Bella Rey - 1 month old

Miss Bella is now 7 weeks old, but I really wanted to post about her first month of life, and our fist month with her. We love this little girl and it is amazing how much she grew and learned in that first month.

Along with Bella learning and growing, we learned to be parents. We are still learning, but I feel like we will never learn more about love, sacrifice, prayer, and submission than we did in those first 2-4 weeks.

Postpartum. That is a word I never thought I would dread to hear. No one can ever prepare you for those first 2 weeks after birth. I have watched women who are in the postpartum phase......they put on a good show. Postpartum is filled with emotions, fear, anxiety, pain, worry, self-judgement, sacrifice, crying, sweating, bleeding, milk, sleep deprivation, love, cuddles, and smiles. I felt like I was going crazy those first few weeks and came to dread ever having a baby again. Luckily, postpartum does end, and it turns out you really are not crazy, you just had a baby. So a word of advice for expecting mothers, no amount of preparation will make you ready for postpartum, but that is okay, because you have people to love and support you, and it will end.

One thing I wish I would have done before is have postpartum snacks prepared because you are starving all the time with breast feeding. I had an amazing friend who brought me snacks and she saved me! Get individually packaged jerky, nuts, granola bars, dried fruit, etc and stock up because you will go through them fast.

Another word of advice to those mothers who may not have family near by, have a few different friends written down who you know you can call when you need to cry, you need help of any sort, and when you just need someone to sit with you. I did not have the luxury of having family come out, but I was surrounded by so many wonderful friends who were able to support me while Pedro finished school. My friends will never know how much I appreciate them for bringing me a nipple shield when I could not feed my baby due to engorgement, for bringing me much needed snacks, for coming to just sit with me because I was afraid to be alone, for folding my laundry, for letting me cry to them when my baby projectile vomited out her nose and mouth due to over eating during cluster feeds, researching and buying binkies that are good for spitters, and for bringing many wonderful meals. This family of friends is the only thing I miss about Minnesota.

I learned a lot more about how to support a postpartum mother thanks to these friends. In the past I have taken meals to families with new little ones, but until you have experienced it, you don't realize how much the little things matter. I appreciated the "extras" that people would bring with meals - a salad with bacon and crutons, fruit washed and cut for easy snacking, a phone call to ask how I was doing, fresh made ice cream and cookies, changing my baby's diaper while we visited. These women just jumped right in to help. Now I know, don't ask, just do. I had a hard time asking for help at times and honestly my brain did not function enough to ask for help. I was in survival mode and all my mind knew was to keep my baby alive, try to eat, try to sleep.

To all my friends, thank you,  thank you for being my friend and for helping me through the hardest experience of my life so far. We could not have done it without you. I love you. I miss you.

Now as for miss Bella Rey. In her first month of life we discovered that:

• She loves bath time. She gets so relaxed and loves to dangle her foot in the water. She peed and pooped, and spit up in the tub several times. I started to comb her hair in to a faux hawk after baths and now it is her signature. She just wouldn't be the same without it. 

  

  bath at 6 weeks. I don't have one from her first month. 

  
  

• She spits up more than the average baby. We go through multiple burp cloths a day. It is getting better, but still annoying. My friend gave me these large terry cloth bibs meant for older kids, but we use them religiously, especially in the car because they are perfect for soaking up that spit up! 

  

  wearing our bib

• Feeding was a roller coaster. I would get severe anxiety with every feeding. Bella went from not eating for 2 days after my milk came in because I was too engorged, to eating way too much in cluster feedings and projectile vomiting in just one week's time. Feeding can still be a struggle, but we are figuring it out. 
• She can roll onto her side. At 2 weeks old little miss was rolling on to her side. This is how she prefers to sleep. It completely took me by surprise the first time she did it. I was so proud of her! 

  

  little cuddly side sleeper.

• She knows the difference between night and day. We lucked out that really early on Bella knew that night time is when we sleep, and day time is when we can be awake. She has had several nights of 6-8 hour stretches of sleep. For the most part though it is 4 hour stretches, but she goes right back to sleep after eating. 
• She loves the car. Bella pretty much slept the entire way to California. If she is in motion, she is happy and most often sleeping. 
• She loves her hands. She always has her hands by her face! they have a mind of their own. She is constantly hitting herself in the face or bumping her binky out, and it makes her so mad! ha ha

  

  come on guys! I just want to eat my hands!

• She will take a binky. It was a struggle and still is sometimes, but Bella will take a binky! Thank goodness because those cluster feedings with projectile vomiting were killing me.
  
   
• She does well with tummy time. Right from the start Bella was a strong little girl. She holds her head up so well.   
  

I am sure there are more things we discovered, but these are the major points. It is even more amazing what she has been learning in the second month of her life, but I will post about that later.


To end my post enjoy Bella's first dance party: