Things no one told me.... but someone should have!

Cason is 3 weeks old yesterday and every day is a new adventure. For the most part, we were prepared: we attended classes, the nursery was ready, and had received plenty of advice from people around us with children. We are discovering now that while we were prepared for many things, there are a few that we were not prepared for. I'll describe below:

Diaper Changes- Yes, I knew there would be millions of these and that with boys you have to watch out for a certain "fountain". What I didn't expect was the leaks. Maybe we are putting on the diapers wrong but there are days when we will change his clothes 5 times because of leaks, not to mention the sheets, blanket, our clothes and the changing pad. Of course, other days he's in the same outfit all day so i figure, it can't be us putting the diaper on wrong (right?). Also, no one mentioned how many changing pad covers I would need. I have 2- they are currently both in the laundry like they are most days. I would advise 5... per day. Many days we go through both changing pad covers, 2-3 waterproof pads we place under his bottom, and 2 larger waterproof pads that cover most of the changing table.

Nightime sleeping- Now i was prepared to be awakened often at night to feed Cason and I don't mind that a bit. Many people advised have Mike change Cason, bring him to me to feed, then let Mike put him back to bed. This is a grand idea if Cason went to sleep immediately after feeding but every night except last night, he is wide awake after feeding and is not at all content being put to bed alone. This is why we are extremely tired every day.

Sleep when the baby sleeps- This has to be the most offered advice we heard. Now, if this has worked for anyone then let me know. It sounds simple enough, right? Ha! Most commonly: Cason doesn't want to sleep when i'm most tired, I'm forced to choose shower or nap and I pick shower thinking i'll catch a nap on the next sleep cycle, He makes cute baby noises his entire nap and I can't sleep through that, but mostly- the house is a disaster and there are things I need to accomplish instead of sleeping.

Breastfeeding- How hard could it be, right? Well, it's challenging and for the most part has continued to be from the beginning. I'm not giving up and we will continue to work at it but I heard so many times that people "love it" and at this time, i'm not sure why. On top of that we are having trouble getting him to take a bottle now and it's essential that he does since i'm going back to work in 3 weeks. We are still trying different brands so i'll see how it goes.

Laundry- I expected a lot of laundry but nothing like this. Cason's clothes are small so how could they generate that much laundry, right? Well, since some nights we go through 4 pairs of pj's and he only has 5, or all the changing pad covers we go through, or blankets, or my clothes, or burp pads and boppy covers. Seriously, it's constant. That is all on top of typical household laundry like Mikes clothes and sheets and towels. I have managed to do 3 loads since mom left and 2 of them are still waiting to be folded.

Epidural- I won't be too descriptive here since I don't know my audience but yes, an epidural can run out even though they assure you that it can't at the hospital. In my situation, it very much depended on the nurse though. They had turned it down a little when it came time to push Cason out so that I could feel "pressure". Well, I didn't get a magic button that allowed me to control how much drug I got so it was all up to the nurse. After several times of mentioning that I was in pain she continued to suggest that "pressure was different than pain and what I was feeling was pressure". I'm sure you can imagine what I thought about that. Half way through she pressed the button to up the epidural going into my system. Well, I'm telling you it didn't work quickly enough. When Cason had arrived and they began working on the post baby stuff the nurse looked over and realized my epidural bag was empty. Fabulous. No idea when it ran out but it did. Let me just tell you, it wasn't a lot of fun. It may have had something to do with the nurse I had (she was extremely nice but I feel like my pain should have been managed better). Funny thing, she was pregnant so I'm wondering how she will feel when she's in labor and her nurse says "pressure is different than pain- you are just feeling pressure". Wish I could be there to say "yeah, not a lot of fun is it?"

I'm sure over the next few years I will be learning so much more I didn't know. Cason is still adorable and I love watching him make faces. He really is a good baby but there is so much to learn that I had no idea about.
Well, he's getting fussy and of course, we were just sitting down to eat! Oh the joys of parenting!