New mom of 2 + Baby Blues
I just gave birth last Saturday to my daughter and I truly could not be happier (even though she was 2 days past her due date!) This is my second – my first one being a son, Tarin – who was born in May of 2020. I know what you’re thinking – close to Irish twins 🙂 Yes, it was always really in my husband’s / my plan to have these kids relatively close together BECAUSE we eventually wanted 3 and I’m in my 30’s. However – after we found out in October this was a girl, we thought long and hard about maybe stopping at 2 and really pouring our heart and soul into these two children’s lives, or maybe adopting since I’m 34… can’t believe I’ve heard the term “geriatric” when referring to my age in relation to pregnancy O_o. Anyway, we got pregnant a bit unexpected and suddenly in July of 2021, and we found out I was pregnant VERY quickly so it’s honestly been a long nine months.
Any new moms experience the “baby blues” immediately following birth? I definitely did this time around, I did NOT with my first. It was pretty bizarre – this is also separate from PPD – in which 3-10 days after birth, you essentially can’t stop crying due to a sudden decrease in progesterone and estrogen. And boy did that hit me! Ironically, I was reminiscing (and crying a LOT about) how it was almost two years ago I was giving birth to Tarin, my first born, and how even though we spent four days there in the NICU, I was remembering that time and wanting to cherish it again. Same with my baby girl being born- like I wanted to be back at the hospital, reliving my water breaking & everything happening again. Haha. I laugh because both experiences were not ideal – I was in a lot of pain, Tarin’s labor was long (baby girl’s was short but painful), and not to mention, my second pregnancy, I was literally SICK the entire time… all 9 months. Throwing up almost daily. Couldn’t breathe. But regardless, women’s brains are wired so that we forget those times so we have another one… lol. Anyway – I am keeping an eye on it, I don’t think it’s PPD because I’m pretty blissfully happy otherwise, and haven’t had dark thoughts at all.
My Mom also came down and helped for 3+ weeks, and took care of Tarin while Mitchell and I prepped for the hospital – and as we all know, labor can hit at the most inopportune times. Both times with my kids it was early ass morning :/ like 5 am. Lol. She lives in my home state, and left my Dad at home to come down and help. If ya’ll knew my family dynamic – we aren’t very emotional people. We don’t show (or receive well) affection, the I love you’s, etc. – our love language is just not… that. However, now that I’m with someone who DOES have that love language, it makes me feel like I wish I had it more growing up. However, my mom coming down was a big step in our relationship. I just feel / felt closer to her than ever. She really stepped up, took care of Tarin, did our laundry, dishes, cooked meals, kept our house clean, and was just all around very selfless. It made me feel very loved and appreciated. She left on Wednesday, which also did not help my drastic mood swings, haha. Definitely cried a ton when she left! Mitchell and I were also able to take a few date nights during those 3 weeks, esp. since now we are parents of TWO UNDER TWO so date nights – probably fewer and far between coming up, lol.
Anyway, tonight I’m on baby duty. Baby girl isn’t taking to her crib like I think we’d like… so she sleeps on the couch (monitored!) and then my husband and I are taking turns monitoring, of course. She sleeps really well which is awesome – her preferred sleep position would definitely be ON one of us, haha, which is wildly different from Tarin who was (and still is) the anti-cuddler.
Anyway – despite long crying spells and just a lot of emotion the last few weeks, overall I’m blissfully happy and appreciative of my two little kids. I love them quite a bit. I hope you all are doing well.
Much love,
~Elle