Today is the first mini-birthday of our little dauther. How strange it is to think that she has been with us for a month already! Time flies by... Although she's still tiny and wears clothes of size 50, she's much bigger than she was. She's also less fragile and can even hold her head a bit! We are so very happy about it, but at the same time I wish that she would stay tiny for longer. The newborn-age is wonderful! The first 10 days of M's life, we had a kraamverzorgende (a care-aid who is specialized in taking care of the mother and the baby). This is a part of Dutch post-partum care (kraamzorg), most of the costs of it are covered by the health insurance, a part of it is paid by the client or by their extra health insurance package. Kraamverzorgende helps you for usually 8 days for 6-8 hours a day and teaches the parents how to take care of a newborn, assists with the feeding, monitors the health of the mother and the baby and does some light house-work.
We asked the kraamverzorgende to concentrate on the breastfeeding part and it wasn't as relevant for us that the housework gets done, but of course, it was nice when in the evening your bathroom, WC and even the rooms were clean! As we came across some problems with nursing, we got extra 2 days of kraamzorg. We don't have any family around here who could help, so any hours of assistance with anything was welcome, but we also enjoyed being with three of us after these days were over.
During the second week of M's life, we went to the doctor to check if she would need to have little surgery on her lip and tongue tie. Immediately after the checkup, the surgery was performed. We hope that this improved the latch and that we prevent problems with pronunciation and alignment of teeth. At the same day we saw that she has some pain. It wasn't enough that she got to be close to Mom and Dad, so we needed to give her 60 mg of paracetamol. As a child so small can only have 120 mg throughout 24 hours, we held off the second dosage. In the end she didn't need it at all.
At the beginning of her third week of life her Daddy went back to work. Because of corona, he works from home at the moment, but still needs to do the full 40 hours. When at his first day back, I was so tired that I needed an hour nap at 4 PM, I've gotten use to our new life by now. I'm still very grateful that he is working from home, because I can hand him the baby sometimes and at least have a shower. Talking about that, I have noticed that I'm appreciating small things, such as a shower, brushing teeth and clean clothes, so much more than before.
In these four weeks, we've virtually hosted at least 20 people who have wanted to see Mia and also had a baby visit via a window. At the last week, we had the first real-life baby visit, as we dare to have a couple of people over now, of course with all the precautions. Despite this, our social life has moved largely to online-space: we talk with her grandparents almost every day and send many emails and messages to our friends and family. It brings tears in my eyes to see how many congratulations, cards, gifts we have received. We have the best family and friends! It has also been a great help when the neighbours have picked something up for us from a store or when our friends brought us dinner on our doorstep.
Just before M turned one month old, I fell ill with mastitis. This was the last strain that broke the camel's back. So much has gone wrong with breastfeeding, and now this! I haven't been so sick in years. That wasn't also helped by sleep deprivation. I spent the last weekend in bed: sleeping, breastfeeding and pumping.
During this month, M gained 600 grams (from her birth weight, 900 grams from her lowest weight) and grew 3 cm.
Despite all the hurdles on the way - not sleeping enough, worries, the moments when she cries inconsolably - we are so happy that she is here! Welcoming a new life in the world is the most special moment in life...
