What they don't tell you about your newborn!

The biggest myth that my first showed was wrong was that newborns sleep alot Not her! She stayed up but did not cry just wanted to look around~ Now my other 3 slept alot Esp my preemie~

Melissa

Here's my total FTM story. After I had ds and was waiting in the recovery room for him with my dh and mom, she asked me if I would know him when he came. I assured him that I would because he had some skin tags on his face. She was like, "Are you sure there were skin tags? Did the doc say anything about it?" I told her that I was sure they were, but no one had mentioned them, and I really didn't care because I was just so happy he was here.

When he showed up, no skin tags. Apparently, they were just little balls of gunk that hadn't gotten wiped off in the first go round. I still recognized him, though.

I wasn't aware of how much my chest would hurt when my newborn would cry. He constantly cried in his car seat when the car stopped moving even if I had just fed him. Luckily, we both adjusted after a while.

Oh man, you aren't kidding about FTM status! I thought I was doing pretty well, even my MIL who was visiting didn't have to straighten me out on much.

But DD didn't recover her birth weight well. I had two different lactation consultants help us establish breastfeeding, I had no pain or soreness from nursing, everything was going great. But she just wasn't recovering that weight.

Her pedi was great about not suggesting formula, but at two weeks old we were all starting to get a touch nervous. Finally the pedi had me bring DD in to the office so *she* could observe a nursing session (not delegated to a nurse!) Great swallowing sounds, great latch. What's going on here?

Finally we realized the problem. DD would guzzle one side (let down), then pause. I figured that meant the breast was empty, and switched sides. Two sides, and she's done, right? The whole process took about fifteen minutes.

Somehow, in all the reading I did, and all the LLL meeting I attended, no one ever told me that babies might rest in the middle of a feeding.

Deep sleep! a couple of times i freaked out because dd went into such a deep sleep with such shallow breathing that i thought she was... well, way too out of it. Called the midwife, and she was a bit amused and said, "it's deep sleeping.. and it's a good thing!" The irregular breathing really freaked me out, i just always was afraid she would stop.

my midwife gave me this mantra: a pink baby is a happy, healthy baby.

so, whenever i felt freakish about her breathing or whatever, i would note her skin tone and that would calm me down.

Sweet, more good heads up for the newbies! Thanks ladies!

The WEIRD noises they make! My DD sounded like a 90 year old man, and then a billy goat. LOL.

They aren't as fragile as they look.

Yep - not all are sleepers! My DD hated to sleep - still does 4 years later.

Those first smiles when they are like a week old, ARE smiles and NOT gas.

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Yes, the breathing is very freaky. DH and I STILL watch our little ones breathe and get very nervous. They're laying there, asleep, breathing 100 times a minute, very shallow breathing, then it looks like s/he isn't breathing at all, then s/he takes a breath every 10 seconds...Still scares the pants off me, but as the above said, it's all normal.

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Yup!

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Absolutely. I have no idea where that got started. Babies are capable of expressing all their emotions and will mirror your own facial expressions. Clara's first real smiles came at 3 weeks, just when I was starting to go bonkers and wondered if this kid even liked me. I was singing her some silly song that a parrot was singing on the Ellen show ("How Much is that Puppy in the Window") and she grinned liked crazy. That's when I knew I was going to make it through this mama thing.

Another thing people tried to tell me but I didn't believe it...You'll want to sit and stare at your baby all day long. It's true. I find myself dreading the marathon nursing sessions this time, but I think that's only because I don't like to slow down and I worry about dd1 not getting the attention she needs. But I'm looking forward to the times dd is with her nanny or at preschool and just staring at this new baby. Oh, and those nightime feedings? They can be absolute bliss. Just you and your baby and nursing and the way her/his head smells...those are the things that make all the hard times totally worth it.

Some babies cry A LOT ~ try not to take it personally . DS cried for 8-10 hours at a time some days, totally inconsolable. I tried everything ~ changing my diet, slinging, rocking, car rides, literally everything. Eventually he just outgrew it, but it was the hardest 6 months of my life.

That when they say they will "shoot poop out." They mean LITERALLY!! My dd did this SEVERAL times!! And lemme tell ya...it really shoots right out!

Also, that for at least the 1st week you won't want ANYONE to hold him/her, family or not. That's how I was. Very protective. Of course I let my family hold my dd but the whole time I was thinking, "OK, just give her back to me now, that's enough...thank you very much."