Ten-second thoughts from Ben's first ten days

1. Ben was born with really long fingernails. Long enough that we cut them within his first 24 hours of life.

2. The hardest part about breastfeeding was that I was the only one who could feed Ben. I used to feel so suffocated by that, like Ben's room, that nursing chair, those four walls... were my prison... from which I was never going to escape. Not ever. (It's SO MUCH better now!)

3. Getting back to sleep is the worst part of nighttime feeds. You figure he eats every 3-4 hours. A feeding takes at LEAST 45 minutes, it takes at LEAST 15-30 minutes to get him down, ad then you take a half hour to fall asleep yourself... IF he's still asleep at this point, you're lucky if you get 90 minutes in a row. And of course those 90 minutes, if you get them at all, are the Mom Brand of sleeping, which consists of waking at every sigh or stir from the cradle or, at best, wondering how much longer he'll sleep. I wonder how many moms lay in bed awake staring at their sleeping baby (or the baby monitor) wondering how long he'll sleep? JUST GO TO SLEEP! I loooooove expecting a full night's sleep now. I go to bed without a thought of waking up before morning. Not that it never ever happens, but it's infrequent enough that I don't consider it each night as I go to sleep like I used to.

4. I absolutely loved (and absolutely miss) what I used to call Ben's "froggie" position. I'd put him on my chest and he would draw up his legs and pull in his arms and go to sleep... like a little frog. Oh, how I loved that.

5. Ben's cry when he was new sounded like a kitten yowl. Of course I didn't like to hear him cry, but I loved that tiny little voice!

6. This too shall pass, this too shall pass, this too shall pass, this too shall pass...........