natural births and the pain. I also had a friend of mine with 2 kids (one with meds one without) that the healing process was a lot quicker with her kid without the meds.

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  5. Wow I so love this post!! The crazy newborn days I'll never forget!! I was good friends with throwing a sweatshirt on to cover up the milk scent haha. The leaky nursing pad (or misplaced nursing pad!) always got me. Ahh! You should get a white noise app (or a hairdryer sound one)! Then you could run the sound of a hairdryer to her little heart's content without having to be by a plug ;-) I think I know someone who does pictures if you want some non squirmy ones ;-) I have SO many squirmy ones of Adrian because i am too lazy to get my actual camera. Whatever's convenient, right?! She is adorable by the way!!

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  6. She likes mechanical noises, interesting! Talking about how hard it is to get a good picture of a newborn--we have a picture of all of my siblings together with the 6th baby when she was just weeks old. We look all cute and smiling and she's all red and screaming, it's hilarious. Probably one for the wedding reception slideshow...

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  7. She likes mechanical noises, interesting! Talking about how hard it is to get a good picture of a newborn--we have a picture of all of my siblings together with the 6th baby when she was just weeks old. We look all cute and smiling and she's all red and screaming, it's hilarious. Probably one for the wedding reception slideshow...

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