The first weeks

The first few weeks/months are really hard with a newborn, so hard that you just about survive. You can read all the books, buy all the gear but nothing prepares you for taking home your bundle of joy. This tiny human being needs you to cater to their every whimper even though you don't know what their whimper means!!! There are several things you can guarantee you will experience in those newborn days: 




Sleepless nights 
After the first night with your newborn (where they sleep and you don't because you are worried they will stop breathing) babies don't sleep at night, well ours didn't. For some reason babies do not know what is day and what is night our baby (as the health visitor told us) had it the wrong way round which meant she wanted to sleep all day but was awake from about midnight -5:30am and no amount of rocking, soothing, swaddling and pleading would get her to sleep. 





The visitors 
When you have a new baby every Tom,  Dick and Harry wants to come and see you and your new bundle of joy. They also want to come and see you as soon as possible so cue the never ending stream of well wishers (which your baby will sleep through) of which you not only have to be dressed for but also have to have a tidy house for AND provide coffee/tea/cake of course for this you get lots of lovely presents for your newborn but also a lot of....




Unwanted advice 
Everyone likes to tell you how to look after your new baby. My favourite one is 'sleep when the baby sleeps' this is impossible for many reasons. Firstly when the baby is asleep in the day the house is full of visitors and secondly if you are on your own all of a sudden you look around and make a start on the cleaning and washing you know you will never get round to once the baby is awake. However this is all tricky when you feel 




Feeling like you have been hit by a bus
The first day after giving birth I felt amazing, possibly still in shock. I thought is this must be how you feel after birth, what were people complaining about?! Yes maternity pads and breast pads don't make you feel your best but in general I felt...good. Fast forward to a day later when I woke up feeling the exact opposite and this feeling was the feeling that lasted over a week. I felt like I had been hit by a bus. I was so tired, achy, sore and uncomfortable. Nothing prepares you for the after birth feeling.Make sure you have a lot of chocolate (and soft cushions) on hand. 




Your washing machine will be on over drive
Since we brought Layla-Rose home our washing machine hasn't stopped! Thank goodness we invested in a tumble dryer before she was born! I don't know if this is reflux babies or babies in general but with all the sick, leaks and spills I'm doing at least a wash a day!





Your camera memory will be full 
This is the reason I got a 128GB phone memory so I could fill it with pictures of our little one. I take at least 5 pictures a day (check out my instagram @livingwithlaylarose) as I don't want to miss a moment with her. I do wish we would have gotten one of those fancy newborn shoots though. Some of my friends invested and I'm so jealous of their precious print outs! 



You will feel complete 
Taking her home, holding her in my arms just felt so natural like she had always been here. She makes us have a reason to smile everyday and I just simply adore her she has defiantly made our life whole. 


Diary of an imperfect mum


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