The Fourth Trimester

Today marks the end of my fourth trimester.  No, I'm not talking about going a little past your due date, like my friend Meghan's mother who carried her for ten months!  I'm talking about the newborn period--those crazy three months after a baby comes that seem never-ending, but then you look back and wonder where the time went.

Mark is three months old today!

It has been an incredible incredibly challenging fourth trimester.  I was miserable the last part of my pregnancy and couldn't wait for Mark to arrive.  I knew, however, that not all would be roses.  What I didn't know, what I absolutely had no clue about, was how extremely difficult these first three months would be.

Mark was by all means the neediest of our newborns (well, except for Zachary, but that is a whole different story...)  And with five older children, I had the least amount of time and patience for his colicky episodes.  Top that off with a much older postpartum body that was trying to bounce back, and you have a recipe for disaster.   This time around, my recovery--both physically and emotionally--has been much more difficult, an unexpected and unpleasant surprise.

BUT...

The fourth trimester is over and things are improving, just as I knew they would.  I am feeling better, getting more sleep, and have a renewed sense of energy.  Mark is having more and more happy baby days and his sleep habits have improved.  He cracks big smiles and cackles, coos, gurgles, and talks, grabs his toes, and even rolls over!  He now lets me set him down for more than five minutes at a time and enjoys the company of his older brothers.  I confess, I let him watch "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" with Zachy while I clean up after breakfast, and have found that ceiling fans make great entertainment as well!  He's a pro at breastfeeding but loves a good bottle, too.  In fact, he has nearly doubled his birth weight! He is practicing with his Bumbo seat but is still a bit too wobbly to hang out there for long.  He loves bath time, but will soon need to graduate from the kitchen sink to the big tub because he's an almighty splasher!  He's a big-time cuddler and has the sweetest little head for planting kisses.  And he STILL charms us with those beautiful, mysterious baby blues!

Happy birthday, Little Markie.  You fit into our family so perfectly and we look forward to many more (easier) trimesters!



(Double-click videos to watch in full screen; Esc to return to blog)
Mark rolls over:
Mark coos and bounces away:

Comments

  1. Danielle @ Living Out LoudJuly 1, 2012 at 6:24 PM

    I feel your pain sista! At least Mark has been on the floor enough to actually learn HOW to roll! Abby, at 4 1/2 months, still doesn't roll because she NEVER lets me put her down :) I think we got through colic just in time for teething to take it's ugly grip! Hang in there, friend!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did You Know?... Samuel

Image
Zachary isn't our only baby who has been intrigued with our corner cupboard.  Many of you commented about messes similar to this that your little ones have made with pantry contents: And FYI... that wasn't flour scattered all over the floor, but cornstarch!  Have you ever tried to clean spilled cornstarch?  It's not an easy job.  But back to our story... Every child of mine has gotten into this corner cupboard.  What about baby locks? you ask.  Well, it has one.  But it doesn't catch well and the boys have always been able to pry it open, anyway.  And I usually let them.  The unorganized contents of this cupboard provide for some fairly safe and lengthy entertainment, and it usually doesn't take me long to shove everything back in once the baby gets bored.  But there are some exceptions, and one day when Sammy was just shy of a year old...  Did you know... that he got into the cooking wine?! Once again I must thank my talented mothe...
Read more

Thankful for Trouble

Image
These days, Zachary is without a doubt full of trouble!  He served his first couple of time-outs this week for smacking his older brother.  He arches his back and screams until he is blue in the face when he doesn't get his way.  He still crawls up and stands on our kitchen table and countertops, and when he is sternly corrected, he reaches to hug me and says in his sweetest, buttering-up little voice, "Mama, Mama..."  He doesn't seem to learn, after flipping and falling backwards off chairs, that they're not to be danced on.  He begs to play outside with the big boys while they ride bikes up and down the sidewalk.  And he didn't care too much when one neighbor boy accidentally ran him over.  He hops in his little Cozy Coupe, pushes off, and heads straight down the driveway towards the street.  My own heart skips a beat as I scream and run after him, just as he reaches the curb.  He won't sit patiently in the shopping cart, but stands up a...
Read more

Home Sweet Home

Image
Zachary is home again, our family is reunited, and we are loving it!  Actually, I'm already getting fed up with Sammy's whining, with the bigger boys' fighting, with the mess... but it's WONDERFUL to be dealing with normal things again. Zachary is still in some pain on and off, usually as his pain meds are wearing off.  He is not quite himself; we don't see as many smiles yet and he is very clingy.  But he will get there!  Zachary is taking Tylenol and Motrin for pain, with an occasional dose of oxycodone.  He is back on diuretics (Lasix and Aldactone) to keep fluid from building around his lungs and throughout his body, easing the workload on his heart.  Over the course of the next year he will wean off his diuretics.  The only other med he is taking is aspirin, which thins the blood to prevent clotting.  He will take aspirin for the rest of his life. Zachy is very fearful and suspicious of strangers, especially young, pretty girls, who look like...
Read more