Eleven Days In

I've been asked a bunch of funny questions since giving birth. David asked me if I missed feeling Tucker in my stomach, kicking from time to time. I laughed and said that I didn't miss the internal beating this kid gave me. Even as a fetus, he was mobile and never left me wondering where he was.

Here's how I'm holding up. For the first few days, I sobbed at every little thing. I would walk out of the room, see David....and cry as if I saw the Messiah risen from the dead. The entire first week was me trying to get used to such a sudden change. I had a brand new, incredibly selfish roommate that demanded I live by his hours, feed him according to his desire and cuddle him for long periods of time. It took some adjustment. Now that Tucker and I have had almost a dozen days to get to know each other, he's a good kid. I lucked out.

Tucker will stay awake anywhere from two to four hours at a time. On any given day he's awake seven to eight hours, calmly staring at whatever catches his fancy. He is able to focus on things visually. We had a minute long staring contest where he just tilted his head, baffled at how weird his mommy looked. The biggest bonus of this kid is that he doesn't have to be rocked. If he's awake, he just wants to be beside somebody's warm body and have something in his mouth. He'll lay on his blanket while David plays video games, or share a blanket with me while I try to catch up on sleep. My biggest complaint is that he is a noisy sleeper. He grunts while he poops, which is about half his life. On the plus side, he can nurse while asleep.

I've developed an internal alarm. Every two hours I wake up to feed him, whether or not he's acting hungry. He always drinks for the full amount of time and hardly ever spits up, so I'm convinced I'm doing something  right.

My last bit of news is that I developed mastitis last night. Basically, Tucker wasn't draining all my milk during his feedings, so I get to feel like I have the flu for the next few days, while the antibiotics take their sweet time working.