So far in my blogs for first 1,000 days I’ve been talking about being pregnant. Now I can finally blog about a baby!
Dafne O’Leary was born at the end of July. She was in no hurry and arrived a week late. I tried not to give too much thought to the birth or to have any major plan. All I really wanted was for the baby to be born safe and healthy which thankfully she was. People kept telling me that being a sports person would stand to me in the birth, I think they forgot that I only raced for 12 seconds! Unfortunately babies are not born that fast! One of the main points my husband Peter and I took away from the experience is how utterly brilliant the staff in C.U.M.H are. They deserve so much credit for doing the job that they do. We were so grateful to leave the hospital with our gorgeous healthy little girl.
While I was in hospital I went to a breastfeeding class and spoke to the hospital lactation consultant Susan. She had a huge impact on me and made breastfeeding an achievable way to feed the baby. I even went back to the hospital a week later to ask her some questions and get some more guidance. I honestly had no clue what I was doing at the start and the help I got with the latch, positions etc. was very important for me. Two months later and I’m still managing to breastfeed exclusively. It is definitely hard going at times but I’m delighted that I’ve been able to do it and its really rewarding knowing that I am giving Dafne the best possible start in life.
Since I’ve been home with baby Dafne life has been very different to before! I had no idea what to expect and it’s been a mixture of amazing, exhausting and overwhelming at times. The sleep deprivation is something I’ve found tough. I haven’t slept for more than 3 hours at a time in 8 weeks, considering I used to sleep at least 8 hours a night I’m finding that very hard. I keep reminding myself of the phrase “this too will pass” and that helps, it’s also is a lot easier to be awake at 3 a.m. when little baby Dafne gives me a big smile. She’s grown into quite the charmer.
Its funny how having a newborn baby in the house makes even the simple tasks hard. Last week I did the same clothes wash 4 times because I never seemed to have time to hang it out. I also managed to lose my phone and lock the keys into the house!
I currently have a sleeping baby, which means this mother needs to get herself to bed!
Thanks for reading.
Derval.
