My body is an open bar 24/7

Living with a newborn baby is the most interesting and exhausting thing I have ever taken on in my life.  We live moment to moment and we never know what to expect next.  Lauren surprises us everyday with something new, mostly poop related. I've learned not to change her diaper immediately because it will just end up all over my hands and the changing table. Sometimes I'm not sure where she is storing all that poop. She must have a reserve tank somewhere in her tiny body that triggers a release only when the diaper comes off her little butt.  I used to get mad but now I've learned that everything is washable and stains are inevitable.  That's just life with a baby and I have to accept it. 

I've been rotating between breast feeding and pumping so that it fits my schedule and still gives Lauren the best nutrition I can offer her.  Pumping takes like ten minutes max and I prefer the option of getting it done quickly. But breast feeding offers a bonding time that I can't get any other way. Plus the clean-up is minimal. However, she always falls asleep while breast feeding and the whole process ends up dragging out sometimes to an hour and a half at a time.  This kid is almost always attached to me, sucking away at my body like I have nothing better to do than serve her food 24/7. I knew breast feeding would be challenging but I never knew the amount of time it would take away from my day. I'm pretty much an endless open bar for one very hungry, very tiny customer.  Oh and by the way, this demanding customer doesn't tip or say thank you. 

 My family came in for the weekend to meet Lauren for the first time. Here's my mom spending time with her granddaughter a few hours before we took her to Ikea and she pooped all over her beautiful dress..... Lauren, not my mom. 

Of course the weekend my family chose to come visit happened to be when the kiddo decided to stay awake all night long making it almost impossible to really enjoy time with them with my eyes open. It was really special to see my family hold my child. There's really nothing like it. It's a shame I don't live closer to them.  Lauren will never live near her cousins like I did as a kid.  It was my favorite part of growing up.  You have this whole network of built-in friendships with aunts and uncles to help raise you.  My childhood was extremely family oriented until my cousins moved away when I was in high school.  It broke my heart to not have them nearby and I have never fully recovered because I lost their friendship.  I'm hoping Lauren will have the chance to get to know her cousins in California and New York well enough. She's pretty close in age to them so there's a good possibility they can be good friends even living far apart.  Life is so different now that they will have the option to keep in touch over the internet. We never had all this social networking when we were kids. We just had playgrounds and sandboxes. And when your mom wanted you back home she couldn't send a text.  She had to scream out the back door to come home. And it worked. It worked well.

Lauren is now seventeen days old and I am almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I have about five more pounds to go and I have the confidence that I will lose that before my follow up postnatal doctors appointment. I lost twenty pounds almost immediately in that first week. I give credit to the breast feeding and the fact that I was sliced open and couldn't really walk, therefore I couldn't really get myself to the kitchen to eat endless amounts of cheese and ice cream like when I was pregnant. Plus the pain kind of makes you forget about food. Not to mention twenty-two hours of labor with no food followed by four days in the hospital with either a restricted diet or no appetite.  I'm still recovering now and I hope to be able to get back to my jogging routine soon. For now I will take walks and treasure the time I have with the cutest little human that ever lived pooped.

Honestly,
Jen