Josie will be two weeks old tomorrow.\u00a0 It has been a very blessed and very tiring two weeks.\u00a0 Some call it a baby moon, but that term doesn\u2019t seem to do justice to just how taxing those first few weeks can be!\u00a0 It is truly the best kind of exhaustion, but we are all exhausted none-the-less, and now that I have older children, I am realizing that the postpartum time is a true transition for them too.\u00a0 Two of my children have adjusted to life with Josie with nothing but joy and excitement.\u00a0 The other two love their little sister but are having a bit of hard time navigating their new roles in our family.\u00a0 It will take another few weeks, and I know that by February they will all have forgotten what life was like without her.<\/p>\n It\u2019s funny how after delivering 6 babies I am still learning and relearning things about my postpartum self.\u00a0 I had forgotten how good it feels to not be pregnant.\u00a0 Those who know me well know that I suffer from great anxiety and even depression when pregnant.\u00a0 I feel an intense and wonderful transition in my mood within a few hours of childbirth.\u00a0 It is as if someone is pumping happy drugs into my system, a happiness that I don\u2019t often feel when pregnant.\u00a0 After my last two deliveries, that feeling of deep joy and peace was masked by postpartum bleeding complications.\u00a0 This time around I got the right medical attention immediately after childbirth and so the sudden positive emotional change has been wonderful.<\/p>\n I am also relearning that Dad does a tremendous amount of work in the first month.\u00a0 I am on night duty and nursing duty, but with each subsequent delivery staying off my feet in the first few weeks has become more important.\u00a0 That means Mr. Red has to deal with all his office responsibilities during the day, and also tend to a great deal of housework, cooking, child care, and cleaning in the morning and evening hours.\u00a0 He is very tired too, and it is very easy for me to forget his tiredness when the baby awoke 4 times last night.<\/p>\n I am also learning about jaundice in babies that arrive early, about newborn size baby clothes (I\u2019ve never needed or owned clothes of this size before!), and about \u201cblock nursing\u201d for women who overproduce milk.\u00a0 I am relearning how good it feels to get a new pair of running shoes\u2013shoes that will be used for running in one month!\u00a0 And I am doing all of this learning while holding a sleepy newborn baby in my arms, which is really the best way to learn.<\/p>\n I hope your week is off to a blessed start!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Josie will be two weeks old tomorrow.\u00a0 It has been a very blessed and very tiring two weeks.\u00a0 Some call it a baby moon, but that term doesn\u2019t seem to do justice to just how taxing those first few weeks can be!\u00a0 It is truly the best kind of exhaustion, but we are all exhausted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":734,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,13,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-children","category-motherhood","category-pregnancy"],"yoast_head":"\n