He usually fusses for a reason - diaper, hunger, or being cold. And he'll calm down pretty quickly once we fix the problem.
He settles to sleep pretty well after he eats, and can sleep 3-4 hours at a time.
No tummy issues yet, he's a pro burper & pooper.
I wonder how much of that is temperament and how much is NICU training (and how much might change as he gets older).
He spent a lot of time in his medical bassinet with people stopping by every few hours to feed & check on him.
Kind of had to learn to self soothe & sleep as he was.
I'm surprised that so far, minute to minute, I pretty much know what to do, tho the pace is a lot.
I thought there would be a lot more screaming that I couldn't solve.
That may come later, but I've built a lot of confidence in the meantime.
We've learned so much in just a few days.
Sometimes I still panic that he needs to eat so often and I'll never sleep again
But I'm proud that we have already established some rhythm & division of labor, and have organized our feeding supplies. Every day, we learn like 5 days worth.
I'm sleeping more than I expected to. The hormones and cognitive overload of the new everything and constant microdecisions mean I'm having trouble focusing and being productive when I am awake and peppy (and not mid-feed). But I'm trying to be patient with myself and hope that gets better in time.
I have all these to do lists - one offs, morning & evening routines for selfcare and for setting up the feeding station for that 12 hours. Having it all written down helps. Mr Cat & I have organized supplies and found a rhythm pretty fast. If Bubbin stays this chill and predictable, this month might actually be fun.
We're combo feeding - some nursing, some pumped milk, and some formula.
And knowing that I can hand the baby over to someone else for a few hours if I need to sleep or want to go somewhere gives me such peace of mind.
The escape hatch helps me find peace and joy when I take care of him in the night. I know I'll get to tap out as soon as I need to.
I didn't expect to enjoy being up at 1am with the baby at all, but it feels kind of blissful, like we're all alone in the world and I can sing to him and catch up on my phone messages and know that eventually we'll both go back to sleep.
I had a pretty intense breakdown on Sunday night, about the 24 hour mark of him being home. It was scary how quickly I slipped into all the PPD symptoms, and also surprising how quickly I rebounded after 3 hours of sleep and a new feeding plan.
I felt like I'm not allowed to have a hard time because I'm on easy mode - baby who sleeps more than fusses, amazing partner, grandparents coming over to help, my own physical recovery feels past tense.
Trying to lean into my mindfulness training - not look to the future of what if he gets colic, how will we return to work, what happens if he stops sleeping. But be like in this moment, love your baby, take a break to love yourself.
I'm realizing my own limit is about 6 hours before I need to lie down for a bit. I hope that we figure out what we're doing faster than he becomes more demanding...
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