the voice of experience looks back at the days surrounding Isaac's birth from the lofty vantage point of his second birthday (mixing some metaphors to boot)
... I would have argued less with my mother. I was worried to the point of anxiety about labor, nursing, and caring for a newborn. Over and over, my mother said there was nothing to worry about, and I told her (sometimes heatedly) that she just didn't understand. She didn't understand, at least about anxiety, but nonetheless she turned out to be right. (I'm not saying I wouldn't have worried anyway, but I would have been nicer to her about her optimism. She can't help it.)
... I would have slept more in the first few days right after Isaac's birth, while he was still dozy and undemanding. He was born at 12:40 a.m., and we made it to the recovery room by 3:00 a.m., but I was too excited to sleep that night. The next day my entire family came back to the hospital to visit, and stayed literally all day -- we had at least one guest from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Instead of hanging out, I should have been sleeping while I had the chance.
... I would have gotten out of bed sooner after the birth, and I would have taken a shower and gotten back into my real clothes (or at least my sweatpants) right away. Even though it was a totally non-traumatic birth, I stayed in bed as much as possible, still in my hospital gown, babying my aching muscles and clutching my ice pack, until about 36 hours after the birth, when I finally got dressed and we went home. I didn't take a shower until I got home. I think taking it so slow made me feel more battered and dazed than I really was. A benefit, however, was that I didn't change a single diaper while we were in the hospital (or for the first week, really).
... I would have set up a photo-sharing Web site before the birth. This is the only thing I cried about in the first few days -- I knew I desperately needed sleep, but I felt obligated to choose a site, get the new-baby pictures posted, and email everyone about it immediately. It was stressful.
... I would have started using Trixie Tracker right away, instead of at six months, and I would have started blogging sooner too. I would love to have a full set of data of Isaac's early days of fragmented sleep and endless nursing -- and I would love to have a record of how I felt about it at the time.
... and, finally, I would have done something about these two photographic regrets I wrote about last year.
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