The first night of the second baby is a trap. Buyer beware. You go into it thinking taking care of a baby is like riding a bike – and it is, just a bike riding off of a cliff. Okay, it’s not quite that bad but there’s nothing great about staying up 80 percent of bedtime – especially when you’re old like me.
When Jaxon first came home with Lara and I, I think it was safe to say that we were terrified. He was maybe 4.5 pounds soaking wet. While we each has some experience caring for an infant – by some I mean Lara had some and I had none – the idea of sleeping and not having eyes on Jaxon at all times that first week was inconceivable.
With Ruby, it’s different. Yes, we are experienced but she is also different. When she was in the NICU, all she did was sleep. She seemed somewhat sluggish and quiet, especially when compared to other babies in her pod. Also, she seemed slow to eat from Lara, which the NICU staff seemed to think was a warning sign – although this seemed premature to us. We thought that her relative calm was a marked departure from the clockwork consistency of Jaxon’s first night every hour terrorist-like threats.
That was the first sign of the con.
She’s a night baby. That first night home, she fooled us into thinking that she was a heavy sleeper. I mentioned the need day that maybe we lucked out and maybe she wouldn’t be like Jaxon, who probably slept more than we remember but because he was premature, every sound or lack of sound kept us up.
The next night, she awoke about 10 times. Most of the time, it was the hunger games. By that, I mean that Ruby would start yelling obscenities and give her parents arrows for angry looks. If I picked her up, she would search like for my boob. She would settle on my dry nipple or try to suck milk out of my neck. When give to Lara, if she didn’t get milk immediately, she would be more frustrated than a days old baby probably should be. Either way, this will probably all get harder before it gets any easier, so I’m probably going to be an a sleep-deprived stupor for a few days, delaying any posts.