My first few days back home with my baby have coincided with a long weekend, which has turned out to be nice. Everything is low-key. The kids aren’t having to wake up at a certain time to get to school so we can all operate on newborn time.
I have never quite been able to “sleep while your baby sleeps.” There are certain times of day that I’m naturally sleepier than others, and if the baby takes a good long doze in the morning, that’s not really going to work for me. But I’m doing reasonably well in the sleep department because I have other adults around. I hand the baby over to my husband in the evening and I sleep from about 9:30 p.m. to the next feeding. I’m responsible for the baby after that (we get some good stretches — I was able to sleep from 12:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. last night!) and then I hand him over to my mom in the early a.m. (once it was 3:30 — I was tired! — but I’m aiming for closer to 5:30 a.m.). Then I go back down and start the day for real around 7:30 a.m. I try to take an afternoon nap while someone else is with the kids. My mom and husband have been good about taking the big kids out during the day some too. So while the sleep is incredibly disjointed, it’s adequate from a quantity perspective, which helps.
It also helps that the little dude is really chill. He eats like a champ, and I’m starting to see his face fill out. He’s opening his eyes more, and is getting a few bits of lucid time during the day. He’s pretty much taking the older-sibling-pawing that comes from being kid #4 in stride. And he’s really cute, as you can see from this photo!
He’s beautiful! Congratulations!
He’s beautiful! Glad things are going so smoothly so far!
Super cute! And you have a VERY NICE mother to be willing to take a baby at 3:30 am (or even 5:30 am!!).
He’s adorable! Wishing you continued good sleep luck…
So adorable!!! Congrats again and glad it’s going well!
So wonderful that you have a lot of help!
So glad your mom is there to help out, too. And having a nanny when the kids are back in school is helpful, too.
My DMIL, with 7 (!) said that the early morning feedings were her favorite with the later kids. It was their only solo time together, she liked watching the day begin outdoors and in, and it was very precious to her. After that I appreciated that time with little Segundo.
Now that he’s 16, I hardly see him at all in the morning: he’s either on the bus at 7 or under covers till 11 🙂
He really is very cute. Congrats and glad to see that everyone is adjusting well. This makes me even more excited to meet my little guy in a few months!
Congrats! He’s truly adorable. I hope the sleeping continues 🙂
Beautiful! Congratulations!
So cute, congrats! And you’re already back to blogging!
Many many congratulations! He IS cute and I’m glad you’re getting some sleep with help.
Congrats! Sound like this one has a knack for good timing.
Fantastic! How lucky you are– enjoy him!
What a cutie pie! I’m happy to hear everyone is home and doing well.
Hey, little Quattro and my Segundo share a bday, 16 years apart. It’s a good day 🙂
Laura, he is definitely a keeper! How adorable! Congrats to all. So glad your mom is there (tell her I said “hi”), and that the exciting birth worked out so well! Blessings to you!
@Linda – I will tell her you said hi! Thanks!
Congratulations, Laura. That is awesome 🙂
I`m going to become a father for the first time in start of June. I`m really looking forward to it 🙂
Tor Refsland
@Tor – congrats! You’ll love it!
Thanks, Laura.
I´m sure I will 🙂
Agree with above commenter about the niceness of your mother. I can’t even imagine living in that world.