Flashback #3 - The First Month

Saturday, 2 April 2016

The first month

It's been a month since Emma arrived... and what a month it's been!

Since we came home 3 weeks ago, we haven't stopped. We've had visitors - friends, family, and midwives. We've been out and about a couple of times as a family. We've been to the doctor's, Medicare, Centrelink, the shopping centre... so many places!

We spent Easter weekend with family - my Mum's family is huge (there's about 50 of us) and we all get together at Easter and Christmas, and a couple of other times during the year. We used to get together once a month, but it got too crazy so now we just do 3 or 4 times and it's much more civilised! Mum is one of 6 kids, and they've all got a few themselves, and now the kids are having kids so it's huge... Emma was the star of the show at Easter. Everyone wanted a cuddle, a chat, and a snuggle. It was held at my Gran's house about an hour and a half from our house. We were a bit worried about having Emma in the car for so long but she loved the trip - slept most of the time and it didn't bother her at all. The outfit we bought her was way too big, but we put it on her anyway!

Emma's First Easter
My husband goes back to work next week, so Emma and I will be on our own most of the day. I'm sure this will be a big change for all 3 of us - while we are all looking forward to getting into a proper routine, I will miss my husband's help and support.

Since he'll be back at work and unable to drive me around, we had to visit the doctor and get clearance for me to drive. Having a c-section means I'm not meant to drive for 6 weeks after surgery - if I do I'm not covered by insurance if I have an accident. Luckily, my doctor is happy with my recovery and has given me clearance. Woohoo!

I think the next few weeks will be difficult while we work out our routine again. I will be setting some time aside each evening after Emma is asleep to plan what needs to happen the next day - housework, washing, outings etc - so that we'll be able to do what needs to be done but also have some fun time too. Emma's sleep pattern is slowly sorting itself out - we're getting more awake time during the day and able to settle her down quickly when she wakes during the night for a feed. She was a bit upside down for a while there - awake all night and asleep all day - but it's sorted itself out now.

On Monday night we're going to our first meeting with Down Syndrome Victoria. It's a meeting for parents with a new child diagnosed with Down Syndrome, aimed at giving some basic information but also connecting parents with each other. I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm also looking forward to our first visit from the Maternal & Child Health Nurse - she'll weigh and measure Emma, check some milestones, give us advice on what we should be working on with her, and hopefully connect us with a local Mother's Group. I'm apprehensive about joining a Mother's Group because I don't want them to judge us or treat us differently because of Emma's Down Syndrome diagnosis - but I think that is mostly my issue and I shouldn't let it stop me from trying to connect with anyone. After all, we want Emma to be given the same opportunities as any other child, so I need to give her them myself to begin with!

Our 1 Month Old

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