I've heard a lot of people say that the transition from 1 to 2 kids is one of the hardest... but I've found 0 to 1 to be the hardest and biggest adjustment. Welcoming Cora into our home seemed so natural. It was almost as though she's been here the whole time. Our first month with her holds so many good memories, and I attribute that largely to my Moms and all the help we received to ease the burden of everyday life as we made the transition. I was given the chance to recover at a steady pace and not worry about learning how to juggle everything right away. It helped me learn how to do things a little more slowly and in turn left me with more patience to deal with things that were frustrating.
We came home from the hospital around 9pm on Sunday night July 20th. I really didn't want to stay in the hospital another night since I had gotten almost no sleep the night before. I wanted to be home and comfy... or comfy and warm as Eliza says :)
When we got home, I snuggled Cora into her rocker and laid down to go to sleep. It became apparent very quickly that she was just as grunty and noisy as her sister had been. She also wasn't very content because she hadn't gotten a full meal of milk (since it hadn't come in yet) and was wanting to nurse a LOT. So between my mom and I, we traded her back and forth throughout the night and made it to the next day... barely ;)
The next couple nights were similar, but steadily improving. My milk came in on Monday night/Tuesday morning and that made a big difference. She was still a bit mixed up with days and nights though so it took a couple nights sleeping with her in the rocking chair to keep her calm and sleepy... that first week she spent time sleeping with me, her Daddy and both her Grandmas.
Grandma Robinson came on Wednesday and stayed until Sunday. It was so great having her here and Eliza absolutely loved all the attention. Grandma brought her an "Elsa packpack" which is something Eliza had specifically requested. She had never seen one, but liked backpacks because Jacob had one and apparently she figured if she was going to have one, she would like it to have Elsa on it :)
Steve was able to take the whole first week off that we had Cora home with us and that was so huge. Between all of us, there was always someone available to help with whatever was going on. After Mom R went home and Steve returned to work, my mom came back for the rest of the week. I didn't even know how much I needed her that second week. I was still not even close to recovered enough to handle things well. By the end of that second week I was feeling able to do so much more. I wasn't in much pain anymore and I was beginning to get the hang of things and the new routine.
Eliza loves her Cora so much. She always wants to give her hugs and kisses and to "howd her" and "pet her."
One of the things I had worried about before having Cora was whether I
would have the time to spend with her just "being" when she was a
newborn. I had all the time in the world with no distractions
essentially when Eliza was born, and I wanted that so badly for my
second little girl. I was so blessed to have that kind of time with her
due to all the help I had. I will never regret those first days that I
literally just sat with her, held her, nursed her, rocked her. I am so
so thankful.
When Cora was 2 weeks old we did our first big outing. Alicia's graduation party was that day as well as Emily and William's birthday party. It was a long day, but so fun. It was nice to get out and see how our new life would feel.
Cora unfortunately developed a pretty bad diaper rash within the first week of being born. It hadn't resolved by even 5 weeks, but then it was suggested that I try bag balm, and after a week of constant treatment with that the rash finally cleared up. This was a very frustrating part of the first month...
Another major thing that happened during the first month is that I discovered she had a posterior tongue tie as well as a lip tie. When she was first born, she was able to latch on very well and seemed to be doing fine. When my milk came in, she struggled a LOT and since this had been my experience with Eliza as well we struggled through it and I figured it would get much better once the engorgement went away... Well, that lasted a week and a half and when the engorgement was gone, the nursing issues remained. She would not latch well if at all and when she would, she would click and lose her latch constantly. It was so so so frustrating. I saw the lactation consultant at the hospital and she suggested we see a specialist in Albany about this. We did and she had a procedure where they used a laser to correct the problem. She has done very well since then and is learning slowly but steadily how to be a good nurser... and so am I consequently. It's such a learning curve for both of us, but she seemed to catch on as the
days and weeks went by. And by the time she turned 2 months I remember
thinking, "ya, I think we're finally getting it." :)
