H is One Week Old

Harrison is no longer days old, that is absolutely crazy. Well, he is still days old, but that's not how we'll count. It's weeks now. Before we know it it'll be months, and that is even crazier. This week has been the most mentally, physically and emotionally exhausting week of my life, but it has also already been the best. Harrison is perfect: an absolute pest at night, completely draining, and leaves me covered in sick, pee or poo 90% of the time, but still completely perfect. This week has absolutely flew in, it is crazy to think that only a 8 days ago he was still in my stomach, and now I can't imagine life without him.

What The Midwife Says

So far, so good. There's been nothing so far that's phased Harrison - he passed his hearing and paediatrics tests fine first time, and with every visit seems to just be exceeding expectations. Other than a little bit of dry flaky skin, there are no problems so far, thank the lord. I know I shouldn't have expected problems as such, but because I'd found out so late in pregnancy, and hadn't exactly been careful with diet, or alcohol, or how I was treating my body in the early stages, I was terrified something would be wrong. So far so good though, little chunk is perfect. Speaking of little chunk, he was born at 8lbs 1oz (far cry from the 5lbs they worried he would be), and by the 5th day he was weighing 8lbs 4oz, so he's doing brilliantly. His little umbilical cord fell off on day 5, which was sad, as it made me realise he really is going to grow so quickly, but also happy, as it freaked me out something awful.

Sleep

As far as sleep goes, it is exactly that ^, naptime, not night-time. For the first 3 nights, sleep was non-existent, Harrison would be dead to the world during the day, then come alive at night and point blank refuse to sleep. He also didn't like being put down at all, he'd be content if he was being held at night, but the minute he was put down, he'd scream. This wasn't the case during the day, where he'd happily go down and not be coddled, but a switch would go at night-time and that would be him, no rest for the wicked. I have to remember though, he's days old, he was never going to be a great sleeper straight away. The last two nights we've had a solid set of 4 hour blocks, so it's felt like a new baby, and it's made all the difference! Fingers crossed it stays this way!

Feeding

Harrison is a little chunk - there is not one word of a lie there. He's a great little feeder now and is up to 4oz every 3 hours or so, I'd worried this was too much, but the midwife has reassured me it's completely fine if he's keeping it down, and it is in line with his weight, so I'll stop worrying and let him eat. Although little chunk will have to slow down - he's already too big for some of his sleep-suits.

Milestones

Can you have milestones in 7 days?... He was born, that's a thing.
I suppose he's had his first 'everything' in the last week, most memorable for me, other than the birth, will probably be his first bath, which he hated, the first outing in his pram, and the first time he properly opened his eyes. I know he can't actually see me - but towards the end of this week especially, I swear he's looking right through me. I cannot wait for the days when he can actually register who I am and respond properly to me, although he can definitely recognise mummy and daddy's voice now.

What would we have done without...

Our standout products for the first week are:
- Purflo Sleepnest: This was acquired as I wasn't willing to pay the price for the sleepyhead, and it looked like a similar product. I don't have a Sleepyhead to compare it to - but I truly can't imagine a better product. I don't know what we'd have done without it, he's so settled in it and it works wonders for making a baby feel nestled and cocooned, which must be so important as a newborn.

- Nuby Bottles: It's been a week, and we went through 4 brands of bottles. 4. 4 bloody different cups. Harrison is a brand rep for Nuby, so you'd think that would have been the first we tried - but the bottles look so big compared to other brands, they are genuinely bigger than his head, so I felt they'd be better when he was a little older. We started with the Aptamil ready made bottles (he threw up the formula everytime so they didn't last long anyway), moved on to Avent, which I liked for the size of the bottle but wasn't a fan of the teet, so tried out Tommee Tippee, which again, I hated because of the odd teet, before settling on the Nuby ones. They are huge, but I think he likes them for that reason - they are supposed to be more akin to the boob, so babies take to them better. I know Harrison has.

- Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep: There is no use in me even going in to this, it's been raved about to death. But I'd be lost without it. Absolutely lost!

 

What About Mum?

She's absolutely fine and does not deserve a paragraph - not at all. I've felt worse with a cold than I have 'recovering' from labour, I truly have lucked out immensely and I don't know how I've managed. I will say though that my milk coming in was worse than the actual birth - that was absolutely hellish to say the least! That died down after Day 5 though, prior to that, I couldn't lift my arms without being breathless, and the mere touch of my chest made my legs buckle. I'll push a baby out again any day.

So that's us, Week One, over and done with. It's absolutely terrifying to think how quickly it's gone, and how quickly it'll probably continue from here. I don't want my baby to grow up, if I could slow down time right now, I 100% would. Baby Harrison needs to stay Baby Harrison forever.