I had a healthy baby boy on June 5! I expect to write a more detailed birth post eventually, but in summary, C3 (as I’ll call him here for now) was born after a 36+ hour induction ending in a c-section. It’s been the longest month of my life and I usually don’t know what day it is… but overall our little family is doing pretty well, thanks to A LOT of generous help from our families and friends. I’ve gotten an advanced crash course in accepting help, especially during the first week-ish when I could barely take care of myself, much less the baby. But life is slowly improving as we all heal and get a better grip on things. There’s not much you can do to create stability or routine when they’re this little, but we’re trying. In general, he’s a good (and very cute) baby. I can’t believe I successfully grew him in my body.
Taylor is a great dad and co-parent (as I expected ;)). He had to go back to work after a week, but continues to participate fully in baby care. I have not missed a meal or gone one day without a shower (take note: “never showering again” does not have to be a thing!). I’m still only getting two or three hours of sleep most nights, but one of our moms comes over almost every morning so I can take a nap. Basically, Taylor and our moms are standing between me and postpartum depression. When we take C3 to appointments and everyone calls me Mom, I’m still surprised they’re talking to me. Having a baby really is like throwing a live grenade on your life. I suspect it’ll take a long time to figure out how all the pieces fit together now.
It’s taken all week to piece this short post together, but here’s a very abbreviated What I’m Into. I might want to remember this stuff from this first foggy month!
Reading:
When I started claiming the overnight feeding hours as my Kindle time, it was a game changer. I fall asleep if I either sit in silence or try to watch something. Reading keeps me engaged enough to stay awake with the baby, and I can manage the Kindle one-handed.
- All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg (4 stars) (this is what I was reading at the time C3 was born)
- How to Be a Person in the World: Ask Polly’s Guide Through the Paradoxes of Modern Life by Heather Havrilesky (4.5 stars)
- The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel (4 stars)
- And I Do Not Forgive You: Stories & Other Revenges by Amber Sparks (3 stars)
Watching:
- The Americans – After feeling meh about it at first, I got hooked. We watch a few episodes a day and are almost done with season 3. Kind of a dark show to be watching with a brand new baby, but *shrug emoji*
- Loki – The highlight of my Wednesdays… and reading tweets/memes about it afterwards is the second highlight.
- The Bold Type – I feel like this final season was kind of a dumpster fire, though I did like the twist of who ended up in charge.
- The Friends reunion on HBO – I am concerned about Matthew Perry.
- Taylor just finished the 18-hour Ken Burns baseball documentary. I saw some of it and it was pretty interesting, although they must have used every interpretation of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” ever recorded.
More later.
Congratulations! And well done XX