Week 2 of life outside the womb

This week marks Carter's second week of finally being on the outside. Born at 6 lbs. 8oz., and with a length of 19.75 inches, Carter came into the world at 5:47 pm on June 24, 2010. He was born with a full head of hair (and some left over lanugo on this arms and legs), big hands and feet, big eyes, and the cutest little mouth ever! It's still hard to tell who he looks like, but most people say he looks more like Ryan than me. We'll see what happens in the next year when his features begin to develop more.

During the past two weeks, I've noticed a sleep and eat pattern that has already developed. He is still on "newborn" time, which means that day and night have no meaning to him. He eats and sleeps every 2-3 hours, which means getting up about three times during the night. He sleeps really well between 5 am and 2pm though (which is great if you are at home and can nap during those times), but hopefully in the next month, his clock will slowly adjust to ours a little more.

Life with a newborn is definitely harder than I imagined. Although I knew that my schedule would really be dictated by his schedule, I don't think I fully understood what this meant. I left the house for 20 minutes the other day after he was fed and changed, but I needed to rush home right away because he started crying and could not be comforted. He needed me to nurse him for just 5 minutes before passing out. I can't be away from him because he's nursing, which makes getting out of the house a little hard. "Me time" is definitely something I won't get for a while.

For my pregnant friends out there, here are some other things that happened to me after giving birth which I did not know about: 1) your muscles "down there" don't seem to function for a week, 2) you become so engorged with milk that your pre-pregnancy clothes still don't fit not because of your belly, but because your boobs are now gigantic, 3) you are nursing constantly, and 4) you still can't eat whatever you like because your breast milk might cause excess gas in your baby, and 5) you now worry even more now about your baby!

Despite the lack of sleep and feeling like a pacifier, I feel really blessed to have this beautiful baby boy. I find myself staring at him for hours during the day. I still do not not fully understanding how Ryan and I created this little creature. I know every mother will say this about their own child, but Carter is truly the cutest kid ever. :)