Life with a newborn...

Having a baby....no one can REALLY prepare you for it. Here are five things I wasn't prepared for before having Landon...

1. NO sleep....granted people told me all throughout my pregnancy to "sleep now while you can" and I always laughed it off. The thing is I've never been a "napper." Well, that has TOTALLY changed. I knew that sleep would be limited but ohmygoodness I wasn't totally mentally prepared for the every two hour thing. In fact, the first few days of Landon's life Travis and I literally DID NOT SLEEP. We sat on the couch and chair and "watched" Landon sleep all night long. How nuts is that? And when we did sleep it was for like 45 minute stints. I don't think I even had time to sleep hard enough to have one single dream the first six weeks. But, we eventually got into a routine....change the baby, feed the baby, burp the baby, rock the baby, lay the baby down, HE IS SLEEPING...HURRY lay down and get some GD SLEEP!;)
*Thank GOD he sleeps for several hour stints now...that two hour thang makes you want to stick a fork in your eye...

2. RECOVERY....HELLLOOO....is it just me or do people need to talk about this more? If any guys are reading, skip down to number 3. For all of you ladies out there, we need to warn other first time mommies about the post-giving-birth-your-lady-bits-will-never-be-the-same-again speech. Maybe it was just my experience...I know I had a delivery that was a little more intense than the average bear....but giving birth in general is no walk in the park. I think in my mind I thought that if I didn't have a c-section and was able to have him naturally, I would go back to normal right away...yes be a little sore....but able to get right out of bed and go on with my life and take care of my newborn baby. :LOUD BUZZER: WRONG! Oh, I was able to walk after giving birth....I just looked like a 90 year old woman doing it! For at least two weeks, I couldn't walk upright, the squirt bottle was my friend, Motrin 600 and Percocet were my BEST friends (and they didn't even touch the pain some days), I had ice diapers and pads the size of an 80's cell phone on my lady bits all day, I had to sit on one of those donuts to even out my weight to decrease my pain, and the thought of wearing jeans made me want to cry. Oh, and my boobs were leaking with every cry (not from me, from Landon:)....as if I didn't have enough problems!;) So, any first time mommies, soon to be mommies, someday want to be mommies...you've been warned!:)

3. You are on the baby's schedule....LITERALLY! For the first six weeks we lived on 2 hour increments. Most days I couldn't even tell you what day it was, let alone what the H was going on in the world. Our world was change, feed, burp, rock, repeat-every. two. hours. I remember the first time I left the house without him...I think it was six days after he was born. I had a doctor's appointment and then my mom and I went to Target and Kohl's. It was like shopping with a new set of eyes. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation, but I kept thinking the whole time that life will NEVER be the same. I can no longer just get in my car and go wherever I want whenever I want. I am on Landon time. Granted, he can stay with Trav and I can have "me time" and go out, but it's still not the same. Your time now belongs to them.

4. Your Freedom is O-V-E-R. This could go along with number 3, but I mean it in a different way. I have always been a worrier, its the Virgo in me I guess, but it goes to a whole new level after having a baby....and I wasn't totally prepared for it....I don't think you CAN be. Pre-Landon I only worried about things that don't seem all that important to me these days. I had true freedom then, to do what I wanted, go where I wanted and only had to worry about myself. Well, those days are over. It was fun while it lasted my friends. Nowadays I am consumed by worry. It's all in check, but it never goes away. You have this little life that you love more than your own, and all you want to do is make sure they are happy and healthy. You worry about germs (giving anyone who coughs in the baby's general direction the "I'm going to cut you" face:).You worry if they are eating enough, burping enough, sleeping enough, warm enough...it never ends....meanwhile you haven't showered in 3 days....but oddly enough, you aren't worried about that!;)

5. The UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. It is amazing. I can't even put it into words. I thought I felt it the first time I saw the two pink lines (or should I say 60 pink lines...you can't take just one test;), I thought I felt it the first time I heard his heartbeat, I thought I felt it the first time I felt him move inside me, I thought I felt it every time I saw him on an ultrasound....but, the truth is... those times don't compare to the first time you see your baby and they lay him on your chest. He came out screaming, but as soon as they laid him on me I told him how much I loved him and gave him a kiss. He stopped crying and looked right at me. And my heart exploded....it belongs to him now. He is the love of my life. I would die for him in a heartbeat...heck numbers 1-4 don't seem all that bad when you have your baby in your arms...