As I sit here typing this Baby Zee is asleep in her bassinet, Punky is in her cot singing to herself and will soon be asleep, Daddy has taken himself off to bed for a well-earned nap. So Mummy is waiting for lunch to cook and taking it easy. It's day 6 of the new reality for the Purtell Family and so far everything is going fine.
 |
| Less than 24 hours old |
It's such a different experience, a second baby, compared to a first. While it's still early days, Baby Zee has been an absolute dream. Feeding like a champ and sleeping so well. Almost too well! I fully expect the sleep situation to become a little volatile now that we are passing the one-week mark and she starts to really wake-up to the world around her and have longer awake periods that are harder for her to switch off from. But it doesn't worry me. I'm cool. We'll just do what needs to be done. If she spends hours on end attached to my boob or in mine and Dave's arms on the rocker, so be it.
With Punky I was constantly worried and stressed about every little thing. Worried that I was doing the wrong thing, creating bad habits, setting myself up for a fall. Breastfeeding was so hard in those early weeks with Punky that I am surprised we made it through. She wasn't the worst sleeper but she also wasn't great, always restless and only ever sleeping for a couple of hours at a time.
 |
| Looking very alike! |
Baby Zee seems much more chilled out. Aside from a cracked nipple on one-side where she always seems to fall asleep and slip back, resulting in her chomping on said nipple, she has been feeding really well. The Midwifery-at-Home nurse weighed her on Saturday (day 4) and she had only lost 100g from her birth weight! Last night she only woke twice for a feed, once at 2am (after having been asleep since about 9:30pm) and then again at 6am. To be honest it was really quite painful, by the time she woke for her feeds my boobs were about to explode! But I am not a fan of waking a sleeping baby and we demand feed, so I'm not going to complain. Yes, I have spent most of the day now just feeding Zee, as she is obviously making up for the big stretches of no feeding through the night, but that's ok with me!
 |
| Not even a day old |
I feel so much better this time around than I did with Punky. Having a second baby has not been as much of a shock to the system as it was the first time round. And despite a harder labour and more general fatigue from blood loss (which I'll talk about more when I write Zee's birth story) I've been feeling damn good!
Don't get me wrong, it's still not a walk in the park, but you at least know the basics and have some sort of idea about what you're doing. There's not the same fear that I had with Punky. I know what to expect in the coming weeks and months... lots of change. Change to feeding patterns, change to sleeping patterns, change to crying patterns and just generally change in general. But I'm not scared of those changes anymore.
 |
| Giving her sister a kiss |
Punky has been the absolute best through all of this. She doesn't have a huge interest in Zee, because let's face it, newborns are boring to adults, let alone energetic 20-month-olds, but when she has shown interest she has been so gentle and sweet, wanting to give her kisses and stroke her head, hold her hand. Watching her be so good to her baby sister makes my heart feel like it is about to burst with love and pride. She wasn't too happy with me the day after Zee was born though.
 |
| First photos as a family of 4 |
Despite the fact that I only spent two nights in the hospital with Zee, I had actually been there for 4 nights as I had to be there from the Sunday night to be induced. So when Punky came with Dave to visit, after having no daytime sleep either mind you, she barely wanted anything to do with me. I would try to talk to her and she would look away or ignore me. She gave everyone else a hug and a kiss when it came time to leave, but not me, she didn't want a bar of me. I knew not to take it personally, that she was just trying to process what was going on in her own way, but there was still a tiny piece of me that found it hard to take.
 |
| The first of what I am sure will be many cheesy selfies together |
Thankfully now she has come around and even though it's still really early days I have been making an effort to spend a bit of time with her each day just playing or reading books, time when I don't have Zee with me and it's just Punky and I. She hasn't quite grasped the fact that Dave and I can't drop everything as soon as she wants us to if we are doing something with Zee, but I know she'll get there and despite a few rough days in our future I know it will all work out in the end.
 |
| Dad of the century, on our 5th wedding anniversary last Friday. Yes Zee has arms and no, it's not as dangerous an angle as it looks! |
So all-in-all I have to say I am kinda living in a little bliss bubble at the moment. I can't believe how incredibly blessed I've been to have two such amazing little girls, and the world's best husband to boot! Dave is of course absolutely smitten with Zee and has been earning a bit of a Superman reputation. The day after we came home from the hospital he sent me back to bed after feeding Zee and looked after both girls, and cleaned the house at the same time! He has really set the bar high for me when he returns to work. I love watching him with his girls, he is just so in love, and seeing the fun, silly, drinking-machine 21 year old I fell in love with 11 years ago turn in to this amazing father just makes me feel even more blessed.
 |
| 6 days old |
Anyway, that's enough of my gushing, I'm sure you're all feeling like you've consumed way too many sweets after reading this disgustingly mushy post. I just needed to record these thoughts and feelings so that I can come back and read over them and remind myself in a few weeks time when the changes are all going on, and in a few years time when the two girls are ganging up on me and trying to send me mad!
Linking this post up as always with Essentially Jess for IBOT
Find me here:
Comments
Congratulations to you and your lovely family :)
Becc
#teamIBOT was here!
Post a Comment