Our first 2 weeks at home with little Nicolas

So we came home on the monday morning with our little bundle after Labour Saturday. I only had to spend two nights in hospital thank goodness as we found the staff in the maternity ward a bit frustrating :-(. On the plus side it was really cool to have friends there at the same time (a couple we'd met at Lamaze) and we had quite a few visitors on the Sunday which was very nice.

Nicolas was still on the colostrum so we were getting by with feeding times. Although I was hellava sore from feeding him, wow. Then my milk came in by Monday evening - and boy I was up a size or 5! Monday night, tuesday night and wednesday night were total nightmares. Nicolas just didnt want to sleep. He was clearly uncomfortable as he was squirming and crying non stop and we couldnt work out why. We thought it must be wind, so we patted him and put him in all the recommended positions for hours but nothing helped. By the 3rd night of torture for all 3 of us I grabbed a bottle of milk I'd expressed earlier and fed it to him. And volia, he downed the whole thing and passed out. Turns out I'd been starving the poor little guy for 3 days and he had been crying from hunger not wind. What a bad mother!
So for the next 2 days I expressed all my milk and fed it to him via a bottle. He was much happier. But boy is the bottle thing a mission. We were determined to get him back on the breast, so we got Imelda around, my doula. She gave us loads of advice and by Saturday we had it right again. Although I was using nipple shields as they helped him get the milk out, they take a lot less sucking.
So our next job was to wean him off the shields as those are also a big pain. A week later he is successfully off them on one side, but not the other. Hopefully as he gets stronger it will happen.
Breast feeding is hard!! Maybe by the time he is one I will have it right.

He is sleeping quite well at night now though. He only wakes up once for a quick feed between 11pm and 7am. So that side of things has significantly improved. I keep him awake a lot during the day and feed him as much as possible and I think thats what does it. I am very roughly following Gina Ford's routine advice and its helping.
He is slowly starting to enjoy bath times too. Benedikt cant wait to bath with him.

I can't believe how little time I have to do things. This baby business is full time boy! During his first sleep of the day I quickly have a salt bath, shower, breakfast, put a wash on, express some milk and sterilize all the shields and the expressing equipment. And catch up on emails if I'm lucky. His second sleep of the day is when I sleep too. Then his third sleep I have another salt bath and try to get a little bit of work done. I have one or two pending issues on sites that I need to sort out - nothing major. Or often I have visitors or I take Nicolas to Naoko, our neighbour, so that also takes up a (welcome) chunk of time.
So that means I have like max 2 hours a day to do stuff.

The frustrating thing is that feeding him takes so long. And its so mind numbing! Obviously I love the little guy and love our time together but boy does it get tedious. Sitting all alone with someone who cant talk back or interact with me for hours every day gets boring! I love weekends when Benedikt is home and I force him to sit with me while I feed Nicolas. Otherwise I've been watching TV or movies while feeding him.

Its quite funny how different the cultures are here... apparently the kenyan mothers stay in bed solidly for 2 weeks after having a baby. Crazy! I would go mad. Out vet came to see mahindi the day after I came home and was horrified to find me in the kitchen baking, with a wash on and visitors coming and organising things in general! And the gate guard was just as surprised to see me driving just 6 days after Nicolas was born :-)

We've taken him out and about quite a few times now. Its fun, pushing a real trolley (Benedikt's word for the pram) around with a real baby inside. And its OUR baby! What a novelty. Benedikt and I peer inside every 2 mins just to make sure he is still there.

So ja, we are learning ALOT every day about caring for a baby. Like what products to use or not use when changing nappies and bathing him. How warm to keep him. How to hold him. How to read his crying and mood changes. Why his eyes are full of gunk. When his umbilical cord stump will fall off. Why he hiccups and sneezes so often. When we should start massaging him. Why his skin is peeling on his hands and feet. Its a STEEP learning curve.

Benedikt has been amazing. He has been doing all the shopping, all the cooking, all the dog walking, lots of chores and on weekends he really really helps out with Nicolas which is great cos by then I need a break. And company! He has done his fair share of pooey nappies too... with only a little moaning.

I have lost 10kgs already which is great. But still have a lot to go. I can't wait to start exercising again. And to get rid of this post pregnancy belly. Having a baby REALLY is a big thing to put your body through. You'd think once its out things go back to normal... no way Hose. You leak from everywhere, still have contractions, and sore breasts, still look pregnant, you get the baby blues and you are constantly tired! Apparently after 6 weeks I should feel normal again. So 2 weeks down, 4 to go!