New Parents – Again
When we found out we were having another baby, we thought things were going to be easy. After all, we’d been through it already. We knew how to change a diaper, how to swaddle, how to get the car seat in and out of the car without waking up the baby. What else was there to know?
It turned out, there was still a lot we didn’t know. Comparatively speaking, our first born was easy. There were only a couple of time when we panicked over something that didn’t seem quite right to us, but there were never any big scares that had us speeding to the pediatrician’s office – or, worse, to the hospital.
I wish I could say the same thing about our son. We quickly learned that having a boy was like being new parents all over again. In many ways he was like out daughter – he is easy to soothe (usually a diaper change or a little milk would do the trick) – but in many other ways he is very different. We had him circumcised while in the hospital and had to learn how to take care of that. In addition, we learned that after the area supposedly heals, there’s still a lot more going on – and that sometimes it can apparently look scary and pink but be completely normal (if you are wondering about your own baby or are concerned about something, please check with your own pediatrician – it never hurts to ask).
We also learned just how much a baby can spit up (a lot!). We could probably count on one hand the number of times our daughter spit up during or after a feeding when she was an infant; our son spits up at least once during a feeding, and often afterwards as well. We’ve leaned to keep a bib around his neck nearly constantly (only removing the bib when he is asleep or during an outfit change) and that receiving blankets make excellent burp cloths.
So while we thought we had known everything we needed to know, our son has also taught us humility – that just because we’ve been through it once doesn’t mean we know it all. He continues to teach us every day – and we never stop wanting to learn.
Read More
Comment on this blog...