Wow, I can't believe Xavier is 3 weeks old already. I have it on good authority that I better start blogging now, because time only speeds up.
Xavier Martin was born at 4:50pm on January 4th, 2011 via C-section after 14 hours of labor. He was a healthy 8lb 2 oz and 21.5 in long (although his length might be a little inflated due to his cone head). Everyone tells you that your whole world changes the second your baby's born, but that doesn't seem to adequately describe the overwhelming flood of emotion you feel when you hear your child's first cry. It was the most beautiful, exciting and terrifying sound I have ever heard.
Xavier and I both did well after delivery. We went home from the hospital 3 days later and the real adventure began.
Apparently being born was as much of a shock to Xavier as becoming a parent was to Dru and I. Dealing with loud/quiet, light/dark, cold/hot, "why don't my limbs touch anything when i move, and what the heck does this rumbling in my tummy mean" after being in a quiet, dark, climate controlled, restricted, hunger free environment really upset him. In addition he had to learn how to eat (babies don't actually know how to do that or why they need to when they're born). So week one at home involved a lot of Xavier screaming at the top of his lungs, me crying, and Dru being at his wits end trying to deal with a crying wife and screaming baby.
Thankfully Dru was able to take a full week completely off from work (mostly while we where in the hospital), and have a second week that he worked half days from home. I can't even begin to immagine how anyone can survive being a single parent to a newborn. It took both of us working as a team to adjust.
Luckily at the beginning of week two at home we figured out that nursing wasn't really working for Xavier or Mommy, and went to pumping and bottle feeding. What a difference that has made! Once we where able to know/control how much Xavier was getting to eat he (read all of us)have been much happier and screams a lot less. Now we're working on figuring out sleep.
I'm told that between 6-8 weeks old Xavier will have a more predictable sleep/awake schedule. For now there's no rhyme or reason to when he's asleep or awake. On a good day/night he'll be awake for about a hour and a half then nap for an hour and a half during the day and sleep two 5 hour stretches at night. This can vary anywhere to being awake all morning, napping all afternoon, being awake all evening, and sleeping 2-3 hours overnight. Thank god I can sleep during the day. I'm learning that if I don't sleep whenever he is, I don't get to sleep.
Every day is a new adventure. If we learn as much in the next three weeks as we have in the first three we'll be well on our way.
