Friday, March 26, 2010

Parenthood: Weeks 2 and 3

Krewson is now 3 weeks old!! Such a big boy!!

As of yesterday he weighed 9 lbs 9.75 oz and he was 21.25 inches long.  That's almost a pound increase over his birth weight.  And, since he's gaining weight so well, the pediatrician gave me the go-ahead to let him sleep as long as he wants at night.  I was pretty excited about that.  Last night was the first good night's sleep I'd gotten in quite a while.  We put him to bed at 10:15 and he slept until 4am.  Then I fed and changed him, and he slept again until 9am.  It was amazing!  I hope it's something he'll continue doing and that it wasn't just a random event.  In either case, I appreciated at least one night of sleep. :)

Let's see, what other great things is he doing...

He now loves watching mobiles.  He gets really excited about them and makes noises and swats his arms and legs all over the place.  His umbilical stump fell off during the night Tuesday night, so he now has a cute belly button.  And last night we were doing tummy time when he used his arms to left his entire chest off the ground and then change the position of his head.  I was so proud of him!

While lots of wonderful things have happened the last couple of weeks, they've also been a bit of a struggle.  A week and a half ago I was diagnosed with postpartum depression.  The depression started to hit me the Friday that Krew turned a week old, the last time I wrote a blog post.  Every day after that was worse than the day before.  By Tuesday morning I was a mess and was finding it hard to even function normally.  I felt no joy in life.  I will share the whole story later in another post, but I can honestly say I've never felt so low in my life.  Even at the hardest times in my life I haven't felt THAT hopeless.  It was unbearable.  The good news is that that Tuesday I finally spoke on the phone with the doctor who delivered Krew (who is a GREAT doctor, may I say), and I completely bawled my eyes out to her and confessed everything.  She soothed me, telling me that I was ok and normal, that I just had postpartum depression, and that she was going to start me on an antidepressant.  I started the medicine that night.  The bad news was that it takes one to two weeks for that type of medicine to take effect, meaning I had a minimum of a week of continued depression.  I wondered to myself, What am I supposed to do, CRY all day long for the next 7 to 14 days???  Well, yeah, that's pretty much what I had to do.  I cried a lot.  Dragged myself around the house and slept as much as I could.  I didn't want to see anyone or talk to anyone.  I sat in the sun as much as possible, as sunlight has always had an amazing effect on my mood.  Thank goodness, by the weekend I started to feel a bit better, and Dave was able to look at me and exclaim, "You're smiling!!!"  And I was.  I was starting to feel like myself again.  The clouds had begun to break.

As of now, a week and a half after starting the antidepressant, I feel pretty good.  I still feel a little down in the mornings, but every day is better than the day before.  I'm finally able to enjoy Krew again like I did the first week.  And I'm so so glad.  He's such a lovable little boy. :)

Here are some pics from the last two weeks:









Krew and Ellie are future best friends...whether they like it or not, haha

look I have a belly button!

snoozing with Daddy

father and son :)

5 comments:

  1. awww!
    kara u did a greatt job he is so beutifull congratss! loving the blonde hair

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  2. Aw, he is just so cute! You are not helping my baby fever. :-P I'm glad you are doing better, and I'll be praying for everything to keep improving for you!

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  3. sorry to hear about the ppd. i'm glad you were able to share with your doctor and not keep that in. it is hard with a newborn...all the demands and sleeplessness. i will be praying for you.

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  4. I'm so glad you were honest with yourself and the doctor! ppd is scary stuff, but common! You are not alone in those feelings! So many women ignore it and then it becomes worse, you are brave for realizing the feelings and sharing them with your doctor! I'll be praying for you and for the continue of healing and overcoming ppd! You are a fantastic mama!

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  5. You will become a Survivor Mama, just like the rest of us! I hope you'll seek out support from us- the PPD bloggers out here rock! Check out my blogroll at www.atlantappdmom.blogspot.com (Beyond Postpartum) and of course www.postpartumprogress.com. Take good care!

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