Our lactation consultant mentioned a book that talks about a fourth trimester for babies. Even though they are no longer inside their mother, they still crave the warmth and comfort being with their mother provides. Basically, babies aren't really ready to live outside the womb yet and it takes them an extra "trimester" to adjust to the difficulty of living on their own. They have to adjust to finding food, digesting, keeping warm, comforting themselves and much more. I am definitely starting to agree with this theory. There are times when the only thing that will comfort Josh are breast feeding or snuggling with me in bed. I had thought that this adjustment period would only take a few weeks, but if a trimester is 12-13 weeks, maybe it takes that long.
Lately I have been thinking that there is a fourth trimester for me too....recovery. I spent a lot of time in my third trimester looking forward to how awesome it was going to be to not be pregnant. I knew that it would take some time to recover, but I underestimated that process. I went skating for the first time last week and was disappointed by my lack of core strength and stamina. My body just felt so strange in ways I never expected. I had hoped that by staying active throughout pregnancy I would recover better...but I guess who knows how bad it would be if I hadn't stayed active! I was reading an article yesterday which said that it takes nine months for you change and grow a baby and that you should give your body that much time to recover too. I guess I'll just have to be patient.
I think that there is a fourth trimester for new parents too. You can plan all you want for a baby, but I don't think the experience is ever what you expect. Figuring out how to balance everything we want to do and take care of Josh is not something that will be perfect overnight. But I think we are starting to figure things out.
I know I've asked you about wraps before, but I had a friend comment recently on how she can only get things done because her baby (who is less than a month old?) likes to be worn close to her, and I was thinking that you might want to try something like the Moby, which I think can be worn with babies who are newborns/younger than 3 months. It might also allow Josh to be in his sitting-up-looking-around position but let you get things done.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry things haven't been coming back as fast as you would like, but remember - Dad didn't learn to read in a day.
I have a Bjorn baby carrier thingy that Victoria seems to really like. We went to Cumberland this weekend and It was great because we didn't really have space for the stroller. We put her in it when we went to Wal-mart and she snuggled into my chest and slept the whole time too. It's also neat because when she gets older and has more head control she can face the other way.
ReplyDeleteSo in the first picture here, J. totally looks like Julian.
ReplyDeleteGo with the flow, Marg. from now on, life is just a little adventur you don't have (and don't really want to have) much control over. Roll with whatever Josh brings you. - Britt
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