What Came After

...a follow up to Sammy's birth story.

I wish I could tell you that after Sam was born I kissed his head, cuddled him tight and he drifted off into an unencumbered slumber for hours.  I wish I could tell you that he latched perfectly with little effort and breastfeeding was painless and luxurious.  I wish I could tell you that I hopped out of my hospital bed into the shower, cleaned up, put on make-up, and welcomed hundreds of guests with open arms.  I wish I could tell you life became blissful.

...but alas.  I can not tell you those things.  I am not a liar.

Becoming a parent was nothing like I imagined when I was a 'Still in the Belly Baby Mama.'  I struggled to get out of my hospital bed because of the magnesium and being bed ridden for three days.  I struggled to stand in the shower and clean off and I really didn't like the idea of visitors while I was still swollen, exhausted, and getting into the swing of nursing.

Sam's second night in the hospital was long!  He had stayed in the nursery the previous night and his second night, he was by my side.  By Divine intervention, most of the night is a hazy memory, but I remember a lot of crying.  At one point, Lee J, who is not used to hearing kids cry like I am from my child care days, hopped up from his sleeping and was so frustrated because of the crying.  He was mad.  At one point I really thought he was going to walk out on Sam and me for good (not that he would EVER do that, but sleep deprivation is a crazy thing.)  Thankfully, I talked him down and he then, consoled me too.  Marriage is awesome like that.  We ended up taking turns holding Sam while sleeping and miraculously made it through the night!  Praise the Lord.

Four days after we initially checked into the hospital, we were discharged.  We were very relieved to finally be able to go home.  Home was a struggle, we had a big learning curve ahead of us, but it was home none-the-less.  Family was there to greet us and help us get settled and our dog, Truck, finally got to meet Sam.
If you're wondering about our dog introduction, we had my parents bring home a blanket with Sam's scent on it ahead of time and let Truck have it and get used to it.  Then when we brought him home, we let Truck sniff him for awhile and he seemed to be satisfied.  He did really well with the adjustment.

The days to follow were very hard.  I never realized that such a tiny thing could make such gigantic noises--and at all hours of the day and night.

Now that I am out of the fog of caring for a colicky baby, I am able to admit that my baby was colicky.  In a way, I'm glad I didn't admit it while it was happening because I don't think I would have worked so hard to stop his crying.  By not admitting it, I was always trying to help him feel better and be at peace...so...as terrible as the beginning was, I'm grateful it turned out the way it did.

When I was working at the day care, I had some SUPER challenging kids in my very first class.  I was able to survive those days through blood, sweat, and tears (literally) and every other class seemed like a breeze.  That's kind of how it has turned out with Sam, too.  Once we made it through the super challenging first few months, everything else has seemed doubly good.  And we are still indescribably grateful for the mercy and grace that God pours into our home and hearts each and every day.