Our Baby Girl is Three Weeks Old Today!!

I’ll be honest, I did a lot of research and preparation that focused on having a healthy pregnancy and a good labor and delivery - but I didn’t spend much time learning what to do once she arrived. I’ve never spent any amount of time at all with a newborn and I was pretty nervous that I was going to make a big ‘ol mess of motherhood.

But I took the advice of some women I truly respect and admire (my mom and a few friends) who told me that it would be intuitive once she arrived - and you know what, they were right! Babies aren’t complicated creatures - they just want a dry diaper, a belly full of milk and a comfy, warm place to sleep. I can handle that!

In the past 3 weeks I have learned to simultaneously breastfeed and file the tiniest little fingernails you’ve ever seen. I’ve learned to tightly swaddle a squirming infant in the dark at 3 in the morning.

I still haven’t figured out how to get her dressed in a timely manner (finagling those little arms through tiny baby clothes arm holes is HARD people!) but overall, Aliyah is a fat, happy baby. I’m doing it! Well, we’re doing it. Half the credit goes to my husband who happily takes night shifts caring for her and realistically changes about 80% of her diapers (he says he needs a designated job since he can’t feed her… who am I to argue with that?)

Together we are successfully caring for a miniature person despite a total lack of experience. We did have to consult one of those “Your baby’s first year” books when it came to how frequently we should be bathing her but other than that, we’ve figured it out on our own. I’m not going to lie, for two complete baby novices we are a little impressed with ourselves.