NotSheep

It’s been an up-and-down kind of day. After feeling great all day yesterday, I’ve been more sore today, especially across my back, and a bit more crampy. And my tush hurts; I need to shrink those things. (And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t ask, because you don’t want to know.)

I’ve been a bit weepy today too - I suppose hormones are responsible, and I think I’m still processing how the birth was so different from what I’d planned. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night either, which I’m sure didn’t help. Toby wanted to feed all night, but was a bit mucousy in his nose and throat, so wasn’t having much success feeding lying down - so I spent much of the night sitting up, and slouching over as I fell asleep. Now I think of it, that might also have something to do with the back pain.

Scratchy washed some diapers on Monday; half of them came back damp (folded, in a neat pile, but damp…*sigh*) and the rest of it…well, nobody seems to know where the rest of it is. As a result, Toby has been wearing nothing but a nightshirt all day, which is fine, because I’d been planning on doing at least some EC (elimination communication) anyway…though Scratchy thinks it’s a bit weird - but a) it’s his fault the small diapers weren’t available, and b) he’s thought that about a lot of stuff that I’ve suggested and that is part of our everyday life and seems the “normal” way now…

One of my neighbours sent in a baby present, which I think was really thoughtful, we’ve only been living here a few weeks. I have lots of other thank-yous to online friends today, but I’ll make a separate post about that :-). We had another en-masse visit from the neighbourhood kids too - there was a request at the front door to “see your baby”, so Scratchy carried him out to the front door and suddenly there was a deluge One of the neighbourhood mums came over too - she made nice remarks about how beautiful Toby is, and then spoiled it by asking “has he you up much during the night?” Wahuh? He’s three days old…:roll:

The older four boys - eek! I have an “older four boys”! - went off to a birthday party with Scratchy over lunchtime, which meant that Toby and I got to stay home and have a lovely peaceful time. After the midwife had been, we went off to bed together and had a couple of hours sleep :-). I’m always kind of aware of how many children are around - if Scratchy takes one or two out somewhere, I kind of know without thinking about it how many are left with me, if that makes sense. And the whole time they were gone today, I was aware that I had one here, so there must be three off with Scratchy - except, of course, that there were four with him. I’m going to have to update my head-count instinct, or I’ll end up leaving a child somewhere!

As for the downright gorgeous…well, that’s Toby, of course. He’s just lovely. I love how sometimes he’s about to cry, or has just started crying, and he hears my voice and stops, and opens his eyes to see me. I love how, when he’s looking around, he catches sight of my face and suddenly those little arms and legs that were waving about just stop, and then his whole little body relaxes. I love how he smiles - he has smiled at me three times already. I don’t care how many “experts” say that three-day-old babies’ smiles are just gas - he smiles when he’s looking at my face, and not any other time. I love how he watches whoever is willing to talk to him - after he feeds I sometimes put him up on my shoulder if I think he needs to burp, and there’s frequently competition to see who can get their face in there fastest to get his attention :-). And he watches them, and coos, and pushes himself up on his elbows to get a better view.

Jack has been telling me his version of Toby’s birth story. It contains a lot of “baby came out of your bum”. “His head came out first…and then his arms…and his fingers….” (yes, because I was really thinking about his fingers at the time :lol:) “…and then his body, and his legs and he was standing up!” And he puts his hands up to his mouth to make a sort of oval shape with his fingers and says “and you were blowing, like this” (entonox mouthpiece) :lol:. He talks about “the people who came” - the midwives - and tells me what they did. He really remembers a lot of detail.