Early days

I woke to the sound of her smacking her lips together, looking for her momma’s goodness. 6 am. I pull myself to sitting carefully, as by morning the pain meds have worn off and my tummy is tender. I turn on the lamp and go to her crib, which is tucked in a corner of our room. She doesn’t cry, she just smacks her small perfect lips to let me know it’s been three hours since her last meal. Jakob wakes and comes to snuggle at my feet while Audrey finishes eating. Ella follows shortly after. Both have their morning snuggles with their baby sister whilst I savour my morning coffee and each moment that passes. These are the early days. The days which are consumed only by breathing in newborn sweetness – the smell of her head, the softness of her skin, baby cries and cuddles…oh the cuddles.

Audrey is ten days old today. We have been home for a week. It has flown by.

This much I know to be true – recovering from a c-section, (for my body), is a lot more difficult than recovering from a vaginal birth. The first couple of days in the hospital I wondered how I would make it through the next six weeks but with each day that passed the pain lessened and I began to feel more like myself. As for Audrey, she settled into life outside of the womb gracefully, charming everyone who laid eyes on her.

These are the early days. She has almost recovered to her birth weight as she eats well, that is, when she doesn’t fall asleep before she’s finished. Her small amount of jaundice has also subsided and, (knock on wood), she has maintained a pattern of night time feedings for which I am truly grateful. She wakes at midnight, 3 am and then at 6 am, sleeping in between. And while I know this could change at anytime, this routine has given me enough rest to be ready for the day by morning (with the help of some coffee). Rest, which is essential when you have two other littles to care for…especially now that the in-laws are gone. It’s nothing short of a miracle that we got the kids to school on time today.

Audrey is a more petite feminine version of Jakob, when he was a newborn. She has dark hair, and while this could change, many say it is darker than the other two kids were. Her eyes remain the newborn slate blue.

She doesn’t fuss.

As we round the corner into the two week mark, I am hoping she remains so easy going but again, as is always the case with newborns…you just never know…