Opinions are like......

We are going on week 3 of parenthood and we have had our share of ups and downs, but the happily the worst has been a few sleepless nights.  Over the past 10 months of both pre and post pregnancy, we have gotten a lot of advice and recommendations from both health care professionals and books on pregnancy and parenthood.  The information from all sources can be summed up as “personal opinions.”  Everything from tests we took while we were pregnant to sleeping recommendations for Hannah now in the first couple of weeks of life are up for interpretations.  One doctor said Hannah was due on the 1^st of October, the other said she was due the 26^th of September.  One book says to let the baby sleep and eat on their own schedule, the other says to set the schedule and let the baby conform to the schedule you set for it.  I think there needs to be big master book for parenthood called “Here are a bunch of things that worked for someone at some point, if they don’t work for you, don’t worry, you could still have a normal child.”  This has been pretty frustrating when you are trying to get a finite answer to a new parent questions, but the more we understand that there is probably more than one answer the less anxious we will be about the answers.

Clark and I have done a good job of sifting through the information and coming up with a solution to a few of the speed bumps we have hit.  We’ll continue to look for different ideas on how to approach problems, but am coming to appreciate how different every child is and what works for one may not work for another.

She's Here, She's Here!

Well the blessed event/day has come and each day after that has been better than the day before.  We have made it through the first week and are tackling the second a day at a time.  Friends and family told us to kiss sleep good bye and they weren’t kidding.  Some nights are better than the other and we think we are learning a little more with every sleepless night.  Overall she has been a dream.  She has already had her first doctor’s appointment and is gaining weight like she should.

The delivery went well and even though I had not originally planned on having a C Section, it went so smoothly, was the safest way to get her out, and was the quickest way for us to meet the little one.  Hannah stayed breech up until the last moment.  I remember when I was on the table, my doctor said “I love when they give me a foot”, two tugs and she was out.  I was relatively calm throughout the procedure, but when I heard her cry out for the first time, I was overwhelmed with astonishment.  I couldn’t believe that she was here; I couldn’t believe that she was ours.  Watching Clark hold her and bring her over to me is something that will stay with me the rest of my life. 

We have been a good team so far.  We have really been able to balance each other out.  Clark has some great intuition about why Hannah does some of the stuff that she does.  He has been a great help.  Some of the nights when she won’t go back to sleep after she eats, he’ll send me back to bed and he’ll rock her or hold her until she drifts back off to sleep.  With work, he has two weeks off and it has been such a blessing to have him home with us.

My parents were here for the delivery and stayed a few days after.  It was wonderful to have them stay with us.  They were able to keep Nixon and be our food and “forgotten items” shuttle from the house to the hospital.  They were both so excited to be there with us and to share in her arrival.

That’s all I can put together for now.  The ol brain isn’t working on full capacity yet, but wanted to get something down.

I have a bunch of pictures of Hannah to share, but I have watched too many Law & Order SVU episodes while I have been home to put them up on the web, and don’t trust Facebook not to sell her beautiful pictures to advertisers.  So if you want to see pictures, just email me and I’ll send you a photo album.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, prayers and encouragement.  Can’t wait for all of you to meet her!

Cheers,

Team McCarthy