Thank you so much to everyone who wrote messages of congratulations after Rosa’s birth. I loved getting them and am just sorry I couldn’t reply individually to each one. It feels doubly special being congratulated for a second baby. Lots of people don’t bother after your first. There is less good will going around. So each bit of it means more.
Rosa is doing fine. Pooing, feeding, sleeping and crying as she should be, and occasionally discovering the world around her. She has been more difficult at night than Sofia was. While Sofia tended to do her crying in the afternoon and evenings, Rosa does hers in the middle of the night. So her daddy and I have a strict regime of shifts and separate bedrooms in an attempt to each get 5-6 hours sleep per night. I go to bed at 9pm, right after I’ve finished the evening routine that ends with me reading to Sofia and getting her off to sleep. She's the world's loudest grunter. Every time she comes out of a sleep cycle to start the next one, (every 45 mins according to the experts) I get woken up by what sounds like a barn full of pigs.
I’m recovering well from the birth. I can’t wait to be able to get out of the house more though, which is still beyond me. Life is a marathon of feeding and changing Rosa, keeping track of her waking and sleeping, and trying to input occasionally into sofia’s life with a book or a cuddle in front of CBeebies. The danger is the cabin fever. Small flat, low light levels, constant drone of washing machine, static lifestyle of constant feeding and pacifying small baby that I can’t carry around the flat. A trip out to a friend’s house or some postnatal group would be just what the doctor ordered.
I’ve been bereft about Sofia. In a way, the bond I built up over the last two and a half years has ended. Her daddy is her whole world now. He meets all of her needs. Thank God. I’m a mere shadow of her mum. Rosa takes up all my energy. But I have faith that I will rebuild that bond with time. As Rosa takes up less of my time and can integrate into family routines more, and as I gain some energy back. I’ll find new ways of being her mum. She’s doing OK.
About Me
- Catherine Hale
- I had had severe ME for 16 years before I had my two girls, Sofia and Rosa. During those years ME prevented me from working, socialising, getting out of the house and sometimes sitting up or feeding myself. So having a baby was the biggest gamble I have even taken. My lack of muscle power and stamina meant I could barely lift or carry Sofia from when she was born and needed full time support with parenting. The folly of having a second child came with an unexpected improvement in health. My ME has gone from severe to moderate. I wrote this blog from 2006 – 2007 to record the joys and blessings, as well as the difficulties, of being a sofa-bound mother. And also to pass on tips to others who might travel the same road.
No comments:
Post a Comment