The Fourth Trimester

So the first trimester we are simply exhausted. Turning a single cell into brains, arms, veins, bones, skin and all that other important stuff takes a lot out of a girl. I basically spent the whole first trimester napping on my couch. The second trimester is always every one's favorite. The bump starts showing, the scariest part (the first 12 weeks) is over, usually the words gets out, you become less tired and you find out the gender and go shopping! The third trimester you're starting to get over this whole incubating a tiny human deal. Everything gets huge, you're waddling, everyone keeps asking you when you're having your baby already and you're probably wondering the same. Then the horrifying, messy miracle of birth finally arrives! Welcome to the Fourth Trimester.

This term was made popular by Dr. Harvey Karp Author of Happiest Baby on the Block and inventor of the 5 S's. It's all about the first three months of a baby's life and how it really should be looked at more as a fourth trimester of pregnancy. A transition period for Mom and Baby to get used to the drastic change from an inside to outside baby.

My fourth trimester so far has been a whirlwind, as can be expected. Last night, my lil' guy wasn't feeling great, he wasn't taking to eating too much and his cries were more shrill and hurt sounding. So after our settling down nighttime routine, we were laying in bed, tummy to tummy. I was reminded of the nights I laid there staring at my belly and the little bumps and rolls made by a moving and shaking inside Jesse. I was taken back to wondering what he would look and sound like. Wondering how a contraction felt and when they would finally start. The concept of the 'Fourth Trimester' is mainly focused on the baby and how to comfort him in the transition, but as I shush and swing him side to side, I'm realizing how much of a transition I am going through as well.

I have learned to sleep in 3 hour blocks of time. I have racked up miles of walking around my house. I have gotten used to spending very long periods of time in my house and grossly in the same clothes. I have learned how to do almost anything with one hand (including laundry, making dinner and tidying up the house). I have learned how important iron and blood cells are to ones body (the hard way) and I have learned the unmatchable love a mother has for her child.

My body has stretched and changed to house a 7lb 5oz human. It had the strength to push him out of my body and the smarts to start making milk to feed him. Jesse and I have mastered the in's and out's of breastfeeding and continue to succeed. It's incredible that my body has just learned to change and grow when I needed it to. It's even more incredible to look at my now deflated belly on it's way back to flat and tight and think of how my smiling little boy once fit in there.

I truly believe that the first three months of a baby's life outside the womb is just as big of a change for them as it is for the moms. It takes some learning about each other and getting used to this new life, getting our bodies back to somewhat normal, and changing our priorities. 10 weeks in and I'm starting to see the light. I'm starting to see the life ahead of us glide into a pattern. Starting to feel normal in our daily routine and letting go of the first time parent fear at every movement or sound he makes. I get it now, the way life will be from now on. It absolutely takes time to see past the screaming, the moments of panic, to see over the piles of piles of dirty clothes and recover from the pains of birth and nursing. Life does return to something you recognize one day. Only permanently changed by an amazing and beautiful person that you have made and will love for the rest of your life. It's just that fourth trimester of pregnancy that is the hardest of them all and once you get through that, you can do anything.

Jesse and Mommy

Jesse and Daddy