Charlie
April 4th, 2010 by Jen
Oh man, where do I begin?
Charlie is now 52 days old, and the fact that it’s taken me this long to post something about him tells you something about my energy level these days. 
Remember in college when I rarely went to parties because I couldn’t stay up that late? Now imagine me waking up every 2-3 hours for feedings. When you’re done laughing you can continue reading…
I guess I should start with his birth. About a week before his due date, we had a snow storm, and that was the day my water broke! Or rather began slowly leaking out the moment I woke up. Not convinced I was actually in labor (“Uh, maybe I’m peeing myself? Even though that has never ever happened to me before?”) I made casseroles all day, to freeze for meals in his newborn days…until that evening, when my water seriously broke (no mistaking it now) and active labor (intense and frequent contractions!) started within minutes. Our car actually got stuck in the snow going up the hill on our own street, but thanks to Rob’s good driving and my mom pushing the car from behind, we made it up and got to the hospital safely. By this point I was singing through my contractions–not exactly what they taught us in birthing class but for some reason the only thing that worked. (You do crazy things in labor. Later on I started growling. Also Rob says I kicked the midwife in the face, although I don’t remember too well.) And after about 7.5 hours of labor–totally drug free!–Charlie came into the world at 3:31 am on Feb. 11, surprising everyone by appearing face up! Yay.
The first 7 weeks of mama-hood have been…too complex, huge and surprising to cover in a little blog post. Some surprises:
- How fiercely I love Charlie. I mean, I knew I would love him, but it is something animal and vulnerable and more intense than I could have imagined. Sometimes in the very early days, I would start crying while I was nursing him, just thinking about how much I loved him. Of course, sometimes I was crying because my nipples hurt…
- Which brings me to Surprise #2: It’s not easy to learn how to breastfeed! Seriously! Nursing sounds so peaceful… till you are wrestling with a newborn little boy who is actually shaking his head and growling at your boob. Happily, we got the hang of it after a few weeks and now he latches on like a pro.
- One of the most maddening things that people say is “Enjoy every minute of it.” This is an impossibility and a lie. When you have been trying all day to comfort an inconsolable baby, on a few hours’ sleep, or wolfing down a meal as he fusses awake from a 7-minute nap…who calls that enjoyable?! I wish someone had told me instead, “Enjoy every minute that you can.“ Because there really are some sublimely enjoyable moments. Like this week when he smiled for the first time. Or snuggling next to this velvety little head after a 3 am feeding, when everything is totally quiet except for rain on the roof.
So, yeah. That’s more than enough talking for now, I think. I wish you guys could all meet him. He is just such a lovely little guy. As challenging as these past weeks have been, it is getting more and more fun all the time, as we get the hang of things and more of his personality comes out all the time. He is remarkably calm, marvelously cuddly and makes us laugh all the time with his funny faces and burping and farting. And also he is beautiful. Miraculously beautiful. Just because he’s alive and here and breathing. It’s pretty cool.
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- Posted in EOJ, Milestones
