Terra's Tune: The first two weeks.

Long time, no talk!!

Currently, I am scarfing down cheerios while Ginger is terrorizing the big pink bunny in the nursery and Selah is snoring. Yes, snoring. I swear that kid looks like her Dad and even snores like him. I am still not sure that I even participated in her creation ;)

These past two weeks have been CRAZY! I have been dying to sit down at the computer and spill my guts but every time I get both of my little noise makers settled down... something happens that takes me away. The first week it was just Andrew and I. Last week my Mom was here with me while Andrew went back to work. This week.. I am by myself. And.. it is not as scary as I thought it would be! Yesterday, I took Selah to her two week appointment, went by the bank, went grocery shopping, did a load of laundry, cooked dinner, so on and so forth. I felt pretty accomplished by the end of day. We had no baby meltdowns in any public places. Hallelujah.

Our first week home was the craziest week by far. Not any birthing class in all of the world could prepare you for your first week home with a newborn. We thought we were doing pretty good until we got home with Selah Grace for five minutes and realized that Ginger had gone into heat for the first time while we were gone. We tried to put her in a diaper, wrapping her in a blanket, etc. Nothing was working. SO, Andrew had to call the Value Vet down the street and see if we could get her fixed ASAP! By the end of that day, we were wore out. I was in so much pain after having Selah (did I mention that she was 8lbs 12oz!!!) that the added stress of having a puppy in heat was not helping our situation.

Then I noticed that Selah was looking a little yellow, we were having a hard time waking her up, and she was not eating very well. Our nights were horrendous. She had the day and the night confused for the first 5 days of her life.

I will never forget Friday night, October 15th. Andrew and I got 30 minutes of sleep. I laugh about it now, but that night... no one was laughing. Selah would not latch on to eat for anything. She was screaming and I thought that I was going to go out of my mind! All Andrew could do was say her name over and over and over again to try and calm her. Selah, Selah, SELAH, SELAH... Selah. We ended downstairs, on the couch, Selah in her swing... at 6:30am. We had Selah's doctor's appointment at 8:30am and we had to bath and clothe her before we got there. Andrew and I set the alarm for 7am. 30 minutes of sleep.

We were so frazzled getting her to the doctor that morning. I looked horrendous. I was still incredibly swollen, hadn't taken a shower, and had massive big black bags under my eyes. Selah Grace looked like a doll though. I didn't want the doctor thinking that I was a bad Mom or anything... even though I looked like some of the women on the America's Most Wanted section of the newspaper. The doctor did comment on how tired we looked. Her words were, "Is this your first?" And by the tone of her voice and the smirk on her face, she was not asking us if we were first time parents... She already knew.

Here we are two weeks later and we are all still alive. I am feeling much better, Selah is sleeping better, and Ginger does not have to wear the cone around her head anymore that she came home in from Value Vet. The day Ginger came home from the vet was something straight out of a sick and twisted reality TV show. She was drugged and wearing a cone around her head. She kept forgetting that she had it on and would run into our legs trying to get our attention. Andrew was in and out of consciousness from exhaustion, I was drugged and in severe pain, and Selah was fussy as all get out. One day we will look back and have a great story to tell.

And... I just have to comment on how hilarious Andrew and I looked giving Selah her first bath. I see so many pictures on facebook of these new Mom's and Dad's with big ole smiles on their faces while gently bathing their newborn. Our experience was terrifying. With 30 minutes of sleep and no experience giving a newborn a bath (ever!) all I remember was Andrew yelling... "OH NO! I got her belly button thingy wet!"

So incredibly funny. I could really go on and on, but by now half of you have already stopped reading this post because there are too many words and not enough pictures up till now. I will leave you will this... if you are having a newborn soon just remember... "don't get the belly button thingy wet!" Good luck :)